The Decibel

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been front and centre of two pipeline proposal announcements in the past week. First, she and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new southern route for the proposed West Coast pipeline on Thursday. Just a few days later, on Monday, she and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a proposal for a new 3,300-kilometre pipeline that would carry crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to Sarnia, Ontario. 

Emma Graney is the Globe’s energy reporter. She’s on the show to explain these two proposed projects, how likely it is they’ll be constructed, and what all this says about changing sentiments around pipelines in Canada. 

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The value of copper has sky-rocketed in the last number of years. The pink orange metal has been in high demand for data centres, telecommunications services and EV charging stations. 

But the increased value of copper has led to a rising number of thefts. These incidents have caused internet blackouts, disrupted phone lines, and have cost thousands of dollars in repairs. 

Irene Galea is the Globe’s telecommunications reporter. She’s been looking into what’s driving the surge in copper theft, and what’s being done to stop it.

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A recent report from the Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s electronic eavesdropping agency, revealed it conducted cyberattacks to disrupt the online fentanyl supply chain. The report also detailed the agency’s growth; its budget will surpass $2-billion in 2026–27, up from just over $1-billion in 2024–25. The organization is one of the two main spy agencies in Canada and yet it remains relatively unknown to the general public.

Steven Chase, the Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter, joins the show to explain what exactly the CSE does and how it fits into Canada’s security landscape.

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Interprovincial trade within Canada is complicated. Existing barriers mean that many goods, like alcohol, often can’t be sold across provincial and territorial lines. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been pushing for ‘one Canadian economy’ in the wake of attempts to diversify away from the U.S. Opening up interprovincial alcohol sales, especially direct to consumer sales, have been a litmus test for this vision. But last week, the provinces and territories missed the deadline for an agreement on reducing those barriers.

Jason Kirby is a staff reporter for The Globe’s Report on Business. He’s on the show to walk us through how alcohol sales work in Canada, what the barriers are preventing interprovincial trade and what it means that Canada hasn’t been able to resolve this issue.

This episode originally aired on June 3, 2026

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Canada and the U.S. share more than July birthdays. Between them is the world’s longest international land border, more than $3 billion in trade daily and they’re longtime partners in defence and security. The relationship is now being tested like few times in its history by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats and tariffs. What do past pivotal moments in Canadian-American relations tell us about what the future holds? 

John Ibbitson, senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and retired Globe journalist joins The Decibel to talk about important moments between the neighbours – through wars, civil rights and free trade deals – and where the relationship could be headed next. 

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