Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes his country could win its war against Russia within the coming year if his country’s Western partners maintain their level of support. But he also warned of a “Third World War” if China sided with Russia and began supplying Moscow with weaponry. Zelensky said he was alarmed by recent reports that Beijing was considering providing weapons to Russia, which is running low on precision-guided missiles
China’s role in the year-long conflict has been predominantly in support of Russia, and today Beijing published a vaguely worded 12-point peace plan that Russia has embraced. The plan reiterated China’s long-standing position on the war, which includes an immediate ceasefire, peace talks and the dropping of sanctions against Moscow. The proposal also acknowledged Russia’s justification for the war and echoed conspiracy theories pushed by the Kremlin about supposed U.S. bioweapon labs in Ukraine. Despite its rhetoric, China has provided diplomatic and economic support to Russia over the past year, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week in what was framed by the Kremlin as a show of solidarity.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday that Canada is sending more military equipment to Ukraine, including four more Leopard 2 battle tanks, and is imposing additional sanctions on Russian officials in Putin’s government.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s allies around the world lit up buildings in yellow and blue, held protests and candlelight vigils and prepared new sanctions on Moscow on Friday in a collective show of support on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Looking back, one year later
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and The Globe has been reporting from within Ukraine and several neighbouring territories since before the war. Menaka Raman-Wilms, host of our daily podcast, The Decibel, spoke with foreign correspondents Mark Mackinnon and Paul Waldie about their reflections covering the conflict.
Read more:
- Ukrainian refugees in Poland live on hope, but little money, as war with Russia drags on
- The economic and business winners and losers in Putin’s year-old war against Ukraine
- Apart but alive, this Ukrainian family recounts a year divided by war
Two young women pause at a wreath while looking towards the graves of dead Ukrainian soldiers at the Field of Mars cemetery on Feb. 24, 2023 in Lviv, Ukraine.SeanGallup
Supreme Court Justice’s leave could have impact on pivotal environmental law case
Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown has taken a leave of absence that was not announced by the court, which has lost a strong voice for provincial rights as a major federalism case looms.
The court confirmed in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that the 57-year-old is on leave, which began Feb. 1. The court stressed that it is a confidential matter.
The leave has the approval of Chief Justice Richard Wagner, who has informed federal Justice Minister David Lametti as required under federal law, Stéphanie Bachand, executive legal officer to the Chief Justice, said in an e-mail.
On Mar. 21 and 22, the Supreme Court, justices pictured, will debate a federal environmental law that enables Ottawa to regulate a wide range of industrial projects. Alberta argues that the law at issue, the 2019 Impact Assessment Act, is a vast overreach into provincial jurisdiction.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
How much debt is each generation of Canadians carrying, and how do you compare?
A decades-long rise in debt has left households owing an average $1.83 for every $1 taken in as after-tax income, a higher rate than the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan. As a country, we are up to our necks in debt a time when interest rates are at multidecade highs. But what about you?
Rob Carrick reports on an informal and anonymous survey launched by the Globe in January through the Carrick on Money e-mail newsletter. More than 6,150 responses were received from people in our Globe and Mail universe, but who aren’t necessarily subscribers because the newsletter is free.
The survey results are shown on a decade-by-decade basis – people aged 18 to 29, 30 to 39 and so on, up to 70-plus. The numbers help to pinpoint which generations carry the most debt (on average), how much people owe (on average) and how common it is to have various types of debt at particular ages. What follows are the top stories told by the debt numbers. You can also find out how your debt compares to Canadians your age with our calculator, here.
Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Indigo employees’ personal information breached as part of ransomware attack on retailer: Current and former employees at Canada’s largest bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music Inc., have had their social insurance numbers, financial details and other personal information leaked after a ransomware attack took down the retailer’s website.
Magic mushroom stores are popping up in Vancouver, hoping to open the doors to legalization: Operators are looking to capitalize on popularity of the drug, while banking on police forces being more focused on opioids and other ‘hard’ drugs.
