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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Internal trade focus shifts to First Ministers’ Meeting after premiers fail to agree on alcohol imports
Canada’s premiers have announced a few small steps toward reducing trade barriers within the country, Bill Curry writes, but failed to agree on how to ease the rules that limit the amount of alcohol Canadians can transport across provincial borders. Today’s final agreement promises to “significantly increase” the amount of alcohol Canadians can import from another province for personal use. But New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant, who hosted this week’s summit, said he and his fellow premiers were unable to agree on specific targets for beer, wine or spirits.
The focus now shifts to this fall’s first ministers' meeting, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week after a request from the premiers.
Toronto police identify eighth alleged Bruce McArthur victim
Toronto police say they have now identified the remains of all eight men allegedly murdered by Bruce McArthur, including those of Majeed Kayhan, the latest to be found. Mr. McArthur has been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of men with ties to Toronto’s gay community who went missing between 2010 and 2017.
Acting Inspector Hank Idsinga said Mr. Kayhan’s remains were recovered from the ravine behind the property where the remains of seven other men were found in planters this year. Mr. McArthur, 66, worked as a landscaper at that property. Insp. Idsinga said that after examining about 100 properties in the Greater Toronto Area, police do not have any evidence to suggest Mr. McArthur’s involvement in any additional killings.
Today in Trump: former lawyer’s secret recording, trade tiff with China, and Fed rate-hike shaming
U.S. President Donald Trump’s long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with his client two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, The New York Times reports, citing lawyers and others familiar with the recording.
The FBI seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump before the 2016 election. Prosecutors want to know whether that violated federal campaign finance laws.
Mr. Trump was already making headlines by saying in an interview that he was ready to impose tariffs on an additional US$500-billion of imports from China, threatening to escalate the current trade war with Beijing. Earlier this month, the United States imposed tariffs on US$34-billion of Chinese imports, which Beijing quickly matched. The U.S. then warned it might boost the figure by an additional US$200-billion; China said it would hit back in kind, then filed a complaint against the U.S. with the World Trade Organization.
The President also used the CNBC interview to criticize Federal Reserve interest-rate policy. “I don’t like all of this work that we’re putting into the economy and then I see rates going up,” he said. Many economists, however, believe the highest U.S. inflation in seven years and the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years justify recent rate hikes.
Legal showdown nears as CRA asks for $110-million in unpaid taxes from TFSA holders
A battle has erupted between the Canada Revenue Agency and day traders who argue they’ve been unfairly targeted to pay millions of dollars in taxes because of their use of tax-free savings accounts, Clare O’Hara writes. The $110-million stems from audits conducted over a seven-year period ending March 31, 2018. Approximately 10 per cent of that amount involved audits of TFSA accounts that seemed to be carrying on a business, such as day trading, which can generate hefty returns through aggressive securities trading.
Tim Clarke, a Vancouver tax lawyer with QED Tax Law, says the CRA is choosing which accounts to audit without clearly defined rules about what constitutes an acceptable amount of money to accrue within an account. A case filed in 2015 by one of Mr. Clarke’s clients will be the first TFSA test case to go to trial at the Tax Court of Canada. (for subscribers)
Annual inflation hits six-year high, stirs talk of rate hike
Canada’s annual inflation rate hit a six-year high of 2.5 per cent, higher than the Bank of Canada’s target rate of 2 per cent, stirring talk of another rate hike this year. Statistics Canada said today that rising gas prices helped boost the inflation rate to its highest since February, 2012, when it stood at 2.6 per cent. The central bank last week raised interest rates for the fourth time in a year and signalled more hikes to come. Its next scheduled rate announcement is on Sept 5. (for subscribers)
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MARKET WATCH
The U.S. dollar weakened the most since March while the loonie surged, U.S. Treasuries tumbled and stocks closed lower after President Donald Trump’s latest verbal salvos fanned investor concern that a global trade war is escalating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6.38 points to 25,058.12, the S&P 500 Index slipped 2.66 points to 2,801.83, and the Nasdaq Composite Index eased 5.1 points 7,820.20. In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 107.55 points to 16,435.46. Most subsectors were lower, including health-care, which suffered from a drop in many cannabis stocks.
