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These are the top stories:
A sewage burst is threatening the water supply of the North Caribou Lake First Nation
The community 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay has declared a state of emergency and is calling on Ottawa for help after a lagoon burst sent sewage streaming across part of the reserve and toward a creek that feeds into the community’s water supply. So far, E. coli concentrations are below the level deemed to threaten human health, but the situation is expected to worsen when the ice melts and pulls the sewage down the creek and into a lake where people swim and fish.
Chief Dinah Kanate said when she met with federal officials last month they said “there was no money to deal with this.” The government offered another meeting as early as this week after she spoke with The Globe about the need for emergency repairs.
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Canada’s climate is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world
And Northern Canada is warming at three times the global rate, according to a first-of-its-kind report from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Since 1948, temperatures in Canada have gone up by 1.7 degrees, while the annual average up North has increased by 2.3 C.
Different Canadian regions have also seen declines in sea ice of between 5 per cent and 20 per cent each decade between 1968 and 2016. And the problem is projected to get worse, continuing a trend of more extreme heat, less extreme cold and rapidly thinning glaciers.
The climate report came on the same day Ottawa imposed its carbon tax on four provinces that refused to implement their own. Federal and provincial conservatives are vowing to fight it; Tory Leader Andrew Scheer says he would scrap the tax if elected this fall.
And as Alberta’s election nears, United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney wants to roll back Alberta’s carbon tax, remove a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands, and axe subsidies for solar and wind power. (for subscribers)
Liberal MPs are debating whether to boot Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from caucus
Transport Minister Marc Garneau said it was “totally inappropriate” for Wilson-Raybould to record her December phone call with Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick where they discussed SNC-Lavalin. That view was echoed by Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, who said she “was disappointed by the taping.” And Liberal MP Rob Oliphant said he does not “feel safe in caucus” with Wilson-Raybould there. (for subscribers)
The Liberal caucus met on Sunday to discuss whether to remove Wilson-Raybould and Philpott, who both resigned their cabinet posts over the SNC affair. A decision is expected when the caucus meets tomorrow.
For her part, Wilson-Raybould said: “I do not believe that I should be removed from caucus for doing my job and doing what I believe is right.”
The Liberals are battling judicial leaders on a bill amid tense relations with the courts
Justice Minister David Lametti is defending federal legislation that would force judges to publicly disclose their detailed expenses, a requirement that judicial leaders say would reveal patterns that could put them at risk.
“There is concern that there will be disclosure that will allow disgruntled parties to trace judges,” Pierre Bienvenu, the legal counsel for the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association. Lametti, however, said there is a need for “transparency and accountability” and that other countries have similar laws.
The showdown comes a week after legal experts condemned the government over a leak that detailed an apparent spat between Wilson-Raybould and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over judicial appointments on the Supreme Court.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Brexit chaos is starting to hit Britain’s economy, with car plants beginning temporary shutdowns and major discount airliner easyJet saying customers have started to hold back on buying tickets. Yesterday, MPs were unable to settle on an alternative to Theresa May’s withdrawal plan, which has already been defeated three times in Parliament.
Lawyers are taking B.C.’s public insurer to court over new limits on auto-injury payouts. In a constitutional challenge, the trial lawyers contend that a measure that limits when victims can sue is a violation of human rights. B.C. is the last province to abandon a system that allowed victims to sue for any type of injury.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his decision to stop funding several supervised drug-use sites, suggesting that some residents had complained about the volume and proximity of the locations to each other. Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson both criticized the government’s move.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks mixed
World stocks hovered just under a six-month high on Tuesday as Brent neared $70 a barrel for the first time since November, Brexit fatigue sapped sterling and the dollar shows signs of gaining strength again. Tokyo’s Nikkei slipped marginally, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite each gained 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 0.7 per cent by about 6:40 a.m. ET. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was at about 75 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Remember when the Liberal carbon tax was a conservative idea?
Globe editorial: “It seems like it was only yesterday. But that recent past has been shoved so far down the memory hole that, when reached for comment, spokespeople at the conservative ministry of truth insisted that, so far as they knew, Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. Carbon taxes are now a thought crime on the Canadian right, the doubleplusungood subject of doublethink and duckspeak, and the main focus of conservative Twitter’s daily Two Minutes of Hate. George Orwell had nothing on Canadian politics.”
The biggest victim of the college admissions scandal may be the economy
Linda Nazareth: “The race to get a degree stems from the fact that employers will look at you a lot more favourably if you have one, but that perception is arguably costing companies unnecessary money. A 2017 study by researchers from the Harvard Business School found that “degree inflation” – the demand for those with a four-year degree to fill jobs that really did not require that credential – was harming the bottom line of U.S. businesses.” Linda Nazareth is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. (for subscribers)
Religious-symbols ban is an expression – and a betrayal – of Quebec’s values
Robert Calderisi: “Quebec’s values are a blend of French and English influences. France’s commitment to the separation of Church and State dates back to the Age of Enlightenment (1685-1789) and culminated in a wave of anti-clericalism that led to the confiscation of all Church properties in 1905. More than a century later, this putting of religion “in its place” is deeply rooted in French culture. For decades, French government employees have been forbidden from wearing prominent religious symbols.” Robert Calderisi is a former director of the World Bank and author of the forthcoming Quebec in a Global Light: Reaching for the Common Ground.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail)Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
A turbo-charged but dangerous way to earn more credit card reward points
New tech firms are capitalizing on the desire of some consumers to boost their points-earning power. Services like Get Digs allow you to pay rent by credit card – but for a fee of at least 1.5-per-cent, unless you have an RBC card. But Rob Carrick writes that you shouldn’t just compare points earned and fees paid, since failing to fully pay a bill with your rent on it could cost you dearly in interest.
MOMENT IN TIME
Streaker disrupts the Oscar ceremony
Elizabeth Taylor reacts after a streaker appeared on stage just before she walked out to present an award at the 1974 Academy Awards. (Bettman Archive/Getty Images)Bettman Archive / Getty Images
April 2, 1974: The Academy Awards have always been a nakedly transparent exercise in Hollywood marketing and self-congratulation. But 45 years ago, the Oscars were mostly just, well, naked. The 1974 ceremony, which was presided over by the unlikely quartet of Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston and David Niven, proceeded like many past Oscars telecasts: slowly. But then, as Niven was introducing best-picture presenter Elizabeth Taylor, a dark-haired man ran out from stage left wearing a grin and nothing else. The streaker, who flashed a two-fingered peace sign, was Robert Opel, a photographer and gay-rights activist who had experience in this sort of performance art: he’d previously appeared in the buff at a handful of Los Angeles City Council meetings to protest the city’s ban on nudity at local beaches. “Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?” quipped Niven as soon as Opel left the stage. This proved true: Opel enjoyed a brief bit of infamy – including an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show – but was murdered in 1979 during a robbery at his San Francisco art studio. – Barry Hertz
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