Morning Update: Trudeau on defensive over early election call, foreign policy in English-language leaders’ debate

Good morning,

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau faced sustained attacks over his government’s handling of sexual harassment in the military, the crisis in Afghanistan and strained relations with China during the final leaders’ debate of the election campaign in Gatineau, Que.

Though all five party leaders were aiming to pitch their plans for a pandemic recovery, much of the focus was on Trudeau, who was put in a defensive posture from the get-go. He was forced to answer for his decision to call an election amid the pandemic and with two years left in his mandate. Erin O’Toole, meanwhile, was pressed on how voters can trust that he would execute a Conservative government’s agenda when he appears out of step with many in his party over climate change, LGBQT rights and vaccinations.

The sometimes chaotic debate Thursday had as many moderators as leaders and also included questions from individual voters. It was the first and only English-language debate and comes as the polls suggest the race between the O’Toole Conservatives and the Trudeau Liberals is in a dead heat.

There is just over week left in the campaign, and advance polls open today and run until Sept. 13. The deadline to apply to vote by mail is Tuesday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m. Eastern.

More campaign coverage:

• Four highlights from the final leaders’ debate
• Quebec Premier François Legault calls Liberal, NDP and Green plans ‘dangerous,’ praises Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole
• People’s Party expels official for throwing gravel at Justin Trudeau during campaign stop
• John Doyle: Farce of a televised election debate an insult to viewers and voters
• Andrew Coyne: Is the Tory platform the start of a new conservatism? In parts, though it’s not always clear that’s a good idea
• John Ibbitson: Trudeau, O’Toole prevented from launching attacks at each other in tightly controlled debate

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43 Canadians fly out of Kabul in first large-scale departure since U.S. withdrawal

Forty-three Canadians were among the roughly 113 foreigners who left Afghanistan Thursday on an international commercial flight out of Kabul, the first such large-scale departure since U.S. forces ended their nearly 20-year deployment.

The flight, organized by the government of Qatar, later landed at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, according to Al Jazeera news channel. Its departure comes as the Taliban, which wrested control over Afghanistan last month, appears prepared to allow commercial flights to resume. CNN, citing an aviation source, reported Thursday that Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority is preparing for more flights to start operating from Kabul.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said the Canadians “will be repatriated to Canada in the coming days.”

Read more on Afghanistan:

• Opinion: Bureaucratic barriers are making life even harder for Canada’s allies in Afghanistan
• Taliban have beaten Afghan journalists in detention, editor says
• In their timely new film, journalists Julian Sher and Graeme Smith examine the Ghosts of Afghanistan

Alberta health authority cancels elective surgeries in Calgary region as COVID-19 hospital admissions soar

Alberta Health Services has cancelled all elective surgeries in Calgary, including some pediatric procedures and transplants, and up to 60 per cent of non-urgent operations in other regions as COVID-19 infections among the unvaccinated surge, overwhelming hospitals.

Intensive-care units in the province hit 87-per-cent capacity Thursday, including beds that were added over the past week, according to AHS. When makeshift spots are excluded, capacity climbs to 130 per cent. Surgical patients often spend days in intensive care after their operations, and the health authority said the crush of COVID-19 patients means those hospitals do not have the capacity to accommodate routine procedures.

In Alberta, the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted to the ICU will soon exceed demand in previous waves, according to internal modelling obtained by The Globe and Mail.

More COVID-19 coverage:

• Refusing COVID-19 vaccine hurts wider population, B.C. health minister says
• Nova Scotia won’t initially set up enforcement team for proof of COVID-19 vaccination

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez clinches spot in U.S. Open final: In a three-set win over Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka, the tournament’s second seed, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez booked a spot in the U.S. Open final. The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., will compete against 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain for the Grand Slam singles title in Saturday’s final.

Bank of Canada to raise interest rate before winding down bond-buying program: Canada’s central bank governor, Tiff Macklem, offered the clearest signal to date about how the Bank of Canada plans to pare back monetary stimulus, noting in a speech Thursday that it’s approaching the “reinvestment phase” of the bond-buying program. Macklem also said the bank intends to start raising interest rates before it winds down the program. His remarks have raised expectations that a cut in government bond purchases could come in October.

U.S. Justice Department sues Texas in response to abortion ban: The Biden administration has filed legal action against Texas, seeking to block enforcement of a new law that almost entirely prohibits abortion in the state. Calling the law “clearly unconstitutional,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said if it’s allowed to stand, other states might use the law as a blueprint for limiting reproductive rights. The Texas law bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy – before many women even know they are pregnant.

Jacob Zuma’s prison release latest sign of ongoing influence in South Africa’s ruling party: The former South African president was granted a controversial form of medical parole for an undisclosed illness, despite an advisory board’s assessment that he was in stable condition. His release, which comes in the face of a swirl of corruption charges and scandals, is a sign of Zuma’s enduring influence on the ruling African National Congress, reports Globe Africa bureau chief Geoffrey York.

Growing up Muslim in the shadow of 9/11: In the latest Decibel, journalist Omar Mouallem, who was just a kid in High Prairie, Alta., when the World Trade Center in New York was struck 20 years ago, explores how the Sept. 11 attacks shaped his own relationship to his Muslim heritage.

MORNING MARKETS

World shares bounce: Global shares rose and the U.S. dollar edged lower on Friday as news of a call between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden offered some relief to traders eyeing cautious central bank steps towards ending stimulus. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.34 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were up 0.26 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.25 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.91 per cent. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.29 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Health care was dangerous even before the anti-vaccine harassment

“Health care workers are hurting, too. We know this. What is less well known is that they were hurting before the pandemic began. Not just through burnout or stress, but because they work in professions that have unacceptably high levels of physical and verbal violence. The pandemic has exposed all kinds of cracks we were papering over; this is another.” – Elizabeth Renzetti

If you don’t like Erin O’Toole’s position on something, just wait a few minutes

“Mark Twain once said, ‘If you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a few minutes.’ The same might be said of Mr. O’Toole and his position on just about anything that might risk alienating moderate prospective voters.” – Robyn Urback

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

Parachute helps customers create a stylishly undone, shabby chic look at home

Parachute founder and CEO Ariel Kaye puts a high premium on comfortable living. “When I’m comfortable in what I’m wearing, in my surroundings – that’s when I feel the best,” she says.

Kaye brings that sense of confidence to her Los Angeles-based brand, which started with bedding in 2012, says writer Cailtin Agnew. It has since expanded to a range of offerings for cozy living from loungewear for adults and children to bath linens.

MOMENT IN TIME: Sept. 10, 1975

Darryl Sittler is named captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs

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When Darryl Sittler was in Grade 8, he told his school principal in St. Jacobs, Ont., that he wanted to be an NHL player when he grew up. Sure, kid. Fast forward a dozen or so years and on this day in 1975, Sittler was appointed captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, an NHL franchise that hadn’t won the championship since 1967. The Leafs chose the hard-driving, determined 24-year-old centre over veteran Ron Ellis because they wanted stability for the team. Sittler replaced the popular and classy Dave Keon, who had been embroiled in a contract dispute with stubborn Leafs owner Harold Ballard and took his talents to the World Hockey Association. In Sittler’s acceptance speech he said, “This appointment is a great honour and our main objective is to bring the Stanley Cup back to Toronto,” words that have been repeated almost verbatim by every newly minted Leafs captain since. Sittler was an all-star – in one regular-season game he scored 10 points – and proved worthy of the captaincy. But years later, in a fit of disgust over Leafs management, he tore the captain’s C off his jersey and demanded a trade. Surely that was never in his Grade 8 dream. Philip King

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