Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Health Canada says tweet about timing of review of kids’ COVID-19 vaccine was wrong
Health Canada says it “posted a tweet in error” that indicated its review of a COVID-19 vaccine for children would still take months, instead of weeks, as an official had said last week.
The comments, which it said have since been deleted, drew the ire of parents who on the same day saw regulators in the United States approve the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in kids between the ages of five and 11 years old.
Spokesperson Eric Morrissette said in a statement that comments made last week by Health Canada’s Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Supriya Sharma, are still the most accurate information about when Canadian children can expect to get their shots. On Friday, Dr. Sharma pegged the timing for a decision on the vaccine’s use in kids at a matter of weeks, rather than months.
More COVID-19 news:
- Ontario won’t mandate vaccines for health care workers, as province releases booster shot plan
- Quebec backtracks on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for health-care workers
- Penguins place captain Sidney Crosby, defenceman Brian Dumoulin on COVID-19 protocol list
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At COP26, Canada loses bid to play host to corporate sustainability data office to Germany, but gets consolation prize
Frankfurt has beat out other cities as the site of a new global organization responsible for providing companies with standards for reporting sustainability measures – and Montreal will be home to a secondary office.
The office locations for the new International Sustainability Standards Board, along with other details, were announced at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on Wednesday. The organization’s formation is in response to criticism by investors and companies that sustainability issues, such as climate risks and workforce diversity, get reported using multiple frameworks that lack uniformity, creating unnecessary complexity.
The secondary hub in Montreal is a consolation prize for Canada. Canada’s bid had the support of numerous banks, insurers, pension funds, industry associations and major corporations – they even offered a “welcome fund” to support operations for an initial period.
More climate-related news:
- Andrew Coyne: How much we cut carbon emissions is less important than how we do so
- Non-profit group to put spotlight on Indigenous clean-energy voices at COP26 summit
- Deforestation done well: Gabon’s green logging laws offer COP26 countries a path to climate action
Analysis: Republican Glenn Youngkin emerges victorious in high-stakes Virginia gubernatorial race, but Trump was the real winner
Businessman Glenn Youngkin won the high-drama, high-spending and high-stakes Virginia gubernatorial election Tuesday. But the real winner was Donald J. Trump, writes The Globe’s David Shribman.
Youngkin’s successful push to reclaim the governor’s seat in Richmond from the Democrats – a close race that experts believed Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the state’s former governor, would win easily – served to underline the weakness of the Democrats’ principal strategy for the new decade rather than to point a way for future victories.
Trump was not, of course, on the ballot. But from the start, McAuliffe sought to paint Youngkin as a clone of the former president and thus to reap the benefits of antagonism to Trump. It didn’t work.
Lawrence Martin: Virginia voters send a message: The Trump party is back
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Opposition parties want documents on fired Winnipeg scientists when Parliament returns: Opposition parties plan to resume their fight for the disclosure of documents on the firing of two scientists from Canada’s highest-security laboratory. The parties would need to adopt another motion in the new Parliament, which begins Nov. 22, to compel the release of documents that could offer insight into why the government expelled and then fired Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Businesses owe $14.3-billion in unpaid sales tax, CRA says: In a sign of financial stress brought on by the pandemic and disruptions to the supply chain, businesses are increasingly falling behind on remitting federal sales tax. According to the Canada Revenue Agency, the total GST and HST debt to the government was $14.3-billion in September, 2021, an increase of 24 per cent over the $11.5-billion owed in March, 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions began. The agency said there were roughly 105,000 fewer sales-tax filers in 2020-21 than the period a year earlier, and it had received about 500,000 fewer returns.
Prince Andrew could face U.S. civil trial in woman’s sex-abuse case late next year: Britain’s Prince Andrew was notified by a U.S. judge on Wednesday that he should prepare for a civil trial late next year on accusations that he sexually abused a woman when she was under 18 and also being abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said he anticipated a trial on Virginia Giuffre’s civil claims would begin between September and December, 2022. The timing depends on whether a jury could be accommodated safely amid the pandemic.
Mark Carney among finalists for National Business Book Award: Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is up for a $30,000 prize for Value(s): Building a Better World For All, in which he outlines his vision for a more equitable postpandemic economy. Also nominated for the National Business Book Award are Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, for his memoir on finding business and political success, Fight or Submit: Standing Tall in Two Worlds, and Stephen Bown for The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire.
Stress Test returns soon: Your favourite personal finance podcast is back for a fourth season. Join hosts Rob Carrick and Roma Luciw as they talk to real people and experts to tackle the money questions that have been on your mind. Coming up this season: what rising inflation means for you, those “buy now pay later” options you’re seeing everywhere and of course, housing. Listen to the trailer and catch up on previous episodes now.
MARKET WATCH
Major Wall Street indexes posted solid gains and marked closing record highs as the Federal Reserve said it will begin trimming its monthly bond purchases in November with plans to end them in 2022, an announcement that investors had been expecting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 104.95 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 36,157.58, the S&P 500 gained 29.92 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 4,660.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 161.98 points, or 1.04 per cent, to 15,811.58. The TSX also rose, but ended trading about 20 points shy of its record high in October.
The S&P/TSX composite index, meanwhile, was up 18.73 points at 21,188.74.
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TALKING POINTS
CNN’s conspiracy theory is more plausible than Tucker Carlson’s
“What you’ve got now are competing visions of the state of America and what happens next. Fox News, through its main star, Carlson, is following the trajectory of suspicions about vaccinations furthering suspicions about government that in turn furthers suspicions about the 2020 election. Fox News sees Trump returning as president even if that return is anchored in violence and election manipulation. CNN sees Fox News not just as a competitor but as an enabler of conspiracy theories that undermine U.S. democracy. It all amounts to two rival conspiracy theories doing battle.” - John Doyle
Inflation fears? Ottawa should bring back Canada Savings Bonds and reward consumers who conserve cash
“Don’t snicker. Many of us who are on the wrong side of 40 fondly remember a time when we could make juicy returns by investing in Canada Savings Bonds. Not only were they easy to purchase and risk-free, those paper certificates were oh so cool. Most importantly, though, they taught generations of Canadians how to save.” - Rita Trichur
Listen to The Decibel: Are worries about inflation inflated?
LIVING BETTER
Land border’s reopening puts new, enticing U.S. diversions within range of Canadian road-trippers
For fully vaccinated Canadians thinking of venturing across the border, writer Adam Bisby picks some of the most alluring diversions to emerge since the long pandemic-induced separation from our next-door neighbours.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Netflix race drama Passing is sometimes sensitive, occasionally arrogant, always intriguing
Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson appear in Passing, written and directed by British actor Rebecca Hall.Netflix
Arguably, a well-done adaptation is not one that renders with faithful verisimilitude the exact words and movements of its source material, but one that has the range and ability to translate the feeling and tone of its specific world. English actor-turned-filmmaker Rebecca Hall contends with this dynamic in her debut feature, Passing, an intriguing study of race, class and gender in late-1920s New York, based on the 1929 novel by Harlem Renaissance novelist Nella Larsen.
The film traces the stories of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Ruth Negga), both of whom have the ability to “pass” as white, to varying degrees and with varying intentions. Childhood friends who reunite via a chance encounter, Irene lives in Harlem with her relatively darker-skinned husband Brian (André Holland) and their children, while Clare has spent her adult life passing for white and is married to white businessman John Bellow (Alexander Skarsgard), with whom she shares a daughter. Read Sarah-Tai Black’s full review.
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.