Good morning,
Quebec says it will hike tuition by 30 per cent for out-of-province Canadian students to $12,000 a year – up from $9,000 per year – and wants most of them to speak French at an intermediate level by the time they graduate.
In a letter dated Thursday to Quebec’s three English-language universities – Bishop’s, Concordia and McGill – Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said the government intends to push through with the new measures so that anglophone Canadians better integrate into society. The three schools had warned that the new tuition rate, which would be among the highest in the country, could lead to a drop in enrolment and devastate their finances.
They recently proposed a different tuition model that they said would inflict less harm, but Déry said Thursday their plan wasn’t good enough. Déry has said the moves are necessary to protect the French language in Quebec, particularly in Montreal, and to balance funding levels in the Quebec system.
McGill University campus is seen in Montreal on Nov. 14, 2017.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 other Globe newsletters on our newsletter sign-up page.
Beverley McLachlin says she will stay on the Hong Kong court as it hears Jimmy Lai’s case
As Hong Kong newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai goes to trial Monday on national security charges, Canada’s longest-serving Supreme Court chief justice says she has no intention of resigning from the city’s top appellate court.
Beverley McLachlin was appointed to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in 2018 as one of its 10 foreign, temporary members, when the city still had a free press and freedom of expression and protest. But a little more than two years later, China established a national security law criminalizing subversion, and arrested Lai, publisher of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy tabloid and the city’s most popular newspaper. And Ms. McLachlin is part of a legal system Beijing has deployed as part of its crackdown on democracy and dissent in Hong Kong.
The trial of Mr. Lai is a pivotal event in that crackdown. McLachlin tells The Globe she views the court as independent and a check on government. But Sebastien Lai, the publisher’s son, is among those calling on McLachlin to reconsider her decision to remain a part of the legal system.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai (R) is escorted into a Hong Kong Correctional Services van outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on Feb. 1, 2021, after being ordered to remain in jail while judges consider his fresh bail application, the first major legal challenge to a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city last year.STR/Getty Images
Putin eyes more Ukrainian territory, sending aggressive message at news conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear that he has the stamina for a long fight as the war in Ukraine is set to enter its third year – even as the West increasingly looks as though it may not.
“There will be peace when we achieve our goals,” Putin said in a belligerent message delivered in a question-and-answer session carried live on Russian television, adding that his war aims remain unchanged. Those goals, he said, are the demilitarization of Ukraine and the “de-Nazification” of its government, which the Kremlin falsely describes as far right.
Read more:
- Ukraine’s a step closer to joining the EU. Here’s what it means, and why it matters
- Opinion: What’s at stake in Ukraine? America’s future
A woman walks past an electronic screen on the facade of a building showing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a quote from his annual end-of-year press conference, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 14, 2023.MAXIM SHEMETOV/Reuters
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
Also on our radar
MPs challenge university chiefs to say whether calling for genocide of Jews violates their conduct codes: Five Liberal members of Parliament are asking 25 Canadian university presidents to say whether calling for a genocide against Jewish people or the elimination of Israel violates their school policies.
Ottawa caps broadcasters’ share of Google funds under Online News Act: Ottawa is capping broadcasters’ share of the $100-million Google must inject into Canada’s news industry under Bill C-18, to ensure that most of the funds go to print and digital outlets, including newspapers.
‘Critical’ part of Accenture’s CEBA contract done in Brazil, despite Ottawa’s claim work was Canadian: A critical part of a global consulting firm’s $208-million federal agreement to administer Ottawa’s pandemic business-loan program was done from the firm’s Brazilian offices, a revelation that contradicts the government’s past assertions that virtually all the work was done in Canada.
Prince Harry scores partial win in phone-hacking lawsuit: On Friday, a High Court judge ruled that journalists at the Mirror Newspaper Group, which publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, intercepted voicemail messages and used other deceptive practices on a limited basis to obtain personal information about the Duke. The court awarded Prince Harry £140,600 in damages.
TMX Group buys rest of VettaFi for $848-million: Canada’s largest stock exchange operator is dramatically reducing its reliance on both Canada and the traditional stock exchange business with its latest billion-dollar acquisition.
Alberta poised for largest addition of natural gas-fired power to province’s grid in a single year: A record amount of new natural gas-fired power is set to come online in Alberta next year, providing relief for consumers but making the province’s electricity grid even more reliant on unabated fossil fuels.
Take our business and news quizzes!
Morning markets
Rally continues: On Friday, shares and bonds globally continued to bask in the glow of Wednesday’s Fed meeting, with MSCI’s world share index set for a seventh straight winning week. Just after 5:30 a.m., Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.15 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.72 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.87 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.38 per cent. New York futures were positive. The Canadian dollar was higher at 74.72 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
I fulfilled my promise to my late brother. What will we do now, with the truth around his death?
“People with illnesses don’t go to prison; they go to hospitals. But Soleiman was taken to what some call the ‘Lindsay Superjail.’ My family and I were prevented from visiting him four times; the system shut its doors on us. Then, days after his arrest, we learned that Soli was dead. Suddenly, our anchor was gone. We were left adrift.” – Yusuf Faqiri
The existential questions raised by national dental and pharmacare plans
“Affordable access to essential drugs and dental care is important, especially to the millions who don’t have that now. But should building massive new programs (rather than filling in the gaps in existing ones) be a priority when we have so many other systemic problems – such as 6.5 million Canadians without primary care, and overflowing ERs?” – André Picard
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
Catch up with the best cultural moments of 2023 (without having to watch every new movie on Netflix)
Yes, it’s true that 2023 will be remembered as the year “Barbenheimer” entered the lexicon and Taylor Swift mania reached dizzying new heights. But the year brought much more than just that, from exciting new books from Canadian authors to powerful performances on stage. This week, Globe Arts staffers were given a task: to look back at the year that was and make a list of the most notable cultural moments (and a few low points). From movies to visual arts to theatre, this week they share the highlights. Read more.
Moment in time: Dec. 15, 2015
The final TRC report is released
The commissioners took the stage in Ottawa alongside two empty chairs, placed to symbolize an estimated 3,200 Indigenous children who died while enrolled in roughly 139 residential schools that operated from the 1880s into the late 20th century. Chief commissioner Murray Sinclair, a former altar boy whose mother had committed him to the priesthood before he successfully argued for her blessing to attend university, delivered a powerful speech that avoided mentioning the many cruelties the commission had uncovered during its six-year examination of Canada’s residential school system. Instead he marked the delivery of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report as a possible turning point in the country’s history. “A period of change is beginning,” he said, “that if sustained by the will of the people, will forever realign the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.” Slowly but surely, there has been some progress. The most symbolic advance came last year with Pope Francis’s cross-country apology tour. But eight years after the report was delivered, 35 of the commission’s 94 calls to action are stalled or not started, according to Indigenous Watchdog, a non-profit that tracks reconciliation efforts. Mr. Sinclair preaches patience. “Change, of course, will not be immediate,” he said in the speech. “It will take years, perhaps generations.” Patrick White
Enjoy today's horoscopes. Solve today's puzzles. Read today's Letters to the Editor.
If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.