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These are the top stories:
This may be why China lifted its ban on Canadian meat products
The decision to lift trade restrictions on imports of Canadian pork and beef comes as China – the world’s largest pork producer – grapples with an outbreak of African swine fever that’s devastating hog farms.
A senior Canadian government official told The Globe that China didn’t want to be reliant on U.S. pork as it manages the shortage. Beijing also wanted to reduce the number of battles with its trading partners, the source said.
Beijing continues to impose restrictions on Canadian canola seed and soybean as farmers here grapple with the diplomatic fallout from Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
Former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques cautioned that relations between the two countries will remain unstable as long as Meng remains in Canada.
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The U.S. envoy to the EU has reversed his Ukraine testimony in the impeachment inquiry
“I said that resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.”
That’s what Gordon Sondland now says he told a top Ukrainan official, counter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that there was “no quid pro quo” to withhold US$400-million in military aid in exchange for an investigation into the son of Joe Biden.
Sondland said testimony from two other U.S. officials “refreshed my recollection” and “I now do recall” that he said freezing funds was connected to Trump’s call for an investigation.
In this analysis, David Shribman examines what sets the Trump impeachment process apart from the other two contemporary efforts.
Housing in B.C.: Millions in Airbnb tax revenues, plus more on the Squamish plan
Revenues from Airbnb taxes have come in at double what the B.C. government initially projected. The company said it collected $33.7-million in provincial sales tax and $9.2-million for a municipal and regional district tax over the past year. B.C.’s program, which is designed to fund affordable housing, is the only tax agreement with Airbnb outside of Quebec.
The Squamish Nation’s planned housing development leaves the city with no leverage to collect revenues or mandate a minimum number of affordable housing units. The current plan will see 6,000 mostly rental units built in partnership with a Vancouver developer. A Squamish councillor said the First Nation is looking at making some below-market apartments available for its members.
Canadian waste-management giant GFL plans to scrap its IPO
GFL Environmental, or Green For Life, intends to ditch an initial public offering it launched just two weeks ago after investors pushed the company to market shares at a lower price.
When it announced the IPO, GFL said it hoped to raise as much as US$2.4-billion by offering shares at a rate of between US$20 to US$24 each. But institutional investors responded with a call to drop the price to US$18 – a figure existing shareholders don’t think “represents fair value,” CEO Patrick Dovigi said.
In late August, Report on Business Magazine looked at how Dovigi built the foundations of his waste empire with a 2011 lowball bid to take charge of Toronto’s garbage routes.
Hootsuite’s founder will step aside as CEO in the wake of leadership concerns
Ryan Holmes’s coming exit follows the Vancouver-based social media management company’s failure to find a buyer willing to put forward US$750-million.
A round of layoffs followed, as well as board discussions about whether Holmes was still the right leader for the company he launched in 2008, sources say. The board heard that prospective buyers were concerned about Hootsuite’s revenue growth and low profitability, the sources added.
Holmes will leave his post when a successor is found, subsequently taking on the role of executive chairman.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Former SNC-Lavalin exec in court: A witness testified at a Montreal trial to allege Sami Bebawi tried to pay him $10-million to change his story about the company’s work in Libya. “I refused it,” said Riadh Ben Aissa, “And I informed the Canadian authorities.” Bebawi is pleading not guilty to eight charges, including fraud and corruption.
Writers’ Trust Awards handed out: Jenny Heijun Wills took home the biggest award of the night, the $60,000 Hilary Weston non-fiction prize, for her debut Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related: A Memoir. The book recounts her journey to find her biological family in Korea. Go here to read about the other winners.
Canadian War Museum apologizes for mailer: The museum said it accidentally included a stock photo of a U.S. soldier on the envelope of a fundraising letter it sent to 150,000 households. The difference is in the helmet: The ones used by Americans are rounder and deeper.
MORNING MARKETS
Risk rally hits pause button as markets await trade signals: Global stock markets steadied after a three-day rally on Wednesday as traders continued to watch incoming economic data and awaited new developments from U.S.-China trade talks. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose marginally, and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2 per cent by about 4:30 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX down slightly and the Paris CAC 40 up marginally. New York futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was at about 76 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The morality candidate: Pete Buttigieg just might win this thing
Lawrence Martin: “What gives Buttigieg distinction in the field is that he is a religious Democrat. At a time when the country’s moral standards are being shredded, he comes across as a young man of moral stature and authority well capable of leading an ethical renaissance.”
Is Lowe’s repeating Target’s mistakes in Canada?
Konrad Yakabuski: “North Carolina-based Lowe’s has been eroding what it took Rona almost eight decades to build, specifically an iconic brand in Quebec, raising questions about whether the American retailer is repeating many of same mistakes Target made when it entered Canada with a poor understanding of the cultural differences and competitive dynamics north of the border.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail)Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
A flu shot is the only option for needle-phobic children this year
The company that makes FluMist, a nasal-spray alternative to the flu shot, hasn’t shipped any of its vaccines to Canada as a result of production challenges.
The lack of an inhaled option has some experts worrying that parents that aren’t as committed to vaccinating their children won’t take them for a flu shot. And it also comes as pharmacists report delays in receiving their full orders of the injectable vaccine.
MOMENT IN TIME
Meet the Press launches
(Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
Nov. 6, 1947: Sure, Canada can boast that its longest-running radio program, the National Research Council Time Signal, turned 80 yesterday, but America’s oldest television program has had a pretty good run, too. When it made its debut on NBC TV, Meet the Press introduced viewers to politicians and newsmakers, including everyone who has sat in the Oval Office since then. Co-creator Martha Rountree – who receives no mention on the show’s homepage, which seems to credit Lawrence Spivak exclusively with its creation – served as the show’s first, and only, female moderator for almost six years. Rountree was in the moderator’s chair on Aug. 7, 1951, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was a guest. The master of mid-century American paranoia sat next to Rountree with a gun on his lap, worried that an armed member of the audience might try to kill him. After John F. Kennedy made his first of eight appearances on the show (pictured above), panelist May Craig said “he was good to look at,” but he was also “a man who always knew what he wanted to say." – Massimo Commanducci
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