Good morning,
WE Charity co-founder Craig Kielburger sent an unsolicited pitch to run the $912-million student-volunteer program hours after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced its establishment on April 22. The revelation came as part of a House of Commons finance committee hearing, which is probing the Liberal government on conflict-of-interest allegations.
Mr. Trudeau’s government is facing scrutiny after it awarded a now-cancelled contract to WE Charity to run the program, despite numerous personal ties between senior officials and the charity, which include Mr. Trudeau’s family.
During the hearing, Rachel Wernick, senior assistant deputy minister at Employment and Social Development Canada, backed up claims by Liberal ministers that she and her department recommended WE as the only organization capable of managing the program.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference at Rideau Cottage amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Monday, July 13, 2020. Mr. Trudeau's government is facing conflict of interest allegations for their ties to WE Charity.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.
Ottawa adding new census questions on gender, Indigenous people, linguistic and ethnic minorities
For the first time in Canada, the 2021 census will count transgender Canadians and include questions to gather better data on Indigenous communities, linguistic minorities and ethnic groups. The changes address concerns that the census did not comprehensively count everyone in these communities.
For example, one of the changes made to questions addressing Indigenous communities will identify beneficiaries of Inuit land-claim agreements and determine the number of members of the Métis Nation. The census will also bring back “Jewish” as an example of ethnic origin, as well as a significant number of other examples.
Trump’s re-election campaign hits new lows amid pandemic carnage
With less than four months left to Election Day, U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is hitting new lows. Mr. Trump is trailing in polls, facing criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and struggling to turn the economy around.
But his 2016 election campaign was equally chaotic, with high-profile turnovers in senior staff and a continual trail of scandals. Then, as now, he focused on using a culture war to solidify his base. His improbable victory gives him reason to believe that he can do it again.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ottawa to provide provinces, territories with $19-billion for ‘safe restart’ of economy: The federal government has agreed to give the provinces and territories $19-billion to assist with economic recovery from the pandemic.
B.C. overdose deaths hit record high for second consecutive month: The province reported 175 illicit-drug overdose deaths in June, surpassing May’s tally by four. The high number of deaths this month has left advocates reeling and wondering if anyone cares about their community.
Dixie Lee White ~ Dec 22, 1985 – June 8, 2020 A beloved daughter, granddaughter, sister, soulmate, niece, cousin and friend, Dixie Lee White left this world, unexpectedly, on June 8, 2020 from a lethal dose of fentanyl.Supplied/Supplied
Ontario man dies in police shooting after mask dispute in grocery store: A 73-year-old man was shot and killed by police outside his rural home in Minden, Ont., on Wednesday, making him the eighth such fatality in Ontario this year. It began when officers received reports of an “altercation” at a grocery store. When police responded, they followed his car for a short time, after which the situation escalated and he was shot.
Russian hackers accused of trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research from Canada, Britain and U.S.: Russian hackers have been targeting COVID-19 vaccine researchers in several countries, including Canada. A group known as APT29 is said to be behind the attacks and is almost certainly part of Russian intelligence services.
Court challenge launched over Ontario disclosure of COVID-19 testing with police: Four human-rights groups are asking an Ontario court for an urgent hearing to prevent police from accessing a provincial database of people who have tested positive for COVID-19. It’s unclear whether police have used the database, but the groups say allowing access violates Ontario’s health-privacy law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
MORNING MARKETS
Global markets tread water: Europe’s stock markets and fast charging currencies were left treading water on Friday, as EU leaders met in Brussels to try to hammer through a 750 billion euro post-pandemic recovery fund. Just after 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.38 per cent. Germany’s DAX rose 0.34 per cent. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.25 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.32 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.47 per cent. New York futures were mostly flat. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.60 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
We could pay a heavy price for easing our vigilance against the coronavirus
Gary Mason: “I totally get that a majority of the public, and the many businesses that serve it, want life to return to normal as soon as possible. Who doesn’t? But I worry we are jumping the gun here – like really jumping the gun. I worry that we’ve been given an inch by government and public-health authorities and are taking a mile. And we may end up paying a heavy price for it.”
After Huawei: Defeated and isolated, China keeps digging a geopolitical hole
Minxin Pei: “Chinese leaders have only themselves to blame for their growing international isolation. With an inflated sense of their power, they have overplayed a weak hand and driven friendly or neutral countries such as Britain, Canada, India and Australia into the arms of the U.S., now China’s principal geopolitical adversary.”
After Huawei: Abandoned and coerced, Canada prepares for its humiliation
Wesley Wark: “Unfortunately, we cannot expect forced Canadian acquiescence in a U.S. policy on Huawei to generate any benefits in terms of real U.S. support for our needs, including in the case of the two Michaels.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
The Painted Bird is an unforgettable, soul-crushing and essential tour through fascism’s madness
The Painted Bird will make you miserable. Watching it is akin to chugging back the black ooze that pumps through humanity’s dark heart, swallowing the vile and toxic swill hard, and asking for more, and more and more until 2 hours 49 minutes have elapsed. But sometimes we need to feel awful.
MOMENT IN TIME: July 17, 1959
Mary Leakey, right, holding the jaw of “Zinj” as husband Louis Leakey points out a feature of the fossil. Mary Leakey had discovered the remains of human ancestor Zinj at Olduvai Gorge on July 17, 1959. The Leakeys called their new discovery Zinjanthropus boisei (Zinj is an old name for East Africa). They referred to it as “Zinj” or “Dear Boy.” The press nicknamed it “Nutcracker Man” because of its huge jaws and teeth. The Leakeys’ famous fossil find is now called Paranthropus boisei or Australopithecus boisei, and it occupies a significant, if not direct, branch on our family tree.The Leakey Foundation Archive
Mary Leakey discovers Zinjanthropus
It was a hint of brown that caught her eye, something smooth sticking out of the dry rubble of Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge. A novice might have missed it, but the expert paleoanthropologist realized it was fossilized bone. After clearing away some dirt, she found part of a skull with two large teeth still fixed to the upper jaw. For years, Mary Leakey and her celebrated husband, Louis, had searched for signs that Africa was the true cradle of humanity. Now, this creature with its curiously large cheekbones and mixture of human and ape-like traits was staring back at her across a gulf of time 1.75 million years wide. Mary rushed back to camp where Louis had been recuperating with a fever. “I’ve got him … the one we’ve been looking for,” she cried, rousing her husband, who came to investigate the discovery. Writing in his notebook that day, Louis dubbed the find Titanohomo mirabilis or “miraculous giant man.” Later, in the journal Nature, he called it Zinjanthropus, after Zinj, an old Arabic name for East Africa. Today, it is known as Paranthropus boisei, not a direct ancestor of modern humans but a member of a forest-dwelling genus that was parallel to Homo and vanished after the region’s climate dried out. Ivan Semeniuk
If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.