Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
TikTok banned on all mobile devices owned by Canadian government, effective Tuesday
The federal government will remove the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices tomorrow in response to privacy and security concerns, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier has announced.
Ottawa will also block the app from being downloaded on official devices in the future.
Fortier said the decision block the app, which is used for making and posting short videos, is due to concerns about “the legal regime that governs the information collected from mobile devices,” adding that, “TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone.”
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Britain’s Rishi Sunak reaches deal with the EU to resolve trade dispute over Northern Ireland
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have signed off on a deal to resolve the thorny post-Brexit trade dispute over Northern Ireland after years of wrangling.
The agreement, which will allow goods to flow freely to Northern Ireland from the rest of the Britain, ends a dispute that has soured British-EU relations, sparked the collapse of the Belfast-based regional government and shaken Northern Ireland’s decades-old peace process.
It’s a win for Sunak, but selling the deal to his own Conservative Party and its Northern Ireland allies may be a tougher struggle.
The latest developments in the war in Ukraine
Russian forces were trying to close their circle around the small mining city of Bakhmut today, while rain and an early spring thaw turned east Ukraine’s battlefields to mud which could hamper both sides as they try to take the initiative.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a surprise visit to Kyiv to reaffirm American support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s invasion and to promote U.S. economic aid that is bolstering the country’s war effort.
In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned Russia’s “senseless” invasion of Ukraine at the start of a Human Rights Council session at which countries want to strengthen scrutiny of Moscow’s alleged war crimes as well as raise China’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs.
Opinion: As a consequence of Putin’s war, Russian culture is headed for the gulag - Nina L. Khrushcheva
Eviction applications spike in Ontario as rents soar, vacancies dwindle
As Ontario faces a chronic shortage of housing and rapidly climbing rents, landlords in the province are increasingly trying to evict their tenants and take possession of those rental units.
In 2022, the Landlord and Tenant Board received more than 5,550 eviction applications in which landlords sought units for themselves, family members or new buyers. That was an increase of 41 per cent from 2019, according to numbers provided to The Globe and Mail.
The surge is being driven by communities outside of Toronto. In the city itself, the volume of “own-use” filings in 2022 was largely the same as in 2019. In the rest of the province, however, such filings have soared by 59 per cent.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
TD settles Stanford Ponzi scheme lawsuit: Toronto-Dominion Bank says it will pay US$1.21-billion to settle a lawsuit from investors involving one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes, led by former Texas billionaire Allen Stanford. Two other banks – HBSC and Independent Bank Group – have also agreed to settle the lawsuit while denying any liability.
Distributor cuts ties with Dilbert creator: Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of his recent comments about race when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced yesterday it would no longer work with the cartoonist. The move comes as many newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, have dropped the cartoon.
President exiting Canada Soccer: Nick Bontis has resigned as president of Canada Soccer, acknowledging change is needed to achieve labour peace.
U.S. auto equipment supplier to buy Quebec’s Uni-Select: LKQ has signed a deal to buy Quebec-based Uni-Select for about $2.6-billion in a bid to bolster its aftermarket parts business as demand grows for vehicle repairs and services.
MARKET WATCH
North American stocks made slight gains today as investors engaged in some bargain hunting after last week’s losses, as jitters persisted about coming interest rate hikes to tame stubbornly high inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.17 points or 0.22 per cent to 32,889.09, the S&P 500 added 12.20 points or 0.31 per cent to end at 3,982.24, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 72.04 points or 0.63 per cent to 11,466.98.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 40.94 points or 0.2 per cent to 20,260.13. The loonie traded at 73.66 U.S. cents.
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TALKING POINTS
Teck’s coal spinoff is greenwashing and a blow to the ESG movement
“Already the spinoff trend is turning into a net negative for the planet because the ejected coal assets generally do not get wound down – just the opposite, in fact.” - Eric Reguly
If Ottawa got real about coming fiscal challenges, a GST hike would be part of the conversation
“As more and more of the huge baby boomer generation retires, governments face both a shrinking base of taxpaying income earners, and growing demand for health care and other government services.” - David Parkinson
The big banks’ dependence on housing undermines Canada’s prosperity
“Existing real estate is a non-productive asset because it doesn’t create jobs or new innovations. And Canada badly needs to become more productive.” - Globe editorial
LIVING BETTER
Before you reach for another jolt of java, consider what effects coffee may have on your kidney health. New findings suggest the link between coffee and kidney dysfunction depends on your genetics – and how much of it you drink.
- Genetics: The CYPIA2 gene is responsible for making an enzyme that metabolizes caffeine. If you want to know whether you’re a fast or slow caffeine metabolizer, many personal genetic tests include the CYP1A2 gene.
- Amount: More than three cups of coffee a day may harm kidney function in some people, according to the new study.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Former NHL goalie whose parents were murdered laments Supreme Court life-without-parole reversal
At his Florida home, retired NHL goalie Don Edwards reads a scrapbook of his hockey career compiled by his parents, Arnold and Donna, who were murdered in 1991.MARK TAYLOR/The Globe and Mail
Don Edwards, a former National Hockey League player, is writing an unusual memoir for a retired athlete. His working title is After the Game: Victim of Violence. The book will talk about George Harding Lovie, who killed Edwards’s mother and father in Hamilton early one blood-drenched morning on the first day of spring in 1991.
It will talk about how Lovie was handed the only punishment allowed for a multiple first-degree murderer under the law at the time: life in prison with a 25-year wait to be eligible for full parole. It will explain how the Parole Board of Canada set him free on day parole, 28 years later. And it will detail the way Edwards, his siblings and large extended family fought for years – making victim-impact statements in person at more than half a dozen parole hearings – to keep Lovie behind bars.
“What we’ve endured is relentless, it’s never-ending,” the 67-year-old former goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames said in an interview. Lovie’s conditional release shows that people convicted of multiple murders can and do get out of prison on parole. Read Sean Fine’s full story.
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