Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa, right, delivers the 2017 Ontario budget next to Premier Kathleen Wynne at Queen's Park in Toronto on Thursday April 27, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteNathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ontario budget unveiled
Ontario tabled its budget yesterday, and it was balanced for the first time in a decade. Health care was a major focus point: Starting next year, children and youth up to the age of 24 will have free universal drug coverage; Ontario's health budget is going up by 3.3 per cent; $9-billion will go toward building or fixing up hospitals; $890-million will fund more procedures to help reduce wait times. The Liberals are also pledging to license more daycare spaces, which would open up spots for up to 24,000 more children.
Even with a balanced budget, though, the province still carries a total debt of $332.4-billion. That's something that needs addressing, David Parkinson writes: "The province needs a plan to reverse what has become a chronic debt problem, while its financial conditions are as favourable as they have been in a decade. It has no such plan."
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Trump ready to renegotiate NAFTA
Donald Trump says he was "going to terminate NAFTA" but, after his phone call with Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, he agreed to wait and see "if we can make it a fair deal." (for subscribers) It's not clear whether Trump was really persuaded to let negotiations go ahead, or whether the termination threat was a tactic to gain leverage in talks. Trudeau said he told Trump that both Canada and the U.S. would be negatively affected if an exit happened.
Home Capital shares bounce back, but doubt remains
After seeing its shares fall a staggering 65 per cent on Wednesday, Home Capital's stock shot up 34 per cent yesterday. Canada's biggest alternative mortgage lender, Home Capital gives loans to people who aren't able to get them from traditional banks. But investors who provide the capital for the firm to hand those loans out had been withdrawing their money. Home Capital quelled some concerns about its financial stability by securing a $2-billion credit line from the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, among others. But some analysts aren't reassured, saying it is only a temporary "one- to two-month stopgap." As Andrew Willis puts it: "Investors are simply coming to the conclusion that red-hot real estate markets are bound to cool, and that's going to mean trouble for lenders to higher-risk home buyers." (for subscribers)
Raptors beat Bucks, advance to next round
One round down, three more to go. It was too close for comfort, but the Toronto Raptors held on to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 92-89 in Game 6. With the win, the Raptors advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs, where' they'll play LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto saw its 25-point lead slip away in the third and fourth quarters, but late buckets from Patrick Patterson, Cory Joseph and DeMar DeRozan helped seal the win. The Raptors-Cavaliers series begins on Monday.
NHL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP
Erik Karlsson scored with four minutes to go, and the Ottawa Senators squeezed past the New York Rangers 2-1 to take Game 1. The Sens applied pressure early, but Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was stellar. Ottawa finally got on the board late in the second thanks to a goal by Ryan Dzingel that tied things up. While tickets were going for well over asking price in Edmonton for the Oilers' first game of the second round, the story was much different in Ottawa: There were nearly 2,500 empty seats at the Canadian Tire Centre.
In the other game of the night, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2. Sidney Crosby scored a pair, and Nick Bonino netted the winner to give the Pens a victory on the road to start the series.
MORNING MARKETS
Markets were mixed on Friday as concern about global trade and U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies kept appetite for risky assets in check, setting world stocks on the path to a sluggish end to what will still be their fifth straight month of gains. Tokyo's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng each lost 0.3 per cent, while the Shanghai composite rose 0.1 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2 per cent by about 5:25 a.m. (ET), though Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was below 73.5 cents (U.S.), having slipped as low as 73.17 cents. Oil prices rose but were still on track for a second straight weekly loss.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Ontario's NDP-lite budget sets the table for the next election
"The Wynne government's plan to win again in 2018 is mostly not about competing with the Tories for votes. Beyond eliminating the deficit, the budget doesn't use Tory language. Instead, it's about winning re-election by eating the NDP's lunch. For three years, the Liberals have been implementing austerity-lite, while insisting that they are actually Santa Claus. Now that Ontario's in balance, they're talking more than ever like Saint Nick, but they've finally got more gifts to hand out, to key constituencies: young voters, seniors, lower income Ontarians, the education sector, anyone who cares about health care, and anyone steaming over their hydro bill. The Liberals are shifting from austerity-lite to NDP-lite." – Globe editorial
President Macron: A nightmare for Trumpists, Brexiters, the Kremlin
"For anti-globalists, conservative nationalists, Trumpists, Brexiteers and the Kremlin, this is the nightmare scenario: a successful European Union. The British, as ever, are deeply ambivalent about France, jealous whenever it succeeds while sneering but privately anxious whenever it stumbles. The disaster of a Le Pen victory is now overshadowed by British anxiety that a triumphant Emmanuel Macron, leading a more confident France, will become an obstacle to Theresa May as the British Prime Minister seeks to rescue Brexit with a sweetheart trade deal." – Carl Mortished (for subscribers)
HEALTH PRIMER
If you want to build muscle, start in the kitchen
Building up muscle is tough. But if you do want to beef up beyond a couple pounds, your diet is the place to start. A good formula involves going to the gym three or four times a week, while having a small caloric surplus. To calculate a daily average calorie rate, multiply your weight in pounds by 16.
MOMENT IN TIME
Hal and Joanne hit the CBC
April 28, 1989: Playing a little basketball with friends after a long work week really helps relieve stress. Jogging is fun, but occasionally people develop a cramp in the side called a stitch. Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod conveyed these nuggets of wisdom with such good-natured Canadianness, it might as well have been brand new information to all of us watching Body Break. The couple's mission to promote active, healthy living predated the Internet and its bottomless pit of fitness advice. And on this day, their brief videos featuring upbeat music and low-budget graphics made their debut on the CBC. Each episode was always simple and cheery, incalculably encouraging in its total average-ness. Even if most of Hal and Joanne's messages have been forgotten, one never will be: Keep fit and have fun. – Dave McGinn
Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.
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