Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Scott Smith has departed as CEO of Hockey Canada after weeks of pressure, and the entire board of directors is joining him.
Relatively new to the job, Smith was unable to survive the fallout related to Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual-assault allegations and how settlements were paid out. The scandal enraged the country and opened a conversation about toxicity in the sport’s culture.
Hockey Canada said its board will ask its members, provincial hockey associations, to select a new board before the next election of directors, scheduled for Dec. 17. Current members will not seek re-election.
Also today, Hockey Canada’s official equipment provider, Bauer Hockey, said it is pulling financial support for the men’s teams.
Smith follows former board chair Michael Brind’Amour, who resigned in August, and interim chair Andrea Skinner, who stepped down Saturday, as casualties at the embattled federation that has seen politicians, corporate sponsors and provincial hockey associations call for leadership change.
The controversy stems from allegations by a young woman that she was sexually assaulted by several players after a 2018 Hockey Canada fundraising event in London, Ont.
Ukraine seeks more Western air defence help, NATO tightens security
Air-raid sirens wailed across Ukraine for a second day today as Russia continued to fire missiles toward Ukrainian cities, causing less damage and fewer casualties than yesterday but keeping citizens on edge.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met virtually with Group of Seven leaders and repeated his appeal for further air defence capabilities. Though allies have been providing aid and weaponry since the invasion began, Zelensky’s government has mixed gratitude with pleas for more powerful weapons and faster deliveries.
Canada, in its latest show of support, is sending 40 military engineers to Poland to train Ukrainian forces.
- Related: Russian independent TV channel sees viewership soar as it seeks to counter Kremlin from exile
Tech companies reproduce ArriveCan app over long weekend to show Ottawa paid too high a price
As promised, a pair of tech companies each reproduced the government of Canada’s ArriveCan app over the long weekend in a demonstration of what could be done for far less than the $54-million Ottawa paid for its app.
And now one of the companies has gone a step further. Sheetal Jaitly, CEO of TribalScale, said the project can be an opportunity for change and his company is leading the formation of the Canadian Technology Consortium, which will hold its first meeting Friday and could provide Ottawa with free advice on “digital questions.”
This is the daily Evening Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was sent to you as a forward, you can sign up for Evening Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters here. If you like what you see, please share it with a friend.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Angela Lansbury dies: The stage and screen star, perhaps best known for her role in Murder, She Wrote, has died at the age of 96, according to a statement from her children.
Rio Tinto brings titanium project to Quebec mine: Ottawa is teaming up with mining giant Rio Tinto on a $737-million critical minerals project that could cut emissions at a Quebec plant by 70 per cent and challenge China’s dominance in titanium and other similar minerals.
NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge: The orbit of a small asteroid was altered two weeks ago by a NASA test in which a spacecraft slammed into the celestial body.
Coronation date set: The coronation of King Charles III will take place on May 6, 2023, Buckingham Palace announced today.
MARKET WATCH
Stocks were volatile today ahead of U.S. inflation data and the start of third-quarter earnings reports later this week. Worries about a global recession unnerved investors returning from a long weekend, especially in light of the IMF’s revised economic outlook that cut its forecast for 2023 to 2.7-per-cent growth.
The Canadian benchmark index fared worse than its U.S. counterparts, as energy stocks fell briskly and cannabis stocks continued to give back gains from last week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 366.45 points, or 1.97%, at 18,216.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.44 points, or 0.12%, to 29,239.32, the S&P 500 lost 23.65 points, or 0.65%, to 3,588.74 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 115.91 points, or 1.1%, to 10,426.19.
One Canadian dollar could be bought for 72.46 US cents.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.
TALKING POINTS
Should we brace for a new COVID-19 wave this fall?
“With the lifting of restrictions and abandonment of protective measures, we are acting like the pandemic is over. That means, for all intents and purposes, it is – at least politically and socially. There is little appetite anymore for collective actions. That means individuals have to manage their own risk, and that’s not easy in the shifting landscape.” – André Picard
The Safe Third Country Agreement is unsafe – and unconstitutional
“The problem is that the fundamental premise of the STCA no longer holds true. Put simply, the United States is not safe for many refugees. As a result, there are two distinct reasons why, in our respectful view, the Supreme Court should strike down the STCA.” – Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock
We need to get online learning right before the next crisis hits
“Online learning doesn’t work for everyone all the time. It is not as appropriate for young children as it is for adults and a recent study showed that when some students enroll in some in-person courses they are more likely to earn a degree than those who enroll exclusively in online courses. More importantly, whether online learning is successful or not primarily depends on its design.” – George Veletsianos
LIVING BETTER
Tremendous Cate Blanchett seduces and destroys in excellent cancel-culture drama Tár
Todd Field’s new film Tár is the cancel-culture movie that I can discuss freely without feeling any spoiler guilt. An engrossing and stylistically exacting work of cinema, Tár teases our political (as in: identity) sentiments with such a ferocious artistic confidence that you will leave the theatre with questions, arguments, demands – but most of all a supremely fulfilling sense of satisfaction. Here is a film that not only starts a debate but almost ends it, too.
Inconsistent EV rules in Canadian provinces create speed bumps for buyers outside Quebec, B.C.
The tide has shifted toward electric vehicles, but provincial incentives in place today mean that, indirectly at least, not all buyers have a fair chance to buy one. Unless you live in B.C. or Quebec, provinces that penalize car manufacturers who don’t sell enough EVs within their jurisdictions, you’ll find a severe shortage worsened by supply chain challenges consistent with today’s global economy.
TODAY’S LONG READ
How many homes does Canada actually need?
A view of new homes under construction in Brampton, Ont., on July 13, 2022.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Everyone agrees Canada has a major housing shortage. To make homes more affordable for young people, to house incoming waves of immigrants and to restore sanity to markets like Toronto and Vancouver, the country needs more homes.
But exactly how many homes? Estimates vary hugely because the size of the country’s housing shortfall can be defined in a multitude of ways.
Certainly, the estimated 200,000 new home completions each year Canada has been recording won’t cut into the gap that has been growing for decades. It’s not just newcomers putting a strain on housing – household sizes have shrunk from 4.3 people in the early 1940s to 2.4 people today.
Last year, construction soared and 272,000 new homes were started across Canada. Economists and housing analysts applauded this achievement since it was the country’s highest annual number of starts since the heyday of the 1970s.
Unfortunately, the figure was not quite as impressive as it appeared at first glance.
Read the analysis by Ian McGugan.
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.