Good morning,
Canada and the United States have reached a workaround deal in a dispute over the popular Nexus trusted-traveller system, and President Joe Biden will visit Canada in March.
Canada and the United States announced the developments at the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City yesterday.
Canada and the U.S. remain at odds over legal protections for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who work in Nexus offices in Canada. They want the same protection for them as is guaranteed to U.S. preclearance officers at Canadian land crossings and airports under a 2019 binational agreement.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrive for a joint news conference at the conclusion of the North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico City, Mexico, Jan. 10, 2023.KEVIN LAMARQUE/Reuters
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 other Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.
Russia set to capture strategic town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine
Russia has reportedly captured the strategic town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, a victory that would mark the first significant battlefield gain for the invading forces after months of humiliating defeats.
In a video posted to social media yesterday, two balaclava-wearing Russian fighters – who identified themselves as members of the notorious Wagner private military company – said they were standing in the centre of Soledar.
Earlier yesterday, the British Ministry of Defence wrote in its daily update that “Russian and Wagner forces have made tactical advances into the small Donbas town of Soledar and are likely in control of most of the settlement.” Ukraine, however, said that it was still fighting for the town. “Heavy fighting to hold onto Soledar continues. The enemy disregards the heavy losses of its personnel and continues to storm actively,” deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said in a statement.
Health care spending is unsustainable, former finance minister Bill Morneau says in new book
Former finance minister Bill Morneau says political leaders in Canada have for too long fixed the health care system’s problems by spending more and more money, and that now is the time to make the hard choices they have avoided in the past.
More than two years after resigning from cabinet and the House of Commons, Morneau is about to release a book – titled Where To From Here – that looks back on his five years in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and offers a 325-page road map for navigating the country’s economic and social challenges. Fixing health care programs that cost $300-billion annually, with spending set to soar as the population ages, is a central theme.
In Morneau’s view, he and other political leaders have avoided the hard work of health care reform, and instead kicked the problem down the road by increasing federal transfer payments and other sources of cash for a system that now consumes 13 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
Also on our radar
FAA reports computer outage: Flights are being delayed at multiple locations across the United States after a computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Opposition plans probe into McKinsey contracts: Federal opposition politicians announced their plans for a committee investigation after a news report last week on outsourcing and McKinsey, which was based on the same figures previously reported by The Globe.
California storm causes thousands to evacuate homes: More than a dozen people are dead in California after pounding rain laced with hail descended on parts of the state, felling trees, inundating roads, flooding homes, severing power lines and swallowing at least one car into a sink hole. Thousands were evacuated from areas prone to mudslides and flood-watch warnings covered the homes of 90 per cent of Californians.
Hong Kong refuses to reveal details of ‘deradicalization’ program: Since November, 2021, hundreds of mostly young people who took part in anti-government protests in Hong Kong have participated in a “deradicalization” program. While some former prisoners have denounced it as “brainwashing,” participants said that gives the program too much credit, describing the materials as simplistic and intensely pro-China
Future of Canadian space company uncertain: After half a century of operation, Telesat – one of Canada’s largest and oldest communications companies – is trying to transform itself with a new constellation of satellites. But after years of delays, analysts are increasingly concerned about the former Crown corporation’s ability to pay off its debts.
Prince Harry’s memoir breaks sales record, publisher says: Prince Harry’s Spare became Britain’s fastest selling non-fiction book ever, its publisher said on Tuesday, after days of TV interviews, leaks and a mistaken early release of the memoir containing intimate revelations about the British Royal Family.
Morning markets
Global stocks gain: Global stocks edged higher on Wednesday, underpinned by hopes that inflation was being tamed enough to ease the pace of interest rate hikes and reduce the chances of deep recession. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.62 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 added 0.88 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished up 1.03 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.49 per cent. New York futures were positive. The Canadian dollar was steady at 74.48 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Andrew Coyne: “The gravest danger comes not from extremism itself, but from accommodating – normalizing – extremism. ... If to oppose this kind of extremism is polarizing, then by all means: let us have more polarization.”
Editorial: “It may be that Canadians, fully informed, will agree that the benefits of supply management outweigh the costs. But that overdue debate needs to start with the recognition that Canadian consumers pay that bill.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
Living better
These three new books break true-crime conventions
True crime will always be catnip for readers but, as with reality TV, it often relies on established formulas. It’s exciting, then, to see authors breaking away from numbing tropes to seek out different subjects and approaches and bring freshness to the genre.
Moment in time: Jan. 11, 1934
Prime Minister Jean Chretien gesture during his speech to Liberal members a dinner in Calgary, March 23, 2000.ADRIAN WYLD/The Canadian Press
Jean Chrétien is born
He was the 18th of 19 children – 10 died in infancy – the son of a machinist and a homemaker in the Quebec mill town of Shawinigan Falls. In his early years, Jean Chrétien won his arguments using his fists, but there was a brain there, too. An older brother helped fund his education, and he became a lawyer. The Chrétiens were devout Liberals, and in 1963 Jean was elected to the House of Commons, speaking no English. By 1968 he was in cabinet. Pierre Trudeau looked down on his working-class accent but appreciated his toughness. Without Chrétien’s negotiating skills, there might never have been a patriated constitution. He undermined John Turner’s leadership, becoming leader himself in 1990, and prime minister in 1993. He balanced the budget, almost lost Quebec in the 1995 referendum, passed the Clarity Act to prevent that from happening again, became enmeshed in the sponsorship scandal, kept Canada out of the war in Iraq, and was forced from office by his own finance minister, Paul Martin. “The little guy from Shawinigan” never stopped fighting, and won more than he lost. Happy birthday, Jean. John Ibbitson
Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.
If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.