Good evening,
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Michael slams into Florida as Category 4 hurricane
Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle today with potentially catastrophic winds of 155 mph (250 km/h), the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in nearly 50 years. After Michael passes through Florida, it is expected to remain at hurricane force over Georgia and then move to the Carolinas. The weakened storm could pass close to Nova Scotia by Friday, dumping heavy rain on parts of the province, Environment Canada says. Keep up-to-date with the latest information here.
Enbridge pipeline explosion in B.C. may lead to natural gas shortage
The company that distributes natural gas to homes around British Columbia is urging its customers to conserve after the explosion and fire on the pipeline that supplies most of the natural gas handled by Fortis BC. The blast yesterday shut down the Enbridge natural gas pipeline about 15 kilometres northeast of Prince George.
One of the two lines ruptured and exploded but the second line is also shut while it’s being checked for damage, prompting Fortis to warn of “decreased energy flow and potential loss of service.”
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The latest in cannabis: Tobacco giant in talks with Aphria; securities watchdogs raise red flag
U.S. tobacco giant Altria Group is in talks to take an equity stake in Canadian cannabis grower Aphria, multiple sources tell Christina Pellegrini and Marina Strauss (for subscribers). The maker of Marlboro cigarettes is looking at acquiring a minority stake in Aphria, the sources say, with an eye to eventually holding a majority. A deal could take time and talks could still fall through, they add.
Canada’s securities regulators say the cannabis industry has widespread disclosure problems that are getting in the way of investors’ understanding of how to best invest in pot stocks, David Milstead writes (for subscribers). Issues revealed in a Canadian Securities Administrators staff notice today include inadequate information in financial statements. Nearly three-quarters of the companies with U.S. operations failed to provide enough information about the risks of operating in that country, they say. And all of the licensed cannabis producers needed to improve disclosure around the “fair value” of their cannabis plants.
Meanwhile, Canada’s doctors have a message about pot: Just because it will soon be legal, doesn’t mean it’s safe, especially for chronic smokers under the age of 25. Here are nine harm-reduction points to make with your teen about marijuana. And with cannabis becoming legal next week, here’s what you need to know.
More stories like this are available by subscribing to Cannabis Professional, a new e-mail news service from The Globe and Mail written specifically for cannabis industry professionals.
SNC-Lavalin says prosecutors shut door on remediation deal
In a surprising development, SNC-Lavalin said today that Canadian prosecutors have declined to enter into negotiations on a so-called remediation agreement with the company at this time, Nicolas Van Praet writes (for subscribers). Such a deal, if reached, would suspend corruption and fraud charges against the country’s biggest engineering firm and could stay those charges if the company met certain conditions.
Prosecutors laid rare corruption and fraud charges against SNC in February, 2015, alleging it paid millions of dollars worth of bribes to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to secure government contracts. None of the charges have been proven, and a preliminary hearing in the case is now scheduled to start Oct. 22.
Ontario to allow Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets
Ontario plans to allow turban-wearing Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets. The Progressive Conservative government says the helmet exemption will recognize Sikh motorcycle riders’ civil rights and religious expression. Turbaned Sikhs are already exempt from wearing motorcycle helmets in Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia.
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MARKET WATCH
Global stocks were pummeled today amid rising bond yields, renewed tension between China and the United States and concerns that U.S. companies will report compressed profit margins in their coming third-quarter financial results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which hit fresh record highs as recently as last week, fell 831.83 points to 25,598.74. The broader S&P 500 was down 94.66 points at 2,785.68, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 315.97 points to 7,422.05.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 336.65 points to 15,517.40. The dip continues Canada’s underperformance relative to U.S. stocks since Canada agreed last week to a tentative trade deal with the United States and Mexico.
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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
As #WorldMentalHealthDay and #MentalHealthAwarenessDay was trending on social, a new study from the Canadian Medical Association suggests that a significant proportion of this country’s doctors report experiencing burnout, depression and even thoughts of suicide. Results of the online survey completed by 2,547 physicians and 400 medical residents found that rates of burnout and depression were higher among residents than practising physicians and more prevalent among female doctors than their male counterparts.
