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Britain’s Boris Johnson has announced he will step down as Conservative leader after a mounting rebellion within his party called for his resignation.
After more than 40 resignations from within the government and with many lawmakers in his Conservative Party in open revolt, some cabinet ministers went to Downing Street to tell Johnson he needed to go, a source said. One encouraged him to make a dignified exit by setting his own timetable rather than face a confidence vote.
Johnson had been plagued by a series of scandals in recent months including reports that he and his officials held more than a dozen social gatherings when the country was in lockdown because of the pandemic.
But allegations of sexual assault involving former deputy Tory MP Chris Pincher brought the rebellion to a boil this week as reports surfaced that Johnson overlooked Pincher’s behaviour and appointed him as deputy chief whip.
There are no clear favourites to succeed him as party leader. Some of the main contenders are expected to be Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab as well as former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, former health minister Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a news conference during a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022.YVES HERMAN/Reuters
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Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry sends new subpoena to Ottawa for outstanding RCMP documents
The commission looking into the Nova Scotia mass shooting of April, 2020, has once again used its subpoena power to order the federal government to hand over any remaining RCMP documents to its investigators, and says it’s still waiting for assurances that Ottawa is not withholding any further material.
Missing records have been a significant issue at the inquiry since the Department of Justice for months held back records from senior Nova Scotia RCMP officials that were critical of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. The Mass Casualty Commission, tasked with investigating the police response to a shooting in which a man impersonating a Mountie murdered 22 people, has demanded to know why Ottawa withheld any documents after it subpoenaed the RCMP’s entire investigative file more than a year ago.
It filed its latest subpoena to the federal government on July 4, asking for all outstanding records, amid accusations from political opponents that Ottawa may be withholding more documents connected to a case it considers politically damaging.
The contents of some of the documents set off a firestorm in Ottawa and accusations that the federal government tried to interfere in the police investigation of the tragedy to further its gun-control agenda.
Text messages said to be behind Patrick Brown’s ouster from Conservative Party leadership race
Multiple text messages related to allegations that led to the ouster of Patrick Brown from the federal Conservative leadership race have been turned over to Elections Canada to investigate whether the Brampton mayor knew that a corporation was paying someone in his campaign, sources say.
Details of exactly what was in those text messages have not been revealed by the party, but the sources say there was enough evidence to forward them to the national elections body. Canada’s elections laws bar contributions from corporations, unions or non-residents.
A whistleblower who was part of the alleged scheme came to the party with texts and information, one of the sources said. The company allegedly involved is numbered, but the source didn’t know the name of the numbered company or the individual, or the amount of money paid. The Globe is not identifying the two sources because they were not authorized to speak about private party matters.
Members of the party’s leadership election organizing committee (LEOC) were not given the specifics of the allegations or the name of the company or individual on the campaign, the sources say. Mr. Brown was ousted from the race on Tuesday night in a LEOC vote of 11-6. The members of the committee who voted to keep his candidacy alive did so because they had not been shown any evidence of potential wrongdoing, the sources added.
- Who’s still in the Conservative leadership race? The five candidates and Patrick Brown’s disqualification at a glance
- Patrick Brown’s exit all but seals Pierre Poilievre’s victory as the next Conservative leader
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Also on our radar
Ottawa didn’t expect massive surge in passport applications: Minister: The minister responsible for Service Canada admits the government, in spite of hiring 600 new staff, did not fully anticipate the overwhelming surge in passport applications that came with the resumption of postpandemic travel. However, she is hopeful wait times will return to normal by the end of summer.
War in Ukraine, economic shocks threaten UN’s zero-hunger goal: A new report shows that the United Nations’ zero-hunger goal by 2030 is probably no longer within reach. It says that as many as 828 million people, or nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population, were affected by hunger in 2021 – 46 million higher than in 2020 and 150 million higher than in 2019, the year before the pandemic began.
AFN head RoseAnne Archibald avoids removal vote: With debate largely settled over the National Chief’s suspension, discussions are expected to turn toward possible governance improvements within the AFN.
South Africa debates tougher rules on taverns after 21 teens die: Almost all who died were below the legal drinking age of 18, and one was just 13 years old, yet all had been allowed to enter the tavern and order drinks illegally – a common occurrence there, local media said.
Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted Russian advances into north of Donetsk region, officials say: Pressure in the Donetsk region is intensifying with heavy shelling, missile and rocket fire on the city of Sloviansk and nearby populated areas, Kyiv’s military said yesterday.
Tiny former fishing village along Newfoundland’s southern coast considering resettlement: Residents of Gaultois, N.L., underwent a preliminary vote where more than 75 per cent signalled they would like to be resettled through the province’s community relocation program – a controversial government-led practice with roots in the 1950s.
Morning markets
Stock markets revive: Chipmakers revived stock markets on Thursday, helping to sooth investor worries over a potentially rapid recession because of looming rate hikes, while the euro struggled near a 20-year parity with the safe-haven U.S. dollar. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.21 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC40 were up 1.86 per cent and 1.63 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed up at 1.47 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.26 per cent. New York futures were modestly higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 76.90 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Andrew Coyne: “The Court adopts this approach, then, in part because it wants to: because it yields the results it prefers. But it is also because it can – because there is no legal requirement for U.S. courts to consider whether and to what extent there might be sensible exceptions to the rights so ringingly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. They do, of course, but they are basically freelancing.”
Robyn Urback: “Indeed, there’s no room here for Liberal nonsense such as “gender parity” in cabinet; this is a meritocracy, where only the most deserving individuals – that is, those who won the sperm race in the right families – are rewarded for their zygote-era hard work with plum cabinet postings in the government representing the most populous province in Canada.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
Living better
What I’ve learned from job interview screw ups
Applying for jobs is never easy. Sometimes, in-person interviews can be as challenging as an awkward first date. But you might be amazed how much you can learn about someone just by being kind and curious. Contributor Bernie Goodman has faced his fair share of interview mishaps, and from that wrote about some of the lessons others can learn from.
Moment in time: July 7, 2007
Live Earth rocks the world
General view picture of the British leg of the Live Earth concerts at London's Wembley Stadium, Saturday July 7, 2007.ANTHONY HARVEY/The Associated Press
Metallica, Madonna, Shakira and the Black Eyed Peas were among the 150 acts who performed at the 24-hour musical extravaganza Live Earth on this day in 2007. It was broadcast to more than 130 countries from stages in 12 locations around the globe. In addition to uniting some of the world’s top pop stars, the show incorporated the Morse code distress signal in its logo and urged audiences to fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent in developed countries by 2050. The event was co-founded by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose documentary An Inconvenient Truth had come out a year earlier. On the eve of the concert, Gore told The Globe and Mail, “Future generations are going to be quite contemptuous of those of us who are now alive if we don’t act now.” The concert was criticized, however, for its large carbon footprint. Entertainer Chris Rock joked at the time, “I hope that Live Earth ends global warming the same way Live Aid eliminated world poverty.” Fifteen years later, with its goal nowhere close to being reached, Rock’s words seem prophetic. Tarek Youzbashi
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