Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The Chinese government has ordered the closure of a U.S. consulate in southern China, following a U.S. order that China close its consulate in Houston.
The U.S. eviction was a gesture of diplomatic hostility freighted with symbolism. The U.S. offensive stands to deepen fractures between the two countries and further unsettle the global economic and diplomatic landscape for other countries, Canada among them.
Over the past two years, the U.S. has employed tools of economic coercion against China, imposing tariffs and leading a global campaign to urge the rejection of Huawei’s 5G network technology. But now, the U.S. is embarking on a more determined campaign to oppose and undermine Chinese national interests, rejecting the principles of engagement that have defined the approach Washington – and many other western countries, including Canada – have taken toward China for decades.
In its place is conflict.
More on China-U.S. relations:
In new court filings in her battle against extradition to the United States, Meng Wanzhou is accusing the U.S. government of not only using her as a bargaining chip in negotiations with China, but also misleading Canada’s government and courts.
Meng is challenging key elements of the U.S. case against her, flagging several instances where she alleges that the Americans are distorting the facts to suit their case. In one instance, her legal team takes aim at a PowerPoint Meng presented in 2013 to HSBC bankers in Hong Kong, which is being used by the U.S. government as a key piece of evidence. Her lawyers say the U.S. government misled the B.C. Supreme Court by selectively quoting from this PowerPoint, omitting “highly relevant information.”
Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 27, 2020.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
KPMG Canada joins Telus, Virgin Atlantic Airlines in halting partnership with WE Charity
KPMG Canada has joined Telus and Virgin Atlantic Airlines in halting partnerships with WE Charity as concern grows among some corporate donors about the scandal surrounding the organization.
KPMG has been a partner with WE for 10 years and the accounting firm has been involved in a variety of projects with the charity. It suspended its partnership with WE on Friday. Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. – one of WE Charity’s biggest corporate partners in Britain – has announced that it is suspending donations, too.
Telus has been a sponsor of WE Day since its inception in 2007, and the Vancouver-based company has contributed more than $20-million to the charity. Their sponsorship was terminated on Thursday. The airline has been a partner with WE since 2010 and it has contributed more than £6-million ($10.2-million) through the Virgin Atlantic Foundation.
The Royal Bank of Canada, which has been deeply involved with WE since 2009, is reconsidering its relationship with the charity. Also, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. said it had no plans to resume its partnerships with WE.
In opinion:
- Konrad Yakabuski: “With each new revelation in the rapidly snowballing scandal surrounding Ottawa’s aborted plan to contract out a multimillion-dollar student volunteer program to WE Charity, it gets harder to know whether to be more outraged, disgusted or flabbergasted – or some measure of all three.”
First Nations in northwestern Ontario cautious as province eases more coronavirus restrictions
First Nations leaders in northwestern Ontario are keeping most of their pandemic restrictions as the rest of the province moves toward reopening businesses and public spaces.
When the pandemic was first declared in March, First Nations in Ontario and across the country were swift to enact their own border restrictions, setting up checkpoints and prohibiting visitors.
The restrictions and hard work of the leaders and communities in the north have paid off as only two communities in Nishnawbe Aski Nation – Eabametoong, a fly-in community northeast of Thunder Bay, and Mishkeegogamang, a rural First Nation north of Sioux Lookout – have reported positive cases of COVID-19 to date, all of which have been resolved.
The communities want to keep it that way.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
N.S. Premier responds to mass shooting review criticism: Criticism has mounted in response to the recently announced three-person panel that will be reviewing the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history. Critics say Ottawa and the province should have ordered a public inquiry composed of open hearings and with the power to compel testimony. Premier Stephen McNeil said he expects that if the panelists need more powers, they will request them from government.
Rising loan losses: Canada’s Big Six banks face growing loan losses as government support programs wind down and loan-deferral and interest-rate relief programs for consumers come to a halt. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit is set to expire in the fall and the wage subsidy is set to end in December.
Buffalo slides into home base: The Toronto Blue Jays will play most of their home games in Buffalo, N.Y., this season. The Blue Jays have been searching for a home ever since the federal government rejected the club’s proposal for the Blue Jays and visiting teams to stay in the hotel inside Rogers Centre and never leave the facility during stints in Toronto.
Flight 752 black boxes: The transcript from the black boxes being investigated from a Ukrainian jet accidentally shot down by Iran on Jan. 8 confirm that there was illegal interference with the plane.
