Good morning and happy Thanksgiving!
These are the top stories:
The RCMP will be adopting strict cannabis-use rules for officers
Mounties will be instructed to avoid cannabis consumption for 28 straight days before a shift – effectively making it impossible for gun-carrying officers to partake once the drug is legalized (for subscribers). The workplace policy, set to be unveiled this week, is among the most restrictive in Canadian policing. The Calgary Police Service is adopting a complete “abstinence” policy, while services in Ottawa and Vancouver will only require officers to be “fit for duty” when they show up to work. The RCMP’s tack also highlights the different approaches being taken by federal organizations: The Canadian Armed Forces will allow most members to consume cannabis as long as it’s at least eight hours before a shift.
And as Canada prepares for legalization, reporter David Ebner takes a look at the boom and plateau of Colorado’s cannabis market. Cannabis was legalized in the U.S. state in January of 2014. By 2015, sales had jumped almost 50 per cent annually. But by 2017, growth had slowed to 15 per cent, and this year, the growth rate is only 2.7 per cent through the first seven months. In Canada, bullish forecasts are suggesting a major boost in cannabis sales over the years. (for subscribers)
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What the Kavanaugh confirmation means for America’s political institutions
On Saturday, the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 to appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the nation’s top court amid protests over a politicized hearing process and allegations of sexual misconduct. As David Shribman writes, “This recent episode only reinforces the political fissures that have marked American life for the past two decades.” Kavanaugh’s criticism of “the Clintons” and his assertion that the allegations against him were part of an “orchestrated political hit” will erode any remaining belief that the Supreme Court is separated from the state of U.S. politics. The court now has a clear 5-4 conservative majority and it’s not known if Kavanaugh will recuse himself on partisan cases, since that decision lies with Kavanaugh himself.
Brazil’s presidential election is headed for a runoff
Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro finished with 46.7 per cent of the votes, just short of the 50 per cent he needed to secure an outright victory. He’ll now face off on Oct. 28 against leftist Fernando Haddad, who nabbed 28.5 per cent of the vote. Bolsonaro has openly praised Brazil’s military dictatorship and is an advocate of loosening gun laws and giving police the right to shoot to kill. He has also been investigated for hate speech over comments about Indigenous people, Afro-Brazilians and gay people.
Bolsonaro’s hardline view on violence, writes Globe correspondent Stephanie Nolen, “has proved ironically popular with people exhausted by the surge in violent crime, although police do plenty of killing already and rarely face consequences.” For five years, Rio de Janeiro was Nolen’s home base. Now, as she moves the bureau to Mexico, she looks back at the troubled nation she leaves behind.
Turkey is demanding an explanation over the alleged killing of a journalist in the Saudi consulate
Jamal Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist critical of the regime in Riyadh, went missing during a visit to the Kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish officials say investigators have concluded that Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents inside the consulate, which he was visiting to obtain a licence to allow him to remarry in Turkey. “The consulate should make a clear explanation,” said Yasin Aktay, an adviser to the head of Turkey’s ruling AKP party. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was awaiting the results of an investigation. Saudi officials have denied killing or abducting Khashoggi, saying they don’t know where he is.
A doctor fired from CAMH’s gender identity clinic has secured a settlement and apology
Kenneth Zucker says he feels “vindicated” and “liberated” after receiving an apology from Canada’s largest mental-health centre. Zucker was fired in 2015 after an external review that found the clinic focused on intensive assessment and treatment, despite the current practice of “watchful waiting” and education and support of parents in accepting their child’s gender expression. (The review was launched after criticisms that the clinic was practising conversion therapy, a charge Zucker disputes.) The review looked at Zucker’s interactions with patients, but he was not consulted. CAMH has apologized, saying the review was meant to look at best practices, not Zucker’s behaviour. It also said a quote attributed to Zucker was “untrue.” Zucker is set to receive money for damages, legal fees and interest.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Banksy’s famous ‘Girl with Balloon’ self-destructed after selling at a London auction
(Sotheby's via The New York Times)SOTHEBY'S
As soon as it sold for north of £1-million pounds, the painting was sucked into a hidden shredder. Banksy, whose real identity is unknown, proceeded to post an Instagram picture with the caption: “Going, going, gone…” Alex Branczik, senior director of Sotheby’s auction house, said: “It appears we just got Banksy-ed.” But a number of questions remain, including: How did Banksy pull off the prank? Was Sotheby’s in on it? (It has denied involvement.) And will the jab at the excesses of auctions actually inflate the prices of Banksy’s art?
