Morning Update: Mass shooting kills at least 50 in Las Vegas; Edmonton attack suspect was investigated in 2015

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At least 50 killed, 200 wounded in Las Vegas shooting

A gunman opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 200 others before the suspect was killed by police.

Police identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, describing him as a local Las Vegas man who was not believed to be connected to any militant group. Police said they had located a woman of interest named Marilou Danley, the suspected gunman's roommate.

The death toll, which police emphasized was preliminary and tentative, would make the attack the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, eclipsing last year's massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club.

Witnesses said the shooting broke out on the last night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest festival, a sold-out event attended by thousands and featuring top acts such as Eric Church, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean.

The Edmonton attack suspect was investigated by the RCMP in 2015

The lone suspect behind a violent rampage in Edmonton over the weekend first landed on the RCMP's radar in 2015. The force received a tip about a man who had been "espousing extremist ideology" but ultimately didn't find sufficient evidence to pursue charges. Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, a 30-year-old Somali refugee, is now in custody facing the possibility of five attempted murder charges as well as terrorism offences. Sharif allegedly struck a police officer with a car and then stabbed him before hitting pedestrians with a U-Haul during a high-speed police chase. An Islamic State flag found in his vehicle is one piece of evidence that has led police to label the attack a terrorist act. Two people remain in hospital, while the police officer and two others have been released. Go here to follow the latest developments on the attack.

Here's Sheema Khan's take: "In the coming days, political leadership will be key for uniting citizens, while setting a tone of defiant resilience. Grassroots initiatives will be important for strengthening our social fabric, based on our bonds of common humanity. Let us join vigils, pray together and offer compassionate solidarity with the victims. We are stronger together. And let us remain vigilant against those who exploit this attack to spread hatred against Muslims. This is the vicious cycle that Islamic State aims to put into motion."

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Jagmeet Singh has made history with his NDP leadership victory

In a historic first, Jagmeet Singh has been elected Leader of the federal NDP. The Ontario politician picked up more than half the votes on the first ballot, propelling him to become the first member of a visible minority to lead a major federal party. Singh's victory is being attributed to two factors: A large following in the South Asian community and his image as a fresh face of renewal for the NDP. Singh picked up more than 35,000 of the 65,782 votes. Northern Ontario MP Charlie Angus came in second with 12,705 votes, followed by Manitoba MP Niki Ashton and Quebec MP Guy Caron.

Here's Campbell Clark's take: "The NDP once picked stalwarts to fight the good fight as leader. Now, they have chosen someone who might disrupt Canadian politics. Don't underestimate the potential for Jagmeet Singh to shake things up."

Catalonia and Spain are at a standoff after a chaotic independence referendum

More than 800 people were injured yesterday as Spain's police force attempted to put a halt to Catalonia's independence referendum. Riot police could be seen beating voters, seizing ballot boxes and surrounding polling stations. In the end, 90 per cent voted in favour of independence, though only 2.3 million people of the 5.3 million eligible turned out to vote. Catalans "earned our right to sovereignty," said Carles Puigdemont, the region's president. He called on the European Union to accept Catalonia's independence. Meanwhile, Spain's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, defended the police response and rejected the validity of the vote. Madrid declared the vote illegal.

Massey College professor Michael Marrus has resigned over his racially offensive remark

Michael Marrus has resigned from his role as a senior fellow at the University of Toronto's Massey College. Marrus faced condemnation after his racially offensive remarks to a black student during a lunch event. "You know this is your master, eh? Do you feel the lash?" Marrus said when the head of the college, Hugh Segal, sat down. Until recently, "master" was Segal's formal title. Marrus, a Holocaust scholar, said he was frustrated by the lack of dialogue: "Where was the due process, where was the effort to hear me out, where was the effort to relate to 30 years of scholarship that have a lot to do with human rights? There is something cruel and reckless about this campaign."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Trump says Tillerson is 'wasting his time' trying to talk with North Korea

The same weekend Rex Tillerson said the U.S. was keeping lines of communication with North Korea open, Donald Trump took an opposite tack: "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," Trump tweeted yesterday. Tensions between the two countries have escalated of late, with North Korea showing no signs of slowing down its nuclear and missile programs.

MORNING MARKETS

Global markets are mixed on Monday, with many Asian exchanges closed, New York poised for a stronger open, and Spanish stocks being hit as investors weighed political fallout from a violent police crackdown on an independence vote in Catalonia. Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent, while Hong Kong and Chinese markets were closed for a holiday. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX were up by between 0.3 and 0.5 per cent by about 5:20 a.m. ET. The Paris CAC 40 was down slightly, and Spain's IBEX 35 was down 1.2 per cent. New York futures were up, and the Canadian dollar was below 80 cents (U.S.). Oil dipped as an increase in U.S. drilling and higher OPEC output put the brakes on a rally in which the market scored its biggest third-quarter gain in 13 years.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

Jose Bautista will always be ours, Canada

"On paper, Jose Bautista brought a great deal to the Toronto Blue Jays – a two-time Major League Baseball home run leader, a three-time Silver Slugger, a six-time all-star. But, of course, he was more than just good baseball, his most important contribution perhaps providing a real sense of identity. Girls and boys painted Bautista beards on their faces in tribute. T-shirts were emblazoned with that iconic game five moment. Chants of "Jose! Jose! Jose! Jose!" roared through the stands, on the concourse, and in the streets. A whole swath of local baseball-playing children wanted to grow up to be just like Joey Bats." – Stacey May Fowles, Toronto-based writer

Canada finds itself at a crossroads in tax reform – it's time to choose a path

"Going forward, we must choose one of two possible paths. We could choose to shut down the small-business deduction and help new and growing businesses in other ways. This solution was recently implemented in Britain, which extinguished the tax-rate gap between large and small business. The other possible path is to live with the challenges the lower small-business tax rate entails. This means we must struggle with the kind of messy-but-necessary patches and fixes that we see in the current reform package. Either path is viable; neither is easy. But we must choose one or the other." – Kevin Milligan, professor of economics, University of British Columbia (for subscribers)

HEALTH PRIMER

You don't have to pass on pasta to lose weight

No, you don't have to cut out pasta from your diet. But picking the right noodle and keeping your portion size in check can go a long way. Pasta made from semolina, for example, won't cause your blood sugar and insulin to spike. Whole-grain spelt pasta, which is high in protein and fibre, is another alternative to the traditional white-flour variety.

MOMENT IN TIME

Globe backs the secret ballot

Oct. 2, 1867: At the time of Canada's Confederation, most voting was done in public, where friends, relatives or anyone else could hear how an elector declared his choice at the poll. A few jurisdictions, including New Brunswick, let voters mark ballots privately, but that was still rare. In an editorial, The Globe threw its support behind the secret ballot, saying that "the arguments in its favour are so plain, that few will make any determined fight against the change." Elections in New Brunswick were more "quiet and orderly" under the secret system, the paper said, and they experienced less violence than polling elsewhere. The secret ballot allowed the "real, honest opinions of the electors" to be expressed without undue pressure from landlords, employers, clergy or creditors, The Globe argued. In 1874, Ottawa adopted the secret ballot for federal elections, and eventually it became common practice in all provinces. – Richard Blackwell

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

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