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These are the top stories:
Federalist leaders took aim at the Bloc in the first French debate of the campaign
It was Yves-François Blanchet versus everyone else on the debate stage last night as the Liberal, Tory and NDP leaders sought to prevent the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois from gaining ground this election.
Secularism law: Blanchet echoed the view from Quebec’s Premier in defending the province’s religious-symbols ban for government workers. Trudeau was the only leader to say Ottawa could eventually intervene in a court challenge.
Climate: Trudeau defended his decision to buy Trans Mountain, saying there has to be a transition to clean energy. But while Blanchet criticized the Liberal Leader for the purchase, Campbell Clark says he did more damage to Scheer by portraying him as pro-oil.
The language barrier: Scheer appeared least comfortable speaking in French and struggled at times to make his views heard, with Clark noting that he “appeared to get flustered.”
Ahead of the debate, Singh was confronted by a man at a campaign event who told him to cut off his turban and “look like a Canadian.” Singh responded, “I think Canadians look like all sorts of people.”
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Trump and the Democrats are on a collision course over the Ukraine probe
The Democrats are planning to subpoena White House documents related to Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine’s President – and the legislator leading the probe is warning that failure to hand them over would constitute obstruction of justice.
The U.S. President, meanwhile, lashed out on all fronts during a pair of press conferences: He called for House intelligence committee chair Adam Schiff to be investigated for “treason”; he labelled the Ukraine whistleblower a “spy”; and he described Joe Biden as “stone-cold crooked.”
A legal battle? If the White House blocks attempts to obtain evidence, the Democrats may seek a court order. In the past Presidents have claimed executive privilege to keep some things private, but refusing to co-operate en masse in a probe would be new territory.
Fraternities at UBC have suspended social functions after an allegation of druggings
The RCMP and campus security are investigating, but so far neither have received formal complaints or identified any alleged victims.
The allegation was made in a Twitter post by a UBC faculty member. “One of my students spent the weekend in the hospital after being drugged in a Vancouver bar on Friday night. On Saturday morning there were six (6!!) women with her who had been drugged in the fraternities on UBC campus,” Marina Adshade wrote.
Ainsley Carry, the vice-president for students on the UBC Vancouver campus, said the school would “conduct, or partner with the RCMP, on a full investigation.” He encouraged anyone with information to report it to police.
François Legault has apologized for Quebec’s treatment of First Nations and Inuit people
“The state of Quebec has failed in its duty to you, and it asks you today for forgiveness,” the Premier said during an address to Quebec’s national assembly.
The apology was the first of 142 calls to action in a report released this week that found “systemic discrimination” against Indigenous peoples in Quebec. That prompted Legault to reverse his previous stance that systemic racism didn’t exist in his province.
The report also calls for improved housing, more exemptions from French-language requirements, more Indigenous police officers and better legal-aid services.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ontario education workers threaten to strike: The union representing 55,000 custodians, secretaries and education-support workers in Ontario could launch job action on Monday if a contract isn’t reached. Some school boards are warning parents that they may be forced to close in the event of a strike.
A big bet on PokerStars: The Toronto-based Stars Group, previously known as Amaya, is set to be acquired by European competitor Flutter in a US$6-billion takeover. Stars Group recently partnered with Fox Sports in a bid to expand its share of the U.S. online-gambling market.
RBC Capital Markets fined US$5-million: A U.S. securities regulator has hit Royal Bank of Canada’s subsidiary with a fine for failing to prevent hundreds of “fictitious” offsetting trades between 2011 and 2015. RBC was disciplined for similar infractions in 2014.
Johnson’s Brexit proposal falls flat: The British Prime Minister put forward a plan aimed at ensuring the Irish border remains open for trade. But Ireland’s Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, cautioned that “what we are hearing is not encouraging and would not be the basis for an agreement, sadly, in my view.”
MORNING MARKETS
Global stocks mixed amid economy worries: Global stocks were mixed Thursday after Wall Street fell on jitters about the global economy. Investors were rattled by data showing U.S. manufacturing and hiring in September were weaker than expected. Tokyo’s Nikkei shed 2 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite was closed. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 per cent by about 4:30 a.m. ET., with the Paris CAC 40 up 0.9 per cent and Germany’s DAX closed for the day. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was hovering at about 75 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
John Tavares’s big night overshadowed by Leafs season-opener drama
Cathal Kelly: “Tavares’s new position as the Leafs’ [captain] should have been the big story on the night. That’s not hard. Don’t do anything stupid at work for eight hours. Most of us have to do that every day of our lives. The Leafs couldn’t manage it. The other story was the benching of Jason Spezza.”
If we protect the Arctic, we save the planet
Sheila Watt-Cloutier: “For the Inuit, ice is much more than frozen water; it is our highways, our training ground and our life force. It’s something we thought to be as permanent as mountains and rivers in the south. But, in my generation, the Arctic sea ice and snow, upon which we Inuit have depended for millennia, is now diminishing.” Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail)Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
The gender pay gap persists in health care
A new study has found Ontario’s female surgeons earn 24 per cent than male surgeons for each hour they spend operating. Women in all specialty areas are more likely to do procedures that pay less, researchers found.
This is just the latest example of gender-based pay gaps. In 2017, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said Canada’s wage gap was 18.2 per cent.
Large Canadian companies that operate in Britain must disclose pay statistics. Go here to see the gaps for Bank of Nova Scotia, BlackBerry, Bombardier and more.
MOMENT IN TIME
Tea rationing in Britain ends after 12 years
(Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images)Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images
Oct. 3, 1952: It was 1952 when the British could finally return to having unlimited cups of tea. After years of surviving on about two ounces a week – enough for two or three cups of somewhat weak tea a day – the public welcomed an announcement that the rationing was coming to an end. (Similar rations ended in the late 1940s in Canada.) The limits in Britain, a legacy of the Second World War, began in January, 1940, and included other kitchen staples such as butter, sugar, milk, eggs, meat and cooking fat. In the years that followed, the British would have to get creative. In a 1946 essay published in London’s Evening Standard, author George Orwell famously advised consumers to make the tea strong, even if it meant having it less frequently, and to use water still at the boiling point. Still, tea sales were not anticipated to spike when the restrictions were lifted, because rations had already been bumped up to three ounces a week. But questions remained, and on the day of the 1952 announcement, The Guardian wondered whether the scarcity of other items would affect the demand for tea. “Will the shortage of sugar limit the consumption of tea?" Or, the writer wondered, “Will people drink stronger tea?” – Ben Cohen
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Arik Ligeti