Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Happy birthday ... to us!
Today, The Globe and Mail is honoured to celebrate its 180th birthday.
The Globe’s mission is the same today as it was at its inception: to highlight the issues and events that intersect with the life of the country and influence its course. We are driven by a common cause: to relentlessly pursue the truth and promote the exchange of ideas that is central to a fair and just society. Andrew Saunders, The Globe’s president and chief executive officer, has some words to mark the occasion.
Plus, read about the Queens of the Gilded Age: the women who pioneered journalism at the newspapers that would evolve into The Globe and Mail of today.
Sarah Jeannette Duncan, Kit Coleman and Faith Fenton.Supplied
Just for Laughs 2024 festival cancelled as group files for creditor protection
The Quebec comedy company announced today that it is seeking creditor protection under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and that the 2024 edition of its festival has been cancelled.
Just for Laughs said the company was in a “very difficult financial situation given the significant changes in our business landscape in recent years,” citing challenges such as the pandemic and recent high inflation.
The company hopes the festival will take place in 2025. It describes its Montreal festival as “the world’s largest and most prestigious comedy event, welcoming more than two million people each summer.”
Coast-to-coast Super Tuesday contests
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are poised to move much closer to winning their parties’ nominations Tuesday during the biggest day of the primary campaign, setting up a historic rematch that many voters would rather not endure.
- Super Tuesday elections are being held in 16 states and one territory. Hundreds of delegates are at stake, the biggest haul for either party on any single day.
- While much of the focus is on the presidential race, there are also important down-ballot contests. Such as in California: Voters will choose candidates who will compete to fill the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein.
Also read: Evangelical Christians flocking to Trump in greater numbers
Treating menopause as an illness to be medicated does women a disservice, experts say
Menopause is a normal part of aging that is becoming overmedicalized, according to experts who say writing a prescription isn’t the only way to help women through the transition.
In a new series in the medical journal The Lancet, experts from around the world urge health professionals to empower women with accurate information about menopause that isn’t driven by pharmaceutical companies or other commercial interests.
While the experts say hormonal therapy can be a safe and effective way to relieve hot flushes and genitourinary symptoms, it highlights that menopause should not be treated as an illness to be medicated.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Israel-Hamas war: U.S. President Joe Biden said a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages was in the hands of Hamas, as delegations held a third day of talks with no sign of a breakthrough.
- Opinion: Dropping food from the sky might deliver more harm than help
Brian Mulroney: The state funeral for the former prime minister will take place in Montreal on March 23.
China: The country’s economy is on the rebound, with the government aiming for 5-per-cent growth and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 3 per cent this year, Premier Li Qiang said at the opening of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
Resources: SRG Mining Inc. has called off a financing deal with a China-based buyer after Canada’s federal Industry Minister publicly chastised the company for trying to skirt a national security review around the agreement.
Real estate: Toronto home prices rose in February, the first increase since last summer, but sales dropped – a sign that the country’s largest housing market is not quite on the rebound.
Climate change: A task force dedicated to addressing the housing and climate crises is calling on governments to dramatically change the way homes are built in Canada.
Listen to The Decibel: Documents reveal fired scientists shared information with China. Steven Chase explains who they are and why it took so long to release the documents.
MARKET WATCH
Tech-heavy Nasdaq leads Wall Street lower, Canada’s main stock index is flat
Canada’s main stock index moved a hair lower on Tuesday, meanwhile Wall Street indexes closed lower with weakness in megacap growth companies such as Apple Inc and the chip sector weighing on the Nasdaq ahead of this week’s crop of economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 5.14 points at 21,525.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 404.51 points to 38,585.32, the S&P 500 lost 52.29 points, to 5,078.66 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 267.92 points to 15,939.59.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.63 cents US compared with 73.68 cents US on Monday.
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TALKING POINTS
The proposed new pharmacare program is yet another pilot project with an uncertain future
“Instead of politically expedient pilot projects, we need a more targeted approach to helping those in need – dare one suggest, a vision even?” – André Picard
A task force’s bold prescription: a Canada of 15-minute cities
“However, this utopian vision won’t entirely come to pass. Six years is not long to reinvent an entire sector of the economy. And let’s be honest: Canada will not hit the target of 5.8 million new homes in six years.” – Alex Bozikovic
The great deception: Hosting a major sporting spectacle
“I guess I’ve just become a little cynical about these things. The Olympics are bad enough, in terms of getting cities to pay for costs they have little chance of recouping. But FIFA? It’s hard to justify having to beg for its approval. Over the years it’s been one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet.” – Gary Mason
LIVING BETTER
Globe readers debate the right time to take their CPP retirement benefits
Take it early and invest it? Plan to start at 70, then revisit? We’ve received dozens of e-mails from readers commenting on our coverage, offering story ideas, providing feedback and sharing their thoughts and decisions regarding when to take CPP retirement benefits. One person said she “took mine at 60 and have zero regrets,” and another says, “Maybe compare the average health and activities of 60 year olds versus 70 year olds or how money is spent at various ages.” Here’s a collection of all these responses.
This is the latest in a continuing series, Planning for the CPP, in which Globe Advisor explores the decisions behind when to take CPP benefits and reviews different aspects of the beloved and often-debated government-sponsored pension plan.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Supplied
Treaty Road looks at the painful stories behind the numbered treaties signed with Canada’s Indigenous peoples
The new ATPN series Treaty Road, arriving Tuesday, tells the complex and often enraging story of the first six of the 11 Numbered Treaties signed by Indigenous peoples and the British Crown between 1871 and 1921. It should surprise no one that the Crown’s actual agenda was to obtain title by any means, including mistranslations, omissions, lies and broken promises.
Erin Goodpipe and Saxon de Cocq are friends, and the co-hosts. Each episode looks at the circumstances of a treaty, and charts its present-day effects on land, resource extraction, food sovereignty and justice. Read more today.
Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. 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.
Sierra Bein