WINNIPEG – The following is a glance at the news moving markets in Canada and globally.

– Canadian Governor General Mary Simon granted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request to dissolve Parliament on Sunday, and the federal election is now underway. With the dropping of writs, all 338 federal ridings will go to the polls on Sept. 20 after a 36-day campaign, the minimum length allowed by law. Trudeau’s Liberal Party was reduced to a minority government after the 2019 federal election, but has had relative ease in passing legislation compared to other past minority governments. The Liberals had 155 seats in the House of Commons and need 15 more to regain their majority.

– Taliban forces overtook Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday, collapsing the country’s government, creating a humanitarian crisis and a mass exodus of Afghan citizens and residents at Kabul’s airport, à la Saigon in 1975. The insurgents have captured several other cities and provinces in the country over the past few weeks after Western nations, including the United States, began pulling their forces out of Afghanistan.

– An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale devastated the Caribbean island nation of Haiti on Saturday, killing at least 1,200 people and injuring more than 2,800. The epicentre was located 125 kilometres west of the capital of Port-au-Prince with aftershocks continuing into Sunday. Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced and making matters worse, tropical depression Grace is expected to hit Haiti on Monday.