Evening Update: Afghans face Taliban torture while waiting on Canada’s promise of safety

Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

Afghans who worked as interpreters for the Canadian military during its mission in Afghanistan now, as a result, face retaliation from the Taliban. Many said the Taliban are going door to door, hunting for people who worked for Canada’s military and diplomatic missions or those of other foreign countries.

The Globe and Mail has spoken recently to more than a dozen Afghans who have been unable to come to Canada or have had difficulty bringing family members here, in many cases because of problems with navigating the Canadian immigration system or with obtaining necessary documents in Afghanistan.

“They beat me with a pipe and with sticks on my back. I cried for some time, but I told them I’m innocent. They said, ‘You’re an interpreter, you kill a lot of people.’ I told them I just translated for the local people, for the Canadian people, the Canadian army,” Khushal said in a phone interview.

• Opinion: I am an Afghan refugee, and I am daring to hope

Ukraine today: Canada’s role to help the crisis

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Dozens of Ukrainian refugees have arrived to Newfoundland, ready to call the Rock home. Canada introduced a special visa program that will allow them to stay in the country for as long as three years. Newfoundland has been eager to encourage as many as possible to settle there. Many who flew out on Monday already had big plans for their future in Newfoundland, such as Serhii Firsikov, 30.

“When I was 10 years old, my mom asked me ‘What do you wish?’,” he recalled. “And I said, I want to live in Toronto.” He’s now sold on Newfoundland because of a passion he’s developed for whales and peaceful living. “We realized that we wanted some kind of family city. That’s why we decided to go to Newfoundland. We’re super thankful for this.”

Also: A World Health Organization project funded by Canada that was supposed to support Ukraine’s COVID-19 response has been repurposed to help the country’s emergency services perform a variety of war-related duties. Canada contributed funding to help the WHO acquire three large tents for its operations in Ukraine earlier this year.

• Opinion: How Ukrainian Muslims showed the meaning of ‘Allahu Akbar’

Soaring fertilizer prices put pressure on agricultural input costs

Farmers are sounding the alarm on record-high prices for fertilizer ahead of a critical growing season and amid the threat of a global food crisis. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Canadian farmers have seen the cost of many of their most critical supplies skyrocket – the conflict has ensnared several of the world’s top fertilizer producers

“This spring will be the most expensive crop ever put into the ground,” said Greg Sears, a grain, oilseed and pulse farmer near Grande Prairie, Alta. “Bar none.”

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Why Rogers’ crucial ‘hell or high water’ clause adds more confusion to Shaw takeover: As part of its merger agreement with Shaw, Rogers promised to propose, negotiate and agree to almost anything that will help the deal gain regulatory approval. This would include selling or licensing “all or any part of [its] businesses.” If the Competition Bureau remains intent on blocking the deal full stop, and the Competition Tribunal agrees with its reasoning, the clause won’t matter all that much.

UN agency under investigation after lending $63-million with little to show for it: It was billed as a way to generate US$45-billion in assets for the world’s poorest – affordable housing and renewable energy for millions, their lives forever changed by the United Nations and its bold new investment scheme. Now the UN agency is heavily out of pocket, and a high-ranking UN leader has quit.

Alberta Appeal Court calls environmental impact law unconstitutional: Four of five Alberta Court of Appeal justices declared the federal Impact Assessment Act, which Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has derided as the “no more pipelines law,” unconstitutional. One justice concluded that the assessment regime is a valid exercise of federal authority.

Ontario election debate: The party leaders of the four major parties in Ontario’s election – Doug Ford (Progressive Conservative), Andrea Horwath (NDP), Steven Del Duca (Liberal) and Mike Schreiner (Green) – will face off in North Bay for the first of two debates before the June 2 vote. We cover the event as it happens.

One year of The Decibel: The podcast turns one year old today! We look back at some of the biggest stories from the last 365 days and give you updates on what’s happened since we first covered them.

MARKET WATCH

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended higher on Tuesday, with big growth shares rising after the previous day’s selloff as Treasury yields eased. At the same time, bank shares fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note tumbled from more than a three-year high to below 3%.

Shares of Apple Inc were higher and giving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq their biggest boost. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 10.77 points to end at 4,002.01 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 114.11 points to 11,737.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 82.39 points to 32,163.31.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart, recovering from its lowest level in 18 months.

• From Ian McGugan: Prospect of global recession has traders worried and markets spooked

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TALKING POINTS

What would it take for Rogers to walk away from the Shaw deal?

Andrew Willis: “Rogers and Shaw are planning a summer wedding. The deadline for their union is July 31. Whether or not they tie the knot now depends on two conditions: Finding a buyer for Freedom that’s acceptable to Ottawa, and ensuring the terms of that deal don’t destroy the prospects of Rogers’ industry-leading wireless business. It’s a $26-billion balancing act.”

In the COVID-19 fight, let’s channel the spirit of Rev. George Mackay, a Canadian hero of Taiwan

Jin-Ling Chen: “Taiwan’s combination of cutting-edge digital technology, robust detection and response systems, and targeted government-civilian co-operation has created a ‘Taiwan model’ that is fast, pro-active, transparent and communicative. It combines the many strengths of Taiwanese society.”

The WEF conspiracy theory is in the Conservative leadership race, and Canada’s main streets

Campbell Clark: “The WEF conspiracy theory has effectively become an issue in the Conservative campaign. But no one can control it. And as a development in Canadian politics, it could be a lot more important than a leadership race. A sizable group of Canadians has lost trust in – well, almost anyone.”

LIVING BETTER

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From late January, when the first protesters’ trucks and cars piled into downtown Ottawa, to mid-February, when the Canadian government enacted emergency laws to remove them from the streets, Canada’s capital city of Ottawa was locked down. But it turns out, the reasons why the protests proved uniquely disruptive to the people who actually lived there were actually baked into the city’s very design.

In the first episode of the new season of City Space, The Globe’s podcast about how to make our cities better, we look at how capital cities are chosen and what Ottawa’s failures tell us about the broader Canadian project.

TODAY’S LONG READ

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Canada’s Best Managed Companies 2022

Since 1993, the Best Managed Companies list, presented by Deloitte, has recognized excellence among private Canadian-owned enterprises. This year, we profile 29 newcomers in a wide range of industries, from retail to dentistry to horticulture—plus one $5-billion-a-year metals manufacturer with 5,500 employees and 85 outposts in North America. The companies that made the cut join 452 repeat winners that must requalify each year to stay on the list. This year is The Globe and Mail’s first as the program’s media sponsor.

• Meet the new school: The latest crop of Canada’s Best Managed Companies
• Still the best: Welcome back to these 452 Best Managed Companies

Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.