Replacement pipe is stored near crude oil storage tanks at Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline terminal in Kamloops, B.C., in this file photo.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
B.C. moves to block Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
British Columbia's NDP government is moving to block the expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline with new oil-spill regulations that would prohibit companies from expanding shipments of diluted bitumen from the oil sands through the province until it can review oil-spill response capabilities. The province will establish a scientific advisory committee to determine whether diluted bitumen can be effectively cleaned up after being spilled in water. Until that committee reports, the government will impose regulations prohibiting any expansion, either by pipeline or rail, of heavy oil sands crude. (for subscribers)
The expansion project could bring billions in new revenue, but it could also mean an increase in coast-to-port tanker traffic, and with that, an increased risk of oil spills. We followed a tanker as it threads the needle from Burnaby to the open ocean.
Vic Fedeli will not seek leadership of Ontario PCs
Vic Fedeli said Tuesday is bowing out of the party's leadership race, just four days after Tory MPPs named him interim leader and recommended he carry the party into the June 7 provincial elections. He fully intended to seek the leadership, but said he has changed his mind after just a few days on the Opposition Leader's Office.
On Monday, Doug Ford entered the race to succeed Patrick Brown as party leader, but as Adam Radwanski writes Mr. Ford as leader is a nightmare for many Ontario PCs, but there's a silver lining: "By becoming the first outside candidate to announce his bid to replace Patrick Brown, Mr. Ford may have done the Tories a favour. That is, if it snaps them out of the bizarre, self-destructive state they have been in since sexual-misconduct allegations forced Mr. Brown's sudden departure last week, and if it gets them focused on the task at hand."
Halifax council votes to remove controversial Cornwallis statue
The city council voted 12-4 to remove the statue of Edward Cornwallis, a British military officer who founded the city and also infamously issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi'kmaqs. An exact date for the removal hasn't been set, but the statue will be placed in storage until a decision is made on its long-term fate. That decision appears likely to include input from Mi'kmaq leaders. Council's motion included a measure to re-engage Mi'kmaq leaders in the city's ongoing discussion about how to commemorate Cornwallis appropriately while acknowledging the atrocities he committed against indigenous people.
Elizabeth Renzetti writes that who we choose to remember – and who we let history forget – defines us: "If we're at a place where individual heroism outweighs political power and military domination in the scale of what we honour, that is. And if we decide to think again about who we should honour. There are a lot of worthy ghosts who could be brought back to life." (for subscribers)
Shaw Communications offers buyouts, expects to cut about 650 jobs
The company is offering voluntary severance packages to employees in the midst of what it is calling a "total business transformation" aimed at reducing operating costs as more subscribers go online for customer support. It has offered buyouts to 6,500 employees of both Shaw and its Freedom Mobile wireless business and expects about 10 per cent of those workers to accept the offer.
Blackstone talks with Thomson Reuters highlight cutthroat battle for financial data
With a reported deal to snap up a majority stake in Thomson Reuters Corp.'s financial and risk division, the U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group is entering the scrap against Bloomberg for space on the desks at banks, trading houses and hedge funds at a time when their spending is uncertain. At a reported $20-billion (U.S.) valuation, the acquisition of 55 per cent of the division would be worth a little more than what Canada's Thomson Corp. paid for all of venerable Reuters PLC in a deal that shook up the industry landscape in 2008.
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MARKET WATCH
Canada's main stock index ended lower on Tuesday, hitting its lowest level in more than seven weeks as the falling price of oil pulled shares of energy companies down for the second day in a row. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 0.86 per cent to finish at 15,955.51. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks fell for the second straight day as healthcare stocks and rising bond yields weighed on all three major U.S. indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.37 per cent to close at 26,077.65, the S&P 500 lost 1.09 per cent to end at 2,822.47 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.86 per cent to finish at 7,402.48. (For subscribers)
WHAT'S TRENDING
Dr. Oetker, the German company known for its frozen pizza, is closing its factory in Grand Falls, N.B., eliminating 180 jobs in the process. Most of the production will move to a factory in London, Ont. Grand Falls Mayor Marcel Deschenes said in an interview that "it's not good news for the community and it's not good news for the employees that are losing their job." He also called the move a "slap in the face."
TALKING POINTS
How B.C. turned car insurance into a 'dumpster fire'
"It has the makings of a nice little political scandal. There is abundant evidence to suggest that while the Liberals were siphoning more than $1-billion out of ICBC's reserves to make their own books look better, they were consciously ignoring a looming crisis at the Crown corporation. Costs were far outstripping revenues. Instead of allowing an independent utilities commission to set rates that might cover costs, as was done for years, the Liberals effectively took control over this area for purely political reasons and imposed hard limits on how much those increases could be. As it turned out, they weren't nearly enough." — Gary Mason
Colten Boushie's family should be upset: Our jury selection procedure is not fair
"Although it would be wrong to presume that the jury is incapable of deciding the case on the basis of the evidence during the scheduled three-week trial, Mr. Boushie's relatives are right that the deck is stacked against Indigenous people in Canada when it comes to jury selection. That is a big problem that we have known about for decades." — Kent Roach
State of the President: U.S. will discover whether Trump can listen, learn and change
"In his first State of the Union, U.S. President Donald Trump will stand at the rostrum of the chamber of the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening and address a Congress that cannot fund the nation's business for more than a few weeks, party allies who are distrustful if not disdainful of their leader, rivals who deplore his comportment and his viewpoints, and a nation bewildered over its leaders' inability to get along, go along, or move along." — David Shribman
LIVING BETTER
The provinces outside Quebec are expecting to save as much as $3-billion over five years after generic-drug makers agreed to cut the prices of dozens of popular medications in exchange for a promise that no jurisdiction will move to a system of public tendering for its drugs. The deal sets prices of the top-selling generic drugs in Canada at either 10 or 18 per cent of the brand-name price. However, one professor said the deal won't drive down prices as much as public tendering would in the long run.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Ottawa may be neglecting its best bet for ending drinking-water advisories: training operators
The federal government has promised to eliminate all drinking-water advisories, which occur on many First Nations reserves across the country. New research has discovered that water systems on reserves operated by people lacking adequate training are more likely to experience advisories that last longer. As Matthew McClearn reports, supporting efforts to train operators may be the best bet to end advisories. And, some critics argue, this regulatory gap is among the most significant obstacles to further progress.
A Canadian genius in Silicon Valley is leading the race to launch the driverless car
Born in Richmond, B.C. and educated at the University of Manitoba and Carnegie Melon, Chris Urmson is a robotics wunderkind. When he quit his job as head of Google's self-driving car unit in August 2016, major publications like The New York Times and The Atlantic speculated what he may do next. He and two other top engineers from Tesla and Uber started their own company to develop self-driving cars. The company has been operating in stealth mode since its launch late in 2016 and after months of trying to score an interview, we were finally able to speak to them. They won't give many details about their technology, but Mr. Urmson is clear about what's driving him. He says we've spent years working around the least reliable part of the car (the driver) to make it safer. Now, he wants to solve the problem.
Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley, Mayaz Alam and Kristene Quan. 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.