The Decibel

On Sunday, most Canadians lose an hour of sleep as the clocks get turned forward to daylight time. But while most of us have gotten used to the bi-annual time change, our bodies have not. And with a growing number of experts saying the practice messes with our sleep – should Canadians stop messing with the clock?

Today, psychology professor Joseph De Koninck is here. He studies sleep at the University of Ottawa, and his recent research looks at how Daylight Savings Time impacts our circadian rhythms, what we can do to minimize the health effects the change has, and why he thinks Canada should consider staying on Standard Time year-round.

This episode originally aired October 31, 2025.

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When it comes to one economic indicator, Canada is lagging behind one of the U.S.’s poorest states: Alabama. And while GDP per capita is an imperfect metric of wealth, Globe reporter Tim Kiladze went down to Alabama and found that there are some things the state has done that are worth taking note of.

Tim joins the show to share what he saw down south, explore the criticisms of GDP per capita and respond to the reaction his reporting has generated.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney finished his trip to India this week, marking the start of what he says is a new partnership between the two countries. The relationship between Canada and India has been tense for years, with allegations of Canadian election interference from India and accusations against Indian government agents over the killing of a Sikh-Canadian activist.

The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter Steven Chase is on this trip with Carney to India. Today he tells us why this reset in relations is so important for the Canadian government, what deals came out of it, and how Carney makes sense of the trip given the ongoing concerns with India.

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Since the U.S. and Israel first struck Iran on Saturday, energy prices have been on the rise. Oil prices are up around 13 per cent, and LNG – liquefied natural gas – is up around 75 per cent. 20 per cent of the world’s oil and LNG pass through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a passageway between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea that is effectively being blocked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Eric Reguly is The Globe and Mail’s European Bureau Chief. He joins the show to talk about the role energy plays in the war in Iran, and how the reverberations are being felt far beyond the Middle East.

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The U.S. and Israel are continuing attacks on Iran for the fourth day. Iran’s leadership has been devastated, hundreds have been killed and retaliatory attacks have been launched against Israel and neighbouring nations. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Iranians to topple the theocratic government that has held power for 47 years.

Thomas Juneau, professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, joins The Decibel to discuss why this is an existential war for the Islamic Republic, what calculations the U.S. and Israel are making and how this could be the beginning of a larger and longer war.

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You can listen to the first episode of this three-part series here.

GLP-1 medications to treat diabetes, obesity and several other illnesses have exploded in popularity since Ozempic was approved for use in Canada back in 2018. Ozempic and Wegovy, the GLP-1s which contain semaglutide, are the third-most prescribed drug in Canada, and by far the best-selling one.

Chris Hannay, The Globe’s business of health reporter, will explain why the introduction of generic semaglutide will mean lower prices and more options for Canadians. And we’ll explore access to these drugs with The Globe’s health reporter Kelly Grant on who gets their GLP-1 covered by their insurance – and who doesn’t.

Plus, Globe audio producer Kasia Mychajlowycz leads us on a journey to understand just how the virtual pharmacies advertised all over her social media feed are vetting people who want Ozempic prescriptions.

The next episode and final episode of Skinny, Inc. is next Monday, March 9.

You can contact the National Eating Disorders Information Centre at their toll-free hotline at 1-866-NEDIC-20 or visit their website.

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Months before the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., earlier this month, the shooter was banned from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, for violating its usage policy. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported this, said that the interactions with ChatGPT were describing scenarios involving gun violence. That has furthered calls for the Canadian government to regulate AI companies and their products – but there are challenges.

Taylor Owen is an associate professor at McGill and founding director of McGill’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy. He’s also host of The Globe and Mail podcast Machines Like Us. He’ll tell us what responsibility companies have to report concerning or violent content, and what the government is up against in trying to regulate AI.

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On Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump touted his tariff regime, after a Supreme Court decision that severely limited his ability to impose tariffs. Now countries trading with the U.S. are left with even more uncertainty about what will come next.

Jason Kirby is a staff reporter for The Globe’s Report on Business. He explains what the court ruling means for Canada, what other tariffs could be coming our way soon and who have been the winners and losers in the trade war over the last year.

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On Tuesday, Canadian airlines began to resume operations in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. They had been suspended days earlier after the Mexican army killed El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, leading to a wave of violence across Jalisco and elsewhere in Mexico. Residents of Puerto Vallarta, the popular tourist destination, and Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, were told to shelter in place. Many Canadian tourists found themselves stranded.

David Agren is a freelance journalist covering Latin America. He joins The Decibel to talk about how cartels operate in Mexico, how the government has dealt with them in the past, and how pressure from the Trump administration is ramping up the stakes for the Mexican government to crack down on cartels.

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It began with three executives from the CAAT Pension Plan raising concerns over a $1.6-million vacation payout and a relationship between the CEO and an employee. That has now led to a ‘full-blown crisis over governance,’ with nearly all of the senior leadership team changed or gone, including the long-standing CEO who’s on administrative leave.

The Globe’s institutional investing reporter James Bradshaw has been covering the turmoil at CAAT. Today, he explains how these issues led to such turbulence and why it’s so important to have steady leadership at one of Canada’s big pension plans.

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