Good evening and happy Friday, your Evening Update newsletter will pause for the holiday Monday and return on Tuesday.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Canada, U.S. and Mexico reach deal to lift Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formalized the pact Friday in a telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs will be lifted within the next 48 hours, ending a year-long continental trade war. Sources said Mexico signed a similar deal with the U.S.
“This is just pure good news for Canadians,” Trudeau said Friday afternoon at Stelco in Hamilton alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. will lift its tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, while Canada will drop its retaliatory tariffs and Canada will help the U.S. clamp down on steel and aluminum from China sent through Canada. Trudeau will now move to ratify the renegotiated North American free-trade agreement. (for subscribers)
Also on Friday, Trump declared that some imported vehicles and parts pose a national-security threat and delayed a decision for as long as six months on whether to impose tariffs. (for subscribers)
'They need a Duterte there’: Philippines lambastes Trudeau as weak in ongoing garbage dispute with Canada
Filipino environmental activists wear a mock shipping container filled with garbage to symbolize the 50 containers of waste that were shipped from Canada to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014, as they hold a protest outside the Canadian embassy in Makati, metro Manila, Philippines, on Thursday, May 7, 2015.Aaron Favila/The Associated Press
A day after the Philippines recalled its ambassador and consulate heads over tons of Canadian garbage sent to Manila in 2013 and 2014, the Philippines is pointing the finger at weak Canadian leadership as the reason for the festering fight. “You know what the Canadian government needs in order to do that, to take the garbage out? They need a Duterte there,” said a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte.
Ottawa pledged to bring the containers of trash back by May 15, but on Thursday, Trudeau didn’t apologize for missing the deadline.
The perils of being 'casual’ at the CBC: How precarious work affects the public broadcaster’s temporary employees
When Samantha Garvey landed a job at CBC in Kelowna, B.C. in 2012, she was so excited that she took a picture of her @cbc.ca e-mail address. But the job was only a toehold, a spot on the roster of employees who work week to week – or sometimes day to day – with no job security. Garvey left CBC after five years crushed by the pressures of precarious work and her health suffering.
As Simon Houpt reports, Garvey’s experience is a glimpse into the little-seen plight of almost 1,100 non-permanent employees of CBC/Radio-Canada, who sometimes work for years as second-class citizens in vain hopes of securing staff positions. (for subscribers)
Trudeau pushed for leak investigation that led to breach-of-trust charge against Norman
Sources tell The Globe and Mail that Trudeau was furious at the leak of classified cabinet deliberations involving a $668-million shipbuilding contract. They say the Prime Minister felt betrayed and wanted to find out the source of the leak, which led to the RCMP investigation and eventually to a criminal charge against Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. The military’s second-in-command was charged with a single count of breach of trust in 2018. The public prosecutor abruptly stayed the charge last week. (for subscribers)
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WHAT ELSE IS ON OUR RADAR
NBA playoffs: The Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks tip off in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final tonight at 8:30. The Bucks lead the best-of-7 series 1-0 after winning Game 1 108-100 Wednesday night. The series returns to Toronto for Game 3 Sunday night. The Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers will play Game 3 of the Western Conference final Saturday night. The Warriors lead that series 2-0.
SNC-Lavalin: According to an updated timeline provided by the Ethics Commissioner’s office, a report on the actions of the Prime Minister’s Office on SNC-Lavalin could land on the eve of the federal election this fall. (for subscribers)
Missouri abortion bill: Lawmakers in the state passed a bill Friday that bans women from having abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. The state’s governor is expected to sign it. The legislation comes after Alabama’s governor signed a bill Wednesday making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases. Four other states have approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur in the sixth week of pregnancy. These new laws are part of an effort to challenge Roe v. Wade.
Taiwan legalizes same-sex marriage: In a first for Asia, Taiwan’s legislature voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage. The move, which gives couples many of the tax, insurance and child-custody benefits available to male-female married couples, is a boost for LGBT rights activists who have championed the cause for two decades.
