Morning Update: Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she didn’t know Kyiv embassy staff were in danger

Good morning,

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she and her department were unaware of intelligence reports delivered weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which diplomats in Kyiv were told Ukrainians who worked for the Canadian embassy there were likely on lists of people Moscow intended to detain or kill.

The Globe and Mail reported earlier this week that, after receiving the intelligence, the Canadian diplomats were given clear instructions from Ottawa on how to proceed: Don’t share any of the information with the Ukrainian staff members, despite the apparently dire situation, and don’t help them flee.

“Morally, we have an obligation toward our locally engaged staff,” Ms. Joly said on Wednesday at a news conference in Montreal, after being asked about The Globe’s report. She added that Global Affairs Canada is in the midst of an internal process that is examining this and other issues.

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Ford vows to fast-track accreditation of foreign-trained nurses

Ontario Premier Doug Ford broke his silence Wednesday on the health care crisis engulfing the province, saying the government will be issuing a directive to speed up the accreditation of international nurses as a way to address the staffing shortage.

The premier said the directive to the College of Ontario Nurses would lead to a “much faster, rapid process” for registering international nurses, who have foreign training but require Canadian credentials before they can practice here.

The province’s Ministry of Health provided no further details about the directive when asked on Wednesday. Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones didn’t mention the plan during a Tuesday interview with The Globe and Mail about the staffing crisis.

Related:

As drought diminishes Lake Mead, Americans’ climate anxiety grows

For the better part of a century, Lake Mead was among the best-loved unnatural wonders of the United States. Now, with its shores laid bare by a lengthy drought, Lake Mead’s giddy pleasures are giving way to grisly discoveries.

What’s happening at Lake Mead is a symptom of serious economic and environmental problems. A hotter and drier climate has deepened a crisis that began with decades of overdrawing the Colorado River. A two-decade drop in water levels at the river’s key reservoirs has alarming implications for the millions of people who depend on the food it grows.

Lake Mead’s vanishing waters are also an emblem of withering joy as climate anxieties turn summer into a time of worry about fires, smoke, heat deaths – and drought.

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Also on our radar

Toronto and Vancouver home sales tumbled further in July as interest rates rose: Home resales in Toronto dropped 47 per cent in July compared to the same month last year, and were down 7.3 per cent from June on a seasonally adjusted basis. In Vancouver, resales declined 43 per cent year over year and were 23 per cent lower than June.

‘Leadership is about showing up,’ Jean Charest says, as two candidates skip final Conservative debate: The former Quebec premier did not directly name Pierre Poilievre or Leslyn Lewis, who were, respectively, in Regina and Prince Edward Island. Both had said they would not participate in the debate over concerns about its format and that they preferred to engage with members.

Suspected drones fly over Taiwan islands, authorities say, amid China’s outrage over Pelosi visit: U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday after touting its democracy and pledging American solidarity during her visit. China demonstrated its outrage with a burst of military activity in surrounding waters. Suspected drones flew over outlying Taiwanese islands and hackers attacked its defence ministry website on Thursday.

Joe Biden signs executive order to protect women travelling for abortion: The executive order lays the groundwork for Medicaid to help women seeking abortions to travel between states to access the procedure. Though the details are still being worked out, the White House says states where abortion remains legal would be invited to apply for permission to use Medicaid funds to “provide reproductive health care to women who live in states where abortion is banned.”

Clayton Ruby dies at 80: The Canadian civil rights lawyer, who for decades took on some of the country’s most groundbreaking and high-profile cases, died surrounded by family, his law firm confirmed. Ruby was remembered as a force in the legal world who changed lives through his advocacy.

Morning markets

Strong earnings at Credit Agricole and Lufthansa lifted stocks on today as tension over U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan eased and markets bet the Bank of England will hike interest rates by the largest amount since 1995 to quell inflation.

Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index was flat in early trading, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.6 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was 0.3 per cent higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.6 per cent, tracking broader gains in Asia. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7 per cent.

Oil prices rebounded from six-month lows, while the dollar was underpinned by U.S. Federal Reserve officials pushing back against suggestions they will slow the pace of interest rate hikes, with one saying a 50-basis-point hike would be “reasonable.”

What everyone’s talking about

How has COVID-19 changed public health?

“But perhaps the most potent lesson of COVID is one that those toiling in the AIDS field learned long ago: All the medicine and technology in the world cannot end a pandemic unless there is the political will to do so.” – André Picard

What Irish cows and Canadian oil have in common (Hint: Climate)

“Whether it is the U.S., Ireland, Canada – or any country – major emitting industries have to change. The science cannot be clearer: A fundamental overhaul is required. And the biggest emitters, whether cows in Ireland or oil in Canada, are expected to deliver.” – The Editorial Board

Today’s editorial cartoon

Living better

OAS pension payments have permanently risen for the first time since 1973. Here’s why retirees should defer them

Starting last week, the Canadian government permanently increased Old Age Security payments by 10 per cent for seniors age 75 and older, marking the first permanent increase to the OAS pension since 1973.

Want to maximize this boost? Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald and Doug Chandler explain why retirees should delay uptake of their OAS benefits.

Moment in time: Aug. 4, 1983

Dave Winfield charged after killing gull

In the middle of the fifth inning at Exhibition Stadium, Dave Winfield of the New York Yankees attempted to throw a ball from centre field to a ball boy down the right field line. En route, the ball struck and killed a ring-billed gull. After the game, the future member of baseball’s Hall of Fame was arrested by Toronto police for animal cruelty. New York’s manager Billy Martin remarked at the time that it had to be an accident because Winfield’s throwing arm was so inaccurate, and a few days later, the charges were dropped after an autopsy conducted at the University of Guelph revealed that the bird was ill and would have likely died soon anyway. The incident was such an embarrassment to the Blue Jays that their general manager Pat Gillick rushed to the police station to pay Winfield’s $500 bail, and Paul Godfrey, then the chairman of Metropolitan Toronto, later attended a game at Yankee Stadium and apologized to him. Winfield was good-natured about the feathers he ruffled. He said he had no malicious intent and remarked, “You don’t have to look out for the Blue Jays’ pitching, you have to watch out for the seagulls.” Marty Klinkenberg

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