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McGill University has threatened to call in police to dismantle an encampment as pro-Palestinian protests are spreading across Canadian university campuses.
McGill declared the encampment on its campus illegal and denounced alleged antisemitic behaviour among protesters, who remained peaceful over the weekend while the number of tents increased significantly. The protesters are demanding that the university divest from companies “supporting or complicit in the current genocide and occupation of Palestine.”
Similar protests are taking place on campuses in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, and at several high-profile American universities where clashes between protesters and counterprotesters have occurred as police and university officials struggle to maintain order.
Pro-Palestinian students and activists protest at an encampment on the campus at McGill University in Montreal on April 29, 2024.GRAHAM HUGHES/Getty Images
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MPs call for hearings on Chinese hack targeting legislators, lack of warning from Ottawa
Members of Parliament who say they were not informed by Ottawa that they had been targeted by hackers tied to the Chinese government are seeking House of Commons hearings on the matter.
As The Globe and Mail first reported yesterday, Canadian MPs and senators who belong to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an organization critical of the Chinese government, say the FBI recently informed them that 18 legislators in Canada were targeted in 2021 by hackers linked to Beijing.
The FBI told the organization that it passed on this information to foreign governments in 2022, but the Canadian MPs and senators say Ottawa never told them of Beijing’s cyberattack.
Ford vows to fight drug decriminalization in Toronto
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said yesterday he will fight “tooth and nail” against the City of Toronto’s request to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs.
Toronto applied for an exemption similar to British Columbia to decriminalize the possession of drugs for personal use, as it tries to deal with an opioid overdose crisis that is killing thousands of people a year. The B.C. government announced last week it would ask Health Canada to amend the province’s exemption for public drug use after an outcry.
Ford said he spoke to B.C. Premier David Eby about the issue and that governments should instead invest in drug treatment centres. He also noted the U.S. state of Oregon’s reversal of its own experiment in decriminalization.
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Also on our radar
Plastics treaty talks down to the wire: Discussions over a global plastics treaty ran late into the night yesterday as delegates from 174 countries wrangled over wording and next steps as they attempt to to regulate a substance that is making its way into oceans, birds and marine life, and even the human bloodstream.
India’s spy agency reportedly linked to killing of Canadian: An officer in India’s foreign intelligence agency has been linked to the 2023 slaying of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar as well as a thwarted plot to kill an activist in New York, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Experts say Canada needs to prepare for changing demographics: Experts say that Canada will have elderly people that will look dramatically different from those of the past, and will need better data to treat patients with very different health care needs.
International students to have working hours cut: Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced yesterday that foreign students will only be allowed to work off campus for 24 hours a week, down from a maximum of 40 hours. The move is the latest in an attempt by the federal government to strengthen the integrity of Canada’s international student system.
Morning markets
Global shares headed for their first monthly loss in six months ahead of a slew of economic data, earnings and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, while the yen weakened a day after suspected intervention lifted it from 34-year lows.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 stocks index slipped 0.2 per cent in early trading, with Germany’s DAX down 0.47 per cent and France’s CAC 40 slipping 0.32 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.31 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.34 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.09 per cent.
The dollar traded at 73.07 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Editorial: “What is self-evident is that the Mounties can’t modernize on their own; that the money and mandate they need to do so must come from Ottawa. The Trudeau government needs to act on the many calls for change from inside and outside the RCMP. Nothing less than the security of Canada and its democratic institutions is at stake.”
Tony Keller: “Reasonable people can debate what is the appropriate capital-gains tax rate, and the economic pros and cons of higher or lower taxes on certain investments. What reasonable people can’t disagree about is why Canada has a doctor shortage. It’s not about taxes.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
Suffering from IBS? Address your diet first
There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment for irritable bowel syndrome since its symptoms and triggers can vary greatly from person to person. But a good starting point is addressing your diet, a new study suggests. Take a look at these evidence-based diet strategies that can offer relief.
Moment in time: April 30, 2019
Juan Guaido, self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela, speaks to supporters, surrounded by soldiers and civilians at Plaza Altamira in Caracas, Venezuela on April 30, 2019.picture alliance/Getty Images
Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó calls for an uprising
As Venezuela descended deeper into chaos, starvation and flight, the man who a majority of citizens considered their elected leader took to the streets. Surrounded by soldiers and citizens outside an air-force base the morning of April 30, 2019, Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó called on “brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men devoted to the constitution” to “fill the streets of Venezuela immediately” and overthrow dictator Nicolás Maduro. Formerly the most prosperous country in South America, Venezuela had declined in the 2000s. It fell into despotism in 2015, when Maduro’s extreme-left party lost a parliamentary election to a coalition that included Guaidó's social democrats, but refused to hand over power, instead entrenching a deeply corrupt authoritarian regime. Maduro altered the constitution to make himself effectively president for life, leading millions to flee. Guaidó, with some of the military on his side, marched toward the presidential palace that afternoon – but never reached it. A hail of gunfire dispersed the would-be democratic revolution, driving many of its leaders into exile. Venezuela would collapse further under Maduro, sending about eight million citizens, a quarter of its population, fleeing across the Americas. Doug Saunders
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