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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
In strident UN speech, Trump doubles down on ‘America First’
“America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.” With those words, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his America First approach in a speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Michelle Zilio and Adrian Morrow report. Here are some of the other highlights of his speech.
The White House is increasing the pressure on Canada to finish renegotiating NAFTA by Sept. 30 or face exclusion from a revised trade deal. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are also in New York for the UN meeting, but it is unclear whether they will discuss NAFTA. Freeland did not comment on Lighthizer’s threat that the United States would “go ahead with Mexico” on a bilateral deal.
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Canada signs on to U.S.-led renewal of war on drugs
The Trudeau government’s decision to sign on to a White House declaration renewing the “war on drugs” has garnered criticism from drug experts, who say it contradicts Ottawa’s previous skepticism about Washington’s drug war at home and abroad. The decision comes just weeks before cannabis legalization in Canada. One hundred and thirty countries signed but 63 did not, including major U.S. allies Germany, Norway and Spain. The United States enlisted Russia and the Philippines − where President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a “drug war” that has resulted in more than 20,000 extrajudicial killings − as “co-hosts” of the statement.
Prescriptions for stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall rising in Ontario, particularly for teen boys: report
Use of prescription stimulants has risen nearly 30 per cent in the past five years, and male patients are much more likely to receive a prescription for stimulants than female patients, a new study says. The differences are most pronounced among children and teens. For instance, about 5 per cent of boys aged 13 to 18 received a prescription for a stimulant in 2017, the study found, compared with just 2.4 per cent for girls in the same age group, Carly Weeks reports.
Bill Cosby sentenced to three to 10 years for 2004 sexual assault
Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home. The entertainer once known as “America’s dad” was convicted in April of sexually assaulting Temple University athletics administrator Andrea Constand in 2004. Constand is one of about 60 women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct.
Deaths of 12 at-risk youth show urgent need to fix Ontario’s child-welfare system: coroner’s report
A panel investigating the deaths of 12 youth in the care of children’s aid or Indigenous well-being societies between 2014 and 2017 said on Tuesday the federal and Ontario governments need to immediately provide relevant, equitable and culturally and spiritually appropriate services to Indigenous young people and their families. The Expert Panel on the Deaths of Children and Youth in Residential Placements, which was created last year by Ontario’s chief coroner, Dirk Huyer, recommended that ministries of the Ontario government create an “integrated system of care” that incorporates health, education, recreation, mental health, child care and early intervention services that are geared to meeting the specific needs of each child, Gloria Galloway reports.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index couldn’t hold on to earlier gains Tuesday, led by drops of more than 4.5 per cent for auto parts makers Martinrea International and Magna International as energy stocks slipped by the end of the day and consumer discretionary stocks also fell. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 47.82 points, to 16,159.50.
In New York, the Dow and S&P 500 ended lower as a boost from the energy sector and strong consumer confidence data was offset by losses in chipmakers and utilities ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The Dow Jones industrial average closed off 69.84 points at 26,492.21. The S&P 500 index shed 3.81 points to 2,915.56, while the Nasdaq composite was up 14.22 points to 8,007.47.
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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
Walking the distance: Parents challenge rules that keep kids off school buses
In Canada, children’s eligibility for bus transportation is all over the map. In Toronto, students who live 1.6 km away are bused until Grade 5, while elementary students in Maple Ridge, B.C., must live 4 km away to qualify for busing. Some parents are challenging the rules, arguing they are outdated and that unique situations need to be considered. Parents who work shift jobs, for example, are not always able to pick up or drop off their children, and don’t necessarily have cars or flexible work hours, Caroline Alphonso reports.
TALKING POINTS
Why the war on opioids will be so hard to win
Economic change hits some people hard. Communities disintegrate. We’re living in an age where faith, family and community – the pillars that we used to count on – are all eroding. That’s the biggest reason why this war on opioids will be so hard to win. It’s not a war we need but a reconstruction of community. And we have no idea how to do that. - Margaret Wente
Private participation in health care is historical and justified
Fifty years ago, Justice Emmett Hall and Tommy Douglas encouraged private contributions and private participation in the funding and delivery of health care, as well as patient choice. It would not at all seem a radical proposition to return this country’s approach to health care back to the much more patient-first pragmatic one envisioned by Justice Hall and Mr. Douglas. For us to do that, we need to be able to have a reasoned, fact-informed discussion and avoid the ad hominem and the hyperbole from both sides. - Brad Wall, former premier of Saskatchewan, and Gordon Campbell, former premier of British Columbia
The high cost of unionized contractors
Canadians love to search for bargains. We’ll drive halfway across town to save 5 cents a litre on gas. Yet when it comes to paying the bills for some of the biggest-ticket items in the country, that famous Canadian dedication to shopping around seems to fly out the window. Despite all our fretting over pennies, some provinces deliberately ignore the tremendous benefits of competition and comparison when tendering their most expensive public infrastructure projects. It’s a lousy way to shop. - Peter Shawn Taylor (for subscribers)
Doug Ford kicks at the provincial Liberals while they’re down
There are premiers who would have worried that any benefit to them from staging this sort of spectacle upon taking office wouldn’t be worth its unseemliness; that using a thin pretext to further beat up on Kathleen Wynne after she suffered a humiliating defeat was cruel; that they’d be encouraging distrust of the entire political class by seizing any opportunity to work words like “corruption” into the news cycle. But Mr. Ford is the embodiment of how such concerns have come to seem quaint. - Adam Radwanski
LIVING BETTER
Five science podcasts that will feed your brain
Podcasts are great way to stay up to date on current events and to make a boring wait more interesting. Writes Caitlin Thompson: “We also use on-demand audio to feed our brains. In a world where our educations don’t end after school, our commutes and other daily routines have also transformed into times when we absorb dense information. And what better way to learn about the world (and universe) around us than by perusing these mostly female science shows and finding one for your life?”
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
FRED THORNHILL
Working in the city, buying in the country
With housing in major cities slipping out of reach for all but the well-off, a new trend is emerging: living hundreds of kilometres away from the office. A recent Angus Reid Institute survey found that more than half – 58 per cent – of renters in the Greater Toronto Area would give serious thought to moving out of the region because they believe the cost of home ownership has moved beyond their reach.
Jocelyn Karr is a pioneer of the movement: In 1995, she bought property in Bancroft, Ont., 250 kilometres northeast of her Toronto workplace. “It became my getaway,” she said. “For the first 11 years here, I didn’t even have a phone. If the office wanted to get in touch with me, they had to wait until I came back to work.”
Evening Update is written by Dianne Nice. 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.