A gay Taiwanese couple kiss their three year-old son as they celebrate after Taiwan's parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage on May 17, 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan.Carl Court/Getty Images
Gumpy Cat dies: The cat, with a sourpuss expression that spawned hundreds of memes, died at age 7 from complications from a urinary-tract infection. She rose to fame after photos were posted to Reddit in 2012 and went on to appear on TV and do commercials plus having millions of followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Grumpy Cat posing for a photo in Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 2015.The Associated Press
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index lost ground Friday as the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite index was unofficially down 42.11 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 16,401.75.
Wall Street also ended lower Friday as continuing trade tensions pulled industrial and tech shares down, and the Dow capped a fourth straight week of losses in its longest weekly losing streak in three years.
Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99.68 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 25,763, the S&P 500 lost 16.86 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 2,859.46 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 81.76 points, or 1.04 per cent, to 7,816.29.
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TALKING POINTS
Who’s tough enough to take on Donald Trump? Her name is Elizabeth Warren
“For whatever reason, Mr. Trump is regarded as “tough,” though in situations requiring actual strength, such as calling out Vladimir Putin over election meddling, he melts like a castle made of kitty litter. Anyone who thinks Sen. Warren and her fellow Democratic nominee Senator Kamala Harris aren’t tough hasn’t watched them in action. In committee hearings, Sen. Harris employs her skills as a former prosecutor to devastating effect. And Sen. Warren achieved a level of fame for her master-chef grilling of bank executives who came before the Senate banking committee.” - Elizabeth Renzetti (for subscribers)
Saskatchewan’s highest court ruled in favour of carbon pricing – and it wasn’t really close
“Some commentators – including some premiers – have attacked the decision and tried to play down its significance because there were two dissenting judges. But the critics’ arguments don’t hold water, for several reasons.” - Stewart Elgie and Nathalie Chalifour, professors at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law
Young Americans need to learn what socialism actually means
“If you just want to have a debate about the degree of redistribution you want to effect through the tax and benefits systems, don’t confuse yourself by talking about socialism. The democratic world is all capitalist now. Voters just choose how much they want to mitigate the inequalities inevitably produced by the market.” − Niall Ferguson (for subscribers)
LIVING BETTER
Spring gardening guide: How to get your garden ready to grow
The Victoria Day long weekend for many in Canada is the unofficial start to the gardening season. If you are itching to get your gloves on and start digging, here’s The Globe’s roundup of gardening tips, advice and how-tos from what to prune to how much to water and from how to care for grasses to how to make native plants feel at home in your garden.
Game of Thrones guide: Catch up on Season 8 episode reviews before Sunday’s finale
We take a look back at how the show changed the television and fantasy novel landscape, what it says about power and what show will next take up the throne. But first in this guide, film critic Barry Hertz reviews each episode of Season 8, and offers his predictions for how the series might come to a conclusion on Sunday night.
LONG READS FOR THE LONG WEEKEND
Hidden Canada
Part of the Cup and Saucer trail.Eamon Mac Mahon/The Globe and Mail
The second edition of The Globe’s annual Canadian travel guide has something for every sort of travel mission, from a weekend escape to an epic drive way up north. From an expanse of sand dunes reminiscent of the Sahara in Saskatchewan to sky-high icebergs in Newfoundland and from a road trip to the Arctic Ocean to an immersion in Indigenous cultures in Ontario, this year’s list focuses on 10 diverse locales from coast to coast.
Gardening teaches you how to start over again
Illustration by Wenting LiILLUSTRATION BY WENTING LI
“Gardening, I’m discovering, is a pastime where you can’t just try once and be done with it – you have to get your hands dirty again and again,“ writes Carolyn Wong-Ranasinghe in a first-person essay. Her grandfather, who moved to Canada before the Second World War, loved to garden. After he died, her grandmother pulled up the plants. Then, at 92 and living in a new home, Wong-Ranasinghe saw her grandmother gardening. Now, as Wong-Ranasinghe gardens at her home, she thinks about how her grandparent’s gardens evolved and how they would have started over in each new city.
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.