This picture taken on July 4, 2017 shows the successful test-fire of the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 at an undisclosed location.STR/AFP / Getty Images
TOP STORIES
Ontario clinicians raise concerns over assisted-dying co-ordination service
A new provincial program was supposed to improve access for Ontario's grievously ill medical patients, while also easing the moral burden on physicians who object to referring patients for assisted death. But since the program was set up, the number of Ontario clinicians registered to participate in medical aid in dying has fallen dramatically.
Front-line providers say the shortcomings of the program are turning off some doctors, which could make it harder for eligible patients to find someone to help them end their lives. "It's a matchmaking service that offers no support for physicians and nurse practitioners doing this work," said Chantal Perrot, a Toronto family doctor.
With only 74 doctors having signed up so far since May, the potential problems with the program are just the latest example of the practical hiccups that have marred the implementation of Canada's assisted-dying law in parts of the country.
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A small Quebec town, a Muslim cemetery and a referendum that will decide its fate
A small Quebec town is making a big decision about a proposed Muslim cemetery. Citizens of Saint-Apollinaire will vote on July 16 about whether the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec can open a cemetery on a wooded plot of land in town.
The centre has been seeking a cemetery site for over a decade, and when a gunman opened fire at its Grand Mosque in January, shooting six worshippers dead, the killings added more poignancy, and urgency, to the project.
Only 62 people are eligible to vote on the cemetery – because their properties adjoin the proposed cemetery site – and just 49 of them had registered by the deadline on Tuesday evening. Depending on turnout, this means that a handful of people will determine the fate of a Muslim community in Quebec City numbering in the thousands, and send out a larger message to Muslims across the province.
U.S. prepared to use force on North Korea 'if we must': UN envoy
It has been three days since North Korea test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, and now the United States says that while it prefers global diplomatic action, it will use force to stop Kim Jong-un's nuclear program if it must.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told a meeting of the UN Security Council that North Korea's actions were "quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution" and the United States was prepared to defend itself and its allies.
Ottawa insists infrastructure bank will avoid Australia's pitfalls
After spending four days in Sydney, Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi says he's convinced Canada can attract private infrastructure investors while avoiding some of the fallout that similar efforts have faced in Australia.
But as Canada follows its Commonwealth ally's lead, Australia is showing signs of softening its full-throated embrace of privatized infrastructure.
Australia cancelled a signature program called "asset recycling" last year that was aimed at selling off government assets to fund new projects. More recently, the Australian government said it will change its budget reporting to reflect the distinction between good and bad debt in an effort to promote the benefits of traditional government borrowing to build infrastructure. Australia's 2017 budget also announced direct public funding of major road and rail projects.
MORNING MARKETS
Oil recovered from a heavy fall while European stocks and bonds were in the red on Thursday, as markets waited to see if ECB meeting minutes would give clues on the bank's next moves. The U.S. Federal Reserve gave mixed signals on Wednesday. Tokyo's Nikkei lost 0.4 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.2 per cent, though the Shanghai composite gained 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up marginally by about 4:50 a.m. (ET), while Germany's DAX was down slightly and the Paris CAC 40 was down 0.3 per cent. New York futures were also down, and the Canadian dollar was comfortably above 77 cents (U.S.).
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
The Omar Khadr settlement will be a political albatross for Trudeau
"The Liberal government's decision to offer Omar Khadr $10.5-million and an apology is a political albatross that Andrew Scheer will hang around Justin Trudeau's neck all the way to the next election. The new Conservative leader will make sure that the Prime Minister pays the highest possible price for kowtowing to a young man many Canadians consider a cold-blooded terrorist. Yes, the Liberals had little choice. Mr. Khadr's lawyers have the government dead to rights in their lawsuit alleging Canadian complicity in his imprisonment and mistreatment by the United States government." – John Ibbitson
Egerton Ryerson doesn't deserve an anti-Indigenous label
"As a Canadian historian of nearly half a century's standing, I find the current controversy over Egerton Ryerson, the namesake of Ryerson University, totally baffling. I wonder how deeply his critics have probed into the past of the founder of the modern Ontario public-school system. Their portrayal of him as anti-Indigenous misrepresents the man completely." – Donald Smith
Andrew Weaver is wrong: Resource jobs are real
"Academics are often accused of being ensconced in an "ivory tower" – turrets of isolation and imagination where reality rarely intrudes. Fair or not, sometimes the indictment is accurate: Witness former University of Victoria academic and BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver and his frequent skepticism about the benefits of resource development. With the fall of the BC Liberals and the ascension of the NDP to power in British Columbia, and the Green Party in a supporting role (the swearing-in will occur in a few weeks), the potential is real for Mr. Weaver's fact-challenged pontificating about "imaginary" resource-based jobs and benefits to become self-fulfilling government policy." – Mark Milke and Andrew Pickford
HEALTH PRIMER
If training outside sounds appealing, you are in luck – outdoor boot camps are a summer staple. Watch for flyers around your neighbourhood or Google events in local parks. I ran, jumped, squatted and – of course – worked up a sweat during two hour-long boot camps. The first, taught by Karine, a Toronto boot-camp icon, started at 6 a.m. I forced myself to get up in large part because two friends I'd enlisted to come along, Julie and Kerra, were waiting for me; they are my age (34), but they heroically juggle kids in addition to working and staying fit. I also took my friend and client Jenny to a 6:30 p.m. class run by Urban Core. Jenny is fit but nervous about outdoor activities. She is 64 and has previously broken her wrist and ankle. – Kathleen Trotter
MOMENT IN TIME
Viola Desmond is born July 6, 1914: When a 32-year-old Viola Desmond refused to leave a whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1946, little did she know that 72 years later she would be honoured as the new face of Canada's $10 note. Ms. Desmond was born on this day in Halifax in 1914 to James and Gwendolin Davis, an interracial couple both active and prominent in the black community. After her jailing and next-day conviction on tax evasion of one penny, she became the first known black woman in Canada to bring forward a court case challenging racial segregation. She lost, but in 2010, she was granted a posthumous pardon and a formal apology from the provincial government for "the injustice in her conviction." Desmond, who died at the age of 50 in 1965, will begin appearing on the $10 bill next year. – Kabrena Robinson
Morning Update is written by Megan Marrelli. If you'd like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.