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A parliamentary committee wants the CEOs of major grocery companies to appear for questioning on record-level food price inflation after representatives for Loblaw and Sobeys said there’s little they can do to prevent passing on costs to consumers.
Last month, the committee had sent invitations to the grocery retailers, asking for representatives to attend the Ottawa meeting on Monday. Loblaw sent a senior vice-president of retail finance, while Empire Company Limited, which owns Sobeys, sent the company’s chief operating officer.
The MPs questioned why the CEOs themselves did not attend. The committee decided to again send its invitations to Loblaw, Sobeys and Metro, but this time specifically requesting the attendance of Galen Weston of Loblaw, Michael Medline of Sobeys and Metro’s Eric La Flèche.
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A Sobey's store in Toronto on April 3, 2020.J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
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Amnesty International Canada says it was hacked by Chinese government
Amnesty International Canada says its computer system was hacked by a group believed to be working for the Chinese government, in the latest instance of suspected interference in Canadian affairs by Beijing.
First discovered in early October, the cyberattack targeted the English Canadian branch of Amnesty, which has in recent years raised alarms about China’s harassment and intimidation of people in Canada with Uyghur and Tibetan roots, as well as those with connections to Hong Kong.
A recent forensic audit found that the first malicious intrusion in the computer system occurred in July, 2021, said Ketty Nivyabandi, Amnesty International Canada’s secretary-general. The cybersecurity audit found that the hackers were seeking information on China and Hong Kong, where Beijing has spent years quashing dissent. The intruders were also looking for information on human-rights activists working on related files.
Read more:
- Trudeau says he has no knowledge of China funding federal candidates, sidesteps questions of election interference
- RCMP investigating Chinese interference in Canadian affairs, Commissioner says
Canada’s first women’s pro soccer league aiming to launch in 2025
Project 8, a company founded by retired Canadian national-team player Diana Matheson and her business partner Thomas Gilbert, announced plans this week for a women’s pro league to launch in 2025 with eight teams across the country.
Project 8 has already secured owners for clubs in Vancouver and Calgary and has CIBC and Air Canada on board as league sponsors. It aims to repatriate some of the 110 Canadians playing in women’s pro soccer leagues in other countries, plus attract international players and promising young Canadians.
Still left to do before the proposed kickoff in the spring of 2025 is naming the league, securing a broadcast deal, hiring a commissioner, signing more sponsors, and finding ownership for six clubs.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin acquitted of 1988 sexual-assault charge
A Quebec civilian judge has acquitted Major-General Dany Fortin of sexual assault over an allegation that dates back to 1988.
Justice Richard Meredith said he believes the complainant was sexually assaulted, but said the Crown did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Maj.-Gen. Fortin who had assaulted her.
Maj.-Gen. Fortin was the military officer in charge of the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout until May, 2021, but was removed from that position after the allegation was uncovered. Shortly after the verdict Monday, he said he was the victim of political interference and told reporters that he wants the military to restore him to an equivalent position.
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Also on our radar
Warnock and Walker make last pitch in Georgia midterm election runoff: Today’s undecided midterm election race will determine whether the Democrats can pad their narrow Senate majority, making it easier to confirm U.S. President Joe Biden’s judicial appointments.
Ontario’s CUPE education workers vote to ratify four-year contract: Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees voted 73 per cent in favour of the contract. The new deal will give workers a $1-an-hour wage hike each year of the four-year agreement, amounting to an average annual increase of 3.59 per cent.
Why footballers are targets for violence and crime: According to British reports, robbers broke into English forward Raheem Sterling’s home this weekend while his partner and children were out. The rich will always be targets, but few of them are as visible or as targeted as soccer players, writes Cathal Kelly. Owing to their fame, everyone knows where they live. Because of the nature of sports schedules, everyone knows when they’re away from home.
Trudeau says Canada will work harder to stop exports that help Russia wage war: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa is working to stop exports that help Moscow wage war after an investigation found Canadian-made parts in drones being used by Russia to attack Ukraine.
Health officials in B.C. urge flu vaccination for young children as hospital admission rates surge: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging parents to get their children vaccinated against the flu, as provincial governments across the country scramble to deal with hospitals overflowing with sick children.
Kirstie Alley dies at 71 after short cancer battle: Kirstie Alley, who won an Emmy for her role on Cheers and starred in films including Look Who’s Talking, died Monday. She was 71.
Morning markets
Rate worries weigh on stocks: Global stocks headed for another day of losses on Tuesday after more U.S. data reinforced the belief among investors that the Federal Reserve might stick longer with aggressive interest rate hikes. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.18 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were down 0.13 per cent and 0.20 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei edged up 0.24 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.40 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was weaker at 73.41 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Don’t be fooled by Iran’s ‘reforms.’ They are only meaningless distractions
“This is the crucial distinction: the morality police are not a unit that can be simply dissolved, but a program that runs according to directives issued by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. And so true disbandment can only be enacted by one man: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who has remained silent on this matter.” – Rosa Rahimi
Danielle Smith’s Sovereignty Act is a silly political dare, written in crayon
“The other day I accidentally wrote down ‘2 p.m.’ instead of ‘1 p.m.’ for an upcoming appointment, so I have some sympathy for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who must have had a similarly absent-minded moment when she forgot that she was supposed to be a libertarian and introduced Bill 1, the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, granting herself and her cabinet sweeping, undemocratic closed-door powers.” – Robyn Urback
Soccer is truly the beautiful game, unless you are a French Muslim woman who wears a hijab
“For all the focus in World Cup media coverage on Qatar’s policies towards migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community, hardly anyone has made a peep about how a soccer powerhouse – France – bars Muslim women from participating in the sport simply for wearing a hijab.” – Sheema Khan
Today’s editorial cartoon
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
Living better
Filling up on flavonols may slow memory loss, study finds
Flavonol – an antioxidant found in certain plant foods – could help preserve your memory as you get older. That’s according to recent research from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Flavonols have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which can reduce cell damage and dampen inflammation throughout the body, including the brain. How can you add the antioxidant to your diet? Amp up the amount of leafy greens like kale, watercress or arugula you consume.
Moment in time: Dec. 6, 1951
Canadian playwright Tomson Highway is born
Tomson Highway, Indigenous author, photographed in Toronto, Sept. 26, 2001.Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail
Like most of his siblings before him, Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank. Or as he has put it, “in a tent pitched in a snow bank (in one awful hurry!) on an island in a lake in the remotest reaches of northwestern Manitoba where it meets the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and what, since 1999, has been called Nunavut.” The 11th of 12 children (of whom only five survived) born to Cree caribou hunter and dogsled racer Joe Highway and his wife Balazee, the playwright, musician and author began life in the sub-Arctic. From a nomadic beginning that now seems from a bygone era, he would eventually travel the world as a sought-after speaker and performer. His plays, among them The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (both Dora Award-winning), established a place for Indigenous theatre in Canada. From 1986 to 1992, he was the artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts, the first and oldest professional Indigenous theatre company in the country. Irreverent and multitalented, he’s also the author of a memoir, novel, children’s books as well as librettos. In 1994, he became the first Indigenous writer inducted into the Order of Canada. Alison Gzowski
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