A picture of Senator Lynn Beyak accompanies other Senators' official portraits on a display outside the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. The Conservative party is facing questions on why it failed to oust Sen. Lynn Beyak from its caucus sooner despite repeated calls from Indigenous leaders. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickThe Canadian Press
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Senator Lynn Beyak, booted from Tory caucus, lashes out at Conservative leader
The Senator is fighting back after Andrew Scheer booted her from Conservative caucus for "simply racist" posts on her website, disputing the Tory leader's version of events and calling him an inexperienced leader who fell for a ploy from the opposition. In a lengthy statement released Monday, Ms. Beyak portrayed herself as a defender of free speech. Her comments come as the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations said the Senate ethics committee, which can recommend expulsion of senators, should take a look at her actions.
Ontario investigating companies for 'illegal' minimum-wage hike reactions
Ontario's labour minister says he's hiring up to 175 new inspectors after receiving reports of businesses allegedly violating workplace rules. The minister told reporters Monday they are looking into allegations that a Tim Hortons in Scarborough asked employees to put their tips in the till. "That clearly contravenes the legislation. It's not just mean-spirited. It's illegal," he said. Calls to the ministry hotlines are up 30 per cent. The minister said some of those calls are people flagging possible violations.
Adam Radwanski writes on why Kathleen Wynne leapt at a fight with Tim Hortons: "the way she responded last week to reports of employees losing paid breaks and benefits – consequences of the province's mandated pay increase, meted out by affluent offspring of the iconic doughnut chain's founders – may have convinced a few voters that she's someone they'd want in their corner anyway." (for subscribers)
Morneau cleared of insider trading, ethics commissioner's office still reviewing pension bill case
A two-page letter from federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson to finance minister Bill Morneau, dated Jan. 5, outlines her consideration of concerns raised by Conservative and NDP MPs in relation to the minister's decision to sell shares in Morneau Shepell Inc. in 2015. "I am of the view that you did not benefit from insider information," Ms. Dawson wrote.
The opposition had asked Ms. Dawson to investigate whether the minister violated federal ethics rules by selling the shares ahead of a formal announcement of income-tax changes that would take effect Jan. 1, 2016. Mr. Morneau resigned as executive chair of the company shortly after he was elected as an MP in October, 2015.
Artists issue open letter in support of women suing Soulpepper, Albert Schultz
Hundreds of artists, including filmmaker Sarah Polley, released an open letter Monday supporting the four women who have filed lawsuits against Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company and former artistic director Albert Schultz. The women are alleging years of sexual harassment and assault by Mr. Schultz both on and off stage. "We believe the allegations," reads the letter. "We also believe that there are more stories like theirs that have not been told." The letter's 280 signatories call on Soulpepper's board to "acknowledge the harm these women, and others have suffered."
Elaine Craig writes on why our justice system is still burdened by rape mythologies: "Why did these four women choose to pursue a civil lawsuit rather than rely on the criminal justice process? One plausible explanation is the reality that the criminal trial process, if the police even elect to pursue the reports they receive, is a brutal experience for many of those who serve it as sexual assault complainants."
Two adults, two children killed in Oshawa, Ont., house fire
Two adults and two children have been killed in a house fire east of Toronto that also sent three people to hospital, fire official said Monday. The cause of the fire was not yet known, but damage was extensive at the rear of the house. It is also not yet known if the home had working smoke detectors.
This comes a day after a house fire in a Nova Scotia fishing village left four people dead, including at least two children, according to a relative. All that is left of the home is one tattered wall and a smouldering mass of charred wood, melted insulation and objects that have been so twisted by intense heat they look unwordly.
Canadian businesses face tight capacity as case for rate hike grows: BoC
The Bank of Canada's closely watched quarterly survey of business sentiment shows that the country's businesses are under the tightest capacity pressures since before the Great Recession, perhaps giving the central bank's policy makers the last piece of evidence they need to raise interest rates again next week. In the central bank's fourth-quarter Business Outlook Survey, 56 per cent of participants said they would have "some" or "significant" difficulty meeting an unanticipated increase in demand, the highest reading since the 2007 fourth quarter. Businesses also reported increasingly intense labour shortages that are restricting their ability to meet demand.
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MARKET WATCH
Canada's main stock index retreated as shares of some materials and financial services companies weighed, offset by gains for marijuana producers. The S&P 500 barely rose while investors took a breather ahead of earnings season and after the strong rally that marked the start of 2018.
