Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
U.S. House of representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday night, in spite of threats that Beijing would take “resolute and strong measures” if the trip to the self-ruled island claimed by China went ahead. Now the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, Pelosi was greeted on the tarmac by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister and other Taiwanese and American officials.
This visit has heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, as Beijing views visits by foreign government officials as recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty. China announced a series of military operations and drills soon after Pelosi’s arrival. The Biden administration has asserted that this visit would not signal any change in U.S. foreign policy.
Pelosi has a history of bringing attention to Chinese democracy movements, most notably through her visit to Tiananmen Square in 1991, two years after China suppressed pro-democracy protests.
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Is a COVID-19 end game still in sight with BA. 5 spreading fast? Not with vaccines alone
For a few fleeting weeks this spring, it appeared as though Canadians could look forward to returning to something like normal prepandemic life. Case counts and hospitalizations had retreated after a second peak in Omicron-variant infections in April. Canada was among the most highly vaccinated countries in the world. And the lifting of public health requirements allowed people to travel without proof of vaccination and attend unrestricted, mask-free gatherings.
But then came BA. 4 and BA. 5, Omicron sub-variants that can evade immune-system protection from vaccines and prior infections. Their arrival shattered hopes that the country was finally sufficiently vaccinated to bring COVID-19 under some control.
“I don’t know what the end game is. I have no idea how this is going to end,” said Jeff Kwong, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of Toronto.
The seventh and latest COVID-19 wave, driven by BA. 5, marks another new phase of the pandemic – one that requires a reimagination of what the pandemic’s end game will be, and how to get there.
Isabella Stewart, 2, waits with her mom Megan after getting a COVID-19 vaccination shot at a clinic in the Victoria Square Mall in Regina on Friday July 22, 2022.Michael Bell/The Canadian Press
Your boss is burned out – but terrified to tell anyone. Business leaders are crumbling under the pandemic’s relentless pace of work
Two and a half years into the pandemic, business leaders can’t take it any more. Far too often they are beyond their breaking points, so burned out they barely remember what a normal work life used to feel like – but they’re terrified to tell anyone they’re struggling.
By now, executives and senior managers know they must support employees who are struggling. But these very same leaders aren’t doing the same for themselves, and it’s often because they’re worried about the professional repercussions.
It is one of the central findings of research being released on Tuesday from Deloitte and LifeWorks that digs into the well-being of senior leaders. More than half of the 1,200 participants surveyed across 11 private- and public-sector organizations, including Royal Bank of Canada and Trillium Health Partners, said workplace stigma still deters them from revealing their mental-health woes. Paula Allen, head of research and well-being at LifeWorks, says the situation is “horribly wrong, but it is the reality.”
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Federal minister urges Nunavut to sign long-delayed tuberculosis plan: Federal Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said she had urged Nunavut Health Minister John Main to work with the Inuit organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to conclude the talks swiftly and sign an agreement.
Sexual-assault rate in 2021 highest since 1996, violent crimes up: Statistics Canada: Statistics Canada data shows the rate of police-reported sexual assault in Canada has reached its highest level since 1996. Reports have largely increased over the past five years, with an 18-per-cent increase in reports between 2020 and 2021.
Kansas first state to vote on abortion since U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade: A referendum on the proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution is being closely watched, but Kansas’ right-leaning voting base may mean the outcome is unlikely to reflect the entire country’s sentiments on abortion.
Woman at centre of Hockey Canada scandal breaks silence: E.M., who sued Hockey Canada for an alleged 2018 sexual assault, told The Globe and Mail she wanted ‘some accountability.’
Canada abandoned Ukrainian embassy employees despite their likelihood of being on Russian hit list: Three Canadian diplomats told The Globe and Mail that Ottawa told Canadian embassy leaders in Kyiv to withhold information on the looming Russian invasion from Ukrainian staff members and leave them behind.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index fell slightly, along with U.S. markets, on the Tuesday after the August long weekend. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 187.59 points at 19,505.33. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 402.23 points at 32,396.17. The S&P 500 index was down 27.44 points at 4,091.19, while the Nasdaq composite was down 20.22 points at 12,348.76.
The Canadian dollar traded for 77.78 cents U.S. compared with 77.98 cents U.S. on Friday.
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TALKING POINTS
HIV drugs are getting easier to take, and that’s good news for treatment and prevention
André Picard: “Studies presented at the 24th International AIDS Conference in Montreal show that a single injection of the drug cobotegravir (CAB-LA for short) every two months is 79 per cent more effective at preventing HIV transmission than taking the oral formulation of the drug daily. That is being described as a “game-changer” even though the pills are already remarkably effective – providing about a 99-per-cent risk reduction in those who take them properly, meaning without fail daily. And that’s the rub. Many people, especially those at highest risk of contracting HIV, have trouble adhering to a daily medication regime, for a host of reasons ranging from stigma to the chaos of their lives.”
The Chinese government’s continued assault on Canadian freedoms requires action
Irwin Cotler: “The growing transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party – including the criminal harassment and intimidation of Canadians – is on the rise, and it highlights the dangers of indifference and inaction regarding such practices. Tolerance has allowed such internal repression to metastasize into external hostility, and what the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has described as the “aggressive targeting” of Canadians by Chinese intelligence services, on Canadian soil.”
LIVING BETTER
Why women should focus on carotenoid-rich foods
Because of the different demands on women’s bodies, nutrients such as iron and calcium are needed in greater supply than for men. And according to researchers from the University of Georgia, there’s another dietary component that females need to be proactive about: carotenoids. That’s especially important when it comes to guarding against cognitive decline and vision loss. Here’s why, and how to consume more of them.
TODAY’S LONG READ
How Canopy Growth, the star of Canada’s cannabis dreams, fell from grace
Bruce Linton, Founder, Chairman and co-ceo of Canopy Growth, is photographed in the company's Tweed cannabis facility in Smiths Falls, Ont., on Sept 21 2018.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
For nearly a decade, Canopy Growth Corp. weathered storm after storm in the legal cannabis market, wooing investors with a grand vision that helped it become Canada’s top licensed producer of cannabis by market share. A flagging industry and the vagaries of the pandemic were just a blip – until the company’s stock began to bottom out over the past two months.
Because the broader cannabis sector is already in disarray, Canopy’s crash has barely been scrutinized – it’s just another cannabis dream dashed. But in many ways the company’s undoing is the industry’s most important story to tell. That’s because Canopy was the one company that attracted the so-called smart money – the investment that legitimized the entire sector.
Read the feature by Tim Kiladze and Irene Galea.
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