Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Battle lines were drawn today as thousands of education support staff across Ontario, represented by CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, walked off the job, while the provincial government followed through on an application to stop the job action.
Protesters waved placards outside Queen’s Park, while others protested outside Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s office in Vaughan, Ont.
Using the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, Ontario stripped the union of its right to strike in an attempt to avoid disrupting classrooms. Many schools, however, were closed today, and more than a million students stayed home.
- Marcus Gee: Ontario’s trampling of worker rights damages our democracy
- Podcast: The Decibel: School staff walk out to protest new Ontario legislation
- Read also: CUPE’s initial wage ask ambitious but expected when inflation is considered, labour relations experts say
- Opinion: Our children are in crisis. School closures will make things worse
- Opinion: Educational assistants make it possible for children to learn. For that, they deserve a living wage
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Young Ukrainians’ hearts harden against friends who have left the country they hope to one day rebuild
As the war in Ukraine drags into its ninth month, there’s a sense of resignation, sometimes anger, toward the many young people who left the country. There’s a concern that they won’t return, leaving the country with a massive loss of talent just when it’s needed most.
Paul Waldie reports on the resentment among young Ukrainians who feel they are enduring the constant threat of Russian attack while their friends now live abroad in relative calm.
Meanwhile, in the latest sign of Russia’s retreat in one of the most bitterly contested areas in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
Earlier this week, Moscow announced an evacuation zone including a 15-kilometre buffer area along the Dinpro River. But Putin’s comments seem to be the first time he’s endorsed the evacuations personally.
Canada’s economy added 108,000 jobs in October, blowing past expectations in show of resilience
The Canadian economy bounced back in October, more than recouping the jobs lost during a summer lull. Employment jumped by 108,000 in October, far exceeding the 10,000 that analysts expected. The recent uptick has taken total employment to an all-time high. Job creation was entirely in full-positions and mostly in the private sector. Total hours worked rose 0.7 per cent, an early sign that economic growth will remain positive in the fourth quarter. The unemployment rate, at 5.2 per cent, is near the lowest in nearly five decades of comparable data.
These jobs figures paint a different picture than what was shown in the fall economic statement, released yesterday, which warned of a “downside scenario” in which inflation remains stubbornly high, forcing central bankers to raise interest rates even more, thereby sending the Canadian economy into a “mild recession” in the early stages of 2023.
- Read also: Freeland’s economic update warns of 2023 recession, announces new tax on corporate share buybacks
- Campbell Clark: A money-spending Liberal version of restraint, with bigger choices coming soon
How can Biden stop the squeeze?
If the polls are correct, Republicans could gain control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterms and may also take the Senate. If this were to happen, it would block the rest of President Biden’s social policy agenda, including strengthening health care coverage, instituting paid parental leave and codifying abortion rights. Biden will likely have to rely more on executive orders and turn to areas where he can act independently of Congress. Adrian Morrow reports.
The midterms are a referendum on former President Trump’s brand of politics, with its culture-war rallying cries and its willingness to deny ballot outcomes. Trump has endorsed a wide slate of candidates in house and senate races, and those particular races are being closely watched as an indicator of his political future. Nathan VanderKlippe reports.
- David Shribman: How economic worries could drive crucial women voters to the Republicans in the midterms
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Tamara Lich disputes knowledge about Ottawa convoy protests during contradictory Emergencies Act inquiry testimony
Convoy leader Tamara Lich, during questioning at the Emergencies Act inquiry, contradicted documented evidence and maintained she was never told that she needed to leave Ottawa or that the protests were illegal. Lich claimed that she didn’t oppose a court injunction against honking, despite swearing an affidavit arguing against the injunction. She also maintained that she would have followed a court injunction directing the protesters to leave despite not following a previous one on honking. And she said her repeated messages to “hold the line” didn’t mean protesters should stay in Ottawa but rather to stay “true to your values.”
Supreme Court finds conditional sentence curbs are constitutional in Indigenous case
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutionality of provisions that prevent an offender from avoiding jail by serving their sentence in the community, finding no evidence they had a disproportionate effect on Indigenous people.
MARKET WATCH
Stocks rally as oil jumps after strong jobs reports
U.S. stocks closed higher in volatile trading to snap a four-session losing streak as investors wrestled with a mixed jobs report and comments from Federal Reserve officials on the pace of interest rate hikes. The Canadian stock market largely followed in its path, as investors here also took in a surprisingly strong domestic employment report that helped send the loonie to its biggest gain against the greenback in 12 years.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 208.59 points, or 1.1%, at 19,449.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 401.97 points, or 1.26%, to 32,403.22, the S&P 500 gained 50.66 points, or 1.36%, to 3,770.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 132.31 points, or 1.28%, to 10,475.25.
The loonie was trading at 74.13 cents (U.S.) up 1.42 cents.
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TALKING POINTS
The bullies are taking over our politics and our culture
Marsha Lederman: “It shouldn’t be a surprise, I suppose, that this culture of meanness has infected the hallowed halls of governance, given that that’s where it got its big boost, south of the border.”
The Liberals could do more to fight inflation, but at least they’re not making things worse
Editorial: “The deficit is going from pandemic mega-sized to relatively small and shrinking, and the fall economic statement – which is light on new spending, new tax cuts or new taxes – does not change that.”
Why does RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki still have her job?
Robyn Urback: “She remains useful to the Liberals as a diversionary figure: someone who deflects negative attention away from Mr. Blair, and on herself for allowing the force to be influenced.”
LIVING BETTER
Matthew Perry on fame, addiction and his harrowing memoir
Barry Hertz speaks with the Canadian-born Friends star on his new memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, a raw, unflinching, but also big-hearted look at one man’s personal hell.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Canadians are not getting enough sleep — and that’s a big problem
That groggy, bleary-eyed zombie staring back at you in the mirror – that’s you. And it’s many Canadians. Studies are showing that we are a sleep-deprived people. And the stress and upheaval of COVID played even more havoc with our rest. Gayle MacDonald reports on the effects – medical, social and economic – and relates what the experts are saying.
- Read also: Your questions about how to sleep well, answered
- The Strategist: How to buy your perfect mattress
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