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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
SNC-Lavalin weighs breakup amid stock slide, investors told in private meeting
SNC-Lavalin told investors it is considering breaking up the company by spinning out some businesses before its criminal case makes it to trial.
Executives with the Montreal-based engineering giant, which is charged with bribery and fraud in a case that has created political turmoil for the Trudeau government, told institutional investors at a private luncheon last Friday that its so-called “Plan B” is about generating more value for all stakeholders. The company’s share price has plunged 46 per cent since October. (for subscribers)
In February, The Globe and Mail reported the Prime Minister’s Office attempted to press Jody Wilson-Raybould when she was justice minister to intervene in the corruption and fraud prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. (for subscribers)
L’Arche founder Canadian Jean Vanier established the unique value of an intellectually disabled life
Canadian Jean Vanier founder of L'Arche communities poses for a photograph on May 18, 2018 after he received the Templeton Prize at St Martins-in-the-Fields church in London.Alastair Grant/The Associated Press
Jean Vanier, whose charity work helped improve conditions for the developmentally disabled in Canada and around the world, died Tuesday from heath failure and other complications at the age of 90. Mr. Vanier, the son of former Canadian governor-general Georges Vanier, founded L’Arche in 1964 as an alternative living environment where those with developmental disabilities could be full-fledged participants in the community instead of patients.
As Ian Brown writes in an obituary, when Mr. Vanier, the world’s most radical philosopher of disability for the past 60 years started L’Arche he had no formal training, but planned to share the home with two intellectually delayed men in their 40s. “I thought we could have fun,” said Mr. Vanier.
Mr. Brown first met Mr. Vanier a decade ago when he was looking for a place for his severely disabled son to live. Mr. Brown reached out to Mr. Vanier and the two began a correspondence on life, aging and Mr. Vanier’s work with people with disabilities. In 2015, Mr. Brown travelled to France to see if Mr. Vanier knew how to find a sense of peace in a time as dark as the one we live in. “The greatest thing to calm anguish is the knowledge that we are loved. Not for what we do or have done or for what we will do, but in ourselves,” he said.
Refugee system not equipped to deal with surge in asylum seekers at Canada-U.S. border, Auditor-General says
The report found the refugee system is not equipped to deal with a surge in asylum seekers arriving through unauthorized border crossings, leading to backlogs and wait times that are worse than when the system was reformed in 2012. The report, which was tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday, found the system isn’t flexible enough to respond to the thousands crossing from the U.S. It warns wait times will grow to five years by 2024 – more than double what it is now – if the number of new asylum claimants stays steady at 50,000 per year and no system improvements are made.
A separate part of the same report found about seven million Canadians who tried to speak to a federal official were forced to hang up or told to go to a website or call back, and about one million hung up before being connected. That was out of the 16 million calls examined for the report. Callers were seeking information on employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, immigration issues and veterans matters.
Amid icy relations, first high-level political delegation heads to China since Huawei executive’s arrest
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil plans to visit Guangzhou later this week, leading the first high-level political delegation to China since the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou plunged relations between the two countries into a deep freeze and cast a widening shadow over trade with the world’s second-largest economy.
Mr. McNeil is a frequent visitor to China and his trip might otherwise be unremarkable, but as Nathan VanderKlippe reports from Beijing, it comes in the midst of an extended period during which the Canadian government has had no top-level communication with China. Since Ms. Meng’s arrest in December, five different federal ministers have requested to speak with the Chinese government. None of those requests received a response.
Barrie McKenna writes that the Huawei feud isn’t the only reason canola exports to China are tanking. (for subscribers)
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WHAT ELSE IS ON OUR RADAR
Murder charges laid in death of Calgary mother, toddler: A man suspected of killing a woman and her toddler daughter has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Police said they found remains Monday believed to be those of the victims. The two were last seen alive on April 16. Police have said the mother and the accused were in a relationship that deteriorated.
Climate change exam question: Teens used memes and videos to denounce what they see as government inaction on climate issues after a Quebec high school exam question asked, “Can we adapt to climate change?” The students feel the way the questions was phrased suggests the government has accepted climate change.
Fire at Toronto high school: The fire at York Memorial caused part of the building’s roof to collapse and forced residents from their homes as large plumes of smoke rose up over the west Toronto neighbourhood.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index fell on Tuesday and U.S. equities deepened their losses as renewed doubts over a U.S.-China trade deal stoked concerns over global growth. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 135.71 points, or 0.82 per cent, at 16,357.75.
U.S. investors bet that President Donald Trump’s weekend threat to hike tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods could actually materialize at the end of the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 473.39 points, or 1.79 per cent, to 25,965.09, the S&P 500 lost 48.42 points, or 1.65 per cent, to 2,884.05 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 159.53 points, or 1.96 per cent, to 7,963.76.
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TALKING POINTS
Canada’s housing market – built on faulty assumptions – is falling down on affordability
“The fundamentals of Canada’s housing system are broken. And while there is a way forward that’s within reach, it will require us to reject many tightly held 21st-century assumptions about the housing economy. One is that housing affordability can be addressed by increasing supply alone” - Jennifer Keesmaat, CEO of the Keesmaat Group and former chief planner of Toronto
If B.C. by-election is a harbinger of things to come, then the Liberals and NDP had better watch out
“An important eve-of-the-general-election by-election has delivered the Greens a powerful victory, while shaking both Liberals and New Democrats to the core. And the result offers further proof that Canada continues to resist the tide of intolerance sweeping the rest of the democratic world” - John Ibbitson
Canada has a national unity crisis. We just don’t know it
“Although we may not realize it, the moment in which we find ourselves is beyond worrisome. We face a common enemy in climate change amid a hyperpartisan age that almost by definition means our political leaders can’t come together to find a common solution.” - Gary Mason
LIVING BETTER
Jeffrey Canton looks at seven books that help kids make sense of the world. Included are new picture books that explore the relationships between children and their grandparents – When I found Grandma and Ojiichan’s Gift – and Chicken Girl – a novel that offers teen readers a compelling portrait of the damage social media can do when used maliciously. Mr. Canton also includes A Voice for the Spirit Bears, which is the true story of Simon Jackson and his fight to save an endangered species in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia. (for subscribers)
Also in books, subscribers now have the chance to ask Barbara Gowdy and Margaret Atwood questions about Ms. Gowdy’s novel The White Bone. The book, selected by Ms. Atwood, was the first selected for the Globe Book Club.
LONG READ FOR A LONG COMMUTE
From youth in segregation to first-time home buyers: Six data gaps Globe readers have encountered
Rob Dobi/The Globe and Mail
As part of The Globe and Mail’s data-gap project, we asked you where Canada lacks public data. So far, we’ve received more than 350 submissions from readers across the country, with academics, analysts, health-care workers, students and business consultants citing more than 400 gaps, from refugee outcomes to the gig economy and weather patterns. Here, we look deeper into six of those suggestions and why they matter including in the areas of suicide-prevention efforts and first-time home buyers.
Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley. 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.