Hello,
Former U.S. president Barack Obama has unleashed some of his harshest criticism to date of his successor in the White House.
Mr. Obama, who was campaigning for Democrat Joe Biden in Pennsylvania last night, said Republican President Donald Trump had failed to handle the responsibilities of his office, on topics ranging from the economy to the pandemic response.
“We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook that would have shown them how to respond before the virus reached our shores," Mr. Obama said in the speech, referencing his administration’s battles with Ebola and H1N1.
"They probably used it to, I don’t know, prop up a wobbly table somewhere.”
Mr. Obama also levelled plenty of personal criticism on Mr. Trump, such as a dig at the business enterprises he took over from his father.
“Donald Trump likes to claim he built this economy but America created 1.5 million more jobs in the last three years of the Obama-Biden administration than in the first three years of the Trump-Pence administration,” Mr. Obama said, adding: “Now, he did inherit the longest streak of job growth in American history but just like everything else he inherited, he messed it up."
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden are together again for their final televised debate tonight. Here are five things to watch for.
And throughout the campaign, The Globe and Mail has reported some in-depth pieces on important places and people in the race. Today is a look at how the fast-growing Latino population could swing the 2020 election – if they are able to vote.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights has released a report saying that how the Chinese government has treated the country’s Muslim Uyghur minority amounts to a “genocide” and the Canadian government should level Magnitsky-style sanctions against Chinese officials. The report came after a committee study that included witness testimony about “concentration camps” where Uyghurs are taken. The Chinese government dismissed the report, saying it was “filled with lies.”
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki defended her officers' actions from criticism by Indigenous leaders that they have done little to protect Mi’kmaq fishermen in Nova Scotia from violence.
In Alberta, a proposal from government-appointed advisers is recommending that the history of residential schools not be taught until Grade 9, and only then by lumping it in with other “harsh” schools, such as those in Charles Dickens novels. Senator Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says it is important for younger children to learn about the history of Indigenous people and it is completely possible to design an appropriate lesson around residential schools.
The University of Ottawa has been under fire after a professor used the n-word in a lesson about marginalized communities reclaiming offensive words. The university suspended the professor, who apologized and said she regretted saying the word, but the school is now being criticized for allegedly impinging on academic freedom.
And Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq has asked the territory’s legislature to remove a cabinet minister for making an “All Lives Matter” social media post. (In Nunavut’s consensus-style government, members of cabinet are selected by caucus, not the premier.)
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on this week’s brinksmanship being just the first incident of many: “We have just entered the period of minority-Parliament power games that can end in an election campaign. That means the odds are that there will be a federal vote in months, rather than years.”
David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on inflation and how to measure the pandemic economy: “Frankly, the year-over-year inflation rate isn’t a figure that has a lot of meaning, because it’s made up of two very different realities: five months before the pandemic, and the past seven months in the pandemic, which has radically altered consumption patterns. It’s not even comparing apples to oranges; it’s mashing an apple and an orange together, and then trying to determine how good that applange tastes.”
Diane Francis (National Post) on why the government must do more to tax tech giants: “Ottawa must act quickly to salvage what’s left of Canada’s embattled media industry and must also join with other developed nations in order to take on anti-competitive practices everywhere. The European Union has already challenged the tech giants with some success, and Washington is now doing its part, as well.”
Andrew MacDougall (Ottawa Citizen) on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and accountability: “Alas, Justin Trudeau appears to prefer government by fiat, despite all of his lofty promises and rhetoric in 2015. There is no more accountability or transparency in Trudeau’s Ottawa than there was in Stephen Harper’s. You could make a good case there is actually less. In a sense it’s the natural response to parliamentary opposition. Who amongst us loves it when our work is frustrated by an opponent? But Trudeau doesn’t get to be graded against his predecessor; he promised a different standard, something his fellow-travellers should remember.”
Alexandra Rendely and Courtney Sas (The Globe and Mail) on why elective surgeries can’t be cancelled again: “As COVID-19 cases balloon, working groups and hospital steering committees are meeting frequently to discuss each hospital’s next steps. Many surgeons involved are advocating that operating rooms should remain open. The evolving nature of coronavirus requires a daily evaluation of resources, such as critical care beds, to match the fluidity of the situation. A total shutdown in anticipation of over-capacity hospitals would be exponentially detrimental this time round.”
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Chris Hannay