Evening Update: Conservatives call for criminal investigation into cancelled WE Charity contract

Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

WE Charity questions continue

Now what? The Conservative Party is calling for a criminal investigation into the awarding of the now-cancelled WE Charity contract and will be asking the RCMP to launch the probe on Friday.

How did we get here? Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would award the charity a contract to run a $900-million program to pay students for volunteer work. The contract was cancelled after questions of conflict of interest came up. WE has since confirmed the PM’s wife, mother and brother had all been paid for their participation in the charity’s events.

Some context: That information contradicts previous comments made by the Prime Minister’s Office to The Globe and Mail and a statement from WE Charity to the Canadaland online news outlet. The PM did not recuse himself from the discussion or the decision to award WE Charity the contract. This is thePM’s third ethics investigation.

The Globe Editorial Board wrote that the contract was troubling from the start, while John Ibbitson writes that repeated scandals can’t shake the Liberal Party’s entrenched sense of entitlement.

Supreme Court rules genetic non-discrimination law is constitutional

In a 5-4 decision, the Court has upheld a federal law that forbids companies from making people undergo genetic testing before buying insurance or other services.

The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act also outlaws the practice of requiring the disclosure of existing genetic test results as a condition for obtaining such services or entering into a contract.

Pandemic-related news:

In Thunder Bay, Indigenous and non-Indigenous teens are adapting a mentorship program to pandemic restrictions. The Regional Multicultural Youth Council has brought Indigenous and non-Indigenous high-school students together to build relationships, act as peer mentors and fight social issues, especially racism.

Moffat Makuto and his wife, Siu Lan saved the centre from closing last year. He is executive director of the Multicultural Association of Northwestern Ontario, which is the council’s parent organization.

Usually providing an after-school program and meal service, he has organized food delivery and members are working to develop and plant greenhouses at the high school as another way to improve food security in the region, while also maintaining physical distance.

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Also read:

• Canada’s economy adds record 953,000 jobs in June; unemployment rate falls
• Delayed surgeries and diagnoses in Alberta seen as a potentially deadly postpandemic complication
• Quebec town makes mask-wearing mandatory inside all commercial businesses after COVID-19 outbreak

Opinion:

• How COVID-19 has changed the way we eat (Gina Rae La Cerva)
• There’s a vaccine on the way: Let the persuasion begin (Elizabeth Renzetti)
• We can get children back to school full-time, if we put the right strategy in place (Amy Greer, Nisha Thampi, Ashleigh Tuite)

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

More than 40 per cent of Alberta doctors have considered leaving province, survey suggests: The Alberta Medical Association blames the potential exodus on the United Conservative Party government’s announced changes to how doctors are paid.

Search continues after Amber Alert issued for two missing Quebec girls, their father: Quebec provincial police spokeswoman Audrey-Anne Bilodeau said Friday police aren’t ruling out anything in their search for Norah and Romy Carpentier, and their father, Martin Carpentier.

Where superfans stand on the return of sports: We canvassed superfans across Canada to hear how they feel about the return of sports, and what it might take for them to go back to the stadiums to cheer on their teams in person.

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.

MARKET WATCH

The S&P 500 climbed 1%, and the biggest gains came from cruise ship operators, airlines, banks and other companies that most need the economy to continue to reopen and strengthen. The TSX wasn’t far behind, with a 0.93% gain, with sentiment on the domestic front getting a further boost from a better-than-expected jobs report, as a record-setting 953,000 people regained employment in June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 369.21 points, or 1.4%, to 26,075.30. The Nasdaq composite added 69.69, or 0.7%, to 10,617.44, a new high. The S&P 500 rose 32.99 to 3,185.04.

In the U.S., analysts said an encouraging report from Gilead Sciences about its investigational treatment of COVID-19, remdesivir, helped drive Friday’s rebound.

TALKING POINTS

How to end the impunity that infects policing

Donna Yawching: “But getting rid of police impunity can be done almost instantly. Announce the policy, and implement it without delay. Change will swiftly follow.”

The Greatest Outdoor Show didn’t go on, but the Calgary Stampede’s spirit will

Sheenah Rogers-Pfeiffer: “With no surprise, Calgary has stepped up – and in cowboy boots no less – to show the world how it’s done. The Stampede may have finally been forced to take a pause, but its spirit will not die.” Rogers-Pfeiffer is the founder and CEO of the marketing and communications firm Anstice.

It’s a turbulent time for U.S. Catholics as the election draws near

Michael W. Higgin: “Archbishop Vigano’s elaborate conspiracy theory dressed up with biblical urgency may just help to ensure that vote by appealing to the same qualities that define the Trump presidency” Higgins is interim president of St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi Colleges at the University of British Columbia.

LIVING BETTER

Home and away: In the third edition of The Globe’s annual Canadian travel guide, we celebrate our diverse cultural and natural heritage, from the country’s tall-tree capital to its longest-running archeological dig.

Even if the only trip you take this year is a virtual one, there’s plenty to explore in our country, from castles that fill entire islands to urban art in a rural setting.

The 2020 edition of Hidden Canada celebrates gems from Vancouver Island to eastern Labrador, plus a party city in the Yukon.

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TODAY’S LONG READ

Analysis: Awash in debt, Ottawa cuts loose its fiscal anchor

After the fiscal update and this year’s record-setting deficit, Ottawa is far adrift from the anchor it has used to reassure Canadians and markets about its long-term goals for public debt.

Under the Liberals’ fiscal anchor, the government could run deficits indefinitely, so long as the economy grew fast enough to keep those debts manageable, around 30 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

The Liberal government’s track record on delivering on its fiscal goals is spotty, writes Patrick Brethour in his column Tax and Spend. Stability could come in three ways, but the lack of visibility is already raising concerns in markets.

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Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. 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.