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These are the top stories:
RCMP interviews Jody Wilson-Raybould to discuss political interference in SNC criminal prosecution
Former justice minister and attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday that RCMP officers from the national division in Ottawa, which handles sensitive political matters, had a formal interview with her in Vancouver on Tuesday. Ms. Wilson-Raybould also called on the Trudeau government to waive cabinet confidentiality for her and all other witnesses to allow a thorough probe into potential obstruction of justice.
“I have had a meeting and I have been interviewed by the RCMP, and that meeting happened yesterday [Tuesday], and I am not going to comment any further on the nature of those conversations,” she said.
- Opinion: (John Ibbitson) With Parliament, the Ethics Commissioner and now the RCMP frustrated, Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott must speak their truth
- Opinion: (Brian Giesbrecht) Why the RCMP should proceed? Not even Justin Trudeau is above the law
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As election campaign kicks off, Quebec Premier tells federal leaders to stay out of religious-symbol challenge
Mere hours after the federal election campaign began, Quebec Premier François Legault called on federal party leaders to stay out of the legal challenge to his province’s contentious law banning many public servants from wearing religious symbols. “I am asking them to make an undertaking – not just for now but forever – to never challenge the legislation. It is up to Quebeckers to decide, Quebeckers have decided," he said in Quebec City.
Before Mr. Legault’s comments, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau hedged over the possibility of intervening. “At this time," he said, “I feel it would be counterproductive to engage in this process,” adding he is “very pleased that Quebeckers themselves have chosen to contest this bill in court.” The NDP and Conservatives said they would be staying out of the debate. “We do not have the intention of intervening in this case,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said. The NDP said the province “has the right to legislate in its jurisdiction."
Opinion: (Campbell Clark) Trudeau glosses over shortcomings at his own peril
Opinion: (Globe editorial) Trudeau, Scheer and the blessings of small differences
Opinion: (Brad Wheeler) The Conservatives’ new anthem serves its purpose, but that doesn’t mean it will move the needle
From Trois-Rivières to the Laurentians, Quebec’s election battle lines are drawn
The epicentre of Quebec’s shifting political forces that will help decide the 2019 federal election is in Trois-Rivières, an oft-forgotten, slow-growing regional hub halfway between Quebec City and Montreal. For the next six weeks and until the Oct. 21 vote, the city where Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer launched his campaign Wednesday will not lack for political attention. Trois-Rivières is one of 14 seats currently held by the NDP where Conservatives, Liberals and the Bloc Québécois are trying to take advantage of New Democrat decline.
Quebec court strikes down parts of medically assisted dying law
A Quebec judge has struck down a restriction that limited assisted dying to terminally ill patients, concluding the requirement was an unconstitutional barrier that forced two Quebeckers with incurable conditions to keep living in great pain. The portion of the federal assisted-dying law that Quebec Superior Court Justice Christine Baudouin singled out as unconstitutional is a clause that required patients’ natural deaths to be “reasonably foreseeable," a clause championed by the Trudeau government, even though legal experts warned it was out of step with the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that paved the way for medically assisted dying.
- Opinion: (André Picard) Medically assisted dying laws are changing, and it’s about time
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Bianca Andreescu expected to sign at least two major endorsement deals: Andreescu is currently sponsored by Nike, BMW and vegan restaurant chain Copper Branch, which signed her for approximately $50,000 annually last year.
Canadian universities rise in global rankings: The University of Toronto (18, up three places from a year ago), the University of British Columbia (34, up three places) and McGill (42, up two places), have moved up in an influential ranking of the world’s top schools.
Purdue reaches tentative deal with U.S. cities, states over opioid sales: Purdue is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and dissolve the company as it now exists. The Sackler family, which owns the company, would contribute US$3-billion in cash to the settlement over seven years.
Hong Kong Exchanges’ proposed deal for London Stock Exchange would threaten LSE’s offer for Refinitiv: It now must convince the LSEG board that a takeover translates into more value for shareholders and customers than bulking up with Refinitiv.
What’s next in the Democratic nomination race? A guide to the debates, candidates and more: To take on U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020, a divided party is battling for its vision of the future – very, very slowly. Check back here to see where we are in the process, who’s still in the running and what’s at stake
MORNING MARKETS
Trade war thaw and ECB hopes lift stocks to six-week highs: World stocks climbed to their highest in six weeks on Thursday as the European Central Bank prepared to offer new stimulus measures and the United States and China made mutual concessions in their trade dispute, improving demand for riskier bets. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index ended up 0.75 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.26 per cent. Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.75 per cent. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX were modestly higher just after 5 a.m. ET. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.07 per cent. On Wall Street, futures were up. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.81 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
A good wager: Netflix will win the streaming wars
John Doyle: “What Netflix has going for it is an already long-established consumer loyalty and dependability. It deals in volume and value for money. The number of Emmy nominations it gets – in 2018 it surpassed HBO for the first time – are mere icing on the cake. The day-to-day business of Netflix is the customer’s ability to discover new content it didn’t know about. Also, it spends money in acquiring hot and award-winning cable series after they’ve aired on cable, a manoeuvre that convinces subscribers to abandon cable and stick with streaming.”
What the broken embargo on Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments tells us about the sorry state of publishing
Russell Smith: “The New York Times and NPR immediately broke their agreements and published reviews several days early. Every other media outlet (including The Globe and Mail) knew they would look badly behind if they didn’t follow suit, and so we were all in a rush to get ours out, all playing along with this creation of a news event. The publisher then said to the rest of us okay, fine, forget the [non-disclosure-agreement], go for it, it’s a free-for-all. Which made us realize what nonsense it all was from the start.”
In Nova Scotia, we’re at the mercy of the weather. And the power company
Dawn Rae Downton: “After Juan, we all hoped for better. We didn’t get it: in late 2018 the province suffered the worst storm outage since Juan. And now, as of Wednesday morning, five days after Dorian, 65,000 customers were still without power. Still, we’ll all hope for better again." Dawn Rae Downton is a writer in Halifax.
Hong Kong’s turmoil could be a Canadian crisis in the making
Kenny Zhang and Don J. DeVoretz: “Regardless of the size of the return migration to Canada, the potential effects on Canada’s housing market, health-care system, job market and overall social coherence represent a significant challenge. As well, regardless of where they live, Canadians living in Hong Kong – or anywhere overseas, for that matter – will have an impact in the coming federal election.” Zhang is president of A2Z Capital. DeVoretz is professor emeritus of Simon Fraser University. Both were major contributors to Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s “Canadians Abroad” research project, which was completed in 2011.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Scotland is known for birthing one of the most successful spirits categories in the world, Scotch, a product that comes with powerful associations and strict production rules. Canada, in recent years, has forged its own reputation for quality wine and a hot rye renaissance. So what happens when a wave of Canadians migrates to Scotland and starts shaking up its tradition-bound drinks industry? With passion that was distilled in Canada and matured in Scotland, Charlene Rooke reports on five Canadians who are stirring things up in the spiritual home of the drinks industry.
MOMENT IN TIME
The Associated Press
Sept. 12, 1962
President John F. Kennedy addressed a crowd of 35,000 in Texas with a lofty goal – for the United States to land a person on the moon by the end of the decade. During his 17-minute speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, he aimed to persuade Americans to support the Apollo program that would see astronauts walk on the moon’s surface and then return to Earth safely. “We choose to go to the moon," Kennedy said during his speech. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The president’s words came in the midst of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, more than a year after Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly in space and orbit the Earth. Kennedy’s goal was eventually accomplished in July, 1969, with the Apollo 11 mission when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. — Stefanie Marotta
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