Skip to main content
morning update newsletter

Good morning,

A controversial Chinese-backed educational organization has taken a more direct role in supporting Mandarin classes at some schools in British Columbia while also asking local officials to report back on political developments in Canada, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The Confucius Institute primarily delivers extracurricular Mandarin instruction and cultural programming, but critics see it as a source of pro-China propaganda. Concerns about Chinese government influence have prompted other Canadian school districts to abandon Confucius offerings, including the Toronto District School Board in 2014. Last year, New Brunswick said it would boot all Confucius Institutes by 2022.

The documents also suggest activities by the institute that go beyond the language program. The program’s administrators in China requested reports on the “external environment” – including politics and diplomacy – as well as attitudes toward the institute among local government and community leaders.

Open this photo in gallery:

Scott Creek Middle School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Tuesday, October 13, 2020. Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and MailRafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail

More coverage:

Trudeau vows to stand up to China’s ‘coercive diplomacy’

China pushed hard for a wide-ranging extradition treaty for years prior to Meng arrest

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.

B.C. relief package for small business finally on the way, but qualifying won’t be easy

Businesses in British Columbia’s hard-hit tourism sector are calling on the government to amend an aid program after many of them say they won’t qualify for the government grants.

In order to receive funds from the $300-million grant program, applicants must charge provincial sales tax, and that leaves out many tourist attractions, experiences and services. The program also states that funds aren’t meant to be used for fixed costs, such as mortgages and leases for vehicles, which are a primary concern for tourism operators. And businesses that are less than three years old aren’t eligible.

“One of the things I’ve been asking within our industry is, what are we doing wrong, why can’t we get help? No one can find a way to get help. It’s not just me, it’s everyone in tourism,” said Jesse Crockett, general manager of the Josie Hotel.

Why comprehensive contact tracing is key to battling COVID-19

When the contact-tracing team at Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia found in February that a woman who had returned from Iran was infected with the coronavirus, they knew they had stumbled onto something important – the disease was much more widespread than anyone had realized.

The case sparked an international investigation and also signalled the importance of contact tracing, a tool that has been vital in the fight against the pandemic.

But public-health units across the country are having trouble using the tool effectively. In Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, soaring infection rates have outstripped case- and contact-management resources. Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé has said up to 30 per cent of people are not responding to calls or e-mails from the province’s health department, while contact tracers in Alberta are reporting more people refusing to provide tracing information.

More COVID-19 coverage:

Coronavirus cases soar in Winnipeg as Manitoba struggles with one of Canada’s steepest curves

Ontario reviews guidelines for gyms after 69 COVID-19 cases linked to Hamilton spin studio

Canadians appear divided over mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, priority inoculations: poll

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop


ALSO ON OUR RADAR

HBC, landlord locked in legal battle over failure to pay rent: Hudson’s Bay Co. is fighting Oxford Properties, one of its major landlords, in court over the retailer’s failure to pay rent at two malls in Quebec during the COVID-19 pandemic. The court case provides a glimpse into the struggle between mall tenants and their landlords as the pandemic has taken a toll on businesses.

Refugee and poet to head up Amnesty International Canada: Amnesty International Canada has named its first female Secretary-General. Ketty Nivyabandi is a refugee from Burundi and was once homeless in Canada. Nivyabandi says her focus as Secretary-General will be on Canadian human-rights violations, anti-Black racism and discrimination against Indigenous people.

In Toronto’s immigrant-rich apartment towers, elevators and density keep many students at home: In the Toronto communities of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park – both COVID-19 hot spots – many parents have opted for online learning for their children, saying they worry about the long waits for elevators and physically distancing on them. Toronto Public Health data show that the coronavirus has disproportionately infected racialized and low-income people, who have also had to deal with higher rates of job losses, poverty and food bank reliance.

Pandemic puts India’s women even further behind economically: Women across the world have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effects of an economic downturn that some are calling a “she-cession” are especially damaging in India. At least four out of 10 women in India lost their jobs in April and May, and 39 per cent of women reported a loss of employment compared with 29 per cent of men, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.


MORNING MARKETS

Global shares slide: Global shares fell on Thursday as governments across Europe tightened restrictions to battle an accelerating second wave of COVID-19 infections, dampening the prospects for economic recovery. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 2.39 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 3.12 per cent and 2.44 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.51 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 2.06 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.77 US cents.


WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Campbell Clark: “And then the Liberals will have to make the case that the crisis spending will eventually be over – that the country will emerge with higher debt, but still healthy finances, and the ability to keep spending, and keep running deficits. To allay the concerns about deficits and debts, they have to persuade Canadians that some kind of new limits have been set to keep it on track."

Konrad Yakabuski: “... the handling of [Nathalie] Bondil’s firing and [Mary-Dailey] Desmarais’s appointment underscore the urgent need for a governance overhaul at the MMFA.”

David Parkinson: “What would it cost to profoundly change the lives of Canadians who have fallen into poverty? Not as much as you might think.”


TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

Open this photo in gallery:

Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail


LIVING BETTER

Schools and COVID-19: Navigating the stress, uncertainty and frustration

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.


MOMENT IN TIME: OCTOBER 15, 1954

Open this photo in gallery:

Storm damaged properties and abandoned car still half submerged in waters from the Humber River at corner of Weston Road and Highway 7 in Woodbridge, Ontario. Hurricane Hazel pounded parts of southern Ontario with 110 km/hr winds and more than 200 millimetres of rain in less than 24 hours, beginning Friday, October 15, 1954.Harold Robinson/The Globe and Mail

Toronto gets swamped by Hazel

Hazel was no longer a hurricane, but a strong extratropical cyclone when it approached Toronto, after cutting a swath of destruction through North Carolina. The region was already saturated, with about a month-and-a-half worth of rain falling in the 16 days before the storm hit. Further west, another intense low-pressure system was moving toward Southern Ontario. As the evening unfolded, the two systems merged over the city. This “sinister timing,” as described by Environment Canada, combined to drop around 100 millimetres of rain on many areas of the city. Snelgrove, then a hamlet north of Toronto, received 214 mm. The rains affected all of Toronto’s major rivers – and destroyed nearly 50 bridges – but the Humber was hit hardest, with the river rising up to nine metres in some locations. It’s been estimated that a volume of water equal to Lake Simcoe raced down the Humber watershed. Eighty-one people died during the storm, including 35 along the Humber near the then-town of Weston, where more than two dozen homes were washed away. In the aftermath of the storm, the Ontario government banned the building of structures on floodplains, and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority was created to focus on flood control. Rob Gilroy

If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe