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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Federal government to consult public on banning handguns
What do you think about handguns? You’ll have a chance to weigh in because the federal Liberals are launching nationwide consultations around whether handguns should be banned outright. There’s already a bill before Parliament that would enact restrictions on firearms, writes Daniel Leblanc, but the bill does not include specific measures on handguns. The consultations will be led by Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, who is a former chief of police in Toronto. There’s no specific format yet but the government is looking at the possibility of holding public hearings, conducting expert panels and inviting Canadians to send in written submissions.
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Ford’s court win sets off fresh battles in Toronto civic election
Wednesday’s unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal that sided with Premier Doug Ford and his Ontario Progressive Conservative Party means Toronto’s municipal election is set to proceed with a 25-ward map. The ruling froze a lower-court decision that found the Premier’s intervention in the Oct. 22 vote unconstitutional. As Toronto City Hall reporter Jeff Grey writes, the decision appeared to put to rest much of the uncertainty swirling around the municipal vote and as a consequence has set off a series of intense political battles for local council seats, pitting incumbents against one another in new, larger wards. It’s also prompted several of Mr. Ford’s opponents at city hall to wonder what other designs the Premier has for Toronto.
Trish McAlaster
Incumbent vs. incumbent: Key races to watch in Toronto’s 25-ward election
Reporter Victoria Gibson looks at some of the key races to watch in Toronto’s 25-ward election. She reports almost every one of the new, larger wards will feature two incumbents running against each other and that some candidates have already stepped away, allowing their colleagues to run unhindered by another incumbent. Some of the highlighted races include Giorgio Mammoliti versus Anthony Perruzza in Ward 7 Humber River-Black Creek and Vincent Crisanti versus Michael Ford in Ward 1 Etobicoke North.
Marcus Gee weighs in on the council-size battle and suggests to Mr. Ford and his triumphant troops that there still might be “all sorts of twists in the crazy, confusing saga...”
And, finally, we have a detailed and constantly maintained Toronto election 2018 explainer aptly titled, What is going on? A guide
Canada’s Esi Edugyan shortlisted for prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction
Canadian author Esi Edugyan is back on the short list for the £50,000 ($85,600) Man Booker Prize, this time for her book Washington Black. Ms. Edugyan, 40, was a finalist in 2011 for her book Half-Blood Blues. That book won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Washington Black is also on the long list for this year’s Giller Prize.
Washington Black is about an 11-year-old field slave in Barbados who finds himself selected as a personal servant of plantation master Englishman Christopher (Titch) Wilde, a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor and abolitionist, whose single-minded pursuit of the perfect aerial machine mystifies all around him. The other five authors on the short list include Daisy Johnson for Everything Under, Northern Irish novelist Anna Burns for Milkman, Rachel Kushner for The Mars Room, Richard Powers for The Overstory and Robin Robertson for The Long Take. The 2018 winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 16, in London.
Four dead after shooting in Maryland
There’s been another mass shooting in the United States. The Globe’s wire services are covering the shooting and report a 26-year-old woman is the suspect. Media reports say the woman was a a temporary employee at a Rite Aid distribution center in Aberdeen, Maryland, and killed three people and wounded several others before taking her own life. Police report the suspected assailant died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County said at a news briefing that the woman had reported for work as usual before carrying out the attack with a single weapon, a Glock nine-millimeter handgun. This is a developing story and will be updated through the night.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main index rose on Thursday as the heavyweight financial sector and shares of cannabis producers increased. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index finished up 64.83 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 16,214.75. Aurora Cannabis Inc. was up 12.7 per cent while rival Canopy Growth Corp. rose 6.5 per cent.
In New York, The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both hit record closing highs on Thursday. Tech stocks led all three major U.S. indexes higher in a broad-based rally as trade worries subsided. The Dow Jones average rose 251.22 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 26,656.98; the S&P 500 gained 22.81 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 2,930.76 and the Nasdaq Composite added 78.19 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 8,028.23.
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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
Canadian military police reopening ‘unfounded’ cases
The Canadian Armed Forces is re-opening nearly two-dozen cases of alleged sexual assault after reviewing dozens of files previously dismissed by military police as “unfounded.” The move comes nearly 18 months after authorities revealed that nearly one in every three sexual assault complaints logged with military police between 2010 and 2016 was deemed unfounded.
TALKING POINTS
A bad NAFTA deal? Canada should take it and run
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland keep saying it, over and over again: A bad NAFTA deal would be worse than no deal at all, and they will never agree to one. Really? ... Why would a lousy, rotten, crappy deal be better than no deal at all? Because Canadian businesses simply must have duty-free access to the American market.” — John Ibbitson
Kavanaugh hearing: When you’re a well-connected judge, can you do anything?
“One year after the #MeToo movement helped knock accused predators such as Roy Moore out of politics, American women have to contend yet again with an alleged sexual assaulter – this time, with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, aspiring to higher office as a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. But now, voters have no ability to stop him. That task falls instead to Republicans – a discouraging prospect for women seeking justice.” — Sarah Kendzior
14 & Muslim is a nuanced, rich snapshot of a complicated situation
“Do yourself a favour and make a date to spend time with some teenagers on Friday evening. Guaranteed, it will be worth your time. 14 & Muslim (Friday, CBC 9 p.m. on CBC Docs POV) is a gentle, touching and very illuminating documentary about a small group of Muslim teens in the Toronto area about to go from grade school to high school. All raised in Canada, they have been educated so far at the Islamic Foundation School (IFS) and while some will stay there, others will move on to Catholic or public high schools. It’s a fraught time for them and their parents, and they know it.” — John Doyle
LIVING BETTER
Between packing lunches and snacks, figuring out what to make for dinner, and with the adjustment from summer’s relaxed routines, September can be crunch time in the kitchen. From making enough salad dressing for the whole week to a sandwich supper, food columnist Lucy Waverman has some organizational and planning tips to ensure everyone eats well this fall.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Michael Moore welcomes you to the resistance, again
On opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival, Michael Moore introduced his latest film, Fahrenheit 11/9, by saying that when he started production he told his crew they should imagine themselves in the French Resistance, “when the tanks were 40 miles outside of Paris.” Later, he added a translated quote from someone in the Resistance: “The writer has to die to give birth to the intellectual, in service of the wretched of the Earth.” As Simon Houpt reports, Mr. Moore interprets the quote to mean that those who normally stand on the sidelines must, when the need becomes urgent, finally take action.
SIT BACK AND RELAX
We’ve launched a new podcast at The Globe that focuses on trailblazing Canadian entrepreneurs, you know, the types who are first to see the problem and know that they can fix it. This week’s episode is Cole Diamond: Fatherhood, Forking and the Cryptocurrency Market. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple − it’s a complicated new world and Cole Diamond is in the middle of it. The CEO of digital currency trading platform Coinsquare shares his outlook on the market, and reveals how fatherhood changed him.
Evening Update was written by Jordan Chittley and Michael Snider. 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.