5 things to know for Tuesday, September 14, 2021

TORONTO -

Canada has now fully vaccinated 77.94 per cent of the country's eligible population. Here’s what else you need to know to start your day.

1. Elections Canada: Some voters who arrive to their polling station without a mask or who refuse to wear a mask will be turned away from the polls, Elections Canada warns. 

2. Health-care protests: Party leader Justin Trudeau says a re-elected Liberal government would make it a criminal offence to threaten or intimidate health-care workers or block access to the buildings where they provide services. 

3. Health transfers: In last week's English-language debate, O'Toole stated he supported universal health care but also pledged an increase in funding to provinces 'without conditions.' CTVNews.ca asked experts to weigh in on whether these two positions are in conflict with one another.

4. Secret letter: In a secret letter sent from prison in the guise of a gift to a bestselling author, a Korean-Canadian man serving time in South Korea said he is being tortured by prison personnel. 

5. Smoke exposure: An international team of researchers calculated that short-term exposure to wildfire smoke is attributable to around 440 deaths in Canada and more than 33,000 deaths globally each year. 

One more thing…

RESP advice: On CTVNews.ca, chief financial commentator Pattie Lovett-Reid describes why she skips buying grandchildren more stuff, and gives them the gift of an investment in their education instead.  

Thick smoke fills the air and nearly blocks out the sun just before 3 p.m. as a motorist on Highway 97 travels past an area burned by the White Rock Lake wildfire in Monte Lake, east of Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday, August 14, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck