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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Trudeau slams Putin, steers clear of criticizing Trump in wake of Helsinki summit
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was careful to duck questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s warm embrace of President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Nova Scotia on Tuesday, but was direct in delivering a sharp rebuke of the Russian president’s aggressive actions on the international stage.
“We condemn Russia and the way Vladimir Putin engages in international affairs,” Trudeau said, referring to the country’s military actions which continue to prop up a murderous regime in Syria, its annexation of Crimea and the alleged poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.
“Canada has always been clear and unequivocal in our condemnation of the actions of Vladimir Putin and Russia.”
Trudeau is currently trying to balance Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S., which has become increasingly strained since the G7 summit when the Prime Minister criticized Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. This act later prompted Trump to publicly denounce Trudeau, and the talks have since been in a stalemate.
Trump reverses stand and says he now accepts that Russia meddled in 2016 election
Trump took a U-turn in his stance on Russian election meddling, facing a wave of condemnation for his apparent acquiescence to Russia’s point of view at the Helsinki summit. Now, the American president says he accepts U.S. intelligence assessments that the Kremlin interfered in the U.S.’s 2016 election. The President’s line of defence against the wide backlash he has received in the wake of the summit was that he misspoke during his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin the previous day, and accidentally said the opposite of what he meant. “I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t,’” Trump said. “That probably clarified things.”
While Washington is upset about the outcome of Trump’s summit meeting with Putin, Moscow is celebrating — and the Russian military says it’s preparing to act on the “agreements” reached between the two presidents in Helsinki.
The summit ended without any official document outlining what the two leaders had achieved, but the Russian military seem to believe that some sort of understanding has been reached, Mark MacKinnon writes. The Ministry of Defence announced today that it stood ready to begin “practical implementation of the agreements in the sphere of international security reached by Russian and U.S. Presidents.”
Reaction in the United States was a mixture of shock and indignation at the deference Trump showed to Putin, but the response in Europe was more fearful in tone. Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt said that by not pressing Putin on issues like Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its intervention in Syria, or its meddling in Western elections, Trump was effectively giving the Kremlin boss carte blanche to keep behaving on the same manner. “Any reasonable Kremlin interpretation would be that Russia can go on pursuing its policies without significant White House objection,” he wrote in an editorial for the Washington Post.
Mistaken for an illegal immigrant, Canadian sues after eight-month ordeal
The lawyers of Olajide Ogunye - a Canadian citizen who was wrongfully arrested back in June after being mistaken as a failed refugee claimant who was deported in 1994 - say their client’s ordeal points to deep flaws in the immigration enforcement system in Canada. Despite having government-issued identity documents, including a recently updated passport, and two people to vouch for his identity, Ogunye was repeatedly told at review hearings he had presented “no evidence” of his claim to be a Canadian. The Nigerian-born man is now suing the Canadian government for $12.5-million for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breaches of his constitutional rights. But above all, his lawyers say, his case shows how those who decide whether individuals are detained or set free tend to take the Canadian Border Service Agency’s allegations at face value.
Report offers ways for Canada to meet land, waters conservation commitments
A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has made suggestions on how Canada can achieve its international commitment to protect 17 per cent of its land and waters by 2020. This promise was made at the meeting of 194 countries in Japan in 2010, and it would now require Canada to declare an area approximately the size of Alberta to be off-limits for development. CPAWS said in order to achieve our goals, as Canada currently only protects 10.5 per cent of our land and fresh water, the country will need to take specific commitments on the part of Ottawa and the provinces and territories. The unfulfilled conservation promises, the report warned, are vital for safeguarding the biodiversity in nature. Canada has already seen half of all its animal populations decline by an average of 83 per cent between 1970 and 2014.
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MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index rose on Tuesday, boosted by consumer discretionary, mining and commodity stocks. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 24.51 points at 16,519.24.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks gained as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell conveyed an optimistic view of the U.S. economy even as the Trump administration is locked in trade battles with a number of countries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22 per cent to 25,119.89, the S&P 500 gained 0.40 per cent to 2,809.55 and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.63 per cent to 7,855.12.
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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
Ten contenders were named today to the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize, the $50,000 award that goes to the best album from a Canadian artist or band. Performers singing in at least five languages are among this year’s diverse selection of nominees, which include Antisocialites from pop band Alvvays and Freudian by R&B singer Daniel Caesar.
TALKING POINTS
America has no choice but to impeach Trump now
“If indeed Congress lacks the moral fortitude to pursue impeachment, they deserve to be judged as harshly as he. And if the country as a whole cannot weather the fallout from some disgruntled Trump hardliners, it scarcely merits status as a liberal democracy.” - Mark Kingwell, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto
In finally accepting homosexuality, India will return to its roots
“The emotion was palpable as the judges were told that the petitioners had lost many years to fear, years that could not be relived. But at least the Court could ensure that the next generation of homosexuals could live their lives in full.” - Amrit Dhillon, a New Delhi-based journalist
Meat industry must prepare for the conscientious carnivore
“But things are getting a little more complicated. As a result, the meat industry will need to befriend the plant-based movement in some way. It is no longer about one choice over another, but rather selecting ingredients that can co-exist and be appreciated by the marketplace.” - Sylvain Charlebois, professor of food distribution and policy, faculties of management and agriculture, Dalhousie University
LIVING BETTER
My husband always reloads the dishwasher after I do it, Lucy Waverman writes. I think I load a dishwasher correctly, but after perusing advice online and reading my own machine’s manual, I realize neither of us does it right. Here’s how to get the most out of your dishwasher. First off, don’t bother rinsing your dishes - just scrape them off and load. But do remove clumps of food that are larger than a dime as they can clog the drain. Make sure that mugs, bowls and pots are facing down so that the water will flow out, but don’t hang them on the spokes — place between them, otherwise they bounce around. Knives should be loaded handle up to prevent cutting yourself, but forks and spoons go handle down for more efficient cleaning.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Radiohead’s return to Toronto: Why they’re still angry about the fatal stage collapse that nearly caused them to call it quits
This week, Radiohead is set to return to Toronto for the first time since the 2012 accident at Downsview Park that killed their drum technician, Scott Johnson. On the eve of their North American tour, members of the band and their crew spoke to The Globe and Mail about how the events of that day and the failure to reach a verdict has affected them, sharing intimate thoughts and memories and admitting for the first time they considered packing it in following Johnson’s death. But more than a memorial, the members of Radiohead and Johnson’s family say they want answers. And though a coroner’s inquest into the death is due some time later in 2018, they’re still angry at a flawed judicial system that failed their tour brethren and frustrated that those involved are not helping to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Ammonopoly: General Dynamics’ sweet deal to supply Canada’s ammunition
Every year, the Canadian government buys a whole lot of ammunition – the total annual cost of that ammo to the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, and our corrections and fisheries officers is more than $160-million, Matthew McClearn writes. But while the government is obligated to invite competing bids for most procurement activities, when it comes to bullets, there’s only one shop in town: global aerospace and defence giant General Dynamics, based in Fairfax County, Va. A 1,450-employee subsidiary known as General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) Canada manufactures most of those bullets at three plants in Quebec, all of which were once federally owned. Right now, General Dynamics has a sweet deal: In return for ensuring we have a made-in-Canada supplier in the event of war, the government pays GD-OTS Canada a fee of more than $70-million per year — in addition to the cost of any ammunition we buy.
Evening Update is written by S.R. Slobodian, Johanna Chisholm and Omair Quadri. 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.