Good morning,
Nancy Grant is ready. The last time this happened she and her husband had about 20 minutes to get out. Now, three emergency bags sit on top of her SUV, three months worth of medicine is on hand, and once she heard of another wildfire heading towards Fort McMurray, she packed more bags.
Grant and her husband lost their home in the 2016 wildfire known as The Beast. That wildfire torched roughly 2,400 homes and devastated the northern Alberta city.
By yesterday afternoon, the Fort McMurray fire had consumed nearly 21,000 hectares, and was about 5.5 kilometres from the city’s landfill south of the town. Officials ordered about 6,000 people out of four communities Tuesday, although locals believe plenty outside the evacuation zones also left, trying to avoid a repeat of the treacherous escape through ash, embers and smoke of eight years ago. The rest of the city, along with surrounding communities, are on evacuation alert.
A pumper truck sprays fire retardant on trees around the evacuated neighbourhood of Beacon Hill in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
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Attempted assassination of Slovak leader puts Europe on edge
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times yesterday in the most serious attack on a European leader in decades. Later in the day, deputy prime minister Tomas Taraba said Fico’s situation was no longer life-threatening and he was expected to survive the attack.
The Slovakian PM is known for defying his fellow leaders in the European Union, and his opposition to military support for Ukraine, friendly relations with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and other positions have put him outside the European mainstream.
But the attempted assassination sent shockwaves through the continent and stoked fears that Europe’s increasingly polarized and venomous political debates had tipped into violence.
Kingston man’s stopped heart retrieved and restarted for transplant to U.S.
For Lorraine and Derk Sherren, the unexpected death of their 40-year-old son was crushing enough on its own, but the tragedy felt compounded when the couple heard it wouldn’t be possible to donate his heart to someone in need.
Robbie Sherren, a Special Olympics bowler who suffered an aneurysm in late April, fell just short of meeting the strict criteria for brain death as he lay in an intensive-care unit in Kingston. A patient who isn’t officially brain dead can still donate organs after life support is withdrawn and his heart has ceased beating for five minutes. But, in Canada, a heart stopped in that fashion had never been reanimated for transplant – until Robbie’s grieving parents got involved.
A team of American doctors, who were granted emergency privileges at the Kingston hospital, restarted Robbie’s heart outside his body and kept it warm and pumping until the organ could be transplanted into the chest of a patient in the United States.
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Also on our radar
Federal political parties lose ruling on voter information: The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled that information about voters collected by federal political parties is subject to the investigative powers of provincial privacy commissioners. The ruling could force political parties across Canada to reveal publicly how much data they are gathering about voters as they compete for electoral advantage.
- Poll shows little optimism for Trudeau or Poilievre
- Campbell Clark: Nobody asked you about Utopia, Mr. Poilievre
- Lawrence Martin: We’re trapped in a system where naysayers are in command
- Editorial: Liberal nibbles that add up to a big bite
Judge rejects McGill’s request to remove pro-Palestinian encampment: A Quebec judge has rejected McGill University’s request for an injunction against the pro-Palestinian encampment on its downtown Montreal campus, saying that the university failed to prove there was any “urgency” to clearing the cluster of tents. The decision by the judge was the second time the protest has withstood a legal challenge as it stretches into its third week.
- Opinion: The privileged Gaza protesters
- Konrad Yakabuski: Canada let Hamas off the hook in the latest UN vote on Palestinian statehood
Pharmacare plan will cost $1.9-billion, report shows: The federal pharmacare plan will increase government spending by $1.9-billion over five years, according to new findings from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The PBO’s estimate is higher than costing in the recently tabled federal budget, which was $1.5-billion over five years.
Reporters criticize snub by PWHL: The organization representing hockey reporters in North America is accusing the Professional Women’s Hockey League of ignoring small publications that have long supported women’s hockey, as the rookie league seeks to grow beyond its core fan base.
New canoe museum opens: The newly built Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ont., is a worthy and welcoming place to paddle through the history of canoes, writes The Globe’s Alex Bozikovic. The museum’s collection includes 600 extraordinary watercraft from Indigenous and settler makers.
Canoes, kayaks and other watercraft in Exhibit Hall at the Canadian Canoe Museum, on May 10, 2024.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Today at 11 a.m. ET, Globe and Mail reporters Jason Kirby, Rachelle Younglai and James Bradshaw will host a Q&A about their recent feature on Toronto’s rising office vacancies. They’ll share insight from the landlords who own these empty buildings, companies that are navigating the new world of remote work and the overall implications for Toronto’s future. Do you have a question? Ask away here and follow along live later this morning.
Morning markets
World stocks hit a record high as galvanized hopes of interest rates cuts in the United States and other major economies extended a powerful month-long global bull run.
MSCI’s benchmark world stocks index, which tracks 47 countries, was up for a sixth straight day. In early trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.33 per cent, Germany’s DAX gave up 0.24 per cent and France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.47 per cent.
In Asian equity markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.39 per cent higher at 38,920.26, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.59 per cent to 19,376.53.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.39 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Duane Green: “The current cycle of tax and spend is not what Canada needs. You cannot tax your way to prosperity. We need to embrace policies that foster both fairness and growth, where economic success benefits all Canadians.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
The question people planning their retirement keep asking: How much of my savings can I afford to give my kids?
In a recent report from Fidelity Investments, 59 per cent of retirees surveyed said they were helping adult children financially. Welcome to retirement in the 2020s, where one of the biggest planning questions is whether you can carve out some of your retirement savings for your kids.
Moment in time: May 16, 1985
Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jon Shanklin with a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer, used to determine stratospheric ozone concentrations in 2003.Chris Gilbert/British Antarctic Survey
Scientists announce discovery of Antarctic ozone hole
In the early 1980s, few scientists were concerned about what chemical pollutants might be doing to Earth’s ozone layer. Predictions based on atmospheric models suggested the effect was negligible at the latitude of the southern United States. Then came the wake-up call. With the help of a device called a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer, a trio of researchers with the British Antarctic Survey discovered that something very different was happening in the stratosphere closer to the South Pole. There, ozone levels had dropped by about a third relative to the historic average. Together, Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, concluded that chlorofluorocarbons – a class of chemicals used as refrigerants and in aerosol spray cans – were to blame. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on this day in 1985. Soon after, satellite data showed the “ozone hole” was continental in scale and a serious problem because of the ozone layer’s role in screening harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The discovery became the catalyst for the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement finalized in 1987 to ban CFCs. Ivan Semeniuk
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