Hello,
With Georgia and Pennsylvania tipping into the blue column as U.S. election votes continue to be counted, Brian Mulroney says he’s seen enough: Joe Biden is going to be president.
“My guess now at this hour is that the vice-president is just about a certainty to become the next president of the United States,” Mr. Mulroney, Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993, told The Globe this morning.
He said he was optimistic that Mr. Biden would be able to work with Republicans if they retain control of the Senate.
“I think you will find a greater deal of co-operation and progress for the United States if Joe becomes president and Mitch McConnell stays there.”
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Carolyn Wilkins, the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, will leave her role in early December, months before her term is up.
The unemployment rate ticked down in October, but the pace of job recovery slowed from previous months after the unprecedented wave of COVID-19-related job losses.
The pandemic is putting immense pressure on provincial budgets, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says.
The Ontario government tabled a budget with a massive deficit, but the governing Progressive Conservatives say they will present a path to balance in the spring.
The Alberta auditor-general says he found $1.5-billion worth of accounting errors in provincial energy contracts, an order of magnitude higher than he had seen before.
Transport Canada says it is improving its safeguards in the transportation of dangerous goods, such as crude oil, weeks after a scathing audit from the federal environment commissioner. The department says it will take two years to fix the problems.
The RCMP wants to be able to send emergency alerts to cellphones without having to go through provincial agencies.
And Whole Foods says it is justified in banning its employees from wearing poppies at work, a move that was condemned by the House of Commons this morning.
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on what the election says about the United States: “But that America is disappearing, imploding before our eyes. Once it tackled immense projects, did great things, led the world. Now it is floundering, divided, confused, and easy pickings for a two-bit con man – not just once, but very nearly twice. That is, so far as anyone can tell. The country that won two world wars and put a man on the moon cannot even organize itself to count the votes in a timely fashion.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on the erosion of democratic norms: “Indeed, it would have been unthinkable just one election cycle ago to suggest that retailers across the country should be boarding up their windows in anticipation of election day riots. That’s something Americans would’ve contemplated for countries such as Belarus, Russia, Egypt or Nigeria – not for the beacon of freedom and democracy that is the United States.”
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Chris Hannay