Good morning,
These are the top stories:
Two CannTrust officials sold $6-million of stock after the chair was informed of unlicensed cannabis growing
The former chair of CannTrust Holdings Inc. – along with a company director – sold $6-million of the company’s stock in the weeks after he was informed in writing that the cannabis producer was illegally growing marijuana plants in unlicensed rooms. Trading records show that a holding company controlled by Eric Paul and director Mark Litwin sold nearly $1-million worth of shares on Nov. 16 last year.
That was the same day a CannTrust executive sent, and Mr. Paul replied to, an e-mail that outlined the company’s illicit growing operations. Trading by company executives and board members is not illegal as long as they do not possess confidential information about the corporation that would affect the stock price.
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.
Manhunt for B.C. murder suspects moves on as RCMP end search in Manitoba First Nation
RCMP are withdrawing from York Landing in northern Manitoba after failing to locate two men wanted in a national manhunt for the killings of three people in British Columbia. One day after dozens of officers flooded into the remote community acting on a tip that the pair had been seen at the local dump, police concluded the two men likely weren’t there.
The tip came from members of the Bear Clan Patrol. The Indigenous-led group based in Winnipeg landed in the middle of a manhunt after Bear Clan Patrol’s founder James Favel received a call from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs asking for help protecting and supporting remote Indigenous communities at such a tense time. Favel said while the Bear Clan Patrol doesn’t typically search for fugitives, “being in harm’s way isn’t necessarily new to us.”
Here is what we know so far about the victims and suspects.
Capital One: Hacker gained access to personal information of six million Canadians
The company said Monday personal information including names, addresses, phone numbers and credit scores of about six million individuals in Canada and 100 million in the United States were obtained by a hacker. That hacker has now been arrested. The credit card issuer said it identified the hack on July 19. The hacker did not gain access to credit card account numbers, but about one million social insurance numbers of the company’s Canadian credit card customers were compromised.
Ontario government apologizes for autism program changes; needs-based model won’t launch until next April
Todd Smith, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, acknowledged for the first time on Monday that changes to the autism program announced earlier this year were poorly conceived. Mr. Smith said the government would reverse its direction and provide families with funding based on the needs of individual children. He said the budget for autism therapy would remain at $600-million.
In a push for diversity, medical schools overhaul how they select Canada’s future doctors
At the University of Manitoba, the admissions committee studied years of data and found a pretty clear pattern: Wealthy white students from big cities were more likely to be interviewed and more likely to get in, partly because of built-in advantages.
The result is that a public university’s system seems to ensure opportunity for the already fortunate. Now some schools are asking if the process is truly fair, and if not, how it ought to change. Across Canada, medical schools are taking steps to shape incoming classes by offering advantages to applicants from certain demographic groups.
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
Climate activist Greta Thunberg plans to set sail for Americas: The Swedish teenager whose social-media eco-activism has inspired tens of thousands of students in Europe to skip classes and protest for faster action against climate change, said Monday she plans to take her message to the United States the old-fashioned way: by sailboat.
China backs Hong Kong officials, but leaves protests for them to solve: Chinese officials made a strongly worded defence of the local Hong Kong authorities during a rare news conference in Beijing by the government office that oversees policy toward the city.
Canadian embassy in Cuba reinstates some services suspended over diplomat injuries: Ottawa had made staffing and program changes earlier this year to protect the health of Canadian diplomats after more than a dozen staff and their families reported mysterious brain injuries while posted in Havana – medically similar to a concussion, but without physical trauma.
Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle to run for NDP in federal election: The chief says he is running for the NDP in the fall federal election because he is frustrated with how the government responded to mercury poisoning in his community.
Kijiji Canada removes ticket reselling function due to authentication problems: It said the tickets category is growing in popularity but is also a contentious space – as even buyers who do their due diligence find it difficult to verify the validity of tickets they purchase.
Audit into Quebec securities watchdog clears it of wrongdoing in SNC probe: Mario Bilodeau, appointed by the province in April, says a probe by the Autorité des marchés financiers into SNC-Lavalin executives was “adequate” and that his “conclusions invalidate the allegations of public wrongdoing.”
MORNING MARKETS
Brewing no-deal Brexit worries sent the pound sinking towards a two-year low versus the euro and roughed up Irish bonds today, while stock markets wilted before what is expected to be the first cut in U.S. rates since the financial crisis.
At about 6:15 a.m. ET, Tokyo’s Nikkei was up 0.43 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.14 per cent and the Shanghai Composite up 0.39 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.04 per cent and the Paris CAC was 0.63 per cent lower. Germany’s DAX was 1.21 per cent lower. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar was at 75.91 U.S. cents.
Looking for investing ideas? Check out our weekly digest of the Globe’s latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and what investors need to know for the week ahead. This week’s edition includes three under-the-radar stocks, a Nobel Prize winner’s top picks and what short-sellers are betting against on the TSX.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Trump has beaten the late-night comics into baffled resignation
John Doyle: “Trump has provided the late-night comics with tons of corrosive comedy material that has a cathartic impact for the audience. Now he’s making them deeply uncomfortable because it’s difficult to be funny when the comic and the audience are actually unnerved by the President’s tweets, statements and behaviour.”
Cheaper drug prices in the U.S. shouldn’t involve raiding Canada’s medicine cabinet
André Picard: “If Americans want lower drug prices, their politicians need to put on their big boy pants and regulate, not try to shamelessly raid and pillage the neighbour’s medicine cabinet.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Core training can be confusing. A big part of that confusion stems from the lack of consensus over what the core even is. If we’re going to get all scientific, then the core includes every muscle that attaches to the pelvis and spine – as many as 35 muscles. The core performs movement – hip flexion, spinal extension, torso rotation – but it also resists, or prevents, those very same movements.
However, focusing on your core at the gym isn’t just for elite athletes. Improved posture, an end to low back pain, overall injury resilience and an arguably eye-pleasing aesthetic quality are also yours for the taking, so long as you put in the work. Read more here about your core and learn some exercises that will benefit it.
MOMENT IN TIME
The Associated Press
July 30, 1930
A small armada of boats set out from Buenos Aires to ferry thousands of Argentine soccer fans across the River Plate to Montevideo for the first World Cup final under the cries of “Victoria o muerte!” (Victory or death). While some got lost in the fog and never made it, those who entered the Estadio Centenario arrived to find a dispute over which match ball would be used. The resolution was to play with Argentina’s ball for the first half, before switching to Uruguay’s for the second. Argentina clearly enjoyed the resulting familiarity, taking a 2-1 lead into the halftime interval. But the hosts returned the favour in the second half and, spurred on by the majority of the 93,000 in attendance, scored three unanswered goals to emerge victorious. Worried at the possibility of violent retaliation from Argentine fans, Belgian referee John Langenus used the cover of the subsequent postmatch pitch invasion to escape to the port and to the Italian ocean liner that took him back to Europe. In Uruguay, a national holiday was declared, and every member of the winning team was given a house in recognition of his efforts. Paul Attfield
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.
Sierra Bein