MORNING MARKETS
European shares slide on ‘powerful cocktail’ of China slump, Treasuries and Italy
European markets fell heavily on Monday as investor confidence took a knock from last week’s spike in U.S. Treasury yields and from a Chinese market slump brought on by concerns that an escalating trade war with the United States could dent China’s growth. Just before 7 a.m. ET, Germany’s DAX was down 0.79 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.65 per cent and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.85 per cent. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index saw its worst showing in months, losing 3.7 per cent. On Wall Street, stock futures were in the red. Brent crude fell below US$83 a barrel. Markets in Canada are closed for Thanksgiving.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Does father know best? Canadian views - thankfully - continue to evolve
“Among the social values Environics has been tracking in the two countries for four decades is the degree to which people agree or disagree that, "the father must be master in his own house.” For some, it’s offensive to even pose such a question. For others, the question isn’t worth asking because the answer is so obvious: Who else would lead the family? We do ask, and the answers are revealing. About half of Americans believe the father of the family must be master in his own house. In Canada, the proportion is about one-quarter. Our most conservative province, Alberta, is much less patriarchal than the most egalitarian region of the United States, New England. American women are 2½ times as likely as Canadian women (40 versus 16 per cent) to believe father must be master.” – Michael Adams, president of the Environics Institute
Countering sexual violence as a weapon of war
“Bukavu is the capital of South Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Set on the shore of beautiful Lake Kivu, it is known as the rape capital of the world, thanks to its horrific record of mass sexual assault. As of October, 2018, it is also now home to the Nobel Peace Prize. This year, the Nobel Peace Prize goes to two activists. One, Nadia Murad, a survivor of sexual violence herself, is a Yazidi activist for women raped in conflict. The other is Dr. Denis Mukwege, a surgeon legendary across the eastern DRC for his hospital dedicated to helping heal women survivors of brutal sexual assault. The Nobel jury is to be applauded for shining a spotlight on the issue of sexual violence as a weapon of war – and recognize those who are doing something about it.” – Rachel Pulfer, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights
The tariff wall Donald Trump doesn’t talk about
“Just days before a tentative deal was reached to overhaul NAFTA, the U.S. government quietly renewed its long-standing curbs on sugar imports. Special quotas allow small quantities of foreign sugar to be sold in the U.S. duty free before steep tariffs kick in. Canada, for example, will get to export 10,300 metric tonnes of refined sugar to the U.S. over the next 12 months, according to a Federal Register notice posted by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer – the same Lighthizer who led the U.S. team in renegotiating NAFTA. That quota represents a tiny one-tenth of one per cent of the massive U.S. sugar market. And the cap has been fixed at the same level since 1994, when NAFTA was signed. These are the tariffs the Americans don’t like to talk about – least of all U.S. President Donald Trump, who has ranted for months about the unfairness of Canada’s tariffs on dairy and poultry products.” – Barrie McKenna (for subscribers)
LIVING BETTER
The essential guide to understanding the ingredients in your kitchen
How long do those spices at the back of your cupboard last? What’s that white bloom on chocolate? Can you cut some sugar from a recipe without sacrificing quality? Lucy Waverman answers all this and more in our guide to essential ingredients for cooking and baking (for subscribers).
MOMENT IN TIME
George Chuvalo’s Thanksgiving, 1965
For more than 100 years, photographers, photo editors and photo librarians working for The Globe and Mail have amassed and preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. In October, we’re looking at fall harvests and festivities.
Boris Spremo/The Globe and Mail
In the boxing ring, Canadian heavyweight champion George Chuvalo took some tough hits but was never knocked out. At the Thanksgiving dinner table in 1965, he was more concerned about carving up the bird for his wife, Lynne, and four boys, from left, Steve, 5, Mitchell, 6, George Jr., 3, and Jesse, 1½. Globe and Mail photographer Boris Spremo captured the familial scene shortly before Chuvalo’s Nov. 1 bout with Ernie Terrell. Chuvalo lost that fight, and another the following March against Muhammad Ali, but his courage made him a Canadian hero, and Ali called him “the toughest guy I ever fought.” The lost fights were nothing compared with the emotional blows in later years, with Chuvalo losing Steve and George Jr. to heroin overdoses, and Jesse and Lynne to suicide. – Dianne Nice
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Arik Ligeti