Hello,
Canadians are struggling to adjust to coronavirus-influenced day-to-day routines (with a great deal of concern over plans to resume school instruction come September), but encouraging jobs numbers may provide optimism. That is, unless your job is on a farm in the Windsor, Ont., area.
There are four farms in Windsor-Essex currently coping with COVID-19 outbreaks, and now local officials say the best way through the crisis is for the provincial or federal government to take the lead.
Meanwhile, alarming numbers of new cases south of the border are causing pushback from Canadians over appeals from some American lawmakers to reopen the international border. And while the outbreak is not slowing down, neither is Donald Trump. He has two campaign events planned this week.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, usually written by Chris Hannay. Mason Wright is filling in today. The newsletter is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The ethics scandal involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family’s close ties to the WE Charity is egregious enough for RCMP to consider it a criminal matter, the Conservative Party says. Today, two party MPs accused Trudeau of fraud under Section 121 of the criminal code.
With a new report calling for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of illicit drugs, Canada’s chiefs of police have joined a chorus of public-health officials, scientists and activists calling for changes to federal laws. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police argue that drug users, who are dying from overdose at record levels, should be met with a health-based approach to their addiction, rather than a criminal approach. The governing Liberals, however, have so far refused to commit to decriminalization.
A law that prohibits providers of insurance or other services from requiring the results of genetic tests from potential customers has been upheld by the Supreme Court. The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act is meant to give Canadians peace of mind that genetic tests they may take to help identify health risks will not be used against them by insurance companies.
The federal government is broadening the definition of “parent” in the Citizenship Act to allow non-biological legal parents to pass Canadian citizenship down to their children. Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino says the change will provide equal treatment for many people, “including the LGBTQ+ community and parents experiencing infertility issues.”
About 140,000 federal civil servants will be compensated in lump-sum payments of $2,500 for the damage caused by the government’s broken Phoenix pay system, the union representing the workers announced today.
While Canada’s Conservatives cast mail-in ballots to elect the next leader of the party, the only Black candidate is speaking out on a recent virtual debate that was marred by racial slurs in its comments section. Leslyn Lewis says the racist comments were “sadly not surprising,” but that the reaction of fellow Conservatives who demanded debate organizers remove the comments was an encouraging sign about the inclusivity of the party.
And Joe Biden is weighing who will make the best running mate for his U.S. presidential election campaign, with an announcement expected later this month. We have a guide to the front-runners.
COMMENTARY
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Ontario’s return-to-school plan: “Having elementary-school kids in class five days a week is basic table stakes for re-opening the economy. Child care is a necessity if you want an available labour force and higher employment, productivity and economic activity. A lack of child care disproportionately hurts work opportunities for women already disproportionately affected by the pandemic. That’s bad for equity and the economy.”
Paul Wells (Maclean’s) on the lack of an inquiry into the Nova Scotia massacre: “This country cannot wait forever on a decision by a compromised Prime Minister who cannot make decisions. Canada has a justice minister with the authority to determine the scope and nature of judicial inquiries. Nova Scotia has a federal minister with a mandate to promote the province’s interests at the cabinet table. Unfortunately the justice minister is David Lametti and the province’s voice at cabinet is Bernadette Jordan, and neither has had anything to say about any of this in three months.”
Amy Greer, Nisha Thampi and Ashleigh Tuite (The Globe and Mail) on lessons for the education system from the health care system: “We need to protect our schools and communities this fall by following the hierarchy of hazard controls strategy. We need to re-engineer school spaces to support handwashing, physical distancing and smaller class sizes. We must develop policies and learning environments that minimize contact between staff and students, and provide PPE within schools when necessary.”
Michael Higgins (The Globe and Mail) on divided U.S. Catholics: “[The] church-state alliance of Archbishop Vigano and Mr. Trump is an aberration, but it does presage a turbulent and unpredictable time for the U.S. Catholic electorate as they prepare for the November election. Catholic bishops have their clear preference for whom they would like in the White House – and contrary to public perception they do not all think alike or vote as a collectivity – but Archbishop Vigano’s insertion into the national conversation is strategically timed.”
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