Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
At least 25 women were abused over nearly seven decades by Jean Vanier, the Canadian co-founder of L’Arche, a global organization for the intellectually disabled, a lengthy independent report has found after a two-year investigation.
“But,” the report cautions, “the full extent of his activities has yet to be determined.”
The Globe and Mail obtained a 60-page synopsis of the report. It is replete with Vanier’s sexual abuses of nuns and other women who worked within or with L’Arche. Two essential findings they note: that none of the abused were people with disabilities, and that so far no charges of abuse have been laid in Canada.
A man walks in a flooded street in Sainte-Marie, Que., Saturday, April 20, 2019.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
The Globe’s Code Minimum project
The second piece of The Globe’s latest series, takes a closer look at outdated building codes that leave residents vulnerable to extreme weather events in Canada.
In Sainte-Marie, Que., for example, houses had been waterproofed, but those measures backfired. The houses were watertight but unable to resist the hydraulic pressure that lifted them from the ground.
This isn’t a problem specific to Sainte-Marie, of course. A Globe and Mail examination of the country’s national and provincial codes shows that they are bereft of requirements to deal with the increasingly harsh weather disruptions associated with climate change, including flood threats.
- Reader callout: Share your stories of extreme weather at home
U of T student project uses AI to boost search for aliens
Scientists searching for extraterrestrial intelligence have turned a student project into a powerful AI-based tool for spotting radio signals that could have been generated by an alien civilization.
Peter Ma, a third-year undergraduate in math and physics at the University of Toronto, created the AI algorithm in high school as a computer-science project during the pandemic. He’s teamed up with other professionals to refine the algorithm and test its ability to spot potential extraterrestrial transmissions hidden among the radio waves produced naturally in space, and also to distinguish them from all the radio noise that human activity is constantly generating on Earth.
A key strength of the approach is that the more data the algorithm is exposed to the better it gets.
Canadian universities conducting joint research with Chinese military scientists
Researchers at 50 Canadian universities, including the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia and McGill University, have conducted and published joint scientific papers from 2005 to 2022 with scientists connected to China’s military, according to research provided to The Globe and Mail by U.S. strategic intelligence company Strider Technologies Inc.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has warned that Beijing is increasingly using joint academic research programs to obtain innovative science and technology for economic and military advantage.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Sixth Memphis police officer relieved of duty in beating of Tyre Nichols: Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty shortly after the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols, who died three days later at a hospital, Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said. She did not disclose Hemphill’s role in the arrest.
Hall of Famer Bobby Hull was a man who personified hockey: On the ice, his slapshot couldn’t be beat. In the public eye, he was the ideal sports celebrity. But his private life had a darker side too
ChatGPT hype is a bright spot in the tech slump: Whether AI’s new era can turn a profit is anyone’s guess. The challenge is to turn what seem like high-tech parlour tricks into profitable commercial applications.
Canadian doctors are spending millions of hours on unnecessary paperwork: A new study that says cutting that red tape could help them see more patients, reduce burnout and fatigue, and improve patient care.
‘Ambitious’ conservation targets demand agreement between B.C., Ottawa: To meet its lofty environmental goals, it will need to create the equivalent of 175 more conservation areas over the next seven years. Canada also needs B.C. to succeed if it is to meet its own promises at the COP15 biodiversity conference last year.
Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor extend closing deadline on proposed deal to Feb. 17: The deal would see Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless carrier for $2.85-billion, before Rogers takes over Shaw for $20-billion.
MARKET WATCH
Tech drags stocks lower as big market week kicks off
Major U.S. stock indexes sank on Monday, weighed down by declines in technology and other megacap shares, as investors looked toward a major week of events including central bank meetings and a slew of earnings reports.
The TSX lost ground, but with tech being less heavily weighted in Canada, losses were more modest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 260.99 points to 33,717.09, the S&P 500 lost 52.79 points to 4,017.77 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 227.90 points to 11,393.81. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended down 142.37 points at 20,572.11, its biggest decline since the start of the year. On Friday, the index posted its highest closing level since June 8.
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TALKING POINTS
The broken clock policies of Trudeau and Poilievre
“But until disaster actually strikes, the economic approaches of these two leaders will be like two broken clocks: sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but never changing.” - Campbell Clark
B.C.’s overdose crisis needs life-saving interventions more urgently than decriminalization
“Current intervention realities mean that a disproportionate number of drug inhalers find themselves at much elevated risk of dying, since only a minority of the supervised-consumption sites operating in B.C. accommodate their method of consumption.” - Benedikt Fischer
Horses are still being exported for slaughter. Will Trudeau take action?
“This is a sinister facet of Canadian agriculture. We have a saying in the music business that you’re only as good as the worst guy in your band. Horse farming is the bar to which Canadian agriculture lowers itself.” - Jann Arden and Jessica Scott-Reid
LIVING BETTER
Struggling to focus when returning to the office? You aren’t alone
Workers have finally adjusted to working from home, but are now being asked to re-acclimatize themselves to the office again, says Navio Kwok, vice-president of research and marketing at Kilberry Leadership Advisors, a firm of management psychologists based in Toronto and New York that specializes in executive assessments and C-level leadership advisory.
Hybrid environments may be the norm for white-collar workers going forward, and finding the ideal balance between open office and quiet remote work is tricky, but not impossible. Training yourself with ambient noise, and saving more complex tasks for the more quiet environment.
- Also read: Why you need to prioritize protein at breakfast
TODAY’S LONG READ
A vehicle is seen among downed power lines and utility poles after a major storm on Merivale Road in Ottawa on Saturday, May 21, 2022.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Climate-minded electrical companies look to improve their weakest link: the wooden utility pole
Many major utilities predict that climate change will take a mounting toll on their infrastructure. Their preparations are whipping up a bonanza in the utility pole business – and the consequences could soon show up on your utility bill.
Next time you’re out for a stroll, observe the power lines around you. Particularly in old neighbourhoods, they’re likely strung from wooden poles. The story of how poles became ubiquitous began in 1844, and still it remains. Though steel and concrete poles have become common in some parts of North America, wooden poles retain their popularity.
But when extreme weather strikes, they sometimes prove to be the system’s weakest link. Extreme weather, turbocharged by a changing climate, threatens to make your electrical service less reliable and more expensive. Inside the battle to stop that from happening
Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. 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.