Good morning,
These are the top stories:
How SNC-Lavalin spent years fighting for a deferred prosecution law, but then lost the battle to use it
The Globe pored over troves of documents and interviewed dozens of stakeholders to uncover key findings that explain how Canada got its DPA law – and what went wrong for SNC.
Among the findings uncovered by reporters Kathryn Blaze Baum and Sean Fine:
- Then-justice minister and attorney-general Jodie Wilson-Raybould questioned the effectiveness of DPAs and was concerned that they were being pushed by a powerful company with a history of legal issues, said a source with knowledge of the situation.
- Champions of the law inside the Liberal government included Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the source said.
- SNC pushed for the law to allow prosecutors to consider impacts on Canada’s economy, but the legislation as passed explicitly bars this.
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The RCMP have laid a second-degree murder charge against two B.C. teens
Police have charged Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, in the killing of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia lecturer found dead days after a travelling couple were discovered shot to death hundreds of kilometres away on another B.C. highway.
The murder charge comes amid a cross-country manhunt; the RCMP has deployed “significant resources” to the remote Manitoba community of Gillam, where a burned-out vehicle was found that they say was driven by the teens.
A user on Steam, a video-game network, provided photos sent by an account believed to be owned by Schmegelsky that show him in military fatigues. Another photo shows a swastika armband, while another features Mr. Schmegelsky in a gas mask. The photos were reportedly sent in the fall of 2018.
Go here for the latest updates on the suspects and the victims.
Ontario and New Brunswick are rejecting Ottawa’s request to fund abortion services
Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has sent a letter to provincial health lawmakers saying she is “very troubled” by “unnecessary barriers or delays in receiving these medically necessary [abortion] services.”
Patients in Ontario and New Brunswick must pay for abortion services when going to a private clinic, an obstacle Canada’s National Abortion Federation says violates federal health law.
Petitpas Taylor called these policies “out of step” with the law – but those provinces rebuffed the call to address the issue. Ontario accused the minister of seeking to “play politics” while New Brunswick said it had “no intention to change the status quo.”
A confidential business case offers new details on the proposed Ontario Line subway project
Doug Ford’s substitute for Toronto’s planned Downtown Relief Line would cost less per kilometre – but it also has “a greater potential for disruption.” That’s according to a report done for the province which cites the potential for more noise and vibration as well as the “permanent displacement” of natural features by putting much of the route above ground.
Key upsides, per the report, are the length of the line at 16 kilometres, compared with 7.5 km for the relief line, as well as a projected 389,000 daily boardings versus 206,000 for the relief route. But as Oliver Moore reports, some of the comparisons aren’t apples-to-apples.
Robert Mueller says he didn’t clear Donald Trump of wrongdoing
The former special counsel, in his testimony to Congress, also suggested the U.S. President may not have told the truth when he answered questions for the probe.
Mueller said he chose not to decide on whether to lay charges against Trump because of guidelines that forbid indicting a sitting president – but that a president could be charged after leaving office.
And while Trump has said the probe revealed there was “no obstruction” and “no collusion,” Mueller said: “The President was not exculpated for the acts he allegedly committed.”
In a column, contributor Sarah Kendzior writes: “Mueller had the opportunity to deliver insight and validate his own work. Instead, he was timid in the face of both Republican smears and Democratic inquiries.”
Our editorial board says Mueller’s testimony “was the very embodiment of why the Democrats are at risk of handing the 2020 election to President Donald Trump.”
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Another ex-envoy to Beijing receives PMO request: Guy Saint-Jacques says he received a call on Monday from foreign affairs in Ottawa asking him to avoid contradictory public messaging on China. That comes a day after David Mulroney, who also once served as ambassador to Beijing, said he was recently asked to clear statements on Ottawa’s China policy.
North Korea fires two short-range missiles: South Korea’s military says the missiles, the first test since Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump revived denuclearization talks, reached an altitude of 50 kilometres before falling into the East Sea.
CannTrust shares fall further: The Ontario cannabis company’s stock dropped 22 per cent yesterday to $2.68 after The Globe reported its chairman and CEO were informed about pot being grown in unlicensed rooms seven months before Health Canada uncovered the regulatory breach.
Puerto Rico governor resigns after weeks of mass protests: Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló on Wednesday said he would resign after almost two weeks of protests calling for him to step down over a scandal involving offensive chat messages and government corruption that rocked the bankrupt island. Rosselló said in a televised speech he would stay in his position until Aug. 2 when Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice Wanda Vazquez would take over as governor.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks mostly higher
Euro and bond yields wilted on Thursday as a slump in German business confidence piled the pressure on the European Central Bank to push interest rates even deeper into sub-zero territory later. Tokyo’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were both up 0.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1 per cent, Germany’s DAX was flat, and the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.5 per cent at 6:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was at 76.15 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The Trans Mountain pipeline – and Indigenous ownership – is too important to get wrong
Tony Alexis and Paul Poscente: “For Canada, this is an opportunity to more positively redefine the relationship with Indigenous communities as it relates to major resource development. For Indigenous communities, asset ownership is a significant step along the spectrum from managing poverty to managing wealth.” Tony Alexis and Paul Poscente are part of Iron Coalition, an Indigenous-led group negotiating for ownership of Trans Mountain.
The grimy, meandering Once Upon a Time in Hollywood proves no one dares tell Tarantino ‘no’
Barry Hertz: “The director’s ninth film (or tenth, depending on your Kill Bill math), isn’t being marketed as a superhero movie, nor is it some sly narrative plank leading unsuspecting audiences toward the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in its thin conception, shaggy form and muddy execution – and in its glee in coasting on a perceived aura of cool whiz-pow-bang energy – the film is as much a comic-book movie as they come.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Smart diapers: for when it’s time to start your baby on solids – and surveillance
New “smart diapers” introduced by Pampers and Huggies allow parents to attach a Bluetooth sensor to the front of their baby’s diaper. This creates a log of diaper data to see whether the ones and twos are arriving on schedule.
As Denise Balkissoon writes, the products also help “with another important parenting task: introducing your precious wonder to a lifetime of surveillance.”
MOMENT IN TIME
Marco Polo ship grounded off coast of PEI
(The Colonial Clippers)The Colonial Clippers (1921)
July 25, 1883: Outfitted with panels of maple, velvet upholstery and stained-glass doors, the Marco Polo returned to Liverpool from Australia, ending a trip of 5 months and 21 days, with a banner that read “The Fastest Ship in the World." The ship from Saint John was the first known to make a round-trip between England and Australia in fewer than six months. Spanning 56 metres, Marco Polo started off carrying timber from Saint John to Liverpool, breaking records by completing the voyage in 15 days. With gold discovered in Australia, a Liverpool shipowner saw a profitable opportunity. His company bought the ship and transformed it into a lush passenger craft. Carrying 930 passengers and a 60-person crew, Marco Polo left Liverpool for her famous voyage on July 4, 1852, and landed in Australia an astonishing 76 days later. Unfortunately, an outbreak of measles killed 52 passengers along the way. Marco Polo would sail for the last time when the ship left Quebec in the summer of 1883. The boat started to leak just off the shore of Prince Edward Island. The crew sailed her to Cavendish, P.E.I., bringing the last passengers she would carry to shore and ending a remarkable career. – Maria Iqbal
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