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These are the top stories:
Airlines are urging Ottawa to delay the launch of a passenger bill of rights
New rules set to take effect on July 1 would force airlines to pay passengers for delays and overbooking, changes the industry says are coming too soon and at the possible cost of jobs and flight prices. (for subscribers)
Under draft regulations, airlines would need to compensate passengers $400 for a delay of three-plus hours, $700 for a delay of more than six hours and $1,000 if it exceeds nine hours. Those denied boarding and delayed because of an oversold flight would be owed anywhere from $900 to $2,400.
The airlines say they don’t have enough time to make software changes and that the new payouts would drive up costs for consumers.
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The human toll of trafficking: How foreign workers are being exploited in Canada
Manuel Burgos, from Honduras, borrowed $4,000 to pay a recruiter five years ago for a visa to work at a produce farm. But once he got to Canada, he sometimes only received two hours of work per day.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Crammed into wretched temporary housing. Holding a useless career-college diploma and no work permit. Toiling away at odd jobs for cash under the table. Fearing and facing deportation. Those are just some of the experiences of foreign workers brought to Canada on false promises by international recruiters, Kathy Tomlinson reports.
Dozens of agents have faced complaints, lawsuits and charges in Canada, and they collectively stand accused of exploiting at least 2,300 people, The Globe’s investigation found. At the same time, Ottawa has done nothing to stop the practice, with the number of consultants doubling to more than 5,000 over the past five years.
Andrew Scheer is challenging Justin Trudeau to follow through on a libel threat
The Conservative Leader released a letter from the Prime Minister’s lawyer that said Scheer went “beyond the pale of fair debate and is libellous” by falsely suggesting Trudeau had actually interfered in the SNC-Lavalin criminal prosecution.
Scheer has responded by saying: “I stand by every single criticism I have made of Mr. Trudeau’s conduct in regards to this scandal.” And he urged Trudeau to follow through with the legal threat, saying the SNC story is an “urgent matter of public interest” that “deserves to be heard in a legal setting.” (for subscribers)
In other SNC news, we look at how the Quebec firm’s US$260-million contract with Chilean state miner Codelco fell apart. One key piece was SNC’s contention that its subcontractors did “poor” work that contributed to long delays. But there was also intense pressure on Codelco from Chile’s government, which collects the company’s profits and has promised an overhaul of environmental standards. (for subscribers)
With Israel’s election around the corner, Benjamin Netanyahu is stirring controversy
With polls pointing to a tight race in tomorrow’s vote, the long-time Prime Minister is vowing to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
What Netanyahu said: “I will extend sovereignty and I don’t distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli, and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty.”
The ramifications: If Netanyahu were to follow through, it could have enormous consequences, correspondent Mark MacKinnon writes. First, it would contravene the Geneva Conventions, since the land was seized by Israel in a 1967 war. And it would be a blow to peace efforts, since it would slice up the territory of a potential Palestinian state.
Political motivation: The move appears designed to win support from the right, since neither Netanyahu’s Likud or the rival centrist Blue and White movement are within reach of a majority. Netanyahu is also emboldened by Donald Trump, who has recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ontario has reversed a plan to cut funding for varsity sports programs. Universities had been told that athletics funding for student fees would be considered optional starting next fall. Those fees will now remain mandatory, but students will be able to opt out of paying for other services, such as campus food banks and student newspapers.
B.C.'s Education Minister says Ontario’s planned teacher cuts could help his province address a teaching shortage. The Ford government in Ontario is axing more than 3,400 jobs as it increases class sizes. B.C., meanwhile, is still struggling to fill positions after the Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2017 to restore limits on class sizes.
Donald Trump is again shaking up his top ranks, with Kirstjen Nielsen out as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary. In the position, Nielsen has been responsible for overseeing the President’s controversial immigration policies, including the push to build a wall and the separation of migrant children from their families.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks pause
Global stocks paused on Monday after a strong recent run, as potential flashpoints including a crucial Brexit summit and central bank meetings loomed, and investors began to look ahead to an earnings season that may be disappointing. Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.2 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite declined less than 0.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was one of the rare winners, gaining 0.5 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and the Paris CAC 40 were up by less than 0.1 per cent by about 6:40 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX down 0.3 per cent. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar was below 75 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
SNC’s business in Libya sustained a brutal regime. They should be held to account
Mark Kersten: “The Trudeau government wants to compel people to make a choice: Do we want jobs, or do we want to hold SNC-Lavalin to account for accusations of bribing officials in Libya? But this affair isn’t just about Canada, Canadians or jobs. Holding SNC-Lavalin to account represents an opportunity to challenge the status quo where states and companies can underwrite brutal dictatorships with impunity. It’s an opportunity to tell a different and all too rare kind of story about holding the enablers of autocracy to account.” Mark Kersten is a Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Deputy Director of the Wayamo Foundation.
Mainstream U.S. TV is not dead, nor is it the husk of its former self as some claim
John Doyle: “With all the current fuss about the end of Game of Thrones and the weekly fuss about some new thing in Netflix, it’s easy to forget that normal network TV is humming along. The Big Bang Theory, which has only a handful of episodes left in its long run, is still a ratings monster both here and in the United States. Grey’s Anatomy, now in its 15th season, is doing just fine, thank you.”
Should I bring a human into the world if humanity faces an uncertain future?
Kelli Maria Korducki: “Try as we might to bring up our children in the likeness of our values, we cannot predict the people they will be, nor guarantee that they will follow our example. We also cannot, in the face of accelerating climate catastrophe, know with certainty that the global actors best positioned to act radically on their behalf will elect to reverse course. (By every indication, collective urgency is decisively lacking.)” Kelli Maria Korducki is the author of Hard To Do: The Surprising, Feminist History of Breaking Up.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Hockey fans get ready: The NHL playoff schedule is set
Three Canadian teams will by vying for the Stanley Cup, with the Toronto Maple Leafs competing in the Eastern Conference and the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets making it into the Western Conference playoff bracket. The Jets are set to kick things off against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, while on Thursday the Leafs play the Boston Bruins and the Flames battle the Colorado Avalanche.
One neat tidbit about the Flames and Jets: Both teams trace their origins to Atlanta, Roy MacGregor writes.
And despite all their talk, David Shoalts writes that history shows the Leafs cannot be logically picked to beat the Bruins.
MOMENT IN TIME
The Queen’s lengthy visit, 1959
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo librarians working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. In April, we’re looking at the country from above.
(Richard Cole/The Globe and Mail)Richard Cole/The Globe and Mail
To judge by this photo by The Globe and Mail’s Richard Cole, crowd control on a sunny day in Quebec’s Gaspé region was not a big concern in 1959, when the Queen and Prince Philip travelled across Canada. The royal pair were touring in a custom Lincoln Continental Mark IV, with an open roof (so the Queen and the Prince could stand and wave). There were two other vehicles built for her trip: a Cadillac Custom Fleetwood Limousine and a Chrysler Ghia Crown Imperial. It was a busy itinerary. Over 45 days that summer, she visited every province and territory. She officially opened the St. Lawrence Seaway, along with U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. And the Queen, a horse fancier of some renown, also attended Canada’s top thoroughbred race, her eponymous Queen’s Plate in Toronto. The royal visit would be the Queen’s longest in the country. – Philip King
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