Good morning,
Here’s a look at the people making a difference around Thunder Bay
From a new bureau in Thunder Bay, Globe journalists spent 2019 chronicling Northern Ontario’s challenges with racism, politics and a sputtering economy. These are some of the individuals trying to change things:
Three ‘warrior women’: Sandi Boucher runs a consultancy focused on reconciliation. Ivory Tuesday patrols the streets every week to make sure residents are safe. Georjann Morriseau has moved from reserve politics to the police board. While their approaches to solving the region’s problems vary, Boucher says they’re all acting in the style of Ogichidaakwe, an Ojibway phrase and concept that translates roughly as “warrior women.”
Sandi Boucher, Ivory Tuesday and Georjann Morriseau. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)
Everett Dylan MacKinnon-Ottertail: When he built a traditional Indigenous memorial for his late sister, the city of Dryden, Ont., wanted it taken down. MacKinnon-Ottertail turned it into a teachable moment – and now it can stay.
(David Jackson/The Globe and Mail)
John Power: In his Grade 11 English class, Power has been teaching students about the poetry of Rita Joe, who mourned the loss of her Indigenous language in residential school. It’s part of a shift away from novels such as The Great Gatsby and toward the bigger cultural conversation around reconciliation.
(David Jackson/The Globe and Mail)
As we head into 2020, experts offer these takes on Thunder Bay’s future:
- How Thunder Bay’s police and Indigenous people can work together
- Thunder Bay’s economic hardships are a sign of things to come for the rest of Canada
- Public libraries – and the perspectives that lie within – can help Thunder Bay
- Thunder Bay’s education system doesn’t seem to have learned a thing
- Natural resources form the core of Thunder Bay’s Indigenous-settler power imbalance
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TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Risley, Balsillie group buying CanadArm maker MDA in $1-billion deal
Two of Canada’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, John Risley and Jim Balsillie, are teaming up as part of an investor group to buy MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., the maker of the CanadArm, from its U.S. parent, Maxar Technologies Inc., for $1-billion and repatriate its headquarters to Canada.
MDA is Canada’s largest space technology develop and manufacturer. Colorado-based Maxar had put MDA on the auction block this past summer, seeking to use proceeds cut its sizable debt load, though after a few months any talk of potential buyers went cold.
“Over its 50-year history, MDA has grown from a B.C.-based start-up into a world-class space technology company and an anchor of Canada’s space program,” said Mr. Risley, the Nova Scotia entrepreneur who co-founded seafood giant Clearwater Fine Foods and co-manages NPC with former Blackstone Canada chairman Andrew Lapham. “I am so proud this iconic Canadian company will once again be owned and controlled in Canada.”
Five people were stabbed during a Hanukkah celebration at a New York rabbi’s home
A knife-wielding man entered the home of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi Saturday night, stabbing five and screaming “I’ll get you” as people fled and barricaded themselves in the synagogue next door.
“This is violence spurred by hate, it is mass violence and I consider this an act of domestic terrorism,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
The 37-year-old male suspect was arrested within hours, covered with blood on his hands, and charged with five counts of attempted murder.
This was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since Dec. 8. New Jersey was also rocked by a shooting rampage at a kosher market a few weeks ago.
Abuse survivor Byron Rutton is finally at peace after a 40-year quest for justice
(Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)
Ruttan’s $2.85-million lawsuit against the Ontario government has now concluded with an out-of-court resolution his lawyer says is satisfying.
“People understand me now,” says Ruttan, 52, who was raped repeatedly as a child by a court-ordered mentor.
His mentor was convicted by a jury decades later when Ruttan decided to speak up, but new time limits on court cases allowed the abuser to walk free.
The lawsuit’s conclusion came just before a new law took effect that lawyers say gives Ontario immunity from negligence suits like Ruttan’s.
Canada’s conundrum on auto emissions: Follow Trump’s retreat or take a risky leadership role
The U.S. is set to freeze vehicle-emissions standards at 2021 standards, a move that reverses Barack Obama-era policies and puts Ottawa in a difficult place.
Canada has signed a memorandum of understanding with 12 U.S. states including California pledging collaboration on auto emissions, but the federal government has yet to change its existing regulations that would match U.S. standards.
And the Trump administration is currently fighting legal battles in an attempt to assert federal authority over emissions; Canada risks being isolated if Washington prevails and auto makers opt not to make specially designed vehicles for a relatively small market.
At the same time, environmental groups are warning that a failure to take a stand would be a blow to Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions targets.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
The reason for the spike in federal deficit projections: A little-discussed accounting change related to public-sector pensions is a key factor behind the billions of dollars added to the Liberal government’s budget numbers, Parliament’s spending watchdog says.
Reitmans CEO dies: Jeremy Reitman, who guided the Montreal-based women’s clothing giant through a difficult retail landscape, has died. The 93-year-old family-run business operates hundreds of Reitmans, Penningtons and Addition Elle stores across Canada.
Tim Hortons president leaving: The announcement of Alex Macedo’s departure this March comes months after the head of parent company Restaurant Brands International said the food chain’s earnings “were not where we want them to be.”
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks clung to recent gains on Monday following healthy advances in Asia on hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal, a more optimistic growth outlook and a softer U.S. dollar, while the euro climbed to a 4-1/2 month high. But European stock markets failed to follow the lead and took a breather following last week’s record highs. Germany’s DAX lost 0.3 per cent in early trading, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2 per cent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 edged 0.1 per cent lower.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Politicians must defend Canadians’ online privacy from Big Tech – and from politicians themselves
Colin Bennett: “The Liberal government’s “digital charter” promises strong new measures to protect online privacy, and to rein in the power of big tech companies. But it makes no sense to regulate Facebook, Twitter, Google and other online platforms without also regulating the political parties that use them to seek our votes and our donations.” Colin Bennett is a professor in the department of political science at the University of Victoria.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)
HOLIDAY READS
Y2K: The strange, true history of how Canada prepared for an apocalypse that never happened, but changed us all
Canada’s leaders were worried that a simple coding glitch would create chaos at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1999. But they had a plan. Here’s what it looked like, and why it still matters.
The Globe’s 2019 science quiz: Test your knowledge of the world’s burning questions
What instrument did astronomers use to get their first-ever direct look at a black hole? Which storm hit Atlantic Canada the hardest this century before September’s Hurricane Dorian? Those are just a few of the 20 questions in our annual science quiz.
MOMENT IN TIME
For more than 100 years, photographers have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography for The Globe and Mail. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at the thrill of comedy.
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, 1983
(Thomas Szlukovenyi/The Globe and Mail)
In August, 1983, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas were drumming up publicity for Strange Brew – a movie starring their hoser alter egos Bob and Doug McKenzie. Moranis and Thomas were confident they’d made a successful leap from sketch TV (SCTV) and hit comedy album (The Great White North) to feature film. Audiences and critics weren’t so sure at first. In his review, The Globe’s Jay Scott called the plot “the worst part of the movie.” The New York Times called it “a movie barely there.” Scott’s review would go on to praise Strange Brew’s “offhand surrealism,” noting: “Brothers Bob and Doug fill 'er up with a whole lot of dumb fun.” And 36 years on, eh? It’s a bona fide cult classic. Cooo, loo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coo, coooo! – Brad Wheeler
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