Good morning. Grifols is facing further scrutiny of its blood-plasma collection practices. More on that below, along with wild turkeys and optimistic Blue Jays.

Private blood-plasma collector Grifols is temporarily pausing plasma collection at all of its donation centres across Canada after months of intense scrutiny over the deaths of two donors. Grifols is the only major commercial collector of plasma in the country, with 17 sites in six provinces.

The context: The for-profit operator said it told Health Canada of its decision on Wednesday. That same day, the federal agency issued Grifols a formal notice of non-compliance for its failure to comply with blood regulations, according to a senior official with close knowledge of the issue.

Premier Doug Ford is open to putting American alcohol back on Ontario store shelves even if U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian autos, metals and forest products are only reduced and not eliminated. It is a signal that Ford is willing to co-operate to help reach an agreement and avoid America’s 50-per-cent tariffs, which would take effect Aug. 19.

In Washington: On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s top trade emissaries remained in Washington scrambling for a trade deal. Dominic LeBlanc and Janice Charette sat down with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the Winder Building office near the White House.

Canada, like many other Western governments, closed its Afghanistan embassy in 2021 and now sends aid only via the United Nations and other large international organizations. Following the Taliban takeover, millions of Afghans have been pushed deeper into poverty and the rights of women and girls continue to deteriorate, leading them down a dark path.

Going deeper: The Taliban’s violent misogyny is an issue that divides even within the the Taliban. Those who study the movement say it has never been a monolith, and that a more pragmatic faction – largely based in and around the capital city of Kabul – would be willing to loosen restrictions on women if it brought Western recognition and aid money.

Almost a year into its mandate, the Major Projects Office is assessing big-money pitches for accelerated regulatory treatment while also facing questions about transparency, speed and the challenges that still lie ahead.

The details: Jeffrey Jones from Calgary and Stephanie Levitz from Ottawa spoke to more than a dozen business and Ottawa insiders and reviewed hours of parliamentary testimony and dozens of pages of documentation to take the measure of this central element of Carney’s agenda as it heads into a crucial period.

A major wildfire in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley, has been held, although the nearby blaze outside Summerland continues to burn out of control. Yesterday there was a limited reopening of Highway 97 that runs through the wildfire evacuation zone in the B.C. Interior.

On the ground: When B.C. declared a provincewide state of emergency and wildland firefighters attacked the fast-moving blaze, another army mobilized in parallel. Farmers, small-business owners, community groups and other volunteers began gathering food, preparing meals, raising money and delivering supplies to those forced from their homes by fire.