Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The Canadian economy stalled during the final three months of 2022 as businesses pulled back dramatically on inventory orders, masking an acceleration in domestic demand.
Real gross domestic product was effectively unchanged in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the third quarter, Statistics Canada said Tuesday in a report. Analysts were expecting annualized growth of 1.6 per cent, while the Bank of Canada projected 1.3 per cent.
Growth has slowed from annualized rates of 2.3 per cent in the third quarter and 3.6 per cent in the second quarter, coinciding with aggressive rate hikes from the Bank of Canada. The start to 2023 appears to be on solid footing. In a preliminary estimate, Statscan said real GDP jumped 0.3 per cent in January, following a 0.1-per-cent drop in December.
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Senior Ukrainian officials warn of Russian coup in Moldova to create chaos, force Europe to negotiate
Senior Ukrainian officials are warning that Russia is intent on destabilizing neighbouring Moldova with the aim of creating a new front for both Ukraine and its allies in the West to worry about.
On Tuesday, thousands of anti-government protesters – many of them supporters of a pro-Russian politician – took to the streets of Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, for the second time in nine days, calling for the pro-Western government of President Maia Sandu to resign. Sandu has said she believes Russia is preparing to carry out a coup d’état in her country, an assessment that’s shared by Kyiv.
The situation in Moldova is made additionally fraught by the presence of 1,000 to 2,000 Russian troops who have been deployed in the country’s eastern Transnistria region since a conflict in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces described the situation in Bakhmut as “extremely tense” as Russian forces continued their drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city. Taking Bakhmut would be Russia’s first major prize in more than six months and open the way to seizing the last remaining urban centres in the Donetsk region.
- Nina L. Khrushcheva: As a consequence of Putin’s war, Russian culture is headed for the gulag
B.C. and Alberta release their provincial budgets
Here are some key takeaways from B.C.’s 2023 budget, introduced by Finance Minister Katrine Conroy. It’s a spending budget, for one, with money going in part toward previously announced enhancements to health care and housing. Revenue projections, meanwhile, are grim as projected revenue from many of British Columbia’s traditional industries have plummeted. And, while there have been plenty of health care spending announcements this past fall, health spending as a proportion of the province’s overall operating expenses has actually decreased since 2016, just before the start of the NDP mandate.
Meanwhile, Alberta, which expects to post a $2.4-billion surplus in the upcoming fiscal year thanks to strong oil and gas royalties, plans to create a “Alberta Fund” for budget surpluses that the government can use to pay for one-time projects. Other budget takeaways include: Non-renewable resource revenue is forecast at a record $27.5-billion in 2022-23, reflecting the surge in global energy prices. Nearly $2-billion is being put aside for the K-12 education budget over the next three years, including about $820-million to ensure school authorities can meet the demands from record enrollment. And health care spending is jumping by about four per cent with $965-million being added to the ministry’s operating budget from the 2022-23 forecast.
CSIS uncovered Chinese plan to donate to Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Justin Trudeau appears to have been targeted by China in a foreign influence operation after he became Liberal Leader in 2013, according to a national security source, who says the plan involved donating a significant sum to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
The source said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service captured a conversation in 2014 between an unnamed commercial attaché at one of China’s consulates in Canada and billionaire Zhang Bin, a political adviser to the government in Beijing and a senior official in China’s network of state promoters around the world.
They discussed the federal election that was expected to take place in 2015, and the possibility that the Liberals would defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and form the next government. The source said the diplomat instructed Zhang to donate $1-million to the Trudeau Foundation, and told him the Chinese government would reimburse him for the entire amount. Read the full story here.
- Report on oversight of foreign interference in 2021 election released
- Former Trudeau advisers call for public inquiry into China’s election interference
- The Editorial Board: Shine a light on China’s election meddling. Call a public inquiry
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Toronto Pearson to limit flights for March break, summer travel season: The unspecified caps come after travellers at Canada’s biggest airport experienced a chaotic Christmas and summer marred by cancelled flights, overcrowded terminals and long waits aboard parked aircraft.