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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
Canada’s rents are rising while the vacancy rate shrinks, yet the country has one coveted real estate asset collecting dust: empty bedrooms – millions of them. A growing number of seniors are living in homes that are too big, while young people squeeze into apartments that are too expensive. Here’s one solution, Erin Anderssen writes: Share the living spaces to mutual benefit. The concept of home sharing – in which a homeowner, usually a senior, offers reduced rent for a room in exchange for small chores and companionship – is getting attention in small towns and cities across the country.
TALKING POINTS
Let’s worry less about the word ‘racist’ and more about the effects of racism in Toronto
Imagine if, instead of considering the idea of racism a personal insult, politicians considered it a problem worth solving. Here are some things that Jane Finch Action Against Poverty and others in the community have been asking for for years: better public transportation, good jobs to commute to, affordable child care and easier access to fresh, cost-effective food. And yes, an end to carding, which has never been shown to deter crime. - Denise Balkissoon
When al-Assad wins Syria’s civil war, Canada faces a dilemma
“What should Canada do when Bashar al-Assad wins the Syrian civil war? That question changed from an ‘if’ to a ‘when’ this week and became one of the more awkward and pressing ones on the Trudeau government’s foreign-affairs agenda. The catastrophic Trump-Putin news conference left a lot of things uncertain, but both presidents made it abundantly clear that there is no longer any major military country willing to support the ouster of Mr. al-Assad, seven years after his people rose against him.” - Doug Saunders
Seniors may have a hard time with TD’s security process for online banking
“The cost of making online banking safer means losing a little of the ‘anywhere, any time’ convenience that makes it so great. You can see this trade-off in the reaction to a security process called two-step authentication that Toronto-Dominion Bank has been rolling out for the past couple of months. This measure will make customers safer, but it’s going to bug some seniors because it’s a hassle to use unless you have a cellphone and are comfortable with texting.” - Rob Carrick
LIVING BETTER
Think you have to hurry and use up your Aeroplan points soon? Not so fast: The end of the loyalty program’s exclusive relationship with Air Canada in 2020 may not halt its air travel rewards. Aeroplan aims to get into the airline business by offering charter flights to its most popular destinations. “We have routes where we have enough redemption demand today that we can fly a daily charter throughout the year on some particular routes,” Jeremy Rabe said in his first media interview since taking over in May as CEO of parent company Aimia Inc. The company is in negotiations with potential airline partners to operate narrow body aircraft suited for flights to destinations in the Caribbean.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Who’s getting rich off cannabis? Insider trading data reveal the big sellers
The boom in marijuana stocks has allowed insiders at the industry’s biggest companies to sell $250-million worth of stock in the past year – but if share prices hold, there are still hundreds of millions more for them to make. The figure is based on a Globe and Mail analysis of insider-trading records for executives, board members and major shareholders at the seven biggest Canadian cannabis companies from July 1, 2017, to June 30 of this year. The sector’s stratospheric valuations have encouraged some executives and early investors to turn their paper profits into cash. At MedReleaf Corp., which is about to be acquired by Aurora Cannabis Inc., insiders have sold $91.7-million in stock, led by four early investors in the company. At the other extreme, insiders of Cronos Group Inc. have been hanging on – just one insider sold shares in that 12-month period, for a total of $450. (for subscribers)
Garry Lowe, 64, was the bassist who gave Big Sugar its reggae groove
He was the gentle, dreadlocked musician who gave the popular Canadian blues-reggae rock group Big Sugar its distinctive bass sound. But Garry Lowe, who died of cancer on July 7 at the age of 64, played a far greater role, bridging the reggae and Rastafarian culture of his native Jamaica with diverse audiences wherever he went, Nicholas Jennings writes, both with Big Sugar and as a prominent member of numerous other bands. And whenever a Jamaican star visited Toronto, Lowe was almost always there onstage, laying down his deep groove.
Evening Update is written by S.R. Slobodian. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.