Good morning,
Morning Update will be taking a break for two days, returning Dec. 27. But first, here’s a look at The Globe’s annual Christmas painting, the day’s top stories and some end-of-year reads. We hope you have a happy holidays.
J.E.H. MacDonald. Lake O'Hara, Rockies, 1926. Oil on wood-pulp board, Overall: 21.5 x 26.6 cm. The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo © Art Gallery of OntarioSupplied
Lake O’Hara in B.C.’s Yoho National Park, writes Kate Taylor, is perhaps the most picturesque spot in the Canadian Rockies: a sparkling alpine tarn set in a bowl of rock carved by glaciers. Painter J.E.H. MacDonald, of the Group of Seven, travelled there regularly in the 1920s and made this small oil sketch, Lake O’Hara, in 1926.
“If it is possible to make reservations in Heaven, I am going to have an upper berth somewhere in the O’Hara ranges of Paradise,” he said of his attraction to the place.
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TODAY’S TOP STORIES
The RCMP is challenging a report that officers were prepared to shoot Indigenous activists
The force is disputing a story in the British newspaper The Guardian that said RCMP commanders told officers to “use as much violence toward the gate as you want” in relation to a roadblock at a protest site in northern B.C. in January, 2019. Tensions had been building as officers sought to clear a Wet’suwet’en blockade built in protest of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
The story refers to documents it described as notes from a strategy session, but the RCMP said it found “no documents or references, which reflect statements” in the piece.
The force also called the story “unsubstantiated, incomplete and inflammatory.” The Guardian didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The NDP is urging the federal government to conduct a “full and independent investigation and inquiry” into RCMP planning during the January protest.
The Globe has written extensively about the pipeline battle, including a court case centred on six found artifacts that could impact construction timelines.
Issues of Indigenous rights are all too familiar for Senator Murray Sinclair, who has led landmark inquiries on racism in Manitoba, police discrimination in Thunder Bay and residential schools.
Speaking with The Globe’s Geoffrey York, the jurist-turned-politician says he’s learned that shocking words are sometimes best: Genocide. Apartheid. War. “It’s about making people sit up and take notice. It’s about getting people out of their comfortable chair and getting them to think seriously about it.”
TMX has hired a lawyer to investigate claims against its CEO before he joined the exchange
High-profile Toronto employment lawyer Janice Rubin has been tapped to lead a third-party investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Lou Eccleston during his time as an executive with Bloomberg, according to a TMX Group employee. (TMX owns Canada’s largest stock exchange.)
Late last month, Business Insider alleged that Eccleston helped foster a work environment at Bloomberg in the 1990s and early 2000s that enabled sexual misconduct against female subordinates. The article also detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against Eccleston.
Rubin previously led a third-party investigation into CBC’s handling of the Jian Ghomeshi affair.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Boeing fires its CEO: Dennis Muilenburg was dropped as chief executive as Boeing continues to face backlash over its handling of the 737 Max crisis. The company recently announced it was pausing production of the jets in January, a move that creates uncertainty for Canadian airlines.
Ottawa looks to waive citizenship application fees: The Trudeau government has committed to eliminating fees immigration advocates say are a barrier to those with lower incomes. Adult applicants currently pay a $530 for processing, and a $100 right-of-citizenship fee. A citizenship application for a family of four would cost $1,460.
Chinese consulate criticizes Canadian media reports: The consulate in Vancouver took aim at stories in The Globe and other outlets about the recruitment and training of volunteers in Canada to ensure the “safety” of fellow Chinese citizens, calling the reports malicious and slanderous.
MORNING MARKETS
Global stocks mixed in quiet holiday trading: Global stocks were mixed on Tuesday after stocks closed modestly higher on Wall Street, extending the major indexes’ milestone-shattering run. European markets opened flat on Christmas eve in a holiday-shortened week. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 4 points to 7,627.69 while the CAC 40 in Paris added less than 0.1% to 6,032.26. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up less than 0.1 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 per cent. New York futures were modestly higher. Markets in Toronto and New York close at 1 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.97 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
It’s our annual Globe Christmas carol: Here we come a-wassailing . . .
Warren Clements: “Drench the House with howls of Boris. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Brexit feeds a raging chorus. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Scotland’s full of EU-wishers. Fa la la, la la la, la la la. How to deal with all those fissures? Fa la la la la, la la la la. See the blazing fools before us. Fa la la la la, la la la la.” Warren Clements is a former Globe editorial writer and columnist.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail)Illustration by brian gable
HOLIDAY READS
If you missed Saturday’s Globe newspaper and want to play our giant annual holiday crossword, you can go here to print it out.
How reindeer might help deliver the gift of scar-free healing to humans
Mammals scar when serious skin wounds heal. Reindeer, however, are among the few exceptions to the rule, with the velvet on their antlers, specifically, healing flawlessly. Scientists at the University of Calgary believe human skin has the potential to heal with the same reindeer magic.
How do I fill that Christmas-shaped hole when family traditions change?
“Christmas traditions are a funny thing,” Kate Ryan writes. “As a kid, we don’t quite understand them and as an adult we either reject or embrace them. At 27, I’m grappling with the balance of insisting on keeping past traditions alive and building new ones with my boyfriend.”
How to pace yourself through the endless eating of the holiday season
If you’re determined to stick to your healthy eating routine over the holidays, Leslie Beck suggests drafting a plan of attack for each event. Decide in advance how many hors d’oeuvres you’ll eat, how many courses you’ll order and so on.
MOMENT IN TIME
Mount Royal’s cross is first lit
(Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec)Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
Dec. 24, 1924: In 1643, with torrential rain falling on Ville-Marie, the colony that would become Montreal, its founder, Paul de Chomedey, prayed to the Virgin Mary. He promised that if she spared the colony from flooding he would erect a monument in her honour. When the rain stopped, he put a wooden cross atop what would become known as Mount Royal. The steel cross that stands there today was erected by the Société St-Jean Baptiste in 1924. Measuring 31.4 metres tall, with an arm span of 11 metres, the current cross was designed by a Sulpician priest to commemorate de Chomedey’s wooden monument. It was first lit on Dec. 24, 1924, and, in 1992, the light bulbs were replaced with a fibre-optic lighting system. In 2009, LED lights were installed, which allowed the cross to turn different colours. Although usually white, it has shone in many colours over the years, including red for AIDS awareness and blue for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. When lit, it can be seen from approximately 80 kilometres away. It is a shining monument to prayers answered. – Dave McGinn
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