WHAT'S TRENDING
After a 16-month pregnancy, Ashakiran gave birth to a male greater one-horned rhinoceros. It is the first newborn animal of 2018 for the Toronto Zoo. The zoo says greater one-horned rhinos, which nearly went extinct in the early 1900s, have been downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" as their numbers have increased, but that habitat degradation and poaching still threaten the species.
A judge holding a residency at the University of Calgary has had to apologize to a group of law students after allegedly making racist comments during one of their classes. The judge said she was uncomfortable when she entered a room "full of big dark people," according to the CBC. The judge said she told the group she was accustomed to having a button to press if she felt threatened and that she was used to being "removed from the riff-raff."
TALKING POINTS
Oprah Winfrey for president? An exhausted America would vote yes
"What's missing? Experience in government, a demonstrated grasp of public policy, political skills, including the ability to negotiate and compromise across partisan and international lines, and, most of all, a desire to serve. That is something totally separate from a desire for power, fame or popularity. It's never clear that media celebrities know the difference." – Kate Taylor
The many ways of counting the cost of a minimum wage
"Fifty years ago, when Ontario's Progressive Conservative government passed legislation to raise the minimum hourly wage by a whopping 30 per cent – to $1.30 an hour from $1 – the opposition parties were up in arms. Not because of the potential cost to the economy, or the unfair burden on struggling business owners, or the damage it might do to the province's competitiveness. No, the opposition's biggest complaint was that the increase was far too small. Contrast that with the dramatic headlines and audible collective gasps generated by a research paper released by the Bank of Canada on Dec. 29." (for subscribers) – David Parkinson
Tory Leader Andrew Scheer's shtick simply isn't cutting it
"For a candidate who was supposed to be the down-to-earth antidote to the celebrity politician that is Justin Trudeau, Mr. Scheer only seems to confirm that bland usually doesn't work. It might sell in 1970s-era Ontario or Regina-Qu'Appelle, the sleepy Saskatchewan riding Mr. Scheer has represented since he was a 25-year-old. But the dimpled-doughboy shtick just isn't cutting it among Canadians." (for subscribers) – Konrad Yakabuski
LIVING BETTER
Canadian health officials are on "high alert" and bracing for the influenza season to peak as flu activity continues to increase across the country and wreak havoc in other part of the world. So far, 11-275 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported in Canada and the recent uptick is putting pressure on already resource-strained hospitals. It is too early to establish the efficacy of this year's flu shot, but in Australia the vaccine's effectiveness against influenza A is pegged at roughly 10 per cent. That is far lower than the 40 to 60 per cent ranges seen in years when the vaccine is well-matched to the circulating viruses. (for subscribers)
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can't you put it down?
A decade ago, smartphones promised to change the way we think and interact, and they have – but not by making us smarter. More than two billion people, including three-quarters of Canadians, have one and there is now evidence they are causing real damage to our minds and relationships. We now have decreased attention span (less than a goldfish), brain power and family time. They make it more difficult to daydream and think creatively, make parents ignore their children and are addictive.
According to some estimates, average users look at their smartphones 150 times a day. Our brains, which evolved over tens of thousands of years, just aren't built for the geysers of information that smartphones train at them. Inevitably, we end up paying attention to all kinds of things that aren't valuable or interesting, just because they flash up on our iPhone screens. They are not a harmless vice, but as Eric Andrew-Gee reports, 10 years into the smartphone experiment, we may be reaching a tipping point.
Ira Wells writes on smartphones and the abdication of parental responsibility: "When it comes to the signature parenting issue of our generation – the effect of smartphones on children – we have ceded control to the kids themselves, or to the marketing departments of Silicon Valley corporations."
Over the weekend, two large Apple investors urged the smartphone maker to take steps to address what they say is a growing problem of young people getting addicted to the devices.
The most anticipated books of the first half of 2018
From hot debuts to heralded returns, novels to soon-to-be-dog-eared cookbooks, 2018 is lining up a bumper crop for bibliophiles. Making the list written by Becky Toyne and Julie Van Rosendaal is Sharon Bala's The Boat People about 500 Sri Lankan refugees who reach the shores of British Columbia, only to find that their ordeal is far from over, and Michael Barclay's The Never-ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip.
Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley and SR Slobodian. If you'd like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.