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Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

Canadian intelligence services have gathered information indicating some MPs and senators are collaborating with foreign governments to advance their own interests, a new report says.

A security and intelligence committee of parliamentarians said Monday that it’s been told some Canadian politicians are working with foreign powers in what may be illegal behaviour.

“Unfortunately, the committee has also seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, ‘semi-witting or witting’ participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics,” the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) said in a report.


Mexico elects first female president

Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico’s first female president after winning a landslide election victory and promising to continue the work of her mentor, outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose help for the poor made him highly popular.

The former Mexico City mayor won the highest vote percentage in the history of Mexico’s democracy, according to preliminary results from the electoral authority. In her victory speech on Sunday night, Sheinbaum, a physicist who was part of a United Nations panel of climate scientists that received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, thanked Lopez Obrador, calling him “an exceptional, unique man who has transformed Mexico for the better.”

  • Doug Saunders: Let’s hope that Mexico’s president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is less loyal than she appears
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Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, makes a heart sign at an election night event in Mexico City, on Sunday, June 2, 2024.FRED RAMOS/The New York Times News Service


Detox beds in B.C. routinely sit empty because of staff shortages

Dozens of detox beds in British Columbia sit empty because of a shortage of addictions physicians and nurses needed to staff them, according to internal health authority data obtained by The Globe and Mail.

In the Vancouver region, this has meant that up to half of the spaces at 24- and 18-bed withdrawal-management facilities remain unoccupied at times despite long lists of people waiting, according to the data, which covers the past several weeks.

When waiting times for detox reach several weeks – sometimes a month or more – many people fail to show up. This is because some people grappling with addiction may struggle with keeping appointments that far out; for others, the desire to get help may simply have passed.

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Scotty Archondous stands in front of the emergency entrance at St. Paul’s hospital Vancouver, B.C., on May 27, 2024.Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail


A Montreal chocolatier chases perfection and redemption at the North American World Chocolate Masters competition

What the World Cup is to soccer, the World Chocolate Masters is to dessert. It’s a competition where chefs train for months, even years – sacrificing time with friends and family in the obsessive pursuit of perfection. This was to be Jeremy Monsel’s second chance at competing for the title. After a colossal upset in 2021, this competition set the stage for a comeback.

Monsel, a 30-year-old Montreal wunderkind chocolatier, a protégée to Christophe Morel – one of Canada’s most celebrated chocolatiers – was the clear favourite entering this year’s competition. See how the competition went and the beautiful chocolate creations.

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Jeremy Monsel prepares his pastry play presentation during the World Chocolate Masters North America Selections in Montreal on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Monsel was crowned the overall winner and will represent North America at the World Chocolate Masters 2025 world finals. Evan Buhler/The Globe and MailEvan Buhler/The Globe and Mail

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Israel-Hamas war: Proposed Gaza ceasefire puts Netanyahu at a crossroads that could shape his legacy

MMIWG: AFN national chief criticizes governments’ inaction on fifth anniversary of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls report

Banks: TD bank employee in Florida accused of helping clients skirt controls in new U.S. money-laundering case

Immigration: Caregivers coming to Canada to look after children, seniors and disabled people will be offered permanent residency on arrival under two pilot programs.

Housing: Nearly half of the federal government’s office space could be converted to housing, expert firm says

Campus protests: University of Toronto convocations begin as pro-Palestinian encampment remains despite looming legal action

Ontario politics: Historic speech from NDP’s Sol Mamakwa, the first in a language other than English or French in the Legislature, highlights lack of long-term care beds in Ontario’s North

Federal adaptation fund: Ottawa creates a $530-million fund for Canadian cities to adapt to climate change

David Shribman analysis: The first criminal trial of the child of a sitting U.S. president swiftly follows the first criminal trial of a former president.

MARKET WATCH

TSX lower as oil tumbles, soft U.S. manufacturing data sends bond yields lower

Canada’s main stock index fell on Monday as a drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks, with the move in energy offsetting gains for high-dividend paying utilities stocks ahead of a potential Bank of Canada interest rate cut this week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended higher, as investors monitored soft U.S. manufacturing sector data and a glitch on the NYSE that briefly caused trading halts in dozens of equities.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 152.43 points at 22,116.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 115.29 points to 38,571.03, the S&P 500 gained 5.89 points to 5,283.40 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 93.66 points to 16,828.67.

The loonie was trading 0.1 per cent lower at 1.3645 to the U.S. dollar, or 73.29 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since May 20 at 1.3604.

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TALKING POINTS

Can the Edmonton Oilers solve our national hockey crisis?

“For this to be the premier hockey country in the world, Canada must have the premier hockey player. The same way Argentina would have blown a national project had Lionel Messi never gotten his World Cup, Canada cannot allow McDavid to retire without a Stanley Cup and a gold medal.” - Cathal Kelly

Which way, Canada? Make housing cheaper or protect homeowners’ investments?

“A housing sector compromise across young and older generations would have a more principled basis. But compromise or not, citizens deserve to have a transparent assessment of the implications and trade-offs – even if it invites scrutiny.” - David Jones

LIVING BETTER

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Globe and Mail reporter Dave McGinn receives a DEXA scan at Push Pounds Sports Medicine in downtown Toronto on April 9, 2024.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail

A $100 DEXA scan is helping people optimize their health. Our reporter put it to the test.

The DEXA scan – short for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry – has become one of the most popular tests for people wanting to live healthier and longer lives. As wellness culture has become increasingly interested in longevity, the scan, which typically costs around $100, has become an accessible tool toward that goal.

Now that Dave McGinn in his late 40s, the question of aging – which was never really a question before – is on his mind. He thought the scan could provide at least some answers to help his fitness goals. “Looking at my scan, I begin to wonder how a season of more exercise and smarter eating might change the picture,” he writes. Read more about what he learned during the DEXA test.

  • Also read: How to add strength training to your existing workout routine

TODAY’S LONG READ

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A large rainbow flag is carried down Robson Street during the Vancouver Pride Parade in Vancouver on August 2, 2015.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

A Nation’s Paper: The rainbow correction

Queerness was once as taboo in The Globe and Mail as it was in Canadian society at large, but over time, journalists helped to change the conversation on LGBTQ rights.

No one was a more convenient scapegoat for society’s real or perceived ills than the homosexual. Even as news media reports influenced attitudes that led to a life sentence for one convicted homosexual, and encouraged a purge of LGBTQ workers from the federal services, newspapers also started moving public opinion toward acceptance. As The Globe took up these stories, it helped to shift the conversation on LGBTQ rights, just as the movement for LGBTQ rights helped reshape the paper itself.

This is part of A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, a collection of history essays from Globe writers past and present, coming this fall from Signal/McClelland & Stewart.


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.

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