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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With July 1 approaching – the formal review date for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – it has become clear that there will be no 16-year extension of the trade treaty. The USMCA governs trade between the three countries, and Canada receives carveouts for U.S. tariffs on USMCA-compliant goods.

Mark Rendell is The Globe’s economics reporter, and joins the show to talk about how Canada got into a position of entering trade limbo, and what this new reality could look like going forward.

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Billions of dollars of illegal wildlife parts get trafficked around the world each year. Think elephant tusks, rhino horns, polar bear pelts and even some rare plants, like wild ginseng. One of the countries caught up in these criminal networks is Canada.

Jenn Thornhill Verma looked into how Canada has become such a hub in the illegal wildlife trade and why the organized crime is flying under the radar. Her reporting is part of The Globe and Mail’s Surfaced series in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network.

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Dating can be rough, but it seems to be especially bad right now. According to Statistics Canada, in the 1980s, 68 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 29 were in a relationship. In 2021, that number was 39 per cent.

The Globe’s healthy living reporter – and unintended Carrie Bradshaw – Graham Isador points to a few reasons why dating sucks right now: app fatigue, distrust of technology, and affordability. Today, he explains how bigger issues in society spill over into the dating world, and what might help make dating fun again.

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Canadian businesses don’t have an innovation problem – they have a growth funding problem. Small- and medium-sized businesses often find themselves in what’s known as the ‘valley of death’ – the crucial time when a business is ready to grow, but can’t access the funding they need to get to the next level.

Jameson Berkow reports on capital markets for the Globe. He joins the show to talk about why it’s so hard for Canadian startups to access funding they need to grow, and with a Senate report expected soon, what solutions are being considered.

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The federal government wants Canada to get back into nuclear energy, pushing to increase nuclear power use and to build and export more Canadian-made nuclear reactors. For the first time in over three decades, a large nuclear reactor is being built in Canada.

But The Globe’s investigative reporter and data journalist Matt McClearn says there’s a reason these projects fell out of favour. There are famous, very deadly examples of nuclear accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, and these projects can be incredibly costly and time-consuming to construct.

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On June 20, Rainbow Railroad released a report on the state of global LGBTQ+ persecution. As an advocacy group, Rainbow Railroad helps at-risk LGBTQ+ people get to safety around the world. This past year they received the highest number of requests for support since their operation began. Most of these requests came from the United States. Canada also makes the list of top ten countries for requests.

Devon Matthews is Rainbow Railroad’s chief programs officer. She’s on the show to talk about the report’s findings, what’s fueling this spike in requests and the state of safety for LGBTQ+ people.

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