Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the UN Security Council today, recounting the civilian toll of Russian attacks that sparked global outrage and urging UN reform. He said that those responsible should immediately be brought up on war-crimes charges in front of a tribunal like the one established at Nuremberg after World War II.
Yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden called Russia’s Vladimir Putin “a war criminal.” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly also accused Moscow of committing war crimes, but stopped short of expelling Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any responsibility for civilian deaths, asserting against evidence to the contrary that the corpses were staged on streets.
The U.S. and its allies will on Wednesday impose new sanctions on Russian banks and officials and ban investment in Russia, a source familiar with the announcement said after officials in Washington and Kyiv accused Moscow of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
- Live news: Follow along with our latest updates on the war in Ukraine
- Opinion: Can Europe get tough on Russia and one of its own members at the same time?
- Opinion: It’s time for Russian diplomats in Canada to go home
Canada eyes new era of defence spending with boost to NORAD ahead of budget
Within a day of last week’s announcement that Canada would buy American-built F-35 fighter jets, Defence Minister Anita Anand was on the phone with the Pentagon, telling officials there that the $19-billion procurement would be the most significant investment in the Canadian Air Force in more than 30 years.
Canada’s role in the world will be a key theme of the 2022 federal budget to be unveiled on Thursday, which the government has broadly hinted will include a boost in military expenditures. But any such promises of action will have to be weighed against Ottawa’s delay-ridden track record on military procurement, as well as five-year-old accounting changes that exaggerate the progress Canada has made to fulfilling its NATO spending commitments.
- Singh briefed ahead of 2022 federal budget, expects to see ‘first steps’ toward dental care
- Explainer: A preview of what Canadians can likely expect in the 2022 federal budget
- Tech: Canada’s superclusters await fate in 2022 federal budget as funding dwindles
- Opinion: When it comes to zero-emissions vehicles, Canada is pushing the wrong policies
A worker wearing gown, mask and gloves, directs arriving passengers from Manila for buses to quarantine hotels in Hong Kong international airport, Friday, April 1, 2022.Kin Cheung/The Associated Press
NACI strongly recommends a second booster
Provinces and territories should quickly get ready to offer fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks starting with people over the age of 80 and long-term care residents, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended Tuesday. They may also be offered to people from First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities.
- In Quebec, the government is reversing its decision to lift its mask mandate and will instead maintain the health order for indoor public spaces until at least the end of the month.
- Overseas in Shanghai, COVID-19 lockdown leaves residents terrified, low on food. On Tuesday, Shanghai reported a record 13,354 new cases, a marked increase from Monday’s 9,006, itself an unprecedented high.
- COVAX, the global project to share COVID-19 vaccines, and the African Union have declined options to buy additional doses of Moderna’s shot, as developing nations struggle to allocate supplies.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Extension for Phoenix pay system boosts price beyond $650-million: The federal government will pay IBM an additional $106-million for a one-year extension to the company’s contract work on the troubled Phoenix pay system, bringing the total cost of Ottawa’s Phoenix-related outsourcing with the U.S.-based tech giant to more than $650-million.
Scotiabank CEO calls for commission to study economic growth issues: Bank of Nova Scotia chief executive Brian Porter is calling for a federal commission to set a long-term economic road map to help boost living standards and craft an industrial policy for Canada.
Feds table bill requiring tech giants to pay for news: The Liberal government introduced legislation Tuesday requiring major tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, to compensate Canadian media outlets for the news content that appears on the global platforms.
Sri Lankan lawmakers seek interim government to solve crisis: A group of Sri Lankan governing party lawmakers called for the appointment of an interim government, warning that a failure to do so would lead to violence and anarchy, as demonstrators continued to demand the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Tuesday, dragged by weakness in tech and other growth stocks, after comments from Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard spooked investors about potential aggressive actions by the central bank to control inflation.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted its biggest daily percentage drop in about a month, with declines in heavyweight stocks such as Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
The TSX also ended with a loss, despite starting the day with a new intraday record high, with energy and materials among the biggest decliners in the Canadian benchmark index. It closed down 154.77 points at 21,930.83, after earlier touching a record level of 22,213.07.
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TALKING POINTS
Tackling random violence requires a public-health response, not more police
André Picard: “For instance, people arrested for “stranger assaults” are often apprehended under the Mental Health Act. They don’t go to jail, but they don’t get care either, at least not for long. They tend to go through a revolving door as a result.”
Ontario Place should be renamed Any Place
Margaret Zeidler: “Ontario Place, which opened 51 years ago this summer as a shining beacon for Ontario and its people, has not only fallen into sad disrepair, the new one in its place has nothing to do with Ontario. It could be Any Place, and in many ways, its rebirth is worse than its death.”
LIVING BETTER
From left, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Deborah Cook, John Dick, Stuart Orkin, Katalan Kariko, Drew Weissman, and Pieter Cullis.Illustration by Murat Yukselir
2022 Gairdner Award winners
Each year, the Toronto-based Gairdner Foundation bestows five international awards to honour the most important medical discoveries made anywhere in the world. They are celebrated for breakthroughs related to vaccines, blood and evidence-based medicines. Two additional awards recognize achievements in global health and leadership in Canadian health research.
Here’s a closer look at this year’s winners, announced on Tuesday.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Margaret Adekunle, Founder/CEO of City Lending Centers, works out of her office in St. Albert, Alta. on Thursday, March 31, 2022.Megan Albu/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s big six banks almost came together to help Black entrepreneurs – but then they went their separate ways
The Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund started with a vision: bring government and financial institutions together to provide a pool of money that would help Black business owners, who disproportionately face systemic barriers to accessing capital.
Instead what has evolved is a patchwork system, where it’s largely public money that is at stake and banks offer individual programs that vary widely in how generously and vigorously they try to give funding.
Critics say this means there is no national standard for how to reform access to credit – a long-standing concern of Black entrepreneurs – and little transparency concerning what the various programs have to offer. How did this happen? The Globe reports.
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.