Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
OPP intelligence report warned convoy had no end date before protesters’ arrival, inquiry hears
The Ontario Provincial Police warned the convoy protests heading for Ottawa had no end date and that it could end up including “extremists,” according to an intelligence report that was presented to the Emergencies Act inquiry Wednesday.
The police board did not receive intelligence reports, including the Jan. 26 report with that warning, former Ottawa police board chair Diane Deans testified. The document, which was written two days before the protests took over Ottawa, closely predicted what unfolded over the weeks-long demonstration that left the capital city gridlocked.
- CSIS found no foreign actors funding the convoy protests, according to public inquiry evidence
A person walks among trucks on Wellington Street on Feb. 14, 2022, during the weeks-long convoy protest.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
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Canada’s inflation rate slows to 6.9% but food prices soar
Canadian inflation slowed slightly in September for the third consecutive month, but not as much as financial analysts had predicted as some products and services continued to accelerate in price.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.9 per cent in September from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said. That was down from 7 per cent in August. Analysts were expecting inflation would ease to 6.7 per cent.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, at an appearance in Windsor, Ont., warned of “challenging days” ahead for the Canadian economy, but said Canada has the fiscal capacity to weather the slowdown in growth.
- Explainer: What inflation means for the cost of living in Canada
Putin declares martial law in occupied Ukrainian regions
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered all of Russian to support the war effort in Ukraine as he declared martial law in four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin illegally annexed, in an apparent move to firm its grip on the areas it partially controls.
Russian state TV broadcast images of people fleeing the occupied city of Kherson, portraying the exodus as an attempt to clear the city of civilians before it became a combat zone. Beyond tightening security measures on the ground, it was unclear what immediate impact the declaration would have.
Read more:
- Ukrainians asked to cut energy use as Russian strikes cause widespread blackout
- Top soldier warns Canada’s ‘tenuous hold’ on Arctic will come under challenge in decades ahead
- Opinion: With its future at stake, it’s time for Ukraine to join NATO
People clear blast debris and leaves outside a house where a couple was killed in a Russian drone strike two days beforehand on Oct. 19, 2022, in Kyiv.Ed Ram/Getty Images
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Suspect charged in death of RCMP officer: Jongwon Ham has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang in Burnaby, B.C.
How the Black Death left its mark on our genes: For the first time, an international team identified a set of genetic variations that helped some people fight off the plague. But there was a trade-off for those with protection: One of the genes is also implicated in various autoimmune disorders.
Audit industry regulator flags issues at a Big Four accounting firm: The Canadian Public Accountability Board says one of Canada’s four biggest auditing firms continues to have a significant number of problems in its work. It’s not revealing the firm’s name at this time because of confidentiality provisions outlined in law.
Supercharged rents are crushing Canadians: Many Canadians are going to extraordinary lengths to secure a place to live: competing in bidding wars, spending more than 50 per cent of their monthly income on rent or settling for short-term leases and long commutes.
MARKET WATCH
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 24.09 points, or 0.65 per cent, to end at 3,695.89 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 89.45 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 10,684.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 84.73 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 30,439.07.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 123.78 points at 18,674.40.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.57 cents US, compared with 72.70 cents US on Tuesday.
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TALKING POINTS
François Legault’s plan for more hydro dams draws skepticism from an unlikely source
“It remains to be seen how far Quebec will to go to lure big electricity consumers such as data centres, critical-minerals processing plants and hydrogen producers. Such a strategy implies selling power for less than Hydro-Québec’s marginal cost of production. The utility’s legacy dams generate power for about three cents per kilowatt-hour. New dams would face costs of at least four times that level.” - Konrad Yakabuski
Housing in Vancouver is out of control. Will the new mayor make a difference?
“ABC does have some important goals, from doubling the number of co-op units to lobbying the provincial and federal governments to get more purpose-built rentals constructed. While those are both important, they are specific pillars rather than an ambitious overhaul of the restrictive city bylaws that prevent more housing from being built. The time for pondering is over.” - Editorial
LIVING BETTER
As rate hikes continue, is it time to lock in your variable-rate mortgage?
With Canada’s central bank widely expected to unveil another oversized rate hike next week amid stubbornly high inflation, growing number of variable-rate mortgage holders are facing the dreaded question: Is it time to lock into a fixed rate?
James Laird, co-CEO of online rate comparisons side Ratehub.ca, says the answer depends on the state of homeowners’ household finances.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Son of Watergate burglar reflects on the personal toll of conspiracy theories
Moments before he was shot on Nov. 22, 1963, U.S. president John F. Kennedy rides through Dallas with his wife and the governor of Texas. He was pronounced dead in hospital soon after. He was 46.Stringer ./Reuters
Saint John Hunt was only a child when John F. Kennedy died. He was a teen when the Watergate scandal tore down the Richard Nixon presidency.
But those torrents of history swept up Mr. Hunt like few others. His father was E. Howard Hunt, an author, spy and Watergate burglar who, shortly before he died, scribbled down allegations that the John F. Kennedy assassination had been orchestrated by the highest levels of the U.S. government. It was the same father who had previously enlisted his son to help dispose of equipment used in Watergate espionage.
Hunt’s unusual life has made him an intimate observer of some of the most important political convulsions in recent U.S. history and their reverberations into modern-day America, a country where anti-establishment politics has flourished amid a prolonged fracturing of public faith in the institutions of government. Read the full story by Nathan VanderKlippe.
Evening Update is written by Beatrice Paez. 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.