TALKING POINTS
Those who oppose the carbon tax should reveal their plans to save the planet
“Politicians from the right have found the fight around the environment, and the carbon tax in particular, lucrative ground for them with voters. Premier Doug Ford in Ontario has joined forces with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney in denouncing the federal government’s planned tax on carbon. Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, too. Their lazy, often misleading scare-mongering plays well on the hustings. But it is incredibly misguided and irresponsible given the code-red alarm that has been sounded around the state of the planet.” - Gary Mason
If households are this financially stressed now, how much misery is coming as rates rise?
“It’s early to set financial goals for 2019, but how about this for a financial stress reduction plan: Pay down debt. Credit cards first, then loans, then lines of credit, then mortgages. Highest-rate debt first, in other words. A growing economy is more your enemy than your friend if you owe a lot. Higher borrowing costs cancel out pay increases and job security.” - Rob Carrick
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat cooking show on Netflix is lovely, pure, unfussy nourishment
“Competitive cooking shows are among the most manipulative and irritating in the reality-TV genre. Other food shows are more about narcissism or privilege, thus cheapening the experience for the viewer. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (streaming on Netflix starting Thursday) is blessedly free of pretension or manipulation. It’s a lovely, easygoing and down-to-earth series hosted by New York Times columnist Samin Nosrat and based on her award-winning cookbook of the same name.” - John Doyle
LIVING BETTER
We’re all looking for tips to handle our money better, so we asked six financial advisers to share the strategies of Canada’s wealthiest people: You can extract a high rate of return by tying your money up over the long term, one adviser says. Think real estate, for example, as an alternative to more liquid stocks and bonds: “Liquidity is the most expensive aspect to your portfolio,” he says. Another says the wealthiest clients adopt a business-like strategy: They hate to see their money sitting idle and want it to work at hard as it can. They also pay attention to tax planning, such as strategic selling of investments at a capital loss to offset capital gains on others.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
The Song and The Sorrow probes the life and pain of Gene MacLellan
In the spring of 1972, on the occasion of his first cross-Canada tour, the 34-year-old Gene MacLellan spoke of the nature and burden of a singer-songwriter, Brad Wheeler writes: “I’ve got to bare myself and let people see exactly what I am. And if they don’t like what they see, then maybe I’m in the wrong business.”
Maybe he was. By the summer of 1972, at the top of his game but uncomfortable in the spotlight, MacLellan announced he was leaving the music business because he "wanted to be poor again.” Then, in 1995, having been troubled by bouts of depression his whole life, MacLellan took his own life at age 56.
He was known for composing two of the most memorable songs of his generation: The unlikely singalong gospel hit Put Your Hand in the Hand and Snowbird, made famous by Anne Murray. The latter song had a cheery, rolling melody that belied its darker sentiments; a first verse about flowers that bloomed in spring distracted listeners from the melancholia of the second: "But now I feel such emptiness within/ For the thing that I want most in life’s the thing that I can’t win.”
Longtime Prince Edward Island resident MacLellan is the subject of The Song and the Sorrow, a passion project of P.E.I.’s Millefiore Clarkes that won best Atlantic short documentary at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax last month. The film will open the Rendezvous with Madness Festival in Toronto on today, two days before doing the same at Charlottetown Film Festival.
Debauchery and discovery: What I learned working at Club Med
"Sometimes the work amounted to about 18 hours per day – but I was hooked. This was the greatest adventure of a lifetime. Toga parties and underwear parties were a regular theme, I fashioned my bed sheets in ways I never saw them fit before, jumped around in a disco filled with soapy bubbles in my knickers (sorry, Mum) and danced in shows as a cowgirl one week, as a Parisian showgirl the next or a toothless lumberjack in yet another. It was all part of the package in a Singles Village: I was there to entertain, and entertain, I most certainly did, though never against my will or moral boundaries. ...
“I write this while pregnant with my third child, my mind a million years away from those halcyon days of the past. As a mother with two daughters, I’m often asked if I would permit them to work in an environment of debauchery, excess, incredible beauty and unforgettable adventure? Why, absolutely. In fact, I would say that everyone should try to work at a Club Med, or another all-inclusive, at least once in their life; travel is the best education there is.” - Anna Charlotte Wilson
Evening Update is written by S.R. 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.