Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Russian missiles hit power facilities across Ukraine on Friday, the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky concluded a tour of Western capitals, as Kyiv said a long-awaited Russian offensive was underway in the east.
Ukraine’s air force said 61 of 71 Russian missiles had been shot down. But Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russia had hit power facilities in six regions with missiles and drones, causing blackouts across most of Ukraine.
Friday’s Russian offensive is only the latest tragedy for DTEK Group, Ukraine’s largest private power company, which has lost dozens of employees since the war began. The Globe spoke with its CEO about the challenges ahead.
Read more:
Workers of the electricity supply company DTEK maintain power lines by cutting off excess branches in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 8, 2022.Andrew Kravchenko/The Associated Press
Federal comptroller-general says he told CFOs reviewing McKinsey contracts to ‘be careful what you write down’
The federal Comptroller-General has acknowledged he recently advised chief financial officers overseeing a review of government contracts with consultancy McKinsey & Company to “be careful what you write down,” drawing a stern rebuke from the Information Commissioner of Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek and Treasury Board President Mona Fortier in early January to review federal spending with McKinsey in response to concerns raised by opposition MPs. The review is scheduled to be completed by June 30.
Federal officials have said the total value of federal contracts awarded to McKinsey since 2015 is at least $116.8-million.
The Peace Tower and Centre Block of Parliament Hill is framed through the window of the Indigenous Peoples Space in Ottawa on Jan. 12, 2023.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Several survivors pulled from rubble days after deadly earthquake in Turkey, Syria
Rescuers pulled several earthquake survivors from the shattered remnants of buildings Friday, including some who lasted more than 100 hours trapped under crushed concrete after the disaster slammed Turkey and Syria and killed more than 23,000 people.
The survivors included six relatives who huddled in a small pocket under the rubble, a teenager who drank his own urine to slake his thirst and a 4-year-old boy who was offered a jelly bean to calm him down as he was shimmied out.
But the flurry of dramatic rescues – some broadcast live on Turkish television – could not obscure the overwhelming devastation of what Turkey’s president called one of the greatest disasters in his nation’s history. Entire neighbourhoods of high-rise buildings have been reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires, and the magnitude 7.8 quake has already killed more people than Japan’s Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, with many more bodies undoubtedly yet to be recovered and counted.
Read more:
- The catastrophe in Turkey and Syria should be a wake-up call for B.C.
- In Turkey’s devastating earthquake, it’s the poor paying the price again
Rescue teams and civilian volunteers search for survivors amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings in Antakya, the capital of Hatay Province, Turkey on Feb. 10, 2023.EMILY GARTHWAITE/The New York Times News Service
A hospital’s mistake left two men estranged from their heritages. Now they fight for answers
Last summer, medical DNA testing proved that 65-year-old Richard Beauvais wasn’t the Métis child of the late Camille and Laurette Beauvais. He and a man named Eddy Ambrose had been switched at birth in 1955 at a hospital in Arborg, a town 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
In fact, Mr. Beauvais, who was raised in a Metis settlement on the shores of Lake Manitoba and was taken into foster care at age eight or nine, isn’t even Indigenous. Now, both men want an explanation – and compensation.
Lindsay Jones reports on the third known switched at birth mistake in Manitoba, and the fifth in Canada following recent reports of two mix-ups in Newfoundland and Labrador.
At his home in Sechelt, B.C., Richard Beauvais keeps personal photos from his childhood, when government officials seized him from his home in St. Laurent, Man., as part of the Sixties Scoop. He has only recently learned that he was switched at birth and has no Indigenous heritage at all.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Canadian hiring surges in January, putting pressure on Bank of Canada: Canada notched another blockbuster month of job creation in January, an expansion that suggests the economy isn’t heading into an imminent recession.
