Is AI making us dumb?

Cowgirls love the rodeo just as much as cowboys, but for the better part of the past century, there’s only been one event for women – until now. Breakaway roping, dubbed the fastest event in rodeo, has swept competitions across North America, and is corralling more space for cowgirls in the process.The Globe’s Jana Pruden was at the 50th Canadian Finals Rodeo this fall, where the second-ever women’s event was showcased at the country’s biggest rodeo for the first time. She speaks with Canadian breakaway ropers and gives us a sense of the history of women in rodeo, and just how hard they’ve worked to rope and ride alongside the cowboys.This episode originally aired January 14, 2025.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected]

Prime Minister Mark Carney set a deadline of July 21 to reach an economic and security deal with the United States after last month’s G7 summit. But negotiations were derailed last week when U.S. President Donald Trump called off talks, blaming Canada’s digital services tax, which was set to come into effect on June 30. Two days later, Carney rescinded that tax, and talks were back on.Adrian Morrow is the Globe’s U.S. correspondent, based in Washington. He’s on the show to talk about the risk Carney took by giving up on the digital services tax so quickly, whether this is really in line with his ‘Elbows Up’ campaign, and what Trump seems to want from negotiations.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

School is out for summer but this year some educators are wondering how much their students really learned. A KPMG survey found that over half of Canadians over 18 years-old now use generative AI to complete their school work. Professors and students are concerned that growing reliance on tools like ChatGPT and Gemini could be weakening critical thinking skills. And now, recent research is giving us further insight into that potential connection.The Globe’s Joe Castaldo reports on AI and tech. He’ll tell us what teachers and students say about how generative AI is impacting education and what recent studies tell us about its affect on our collective critical thinking skills. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has said it is no longer possible to return Canada to 2004 levels of housing affordability. We cannot build enough new housing supply to hit that target. So it’s changing its benchmark.Rachelle Younglai covers housing and real estate for The Globe. She explains the CMHC’s new approach to affordability, what they say needs to happen to improve the cost of housing and what it means for home prices and rents.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

For months, the “buy Canadian” movement has inspired Canadians to shift their shopping habits away from American goods. While this has mostly been a patriotic move, some experts say recent cuts at the Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for inspecting 80 per cent of American food, might give Canadians another reason to think twice about buying American products at the grocery store.Kate Helmore is The Globe’s agriculture and food policy reporter. She’s on the show to talk about why the cuts at the FDA have some experts concerned, how intertwined the U.S. and Canadian food systems are, and why it’s so challenging to disentangle them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

In the social media age, it’s challenging to know what’s ‘normal’ for your finances. How are others able to afford lavish trips and expensive dinners? Are your friends getting ahead while you’re left behind? Will you be able to afford your long-term goals? This confusion has inspired a new term – money dysmorphia. And for some, this disconnect can mean worry, low self-esteem and a you-only-live-once spending mentality.Shannon Lee Simmons is a Certified Financial Planner and author. She’s on the show to explain what’s driving all this stress, its effect and what we can all do to have healthier relationships with money.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been in Europe for a series of meetings that are focused on strengthening ties. On Monday, he was in Brussels, Belgium, to sign a new defence partnership with the European Union. Mr. Carney then went to The Hague, in The Netherlands, to attend the NATO summit. Between the war in Ukraine and U.S. involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, a lot is at stake.Kerry Buck was Canada’s ambassador to NATO from 2015 to 2018. She’s on the show to talk about why Mr. Carney is trying to move Canada closer to Europe, how the NATO alliance is dealing with growing threats and what’s at stake for Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected]

On Friday, the Liberals’ controversial Bill C-5 was passed by the House of Commons — it’s the only legislation to pass, ahead of Parliament rising for the summer.Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, aims to remove barriers to interprovincial trade, fulfilling Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to do so by Canada Day. But the legislation would also give Carney’s cabinet the power to quickly approve big industrial projects deemed to be ‘in the national interest,’ exempting them from some federal laws.Carney has said the legislation will not weaken the government’s duty to consult Indigenous rights-holders, but many are worried.The Decibel is joined by Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. She represents more than 630 First Nations and has been voicing concern over the bill. She’ll walk us through how First Nations are responding and whether it could spark another Idle No More movement this summer.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

This weekend, the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, as it warned Iran about its nuclear capabilities and attacks against Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump called the bombing mission “a spectacular military success” and threatened “future attacks” if a nuclear peace deal was not made.The Globe’s international affairs columnist, Doug Saunders, joins The Decibel. He explains how the U.S. got involved in this conflict, what’s at stake for the leaders of the U.S., Israel and Iran, and why there are concerns this could become a wider war.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]

Sage Morin’s life changed on May 19, 2013. A tragedy altered her family forever, and Sage was left to pick up the pieces, all while navigating her own deep grief and a complicated legal system.More than a decade later, the trauma of her loss has become a badge of resilience and healing. Sage’s transformation is literal: She enters a wrestling ring, donning the character of a proud Cree fighter, inspiring a new generation of Indigenous youth.Jana G. Pruden, feature writer for The Globe, tells the story of Sage and her rebirth into The Matriarch.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected]