Good morning,
Premier Doug Ford has easily won a second majority government after a roller-coaster term dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with both NDP and Liberal leaders resigning in the face of failures by their parties to mount serious challenges to the Progressive Conservative juggernaut.
A jubilant Ford addressed supporters in the west-end Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, saying he had made his party more inclusive and calling for unity. “Whether you work on the assembly line and voted NDP your entire life, or cast your last ballot for the federal Liberals, I want you to know that as long as I’m here, there’s room for you in this party,” Ford said.
It was a devastating night for the Liberal Party, which had won or was leading in just eight seats, one up from the seven it won in its near wipeout in 2018. Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, who said on the campaign’s last day that no matter the election result, he would stay on as leader, told supporters Thursday night that he was relinquishing the leadership he had just won two years ago.
Speaking to supporters in her home base of Hamilton, a tearful NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she was stepping down. Her party saw its 2018 seat count of 40 reduced to 31, according to early returns. Many in her party expected her to face a challenge if she tried to hang on, after losing her fourth election since taking the NDP’s reins in 2009.
More coverage:
- Explainer: Doug Ford’s PCs have won Ontario’s election. Horwath and Del Duca are stepping down. What now? The new Queen’s Park explained
- Marcus Gee: Doug Ford squeaked into party leadership before last Ontario election. This time, he’s earned his win
- Robyn Urback: Ontario Liberals get an abysmal result after a directionless campaign
- John Ibbitson: Doug Ford has been rewarded for his learning curve, but which lessons will he heed?
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 other Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.
Bank of Canada’s Beaudry signals policy rate may need to reach three per cent or more to head off rising inflation
The Bank of Canada is signalling that it may need to raise its policy interest rate to 3 per cent or more to get a handle on consumer price growth and to prevent Canadians from losing faith in the central bank’s inflation target.
Bank officials have previously said they intend to get the policy rate to a “neutral” level of between 2 per cent and 3 per cent relatively quickly. In a speech Thursday, deputy governor Paul Beaudry said there is a growing probability that the bank will need to move to the top end of this range or above.
“Price pressures are broadening and inflation is much higher than we expected and likely to go higher still before easing,” Beaudry said in a speech to the Chambre de commerce de Gatineau.
- David Parkinson: Bank of Canada will need to show its tough medicine to tackle inflation is working
- Rob Carrick: How real estate investors and speculators helped trigger the onslaught of soaring interest rates
- U.S. Federal Reserve’s Brainard says getting inflation down is No. 1 priority
In U.S., a bitter battle is raging over a Trump-era policy to quickly expel migrants at border with Mexico
Once or twice a week, buses of asylum seekers roll up to a red-brick Baptist church in the suburban sprawl of El Paso, Tex. While their bids for refuge are decided, the migrants can get a meal and pick out clean clothes here before heading to their final destinations.
Larry Floyd, the pastor who runs this processing centre, sometimes gets flak from members of his congregation who accuse him of “aiding and abetting” the “crisis” at the Mexican border. “Most of the migrants we meet, they have good reason to seek asylum. It’s inhumane not to allow them in. This person is going to die if they can’t get here,” he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail’s Adrian Morrow.
In the courts and Congress, a bitter battle is raging over Title 42, an immigration measure used to immediately turn back migrants without allowing them to claim asylum. It was imposed by the Trump administration in March, 2020, ostensibly to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
But in interviews around El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, NGOs, officials and asylum seekers all made the same point as Mr. Floyd: The crisis is a humanitarian one, the primary problem a lack of capacity to help the thousands gathered here trying to reach the U.S.
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
Former Ottawa police chief testifies: The convoy protest that clogged the main arteries of downtown Ottawa this past winter represented an unprecedented national security crisis and a major shift in the way that demonstrations are organized, Peter Sloly, the city’s former police chief, told MPs at a parliamentary committee hearing Thursday.
Globalive takes offer for Freedom to Shaw: Globalive Capital has taken its $3.75-billion offer for wireless carrier Freedom Mobile directly to Shaw amid frustration Rogers Communications has blocked the investment firm from the sale process.
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee festivities begin: Tens of thousands of well-wishers thronged closed-down streets across central London Thursday to kick off four days of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It’s an event that is unprecedented in British history – no other monarch has made it to seven decades on the throne.
- In photos: Beaming Queen waves to crowds as Platinum Jubilee celebrations begin
Listen to The Decibel: ‘Leaving the door open’ for rehabilitating mass murderers: The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent ruling striking down life without parole for mass murderers has raised questions about where the rights of prisoners and victims’ families begin and end. Sean Fine, The Globe’s justice writer, discusses the court’s reasoning behind its unanimous – yet controversial – decision to rule the Harper-era law unconstitutional.
MORNING MARKETS
Global markets were mostly higher on Friday as investors await a key jobs report that will help gauge the strength of the U.S. economy and provide hints on the pace of the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening in the second half of the year. The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.16% after a strong trading session in Asia-Pacific overnight and following a positive session on Wall Street. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.61 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Now is the time for truth-telling about surviving residential schools, not denial
“The truth has been buried so deep that it failed to make it into decades’ worth of textbooks, classrooms and university lecture halls. An entire history of the colonizers’ treatment of Indigenous peoples, and the truth about broken treaties, was erased. This denialism, over the years, served to ensure that generations of lawmakers, teachers, politicians, journalists and lawyers weren’t raised to know what happened, which led them to further perpetuate the myth that nothing did.” - Tanya Talaga
Removing policy uncertainty can position Canada for a decarbonizing world
“Policy uncertainty dilutes the power of the carbon price. As a result, businesses aren’t yet behaving as if the carbon price in 2030 will in fact be $170 per tonne, even though that is governments’ stated plan. Capital is staying on the sidelines. But by de-risking future carbon prices, governments can free firms to move forward with profitable, low-carbon investments that reduce emissions sooner and to the fullest potential.” - Dale Beugin and Blake Shaffer
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Animal attraction: Five ways to connect with animals in Canada, from mild to wild
Whether you’re hiking through Jasper National Park or heading out by boat to catch Newfoundland’s puffins, you don’t have to venture far to experience wildlife spotting.
Most people are familiar with the concept of going on safari, but it’s typically associated with destinations in Africa, where travellers seek the Big Five (black rhino, lion, leopard, elephant and African buffalo). What Canadians often don’t realize is Canada has its own version of the Big Five – beluga whale, moose, black bear, bison and polar bear – right at home.
MOMENT IN TIME: June 3, 1959
War hero Filip Konowal dies
A portrait of Filip Konowal by the English artist Ambrose McEvoy after his return from France and his receipt of the Victoria Cross in 1917.Beaverbrook Collection of War Art / CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM
Little was straightforward about Filip Konowal. At 5-foot-6, he didn’t appear bound for war heroism, yet King George V, when presenting an award to him, said, “Your exploit is one of the most daring and heroic in the history of my army.” Konowal, who came to Canada as a tree feller in 1913, considered himself Ukrainian, but because his birthplace was then part of Imperial Russia, he was viewed otherwise. That is why he was able to enlist in Canada’s forces during the First World War, unlike other Ukrainians who were interned. For his bravery at the Battle of Hill 70 in France, where he single-handedly killed at least 16 enemies, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, a first for someone born outside the British Empire. Yet his postwar years were troubled. In 1919, he was drawn into a fight and killed a man. At his murder trial, his mental health saw him sent to an institution for recovery. Penniless upon release, he found work as a caretaker at the House of Commons. There, Prime Minister Mackenzie King came upon him washing floors. He had the former war hero assigned to clean the PMO’s office, where he worked until 1959 when he died at 72. Alison Gzowski
Subscribers and registered users of globeandmail.com can dig deeper into our News Photo Archive at tgam.ca/newsphotoarchive
Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.
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.