Former Ontario PC Party leader Patrick Brown leaves the Party's Head Offices in Toronto on Feb. 20, 2018.Chris Young
Good evening,
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Patrick Brown drops out of Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race
Patrick Brown, the former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, has dropped his bid to reclaim his role. He resigned in late January, after which the party triggered a leadership race to find his replacement; 10 days ago, Mr. Brown entered contest. The party, which will decide its new leader on March 10, will now decide between Tanya Granic Allen, Christine Elliott, Doug Ford and Caroline Mulroney.
Mr. Brown is the subject of an inquiry by Integrity Commissioner David Wake. The province's integrity watchdog is looking at Mr. Brown's financial affairs after PC MPP Randy Hillier filed a complaint. Mr. Hillier cites, among other things, a Globe and Mail report that Mr. Brown discussed a $375,000 deal a few years ago with a future PC candidate.
Six things to watch in tomorrow's federal budget
The governing Liberals are set to table their third budget tomorrow and face an economic and political backdrop that is wildly different than it was a few months ago. Although the country's economy continues to grow at a solid pace and unemployment remains low, changes to U.S. tax law and trade policies have affected Canada's competitive advantage. Six things to watch when the news comes out tomorrow afternoon: the deficit, gender equality, parental leave, innovation, small business tax reform and the future of the newspaper industry.
MEC faces calls to drop outdoor brands owned by U.S. gun manufacturer
Mountain Equipment Co-op's senior management was meeting Monday following a social media outcry after consumers connected some of the brands sold in store to a major U.S. ammunition and gun manufacturer. The Vancouver-based outdoor apparel and goods retailer sells Vista Outdoor Inc.-owned brands, including Giro, Camelbak and Blackburn.
Vista also designs, develops and manufactures ammunition, long guns and related equipment, according to its website. A Change.org petition calls on the retailer to stop carrying the Vista brands.
Boko Haram kidnapping of 110 Nigerian schoolgirls recalls Chibok crisis
Four years ago, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram from Chibok, Nigeria. Last week, when 110 schoolgirls were captured in Dapchi by the same militant extremists. a new national crisis emerged, with anger being directed at the government and the military. Confusion followed in the days following the Feb. 19 kidnapping, The Globe and Mail's Geoffrey York reports, and the government was slow to react once again, albeit it did so more quickly than in Chibok.
This is the daily Evening Update newsletter, a roundup of the important stories of the day and what everyone is talking about that will be delivered to your inbox every weekday around 5 p.m. ET. If you're reading this online, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Evening Update and all Globe newsletters here. Have feedback? Let us know what you think.
Help The Globe monitor political ads on Facebook: During an election campaign, you can expect to see a lot of political ads. But Facebook ads, unlike traditional media, can be targeted to specific users and only be seen by certain subsets of users, making the ads almost impossible to track. The Globe and Mail wants to report on how these ads are used, but we need to see the same ads Facebook users are seeing. Here is how you can help.
MARKET WATCH
Canada's main stock index reached a three-week high, as gains in prices of commodities such as gold and silver boosted share prices of mining companies. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 76.21 points to 15,714.66. U.S. stocks rose to more than three-week highs, with major indexes rising more than 1 per cent, as a decline in Treasury debt yields assuaged investors' concerns about rising interest rates and refocused attention on economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 399.01 points to 25,709, the S&P 500 gained 32.3 points to 2,779.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 84.07 points to 7,421.46.
Got a news tip that you'd like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.
WHAT'S TRENDING
Loblaw Co. has signed a deal to allow its customers in the Greater Toronto Area to pick up orders at GO Transit station. The service will begin at five select stations: Bronte, Oakville, Rouge Hill, Whitby and Clarkson, but the company says it has plans to move forward with expanded service.
TALKING POINTS
The double standard of driving while black – in Canada
"The black community's relationship with the police in this country has been well-documented and much written about: If you are a person of colour in Canada, you experience a profoundly different – and sometimes troubling – relationship with the law. When we hear about incidents involving people of colour and the police, or other enforcement agencies, they seem to mostly involve black men – my father and husband included. But this is not an experience limited to men, as I have personally come to understand. For the third time in eight months, I was being questioned by a police officer – and I had broken no law." – Marci Ien
The Liberals' new paternity leave is classic paternalism
"Despite the spread of paternity leave, the issue of work-life accommodations for families remains a tremendous challenge, especially for women. But the social engineers in Ottawa are missing the boat. They persist in believing that they can re-engineer human nature so that men and women will behave alike. Along the way they make a lot of assumptions that are deeply demeaning to many women's values and choices. In the teeth of all the evidence, they assume that women's work preferences are innately the same as men's – or would be, if they had the chance. They can't imagine that a large number of women – even in the world's most advanced nations – actually like working less while the kids are young, while a great many men – despite the fact that they love their children deeply – would rather express that love by working extra hours than by changing diapers." – Margaret Wente
Shoot for the moon: Why Canada must become a leader in space
"Canada has been a leader in niche space technologies such as robotics, remote sensing and communications, and is becoming a leader in relevant emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. We, as Canadians, have all the ingredients to be a force on the new frontier of space, but to do so requires the political will to make the long-term commitments this requires." – Ewan Reid
LIVING BETTER
Take a breath, and hold it in. Oxygen is a necessary component of life but limiting its intake can have its benefits while exercising, including improving performance. The idea, as fitness expert Alex Hutchinson explains, is that by holding your breath while training your body is forced to adjust to the limited amount of oxygen. As a result, when you compete with normal air intake you will have an added boost.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Goodbye, Pyeongchang: Three Olympic moments we won't forget
The Winter Games may be over, but, for many, the memories will last a lifetime. From political manouevring to national upsets to accidental encounters, Nathan VanderKlippe, Grant Robertson and Cathal Kelly recall the iconic stories that defined their experience at Pyeongchang 2018.
Tina Fontaine's legacy: Justice will come 'from all of us'
Last week, Raymond Cormier was acquitted of second-degree murder charges in the death of Indigenous teenager Tina Fontaine, whose body was pulled from Winnipeg's Red River. Although her death made clear that there was an urgent need to conduct an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, her case remains unsolved, leaving her family searching for answers.
Evening Update is written by Mayaz Alam 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.