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These are the top stories:
British court rules PM Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament illegal
Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament was illegal, handing the Prime Minister a major set back and opening the door to a renewed battle with parliamentarians over Brexit.
As a result of the court’s ruling, Parliament has not been prorogued, Supreme Court President Brenda Hale said. She left it up to the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, to decide when to recall Parliament, which could happen this week.
Mr. Johnson is in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. He is also expected to meet EU leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Vancouver’s mayor is calling for the power to ban handguns
Kennedy Stewart is joining a growing number of municipal leaders urging further crackdowns on guns amid a national debate on the issue. Stewart’s comments come after three shootings in less than 24 hours in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The mayors of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal have called for a national ban on handguns to combat gang violence. A Globe investigation found handguns are the most-used weapons in firearm-related homicides. Toronto Mayor John Tory also wants improvements in gun-data collection.
The Liberals are promising to give local authorities the right to ban handguns in provinces that support them, but they aren’t going so far as an outright ban.
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The Tory campaign: Our Scheer profile, the stress test, and New Brunswick Proud
What is Andrew Scheer like? Cathal Kelly visited his Stornoway residence for a family dinner – and to try to break through the Conservative Leader’s all-smiles persona. The pair chatted football (Scheer was wearing a Saskatchewan Roughriders jersey), his prime ministerial aspirations (he told his future wife on one of their first dates), and his past opposition to legalizing gay marriage (“This issue is settled”).
The Conservatives are vowing to review the stress test if elected while also increasing repayment periods on insured mortgages from 25 years to 30 years for first-time buyers. Industry experts are warning that the plan could lead to a rise in home prices.
Rob Carrick says that despite its flaws, the stress test works because “it forces people to give themselves some breathing room with their mortgage. Ease the stress test on buyers and this margin of safety shrinks.”
In New Brunswick, the Tories are campaigning with the help of a third-party group named New Brunswick Proud. The Globe takes a look at the political-advocacy group that a Liberal MLA is accusing of “unethical” tactics during last year’s provincial election.
More election news: Munk debate cancelled, plus pledges on health care
The federal foreign-policy debate has been scrapped over Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s refusal to participate. Munk Debates chair Rudyard Griffiths called it “unfortunate” given “everything that’s going on in the world.” Trudeau also skipped the Maclean’s/Citytv debate earlier this month; he will only participate in one English-language debate and two in French.
The Liberals unveiled a $6-billion health-care plan that would be rolled out over four years, but Trudeau gave few details on pharmacare beyond a report earlier this year that laid out a proposed universal coverage plan that would cost $15.3-billion annually if fully implemented come 2027.
Campbell Clark says the reason Trudeau’s plan is vague is twofold: “The first is that he didn’t want to be nailed down on how many billions pharmacare would cost. The second is that he wanted to set up pharmacare as a battle with Ontario Premier Doug Ford.”
The NDP reiterated its pledge for a national pharmacare program that would begin next year.
‘You have stolen my dreams’: Greta Thunberg’s address to world leaders
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The teenage activist who has helped spur youth climate activism around the world took aim at politicians during a speech at the United Nations.
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here,” she said at the start of a summit aimed at addressing stalled action on climate change. “I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?”
Canadian youth are set to take part in a day of climate strikes this Friday; millions of young people took to the streets last week to demand action.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Meng Wanzhou back in court: Lawyers for Canada’s Attorney-General called the Huawei executive’s attempt for further disclosure related to her 2018 arrest a futile “fishing expedition” that does not pass a legal test. Meng’s team is alleging an abuse of process by authorities.
Wrestler’s viral exchange with Mountie was staged: World Wrestling Entertainment personality Lacey Evans made headlines when she posted a video yelling “Canada is terrible” at an Alberta officer who handed her a speeding ticket. While the ticket was real, the RCMP says the filmed response was co-ordinated.
Vancouver artist Stan Douglas wins $100,000 Audain Prize: Douglas, 58, has had exhibits featuring his photography, film and video installations around the world. Now, he adds the prize celebrating B.C. artists – one of Canada’s richest art prizes – to a mantle that includes the Hasselblad Award and the Scotiabank Photography Award.
MORNING MARKETS
World shares resume gains: European shares rose on Tuesday, following their worst day in over a month, after Washington said the United States and China would resume trade talks. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.2 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite 0.3 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and the Paris CAC 40 were each up 0.2 per cent by about 4:30 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX up marginally. New York futures were up.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
I hope my Canadian neighbours learn from this blackface scandal
Clyde W. Ford: “As an African-American now living in the Northwest, just south of the Canadian border, I’m troubled by the images of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in black and brownface. I’m also troubled by the calls for his resignation, which do not address the underlying issues or offer real change to those most aggrieved.” Clyde W. Ford is an author living in Bellingham, Wash.
Parents have rights when it comes to the health of their children. But they also have responsibilities
André Picard: “Sometimes, as Charles Dickens wrote, ‘The law is an ass – an idiot.’ The acquittal of David and Collet Stephan, who were found not guilty of failing to provide the “necessaries of life” to their 19-month-old son, Ezekiel, seems like a striking example.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail)Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Fact-checking federal promises to lower your wireless bills
The Liberals are pledging to work with telecom companies to bring cell phone bills down by 25 per cent within four years while introducing an unlimited family plan. If prices don’t come down after two years, the Liberals say they would seek to boost wireless competition.
The NDP, meanwhile, is vowing to cap cell and internet bills at the global average of OECD countries. This would include requirements for carriers to offer low-cost plans and “affordable, unlimited family-based plans.”
But internet and e-commerce expert Michael Geist is raising doubts about both proposals. “The NDP plan for price caps raises the prospect of less competition, not more,” he writes, while the Liberals’ “promise to work with carriers to offer globally competitive plans seems unlikely to achieve very much.”
MOMENT IN TIME
The first person to walk across Canada arrives in Vancouver
A postcard commemorating the transcontinental walk.Supplied
Sept. 24, 1906: On a dare, John H. Gillis set out to walk from Sydney, N.S., to the West Coast in 1906. At the age of 22, he began in January with two friends from Cape Breton. Those friends bailed in Montreal, but Gillis continued the journey with another man, Charles Jackman, and the pair followed the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks from Northern Ontario all the way to the coast. Gillis arrived in Vancouver on Sept. 24, 1906, to a waiting crowd, according to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). The trip made Gillis the first person in recorded history to walk across Canada from coast to coast. He never followed through on his goal to go back east, instead staying in Vancouver. The VPD recruited him to be a physical director, getting officers fit enough for the job. Gillis was a talented athlete and became the Canadian champion in a precursor event to the modern-day decathlon. He was a favourite to medal in the 1912 Olympic Games, but his sporting career was cut short because of tuberculosis. He had to retire from training, and moved home to be with his family before passing away at the age of 29. – Megan Devlin
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