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The City of Abbotsford yesterday issued an urgent plea for residents to immediately leave the Sumas Prairie, saying the imminent failure of a pump station is anticipated to be a “catastrophic” event that could pose a significant risk to life.
City officials had issued an urgent warning yesterday morning, but Mayor Henry Braun said that night that an estimated 300 people remained. Conditions worsened in the evening, with Braun calling an emergency news conference to say that if even one of the four pumps at the Barrowtown Pump Station were to fail, water from the Fraser River would begin entering the already flooded area.
Earlier yesterday, the B.C. government fielded questions about its warning system, with Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth saying there was little more the province could have done to alert residents to the powerful rainstorm that battered the southern part of the province, displacing thousands from their homes and leaving at least one dead.
- The Decibel podcast: The Globe’s environment reporter Kathryn Blaze Baum explains what caused the rainstorm that wreaked havoc on British Columbia and how this summer’s wildfires and heat dome are related.
- Why B.C. is trapped in a world of climate extremes: Storms like the ‘atmospheric river’ that caused floods, mudslides, evacuations and trapped people on highways in British Columbia are projected to grow longer, wider and wetter in a warming climate.
- Hope amid the chaos: Disaster brings out the best in flood-hit communities
- B.C. floods will be Canada’s most expensive natural disaster this year
- B.C. flooding shuts down highways and rail lines, damaging fragile supply chains
- Opinion: These B.C. storms are not the new normal. We can’t even see that from here
A woman and children who were stranded by high water due to flooding are rescued by a volunteer operating a boat as another person's car is submerged near them in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)DARRYL DYCK/The Associated Press
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Staffieri to replace Natale as CEO of Rogers after boardroom power struggle, sources say
Joe Natale has been replaced as chief executive officer of Rogers Communications Inc. by the company’s former chief financial officer, Tony Staffieri, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Natale’s departure brings to an end an unprecedented power struggle that split one of Canada’s wealthiest families and left the telecom industry veteran caught in the middle.
The future of the telecom and media giant’s senior leadership team remains unclear as it works on its $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Senator kicked out of Conservative caucus over leadership challenge: Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has kicked out Denise Batters from the Conservative caucus after the senator publicly challenged his leadership of the party. Batters launched a petition on Monday that called on party members to support a review of O’Toole’s leadership within the next six months.
For Mexico’s president, North American relations are a ‘necessary evil’: Even as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador feels no “affinity for the idea of North America,” he knows co-operation with Canada and the U.S. is essential for Mexico, analysts say. As he prepares for the first North American Leaders’ Summit since 2016, Obrador is expected to be the outlier, a politician whose sympathies lie more with Latin American leftists than with the cosmopolitan leaders of Canada and the United States.
- Campbell Clark: Will the U.S. think of North America again?
Light-trapping physicist earns top Canadian science prize: Dr. Sajeev John was named this year’s winner of the Herzberg gold medal – one of Canada’s most prestigious science prizes, bestowed annually by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council – for his work on “photonic crystals,” which can trap and direct light. He is among the world’s most highly cited researchers and one of a handful of Canadian scientists who are considered possible future Nobel prize winners.
Ford says he won’t sign a ‘bad deal’ on daycare: Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will negotiate with Ottawa on a $10-a-day child-care agreement but won’t strike a “bad deal” that leaves the province on the hook for billions. Ford faced questions yesterday as to why Ontario is still holding out on an affordable child-care deal with Ottawa, a day after Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced his government had reached an agreement.
Central bank highlights labour market uncertainty: The Bank of Canada is wrestling with uncertainty in the labour market brought on by the pandemic as it tries to measure the health of Canada’s economic recovery and figure out when to raise interest rates, deputy governor Lawrence Schembri said yesterday.
Canadian Blood Services to recommend end to ban on gay men donating blood: Canadian Blood Services is preparing to ask Health Canada to end the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. The organization is recommending questions about gender or sexuality be scrapped in favour of new screening criteria based on sexual history and behaviour.
Canada secures key win in quest for World Cup berth: A record-tying night from Cyle Larin not only propelled Canada to a 2-1 win over Mexico yesterday at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, but put the Canadians at the top of their CONCACAF World Cup group.
MORNING MARKETS
Greenback jumps on rate speculation: The U.S. dollar jumped on Wednesday, as strong U.S. retail sales data fuelled bets on earlier Federal Reserve rate hikes, while shares in Europe made slim gains after Asian markets had wobbled on worries about COVID-19. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.39 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.10 per cent and 0.08 per cent, respectively. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.40 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.25 per cent. New York futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.58 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Dean Sayers, Duke Peltier: “Our Anishinaabe ancestors would never have contemplated a future where their treaty with the Crown saw their descendants living in enforced poverty while surrounded by thriving communities built on the bounty of their lands.”
David McLaughlin: “A minority of unvaccinated government caucus members poses minimal risk to public-health policy-making. It is exponentially greater if a misinformed but committed opponent to vaccination is sitting at the cabinet table.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Reading books over the phone with my grandson did us both a world of good
Graham Rawlings wanted a meaningful way to connect with his grandson, but they each lived on either side of the country. So they began reading books together over the phone, and despite a 67-year age gap, books like The One and Only Ivan, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Animal Farm kept them close and connected over the past six years.
MOMENT IN TIME: NOVEMBER 17, 1970
Portrait of musician Elton John, 1970.Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Elton John records his landmark live album
On this day in 1970, the Soviet Union landed the first wheeled vehicle on the lunar surface and, unrelated, Elton John played Bad Side of the Moon as part of a live radio broadcast from A&R Recording Studios in New York. While history soon lost interest in the debut moon rover, the concert by the 23-year-old singer-pianist with bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson only grew in reputation. The trio performed 13 songs, including new singles Your Song and Take Me to the Pilot. The show’s host, Dave Herman, later said John cut his hand, leaving piano keys splattered with blood. That was supposed to be the end of it, but after bootleg recordings circulated, the record label decided to release a proper live album, its name taken from the date of the broadcast. John considers 17-11-70 to be his finest live LP, going so far as to tell Rolling Stone magazine, “I think it’s one of the greatest live albums ever made.” Indeed, listening to it more than 50 years later, one might say that 17-11-70 sounds anything but dated. - Brad Wheeler
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