Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Pascale Fournier, former president of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, testified before the House of Commons ethics committee today that she believes the previous leadership at the non-profit misled Canadians about a gift from wealthy Chinese benefactors by characterizing it as a Canadian donation.
Fournier, who resigned her post in March, spoke before MPs today on the crisis at the publicly financed foundation that arose after The Globe and Mail reported that the Chinese government had orchestrated $1-million in donations to the foundation and the University of Montreal law school in hopes of influencing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The foundation publicly identified Chinese billionaire Zhang Bin and fellow Chinese businessman Niu Gensheng as the donors. They were also credited in the organization’s annual report for their pledge of $200,000 – of which $140,000 was eventually donated.
- Listen to the Decibel: Behind the Trudeau Foundation controversy
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Canada’s economy starts to cool after rollicking start to 2023
The economy has begun to slow down this spring in the face of high interest rates after booming growth at the beginning of the year.
Real gross domestic product rose 0.1 per cent in February, after a 0.6-per-cent expansion in January, Statistics Canada said today in a report. In a preliminary estimate, Statscan said GDP edged lower by 0.1 per cent in March. On the whole, the economy is trending toward annualized growth of 2.5 per cent in the first quarter.
Canada’s central bank has aggressively raised interest rates to try to slow down the economy and tame inflation. Its policy rate, now 4.5 per cent, is the highest it’s been since 2007 and is set to remain around that level for a while yet. Most private-sector forecasters expect Canada to enter a mild recession later this year as a result of high interest rates.
Russia kills 25 in biggest Ukraine air strikes for nearly two months
At least 25 people were killed in Ukraine as Russia bombarded cities across the country with missiles as they slept. It was the first large air-strike in two months, taking place as Kyiv readies itself to launch an attack to retake occupied land.
Officials said at least 23 civilians were killed, including four children in the central town of Uman. In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a missile killed a two-year-old child and a 31-year-old woman, according to the regional governor.
The capital Kyiv was also rocked by explosions, as were the central cities of Kremenchuk and Poltava, and Mykolaiv in the south.
- Elsewhere, Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the “Butcher of Mariupol” for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defence minister, according to reports.
- The European Commission said today it had reached a deal in principle to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain to resume through five European Union countries that had imposed restrictions.
- Famous figures, including writers and actors, have banded together and signed an open letter urging Putin to free opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
- Nina L. Khrushcheva: Why do we fight? Russians are increasingly asking themselves that very question
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Supreme Court of Canada rules on Surrey Six case: The Supreme Court of Canada has granted a mass killer a hearing that could result in him walking free – even though he committed six murders.
Federal strike negotiations see progress: The federal government has tabled a new contract offer to the Public Service Alliance of Canada Friday, as thousands of federal workers remained on strike for the tenth straight day.
The situation in Sudan: The commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command says the window is closing quickly to safely airlift people out of Sudan amid fighting between the country’s military and paramilitary forces.
Ontario hospital nurses get pay boost: Nurses should get retroactive pay for three years during which they were subject to a wage restraint law that has since been ruled unconstitutional, arbitrators have ruled. The 2019 law, known as Bill 124, capped wage increases for the nurses and other public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years.
Ottawa announces how it will spend $1.4-billion on high-profile research: A total of 11 university-led projects have been selected for funding through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, a program that is intended to help a limited number of university-based research projects achieve world-leading status.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. stock indexes advanced on Friday after strong earnings updates from Exxon and Intel offset worries over Amazon’s slowdown warning, while economic data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates next week.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 272 points at 34,098.16. The S&P 500 index was up 34.13 points at 4,169.48, while the Nasdaq composite was up 84.35 at 12,226.58.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 113.90 points at 20,636.54.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.65 cents US compared with 73.46 cents US on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
Does a country have ‘no choice’ but to subsidize its auto industry? Ask Australia
“Like the Canadian auto industry, Australia’s was largely composed of branch plants of international manufacturers, established to jump a tariff wall. Like Canada’s, it had come under increasing pressure from offshore competitors, as tariffs fell and costs rose.” – Andrew Coyne
François Legault’s broken election promise will not soon be forgotten
“Instead of a $10-billion four-lane tunnel for cars, the CAQ now proposes a more modest tunnel exclusively for public transit for an undisclosed sum. But the new plan remains too vague to be taken seriously and was likely made to cushion the blow for voters who backed the CAQ explicitly for its commitment to the Third Link.” – Konrad Yakabuski
To solve Canada’s housing crisis, learn how Singapore nationalized real estate
“The model that prioritizes housing as an asset is a great way to develop a feudal class of wealthy landowners, especially rising corporate housing oligopolists. But it’s a terrible way to build a city, or an economy, for that matter.” – David Moscrop
It bears repeating: The stories we tell about dementia
“For the past seven years, I have been caring for people with dementia. First, it was my father with vascular dementia, who died in December, 2018. Now my mother, who was diagnosed with progressive memory loss in November, 2019. During this time, I have felt the seams slacken, the narrative threads loosen from the stitching line.” – Kyo Maclear
LIVING BETTER
39 fiction and non-fiction books to read this spring
Are you looking to escape? Or dive into something deep? Either way, this roundup of spring book releases will likely have what you’re looking for.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Net Zero Hour: The urgency and opportunity of embracing clean energy
The Globe and Mail
Countrywide, total insured weather-related losses for the last two years totalled more than $5-billion. Meanwhile, in 2022, damage from extreme weather events cost the United States US$165-billion – and that doesn’t take into account the human toll. If we reach 2°C in warming, the global cost rises to US$69-trillion, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Yet Canada – and, it must be said, the vast majority of developed nations – have spent much of the past three decades spinning their wheels in the global race to slash carbon emissions. According to Canada’s Sustainable Finance Action Council, or SFAC – a group of finance professionals appointed by Ottawa – we need to spend $115-billion more a year than we are today to have any hope of hitting net zero by 2050.
And even that goal now seems naive. So how can Canada reach net zero? Jeffrey Jones delves into 13 ideas that could get us there fast.
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.