Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe and Mail.
In this issue, Carly Weeks looks into a coveted new weight-loss drug that is changing the narrative on obesity. The story initially would look at what was going to happen now that there was a diet pill that worked. However, as Weeks began talking to experts and patients themselves, she discovered that the real story was the way obesity was perceived. She was surprised to learn about the pervasive ties weight-loss medication had to vanity, and the way the world vilified people who needed to use the drug – despite them needing the medication for medical or health reasons. One patient told Weeks she became so self-conscious about her weight that she tried her best to avoid leaving the house. The messages that many obese people receive, Weeks said, is that they are responsible for their weight gain, and that they’re doing it to themselves. With this article, she said, she hopes to show that the myth couldn’t be further from the truth.
Meanwhile, Andrew Willis sits down with former finance minister Bill Morneau ahead of the release of his new book, which argues throughout that Canadian businesses are losing ground and that governments across the political spectrum need to step up if they want to maintain, let alone enhance, our standard of living.
And Cathal Kelly looks ahead to the Australian Open, where Novak Djokovic will be seeking to settle scores after missing out on last year’s competition.
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A weight-loss drug everyone wants is exposing myths about obesity
Photo Illustration by The Globe and Mail/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
For decades, we’ve been bombarded by false promises in commercials, books and social media ads touting the secret to miraculously shed pounds, but now scientists have discovered a formula that blows the entire diet-industry narrative out of the water. A new weight-loss pill is about to arrive in Canada that could represent a huge shift in how obesity is treated. Carly Weeks reports on the clamouring for Ozempic, which effectively makes a person feel full, reducing their impulse to eat.
Morneau wants to ‘start a conversation’ on economic issues facing Canada
In his new book Where to from Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity, former finance minister Bill Morneau proposes a national agenda of prosperity, and outlines why the Trudeau government has fallen short on execution when it comes to the economy.Kellyann Petry/The Globe and Mail
Former finance minister Bill Morneau says he got a dose of reality on the campaign trail while knocking on doors of families struggling to make ends meet. That “reality check,” he tells Andrew Willis, became a touchstone during his years in office and his post-political career. Now, as a private citizen, Morneau says he wants to “start a conversation on the serious economic issues facing the country at a pivotal time for Canadian business.” In his book, he shares prescriptions for how he would fix the health care system, balance trade with human rights and wean the economy off fossil fuels. And he sets out a case for why the Trudeau government falls short on execution when it comes to the economy.
Read more:
- Konrad Yakabuski: Bill Morneau’s talents were wasted in Justin Trudeau’s Ottawa
Ukraine braces for fresh Russian mobilization in spring amid battle over Bakhmut, Soledar
Ukrainian border guards at their positions near the border with Belarus, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Volyn region, Ukraine, Jan. 13.GLEB GARANICH/Reuters
Ukraine’s defence establishment is anticipating a fresh push from Russia this spring that it believes could prove consequential to the outcome of the war. Ukrainian officials see the Kremlin’s recent military shakeup – the appointment of a new general overseeing the war – as a harbinger of a renewed Russian attempt to seize ground in Ukraine. With Russia drawing from a larger pool of potential conscripts, a senior Ukrainian security official says, invaders could continue to press forward in the eastern Donbas region while simultaneously building up another force for a new assault.
Opinion: The long takeoff of skyrocketing food prices
The Globe and Mail
Study after study shows most people shop for groceries with clueless abandon, barely remembering the price of items they just pulled off from the shelf, writes Benjamin Lorr. But now with food prices skyrocketing, people are taking notice of their grocery bills and expressing their outrage online. The data are clear: Profit margins are up, alongside profits themselves, with grocers not just passing along the new supply-chain costs to customers, but also seizing on the inflationary fog of the pandemic.
How Parkland Corp. is shifting from the traditional energy economy to an emerging low-carbon world
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
For years, Parkland Corp. enjoyed a winning strategy of buying up fuel and convenience store chains in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean, and integrating them with its fuel supply and distribution network. But the disruption to commuter driving habits from COVID-19 and heightened investor focus on the shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources has them making sizeable shifts to keep up with the rise of electric vehicles. The company is rolling out a network of ultra-fast EV charging stations and transforming its stores into “destination sites” with fresh food offerings, where EV drivers can kick back while waiting for their vehicles to charge.
Tibetans in India, dwindling in numbers, struggle to see future beyond aging Dalai Lama
The flow of refugees arriving in Dharamshala, India, has become a trickle, as pervasive surveillance and heavier policing have made getting out of Tibet harder than ever.RUHANI KAUR/The Globe and Mail
Since China’s annexation of Tibet in the 1950s, Dharamshala has been a home to those – including the Dalai Lama – who fled. But in recent years, far fewer refugees have arrived to join them. The flow of refugees has dropped off, and younger residents are moving to Indian cities and abroad for work. Those who remain in the now-shrinking community are contending with deep-seated disagreements over their political future, particularly what will happen after the Dalai Lama passes.
In Fall on Your Knees stage adaptation, music captures the spirit of life in Cape Breton
Alisa Palmer, right, co-creator and director of Fall on Your Knees, speaks with cast members at a rehearsal for the show in Toronto, on Jan. 6.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Immersion within the world of theatre is an important experience to highlight at a time when many Canadian cultural organizations are grappling with the difficult economics of life as the pandemic recedes. The theatrical adaptation of the 1996 novel, Fall on Your Knees, which chronicles the lives of four unforgettable sisters in Cape Breton, does just that with everything from clapping, humming and stomping to moody piano notes. Catherine Kustanczy interviews the creative team who made music central to the two-part, six-hour play premiering Jan. 20.
Novak Djokovic’s revenge the juiciest story as Australian Open begins Sunday
Serbia's Novak Djokovic waves to fans after the exhibition match against Australia's Nick Kyrgios.LOREN ELLIOTT/Reuters
Last year was probably humbling for Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. He spent much of 2022 being ritually humiliated by the rest of the world, writes Cathal Kelly. In the space of a day, after landing in Australia and getting arrested, the unvaccinated Djokovic went from being the world’s best tennis player to world’s leading Luddite. The level of humiliation he faced might’ve changed his outlook, especially after he’s had a few months to think about it. Now, he’s back, medically cleared, and he’s out for revenge.