Hong Kong drops mask mandate as city targets tourists: Starting Wednesday, Hong Kong’s mask mandate will be dropped. There will be no staged relaxation of the rules, though businesses, schools and hospitals can still ask people to cover their faces. Dropping the mask mandate comes at an opportune time, as next month will see Hong Kong host various events.
Quebec also bans TikTok on government cellphones: Quebec is banning the installation and use of the social media application TikTok on government cellphones as of today, announced several hours after the federal government announced a similar ban yesterday.
Vaccine for urinary tract infection on the horizon: The vaccine, administered by spraying a liquid under the tongue, that is now awaiting Health Canada approval.
Charges laid in fatal attack against former CBC producer Michael Finlay: Toronto police have arrested a man who was wanted for manslaughter in connection with the death of former CBC radio producer Michael Finlay last month. Robin Robert Cropearedwolf, 43, turned himself in on Tuesday, police said.
U.S. Supreme Court conservatives question Biden’s student debt relief plan: Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signalled skepticism over the legality of President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel US$430-billion in student debt for about 40 million borrowers, with the fate of his policy that fulfilled a campaign promise hanging in the balance.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s benchmark stock index edged lower on Tuesday, adding to its monthly decline, as domestic data showed the economy stalling in the fourth quarter and two top lenders pointed to economic pain ahead.
The S&P/TSX Composite index closed down 38.94 points at 20,221.19.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 232.39 points at 32,656.70. The S&P 500 index was down 12.09 points at 3,970.15, while the Nasdaq composite was down 11.44 points at 11,455.54.
The Canadian dollar also fell, trading for 73.48 cents US compared with 73.68 cents US on Monday.
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TALKING POINTS
We need a national licensing system for Canadian doctors
“The problem is that if a physician wants to practise in another province or territory, even for a short period or to fill in for a colleague during vacations, they have to register with the provincial regulator. The paperwork for doing so is onerous, and the process can take months.” – André Picard
LIVING BETTER
In the accessible design space, style is too often overlooked
Addressing the accessible design needs of so many people above-and-beyond mere functionality is still in a very nascent stage. Most mass manufacturers and small-scale studios haven’t attempted to reach the considerable swath of consumers searching for “assistive” items that won’t make one’s living space look like a hospital. Odessa Paloma Parker speaks with entrepreneurs and creators looking to combine style with accessibility in new product lines.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Drug to treat cystic fibrosis is giving people the chance to consider new futures
Marie-Pier Emery holds her three-week-old daughter, Flore Emery-Joanisse on Feb. 24 in Montreal. Emery, who has cystic fibrosis, credits a new drug to treat the disease for allowing her to conceive a child.Bernard Brault/The Globe and Mail
The drug Trikafta is remaking the lives of patients with cystic fibrosis, a disease that a memorable television ad once likened to “drowning on the inside.” Since Health Canada approved Trikafta in June of 2021, there has been a boom in babies born to women with CF and the number of hospital admissions for severe lung infections fell by a third between 2019 and 2021. Meanwhile lung and other organ transplants declined by more than 60 per cent in the same period, according to a new report released Tuesday by Cystic Fibrosis Canada with data from the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Registry, which meticulously tracks the health of more than 4,300 Canadians with the inherited illness.
Trikafta is so altering the course of cystic fibrosis that it has provoked an “existential crisis” for some patients, said Anne Stephenson, medical director of the patient registry and a respirologist and clinician-scientist at Toronto’s St. Michael’s hospital, home to the largest adult CF clinic in Canada.
Patients who grew up wondering whether they would live past their 30th birthdays are now rethinking their choices, she said. Should they have pursued higher education? Invested in RRSPs? Tried to have children? A new lease on life is undoubtedly a good thing, Dr. Stephenson added, “but for some patients it has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.” Read the full story by Kelly Grant.
Evening Update is written by Prajakta Dhopade. 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.