Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Brenda Lucki leaving post as RCMP commissioner
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is leaving her post as head of the Mounties.
In a statement, Lucki said she has decided to step down. Her last day will be March 17.
Lucki, who has dealt with a series of controversies that has put the Trudeau government on the defensive, said as recently as November she does not want to step aside. Her five-year term comes up for renewal in March, 2023.
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Life, upended: Nine stories from Ukraine’s refugees on starting over after fleeing the war
As Russian troops poured into Ukraine in the early days of the war, millions of families of faced an agonizing decision: stay put or rebuild their lives somewhere else. Many had no choice after their homes were destroyed and their livelihoods ruined.
In the past 11 months, eight million people were driven out of their home in Ukraine. The vast majority of them are women, with Kyiv having barred adult men from going abroad. Some found the separation from home too difficult and returned. But most have tried to start over.
From Olena Tsebenko, 32, who fled Ukraine with her husband nine months into her pregnancy, to Ivan and Olga Antoniuk who are settling into their new lives in Newfoundland, here are the stories of 19 people who fled in the war’s first weeks.
Toronto Mayor John Tory should stay on despite resignation pledge, Ford says
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Toronto Mayor John Tory should remain in his post, adding that it’s not time to “upset the apple cart” in Canada’s largest city over a “personal issue.”
“In my opinion, it’s not time to change. Everything is going tickety-boo in Toronto – working well with the federal and provincial government. And what happens in their private life is strictly up to the mayor and their family,” Ford told reporters.
City council’s debate over the $16.2-billion budget was interrupted at various points, including when security guards removed some activists protesting the level of financial support for the homeless in Toronto.
National home sales hit 14-year low in January, prices fall again
Canada’s housing sales hit their lowest level since the financial crisis as the housing downturn deepened further in January and home prices declined for the 11th-straight month.
The volume of home resales fell 3 per cent from December to January, after removing seasonal influences. More homeowners, meanwhile, put their properties on the market, with new listings increasing 3.3 per cent last month. CREA said this could be the start of more activity heading into spring, which is traditionally the busiest period for home sales.
Read more:
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Doug Ford won’t say who sent invites to daughter’s stag-and-doe event: The Ontario Premier would only say “the boys took care of that,” when pressed about the money that was raised.
- Editorial: Developers at Doug Ford’s daughter’s wedding only deepen the mystery over his Greenbelt decision
- Campbell Clark: No, Mr. Ford, it’s not okay to host a party where developers come with cash
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon to resign: The 52-year-old’s exit has thrown the Scottish independence movement into turmoil, and it comes as she faces criticism on several fronts, including from those who say Scotland’s health care service lags other parts of the United Kingdom.
- Opinion: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation offers a moment to affirm the perils of Scottish independence
Captain of Thai boys soccer team rescued from cave dies: Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys who made it out alive after being trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand for two weeks, has died in Britain, where he was attending a soccer academy. The circumstances around his death were not immediately clear.
World’s oldest Hebrew Bible could fetch up to $50-million at auction: Sotheby’s says if the 1,000-year-old holy book sells for near its estimated value, that would make it the most valuable printed text or historical document ever auctioned off.
MARKET WATCH
The S&P 500 ended higher on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected retail sales data offered evidence of resilience in the U.S. economy, but gains were capped as investors worried about more interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve in the months ahead.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.56 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 34,009.71, the S&P 500 lost 2.26 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 4,133.87 and the Nasdaq Composite added 64.76 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 12,024.90.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 15.60 points at 20,720.39.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.57 cents US compared with 74.93 cents US on Tuesday.
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TALKING POINTS
Terror in the skies! This isn’t the first time North America has been threatened by balloons
“The first wave of balloon bombs arrived in the fall of 1944. Early in the campaign, military and press censorship authorities, working for the federal government, knew very little about them, so the natural reaction was to stifle coverage. Newspapers, like the rest of the public, were left to speculate. A few Canadian papers wondered if the balloons carried biological weapons – an idea that terrified readers – but the censors cracked down on anything that discussed their success rates or flight paths.” - Mark Bourrie
Canada’s leaders know the value of applied history. So why won’t they set it free?
“Looking to the past can shed light on the origins of contemporary problems. It can offer useful points of comparison to identify what makes present problems different from those of decades past, warning against faulty analogy; it can also reveal which challenges remain largely the same, such that historical policy successes and failures could be an invaluable guide.” - Susan Colbourn, Simon Miles, Timothy Andrews Sayle
Invasion of the traffic cones: Montreal’s pandemic recovery is threatened by poor planning
“... The proliferation of orange pylons on city streets has made navigating the downtown core an excessively hazardous and nerve-racking exercise for drivers and pedestrians alike. And it is hurting the city’s economy. The seemingly interminable roadwork is seen as a major impediment to reviving Montreal’s downtown after the pandemic led to an exodus of office employees and a surge in remote work, leaving retail merchants and landlords struggling to survive.” - Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
Five concerts and albums to carry you through until spring
With five more weeks still to go until the Juno Awards, The Globe’s Brad Wheeler shares five picks to tune into before Canada’s biggest music event.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Mesa, Ariz., is the world’s first autism-certified city. A mom and her son find out what that means
Bark scorpion in black light at Superstition Serpentarium at Goldfield Ghost Town and Mine Tours.Jennifer Bain/The Globe and Mail
It could have sparked a meltdown, landing in a strange city and driving a child who needs routine and predictability to a Sonoran Desert park full of scorpions, black widow spiders and rattlesnakes for a full moon hike. But my 10-year-old son, Charlie, took an instant liking to Arizona’s Lost Dutchman State Park, probably because of the philosophical storytelling of ranger Jackie Vallejos, and the feeling of anonymity that came with joining 40 strangers to explore the unfamiliar landscape.
Is anyone scared of a mouse or a grasshopper, the ranger asked at the start of the 90-minute night hike. How about venomous desert creatures such as spiders and snakes?
“A lot of us see a creature that we perceive as dangerous and we pre-emptively want to attack it in self-preservation,” Vallejos said. “But knowing that they only attack in self-defence, and that they’re just trying to go about their day, has anyone – like the snakes or the spider – felt misunderstood? Maybe you’ve been attacked by someone that doesn’t know what you’re going through?” Read the full story.
Evening Update is written by Beatrice Paez. 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.