French President-elect Emmanuel Macron gestures during a victory celebration outside the Louvre museum in Paris, France, Sunday, May 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)The Associated Press
Pro-EU Macron sweeps to power in France
French voters turned away from Brexit-style populism and elected a staunchly pro-Europe President with a mandate to change the country and the continent. Early returns showed Emmanuel Macron winning 65 per cent in Sunday's second round of voting. He now becomes the youngest President in French history, at the age of 39, and won without the backing of any traditional political party. For far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front, the result was worse than many party insiders expected, raising questions about her future and the party's direction.
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Clark stands by trade threats to U.S. on eve of B.C. election
BC Liberal leader Christy Clark, ahead of Tuesday's provincial election that will determine whether she remains premier, is seizing on U.S. criticism of her retaliatory trade threats to pressure for a softwood deal as a validation of her tactics. "With our ban on moving thermal coal, we have got the Americans' attention," Ms. Clark said Sunday. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on the weekend that the Trump administration won't yield to pressure from the Canadian government – including B.C.'s proposal to ban thermal-coal shipments through the province.
Montreal declares state of emergency as flood fighting continues across Canada
Thousands of Canadians across the country spent the weekend in a desperate struggle with rising floodwaters caused by unusually persistent rainfall. Quebec has been hardest hit, with nearly 1,900 flooded homes in roughly 130 municipalities. National Defence said in a release that approximately 800 additional troops were deployed in Quebec on Sunday, joining more than 400 Canadian Armed Forces members already assisting with the flood effort. On Sunday, Montreal became the latest Quebec city to declare a state of emergency.
Thousands of sites for homes sit shovel-ready in Toronto area
More than 55,000 sites for detached homes, semis and townhouses are approved and close to shovel-ready across the Greater Toronto Area, the Ontario government says, despite complaints from some in the development industry about a land shortage. The release of the numbers comes just weeks before the Ontario Liberal government is to announce changes to its Greenbelt and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Some claim that the Growth Plan has caused a shortage of "serviced land." But according to the government's figures, there was enough serviced land in 2016 to build 56,762 new housing units in Hamilton and across Peel, Halton, York and Durham Regions over the next three years.
Nigerian leader Buhari's photo with freed Chibok girls sparks furor
A photo-op between Nigeria's president and 82 newly freed Chibok schoolgirls is fuelling controversy over the political exploitation of the traumatized students. The schoolgirls from the Nigerian town of Chibok, held hostage by the Boko Haram militia for more than three years, were freed on the weekend after long negotiations, reportedly in exchange for five imprisoned Boko Haram commanders. But on their first full day of freedom, the schoolgirls were allowed no privacy. They were flown to Abuja, the capital, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, and his aides released photos of him with the former hostages.
NHL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP
Oilers destroy Ducks, Predators eliminate Blues
In Edmonton, the Oilers rebounded from Friday's heartbreaking overtime loss to steamroll the Anaheim Ducks 7-1 to tie their second-round series at three games apiece. Leon Draisaitl scored three goals and added two assists in the rout. The series now moves back to Anaheim for a seventh and deciding game. In Nashville, the Predators topped the Blues 3-1 in Game 6 to take the series four games to two. The Predators now await the winner of the Edmonton-Anaheim series.
