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The Senate has sat for 104 days since November, 2021, but about 25 senators on average have missed each of the 37 legislative votes over that time, a Globe analysis found. And several members have cast fewer than four of the 19 votes since Parliament resumed sitting in the fall of last year.
During the pandemic, the Senate and House of Commons instigated hybrid voting, which concluded in June for senators, but which remains in place for members of the House. While working remotely, an average of about 72 senators cast their votes electronically. There are 15 vacancies in the 105-seat chamber.
The data show that the number of senators missing votes has increased since hybrid voting ended and senators were required to be in the chamber when legislation is about to be passed or referred to committee for study.
Several members have cast fewer than four votes since Parliament resumed sitting in the fall of last year, a Globe analysis shows.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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Russia claims it’s on brink of capturing Bakhmut as Ukraine defends besieged city
Russia claimed to be in control of large parts of Bakhmut on Sunday, as Ukrainian troops clung to increasingly precarious positions in the shattered city.
The fall of Bakhmut would mark the most significant victory for Russian forces in Ukraine since June, when they seized the nearby cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk. Ukrainian troops have held firm since August in what’s become known as “Fortress Bakhmut,” forcing Moscow’s army to take enormous casualties in a street-by-street battle for the transportation hub.
Capturing Bakhmut – even at the reported cost of tens of thousands of casualties – would boost Russia’s flagging campaign to capture the southeastern Donbas region, which is seen as a key war aim of President Vladimir Putin.
Conservation groups hail historic treaty to protect ocean life
Scientists and advocates for marine conservation are hailing the creation of a new treaty to protect nature on the high seas – the vast ocean expanse that lies outside any nation’s territorial waters and comprises about 50 per cent of Earth’s surface.
More than 190 countries were involved in negotiating the pivotal agreement, which represents the culmination of nearly 20 years of multilateral efforts. Success was reached on Saturday night after a two-week meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York, including a final 36-hour-long session during which prospects for success were uncertain.
African migrants evacuated from Tunisia after surge of racial violence stoked by president
West African governments are evacuating hundreds of their citizens from Tunisia in response to a wave of racial violence against migrants in the North African country.
Sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia have become the target of a growing number of attacks and arrests over the past two weeks, fuelled by xenophobic rhetoric from President Kais Saied, who claimed that “hordes” of migrants are causing criminality and threatening the demographic character of the Arab-majority country.
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Also on our radar
For migrants, calls to close Roxham Road clash with Canada’s friendly image: Some refugee claimants stuck at the U.S.-Mexico border are reacting to word that Canadian politicians want to make it harder for migrants to enter by shutting down the irregular crossing with a mix of bemusement and indifference.
- In Niagara Falls, Roxham Road asylum seekers find less space and more strife as tourist season nears
- Asylum seekers face a long journey to freedom along Roxham Road
BoC expected to hold rates steady in face of conflicting signals: The central bank’s campaign to aggressively raise borrowing costs will likely grind to a halt Wednesday, amid increasing signs that it is having the intended effect: slowing the economy and weighing on price growth.
Ontario Liberals scrap delegated conventions for leadership race: The provincial party instead backed changes that will allow all members to vote directly for their next leader, using a ranked ballot.
World’s most premature twins celebrate their first birthdays: Adiah and Adrial Nadarajah also marked a historic first: The two little Canadians from Ajax, Ont., who were born 126 days early, now hold the Guinness World Records for the most premature twins to have survived to age 1.
Prince Harry invited to coronation: Harry and his wife, Meghan, would not yet confirm publicly whether they will be there for King Charles’s coronation in May.
Morning markets
World shares and bonds edged higher today as investors assessed a lower growth target from China than many had expected, with testimony from U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and jobs data this week that could decide the pace of future rate hikes.
While Chinese stocks dropped, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was still up, while Japan’s Nikkei touched a three-month high.
European stocks also rose, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index up 0.1 per cent, nearing its highest since February 2022. In early trading, London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.3 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.2 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.3 per cent.
The loonie traded at 73.43 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Canadian history was overdue for a rewrite
“These days, there is little Canadian history in Canadian classrooms – only one mandatory high-school course in most provinces, and no compulsory courses elsewhere. That gives teachers only a small window to instill an interest in our collective past. And most teachers are facing students who have already learned not to take anything on trust, and who frequently come from families who have been in this country for less than two or three generations.” – Charlotte Gray
Nordstrom’s sorry exit from Canada raises the question: What was it all for?
“... Canadian companies have made room for new arrivals – in at least one case, literally, when the Bay’s most successful location, Queen Street, was subdivided to accommodate Saks. We were told that these were all good trends, changes that would enhance growth. But the promised revolution never arrived. It’s as if everyone – Canadian- and American-owned businesses and shoppers themselves – is left with less.” – Jessica Johnson
A year after the slap, Chris Rock takes aim in toxic Netflix special – at Jada Pinkett-Smith
“Rock repeatedly referred to Smith as a “bitch” with a mix of fury and glee. He repackaged the arguments made by so many online commentators, who tore into Smith for taking his aggression over his marital problems out on Rock. He made Smith the prime example for his show’s title, Selective Outrage, explaining that the actor only took his anger out on the comedian because Rock is so physically small.” – Radheyan Simonpillai
Today’s editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon by David Parkins.Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
Looking to save at the grocery store? Here’s how Canada’s price-matching apps stack up
With grocery prices expected to keep climbing, everyone’s looking for ways to save. That’s where price-matching apps can help: they list sales at various grocery stores in a specific area, making it easy to see where you can save. Barry Choi, a Toronto-based personal finance expert, estimates that consumers can save between 10 and 14 per cent off their bills by using such apps.
Moment in time: Sweetness of maple
Maple-sugar making in Canada, circa 1852.Library and Archives Canada
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at maple syrup.
“As Canadian as maple syrup,” is a heartwarming phrase, except the sticky sweet nectar predates Canada. Indigenous people from North America’s northeastern deciduous forests were collecting and distilling sap, which every spring runs through maple trees, long before the land was colonized. However, it didn’t take early settlers long to copy the technique, which involved tapping a tree to gather the sap, boiling off the water (about 95 per cent of the volume), and enjoying what was left – the syrup or its crystallized form, maple sugar. French explorer Jacques Cartier, in the 16th century, compared the sap to a good wine, and by the mid-18th century, maple sugar was all the rage in Canada and abroad. In Cornelius Krieghoff’s painting above, Sugar Making in Canada, 1852, he depicts a Québécois family on a typical sugaring-off day. The activity looks almost beatific in its late-winter setting, but in truth it is a difficult, sticky endeavour. Hard work, but a sweet payoff. Philip King
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