Good morning. We’re catching up on B.C.’s missing ballot box, an impending Bank of Canada rate cut and more stuff we missed because of the U.S. election – that’s below, along with a Remembrance Day dive and Taylor’s Swift descent on Toronto. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Veterans of Canada’s longest UN peacekeeping mission make a memory-fraught return to Cyprus
- Meet the only Canadian woman fighting on Ukraine’s front lines
- Ottawa disputes an ArriveCan contractor‘s claims in response to the firm’s lawsuit
Stuff is happening in Canada (although not really in Parliament).Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada
A tumultuous week
If you, like me, spent way too much time last week glued to the returns in Erie, Penn. – and then trying to parse the electoral choices of voters in Dearborn, Mich. – you may have missed some of the events unfolding at home. Here’s a primer on a few of them to arm you for the week ahead.
1. Missing ballots in British Columbia
At a time of skepticism in the security of elections, let’s cut straight to the good news: Canada’s races are routinely ranked among the best in the world for their integrity. But a few eyebrows were raised when – two weeks after the Oct. 19 provincial election – Elections BC discovered a missing box with 861 ballots in the riding of Prince George-Mackenzie, alongside 14 uncounted votes in Surrey-Guildford and several hundred out-of-district votes spread across the province.
None of those votes, which have since been added, changed the results of the election, and with the judicial recounts now finished, Premier David Eby’s New Democrats will hang onto their one-seat majority. Still, out of more than 2.1 million votes cast, this contest came down to just a few hundred ballots, so the smallest counting errors will inevitably be magnified. Conservative Leader John Rustad told The Globe he wants an independent review into what he called “an unprecedented failure” by Elections BC.
Some experts would quibble with that characterization. Elections BC uncovered the errors, disclosed them publicly, and took steps to ensure the results were corrected. Holly Ann Garnett, co-director of the Electoral Integrity Project, told The Globe that “it sounds very much like all of the safeguards in place were working as intended.”
2. Another jumbo rate cut ahead
At least, that’s the sense from money-market traders and many economists, after a modest Canadian jobs report last Friday, a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut last Thursday and, you know, the whole election result last Wednesday morning. These forecasters expect that the Bank of Canada will decide to slash rates by another half-point on Dec. 11.
It’s promising news for those of us anxiously staring down mortgage renewals, though it’s always wise to heed Rob Carrick’s advice about not going spend-crazy when interest rates fall. Resist the urge to cover big expenses with lines of credit, avoid getting overly amped about housing, and under no circumstances rush out to buy “too much car.”
This might be too much car.Benoit Tessier/Reuters
3. A tinderbox in Brampton
First, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the RCMP alleged last month that India’s government has engaged in covert campaigns of violence and murder against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil. Then, the two countries swiftly engaged in tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats. And in the past week, this total diplomatic breakdown between countries – fuelled by the fight over foreign interference, Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing and Sikh separatism – turned into violence in one of Canada’s suburbs.
Protesters clashed at both a Hindu temple and Sikh gurdwara in Brampton, Ont., resulting in three arrests, the deployment of riot squads and a series of cancelled consular events by Indian officials. Mayor Patrick Brown has called for a bylaw to create a buffer zone around places of worship and keep Sikh and Hindu demonstrators apart. It may not be enough to defuse the tensions. “We have to be ready,” Daljit Singh Sekhon, president of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Malton gurdwara in Mississauga, told The Globe this weekend. “Any kind of situation could be created.”
4. Crickets on Parliament Hill
Just a reminder: Nothing is getting done in the House of Commons right now. For the past seven (!) weeks, a debate over documents related to a cleantech agency’s spending scandal has ground everything there to a halt. Last week, Auditor-General Karen Hogan said she wasn’t about to fork over the documents that the opposition parties are seeking. This week, the House of Commons doesn’t sit because of Remembrance Day, so MPs can get no work done somewhere else.
I asked Bill Curry, The Globe’s deputy Ottawa bureau chief, how on Earth Parliament can steer itself out of this gridlock. “At the moment, there’s no indication when the standoff will end,” he told me. The House is scheduled to sit until Dec. 17, and the Liberals still need to announce the fall economic update. “One possibility is that if the government introduces policies that are supported by either the NDP or the Bloc, that might convince one of those parties to work with the Liberals to end the debate.” Here’s hoping.
The Shot
A shipwreck to remember
Exploring what remains of the SS Rose Castle, sunk in November 1942.Jill Heinerth/The Globe and Mail
In 1942, Nazi U-boats torpedoed several freighters that were critical to Allied wartime efforts in the waters just 20 kilometres from downtown St. John’s. Now, every Remembrance Day, divers descend to place a wreath on the shipwreck. Read more about the ceremony here.
The Week
What we’re following
Today: On the heels of a European report that found 2024 will be the hottest year on record, the COP29 climate summit kicks off in Azerbaijan.
Tomorrow: Canadian novelist Anne Michaels is in the running for the 2024 Booker Prize, which crowns its winner at a ceremony in London.
Wednesday: More book news: The winners of the Governor-General’s Literary Awards are announced.
Thursday: Taylor Swift touches down in Toronto for the first of six sold-out concerts – and if you haven’t yet read The Globe’s Angela Pacienza on how the Eras Tour kept her going through breast cancer treatment, now’s your chance. (Angela is in her Reputation era.)
Thursday: Hockey Canada holds its second Beyond the Boards summit, meant to examine gender-based violence, homophobia, sexism and transphobia in the game.
Sunday: Vancouver hosts the 2024 Grey Cup between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.