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Good morning, it’s James Keller.

The manhunt that led police from three murders in northern British Columbia to the remote bush of northern Manitoba captivated the country and terrified rural communities along the killers’ route.

But the RCMP say an exhaustive investigation ended without any firm conclusion about what motivated the killings, despite the fact that 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky recorded six videos before they died in a suicide pact.

Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky, who were from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, killed tourists Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler, and, several days later, university professor Leonard Dyck.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett says investigators don’t know why the pair decided to kill, or why they chose their victims aside from the fact that they were on the side of the highway.

He says on the videos, the pair appear “cold, remorseless, matter-of-fact” as they took responsibility for the murders. The killers said they shaved in preparation for death, planned to kill more people and wished to be cremated.

The manhunt ended on Aug. 7, when items found on a shoreline led police to the suspects’ bodies. Police have concluded that Mr. McLeod shot Mr. Schmegelsky and then himself in a suicide pact.

The videos won’t be released, in part because investigators fear that making them public could inspire copycat crimes.

Mr. Hackett also defended the work of the RCMP, saying there was nothing that could have tipped them off to the murders in advance and that officers acted as quickly as possible to identify Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky as suspects and launch the manhunt.

For an inside look at the manhunt, which took officers and locals into some of the most challenging terrain in the country, read Renata D’Aliesio’s interactive feature.

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here. This is a new project and we’ll be experimenting as we go, so let us know what you think.

Around the West

HONG KONG: The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have rippled back to the Chinese community in Canada, where they have sowed division among a community with roots in both Hong Kong and Mainland China. Xiao Xu looks at how the protests are playing out here.

TRUDEAU BLACKFACE PHOTOS: The photo of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wearing blackface, which rocked the federal election campaign, came from a Vancouver man who says he gave it to Time magazine because he believed the public needed to see it. Mike Hager and Greg McArthur report what little we know about Michael Adamson, who a generous donor to Vancouver private schools and has described himself as an exporter and commodities trader. He has since put out a statement asking for privacy.

TRUCKING: Farmers in Alberta are pushing the province to loosen trucking requirements for the agriculture industry by exempting them from rules put in place after the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. The province says it’s open to the idea.

ALBERTA JUDGE: An Alberta judge is facing a formal complaint after acquitting two parents who were accused of failing to provide care for their 19-month-old child before he died. Justice Terry Clackson’s ruling, which acquitted David and Collet Stephan, was critical of the Crown’s medical examiner, describing his accented speech as “garbled” and criticizing him for emphasizing the incorrect syllables. The complaint, signed by 42 individuals from across Canada, was sent to the Canadian Judicial Council on Thursday.

RIDE HAILING: Suburban and rural communities in B.C. say they’re worried provincial requirements on services such as Uber and Lyft will discourage drivers and push them elsewhere.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A B.C. company is pitching its technology that can capture carbon dioxide from the air as a breakthrough in the fight against climate change. And Carbon Engineering is getting support from investors that include Bill Gates and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) cofounder Murray Edwards.

CHINESE SPONSORSHIP: Municipal governments in British Columbia say they no longer want foreign sponsorship at the Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention. The results are contained in a survey that followed controversy over the decision of the group to allow the Chinese consulate in Vancouver to sponsor this year’s event again.

FILM: The Vancouver International Film Festival begins this weekend, featuring hundreds of films and events in a city that has long been known for its television and movie production. Ian Bailey looked at how the creators of a TV series titled Black and Blue are using the festival to distribute a self-funded trailer designed to attract a producer or network to take on the project.

HOUSING: Housing experts are pushing the federal Liberals to go further when it comes to targeting property speculators, after the party promised to impose a tax on foreign property owners who do not live in Canada. Suggestions include also taxing satellite families or also imposing it on properties that are foreign-owned but rented out.

FOOD: Calgary food writer Dan Clapson looks at the “smash burger” trend that’s been spreading across Western Canada. The burgers are flat and thin (or “smashed”) and signal a return to simplicity at a time when complex gourmet burgers have become vogue.

Opinion

Ed Whittingham on Alberta’s inquiry into environmentalists: “Now along comes the persecution of these Kennemies of the State, in the form of an inquiry. When a government takes a highly aggressive approach to persecuting its political opponents, things have a habit of backfiring. In this case, it’s not just pouring gasoline on a fire – it’s pouring gasoline on smouldering embers and then striking a match.”

André Picard on the David and Collet Stephan case: “Actually, it’s about parental responsibility. Surely, the obligation to seek medical care kicks in before a child stops breathing multiple times and goes rigid, a telltale sign of life-threatening meningitis. Unfortunately, the judge in this case allowed himself to be bamboozled by a manure pile of irrelevant arguments.”

Sarah Marie Jordaan and Kate Konschnik on regulating methane emissions: “The good news is that there is already a bottom-line incentive for natural gas producers to reduce methane leaks: lost profits on the escaping natural gas often exceed the costs to prevent escape. The tricky part is that the economics are hard to peg – producers and regulators are still struggling to determine where leaks are and how much methane is escaping.”

The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on housing promises: “Both policies would create more buyers, with more money to spend. That would increase demand, which would in turn raise home prices. No wonder the financial and the real estate industries are applauding the proposals. But the last thing Canada’s big cities need is for hot housing markets to get even hotter, and the last thing Canada’s economy needs is for people to pile up more personal debt.”

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