Workers at Magna’s plant in Graz, Austria.© Herwig Prammer / Reuters/Reuters
TOP STORIES
Magna says Ontario's new labour laws threaten company's competitive edge
One of Ontario's biggest employers is condemning the province's new labour legislation. Magna International Inc. employs 22,000 people in 50 plants and engineering centres across the province, but says future investment and jobs could be threatened by the new labour laws. The company says it is already facing uncompetitive hydro rates, increased payroll and pension costs, and income-tax rates that are among the highest in the G7 countries. The new labour legislation will boost the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019 and will increase vacation time and personal leave, as well as legislate equal wages for part-time, contract and temporary workers who perform the same jobs as full-time employees. "For the first time in our 60-year history we find ourselves in the very untenable position of questioning whether we will be able to continue to operate at historical levels in this province," Magna said in a submission to the Ontario legislature's standing committee on finance.
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Canadian was alleged mastermind of shuttered Dark Web market AlphaBay
Canadian millionaire Alexandre Cazes, 25, was allegedly behind what was believed to be the world's biggest online marketplace of illegal goods. The website, AlphaBay, used the so-called "Dark Web" to allow users to buy drugs, weapons and stolen goods. The Dark Web can only be accessed through Tor, a software that conceals IP addresses to ensure anonymity. AlphaBay allowed users to have drugs shipped to their doors, and has been directly linked to the opioid crisis, which kills one American every 11 minutes. The FBI shut down AlphaBay at the start of July. At the time, the website had 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals, as well as more than 100,000 listings for stolen items. On July 5, Thai police arrested Mr. Cazes and raided his home in Bangkok. A week later, Mr. Cazes was found dead in his prison cell.
Congo mining revenue siphoned by insiders, report finds
Over $750-million in mining revenue has disappeared in one of Africa's poorest countries. Over a three-year period, money from mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was siphoned off by politically connected insiders at opaque tax agencies. Canadian mining companies have been major investors in Congo and have given millions of dollars to official agencies in the country. Independent reserach group Global Witness issued a report on the vanished revenue. Pete Jones, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said "Congo's mining revenues should be helping to lift its people out of poverty, but instead huge sums are being siphoned away from the public purse and into unaccountable agencies headed up by people with ties to political elites." Over half of Congo's population survives on less than $2 a day, but nearly $10-billion of worth of copper and cobalt is extracted in Congo every year. The Global Witness report says only 6 per cent of that revenue reaches the national budget.
NAFTA talks 'too important' for partisanship, Trudeau says
As NAFTA talks near, Justin Trudeau is warning the federal Conservatives not to poison the trade talks with partisan bickering. A cross-border campaign by federal Conservatives to criticize the Liberal government's $10.5-million payout to Omar Khadr ended months of bi-partisan co-operation on issues concerning the United States. Mr. Trudeau said "Canadians expect their representatives, whatever party they be part of, to be standing up for Canadian interests and making sure that we are creating the right deal for Canada as we move forward on modernizing NAFTA." Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer told reporters, "I have instructed my members of Parliament … to speak with one voice as Canadians, to make sure that we're doing what's in the best interest of Canadian businesses and Canadian workers."
MORNING MARKETS
Euro hits two-year high
The euro's surge to an almost two-year high dominated financial markets on Friday, with most major stock exchanges consolidating after a second strong week of gains while those in mainland Europe dipped. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.19 per cent at 7,502.37. France's CAC 40 gained 0.06 per cent and Germany's DAX was off 1.27 per cent around 5:40 a.m. (ET). In Asia, Japan's Nikkei finished down 44.84 points at 20,099.75. The Shanghai composite index was off 0.21 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index felll 0.13 per cent. Oil prices were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.51 cents (U.S.).
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Treat women as equals – and save the planet
Insinuating that women don't care about sluggish development or climate change is silly; worldwide, they're far more vulnerable to both. Women risk death when they stick around in national disasters to care for children and elderly, and sexual violence during long journeys to gather disappearing water and fuel. Their small-hold farms are stolen as arable land turns into desert. After first struggling to grow food, they risk fire and illness cooking it on fossil-fuel-burning cook stoves in small spaces with poor ventilation. Women are at the front lines of every crisis but rarely involved in solutions, instead under-educated and disrespected at every turn. A smart climate-change strategy would reduce gender inequality by default; or, if you prefer, feminist foreign policy would be good for the planet where we all live. – Denise Balkissoon
Fifty years on, does 'Vive le Québec libre' still resonate?
On July 24, Charles de Gaulle made sure of that. On one of the steamiest nights of the summer – the humidex was above 32 C at dusk – the then 76-year-old French president thrust Canada into a political pressure-cooker with the "Vive le Québec libre" speech he delivered from the balcony of Montreal's City Hall. Earlier that day, Mr. de Gaulle had travelled to Montreal from Quebec City along the so-called Chemin du Roy, an 18th-century road along the St. Lawrence River built to link the colonies of New France. "On my way here," he told the feverish and overheated crowd gathered below him in Montreal, "I sensed something like the atmosphere of the liberation" of Paris in 1945. "If there is anywhere in the world a city that sets an example by its modern successes, it is yours, and might I add, it is ours." – Konrad Yakabuski
HEALTH PRIMER
There are no proven ways to stave off Alzheimer's, but a new report raises the prospect that avoiding nine key risks starting in childhood just might delay or even prevent about a third of dementia cases around the world.
Their resulting recommendations: Ensure good childhood education; avoid high blood pressure, obesity and smoking; manage diabetes, depression and age-related hearing loss; be physically active; stay socially engaged in old age.
The theory: These factors together play a role in whether your brain is resilient enough to withstand years of silent damage that eventually leads to Alzheimer's. – Lauran Neergaard
MOMENT IN TIME
The Kids in the Hall debuts
July 21, 1989: Whether 1989 or today, a Canadian comedy troupe launching a show on HBO is a very big deal. Out of nowhere, it seemed – unless a person was deeply into the Toronto fringe comedy scene – five Canadian guys launched their brand of sharp surrealist sketch comedy onto a U.S. premium cable channel. The Kids in the Hall, featuring Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson, who all wrote and performed, would land on CBC later that year. The 1990s were their era, when the TV landscape was smaller, and recurring characters often stole the show, especially McKinney as Chicken Lady and Cabbage Head, played by McCulloch. After a run on HBO, the show was picked up by CBS and the stoner jokes made more sense in its new late-night timeslot. They're no longer kids, the comedians, but icons. – John Doyle
Morning Update is written by Eleanor Davidson.
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