Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
WestJet slashing service to Eastern Canada as pandemic restrictions make markets ‘unviable’
WestJet Airlines is suspending most flights in Eastern Canada on Nov. 2, as the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions render these markets “unviable.”
The carrier says it will lay off 100 employees as it halts all flights to and from Moncton, Fredericton, Sydney, Charlottetown and Quebec City next month, eliminating more than 100 weekly flights or 80 per cent of seat capacity to Atlantic Canada.
The route suspensions, which are indefinite, include Halifax-Sydney, Halifax-Ottawa, Moncton-Toronto, Fredericton-Toronto, Charlottetown-Toronto, St. John’s-Toronto and Quebec City-Toronto. WestJet’s only remaining services to Eastern Canada will be flights to Halifax from Calgary, St John’s or Toronto.
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Lobster catch destroyed, vehicle burned as tension rises over Indigenous fishery in Nova Scotia
An angry crowd of non-Indigenous people surrounded and damaged lobster pounds holding the catch of a Mi’kmaq First Nation last night as tensions rose over the fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia.
RCMP confirmed in a news release that about 200 people were present at two incidents outside lobster facilities in southwestern Nova Scotia, during which employees were prevented from leaving, rocks were thrown and a vehicle was set on fire.
Chief Mike Sack of Sipekne’katik First Nation told a news conference that a location damaged in New Edinburgh, N.S., belonged to a licensed lobster buyer who had agreed to sell the Indigenous catch harvested by the Sipekne’katik boats.
Since the Mi’kmaq fishery opened last month, there have been tensions on and off the water, with traps hauled from the sea by non-Indigenous harvesters and a boat belonging to a Mi’kmaq fisherman burned at a wharf.
Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett says U.S. Supreme Court ‘can’t control’ a president
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Wednesday said it is an “open question” as to whether Trump could pardon himself while adding that the top U.S. judicial body “can’t control” whether a president obeys its decisions.
On the third day of her four-day Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Barrett also sought to allay Democratic fears that she would be an automatic vote to strike down the Obamacare health care law in a case due to be argued Nov. 10, promising an “open mind.”
Trump has said he has the “absolute power” to pardon himself, part of his executive clemency authority. He faces a criminal investigation into the conduct of himself and his businesses by a New York City prosecutor who is seeking his financial records and tax returns.
Opinion:
- For floundering Republicans, Amy Coney Barrett is about scoring points in the culture wars - Lawrence Martin
- The Amy Coney Barrett hearings could ‘Bork’ Biden - Ted Morton, professor-emeritus, University of Calgary
France introduces curfews as European countries battle COVID-19 surge
France imposed curfews while other European nations are closing schools, cancelling surgeries and enlisting student medics as overwhelmed authorities face the nightmare scenario of a COVID-19 resurgence at the onset of winter.
With new cases hitting about 100,000 daily, Europe has by a wide margin overtaken the United States, where more than 51,000 COVID-19 infections are reported on average every day.
And with cases in France climbing fast, President Emmanuel Macron announced night curfews for four weeks from Saturday in Paris and other major cities, affecting almost one third of the country’s 67 million population.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Seniors urged to file taxes to preserve benefits: The federal government says tens of thousands of seniors are at risk of losing benefits because they haven’t yet filed their taxes, and is making a public plea for them to submit their returns as soon as possible guaranteed income supplement payments doesn’t get suspended Jan. 1, 2021.
Amy Cooper’s second 911 call: Amy Cooper, the white woman charged with filing a false police report for calling 911 during a dispute with a Black man in New York’s Central Park in May, made a second, previously unreported call in which she falsely claimed the man had “tried to assault her,” a prosecutor said today as she was arraigned.
Trial of accused in van attack may go virtual: The trial of Alek Minassian, the man accused of deliberately using a van to kill 10 people on a busy Toronto sidewalk, may be held by video conference next month due to recently imposed COVID-19 restrictions, the court heard today.
Public’s help sought in finding RM Vaughan: New Brunswick police are asking for the public’s help to find Richard Vaughan, who writes for The Globe and other publications under the name RM Vaughan, after he was reported missing yesterday. Fredericton Police Force investigators say they are concerned for his well-being, but foul play is not suspected at this time.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street stocks fell today, led lower by Amazon and Microsoft, as investors lost hope that a fiscal stimulus would be approved before the presidential election in November. The TSX also closed lower after a mixed day of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 165.81 points or 0.58 per cent to 28,514.00, the S&P 500 lost 23.33 points or 0.66 per cent to end at 3,488.60, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 95.17 points or 0.80 per cent to 11,768.73.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 55.43 points or 0.34 per cent at 16,455.40.
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LIVING BETTER
Millions of children have returned to school – whether online or in-person – amid a second wave of COVID-19. Many parents are wondering if they’ve made the right decision for their children. Join The Globe’s education reporter Caroline Alphonso and deputy national editor Nicole MacIntyre tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. ET for a Facebook Live discussion on navigating the stress and uncertainty of back to school under COVID-19.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Avenging the Avro Arrow: the audacious play to build an all-Canadian electric car
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, with a drawing of Canada's first zero-emission concept vehicle named Project Arrow.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
A new all-Canadian electric vehicle has the potential to help transform the country’s automotive sector, even if it never actually makes it to the road.
This week, the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, which represents Canadian companies that ordinarily supply parts to international automakers, announced the design for what it has branded Project Arrow – an effort to prove that a zero-emissions vehicle can be completely designed, engineered and built here. It’s to proceed to the engineering stage, with the rollout of a full concept car targeted for 2022.
The mock-up is by a group of Carleton University students who won a national design competition in which there were 25 applicants and nine full submissions, all from Canadian postsecondary institutions. Their design resembles a compact SUV, with a sharply contoured frame and panoramic windows. It’s billed as being suited to rugged Canadian terrains, in ways that may defy the current image of EVs. Read Adam Radwanski’s full story here.
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