Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Liberals quash Conservative bid for ethics probe with help of NDP, Greens
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has won his bid to prevent the creation of a special committee to study the government’s ethical controversies by threatening the opposition with a snap election.
The NDP, Greens and two independent MPs joined with the Liberals to quash a Conservative motion backed by the Bloc Québécois that would have given the opposition more control over the agenda in the House of Commons.
Before the vote, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the Liberals for turning the motion into a confidence matter, which could trigger an election, but still sided with Trudeau later that afternoon.
The NDP and Green Party backed down from an election without negotiating concessions from the government. But the NDP said it planned to move a motion at the Ethics Committee to launch a study of some of the issues the Conservatives wanted the special committee to investigate. So far the Liberals have filibustered opposition attempts to launch similar studies.
Opinion:
- Forcing a confidence vote over the WE affair is a risky gamble for the Trudeau Liberals - John Ibbitson
- Asking the Liberal government questions, at a time like this? Who does the Opposition think it is? - Andrew Coyne
- Why is the Trudeau government threatening to provoke an election over WE? - Globe editorial
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RCMP Commissioner defends officers’ response to violence against Mi’kmaq fishery
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has defended the actions of officers in Nova Scotia despite criticism from Indigenous leaders about their response to violence and intimidation toward a Mi’kmaq fishery.
She said the RCMP’s actions have been indicative of its commitment to uphold the law and keep the peace, and called for calm and order to enable peaceful discussion concerning Mi’kmaq treaty rights.
Some Mi’kmaq lobster fishermen have been the targets of threats and violence in recent weeks by non-Indigenous fishermen who dispute the Mi’kmaq’s constitutional right to fish for a moderate livelihood outside the federally regulated season.
Read more: Long term plan needed to recognize treaty rights of the Mi’kmaq, Jody Wilson-Raybould says
Background: Mi’kmaq fisheries under attack: The story in Nova Scotia so far, and the treaty rights behind it
Parliamentary committee calls China’s mistreatment of Uyghurs ‘genocide,’ urges Ottawa to sanction Beijing officials
MPs on a parliamentary committee dominated by the ruling Liberal Party have issued a statement condemning China for committing “genocide” against its Muslim Uyghur minority and urging the government to adopt sanctions against Chinese officials.
This comes less than a week after China’s ambassador to Canada warned parliamentarians against taking measures that recognize the mass detention and abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide, which the United Nations has recognized as a crime under international law.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne issued a statement thanking the committee for its work, but did not say whether Ottawa would impose sanctions on officials responsible for the brutal repression in Xinjiang.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Pope Francis endorses same-sex civil unions: Pope Francis became the first pontiff to endorse same-sex civil unions in comments for a documentary that premiered Wednesday, sparking cheers from gay Catholics and demands for clarification from conservatives, given the Vatican’s official teaching on the issue.
Nigerian protesters defiant amid chaos: Nigerian protesters demanding an end to police brutality defied a curfew and faced off with security forces today as gunfire rang out and fires burned in Lagos, a day after shots were fired into a crowd of demonstrators singing the country’s national anthem.
Purdue Pharma’s guilty plea: Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8-billion, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Rocker Spencer Davis dies: Spencer Davis, the leader of a rock group under his name that had some of the most enduring hits of the 1960s, including Gimme Some Lovin' and I’m a Man and Keep On Running – all sung not by him but by a teenage Steve Winwood – has died at 81.
PayPal going crypto: PayPal Holdings says it will allow customers to hold bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet and shop using cryptocurrencies at the 26 million merchants on its network.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street stocks closed slightly lower today after a volatile trading session as investors worried whether difficult negotiations in Washington would produce a deal for a fresh U.S. coronavirus stimulus package.
It was a similar situation in Canada, where the S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 43.03 points or 0.26 per cent to 16,230.23, weighed down by the industrials and energy sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97.97 points or 0.35 per cent to 28,210.82, the S&P 500 lost 7.56 points or 0.22 per cent to end at 3,435.56 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.80 points or 0.28 per cent to 11,484.69.
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TALKING POINTS
The University of Ottawa throws academic freedom under the bus
“The people who run Canada’s institutions of higher learning can no longer be trusted to stand up for the very principle for which those institutions exist in the first place. When faced with a choice between defending or silencing open debate on campus, they invariably pick the latter.” - Konrad Yakabuski
How Trump could pull off another shocker.
“[Donald] Trump is running a far more energetic campaign than [Joe] Biden. The 77-year-old Democrat returned to his Delaware basement Sunday to spend no less than four days preparing for the debate. The move hardly serves to counter his age-weary image.” - Lawrence Martin
LIVING BETTER
If you need a laugh – and these days, who doesn’t? – film editor Barry Hertz says Sacha Baron Cohen has you covered with Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, available for streaming on Amazon Prime starting Friday. “The new film is an essential piece of 2020 culture, distilling the mania of this cursed year into a compact 95 minutes of jaw-dropping cringe comedy,” he writes. Read more of his 3½-star review here.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Kraft Heinz gets into the food delivery business with its own ‘ghost kitchen’
Chef Alon Chitiz at work at Kraft Heinz Canada's 'ghost kitchen' in Toronto, on Oct. 20, 2020Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The office cafeteria at the Kraft Heinz’s Canadian headquarters is zombie-apocalypse quiet, but back in the kitchen, the grill is sizzling. Cook Alon Chitiz is flipping burgers, while nearby an iPad keeps track of the SkipTheDishes driver coming to pick up an order.
The customer waiting for a lunch delivery from Kitchen 57 may not know it is coming from this concrete office building in Toronto. As most of the 200 employees who would typically come through the cafeteria each day are now working from home, this facility has found a side hustle as a “ghost kitchen.” That’s a snazzy term (see also “dark kitchen,” “cloud kitchen,” “virtual kitchen”) for a simple concept: a restaurant kitchen focused on delivery.
But why is a consumer packaged-goods company suddenly in the restaurant business? For Kraft Heinz, it’s partly market research; it can test recipes to gauge customer tastes in real time. The company also has a large foodservice business, selling products to restaurants, and wants to understand how the industry is changing. Read Susan Krashinsky Robertson’s full story here.
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