The entry to the Home Capital Group's headquarters are seen in an office tower in the financial district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 26, 2017.Chris Helgren/Reuters
TOP STORIES
How Warren Buffett struck the Home Capital deal in three days
It was a Canadian octogenarian who sparked Warren Buffett's interest in rescuing Home Capital Group Inc. Don Johnson, a banker, sends his thoughts to the investing guru now and then. Buffett told The Globe and Mail by telephone from his office in Omaha, Neb., "This one wasn't long, but it was to the point, and that got my interest."
After that, a deal by which Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is poised to invest as much as $400-million into the troubled Canadian mortgage lender came together at breakneck speed – from first contact to a handshake deal in three days flat.
"I really thought we could bring something to the party in addition to money in restoring confidence," Buffett said. "I can tell you, we have no intention whatsoever of getting out in four months or eight months or 12 months."
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you're reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Morning Update and all Globe newsletters here.
NEW - Get the new Real Estate newsletter, covering the housing market, mortgages, deal closing, design and more. Sign up here.
BC Liberals pack Throne Speech with NDP, Green Party policies
The BC Liberal government delivered a Throne Speech on Thursday, setting off a process that is expected to usher in a new government. Christy Clark's government said a better-than-expected surplus this year will help pay for costly new spending promises. The government said it can now afford many of the programs – from childcare subsidies and welfare increases to new housing and transportation projects – that it rejected before the May 9 election.
The promises, many of them closely resembling large chunks of the election platforms of the NDP and Green parties, will likely never be fulfilled by Premier Christy Clark's government. However, the NDP and Green parties have no plans to give the Liberals a chance to produce a budget for the wide-ranging agenda. Instead, they will seek to defeat the Liberal government on a vote of confidence. That could happen as early as next week.
Sister of teen who died in solitary confinement says Liberal bill not enough
Dawna Ward has been writing encouraging notes to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about prison reform for over a year. She is the sister of Ashley Smith, the New Brunswick teenager who drew her last breath on the floor of a solitary confinement cell in 2007 almost 10 years ago.
"We're counting on you," Ward recalls writing to Trudeau. "What's your plan and when do you plan to do it?"
This week Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale evoked Ashley Smith's name in touting Bill C-56, a proposal to change the federal solitary confinement regime. Ward, when she read the bill for herself, felt Goodale's reference dishonored her sister's name.
"I do not believe this bill would have changed the outcome [for Ashley]," she said.
Killing of Nabra Hassanen leaves Virginia Muslim community shaken
It was an American Ramadan moment, one the faithful at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society had repeated countless times over the years: A group of teens, after late-night prayers at the mosque, headed to McDonald's in a nearby strip plaza for a meal before resuming their fast at daybreak.
But as they walked back from the fast-food outlet early Sunday, along a wide arterial road in Sterling, a Virginia suburb of Washington, the 15 adolescents were attacked by a motorist who drove up on the curb, then chased after them with a baseball bat. He struck 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen and abducted her in his car. Her body was found later that day in a nearby pond. Darwin Martinez Torres, a 22-year-old construction worker and undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, is charged with murder.
Even as Ms. Hassanen's killing brought her community together in grief – with thousands packing her funeral at the mosque – and prompted vigils from New York to Los Angeles, it left many Muslims sad, angry and afraid at the holiest and most joyous time of year.
World stocks mixed
World stocks were mixed Friday as a tentative recovery in oil prices brought investors back to the markets looking for deals on energy stocks. Crude oil pulled away from this week's 10-month lows, although prices were still set for their worst first-half showing since 1997. In Europe, London's FTSE was down 0.31 per cent at 7,417.17 just before 5:30 a.m. (ET). Germany's DAX was off 0.29 per cent at 12,756.41 and France's CAC 40 was down 0.23 per cent at 5,269.74. In Asia, markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.11 per cent to close at 20,132.67. The Shanghai composite index added 0.32 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.02 per cent. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.62 cents (U.S.), up from Thursday's closing price of 75.52 cents. In New York, stock futures were higher.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Senate drama shows how poorly the Trudeau Liberals manage Parliament
"The new Senate hasn't yet turned out to be a danger to democracy. It's amending more bills, but not insisting on getting its way: When the Commons has undone those Senate amendments, the Senate accepted the will of elected MPs, every time. But it has been a headache for Mr. Trudeau's government – as has Parliament as a whole, including the Commons. The Trudeau Liberals have had trouble finding that combination of clever tactics and velvet touch that keeps egos unruffled and government business rolling. This week's Senate drama was an oddity: Most senators believe they should eventually defer to the Commons, except in extreme cases – but it almost came to a showdown over a tax on booze." – Campbell Clark
Renaming Langevin Block isn't rewriting history – it's unearthing it
"This week, it was announced that Langevin Block, the building that houses the Prime Minister's Office, will no longer be Langevin Block but will instead be called the Office of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council … History is not erased by the renaming of things. It is often through renaming that the story of our past is articulated, later to be traced, told and learned. Nor is renaming a peculiar, modern phenomenon that must be resisted lest we all end up in self-driving cars eating avocado toast, delivered by drones, which people keep telling me would be a bad thing." – Tabatha Southey
Ottawa should play a role in funding new journalism
"Buried at the end of the Heritage Committee report on how to address disruption in the media is perhaps one of the most important sentences. On page 80, the final recommendation calls for startup funding for digital media companies … Journalism has been disrupted for more than two decades now. It is a little late to think about correcting the missteps of the past, given how much journalism has changed and continues to change in the present." – Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young, UBC Graduate School of Journalism
HEALTH PRIMER
You don't need Fitbits or gizmos to turn into a chiselled dynamo
"If you're reading this in a public space, there's a good chance at least one person in your direct vicinity is wearing some sort of digital activity tracker. With more than 20 million Fitbits having been sold since 2010, chances are you're wearing one yourself. Even people who clearly look as though they haven't taken part in any sort of structured exercise program since high-school gym class are keeping tabs on their daily step count. This is a good thing, of course; if strapping on an electronic tracking bracelet is what it takes to get people moving, so be it. That being said, I do have some bad news for all you devotees of fitness wearables: They don't really work all that well." – Paul Landini
MOMENT IN TIME
Zamboni patents an ice-resurfacing machine June 23, 1953: Anyone who has ever laced up skates owes a debt of gratitude to Frank Zamboni. The American patented the eponymous ice-resurfacing machine that rapidly transforms rutted sheets of ice into gleaming surfaces. Before Zamboni's invention, ice was smoothed by a tractor pulling a scraper, then a group of men collecting the shavings and spraying water on the clean surface. Repairing a rink surface could take an hour. Then, Zamboni – an entrepreneur whose background was in mechanics and refrigeration – came up with a method of having a self-propelled vehicle do it all. After a decade of tinkering, he introduced his Model A Zamboni Ice Resurfacer in 1949, which led to his U.S. patent (No. 2,642,679) in 1953. Although most Canadians still refer to the ubiquitous arena workhorses as Zambonis, they are just as likely to be made by competitors. But as the saying goes, old Zambonis never die, they just resurface. – Philip King
Morning Update is written by Megan Marrelli.
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.