Minister of Finance Bill Morneau stands during question period in the House of Commons on Oct. 23, 2017.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Good morning,
The Liberal government will unveil its annual fall fiscal update this afternoon after markets close, and they say it will be good news. As economists have noted all year, the Canadian economy has improved substantially since the government made its fiscal outlook in the March budget. And with a stronger economy, there is a stronger balance sheet for Ottawa. The $28.5-billion deficit that Finance Minister Bill Morneau predicted for the next fiscal year should go down, but rather than enjoy the lower accumulated debt, the Liberals are expected to spend the extra money. Some media outlets report this morning that the update could show improvements to the working income tax benefit or the Canada child benefit. We'll find out shortly after 4 o'clock.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
The Liberals won a by-election last night in Lac-Saint-Jean, a Quebec riding that had been held for years by the Conservatives. Justin Trudeau visited the riding multiple times this year to stump for local mayor Richard Hébert, who won 38.6 per cent. The Conservatives and Bloc were close behind. Meanwhile, the Conservatives cruised to an easy victory in an Edmonton-area by-election, with former political staffer Dane Lloyd winning 77 per cent of the vote.
The Conservatives and New Democrats want the Liberal government to close a loophole identified by the Ethics Commissioner that allows public office holders to keep investments through holding companies.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has brought his leadership rivals back into the party's House of Commons team.
Boeing and Bombardier were very close to making a deal to work together on the C Series planes, sources tell The Globe, before the American company abruptly walked away in August. The Canadian government was involved in the negotiations. Bombardier instead made an alliance with European manufacturer Airbus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put one of his fiercest critics, Bill Browder, on an Interpol watch list, which may be just the first retaliation measure the country will inflict after Canada's passage of a Magnitsky-style bill last week.
Caitlan Coleman, one of the family members who was rescued from captivity in Pakistan, speaks publicly for the first time about her experiences.
A government-funded focus group says millennials don't like being called millennials.
The Globe's John Ibbitson profiles Michelle Douglas, the last woman kicked out of the military for being homosexual. At the time, she had been put on the team of investigators who were supposed to find people in the service who were LGBT.
As public debate continues about the passage of Bill 62, which targets face coverings, the Quebec Solidaire party is raising the issue of the crucifix in the National Assembly.
A new TV series puts Canadian politicians from opposite partisan sides together on "blind dates."
And an Atlantic reporter tags along with a group of researchers into Middle America, where they find that maybe people don't really want to get along.
Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on Bill 62: "What's notable is that the views of the English-language commentariat are out of step not only with Quebeckers but with English Canada as well. Only three in 10 Canadians across the country support the right of women to wear face coverings. Is this proof that anti-Muslim sentiment is dangerously widespread? Or does it simply mean – as I believe – that Canadians want immigrants to fit in?"
Yasmin Jiwani (The Conversation) on Bill 62: "The Quebec government doesn't just want to deter Muslims from settling in the province, they are actually using Muslim women's bodies as a political ploy. The insistence of visibility conveys the message that to belong to Quebec, Muslim women must toe the line; they must dress, talk and behave in particular ways."
Carissima Mathen (Policy Options) on Quebec's bill against face coverings: "It is difficult to avoid seeing Bill 62 as effecting a sort of social banishment based on political symbolism and strong majority sentiment. As essential as they are to democratic polities, majority desires are dangerous touchstones when weighing the rights of tiny minorities, who are vulnerable in many ways, lack political power and seem to be despised and even feared. That is precisely the sort of situation the Canadian Charter exists to prevent."
Stewart Phillip (The Globe and Mail) on the legacy of residential schools: "Canadian prisons are filled with people who carry the deepest of traumas from a young age. Many of the incarcerated are disproportionately Indigenous people, and about a third of all prisoners who are isolated in segregation cells are Indigenous."
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Putin's Russia: "It's hard to imagine that Mr. Putin's Russia really believes that will be widely accepted as the truth in Western countries where there are other campaigns for Magnitsky laws. It doesn't seem to matter. It's reminiscent of the allegations of Russian online disinformation in the West: They're not just intended to promote the Kremlin's version of events, but to undermine the credibility of any version of events."