Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
On the election campaign trail: Trudeau says he played no role in deal to republish memoir in China
The Conservative Party is asking Canada’s federal ethics watchdog to reveal whether it scrutinized a 2016 deal in which a Chinese state-owned publishing house republished Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s memoirs under the title The Legend Continues.
The move comes after a Globe report that Trudeau’s Canadian publisher struck a deal in the first year after the Liberal government took office for the publishing house to republish the prime minister’s memoir, Common Ground, for Chinese readers.
On the campaign trail today, Trudeau distanced himself from the book deal and declined to explicitly say whether the ethics commissioner okayed the China book deal. “All the handling of the international editions of my book was done entirely by the publisher,” he said. “ ... I have nothing to do with where it gets translated or sold.”
Opinion divided on the People’s Party of Canada and Leader Maxime Bernier
“The People’s Party of Canada is a legitimate political party that deserves representation,” John Ibbitson writes. “It reflects the views of almost two million voters. Suppressing the voices of those voters will only worsen their estrangement from the mainstream.”
Gary Mason argues: “Bernier is out there promoting the kind of nonsense that is fuelling anti-vaxxer rage and making the jobs of governments trying to tame the fourth wave that much harder. This will be the PPC leader’s greatest legacy and his greatest shame.”
On today’s episode of The Decibel podcast: How the federal parties plan to make life more affordable
Read more:
- Who really speaks for Quebec, and what are they saying? - Globe editorial
- It’s time for the NDP and the Bloc to tell us what their minority bottom line is - Campbell Clark
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The latest COVID-19 developments: Ontario’s vaccine passport enforcement, Alberta’s reopening plan regret, plus more
Ontario has issued guidance for businesses that will soon have to enforce its new COVID-19 vaccine passport system. Starting Wednesday next week, patrons will need to show proof of full vaccination and a piece of ID to enter places including restaurants, theatres and gyms. Separately, a science advisory group says tens of thousands of people in Ontario are experiencing post-COVID-19 symptoms that can last weeks to months after contracting the virus.
Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Deena Hinshaw, says the province’s “Open For Summer” plan set the trajectory for a crushing fourth wave of COVID-19. She told a conference call with doctors yesterday that lifting all restrictions in July was the wrong move.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ditching vaccine passports, mandatory face mask rules and work-from-home regulations in England, and will instead rely mainly on vaccinations to get the country through the winter months.
Opinion: Will the COVID-19 pandemic become endemic? - André Picard
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
RIP Norm Macdonald: Canadian-born comedian Norm Macdonald, best known for his time on Saturday Night live, has died after a private battle with cancer at 61.
Verdict in the O’Leary trial: Linda O’Leary, wife of celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary, has been found not guilty of careless operation of a vessel in a boat crash that killed two people and injured three others in central Ontario two years ago.
Two TIFF movies leak on pirate websites: Two of Netflix’s most-prized 2021 festival movies - The Power of the Dog and The Guilty - have leaked online after making their debut as part of the at-home digital offerings of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Olympic medallist’s B-sample tests positive: British Olympic 4x100m relay silver medallist Chijindu Ujah’s B-sample has confirmed the presence of prohibited substances and his case will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If his provisional ban is upheld, Canada would be upgraded to silver and China would receive bronze.
Apple’s reveal: Apple has unveiled a new iPhone 13 and 13 Mini with brighter screens to entice customers into 5G plans, while also announcing updates to its iPads and watches.
MARKET WATCH
Stocks lost ground today as economic uncertainties and the increasing likelihood of a U.S. corporate tax rate hike dampened investor sentiment and offset signs of easing inflation in the world’s biggest economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 292.06 points or 0.84 per cent to 34,577.57, the S&P 500 lost 25.68 points or 0.57 per cent to end at 4,443.05 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 67.82 points or 0.45 per cent to 15,037.76.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 113.16 points or 0.55 per cent to 20,553.25.
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TALKING POINTS
Norway’s election thrust climate to the political forefront and brought in the centre-left. Taste of elections to come?
“The election result – the swing to the left partly propelled by heightened environmental awareness – signalled that climate issues are entering the political mainstream, at least in Western Europe, and are less divisive than they used to be. Canada is not quite there yet, but give it time.” - Eric Reguly
I’m tired of kindness gaslighting
“I’m going to say something I never thought I’d hear myself say: Please stop talking about ‘kindness.’ If you’re a politician, medical expert or government official enacting or defending plans that have resulted in thousands of people getting unnecessarily sick and dying, you have no right to talk about it.” Jillian Horton, physician and author
LIVING BETTER
City Space, a new podcast from The Globe and Mail about how to make our cities better, is coming soon. Join host Adrian Lee over the course of six episodes as he speaks with global experts and those close to home as we learn what our cities are doing right and what we’re missing.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Three-year-old Afghan boy reunited with his father in Toronto after two weeks alone in Qatar
Sharif hugs his son Ali at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. The pair was reunited after spending two years apart. The Globe is not using their real names to protect family members in Afghanistan.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Ali got through his 14-hour flight to Toronto using the same coping mechanisms as three-year-olds everywhere: scribbling in colouring books and watching favourite movies. On this trek, he watched Cars 3 over and over.
But the reason for his journey was far from routine. The boy was reunited with his father in Ontario for the first time in two years. He had been stranded alone for more than two weeks in an orphanage in Qatar after narrowly escaping a suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport that killed at least 169 Afghan people and 13 U.S. soldiers.
Ali, for whom The Globe and Mail is using a pseudonym to protect his family in Afghanistan, would never have been evacuated were it not for a 17-year-old who shepherded him away from the chaos during the airport explosion, according to a statement from the Qatari foreign ministry.
Ali’s father Sharif had been trying to find out what happened to his son after the child was separated from his family. Minutes after embracing his child, he relayed through an interpreter that he had no words to convey his joy. Read Mike Hager and Mark MacKinnon’s full story here.
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