Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ontario unveiled new security measures Friday as it tries to get cases of COVID-19 under control in the province.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Ontario will set up checkpoints at the borders with Manitoba and Quebec and announced enhanced police powers to enforce public-health measures.
The moves come as updated modelling warns of more than 15,000 new cases a day in the province in June.
Ontario is also extending its state of emergency and the current stay-at-home order by at least two weeks beyond its current end date of May 5.
The province is shutting down non-essential construction, and outlawing all outdoor activities such as golf, basketball, and playgrounds, as well as outdoor gatherings from outside one’s household, and limiting capacity at businesses such as grocery stores to 25 per cent. Church services, as well as weddings and funerals, will now be capped at ten people indoors and outdoors.
Read more:
- COVID-19 outbreak hits Canadian soldiers deployed in Ukraine
- Grocery employees struggle with anxiety as they continue to go to work in hotspot areas
- WHO head says global COVID-19 infection rate approaching highest level ever
Canada to buy more vaccines from Pfizer after Moderna cuts supply
The federal government said it will purchase eight million more doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNtech, just hours after learning that supplies expected from Moderna would be cut in half to 650,000 doses, and that those deliveries would arrive later than expected.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the new order from Pfizer will more than make up for the cut to Moderna’s shipments.
Canada will receive four million additional Pfizer doses in May, another two million in June and two million more in July, Trudeau said.
All told, this means that Canada will receive 23.8 million doses of Pfizer by the end of June, making the two-dose vaccine the most significant element of Canada’s vaccination campaign.
Opinion:
- Elizabeth Renzetti: The riskiest thing about my AstraZeneca vaccination was the ride there
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Tokyo Olympics chief commits to Games: Amid calls to postpone or cancel as COVID-19 infections surge, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said Friday that Japan was committed to holding a safe Games this summer, as a surge in COVID-19 cases prompted an expansion of contagion controls and with fresh calls for the Games to again be postponed or cancelled.
Canada approves world’s first Ether ETF for retail investors: Purpose Investments was cleared by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to launch the Purpose Ether ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Under the ticker ETHH, the fund will begin to trade on April 20 and invest directly in ether, currently the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization behind Bitcoin.
Mayor of Minneapolis suburb criticizes police response to protests in wake of Daunte Wright’s death: Elected leaders in the Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright want officers to scale back their tactics amid nightly protests. Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered outside Brooklyn Center police station every night since former officer Kim Potter shot the 20-year-old Black motorist during a traffic stop on Sunday.
Raul Castro resigning, handing leadership of Cuba’s Communist Party to younger generation: The 89-year-old told a meeting of the party’s congress that the country’s next leaders were “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit. ” In a speech opening the four-day closed door event, excerpts of which were broadcast on state television, Castro said he had the satisfaction of handing over the leadership to a group of party loyalists that had decades of experience working their way up the ranks.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index closed at another record high, helped by gains in the telecommunications and base metals sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 29.40 points at 19,351.32, a gain of 123.29 for the week.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 164.68 points at a record 34,200.67. The S&P 500 index was up 15.05 points at a record 4,185.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 13.58 points at 14,052.34.
The Canadian dollar traded for 79.98 cents US compared with 79.81 cents US on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
It’s time to recognize Taiwan as a country – but for the right reasons
“If the Trudeau government truly believes in the principles of democracy and a rules-based international order, then it needs to start talking seriously with other stable democracies about formally recognizing Taiwan as the successful independent country it has become.” - Doug Saunders
Get past its baffling carbon-price proposal, and O’Toole’s climate plan is a step forward
“But if he campaigns unapologetically on what he has put forward, the next election will involve a debate about whose climate plan is better, not whether one is needed at all.” - Adam Radwanski
Laurentian cuts serve as a warning for other Canadian universities
“Dozens of professors earning comfy upper-middle-class wages were shocked to learn that they did not have jobs for life after all. The precedent set by the sacking of 83 professors ... has some wondering whether the ivory tower is really a safe space any more. Many also think it is no coincidence that the carnage at Laurentian is taking place on Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s watch.” - Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
Retail Therapy: Lineage Ceramics combines traditional methods with modern design
For company founder Shuobi Wu, ceramics is a family affair. His great-granduncle immigrated to Hong Kong and started the family ceramics business in the 1920s and Wu grew up watching his father make ceramics in his studio.
Based in Vancouver, Wu launched his collection earlier this year, combining his family expertise with his love for food. “To be honest, I have always been enthusiastic about food,” he says, pointing to the Korean, Ethiopian, Nigerian, Vietnamese, Indian and Laotian food he enjoyed while living in Northern California and the Armenian, Ukrainian and Syrian dishes introduced by friends in Vancouver.
As such, Lineage is meant to highlight what’s on your plate.
TODAY’S LONG READ
As Ontario’s schools close again, five children face a new wave of fear, anger and ennui
At left, Amar Rao-Murtaza and James McLellan; at middle, Aaliyah McFarlane; at right, Sese Smith and Noah Campana.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Students in Ontario learned this week that they won’t be returning to classrooms any time soon.
But, even before the latest province-wide measure was announced, students in hot spot areas such as Peel and Toronto had been ordered to learn from home as COVID-19 infections soared.
The Globe and Mail’s Dave McGinn spoke to five elementary school students from these areas about what this year has been like for them, and how they feel about returning, once again, to online learning.
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