Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The NDP were joined by the Bloc Québécois on Monday in calling for Anthony Rota, the Speaker of the House of Commons, to resign. The move came after Rota publicly honoured a Ukrainian-Canadian man as a Second World War hero – the man had served in a Nazi SS unit during the war.
“A sacred trust has been broken,” Peter Julian, the NDP house leader, told the Commons on Monday.
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky finished his speech on Friday, Rota drew attention to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old man from North Bay, Ont., lauding him for “fighting for Ukraine independence against the Russians” during the Second World War. Hunka was seated in the chamber as an invited guest. Rota called him a “a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero.” The comments were followed by two standing ovations, which included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Zelensky.
- Marsha Lederman: The tribute to a Nazi in the House of Commons is an utter disgrace that could have easily been avoided
Ontario to secure Greenbelt boundaries in law after reversing plan to carve out sections for development
The government of Ontario plans to introduce a bill that expands the Greenbelt and secures its boundaries in law for the first time. The move comes as Premier Doug Ford attempts to recover from a political scandal.
The legislation would return 3,000 hectares of Greenbelt land back into the protected area, and would also leave in 3,800 hectares of land that were added as part of Ontario’s initial plan. Housing Minister Paul Calandra said the government will codify the Greenbelt boundaries in legislation, not regulation, for the first time, marking a complete reversal from the Progressive Conservatives’ previous plan to allow housing development on parts of the 800,000-hectare environmentally protected region that arcs around the Greater Toronto Area.
- Marcus Gee: Doug Ford backing down on the Greenbelt was a win for democracy in Ontario
- Explainer: The Ontario Greenbelt controversy, Doug Ford’s role and what has happened so far
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High price of tuberculosis drug triggers political, legal fight in South Africa
Geoffrey York reports out of South Africa on how the high price of a drug for tuberculosis has sparked a political and legal fight.
In South Africa’s impoverished townships, TB is the biggest killer. And for years, researchers conducted trials of the world’s newest TB drug on hundreds of people in those areas, trials that yielded valuable data for Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the manufacturer of bedaquiline. But when it came to how much South Africa would pay for the drug, the country didn’t get much of a break, paying twice as much now for the drug as other countries.
Ontario’s publicly funded colleges posted significant operating surpluses last year
Publicly funded colleges in Ontario showed hundreds of millions of dollars in operating surpluses in 2022, thanks mostly to tuition fees paid by Indian international students. Universities and colleges have become reliant on tuition from Indian students, allowing them to fill gaps left by a domestic tuition freeze and low government funding.
But with Canada-India relations on ice after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation that Indian agents may have been involved in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, it’s unclear what might happen to the flow of Indian international students.
- Shawn Barber: India’s vital economic status means Canada will be the loser if crisis escalates
- Explainer: The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar: A timeline of events
- Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the B.C. plumber whose murder became the catalyst in a geopolitical crisis
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet commander among 34 killed in Crimea missile strike, Ukraine claims
A missile strike that blasted the Crimean headquarters of Russia’s navy last week killed 34 officers, including the fleet commander, Ukraine said Monday, though it provided no proof to support its claim.
The Crimean Peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and has been a frequent target since the war in Ukraine began.
Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces said on the Telegram messaging app that last week’s strike on the main building of the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol wounded 105 people. The claims could not independently be verified and are vastly different from what Russia has reported.
B.C. looks to set up housing development program for middle-income residents
British Columbia plans to start its own program to build housing for middle-income residents, in response to the escalating housing crisis. It’s a rare move for a government since they tend to focus on affordable housing for lower-income residents.
The province already has a $3.3-billion fund dedicated to helping finance new housing, but it has been geared to projects built by non-profits, First Nations and municipalities, where typically about two-thirds of apartments are subsidized and a third are rented at close to market rates. But last week at a convention of city councillors and mayors, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon referred repeatedly to an impending provincial plan for developing housing aimed directly at middle-income households.
RCMP demolish last structure at Quebec’s Roxham Road migrant crossing
Monday saw the last RCMP building come down at Quebec’s Roxham Road, which more than 100,000 migrants have used since 2017 as an unofficial border crossing into Canada. The crossing was shut down in late March after the U.S. and Canada closed a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement.
Now that the flow of asylum seekers across the border has slowed dramatically over recent months, the temporary structure was no longer needed, according to RCMP Sergeant Charles Poirier. “The number of migrants that cross through Roxham has dwindled and our presence is no longer necessary,” he said.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index rose Monday as energy shares rallied, but the market was still trading near its lowest level in four weeks as investors worried about interest rates being kept at elevated levels for longer than previously expected.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended up 20.64 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 19,800.61, its first gain after five straight days of declines.
The dollar traded for 74.23 cents.
Wall Street’s main indexes posted modest gains as well, with increases in Amazon.com shares and the energy sector, as U.S. Treasury yields rose further.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43.04 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 34,006.88; the S&P 500 gained 17.38 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 4,337.44; and the Nasdaq Composite added 59.51 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 13,271.32.
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TALKING POINTS
Car loans are a lurking problem
“In short, financing a new vehicle has become more like taking out a mini mortgage. But unlike a house or condo, a car or truck is not an asset that appreciates in value while you’re paying it off; it’s a good that depreciates in value every day.” - David Parkinson
Canada’s moralistic sex work laws are ineffective and dangerous
“No moralistic attempt to abolish the sex trade has ever been successful at anything other than harming sex workers. Criminalization kills. Listen to us. We are workers and we have hope.” - Andrea Werhun
The Holocaust shouldn’t be the only thing schools teach about the Jewish community
“Care must be taken to ensure that the Holocaust is taught properly – not as an event only of historic interest, but one that, amid the rising levels of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia that plague the globe, is relevant today.” - Tia Sacks
LIVING BETTER
How to start training again after an injury
If you’re physically active on a regular basis, no matter how limber you might be, injuries are inevitable.
That’s why it’s important to know how to manage rehab after an injury. Some tips include learning to take your time, reduce the intensity and, most of all, know when to stop.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Employees of St-Viateur Bagel in Anjou prepare and pack bagels for shipment to Vancouver.Renaud Philippe/The Globe and Mail
Flour power: Montreal bagels make cross-country journey to delight Vancouverites
Last week , nearly 5,000 bagels made their way from Montreal to Vancouver, landing less than 24 hours after they were out of the oven.
For the legendary St-Viateur bakery in Montreal, it was the largest order placed by individuals in the shop’s 66-year history. And it all came about when someone in an online group called Lower Mainland Eats asked if anyone wanted to order some goodies from the bakery back in July.
Hundreds responded. And to help make these B.C. bagel lovers’ sesame and poppy seed dreams come true, the bakery charged only a few dollars more than what someone might pay in person.
Evening Update is written by Maryam Shah. 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.