The Decibel

For years, Sgt. Robert Semenchuk, a Regina police officer, preyed on hundreds of vulnerable women using information from police databases. He often posed as a contractor named Jay or Steve and sent seemingly wrong-number texts to women. Some of these texts led to intimate relationships. The women had no idea he was deceiving them, until one woman became suspicious.
This case is the focus of the new season of In her Defence: Breach of Trust. Globe feature writer Jana Pruden is the host of the podcast. She’s on the show to talk about the women that came forward to hold Semenchuk accountable, and what it tells us about how law enforcement agencies in Canada are policing themselves.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Washington this week for his first official state visit to the U.S. in 11 years. A lot has changed since then – China has become one of the world’s most dominant countries, while U.S. President Donald Trump has drastically altered global relationships with his trade war.
The Globe’s Asia correspondent, James Griffiths, joins the show today. He’ll talk about the context at this meeting between Trump and Xi, what they’re expected to discuss and the elephants in the room neither of them want to talk about.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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On Monday, the governing Liberals tabled their first bill of the new session of Parliament. Bill C-39, also called the Building Canada Strong Act, is over 240 pages long and aims to streamline and speed up development approval. It also makes changes to the Canada Labour Code that have upset union leaders.
Bill Curry is The Globe’s deputy bureau chief in Ottawa. He has been covering the new legislation and explains what exactly Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is proposing and what it is willing to sacrifice to boost building in Canada.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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Canada has had a system of equalization payments for decades, where money collected by federal income taxes gets distributed to provinces worse off financially than others. It has proven to be controversial in some areas, like Alberta where Premier Danielle Smith has claimed that equalization is a ‘gravy train’ for the rest of Canada through these payments. Members of the Alberta separatist movement have also used this as a reason to push for separation.
But there are a lot of misconceptions about this complicated program. So today, we speak with Patrick Brethour, the Globe’s Editorials editor and former tax and fiscal policy reporter. He’ll demystify the equalization program by explaining how it works, why it’s so controversial, and what he thinks would make it better.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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Canada and the EU are working toward a more integrated partnership. As the relationship with the U.S. becomes increasingly less reliable, Canadians seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of the idea of getting closer to Europe. But what could this partnership actually entail – and how much more would Canada be getting than it has now?
Today, the Globe’s international affairs columnist, Doug Saunders, is on the show. He’ll discuss the geopolitical implications of Carney’s address to the European Parliament, and what shape the relationship could take going forward.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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