Rogers in talks with Quebecor over domestic roaming rates as government mulls Shaw takeover: Quebecor Inc. is in talks with Rogers Communications Inc. about reducing the rates that are charged when Freedom Mobile customers roam on the Rogers network, in order to win the federal Industry Minister’s approval for a deal that would see Quebecor acquire Canada’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, sources say.
TDSB spending millions on administrative leave for principals, data shows: Principals at the Toronto District School Board are being sent home on paid administrative leave – with salaries that can run upward of $120,000 a year – far more often and for longer stretches than their counterparts at other Ontario public boards, according to data from the Ontario Principals’ Council.
Ontario physicians college failed to properly investigate gender discrimination, improper billing complaints, court rules: The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ordered the province’s physicians college to reinvestigate allegations of gender discrimination and improper billing against a former Toronto-area emergency department chief, sending a strong signal to all professional regulators to beef up their misconduct probes.
A guide to watching the 2023 Super Bowl and Rihanna’s halftime show in Canada: The 57th Super Bowl is just days away. On Sunday, Kansas City and the Philadelphia Eagles will face off for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and Rihanna is promising a “jam-packed” halftime show. Here’s what you need to know about how to watch Sunday’s game and the halftime show in Canada.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index was largely unchanged Friday with gains in industrials and energy partially offset by weakness in technology and metals, while U.S. markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 14.37 points at 20,612.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 169.39 points at 33,869.27. The S&P 500 index was up 8.96 points at 4,090.46, while the Nasdaq composite was down 71.46 points at 11,718.12.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.84 cents US compared with 74.48 cents US on Thursday.
The March crude contract was up US$1.66 at US$79.72 per barrel and the March natural gas contract was up eight cents at US$2.51 per mmBTU.
The April gold contract was down US$4 at US$1,874.50 an ounceand the March copper contract was down eight cents at US$4.02 a pound.
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TALKING POINTS
The ties that grind: What can we do, when family members cause us pain?
“It’s an awful, maybe even impossible awareness to hold – one that is all too common among many families worldwide: Sometimes it just isn’t healthy to maintain a relationship with someone who hurts you, and sometimes those people happen to be family, people we don’t get to choose. But blood is thicker than water, people say; cherish your family, because one day they’ll be gone. I hear where they’re coming from. But what about when those people rob safety, joy and security from your own life? What are you supposed to do then?” – Kelly S. Thompson
The cruel and unusual torture of doing your taxes
“Rather than being a lone shirker, I am one of a tribe of more than a million Canadians who are not filing their tax returns. Maybe they’re also all locked out of their CRA accounts.” – Vicky Mochama
Super Bowl is no longer entertainment in America, it’s religion
“America doesn’t do holidays any more. It has mandatory days off so that Americans can all get on Reddit and fight about holidays. All they have left is the Super Bowl. It’s the Christmas truce of the culture wars (once you’ve left the trench, please do not get started about Christmas).” – Cathal Kelly
LIVING BETTER
The top 10 most romantic getaways in Canada
Romance can be many things to different people. So when tasked to come up with some of the most romantic destinations in this beautiful country we threw the net wide. We settled on 10 unique locations – some perfect for cold wintry days, others ideal for summer sunsets and lots in between to appeal to anyone looking to spark a new romantic fire, pop the question or reignite a long-term relationship.
TODAY’S LONG READ
I tried a $5,000 modern men’s dating coach. Here’s what happened
Illustration by The Globe and Mail
Graham Isador is not good at internet dating. On swipe apps, he rarely matches with potential romantic partners; when he does get a match, conversations tend to fizzle quickly. Some days he blames the algorithm; other times, he wonders if he’s bad at creating an appealing digital persona.
The lack of success with online dating has forced him to consider a devastating possibility: Maybe he’s just less charming and handsome than he’d previously assumed. After his targeted ads started suggesting an AI girlfriend, he decided to try a dating coach. In his own words, Isador tells us what he learned.
Evening Update is written by Emerald Bensadoun. 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.