Good morning. Today is the official start of the Winter Olympics, taking place across northern Italy. We’ve got everything you need to know about the Games below, along with solidarity in Greenland and division at CAAT. But first:
Today’s headlines
- The arrest of Toronto police officers in an organized crime and corruption investigation could upend the prosecution of other criminal cases
- PM Mark Carney unveiled Ottawa’s new plan to bolster the automotive sector and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Federal public servants will be required to be in office four days a week as of July
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Canada's Trinity Ellis in the luge women's singles training session in Cortina d'Ampezzo.STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP/Getty Images
Sports
Your Olympics primer
Buon giorno, I’m Jamie Ross, The Globe’s sports editor, writing to you from Milan, where the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics are set to officially kick off.
I’ll be supporting a team of five Globe reporters (plus one photographer), who are spreading out across the country to bring you the biggest news from these Winter Games.
When I wrote in this space two years ago, it was against a very different backdrop. There was heightened excitement for the first post-COVID Olympics, the Games were happening in Paris, and it was sunny and hot. That sentiment lasted a day, then all hell broke loose for the Canadian delegation; a sabotage on the country’s rail system caused transportation chaos; and the handling of a performance-enhancing drug scandal dominated conversation.
Nicoletta Magni arrives with the Olympic torch in Piazza Duomo, Milan, the day before the opening of the Games.Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail
This time around, a calmness is enveloping the Games. There has yet to be any large transgressions, and most coverage has been sports-centric. It’s early, so expect the usual Olympic bugaboos (Russia, doping, gender issues) to become an issue at some point.
Team Canada
The Olympics are always, at a minimum, tinged with patriotic pride from all countries. It’s kind of the point. This year, however, the stakes feel higher for Canada, which comes into the Games during a period of deteriorating relations with the United States and threats to its autonomy from the American President.
The Winter Games always carry a higher medal count for the Canadians relative to the size of the competition. The country sat fourth overall in medals, with 26, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. David Shoemaker, the Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer, said he hopes to exceed that in Italy, though he wouldn’t give an exact number.
Canada's James Crawford during men's downhill skiing training in Bormio, Italy.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press
Canadian moguls skier Mikaël Kingsbury enters his fourth and final Olympics here. He will be one of two athletes carrying the flag at Friday’s opening ceremony, and already has one Olympic gold to his name. Another would cement his reputation as the greatest of all time.
Other gold medal hopefuls include short track speedskater Will Dandjinou, who is a threat in multiple events; ski jumper Abigail Strate; and both the men’s and women’s curling and hockey squads.
The NHL’s return
The biggest, and highest-paid, stars at these games will be in the men’s hockey tournament, which will feature players from the NHL for the first time since the Sochi Games in 2014.
After Canada’s win over the United States at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and given the political tension between the two countries, the possibility of a showdown in the gold-medal game has fans salivating. But Finland and Sweden also have formidable teams that will compete for spots atop the podium.
On the women’s side, hockey is more of a two-horse race, with Canada and the United States existing head and shoulders above the rest of the world.
No Russia
There will be no official Russian participation in Italy for the second consecutive Olympics. The country was banned in 2023 because of its war in Ukraine, though 13 individual athletes are permitted to compete here under a neutral banner. The Belarusian Olympic committee is subject to the same ban, and its country will see seven athletes at the Winter Games.
According to multiple reports, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had thwarted a Russian cyberattack targeting websites linked to the Games, including those of hotels in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The Globe and Mail
The Globe in Italy
With competitions set to be played out across seven different sites spanning 22,000 square kilometres, The Globe’s Olympic team will be split across three clusters.
Eric Reguly, the paper’s European bureau chief, will be based in Bormio, home of the treacherous Stelvio downhill ski course and the men’s alpine competitions. He’ll also be reporting from Livigno, which features freestyle skiing and snowboarding, two sports that could yield medal hauls for Canada.
Sports reporter Rachel Brady is based in the Cortina cluster and will cover sliding sports, women’s downhill skiing and curling.
National sports columnist Cathal Kelly and reporters Robyn Doolittle and Grant Robertson will be in Milan, where hockey, figure skating and short and long track speed skating are being held.
Up next: Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony will take place in four different locales: Milan, Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno. Milan will feature the Parade of Nations at the 70,000-seat San Siro Stadium. Canadian flag-bearers Mikaël Kingsbury and Marielle Thompson will march in Livigno.
Pop star Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform at the opening ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. ET.
Grazie for reading. Here are more stories to follow:
- Who’s on Team Canada, the full schedules and everything else you need to know
- A visitor survival guide to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
- Our experts answered your Winter Olympics questions ahead of Milan Cortina
- At the Olympics, Canada is swaggering and the U.S. may not notice, writes Cathal Kelly
- Ski jumping strikes a balance between aggressive technique and cautious navigation. Get ready to ride along
The Shot
‘This isn’t just a frozen wasteland. These are our homes.’
Pita Atami, president of Makivvik, talks to a delegation of Canadian and Greenlandic Inuit leaders in Nuuk.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
More than 70 Inuit leaders arrived in Nuuk to show their solidarity with Greenlanders in their battle with U.S. President Donald Trump as Canada gets set to open its consulate today.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Tiff Macklem says that Canada must “lean into” structural changes affecting the economy, but downplays the likelihood of a rate cut any time soon.
Abroad: An Israeli-imposed ban on foreign journalists in Gaza remains in place, despite the ceasefire and highly anticipated opening of the Rafah crossing.
Internal: The CAAT Pension Plan board chair has been removed as a trustee amid multiple investigations into the board’s oversight of company leadership.
Fight: Maybe Canada should build a nuclear bomb, writes Ian Brown.
Fun: Introducing our redesigned games destination, a new digital home for witty wordplay and clever logic games: Check out Globe Games today.