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Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Legislation meant to regulate the relationship between global tech giants and Canadian news media hit a stumbling block today when Google and Facebook each announced new policies that would do an end run around the Online News Act and prevent Canadians from finding links to articles published by Canadian news outlets.
Bill C-18, which received royal assent this month, requires tech companies to negotiate deals with news organizations to compensate them for the work search and social websites link to.
Despite an attempt by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez to clarify in writing how the legislation would affect the company, Google has announced it will pull access to such articles. Meanwhile, Facebook says it is cancelling deals previously made with Canadian news media outlets.
The government and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which will oversee the Online News Act, both have the ability to issue regulations about how the act will work. A consultation on that process is expected to start within weeks.
Former student, believed to be motivated by hate, charged in University of Waterloo stabbings
Investigators believe a young man who stabbed three people in a university gender studies class Wednesday was motivated by hate related to gender expression and gender identity, Waterloo Regional Police say.
The man, a 24-year-old former student, was charged with several crimes today, the day after he carried out the attack on a professor and two students. About 40 students were present at the time.
All the victims have been treated in hospital for serious but not life-threatening injuries.
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Wildfire smoke expected to last through weekend
Wildfire smoke obscures the view from the 96th floor of the former John Hancock Building in Chicago today.Scott Olson/Getty Images
Smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Ontario that has wafted over cities in both Canada and the United States this week is likely to persist for several days and continue to harm air quality for millions.
Conditions have improved in cities like Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa after air quality was ranked among the worst in the world earlier in the week. Still, Environment Canada warned that fine particulate matter could still cause breathing problems.
Across the U.S. Midwest and further east, data from Airnow indicated residents in Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Chicago were experiencing the world’s worst air quality today.
Outdoor events in both countries were being cancelled, including patriotic fireworks displays, music festivals and sporting events.
There were about 500 active wildfires throughout Canada Thursday, data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre showed, with more than 250 deemed out of control.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Anand not ready to support NATO fast-track for Ukraine
Defence Minister Anita Anand met with Britain’s Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace today, after which the issue of Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO was raised in a news conference. Wallace, in a position shared by France, said NATO should waive a key requirement and fast-track Ukraine’s membership. But, like Germany and the U.S., Canada is reluctant to agree, with Anand saying “when the conditions are right we are fully supportive of Ukraine’s ascension to NATO.”
France sends 40,000 police to quell protests
Unrest engulfed suburban Paris and other parts of France for a third day today, with protesters outraged over a fatal police shooting of a teenager with African heritage. While 40,000 police officers were to deploy across France, towns and cities nationwide were bracing for further rioting.
TV’s sex educator Sue Johanson dies
Sue Johanson, who dispensed sex advice to callers for years and destigmatized sex with a grandmotherly demeanour, has died at age 93.
MARKET WATCH
Most main stock indexes ended higher today after major U.S. lenders passed the Fed’s annual stress test, but gains were tempered by expectations of another interest rate hike in the U.S. to combat high inflation. More evidence of a resilient U.S. economy was found in unemployment numbers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 269.76 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 34,122.42, the S&P 500 gained 19.58 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 4,396.44 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.42 points to 13,591.33. On Bay Street, the S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 94.32 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 19,913.17.
One Canadian dollar could be bought for 75.47 U.S. cents.
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TALKING POINTS
Will defeat in Ukraine hasten Putin’s end, or could it be the other way around?
“As horrible as the war has been for the people of Ukraine, it has been utterly disastrous for the Russian military, a calamity on a scale usually associated with attempts to invade Russia, rather than the other way around.” – Andrew Coyne
The outrage at Paul Bernardo’s transfer neglects the reality of prison conditions
“The backlash to Mr. Bernardo’s transfer rests on a presumption that his punishment has been somehow alleviated or reduced. In the public imagination, we equate harsher punishment with a higher security level. But that is not necessarily so. What matters more than the label is how an individual prisoner experiences incarceration.” – Lisa Kerr
The term ‘cisgender’ is more fraught than its advocates admit
“It ought to be possible to support rights and affirmation for transgender people without making inaccurate assumptions about those who aren’t trans. If an individual does not want to use ‘cis’ in reference to their own ostensibly not-trans self, that seems … fine? As with the ritual of stating one’s pronouns, people may want to opt out for a range of reasons.” – Phoebe Maltz Bovy
LIVING BETTER
Cycling through my roots along New Brunswick’s Acadian Véloroute
New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula has been the heartland of Acadian culture for more than 400 years, home to descendants of French settlers who survived the British effort to forcibly remove thousands from their homes in the mid-1700s. I’m exploring the area at the speed of a bike, happy for the chance to steep in a side of my heritage that is rich and alive here, but exists on the margins of mainstream Canadian culture. The chance for immersive discovery is exactly what the creators of the Véloroute had in mind.
Elliot Page takes control of his story in new memoir Pageboy
This year, Pride month is precarious, particularly for trans people. It is likewise a precarious time to release a trans story like Elliot Page’s memoir, Pageboy. And as one of the most famous trans people in the world, Page has become the subject of intense – and often unwanted – attention. With Pageboy, he’s now taking control of his story.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Li-Cycle, the Canadian company at the forefront of EV battery recycling, readies for its big test
Workers Kirk Frost and David Carrey sort batteries during a tour of the Li-Cycle battery recycling facility in Kingston, Ont., in May.Lars Hagberg/The Globe and Mail
Amid widespread concerns about the reliability and sustainability of battery supply chains, an emerging Canadian battery recycler could help significantly reduce the sector’s reliance on mining by recovering minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from used batteries.
But so far, Li-Cycle has only refined the process for breaking down used batteries into their mineral components. The next step, which will put it in the mix with more established powerhouses mainly based in Asia, is to build plants where the broken-down powdery substance can be separated into battery-grade minerals ready for sale.
It’s a critical and untested piece of Li-Cycle’s bet on an industry with several unknowns. But the company is confident it has advantages to put it at the forefront of the sector. Adam Radwanski reports.
Evening Update is compiled and written weekdays by an editor in The Globe’s live news department. 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.