Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Russia has begun an attack on eastern Ukraine and has made their first major gain of the new offensive, capturing the Luhansk region town of Kreminna.
Troops and equipment involved in the assault on Kyiv have been withdrawn from northern Ukraine and repositioned to the eastern front over the past two and a half weeks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed a new stage of the operation is beginning and that Russian forces intended to “liberate” the entire eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in what is being called the “Battle of Donbas.”
The strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro and the surrounding area were being targeted by Russian rockets nightly, according to the deputy mayor of the city, Mykhailo Lysenko. While the nearest frontline is about 150 kilometres away from Dnipro, the city – which had a prewar population of one million – is considered the linchpin of Ukraine’s efforts to defend the east of the country; due to its location, it is the main hub for repairs, for logistics, for humanitarian aid in that area. “Right now, Dnipro is more important than Kyiv,” said Mikhaylo Kamchatnyi, a political analyst.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canada will be sending heavy artillery weapons to Ukraine.
“Ukrainians have fought like heroes over the past number of months and they’re not just fighting for Ukraine, they are fighting for the values that underpin so many of our free and democratic societies,” Trudeau said during a visit to New Brunswick.
He offered no more details on the promised weapons shipment, saying these would come later. Heavy artillery guns can fire large-calibre shells at long-range – much further than infantry weapons. The announcement came hours after Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden and other allied leaders discussed imposing further economic pain on Russia and vowed to provide more weaponry and aid to Ukraine.
Read more:
- EU leaders set to take on Hungary’s Viktor Orban, the ‘Trojan horse of the Putin regime’
- Canada imposes sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s two daughters, others in Russian regime
- Opinion: The mistake the West made in Ukraine: Not sending more weapons, sooner
Hospitals weather sixth COVID-19 wave, but warn that staff absences could affect surgeries
Health authorities across Canada say that while they are getting through the sixth wave of the pandemic better than previous ones, the ability to perform surgeries and other patient care could be affected by work absences, as doctors and nurses continue to catch COVID-19.
Health care worker absences due to COVID-19 are the biggest factor in Quebec’s ability to deal with its surgical waiting list, says Lucie Opatrny, the province’s associate deputy minister of health. Roughly 13,000 workers are currently missing from the system because of exposures or illness, she said.
In Ottawa, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario said some surgeries were being cancelled because workers had to stay home after contracting or being exposed to COVID-19. The hospital said 191 health care workers were recently absent on a single day. The facility’s all-time high was 199 absent workers, during the fifth wave in January.
Read more:
- Where’s the COVID-19 data? Canada facing the most uncertain wave yet as provinces scale back on reporting, experts say
- Moderna announces step toward updating COVID-19 shots for fall
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes another apology for partygate, more fines expected
Boris Johnson has apologized again for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules, in a bid to fend off calls for his resignation.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson repeatedly said he was sorry for breaching lockdown rules when he attended a gathering in Downing Street in June, 2020, to celebrate his birthday.
“I apologize profusely,” Mr. Johnson told members of Parliament. “As soon as I received the notice, I acknowledged the hurt and the anger, and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister, and I repeat that again in the House now.”
Mr. Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who also attended the party, were among several people fined £50 ($82) last week by London’s Metropolitan Police for breaking lockdown rules. The police investigation continues and Mr. Johnson could yet face further fines for two more parties he allegedly attended in 2020.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Home sales down, price growth slows: Canadian home sales dropped in March and prices fell in some of the country’s hottest markets, as borrowing became more expensive after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates.
IMF cuts global growth forecast: The International Monetary Fund downgraded the outlook for the world economy this year and next, blaming Russia’s war in Ukraine for disrupting global commerce, pushing up oil prices, threatening food supplies and increasing uncertainty already heightened by the coronavirus and its variants. The IMF expects Canada’s economy will grow 3.9 per cent this year, down from the 4.1 per cent projected in January and 4.6 per cent in 2021.
Aviation industry speaks up about Flair: A large swathe of Canada’s aviation sector said Tuesday it opposes Edmonton-based Flair Airlines’ appeal to the government to be temporarily exempt from Canadian ownership requirements.
Ontario teachers’ pension boosting tech investing: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan intends to dramatically increase its investments in private technology companies despite a sharp drop in valuations in recent months.
Twitter’s fate remains up in the air: Co-founder Jack Dorsey took to social media last week, saying that Twitter’s board has “consistently been the dysfunction of the company.” Dorsey himself is a board member. Meanwhile, corporate governance experts say that if the board decides to explore a sale, price will override all other considerations.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. and Canadian stocks ended higher on Tuesday, as investors used positive earnings to advance Wall Street’s main indexes and took relief from two U.S. Federal Reserve officials offering more dovish comments on interest rate rises than one of their counterparts.
The S&P 500 gained 70.52 points, or 1.61%, to end at 4,462.21 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 287.30 points, or 2.15%, to 13,619.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 499.51 points, or 1.45%, to 34,911.20. The TSX gained 140.41, or 0.64% to end at 22,018.82.
The Canadian dollar traded for 79.21 cents US compared with 79.25 cents US on Monday.
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TALKING POINTS
We can reduce the threat of COVID-19 without more lockdowns
“‘Living with COVID’ means repeated waves, more hospital admissions, more deaths, more Canadians living with disabilities from long COVID, higher health care costs and the threat of new variants disrupting everything again. There is a better way. And it doesn’t involve lockdowns.” – Mustafa Hirji
Canadian health care needs a lot of reform, and (at most) a little more money. So far, we’re getting the opposite
“Rather than tearing down universal insurance, Canada needs to reform its structure and its incentives. At the same time, our country should expand – yes, expand – the list of insured health services.” – The Editorial Board
Indigeneity is for Indigenous people to define
Determining who we are can only be done by us. This is core to being sovereign as peoples, especially Treaty peoples, at the heart of self-determination. This is the only way to prevent repeating history with a new era of colonial definitions. – Mark Arcand
LIVING BETTER
How can you get the most out of your workouts, without a personal trainer? A big part of being a trainer is making decisions – which exercises, how many sets, how many reps and in what particular order. Personal trainer Paul Landini shares how to how to structure your own workouts for maximum efficiency. His first tip is to think movement patterns, not body parts. “The human body was designed to move in all sorts of ways. We can squat, hinge at the hips, push and pull, rotate, carry and crawl. Choose exercises that express these patterns and you’ll get a more productive and complete workout in a lot less time.”
TODAY’S LONG READ
For Moshe Safdie, social responsibility in design comes naturally
Moshe Safdie, renowned Israel-born architect and Order of Canada Companion, reflects on the role of nature in his designs in his upcoming memoir, If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture and a short video, For Everyone a Garden. In an interview with David Israelson, Safdie discusses why gardens and greenery are integral elements of institutional and commercial buildings. When asked what he wants people to feel when they walk into one of his buildings, he replies: “A sense of uplift. Well-being. I want them to breathe deeper. If you walk into an airport that has daylight, you feel better than if it’s dark. If there’s a garden, you feel better still.” Read the full interview.
Evening Update is written by Prajakta Dhopade. 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.