Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canada will have to withdraw its special forces soldiers and halt rescue flights at the Kabul airport within days as the August 31 deadline for the pullout of American soldiers is rapidly approaching.
Sajjan told a media briefing today that U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has made it clear to Canada and other allies involved in the evacuation mission in Afghanistan that they will have to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport before U.S. forces depart at the end of the month.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau acknowledged thousands of people will be left behind, including Canadian expats and many Afghanistan interpreters and former support staff who worked with Canada’s military and diplomacy, but pledged that Canada will honour special visas given to those Afghans and their families if they can escape to a third country once the evacuation flights end
More Afghanistan coverage:
Opinion: Ordinary Canadians can help Afghans settle successfully in our communities
Konrad Yakabuski: Biden keeps digging himself a hole on Afghanistan
Eric Reguly: The U.S. is out of Afghanistan, and China wants in, hunting for green revolution minerals
Crowds of people wait outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 25, 2021 in this picture obtained from social media. Twitter/DAVID_MARTINON via REUTERSTWITTER/DAVID_MARTINON/Reuters
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Liberals propose corporate tax hike on banks and insurance companies with profits over $1-billion
The Liberals are targeting big banks and insurance companies as a source of new revenue, pledging to raise their corporate tax rate on all earnings over $1-billion and force these same firms to pay a “Canada Recovery Dividend.”
The two measures would bring in at least $2.5-billion in federal tax revenue over four years, according to the party.
The party states that Canada’s financial sector has “recovered faster and stronger” than many other industries, thanks in part to taxpayer-funded emergency support programs, and should ”do a little more to support Canadians in their goal of becoming homeowners, and to share in the dividends of this pandemic profitability.”
More election coverage:
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Jewish Liberal candidates face racist attacks during election campaign
Tax and Spend: Liberals’ anti-flipping tax chips away at exemption for principal residences
Andrew Coyne: If shamelessness is the key to success in politics, O’Toole is looking good
Federal election poll tracker: Follow the latest Nanos-Globe-CTV numbers ahead of Sept. 20′s vote
Canadian federal election 2021: The latest updates and essential reading before voting day
Chinese state-owned shipbuilder tapped to supply ferry for Crown corporation as Canadians remain jailed
A huge state-owned shipyard in China is building a 1,000-passenger ferry for use by a federal Crown corporation over the objections of Canada’s shipbuilding industry, and at a time when two Canadians are in Chinese prisons as victims of what Ottawa has called “hostage diplomacy.”
Marine Atlantic Inc. awarded a $100-million, five-year ferry charter contract in late July to Sweden’s Stena North Sea Ltd., which subcontracted construction of the 200-metre vessel to China Merchants Industry’s Jinling shipyard for delivery in 2024.
Colin Cooke, president of the Canadian Marine Industries and Shipbuilding Association, said he finds it “very difficult to stomach” that the federal contract was approved when Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are incarcerated in China. They have spent 989 days in Chinese prisons with the lights on 24 hours a day.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Law firms embrace COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Several Bay Street law firms are joining a wave of Canadian companies that now require employees to be fully vaccinated to return to the office.
Also: WHO experts say search for COVID-19 origins has stalled
Imperial outlines plan to produce plant-based renewable fuel: Imperial Oil Ltd. wants to build Canada’s largest renewable diesel facility just outside Edmonton, converting vegetable oil into about one billion litres of fuel each year.
Cyclist, swimmer capture first medals for Canada at Paralympics: Cyclist Keely Shaw won Canada’s first medal at the Tokyo Paralympics with a bronze in the C4 3,000-metre individual pursuit, one of track cycling’s most gruelling races. Meanwhile, swimmer Aurelie Rivard was hoping to defend her Olympic title in the 50-metre freestyle, but came up just short of the gold medal, winning bronze.
Man photographed on Nirvana album cover sues for ‘sexual exploitation’: A man who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 Nevermind album has filed a lawsuit against the surviving members of the influential band, alleging the image was child sexual exploitation.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index closed at an all-time high today, with the financials sector ending in positive territory even as banking stocks pulled back from intraday highs as the Liberal Party revealed plans to increase their corporate tax rate. The S&P/TSX Composite Index last closed up 0.19 per cent to 20,587.32.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks gained ground with chipmakers and financials helping to push the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record closing highs as investors look to the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.12 per cent to 35,408.36, the S&P 500 gained 0.22 per cent to 4,496.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.15 per cent to 15,042.48.
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TALKING POINTS
The desexualization of OnlyFans is not only sex workers’ problem
“These campaigns combine moralism about sex and pornography with fears about the exploitation of women, while fomenting moral panic about sex trafficking. But what are the unintended consequences of banning adult websites, criminalizing some aspects of sex work and continuing to stigmatize all sex work?” - Meredith Ralston
LIVING BETTER
Smaller expedition-style cruises gain favour as travellers look to get back on the water
If you’re looking to go on a cruise, but want to avoid the large cruise lines, a great option is small-ship and expedition-style cruises. Aside from the limited number of passengers, part of the appeal of expedition cruising is that no one suffers for lack of comfort, as the ships now boast cutting-edge technology and amenities.
TODAY’S LONG READ
A bible, several hundred years old, at Westbank Museum in West Kelowna, B.CWestbank Museum
As climate disasters come to museums’ doorsteps, curators decide what to save or leave
It was a chaotic Monday on the job for Jeremiah Ryder and his team of two. As ash fell onto the Westbank Museum in West Kelowna, B.C., and water bombers swooped down into Okanagan Lake, the small group inside the building had to take stock: reviewing which artifacts they would rescue first, in the event that a nearby wildfire overtook their area.
With wildfires raging across the country and other disasters as a result of climate change, Canadian art galleries and museums are reading the writing on the wall and readying for the worst. Looking to examples in Brazil, Beirut and even Lytton, B.C., museums are figuring out how to protect their valuable collections from apocalyptic conditions.
Evening Update is written by Omair Quadri. 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.