Good morning,
The rate of violence in federal penitentiaries against prison staff and between inmates has escalated so severely in recent years that Canada’s correctional ombudsman is warning of the potential for mass disturbances.
Physical assaults on prison staff jumped 189 per cent, and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, meanwhile, surged by 132 per cent. Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger said the numbers are a red flag because they show a “dissatisfaction in prisons that can lead to major disturbances or even riots.”
Zinger explained that COVID-19 measures led to the cancellation of many programs throughout the prison system, creating an idle and combustible prison population. Greater access to school, leisure opportunities, work, vocational training and mental-health resources would all help the situation, he added.
Patches are seen on the arm and shoulder of a corrections officer in Abbotsford, B.C., on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
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Fort Nelson, B.C., at risk of being overwhelmed by wildfire in next 48 hours
Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes and others have been told to prepare to leave, as warm weather and tinder-dry conditions are fuelling wildfires in Western Canada.
Officials in British Columbia warned yesterday that the next 48 hours are crucial, as firefighters work to keep a blaze from overwhelming the town of Fort Nelson and the nearby First Nations reserve. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have been hit with power outages and highway closings, as uncontained wildfires spread in those provinces as well.
Canadian fire officials have warned that this season could be even worse than last year, during which a record 18.5 million hectares of land was scorched, as wildfires forced the evacuation of about 230,000 people.
Arthur Irving, who led family oil refinery’s vast expansion, dies
Arthur Irving died yesterday at the age of 93, his family’s company said in a statement. The billionaire oil man shaped Atlantic Canada as head of New Brunswick’s Irving Oil.
Irving Oil flourished under Arthur Irving’s watch, joining the ranks as one of the country’s leading companies. Forbes estimates that the Canadian businessman was worth US$6.4-billion. Meanwhile Bloomberg pegged his net worth at US$9.8-billion as of May 12, making him the 248th-richest person on the planet.
The second-oldest son of industrialist K.C. Irving, Arthur belonged to a dynasty of three brothers who dominated the provincial economy each in their own way after dividing up the family’s empire of energy, forestry, real estate, shipbuilding and media assets in the early 1990s.
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Also on our radar
Ottawa prepares for possible Trump victory: The Canadian government is using cabinet ministers, provincial premiers and business leaders to fan out across the U.S. to build relationships as it prepares for the possibility of another Trump presidency in November. The government wants to avoid a repeat of 2016 when Trump’s victory caught Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet by surprise.
Trump’s anger over porn star’s story was “all about the campaign”: Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, said during testimony yesterday that when the former president found out about porn star Stormy Daniels’s plan to shop around a story about a sexual encounter with him, Trump became enraged over the possibility it could cost him the 2016 presidential election.
Pro-Palestinian protesters unsatisfied with U of T’s concessions: Leaders of a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Toronto say the university has offered to study two of their three key demands, those of disclosure and divestment from Israel, but the protesters say they won’t leave until their demands are met in full.
- McGill in court seeking injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment on campus
- Gaza ceasefire talks at stalemate amid Rafah operation, Qatar PM says
- UN says Gaza death toll still over 35,000 but not all bodies identified
Japanese firm to invest $1.6-billion in Ontario EV facility: Japanese multinational Asahi Kasei has partnered with Honda to build components at a new $1.6-billion plant in Port Colborne, Ont., according to two sources with knowledge of the deal. Honda Motor Co.’s $15-billion investment in Ontario’s electric-vehicle supply chain is being touted by federal and provincial governments as the largest single investment in the history of Canada’s auto sector.
Canadian swimmers eye Paris Olympics: After two successive Summer Olympics where Canada’s swimming team brought home loads of hardware from the pool, the squad is expected to contend once more. The team heads to Paris in late July with towering expectations on them, but first final roster spots need to determined at this week’s Olympic trials in Toronto.
American “football” turns 150: Thirty-five years before the first awarding of the Grey Cup, and almost a century before the Super Bowl came into existence, the first formal games of North American-style rugby football were played 150 years ago today between McGill University and Harvard University on a field in suburban Boston.
Morning markets
World shares marked time and were still just shy of record highs ahead of highly anticipated U.S. inflation data tomorrow. National and regionwide share benchmarks in Europe, many at or around record territory, were steady, as were U.S. S&P 500 futures.
The pan-European STOXX 600 slipped 0.025 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.17 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.23 per cent and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.13 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.46 per cent higher at 38,356.06, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.22 per cent to 19,073.71.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.13 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Editorial: “As Canada’s population ages, drug spending will continue to go up. And that’s not even including the increasing public spending on drugs that will come from the new pharmacare plan, estimated to start at $1.5-billion a year. If the government is serious about broadening access to medicine, it must start by tackling the price of drugs.”
Cathal Kelly: “Video replay is bad for hockey, not because it’s wrong, but because it’s wrong for the sport. As we are all discovering right now, more technology does not automatically equal justice or well-being. Sometimes the old, nondigital and occasionally unfair ways are the best ways. As in any other facet of life, complaining won’t get you as far as scoring more often than everyone else.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
To become a better runner, start strength training
While logging time on your feet is necessary to prepare your body to make it from the starting line to the finish line, supplementing with strength training can improve endurance and speed, and help reduce the risk of injury. As the weather gets warmer, more of us will be tempted to lace up and head out for a run. Here’s what you should keep in mind to ensure you can run longer and stronger.
Moment in time: May 14, 1948
Golda Meir shaking hands with Moshe Shavet, right, as David Ben-Gurion, left, looks on after they signed Israel's declaration of independence at a Tel Aviv Museum on May 14, 1948.-/Getty Images
Israel declares independence
At 4 p.m. on this day in 1948, moments before the beginning of Shabbat, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion read out a declaration of independence for a state of Israel. Israel, he said, “was the birthplace of the Jewish people,” and it was to this land that Jews had for many generations sought to return. “This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations,” he continued. Eleven minutes later, U.S. President Harry Truman recognized the newly founded state. It was less than three years from the end of the Second World War and the horrors visited upon Jewish people. It was also a little more than three decades after Great Britain, which assumed a governing mandate over Palestine in 1920, had promised to establish “a national home for the Jewish people.” Those years had brought great demographic change to the region, with Jewish residents rising to nearly a third of the population. The day after the declaration, Britain withdrew and the Arab-Israeli War began. Many Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands. Nearly eight decades later, bloodshed continues but so, too, does Israel. Nathan VanderKlippe
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