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These are the top stories:
China’s ambassador to Canada to leave at the end of June
Lu Shaye will be leaving Ottawa later this month, according to four people with knowledge of his departure, to accept a promotion to become China’s new ambassador to Paris.
Lu departs amidst the worst tensions between China and Canada in decades, at a time when Canada does not have a permanent ambassador to Beijing, Asia correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe writes. In his Canadian role, the 54-year-old was known as being particularly outspoken and undiplomatic, and he did not hesitate to criticize what he called “unjust and unfair” Canadian media coverage of China.
It’s not clear who will replace Lu, or even whether he will be immediately replaced.
Canada calls on China to ‘break silence’ on Tiananmen Square
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland urged Beijing to move forward by “openly accounting for” how many Chinese citizens were killed or imprisoned in connection with Tiananmen Square, 30 years after the 1989 massacre of demonstrating students. Activists say the death toll could be in the thousands, but the government has never provided a number.
In response to Freeland’s Tuesday statement, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said that she made “gross accusations on China’s human rights and religious situation.” The embassy alleged that Freeland was interfering in China’s internal affairs – building upon tensions since Canada arrested senior Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in December.
While the country’s capital remained quiet, activists held a candlelit vigil in Hong Kong to commemorate the anniversary. (for subscribers)
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Trudeau accepts Indigenous inquiry’s finding of genocide
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced public criticism Monday for not initially endorsing a key finding of the national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls – that genocide has been perpetuated against Indigenous peoples. But Tuesday he announced that he accepts the choice of wording, as well as the findings of the report.
He then redirected the focus toward what Ottawa will be doing to follow up on the report’s calls to action, saying that “we will move forward to end this ongoing national tragedy.”
Singa Daum Shanks writes: “Debating whether the final report’s use of the word ‘genocide’ is justified is a cop-out, and lets society get away with not doing more to realize what problems have led to the inquiry’s need to be invented at all.” Shanks is a Métis from Saskatchewan, as well as an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and director of Indigenous outreach.
Ford government to override Toronto’s development plans for midtown, downtown
The Ontario government is planning to allow much higher buildings in Toronto’s midtown and downtown core. Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark, who said he intends to send two proposed official amendments back to Toronto officials today, acknowledged that “it’s a very different vision from the city’s."
The proposed amendments allow major revisions in some areas – at the corner of Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East, restrictions enforcing eight-storey caps could be changed to allow buildings 20 to 35 storeys tall. The government says this would help address the city’s housing affordability crisis.
Clark said that his proposed changes are meant to look out for citizens without a voice. Jeff Gray reports that the rewrites may also spark renewed criticism from city hall that Premier Doug Ford’s government is meddling in municipal affairs.
UNB professor whom colleagues call a racist to retire amid probe
After dozens of faculty members signed a letter stating that they do not condone Ricardo Duchesne’s “racist positions on multiculturalism and immigration,” the former sociology professor announced his early retirement from his position at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus. It was the second time in four years that academics at UNB had signed a statement opposing Duchesne.
The university announced it was investigating allegations against the 24-year professor in May, but Duchesne told The Globe and Mail that he could not answer questions about why he is leaving.
“I am looking forward to early retirement,” Duchesne said, adding that he was looking forward to pursuing research independently. A self-described immigrant from Puerto Rico with a mixed-race background, he says that he is not a racist or a white supremacist.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
U.S. President Donald Trump has backtracked his remarks that Britain’s National Health Service is ‘on the table’ in post-Brexit trade talks. Many Britons cherish the NHS’s provision of a wide range of health services and expressed outrage at the notion of it being negotiable. Trump said in response that he does not see the NHS as falling under the realm of trade. British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed, saying that in every trade deal “both sides negotiate and come to an agreement about what should or should not be in that trade deal for the future.”
Manitoba will be going to the polls a year ahead of schedule, with Premier Brian Pallister saying it would be inappropriate to hold an election in October of 2020 while the province celebrates its 150th anniversary. Political scientists say it’s likely Pallister’s actual motivation is that his Progressive Conservatives hold a fundraising and popularity edge over the NDP.
