Hard Numbers: Canadian Swifties rejoice, Quebec’s EV charging problem, cross-border wildfires, bear cubs want their humans

6: PM Justin Trudeau appealed directly to Taylor Swift to bring her world-famous Eras Tour to Canada, and the pop sensation has responded … by announcing six concerts for Toronto. But there’s a catch: Canadian Swifties will have to wait until November 2024 to see their girl live.

0.8: While Canada continues its clean energy transition – and bid to become an EV manufacturing powerhouse – it continues to run into one massive problem: A dearth of EV charging stations. Data from Transport Canada shows that the shortage is most dire in the province of Quebec, where there are 62,000 EVs on the road but just 500 public charging stations, meaning just 0.8 stations per 100 cars.

1,044: Wildfires in the US state of Washington spread across the Canadian border this week, wreaking havoc in British Columbia and bringing the total number of fires across Canada to 1,044, 664 of which are deemed “out of control.” Officials warn that smoke will be a problem for the US and Canada for the rest of the summer thanks to one of the worst wildfire seasons on record.

2: Two bear cubs released into the wild in Quebec's Lower-St-Lawrence region will be taken back into captivity after efforts to release them into the wild did not go to plan. The bears, found trailing people on a beach 20km (12.4 miles) from where they were released, are too accustomed to human contact, wildlife workers say.