Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war
Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City on Friday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had ruled out a temporary ceasefire that doesn’t include a return of the nearly 240 people Hamas abducted during its attack on Oct. 7. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to ensure more humanitarian aid and do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, or else there will be “no partners for peace.”
The focus of Israel’s campaign has been to crush the enclave’s Hamas militants, who launched the brutal attack on Israeli communities that started the war. Israel said it was pressing ahead with its military offensive with “all of its power,” adding that it was on high alert for attacks on its border with Lebanon as fears grow that the conflict could ignite fighting on other fronts.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in his first remarks since the start of the war, urged Arab countries to halt shipments of oil and food to Israel and warned that all-out war in the region remains a “very likely possibility,” and “all scenarios are open on our Lebanese southern front.”
Meanwhile, more than 450 Canadians who want to leave the Gaza Strip could be allowed to exit in “the coming days,” Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said, but shared no firm timeline as Canadians faced another day of being left off the list. Blair told reporters in Ottawa on Friday there is “no specific impediment” to getting those people out. He said the Canadian government is working closely with Israel, Egypt, the United States and the United Kingdom.
More than 9,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far, mostly women and minors, and more and than 23,000 people have been wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters. More than 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’s initial attack, when about 240 people were also taken hostage. About 5,400 have also been injured. Twenty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation.
Read more:
- Opinion: The Jews of my generation thought they would be exempt from history. They were wrong
- In photos: The 28 days of strife
- Explainer: What would a ceasefire or ‘humanitarian pause’ mean in the Israel-Hamas war?
An Israeli artillery unit near Netivot, Israel, fires at a target in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 2, 2023.AVISHAG SHAAR-YASHUV/The New York Times News Service
Canada’s unemployment rate rises to 5.7% in October as economy sees modest job gain
Although analysts on Bay Street were expecting a gain of 25,000 jobs in October, the Canadian economy added just 17,500 last month, after increases of nearly 64,000 positions in September and 40,000 in August. The data, reported by Statistics Canada on Friday, represent latest sign of how higher interest rates are weighing on economic activity.
The unemployment rate also rose to 5.7 per cent from 5.5 per cent, the highest level since January, 2022. The labour force is expanding quickly because of an immigration boom, but employers are not creating enough jobs to keep the jobless rate from rising.
Meanwhile, average hourly wages rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis in October – down from a 5-per-cent pace in September. This is an encouraging sign for the Bank of Canada, which has repeatedly flagged elevated wage growth as a risk to the inflation outlook.
The Bay Street financial district is shown with the Canadian flag in Toronto on Aug. 5, 2022.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Canada condemns Chinese conduct after fighter jet launches flares in front of Canadian aircraft
Canada has accused Beijing of unprofessional and unsafe conduct after a Chinese warplane fired flares in front of a Canadian helicopter flying over international waters in the South China Sea, marking two incidents Sunday where Chinese fighter planes flew dangerously close to intercept Canadian helicopters.
Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa was sailing near the Paracel Islands on Sunday as part of what he said are exercises intended to promote “freedom of navigation” in international waterways. A Canadian military CH-148 helicopter was flying nearby, also on exercise, when a J-11 fighter jet from the People’s Liberation Army appeared and fired flares directly in front of it.
National Defence Minister Bill Blair speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons before Question Period, Nov. 3, 2023 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ottawa, B.C. and First Nations Leadership Council agree to spend up to $1-billion on conservation: The governments of Canada and British Columbia and the First Nations Leadership Council have struck a three-way agreement to invest up to $1-billion on conservation initiatives in the province, saying the new pact will help protect old-growth forests and endangered species like boreal caribou and spotted owls.
Is a $100,000 salary enough for a comfortable life any more?: A $100,000 salary is considered a lot of money, but there are many parts of the country where it doesn’t stretch far when basic living costs are taken into account.
Magna CEO says U.S. auto workers’ strike cost the company US$310-million in sales: Magna International Inc.’s top executive says the six-week auto workers’ strike in the United States cost the parts maker US$310-million in sales as the industry production fell by 220,000 vehicles.
Unifor workers on St. Lawrence Seaway ratify collective agreements: Workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway have ratified collective agreements that raise wages by 13 per cent over three years.
Alberta would need to negotiate international agreements if it quits CPP, Ottawa says: Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday that if Alberta were to quit the Canada Pension Plan, it would need to launch a “complex and multi-year process” of negotiating international social security agreements to deal with contributors who work abroad.
Listen to this week’s episode of Stress Test: Dual income, no kids: How much more fun are they having?
MARKET WATCH
Broad-based strength led by battery metals and telecom stocks helped the TSX gain one per cent Friday despite weakness in energy stocks, while U.S. markets also rose.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 198.51 points at 19,824.85.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 222.24 points at 34,061.32. The S&P 500 index was up 40.56 points at 4,358.34, while the Nasdaq composite was up 184.09 points at 13,478.28.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.08 cents US compared with 72.58 cents US on Thursday.
The December crude contract was down US$1.95 at US$80.51 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up four cents at US$3.52 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$5.70 at US$1,999.20 an ounce and the December copper contract was up one cent at US$3.68 a pound.
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TALKING POINTS
The conversation around immigration in Canada is shifting
“Immigration may well be just one of numerous factors affecting the housing market, but recent images of asylum seekers camped out on city streets and homeless encampments in parks are potent signs that infrastructure has not kept up with our ambitious immigration targets.” – Michael Adams and Keith Neuman
Ottawa’s latest immigration plans fail to move the needle, on housing and in Quebec
“Perhaps the Liberals could hardly be expected to reverse course on immigration at the same time as they are being pummelled by critics across the spectrum for suspending the federal carbon tax on home-heating oil, in a crass bid to save their political skin in Atlantic Canada. The political optics of defenestrating yet another core Liberal policy would reinforce the impression of a government that has grown long in the tooth and is out of new ideas.” – Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
Why training the brain alongside the body is important in fitness
Toughness – it’s an expression we’re all familiar with, but what exactly does it mean? How do we quantify or measure such an abstract descriptor? Are we talking about mental fortitude? Resiliency? Or does toughness describe someone who simply doesn’t quit, no matter what? Maybe. But that could also be the definition of stupidity or insanity.
To understand what makes one person persevere when confronted with a gruelling task while another will pack up and go home, Paul Landini writes we have to understand how the brain works when making a decision.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Kristina Voronovska stands near the monument of the Mother of Motherland on Nov. 1, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine.Anton Skyba/The Globe and Mail
Kristina Voronovska is one of many Ukrainians who reinvented themselves as war-effort volunteers, working for little or no pay as medics, drivers, technicians, caterers, builders and more. After the war, she reinvented her food delivery business as a logistics operation, delivering military equipment, food, medicine and even second-hand ambulances to the front lines.
After delivering medicine and meals to the shattered villages along the Russian invasion route to Kyiv, she shifted her operation to Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Oblast, to be near the front lines, where the supplies she procured through her volunteer network would be needed most.
The work is not without personal risk. In Vuhledar, the largely destroyed battleground town southwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, bombs were hitting a few hundred metres away from her and her delivery team. You can read the full story here.
Evening Update is written by Emerald Bensadoun. 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.