MORNING MARKETS
European stocks and the euro pulled back on Monday from highs touched after Emmanuel Macron's emphatic but well-flagged victory in France's presidential election as investors' focus shifted from politics to monetary policy. Tokyo's Nikkei surged 2.3 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai composite 0.8 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up slightly by about 5:15 a.m. (ET), though Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.3 and 0.8 per cent. New York futures were down, and the Canadian dollar was just above 73 cents (U.S.). Oil prices rose as talk of further supply cuts by major OPEC exporters outweighed the prospect of higher U.S. production as a drilling boom spreads across North America.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
"Conservative leadership candidates just can't resist that populist urge to promise to act like an autocrat. They want to promise they'll get things done – and in the process, they keep promising to brush aside the limits on a prime minister's power. Kevin O'Leary, in his 90-day adventure as a candidate, said he'd dock health-care transfer payments to provinces that didn't adopt his economic policies. Many candidates, most recently Lisa Raitt, have promised to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for various ends. This is big, bold stuff. Like Donald Trump's promise to build a wall on the Mexican border, it's an attempt to respond to the frustrations people feel about politicians by promising to use the heavy artillery – regardless of whether it makes sense." – Campbell Clark
"Emmanuel Macron's easy win over his far-right rival might look like a triumph of moderation over extremism. Yet, this election marks the most fundamental realignment of French politics since the beginning of the Fifth Republic in 1958. The traditional alternation of power between centre-left and centre-right presidents has been swept away by something entirely new, and dangerous. The National Front has become the country's leading opposition force, no longer just a basket of deplorables agitating on the fringes. It will now fall to Mr. Macron to push back the nationalist tide, nurtured by growing working- and middle-class anger in the face of French economic stagnation. Is he up to the task?" – Konrad Yakabuski
"Buried in the 124 pages of the U.S. trade case against Canadian lumber is a surprising revelation about how the Trump administration tallied its duties. The prevailing narrative is that the U.S. hit Canada with duties of up to 24 per cent because the provinces are selling their timber too cheaply to lumber companies. That's only part of the story. A significant chunk of the penalty is due to log export restrictions that exist only in British Columbia. The bizarre, and arguably unfair, result is that lumber producers across the country are being punished for the forest policies of one province." – Barrie McKenna (for subscribers)
"Wherever the Toronto Raptors go, Lebron James is in their way. He was once again the star in Sunday's 109-102 coup de grace. The real insult was delivered after the four-game sweep by Cleveland's erratic human catapult, Kyrie Irving. 'We want to thank the Toronto organization for coming out and competing. We needed that,' Irving said. God love him, he was serious. The problem – James & Co. – isn't changing over the next few years. And so the Raptors now have to make some hard decisions about their short-term goals – are they in it to win; or in it to be profitably mediocre?" – Cathal Kelly
"Once again, homes located alongside a Canadian river have flooded, affected homeowners are shocked, the local government is wringing its hands, the respective provincial government is ramping up to provide taxpayer-funded disaster assistance and the feds are deploying the Armed Forces. In Canada, it is the plot of the movie Groundhog Day, or the definition of insanity attributed to Albert Einstein: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. At least in the movie, Bill Murray's character learns from his mistakes. This can't seem to be said of how we manage flood in this country." – Glenn McGillivray
HEALTH PRIMER
Leslie Beck: Fruit juice can be too much of a good thing
Pure fruit juice (unsweetened) isn't a substitute for the real thing (whole fruit). If you drink 100-per-cent juice, don't substitute it for more than one of your daily fruit and vegetable servings. Limit portion size to four ounces per day for children 1 to 6 and eight ounces for older kids, including teenagers. Avoid giving fruit juice to children before their first birthdays; some experts advise no juice before 2. Better yet, eat an orange, an apple or a handful of grapes and save fruit juice for a treat.
MOMENT IN TIME
Globe admonishes Nova Scotia anti-confederates
May 8, 1867: With less than two months to go until the creation of Canada, a growing anti-Confederation movement had emerged in Nova Scotia. It was led by former premier Joseph Howe, who felt the union didn't have the support of the people. The Globe expressed its concerns: "It is deeply to be deplored that men who had earned the admiration of the people of British America by long years of able and patriotic public service, should allow the passing disappointment of the hour to betray them into the unseemly attitude they now hold." Confederation is a "settled matter" and should be given a fair trial, the paper added. Still, in the fall of 1867, anti-confederates won the vast majority of Nova Scotia's seats in federal and provincial elections. But their attempts to secede failed when Britain vetoed the idea. Howe eventually capitulated and joined the federal cabinet. Richard Blackwell
Morning Update is written by Steven Proceviat.
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