Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Wildfires in Ontario and Quebec triggered air quality warnings again today, leading Toronto to experience the worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, as heavy clouds of smoke move south through both provinces and into the United States. Canada’s most populous city scored 216 on the Air Quality Index, according to Air-I-Q’s global ranking for poor air quality.
Environment Canada has issued special air quality statements and says wildfire smoke plumes moved into the impacted areas including Hamilton, Windsor, Barrie and London in Ontario and most of northern Quebec. Air quality warnings are also in effect in Toronto, Chicago and Detroit, they occupy three of the top four spots on Air-I-Q’s global ranking for poor air quality.
- Also: With wildfire smoke clouding Canadian cities, Ottawa unveils a climate adaptation plan
- Cree evacuees in Quebec wildfire crisis face particular cultural, health challenges
- Explainer: How does wildfire smoke affect air quality and your health?
This photograph shows a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, after a missile strike hit it on June 27, 2023.GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images
At least 11 killed in Russian missile attack on popular meeting place for Canadian volunteers in Ukraine
A Russian missile attack that destroyed a popular restaurant, and killed at least 11 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, came shortly after Canadian volunteers had gathered in the restaurant yesterday.
The RIA pizzeria was among the few operating restaurants in the city. Pro-Kremlin Telegram accounts claimed it had been a target because of the presence of “Western mercenaries.” The volunteers were members of the Black Maple Company, an organization that raises money and which says on its website that it has people in Ukraine both delivering humanitarian assistance and “fighting on the battlefield.”
- Listen to The Decibel: How a mutiny weakened Putin’s strongman image
Ontario rejects recommendation to label intimate partner violence an epidemic
Declaring an epidemic was the first of 86 action items put forward by the coroner’s jury following a three-week inquest last summer into the murders of Carol Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk in Renfrew County. The three women were killed at their homes by a mutual ex-partner on a shooting rampage across the Ottawa Valley on Sept. 22, 2015.
Though inquest recommendations are non-binding, they were hailed by experts last year as a “gift of solutions” to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Of the 86 recommendations, 68 were directed at the province.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Weston family reshaping private investing strategy: The billionaire Weston family is shifting to finance more innovative areas of the global economy, including clean energy, early-stage technology companies and disruptive retail and consumer products companies
David Shribman: U.S. politics analysis: Trump’s rhetoric takes on messianic tone. “Together, we’re warriors in a righteous crusade to stop the arsonists, the atheists, globalists and the Marxists.” Then he said, “I’m being indicted for you.”’
Pension fund investors support sustainability reporting standard: The chief executives of 11 of Canada’s largest pension fund investors are throwing their support behind a new sustainability reporting standard, urging companies to embrace the rules to measure performance on environmental and social issues.
BMO layoffs: Bank of Montreal is cutting jobs in its capital markets division amid a year of slower trading and investment banking activity that dragged on earnings results.
Titan submersible: Debris from the ill-fated Titan submersible was returned to shore in Newfoundland Wednesday, aboard a Canadian-flagged ship that had helped search for the vessel in a remote area of ocean near the wreck of the Titanic.
Canada welcomed record immigrants in first quarter: Statistics Canada says the country welcomed more than 145,000 immigrants during the first three months of the year, the highest number since comparable data became available in 1972.
MARKET WATCH
TSX rallies for third day, but Powell keeps Wall Street under pressure
The S&P 500 and Dow closed lower on Wednesday on the prospect of further interest rate hikes after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he did not see inflation falling to the central bank’s target rate “this year or next year.” But Canada’s main stock index eked out its third straight gain, closing at its highest level in nine days, helped by gains in technology and consumer staples shares.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 85.76 points at 19,818.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.08 points to 33,852.66, the S&P 500 lost 1.55 points to 4,376.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 36.08 points to 13,591.75.
The Canadian dollar weakened to a near two-week low against its U.S. counterpart today.
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TALKING POINTS
Should we stop obsessing over adult kids living with parents and just call it multi-generational living?
“In some cultures, family members of different generations commonly live together. Economic necessity will drive a wider acceptance of this arrangement because it’s so effective in dealing with the high cost of living, notably housing. Thirty years from now, I wonder if The Globe personal finance team will be surveying to see how many adult kids never managed to move out of their parents’ home.” -Rob Carrick
Canada’s access to information system is not ready for AI
“Canada’s ATI system is already in desperate need of repair. But as Canadians are increasingly being governed using AI technologies in ways that are neither accountable nor transparent, the current state of the ATI framework does not promise to make things better. We must hurry to change that.” -Matt Malone
Global report says it will take 131 years for women to catch up to men – it’s too long
“It does not take an in-depth economic analysis to work out that when you do not harness the potential of a large chunk of the population, you are going to pay an economic cost.” -Linda Nazareth
LIVING BETTER
Top 10 zero-proof picks and meal pairings
The selection of non-alcoholic drinks continues to expand and improve as new products and flavours are introduced to meet growing demand. The beer industry has done the best job to develop a range of increasingly sophisticated products that mirror popular styles and brands. But the zero-alcohol ready-to-drink category is equally advanced, for consumers who are “sober curious.” Wine and imitation spirits meanwhile could use more high-end products.
Here are 10 non-alcoholic selections that stand out from the growing number of products turning up on store shelves. Wine writer Christopher Waters chose the ones that he would also like to pair with a meal.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Kwin Morris, Joe Lorenz and Jeff Guy set off on a paddle board journey across Lake Ontario, at Humber Bay Park boat launch on Friday, June 9, 2023.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Three friends from Michigan paddle boarding across the Great Lakes to help protect them
With two safety boats accompanying them, they stood on the Toronto side of Lake Ontario to paddle board more than 100 kilometres across the lake and back.
The journey would mark the end of an eight-year quest to cross all five Great Lakes, and was expected to take about 24 hours. This personal challenge doubles as an effort to raise awareness about the importance of the world’s largest freshwater lakes and raise money.
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.