Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Next steps in the Enbridge Line 5 dispute with Michigan
Ottawa is invoking a 1977 treaty with the United States to begin government-to-government negotiations over the fate of Line 5, a vital petroleum pipeline for Canada that faces a threat of shutdown from the State of Michigan. This represents an escalation of this dispute between Canada and the United States.
The move follows a breakdown in court-ordered mediation talks last month between Enbridge Inc. and Michigan, where Governor Gretchen Whitmer last fall ordered Line 5 to cease shipping petroleum across the state’s Straits of Mackinac waterway, citing the risk of oil spills.
Gordon Giffin, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada who is acting as legal counsel for the Canadian government, informed a federal U.S. judge in Michigan today that Canada has formally invoked Article 9 of the 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty “through diplomatic channels” to request negotiations.
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Celebrity chef Mark McEwan’s restaurant and food business files for creditor protection
Celebrity chef Mark McEwan’s restaurant, gourmet grocery and events business has obtained protection from creditors, warning that unless it is permitted to “right-size” its operations it could run out of cash within weeks.
Toronto-based McEwan Enterprises was struggling even before the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in temporary closings and reduced traffic at its locations. The company has not been profitable since 2017, according to court documents.
In addition to its six restaurants – including Bymark, Fabbrica and One Restaurant – McEwan Enterprises also runs two food halls and a gourmet grocery shop, partners with meal-kit service Goodfood, and generates revenue from McEwan’s television and media projects, such as Top Chef Canada.
Shares in property firm China Evergrande suspended on takeover deal
Trading in shares of China Evergrande Group was halted today, amid news it had missed another key bond interest payment, bringing the embattled Chinese real estate giant closer to default.
The world’s most indebted property developer, Evergrande has been teetering on the edge of collapse for weeks now, as it struggles to address almost US$305-billion in liabilities. Its debt struggles have sparked fears of a collapse that could reverberate around the world, though worries have eased somewhat after the central bank vowed to protect homebuyers’ interests.
It has been reported that fellow Guangdong-based property developer Hopson Development Holdings was due to acquire 51 per cent of Evergrande Property Services Group, in a deal worth around US$5.14-billion.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ontario pledges no ‘painful’ tax hikes or spending cuts: Ontario remains committed to “the most cautious reopening in Canada” to avoid future COVID-19 lockdowns, the provincial government said in a Throne Speech today, while promising an economic recovery fuelled by growth and not “painful tax hikes or spending cuts.”
Facebook in the news: Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms have suffered a worldwide outage today, but the company did not say what might be causing the outage. Facebook is going through a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company’s awareness of harms caused by some of its products and decisions.
California oil spill probe: Officials investigating one of California’s largest oil spills are looking into whether a ship’s anchor may have struck a pipeline on the ocean floor, causing a major leak of crude, authorities say. Pipeline operator Amplify Energy has been cited 72 times for safety and environmental violations that were severe enough that drilling had to be curtailed or stopped to fix the problem, regulatory records show. In photos: Oil spill one of the largest in recent California history
Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded: American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch that could pave the way for new painkillers. In 2017, Julius was named a winner of Canada’s prestigious Gairdner International Award.
Ambassador Bridge reopens: Police say the Ambassador Bridge border crossing between Windsor and Detroit has reopened to traffic as an investigation into an “isolated incident” of possible explosives continues.
Captain Kirk rocketing to space: Canadian-born William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series, will blast off on Oct. 12 aboard a capsule operated by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space travel company. “Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!”’ the 90-year-old tweeted.
On today’s episode of The Decibel podcast: The Globe’s telecom industry reporter Alexandra Posadzki talks about SIM swapping, port fraud and the dangers to your identity
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street ended sharply lower today as investors dumped Big Tech and other growth stocks in the face of rising Treasury yields, while concerns about a potential U.S. government debt default offered another reason for caution. Canada’s main stock market followed suit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 323.54 points or 0.94 per cent to 34,002.92 points, the S&P 500 lost 56.58 points or 1.3 per cent to 4,300.46 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 311.22 points or 2.14 per cent to 14,255.48.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 98.62 points or 0.49 per cent to 20,052.25.
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TALKING POINTS
This time, the clock just ran out for the Blue Jays
“We can scientifically identify the moment of greatest hope in the Toronto season – 4:26 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3. That’s when it was all headed in the right direction. The clock starts again in six months.- Cathal Kelly
Related: Toronto Blue Jays rout Baltimore Orioles but miss playoffs
Is the war against bike lanes finally over?
“A protected bike lane is obviously safer than a faded line painted on the street. What’s fascinating is the findings from research in 2019 that concluded such bike infrastructure can make a city’s streets safer for all users – drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.” - Globe editorial
Eliminating gifted programs deprives talented students of an education that matches their potential
“It is actually easier to meet the diverse needs of students in the regular class if the ability range is narrower. When students of all abilities are grouped together, the teacher is stretched to help the regular students while also challenging the advanced students.” - John Barsby, retired teacher
LIVING BETTER
Almost one in four Canadians have high blood pressure - and in some cases, it’s resistant to drug therapy. The good news is that new research demonstrates that the combination of diet, reduced sodium intake and exercise can lead to significant blood-pressure-lowering effects in people with resistant hypertension. When it comes to diet, that means following DASH guidelines (DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.) Find out more here about DASH and its benefits.
TODAY’S LONG READ
I’m not lazy, I’m just retired
My wife and I, during most of our lives, looked down on laziness as a severe character flaw. We were brought up with the good old Victorian ethic of hard work being necessary for salvation; the brainwashing was, and is, effective.
After I retired, it took me some time to get used to not being gainfully employed. I slowly realized that far from laziness being a sin, it could be my best friend. Part of the assumption is a lack of motivation. However, in my case, it is not a lack of motivation but rather a different view of what is important.
I know what I want to do – not much, in fact – and have begun to use laziness as a shield to avoid what I don’t want. For example, while once a social gadfly, I have little interest now in social gatherings; this avoidance has been facilitated by COVID-19. Also, I rarely answer the phone on the assumption that no friend of mine would call me. Read Bill Jermyn’s full essay here.
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