Conservative MPs criticized for meeting with anti-immigration German politician: Three Conservative MPs are playing down their photo with a member of a far-right German party that has espoused anti-immigrant rhetoric, saying they did not know about her politics when they met her during her visit to Canada this week.
How Yousry Bissada pulled Home Capital back from the brink – then sold it for a bundle: As he tells it, the turnaround artist had a unique combination of experience, skills and determination that made him a perfect fit.
After Brazil riots, Lula contends with polarized electorate, possibility of political sabotage: One month into his third stint as President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is facing the biggest challenge to his political career, one that could steer him away from his original plan to focus on fighting poverty and environmental degradation.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index held firm Friday, buoyed by sturdy energy and financial sectors but offset by dips in other areas, while U.S. markets fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index nudged up 31 points to 20,219.19.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 336.99 points at 32,816.92. The S&P 500 index was down 42.28 points at 3,970.04, while the Nasdaq composite was down 195.46 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 11,394.94.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.41 cents US, compared with 73.81 cents US on Thursday.
The April crude contract was up 93 cents at US$76.32 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was up 12 cents at US$2.55 mmBTU.
The April gold contract was down US$9.70 at US$1,817.10 an ounce and the May copper contract was down 10 cents at US$3.95 a pound.
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TALKING POINTS
With mass layoffs, Big Tech drops the good-guy act
“This sort of calculating is evidence of a new way of thinking, or, if you prefer, a new stage in the life cycle of big tech companies. Startups that began intent on remaking a stultified, bottom-line-driven economy have become integral parts of that stultified, bottom-line-driven economy. We’ve gone from claims of ‘making the world a better place’ to ‘making the business more profitable.’” – Noam Cohen
Ottawa is undercutting its own reconciliation efforts
“Last June, [the federal government] appointed Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation lawyer Kimberly Murray as a special interlocutor charged with leading this sacred effort. Now, Ottawa will spend $2-million to bring in the International Commission on Missing Persons to provide very similar support – without Ms. Murray’s full approval, nor the approval of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.” – Tanya Talaga
Danielle Smith should abandon her terrible orphan oil well plan for Alberta
“Successive provincial governments, mostly conservative, couldn’t find the resolve to get these deserted operations cleaned up. In many cases, they were orphaned by companies that went bankrupt, leaving a mess behind on the property of some poor farmer who was given no choice when the government approved the site for exploration and development.” – Gary Mason
Australians are wise to Chinese interference. Canadians need to catch up
“Efforts to minimize the seriousness of Chinese espionage and interference are par for the course for this government. Canada was years behind our Five Eyes partners in the United States, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand in restricting Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei’s participation in our 5G networks.” – Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
Does dark chocolate pose health risks?
If your daily diet includes a square (or two) of dark chocolate, you’re not alone. Many people savour this treat for its rich flavour along with its hefty dose of flavonols, antioxidants linked to heart health.
Now for some less welcome news. According to scientists from Consumer Reports, a U.S. based independent non-profit organization, your favourite bar of dark chocolate may contain worrisome levels of cadmium and lead, harmful heavy metals.
Here’s what to know – and why it’s not necessary to give up dark chocolate completely.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Like other pandemic havens, Utah faces a reckoning
People cross 300 South at Main Street during a snowstorm in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Feb. 22, 2023.Kristin Murphy/The Associated Press
Utah’s growth has been part of a decades-long pattern that has seen swelling numbers of Americans land in what was once flyover country. Eight of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are in the country’s west; the remainder in its south. Phoenix is now the country’s fifth-largest city. Between 2010 and 2020, no state expanded more rapidly than Utah.
The pandemic accelerated that, bringing a surge of people to centres such as Boise, Idaho; Bozeman, Mont.; and the greater Salt Lake City area. The changes they experienced share commonalities with the Canadian cities that also saw COVID-19 surges in people and prices, like Halifax and Hamilton.
Now, a hangover is catching hold, as the places that became coveted destinations during the heights of COVID-19 face a reckoning.
Evening Update is written by Emerald Bensadoun. 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.