Wednesday, November 6th 2024

The United States have never seen an election like this before. It began as a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, but after Biden’s debate performance back in June, he made the unprecedented move of withdrawing from the race. Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in to become the Democratic nominee, and the second debate in September looked a lot different.

Results trickled in last night for this nail biter of an election, with the outcome hinging on seven swing states.

The 2024 U.S. presidential election may be over, but as of 2 a.m. ET on November 6, the winner hadn’t been officially declared.

On today’s show, The Decibel is hosting an election night watch party, featuring Globe journalists in the newsroom and on the ground in key swing states. We’ll hear from international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe, calling in from Georgia, and reporter Andrea Woo, calling in from Arizona. Patrick Dell checks up on disinformation, and columnist Doug Saunders joins Menaka Raman-Wilms in the studio to watch the results roll in.

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Tuesday, November 5th 2024

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed after a contentious fight in the U.S. Congress, narrowly passing along partisan lines. The bill committed almost US$370-billion in tax credits and spending by the federal government on clean energy projects. It has become one of the Biden administration’s signature legislative wins.

And yet, it hasn’t really been mentioned in this year’s presidential campaign. The Globe’s climate policy analyst Adam Radwanski wanted to understand why. So he travelled to Georgia – where a large number of IRA investments have led to a strong clean energy sector – to find out why.

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Monday, November 4th 2024

For more than a month, the government has not been able to pass any legislation. The House of Commons has been at a standstill, as they debate whether the Liberal government breached Parliamentary privilege.

The Globe’s senior politics reporter Marieke Walsh talks about why the House has been unable to put this debate to rest, and why that’s leading to no movement in the House. She also catches us up on the latest news around Trudeau’s leadership of the Liberal Party and what the Bloc Québecois ending its support for the Liberals means for our chances of an election.

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Friday, November 1st 2024

Dr. Farouq Samim cried as the Taliban swept back into power in 2021. While he was safe in Ottawa, many members of his family were stranded – and at risk of death – back in Afghanistan. Determined to do something, he paired up with two lawyers he didn’t know to launch a secret mission: Operation Abraham.

The Globe’s International Affairs reporter, Janice Dickson, got inside access on how this rescue effort ended up saving over 1,500 people over three years despite bureaucratic hurdles and increasing threats.

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Thursday, October 31st 2024

In 2019, Nova Scotia’s then-Liberal government passed the Coastal Protection Act — legislation that would have brought in regulations around building near the coast. In 2021, the Conservatives were voted into power, and it sounded like they were keen to keep the Act in place.

But in February 2024, Nova Scotia’s government announced that they wouldn’t. Instead, the responsibility for regulating coastal development would be downloaded onto municipalities, and in some cases, even homeowners.

Matthew McClearn is a data journalist for the Globe’s energy and environment team. He’s on the show to talk about what Nova Scotia’s abandonment of the Coastal Protection Act tells us about their approach to climate adaptation, and what happens when a province makes climate change an issue of personal responsibility.

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