Evening update: Ottawa offers Premiers $46.2 billion in new healthcare funding over 10 years

Good evening, Let’s start with today’s top stories:

The federal government is offering prime ministers $46.2 billion in new health funding over 10 years. The Liberal proposal, made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a first ministerial meeting in Ottawa, would bring total federal spending on health care to $196.1 billion over the next 10 years.

The new federal money would be split between core funding sent to provinces and territories via the Canada Health Transfer and $25 billion for separate bilateral deals targeting specific areas such as primary care and mental health.

Health transfers, already expected to rise 9.3 percent this year to $49.4 billion, will be increased by another $2 billion to $51.3 billion. The Liberals also propose increasing the rate at which health insurance increases to 5 percent per year for five years. The current lower limit for increases is 3 percent. Premiers say new health funding figure is disappointing but ready to accept any new money.

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Rescuers search for survivors as earthquake aid flows to Turkey and Syria

Turkey and Syria have been inundated with search teams and international aid as rescue workers worked in freezing temperatures to dig through the remains of buildings destroyed by Monday’s powerful earthquake. The death toll rose to over 6,200 and was expected to continue rising.

The 7.8 magnitude quake and a cascade of powerful aftershocks devastated a stretch hundreds of kilometers across southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria. A tremor after the first tremor was registered with a destructive magnitude of 7.5. The tremors collapsed buildings in a region already devastated by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis. In Turkey alone, more than 8,000 people have been pulled from the rubble and about 380,000 have found refuge in government shelters or hotels, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said.

Meanwhile, Canada’s International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said Ottawa will contribute $10 million to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria as part of an initial aid package. They are also considering deploying the country’s Disaster Relief Response Team to help with rescue operations and provide health services.

Tiff Macklem reiterates Bank of Canada’s rate hike pause as monetary policy enters a new phase

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said he does not expect interest rates to be raised any further, reiterating that the central bank has entered a new phase in its years-long battle against inflation.

The central bank has hiked interest rates eight times since last March, taking its policy rate to 4.5 percent from 0.25 percent in the fastest monetary tightening cycle in a generation. After the bank announced a quarter-point hike in late January, it announced a “conditional pause” on further rate hikes.

“If new evidence accumulates that inflation is not falling in line with our forecast, we stand ready to raise our policy rate further,” Macklem told an audience in Quebec City today, according to the English text of the speech. “But if the new data is broadly in line with our forecast and inflation falls as predicted, then we don’t need to raise rates any further.”

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Biden’s State of the Union address tonight: A majority of Canadians still see the United States as their country’s closest ally, even in times of American protectionism, a new poll shows — but with President Joe Biden poised to realize his vision for the next two years, they seem less concerned being safe as your a powerful neighbor is a force for good in the world.

Ottawa funds international commission to advise on unmarked graves: Ottawa is spending $2 million on an international organization to provide Indigenous communities with ways to identify possible human remains buried near former homes.

Canadian corporate bankruptcies up: The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy said the number of bankruptcies filed by Canadian companies increased 37.2 percent in 2022 compared to 2021 – and at least one business organization predicts that number will continue to rise.

CBC signals plans to go all out in streaming: The head of the CBC says he’s preparing to end traditional TV and radio shows and go fully digital as audiences shift to streaming, but the move is unlikely in the next decade.

LeBron James could break NBA career record this week: LeBron James is 35 points clear of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 overall. The record-breaker could come as early as Tuesday when the Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder or Thursday in Los Angeles against the Milwaukee Bucks.

MARKET OBSERVATION

US and Canadian stocks closed higher after a choppy trading session as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on how long it may take the central bank to rein in inflation. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem also spoke, saying that if the economy falters as expected and inflation comes down, no further rate hikes are needed in this country.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 96.08 points, or 0.47 percent, to 20,725.00.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 265.67 points, or 0.79 percent, to 34,156.69. The S&P 500 Index rose 52.92 points, or 1.3 percent, to 4,164, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 226.34 points, or 1.9 percent, to 12,113.79.

The Canadian dollar was trading at 74.43 US cents, compared to 74.39 US cents on Monday.

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CONVERSATION TOPICS

Liberals are making a hasty but necessary retreat on gun control

“Liberals are now saying they will bring back the changes, presumably in a separate law. And that’s good; Ottawa can and should address the proliferation of high-powered semi-automatic rifles for sale in Canada that have no place in a legitimate hunter’s arsenal.” The editorial office

READ LONG TODAY

With Victory City, Salman Rushdie delivers less a masterpiece than a plea for humanity

Foggy mountain valley at sunrise in village in Nasik, Maharashtra, Indiabyheaven /iStockPhoto / Getty Images

Salman Rushdies victory city “is many things – an Indian epic story, a centuries-old fable, a meditation on the self-destructive nature of power – but perhaps more than anything else it is a story about the immortality of stories, as a story is told a swung sword always survives,” writes Omar El Akkad.

“It takes a while for the story to dig out its claws,” he continues, and there is a stylistic cost to Rushdie’s very fabulous approach. A little too often the narrator slips into gruff ornate idioms reminiscent of Richard Francis Burton’s translation Arabian Nights. It’s not exactly out of place for that kind of storytelling, and Rushdie often undercuts it to great comedic effect.”

Read his full review of Rushdie’s “Magnificent and Contradictory New Novel.”

Evening Update was written by Prajakta Dhopade. If you would like to receive this newsletter by email every weekday evening, go Here Sign in. If you have feedback, send us one note.

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