Another Indigenous-led group is voicing interest in buying a stake in Trans Mountain. Iron Coalition, a group representing some Alberta First Nations and Métis communities, is set to roll out a plan today for the controversial, federally owned pipeline project. It faces likely competition from Project Reconciliation, which in March laid out plans for a 51-per-cent stake in the proposed pipeline. (for subscribers)
Air Canada’s bid for Transat is facing competition, with Quebec real estate developer Group Mach putting forward an offer of $14 a share. That’s just higher than Montreal-based Air Canada’s offer of $13 per share, or $520-million. Mach is seeking $120-million from the province’s investment arm for the hostile bid, though Premier François Legault said he didn’t “see the urgency” with a Quebec-based offer already in place. (for subscribers)
Global stocks gained for a third straight day on Wednesday, bolstered by investors’ growing hopes that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates this year to boost a slowing global economy, while the U.S. dollar languished near seven-week lows. A flare-up in trade tensions between the United States and China, which busted investors’ assumption a deal was on the cards, has hit world stocks and triggered fears of an impending recession. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.8 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang .5 per cent, with the Shanghai Composite the lone loser with a tiny loss. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were each up by better than 0.3 per cent by about 5:15 a.m. ET. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was above 74.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Why we need to hear from war photographers
Dr. Anthony Feinstein: “If we are to understand why well-educated men fly planes into skyscrapers or why an unprecedented number of people are on the move across the globe, braving rough seas, unwelcoming borders and unscrupulous traffickers, then look closely at the images of these photographers and listen to what they have to say. For they have seen it all – no second-hand knowledge here. War photography, more than any other type of conflict journalism, demands proximity to the event and there is simply no substitute for bearing witness with a gimlet eye.” Dr. Anthony Feinstein is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and runs the neuropsychiatry program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
What a laugh: Fear of the Toronto Raptors sweeps the U.S. TV industry
John Doyle: “Most reporting from inside the U.S. TV industry tends toward exaggeration and dread. But the Raptors’ presence in the NBA Finals has taken on the vibe of real-world horror. It’s all ‘How could this possibly happen?’ It’s all a bit demented. And, hereabouts, we can only laugh at the fear, dread and ignorance.”
The CBC has no business chasing ad dollars with lowbrow game shows
Konrad Yakabuski: “Making a shameless play for ad dollars is part of president Catherine Tait’s goal of making the CBC less vulnerable to the whims of federal politicians, some of whom don’t believe Canada even needs a public broadcaster. But by adapting for Canadian eyes a lowbrow game show that isn’t remotely relevant to the CBC’s mandate, Tait may only prove them right.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and MailBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Take that extra day: the case for making the most of long weekends
Only one-third of Canadians use all of their allotted vacation time, according to a recent survey. And 28 per cent of respondents said they took just half of their available time off.
Week-long vacations can sometimes be difficult (and costly) to swing, forcing you to put in hours of extra legwork at the office before or after a trip. But tacking on a day to your weekend is a great way to ensure you maintain a healthy work-life balance while avoiding the burden of planning for your absence.
MOMENT IN TIME
Canada’s first right-to-die legislation is passed
Clément Allard/The Canadian Press
June 5, 2014: After years of heart-wrenching debate, members of the Quebec National Assembly voted 94-22 to adopt Bill 52, an Act Respecting End-of-Life Care. The law and the political debate were both quite unusual. The process was steered principally by Parti Québécois MNA Véronique Hivon. Quebec could not change the Criminal Code, so the provincial law said the provisions pertaining to assisting suicide would not be enforced, a clever workaround. Bill 52 touched on a variety of end-of-life issues from palliative care through to refusing care, but it was the provisions about assisted death, which allowed patients in an “advanced state of irreversible decline in capacities” to request a hastened death, that made headlines – and history. “Canada will not be spared the debate,” then-health minister Gaétan Barrette said prophetically. Eight months later, the Supreme Court would strike down some provisions of the Criminal Code that made assisting a suicide a crime, paving the way for federal legislation. Quebec’s law took effect on Dec. 10, 2015, and the first legal, physician-assisted death occurred without fanfare within days. The federal law came into effect on June 17, 2017. There have been roughly 4,000 assisted deaths in Canada since then, the once-unthinkable now routine. – André Picard
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