Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The federal government said Wednesday it will provide financial support to ease the burden the troubled Muskrat Falls hydro project is imposing on Newfoundland and Labrador.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to St. John’s comes ahead of an expected federal election. Newfoundland Premier Andrew Furey noted that the project has been the No. 1, “pervasive” issue facing the province for years.
The Muskrat Falls project, whose projected budget has increased from $7.4-billion to $13.1-billion, has sparked fears of a spike in electricity rates in the province.
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Biles’s choice to withdraw from competition continues to reverberate around the sporting world
The decision by American gymnast Simone Biles to prioritize her mental health ahead of Olympic glory continued to dominate the Games on Wednesday.
The Globe’s Nathan VanderKlippe says there might not be a better place to discuss the pressure around performance than in Japan, a country that’s all too familiar with suffocating demands of workplace expectations. The country has spent years battling high suicide rates and workaholism.
Biles, 24, said her decision to pull out of the team competition in Tokyo was related to her mental health and the strain of expectations. Already considered the greatest gymnast in history, Biles has also withdrawn from the individual all-around competition.
Cathal Kelly, meanwhile, says Biles is showing a great amount of courage by choosing her mental health over more gold medals. He says the superstar is showing other athletes how much power they have to stand up to an athletic-industrial complex driven almost exclusively by television and sponsorship dollars.
Read more:
- The Globe’s daily guide to the Games
- Canada’s women lead charge to Olympic podium in Tokyo, as they did in Rio
- For Hong Kong, Tokyo Olympics are its best Games in history, at a time when it needs wins more than ever
Delta variant continues to roil global reopening plans
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course yesterday and advised Americans to wear masks in public indoor settings, even if fully immunized, just two months after recommending that vaccinated people can avoid donning masks indoors. The move was prompted by the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant and rising COVID-19 case numbers across the country.
But several provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and PEI – say they have no plans to tighten indoor mask mandates, despite the urging of health experts. New Brunswick is set to remove its mask mandate on Friday.
Meanwhile, Sydney extended a lockdown by four weeks on Wednesday after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to stem an outbreak of COVID-19. Australia’s biggest city was just three days away from ending lockdown measures, but authorities are now warning of tougher policies to stamp out non-compliance.
And, the virus continues to disrupt the Tokyo Olympics, with the host city registering a record 3,177 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
Read more:
- U.K. excludes Canadian travellers from new exception to quarantine measures
- Opinion: At this point in the pandemic, it’s misinformation that’s killing people
- Opinion: Canada is acting like we’ve already won the vaccination marathon. But we’re miles from the finish line
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Seventy-one COVID-19 cases linked to Calgary Stampede: Alberta Health officials say community spread as a result of those cases is unknown, and added that the 10-day rodeo and festival that welcomed hundreds of thousands of attendees isn’t a significant driver, so far, in rising infections in the province.
Films starring Kirsten Dunst, Steven Yeun and Sigourney Weaver heading to TIFF 2021: Organizers on Wednesday revealed a fresh slate of titles set to play September’s festival from its Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery programs, plus newly announced Gala and Special Presentation selections.
Shopify books fifth straight quarter of profitability: Canada’s most valuable company also topped US$1-billion in quarterly revenue for the first time as it continued to benefit from a pandemic-fuelled surge in online shopping.
Tune in to The Decibel: MuchMusic is making a comeback on TikTok, capitalizing on a wave of ’90s nostalgia for which it has millennials and Gen Z to thank. Culture critic and writer Amil Niazi says its return via TikTok is a smart move, in theory.
MARKET WATCH
North American markets were mixed with some indexes posting modest gains, on a day where an update from the U.S. Federal Reserve and a flood of earnings reports carried the direction of many stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 57.05 points at 20,230.40.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 127.59 points at 34,930.93. The S&P 500 index was down 0.82 points at 4,400.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 102.00 points at 14,762.58.
The Canadian dollar traded for 79.58 cents US compared with 79.50 cents US on Tuesday.
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TALKING POINTS
François Legault withdraws an olive branch to Alberta
“The announcement signalled that the argument of LNG promoters – that their projects will help reduce global greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions by displacing oil and coal consumption – is no longer enough for even pro-business governments such as Mr. Legault’s to risk backing them. Despite Mr. Legault’s overall popularity, he appears unwilling to spend political capital on a project denounced by Quebec’s powerful environmental movement barely a year before the next election.” - Konrad Yakabuski
The Conservative dilemma: The Liberals are still the natural governing party
“Today’s Conservatives tilt against the zeitgeist. Since the demise of the old Progressive Conservatives, they are a party anchored further on the right, entrenched on the Prairies but nowhere else. They’ve become a lost cause in Quebec, where voters are more inclined to social-democratic formations.” - Lawrence Martin
LIVING BETTER
Nine summer recipe ideas featuring fish and seafood
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Italians have always understood how to cook whole fish. They recognize it as a simple food with a clean fresh and delicate taste. It is grilled and served with fresh herbs, vinaigrettes, relishes, pesto or excellent olive oil. The flavours are never masked, and the fish keeps its integrity.
If you are grilling fish this summer, Lucy Waverman says this is the right way to do it.
TODAY’S LONG READ
A Canadian researcher has uncovered evidence that the Mackenzie Mountains of the Northwest Territories harbour the earliest traces of animal life found anywhere on the planet.
Elizabeth Turner, a professor of sedimentology and paleontology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., says her discovery is likely the remains of sponges that lived in the ocean alongside a vast supercontinent some 890 million years ago. If she’s right, the ancestors of modern sponges were around for millions of years before the oldest recognized body fossils of other animals.
“We know that animals had to have had a back history – probably a fairly long one,” said Dr. Turner, whose findings were published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Read Ivan Semeniuk’s full story here.
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