Busy day? Here are five stories popular with Globe readers to help you catch up.
Enbridge ads yanked from Tim Hortons’ in-store screens
Tim Hortons announced Thursday that it would stop running ads by Enbridge after a social media campaign gathered 28,000 names on an online petition, Shawn McCarthy reports.
The ads had been airing for nearly three weeks on screens in 1,500 locations Canada-wide.
In a response to complaints on Twitter, Tim Horton’s tweeted this early Thursday: “We value your feedback + @Enbridge advertisements are no longer airing on Tims TV.”
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel is leading industry supporters to fight back against the coffee chain's decision.
“@TimHortons just sent a msg to the thousands of Cdns employed by Canada’s energy sector,” she tweeted. Then added: “How many @TimHortons franchises in Alberta? Just wondering.”
The Conservatives have long-celebrated Tim Hortons as one of Canada's iconic brands.
“We have enjoyed working with Tim Hortons and respect their decision,” said Enbridge spokesman Graham White, who added that the ad campaign was to end in the coming days regardless.
“Tim Hortons is a trusted brand across Canada and Enbridge was trying to leverage that very trust to sell a skeptical Canadian public on the [pipeline] project but the public isn’t buying it,” said Emma Pullman, a Vancouver-based activist with SumOfUs, the platform that hosted the signatures.
Ms. Rempel said she was disappointed that Tim Hortons moved so quickly in response to the SumOfUs petition, which, she said, contained some erroneous or misleading statements about the Canadian oil industry and pipelines.
Record number of Canadians take $100,000 to drop out of school
U.S. billionaire Peter Thiel offered Canadians $100,000 (U.S.) to drop out of school and pursue their dreams - and a record number are taking him up on it, Shane Dingman reports.
On Friday, the Thiel Foundation revealed a group of 20 young people who will become the next Thiel Fellows.
The Fellowship (formerly called 20 under 20) requires young adults to skip or stop school for two years in order to be connected with mentors from the investing, entrepreneurial and scientific community.
The four Canadians to join the Fellowship are Cathy Tie, 18; Simon Tian, 20; Harry Gandhi, 22; and Liam Horne, 19.
“College can be good for learning about what’s been done before, but it can also discourage young people from doing something new – especially when it leaves them in debt,” wrote Peter Thiel, who founded the program, in a statement.
The Thiel Fellowship claims its members have raised $142-million in venture capital, and created 375 jobs.
Why kicking off the World Cup anywhere but Toronto is a mistake
Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium isn't famous, suited to soccer, or attractive.
But the Women’s World Cup has insisted on using it to kick off the events, sparking columnist Cathal Kelly to beg the question: why?
While the global soccer audience is used to watching this level of event played on pristine landscapes, the Commonwealth Stadium uses artificial turf and is"going to look like the house that gets cleaned by piling all the junk behind the couch."
According to organizers, the game was 5,000 seats short of a sellout as of Thursday.
This game should be in Toronto, Kelly argues, where taxpayers paid for BMO field - an expensive, purpose-designed structure - to be built.
Instead, for all its deeds, good and otherwise, Toronto is to be punished with the commuting apocalypse that will be the Pan American Games.
Canadian economy pumps out a stunning 59,000 jobs
Employers created a stronger-than-expected 58,900 jobs in May as private-sector firms, such as factories, added to head count, Tavia Grant reports.
While the country experienced its highest job growth in seven months, the jobless rate stayed at 6.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
“Gains in the private sector are encouraging, as is the rise in full-time employment,” noted Krishen Rangasamy, senior economist at National Bank Financial Inc. “So, like for the U.S., Canada’s economy seems to be doing better when looking at the employment picture instead of the weather-battered first-quarter GDP results.”
Jobs number can be volatile, however, and one month does not make a trend.
Some economists think hiring will slow. “Looking ahead, job creation in Canada is forecast to decelerate as 2015 progresses,” noted TD economist Jonathan Bendiner.
Employment rose in Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, and fell in Newfoundland, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
The U.S., Canada’s largest destination for exports, is another bright sign. Employers added 280,000 jobs last month and hourly wages rose, suggesting momentum is growing.
Top Harper law-and-order spokesman caught in Senate expenses case
Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, one of the Conservative government's top law-and-order spokesmen, is among the nine currect and retired senators whose cases will be referred to the RCMP in response to the Auditor-General's upcoming report.
A strong advocate of victims' rights with a tough-on-crime approach, Mr. Boisvenu acknowledged that his file would now be analyzed by the RCMP and said he was quitting the Conservative caucus as a result, Daniel Leblanc reports.
In addition to Mr. Boisvenu and Colin Kenny, who was appointed as a Liberal and has been one of the party's strongest voices on issues of security and defence, seven retired senators will see their cases referred to the RCMP: former Conservative senators Don Oliver and Gerry St. Germain, as well as Liberal appointed senators Rod Zimmer, Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Marie-Paule Charette-Poulin, Sharon Carstairs and Bill Rompkey.
Overall, the value of the controversial expenses flagged by the Auditor-General comes in at less than $1-million, with the worst case amounting to about $130,000, a Senate official said.
The Senate spending scandal has already engulfed one retired and three suspended senators, including former TV journalist Mike Duffy, who is currently on trial on 31 charges in Ottawa.