Mandatory masks: In England, face coverings became mandatory when entering shops, banks and supermarkets, beginning on Friday. Those who don’t comply can be fined as much as £100 ($127) by police. Restaurants, pubs, gyms and hairdressers are exempt.
More COVID coverage
- Windsor-Essex now has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the province, passing Toronto and Peel this week with 484 cases per 100,000 people
- Nova Scotia is making mask-wearing mandatory in most indoor public places, including retail businesses, shopping centres, hair salons, places of worship, sports facilities, elevators, hallways, and common areas of offices, beginning July 31
- In response to the worrying trend of rising infections among people aged 20 to 39, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings to young Canadians to stop fuelling the spread of the coronavirus
People wearing protective masks walk at Oxford Circus, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in London, Britain July 24, 2020.SIMON DAWSON/Reuters
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street retreated on Friday, heading into the weekend with a broad sell-off due to weak earnings, surging coronavirus cases and geopolitical uncertainties. The TSX was also lower, although losses were more modest thanks to a rally in gold stocks as bullion pushed through US$1,900 an ounce.
The S&P/TSX Composite index closed down 21.59 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 15,997.06. All the major sectors were lower, except for gold-stock heavy materials, which gained 2.05 per cent. Several precious metals miners, including Agnico Eagle Mines, gained 4 per cent or more. But it was Sierra Wireless that was a true standout on the TSX, rallying nearly 18 per cent after agreeing to divest its China-based automotive embedded module product line for US$165-million in cash.
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TALKING POINTS
If the United States was ever a ‘Safe Third Country,’ it is no longer
Andrew Coyne: “It is not the right to live in Canada [asylum seekers] are thereby denied. It is the right not to be arbitrarily detained, or to be deported to face death or persecution in their countries of origin. It is, at the very least, the right to have their cases heard fairly, which one part of our laws loudly proclaims while another quietly denies.”
The only thing Donald Trump is trying to save in Portland is his campaign
Omar El Akkad: “When acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf – a man whose continued occupancy of the position is itself almost certainly unconstitutional – takes to the podium to describe 50-some days of chaos and violence on the streets of Portland, he is delivering not a statement of fact, but a campaign speech.”
How artificial intelligence can predict mass shootings
Sheema Khan: “#NeverAgainTech is a U.S.-based organization devoted to using machine learning as a tool to minimize mass shootings by developing powerful algorithms that comb through vast amounts of data from past mass shootings, along with data from conversations lurking in the darkest recesses of the internet.”
Understanding how racism becomes systemic
Colleen Sheppard, Tamara Thermitus and Derek Jones: “What is systemic racism? Depending on whom you ask, the question may confuse, inspire, anger, mobilize or inform. From the RCMP and politicians, to the courts, the global Black Lives Matters movement, or aggrieved families and communities, divergent answers underscore the need to ask how racism can be ‘systemic.‘”
LIVING BETTER
Taylor Swift’s surprise album folklore is an exercise in myth-making and a step-up in songwriting
Taylor Swift's new album – folkfore. Her 8th studio album.Supplied
On Thursday, Taylor Swift announced she’d be releasing her new record at midnight. There were no lead-up singles, no videos, no carefully crafted campaign. Within the hour, the news of Swift’s stealth eighth album was everywhere; the sound of no fanfare, deafening.
The album, folklore, is a sombre piano-based affair. A product of its times is how the record will undoubtedly be framed. No summer bangers, no catchy-pop razzle-dazzle. Swift gives her nation the muted album it needs in these trying times – that’ll be the spin.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Crows, like humans, have learned to endure. I can respect that
I had never thought to become friends with a crow, to identify one black bird from another, until one returned to my fir tree. This crow was hard to miss as he had an injured white feather that jutted out at an angle from his right wing.
My relationship with “Mr. Crow,” as I have come to call him, cautiously evolved. At first, my feathered friend visited our back deck to polish off the cat’s food. At some point, Mr. Crow and I exchanged looks and we created a bond. Although I am smitten with Mr. Crow and his partner that join me in the garden, it seems crows have become the bird, along with the cooing pigeon, that people love to hate.
As our world moves on, however, I propose we embrace a new relationship with crows and all backyard urban wildlife that endure. Like humans, they have proven adaptive and extraordinarily clever in the face of dramatic change. It is a time to put out a peanut, sprinkle some birdseed or occasionally glance skyward and appreciate our outdoor friends. If nothing more, they are creatures that, like us, are working to find their way on this resilient and remarkable planet we share.
Read the story here.
Evening Update is written by Hannah Alberga. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.