Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ottawa to send 140 million more COVID-19 rapid tests to provinces, territories
The federal government is sending an additional 140 million COVID-19 rapid tests to provinces and territories at their request, says Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.
Speaking at news conference Wednesday, Duclos said deliveries are already under way, with tests to be allocated on a per-capita basis.
Rapid tests are becoming increasingly popular in Canada as a tool to detect COVID-19, particularly as access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests becomes more difficult amid the surge in new cases.
Catch up on more COVID-19 coverage:
- Novak Djokovic denied entry to Australia
- Essential stores struggle to stay open amid staff shortages
- Gary Mason: With hospitals in crisis, it’s time there were consequences for vaccine holdouts
- The Decibel: Cracking the coronavirus code
U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland vows U.S. will hold all involved in Capitol attack accountable
U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland on Wednesday pledged to hold accountable anyone who was involved in the deadly Capitol attack by former president Donald Trump’s supporters in remarks made the day before the first anniversary of the violence.
So far, more than 725 people have been charged by the Justice Department with crimes arising from the Jan. 6 riot, ranging from disorderly conduct to assaulting police to conspiracy. Of those people, about 165 have pleaded guilty and at least 70 have been sentenced.
“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law – whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Garland, who heads the department, said in a speech.
Read more:
- Twitter creates monitoring team to prepare for anniversary of Jan. 6 Capitol riot
- Andrew Coyne: Chaos is coming to the U.S. What will Canada become?
- Opinion: A historic Canadian insurrection has uncanny parallels with the Capitol riot
Canada’s next wave of homebuyers set to fuel overheated market
After a frenetic 18 months when Canadians pushed up home prices in a quest to ride out the pandemic in comfort, another influx of buyers is set to add more fuel to the overheated real estate market.
With the federal government increasing its annual immigration targets to the highest levels on record, it’s paving the way for a surge of new permanent residents, which Canada desperately needs to fill job vacancies. These new immigrants will add to the country’s population and immediately boost the need for housing in major job centres and nearby cities.
This will ramp up competition for homes at a time when national real estate prices have jumped 40 per cent in the past two years.
- Decoding 2022: Eight charts that provide insight into the housing market for the year ahead
- Home values spiking in B.C.’s small communities, estimates show
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
March, 2023, trial set for lawsuit in Florida condo collapse: A judge says a major lawsuit in the collapse of the Champlain Towers will proceed to trial in March, 2023, about six months later than had originally been planned. Lawyers in the case said experts needed more time to evaluate what caused the 12-storey south tower in Surfside, Fla., to fall in June, 2021. Its collapse was one of the worst building disasters in U.S. history.
- From the archives: Before Florida’s deadly condo collapse, one of the Canadians behind the development faced decades of lawsuits and claims of fraud
Kazakh president fails to quell deadly protests: Protests around Kazakhstan have killed eight security personnel and injured 317, a news agency said on Wednesday, as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev failed to quell public outrage over the influence of his powerful predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Initially angered by a rise in fuel prices on New Year’s Day, demonstrators have stormed and torched state buildings and chanted against Nazarbayev, who retained wide authority despite leaving office in 2019 after nearly three decades.
Thirteen dead, including seven children, in Philadelphia house fire: Fire ripped through a duplex home early Wednesday in Philadelphia, leaving at 13 people dead, including seven children, officials said, noting that the four smoke alarms in the building do not appear to have been working. The cause of the blaze had yet to be determined.
Flight attendants call for better COVID-19 protections following maskless party on Sunwing flight: The union group that represents some 15,000 airline workers is demanding stronger protection against COVID-19 for crews in the wake of a party on a Sunwing Airlines flight from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico. Canadian Union of Public Employees’ airline division says governments should work to speed up access to booster shots for flight crews and that airlines should scale back service in the aisles to limit flight attendants’ exposure to the virus.
- Air Transat says it will deny boarding to passengers from maskless Sunwing party flight
Sony looks to enter electric vehicle market with planned launch of new company this spring: Japan’s Sony Group Corp. is looking to capitalize on its strengths in entertainment and sensors to play a bigger role in next-generation mobility with the debut of a new company, Sony Mobility, in the spring. Its anticipated launch comes as the Japanese tech giant is “exploring a commercial launch” of electric vehicles,” Sony chairman and president Kenichiro Yoshida told reporters.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. Treasury yields soared on Wednesday, and North American stock markets fell sharply, after minutes of the last Federal Reserve policy meeting came in more hawkish than expected, flagging three or more interest hikes this year to quell surging inflation.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 92.86 points or 1.94 per cent to end at 4,700.49 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 524.89 points or 3.36 per cent to close at 15,097.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 387.47 points or 1.05 per cent to 36,412.18.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 196.86 points to 21,039.66. The loonie was trading 0.4 per cent lower at 1.2758 to the greenback, or 78.38 U.S. cents.
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TALKING POINTS
Hong Kong has become a living experiment in Chinese ‘democracy’
“Beijing’s supporters have shrugged off the low turnout of the [Hong Kong] elections, saying that what really matters is the performance of the new, opposition-free legislature. But that’s where the problem lies. The government cites the law every time it is accused of violating people’s rights. A legislature willing to give the government a free pass is a threat to liberty.” - Frank Ching
When do we admit Canada’s health care system just isn’t working?
“This pandemic should prompt Canadians to reckon with the reality that our health care system isn’t working. Indeed, when a province of millions is brought to a virtual standstill by the prospect of a few hundred additional people in acute care beds, that fact is undeniable.” - Robyn Urback
LIVING BETTER
In photos: Images capture the bright side of life from around the world
Zookeeper Hattie Sire poses for a photograph with Humboldt penguins during the annual stocktake at ZSL London Zoo in London on Jan. 4, 2022.JOHN SIBLEY/Reuters
From Humboldt penguins gathering for an annual stock-taking at a London zoo to Afghan children having a snowball fight after a heavy snowfall blankets Kabul, Globe photo editors select photographs that show a brighter side of the world amid the pandemic.
TODAY’S LONG READ
A Quebec memorial to 1603′s French-Indigenous alliance seeks to put nation-to-nation conversations back in the story of Canada
Chief Martin Dufour of the Innu Essipit First Nation visits Pointe-aux-Alouettes in Baie-Sainte-Catherine, Que., the site where Innu chief Anadabijou and Samuel de Champlain met in 1603 to set terms for the French presence in the land Champlain would later claim as New France.MATHIEU BELANGER/The Globe and Mail
Down a dirt track in an old Quebec whale-fishing village, there is a cluster of red granite blocks in the middle of a clearing, inscribed with only two words, in French and the Indigenous language Innu: kuei and ami. Hello friend.
The sculptures look like they might have been forgotten, when in fact they’re part of a process of remembering. Along with a series of plaques nearby, they form part of an unfinished historical site that is approximately 400 years overdue.
It will commemorate the Great Alliance of 1603, the first pact between French and Indigenous leaders in North America, and a moment that a growing number of scholars argue was the true beginning of Quebec and even Canada. Read the full story by Eric Andrew-Gee.
Evening Update is written by Beatrice Paez. 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.