Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The reactions from federal leaders on the two sides of the U.S.-Canada border today were a study in opposites. On one side: U.S. President Donald Trump, who this morning urged state governors to call in the National Guard to quell anti-racism protests in cities all over the United States. On the other side: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who knelt with activists in Ottawa during a demonstration in that city – though he did not respond to shouts that he publicly stand up to the U.S. President.
Meanwhile, Americans driven to the streets for the 11th day after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., vowed to turn their demonstrations into a sustained movement for change.
“We are thinking long-term,” community organizer Tifanny Burks said. “Every single day it’s growing from people who want to get more involved, who want to take more actions, so we’re going to be mobilizing those folks.”
By one measure, change is under way: Minneapolis city council agreed to ban police chokeholds on suspects and require officers to intervene against unauthorized force by another officer.
And yet, new videos of police brutality continue to emerge.
Economy adds surprise 290,000 jobs in May, but unemployment rate hits record level
Economists this morning were expecting to learn of roughly 500,000 lost Canadian jobs in May, but instead saw surprise gains of 290,000 jobs in the Statistics Canada report, nearly 80 per cent of them in Quebec (and far fewer women than men). Still, the national jobless rate rose to 13.7 per cent, the highest since comparable data became available in 1976, as more people sought work.
Signs of economic recovery from the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic are also apparent in the U.S., where 2.5 million jobs were added in May. Nevertheless, recovery to prepandemic levels of employment and economic output across North America depends on conditions that are not expected anytime soon.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Trapped in Syria no longer: Twenty-nine Canadians and permanent residents have arrived in Montreal after a multinational effort to get them out of war-torn Syria despite coronavirus-related border closures, Mark MacKinnon reports. But dozens more Canadians remain vulnerable in a detention camp in northeastern Syria.
Pipeline work reaches B.C.: Construction of the disputed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has been happening in Alberta for months, but it reached B.C. this week amid new challenges that include keeping workers safe from the spread of COVID-19. Three B.C. First Nations say they will continue their fight against the project in court.
In COVID-19 news:
Toronto doctors take COVID-19 testing to the people in effort to contain pandemic
A targeted, proactive approach to coronavirus testing in communities believed to be emerging hot spots has finally arrived in Toronto – a welcome development for health professionals who say restrictive criteria at the provincial level prevented this kind of testing until just weeks ago. Kelly Grant reports.
Ottawa offers $14-billion to provincial and territorial governments for COVID-19 relief efforts
New federal transfers to provinces and territories could total $14-billion if a co-ordinated national plan for reopening the economy can be achieved, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today. The money would be earmarked for paid sick days and personal protective equipment for workers, child-care providers who face higher costs to operate safely, and city services such as public transit.
Are public washrooms safe?: Answering your questions on masks, testing and COVID-19 pandemic social etiquette
As provinces begin to recover at different paces from the first wave of COVID-19, questions abound on how to interact safely with the outside world. Health columnist André Picard answered many of those questions last night in a live event with Globe readers. You can watch an edited video of the event, or catch up with our summary here.
Keep up to date: Follow the day’s latest coronavirus news here, which includes maps and charts of COVID-19’s spread throughout Canada.
MARKET WATCH
A jump in jobs numbers on both sides of the border sent equities surging today as investors hope the surprise positive employment news signals that labour market woes due to the pandemic were only temporary.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 829.16 points, or 3.15 per cent, to 27,110.98, the S&P 500 gained 81.58 points, or 2.62 per cent, to 3,193.93 and the Nasdaq Composite added 198.27 points, or 2.06 per cent, to 9,814.08. The Nasdaq breached its all-time closing high reached in February, but pared its gains to end the session a hair’s breadth below it. The broad S&P 500 is now down about 1 per cent for the year to date.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 326.20 points to 15,854.07 for a 2.1-per-cent gain. Gold stocks were lower, but otherwise gains were widespread across sectors, with energy rallying 7.90 per cent. Financials rose just over 3 per cent.
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TALKING POINTS
White people know racism exists. Now it’s time for them to finally do something about it
“In Canada, being Black is akin to being the student of a teacher who always calls you by the name of the other Black kid in school. We will always know white people, their histories, frailties and lives in a way they do not know, have chosen not to know, have opted to not hear, have willingly distorted, have taken away, have denied taking away and have truly not tried to know us.” – Vicky Mochama, writer, host of the Safe Space podcast
My Black ancestors fled America for freedom. I left Canada to find a home. Now both countries must fight for a better world
“I came to America as an immigrant joining a nation of immigrants, during a time when this country of immigrants is characterized by a high degree of anti-immigrant sentiment – although I am invisible in the recent, heated debates over U.S. immigration policy. I can ‘pass’ as African-American, and not an immigrant, and muddy the conceptual waters of integration in so doing.” – Debra Thompson, political science associate professor
A four-day workweek? Maybe in a few decades
“Shortening the workweek may not be on the agenda any time soon: We’ll need more labour, not less. In the near term, the issue is servicing the massive debts we have taken on in the name of fighting the pandemic. In the longer term, there remains the problem of population aging, and the massive social costs this entails, of which the provinces, in particular, are already acutely aware. Higher costs and less work make an unappetizing combination.” – Andrew Coyne, staff columnist
On his VP-pick list, Biden has a descendant of enslaved people who is ready for this moment
“With racism, police brutality, and law and order suddenly becoming paramount issues, who is better, or more uniquely qualified, than Val Demings, a Black woman with a successful background in policing?” – Lawrence Martin, columnist
LIVING BETTER
46 books to see readers through a summer in lockdown
Let the Globe’s book critics be your guide to a summer short on physical excursions but long on literary escapes in such genres as mystery, science fiction and young adult.
Also: Toronto Public Library announces curbside pickup plan at 67 branches
Home campsites: From backyards to patios to living rooms, Canadians are still camping out
Many Canadians who normally feel the pull of the great outdoors have decided to pull back, inviting the wild – or at least a facsimile of it – into their homes and yards.
“We thought of all the things we love to do outdoors and tried to bring them indoors,” says Nova Scotian Skylar MacDonald, who along with partner David Anderson set up camp in a loft bedroom complete with tent, fishing pole, paper moon, Christmas lights and the sounds of crickets on a laptop. “It wasn’t the real thing but we had a blast setting it up.”
TODAY’S LONG READ
Montreal Museum of Fine ArtsMontreal Museum of Fine Arts
Priceless artworks stranded. Blockbuster exhibitions delayed. Inside museums’ massive game of shuffle
The logistics of keeping visitors safe aside, plans to reopen Canada’s museums involve complicated efforts to piece together exhibition schedules that have been torn to shreds by the COVID-19 pandemic.
An exhibition of mummies booked for the summer at the Royal Ontario Museum remains stuck in Montreal, with nervous officials from the British Museum contemplating how to oversee handling and transportation of their property. The Art Gallery of Ontario has postponed its show on Picasso’s Blue Period until fall 2021 in order to sort out new arrangements with 57 lenders in a dozen countries. These are just two examples of the juggling act under way.
And in bottom-line terms, museums invite blockbuster exhibitions to attract ticket-buying crowds that can’t be accommodated under physical distancing measures. What, then, does the future hold for these big-ticket shows?
Read the full article by Globe arts critic Kate Taylor here.
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