Morning Update: As Canada slowly looks to reopen, a big backlog of elective surgeries awaits

Good morning,

As provincial governments begin to resume elective surgeries, they are finding that the backlogs are going to be difficult to clear.

British Columbia says it will cost $250-million this year and take up to two years to complete the 30,000 procedures that were postponed. They will begin rebooking next week.

Ontario released a “framework” for restarting elective surgeries, but it did not set a date, saying instead that hospitals with the most empty beds and fewest COVID-19 patients in their communities would likely go first.

Alberta resumed elective day procedures on Monday, with an emphasis on treating urgent patients first and those who had been in the queue the longest.

Quebec has not released plans to resume elective surgeries.

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Long-term care in Canada

• Quebec is moving swiftly to reopen schools and businesses, but its government is still struggling with questions about whether it could have better handled the pandemic to lessen the death toll among seniors at nursing homes. These facilities were considered a retirement plum for Quebec’s elders, now they are now symbols of warehousing and neglect.
• Ontario is promising a review of the province’s long-term-care system after the COVID-19 pandemic, after a health care union called for a public inquiry into the deaths of more than 1,100 residents and at least three front-line workers. The province won’t commit to making it public or independent from government.

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Trump threatens to ‘terminate’ trade deal with China

In retaliation against China over its handling of COVID-19, the U.S. president has threatened to “terminate” the Phase 1 trade agreement he reached with Beijing in January. Donald Trump and some of his officials are also promoting a theory that the virus originated in a Chinese lab, despite producing no evidence of this. China promptly fired back, accusing U.S. officials of using lies to cover up other lies.

Other U.S. stories to catch up on:

• U.S. asks court to limit Huawei’s ability to share American evidence with Meng
• White father, son arrested in shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery after outcry across U.S.

Because of financial uncertainty, Sidewalk Labs pulls out of controversial Quayside Project

Yesterday morning, Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs announced it is abandoning its smart-city development project in Toronto after two and a half years of controversy over its origins, overreach, and privacy and financial implications.

Sidewalk and Waterfront Toronto were negotiating the deal in preparation for a vote by the Waterfront board on June 25. A source close to the negotiations said Waterfront had arrived at project details it was satisfied with, but wanted confirmation that the parent company would financially backstop the project, particularly if things went awry.

• Opinion (Alex Bozikovic): After Sidewalk Labs, Toronto should get smart

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Veteran who helped bring 30,000 Ukrainian refugees to Canada to be honoured in Britain: Bohdan Panchuk grew up on a farm east of Saskatoon, and the story of the group he co-founded during the Second World War has been largely forgotten.

‘Alarming’ COVID-19 outbreak hits northern Saskatchewan: As of yesterday, there were 167 positive cases in the region, which extends north from the town of La Ronge. Health officials have confirmed that some of the cases in La Loche are linked to travel from a Kearl Lake oil sands work camp north of Fort McMurray, Alta.​​

Insect experts ask people to lower concerns about ‘murder hornets’: The facts are, experts said, two dead hornets were found in Washington last December, a lone Canadian live nest was found and wiped out last September, and no live hornets have yet been seen this year.

MORNING MARKETS

Global shares rallied on Friday as investors cheered signs of improving Sino-American relations and looked towards more governments gradually reopening their economies. The positive mood stands in sharp contrast to the economic data. U.S. unemployment numbers due later on Friday are expected to be the worst in a lifetime as the coronavirus pandemic ravages economies. Asian markets, which had opened higher following gains on Wall Street, were lifted by news of a phone call between American and Chinese trade representatives. Improving sentiment also put European futures comfortably in the black, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.6 per cent at 339.86 points, Germany’s DAX up 0.75 per cent at 10,840 and France’s CAC 40 0.6 per cent higher at 4,526.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

To endure our new long fight, look to Canadians’ spirit in the Second World War

Tim Cook: “Like the Second World War, there is no escaping this all-encompassing fight against an invisible enemy.” Cook is acting director of research at the Canadian War Museum.

The perilous task of reopening an economy with a killer virus still on the loose

Gary Mason: “What no one wants is to resume life under a new normal but then see everything shut down again because of exploding virus cases that threaten to overwhelm our hospitals.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

Mother’s Day will have to be done differently this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still treat your mom on the special day. For May 10, we’ve gathered stories and ideas to help you show mom you care, from takeout and wine options to books and movies to share. We’ve also included options to pamper her with skin and hair care ideas.

And if you’re a mom yourself, maybe consider passing this list along to you kids to give them a little nudge before the weekend begins.

You can also read our compilation of some of our favourite stories tackling the joys (and pain) of being a mother. Read The Globe’s best-read essays on motherhood here.

MOMENT IN TIME: May 8, 1886

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Coca-Cola is invented

“Coke adds life” the beverage company’s advertisements used to say, and for almost 20 years, the ads could have added, "Coke adds cocaine.” The drink’s inventor, John Stith Pemberton, suffered a life-threatening wound in the U.S. Civil War and became addicted to morphine to treat the pain. A pharmacist, he began tinkering with formulas to beat his addiction, and eventually came up with a French wine nerve tonic in 1885. But bowing to the temperance movement in his hometown of Atlanta, he ditched the wine and concocted a combination of sugared water, coca leaves (from which was extracted a trace amount of cocaine, as well as caffeine) and kola nuts. On this day in 1886, Pemberton took a jug of his syrup to a local chemist, Jacobs’ Pharmacy, which added carbonated water. And Coca-Cola, at five US cents a glass, was born as a soda-fountain drink. Pemberton originally peddled the beverage as a patent medicine, claiming it could cure disease, headaches, indigestion, addiction and sexual impotence. Cocaine was dropped in 1903, but the drink’s popularity only grew: Coca-Cola is today the world’s most popular soft drink and its flowing red-and-white logo is among the world’s most recognized. Philip King

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