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Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s office staff did not read an e-mail that said her department was sending a representative to a Russian embassy party – missing a chance to avert an incident that has embarrassed Canada at home and abroad, two senior government sources say.
Global Affairs Canada sent the e-mail to Joly’s chief of staff, Sandra Aubé, and four other staff members before last Friday’s Russia Day embassy party informing them that deputy chief of protocol, Yasemin Heinbecker, would join the festivities, the sources said.
None of Joly’s senior staff read the department e-mail, because they were busy assisting Joly, who was attending the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, the sources said. The Globe is not identifying the officials as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
The e-mail to her senior staff was not marked urgent, and the two sources cited this as one of the reasons they failed to read it. If they had seen it, the sources said, they could have prevented Heinbecker from attending the event.
Read more:
- Andrew Coyne: Partying with the Russians: the message is, this will all blow over some day
- Robyn Urback: What was Global Affairs thinking sending an official to a Russian embassy party? Maybe it wasn’t, which is often the point
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly speaks at a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles on June 10, 2022.FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
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Ottawa addressing inflation challenge on several fronts, Chrystia Freeland says
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not offer any new prescriptions Thursday for taming inflation and bringing relief to consumers feeling its financial strain as prices in Canada rise to their highest levels in decades, but vowed that Ottawa will focus on fiscal restraint and helping those most in need.
Freeland’s speech at Toronto’s Empire Club was instead primarily aimed at making the case that Ottawa is sufficiently dealing with the inflation challenge and is responding to concerns that it must do more to support long-term growth, reports The Globe’s Bill Curry and Mark Rendell.
High inflation is forcing central banks around the world to raise interest rates rapidly in a bid to slow down the economy and bring inflation under control. But there are growing concerns that central banks could move too aggressively and force their economies into recession.
More coverage:
- Tax and Spend: Ottawa’s anti-inflation plan offers nothing new to struggling Canadians
Afghanistan’s opium trade thriving under local Taliban officials despite narcotics ban
Despite a strict new ban in Afghanistan on cultivating narcotics, Taliban officials are stockpiling opium and other drugs, and continuing to allow some drug production, a crucial contributor to the country’s economy.
The Taliban ban on narcotics, which includes growing, producing, transporting and consuming, was announced in April. Drug control has been one major demand of the international community of the Islamist group, which is seeking formal international recognition in order to wind back sanctions that are severely hampering banking, business and development.
The new Taliban ban on narcotics has driven up the price of opium and heroin and pushed the drug trade into partial hiding, where it continues to thrive, according to eight Afghan sources involved in various facets of it. “The Taliban are not stopping us from trading,” said Ataulluah, a 60-year-old who has been dealing in opium as a small middleman for 20 years. “The same business is still operating. It is now just hidden in remote areas.”
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Also on our radar
Jan. 6 committee probes Trump pressure on Pence to reject election: Donald Trump’s inner circle viewed his last-ditch efforts to halt congressional certification of the 2020 election as “crazy” and even likely to incite riots if his vice-president, Mike Pence, followed through, witnesses revealed during a Jan. 6 committee hearing on Thursday.
European leaders dangle hope of EU membership for Ukraine during Kyiv visit: The leaders of Germany, France and Italy – which have all faced criticism in the past from Kyiv for support viewed as too cautious – visited Ukraine on Thursday and signalled that Ukraine should be granted EU candidate status, a symbolic gesture that would draw it closer to the economic bloc.
- Russian gas flows to Europe fall, hindering the continent’s race to refill inventories
- Listen to The Decibel: Rescuing the most vulnerable in Ukraine’s eastern region
Ottawa introduces legislation to regulate AI: The federal government says it will take steps to protect Canadians’ data from malicious and unnecessary collection and abuse after years of relying on outdated legislation that left Canada lagging behind jurisdictions such as California and the European Union.
Analysis: Trudeau plans visit to Rwanda for summit despite questions on human rights and war: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to Rwanda next week for a Commonwealth summit where human rights will be on the agenda. The irony is that Rwanda itself seems to be violating those same values of democracy and human rights by jailing critics and manipulating elections, writes The Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York.
Vancouver, Toronto among host cities for 2026 World Cup: World Cup games will be played in Vancouver and Toronto when Canada, the United States and Mexico co-host the men’s soccer tournament in 2026. Edmonton was also a contender.
Morning markets
Global stocks head for weekly slide: World stocks steadied early Friday but still looked set for their worst week since the markets’ pandemic meltdown in March 2020 as leading central banks doubled down on tighter policy in an effort to tame inflation, setting investors on edge about future economic growth. Just after 5:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.86 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 1.09 per cent 0.74 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 1.77 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended up 1.10 per cent. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.08 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Women make up the most compelling candidates in the UCP leadership race
“This isn’t a column designed to knock the men. But it’s hard not to see that the women, often underrepresented in politics, make up some of the most compelling candidates in the UCP contest. They also better represent the diversity of the province. It sets up a scenario in which the May, 2023, provincial election could feature the NDP’s Rachel Notley squaring off against a woman leading the UCP. It’s possible, and intriguing, but difficult for many to imagine: Rarely are truly competitive political contests between women.” – Kelly Cryderman
Ottawa’s oil-and-gas emissions targets hinge on hopes and miracles
“Lofty prices have reinvigorated Canada’s oil patch. Market forces are incentivizing new production. But while the industry has made impressive strides in reducing the per-barrel carbon intensity of oil-sands crude, there is little likelihood that the sector can meet Ottawa’s emissions targets while at the same time increasing output.” – Konrad Yakabuski
Today’s editorial cartoon
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
Living better
The 10 best films of 2022 (so far), and how to watch them right now
Even with the jet-blasted thrills of Top Gun: Maverick and the cash-conjuring skills of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, theatres are still feeling neglected. In 2019, there would be two or three new high-profile titles battling at the box office each weekend. This time, openings are more spaced out, studios and distributors nervous to overcommit. Which means that now is the perfect opportunity to catch up on all the excellent 2022 films that you might’ve missed.
The Globe’s Barry Hertz shares his picks for the 10 best films of 2022 so far, and how you can watch them right now.
Moment in time: June 17, 1885
Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC
A gift from France to commemorate its camaraderie with the United States, the Statue of Liberty was originally named Liberty Enlightening the World.Currier & Ives / Library of Congress
On this day, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York. The 225-ton statue, designed by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, with assistance from Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, was divided into 350 pieces to sail across the Atlantic. A gift from France to commemorate its camaraderie with the United States, it was originally named Liberty Enlightening the World. Almost 250,000 bystanders crowded Battery Park, while hundreds of boats gathered in the harbour, to welcome the statue, which represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty, raising a torch in her right hand and a tablet with the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence in her left. It took nine years to complete the statue, made from copper sheets as thick as two pennies and internal steel supports, then four months to rebuild it on New York City’s Liberty Island (formerly Bedloe’s Island). At first, Lady Liberty stood at 46 metres but an additional pedestal was added later, bringing the sculpture to 93 metres. Over the years, the statue has been closed on and off for safety concerns and restoration. According to Statista, Lady Liberty saw more than four million visitors annually pre-pandemic and while the statue and its grounds have reopened, the U.S. National Park Service says visitors still can’t climb up to her crown. Mahdis Habibinia
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