Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote today, after a challenge to his leadership was brought by lawmakers within his Conservative Party. The challenge comes after a series of scandals, including a damning official report about COVID-19 lockdown-breaking parties at his official residence.
He was widely expected to survive Monday’s vote -- Johnson won the vote 211 to 148, according to Graham Brady, chairman of the party committee that oversaw the ballot.
The pound firmed on news of the confidence vote, betting Johnson will emerge weakened as a leader and less likely to succeed with potentially damaging changes to a key Northern Ireland trade agreement.
Quebec teacher removed from classroom over Bill 21 says taking off hijab to keep her job would send wrong message to students
Fatemeh Anvari in her neighbourhood in Gatineau, Quebec on May 26, 2022.Shelby Lisk/The Globe and Mail
A law that ordered Fatemeh Anvari not to wear the hijab felt as wrong as one that forced women to put it on. And what message would that send to her students?
A recent court decision meant that Quebec’s Bill 21, which bans public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols, will be enforced at English schools in the province. Anvari would have to remove her head scarf, or lose the job she loved. The decision was clear. Before even being asked, she told her apologetic principal, “I am not willing to take it off.”
The removal of a well-loved teacher from the classroom led to protests by parents and students. The principal quickly created a solution reassigning Anvari to teach monthly classes on diversity and inclusion, just falling outside Bill 21 retrictions. “I just don’t see how it can bring people together,” she says.
Opinion: Why francophone Quebeckers should worry about Bill 96
Opinion: The English language is not the menace it’s made out to be
Kerrisdale Lumber employee Max Swan and supervisor Sharleen May at one of their storage yards in Vancouver British Columbia, June 6, 2022.Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail
Lumber prices are falling, but don’t expect prepandemic level markdowns for your next DIY project
Consumers will likely see cheaper lumber this summer but shouldn’t expect prepandemic prices, as many retailers will still have leftover stock purchased at higher prices and producers are avoiding flooding the market.
Wholesale lumber prices began dropping in mid-March and then plunged 40 per cent over the past three weeks, yet industry analysts and retailers say it could take four to six weeks before consumers notice any significant markdown in retail prices.
“In the last couple of years, prices have just gone through the roof at times, and the next time we receive product, if the price is raised or lowered, then we will be working on that price,” said Sharleen May, a supervisor at Kerrisdale Lumber. “Because of COVID, people were focused on their houses and backyards and they weren’t spending money on travelling.”
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Chinese warplanes ‘putting people at risk’ by harassing Canadian air patrols: China’s foreign ministry is warning Canada it could face “grave consequences” from “adventurist or provocative moves” after the Canadian military last week accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its aircraft that are monitoring North Korea’s compliance with United Nations sanctions.
Ukrainian and Russian battle for control of city of Sievierodonetsk: Ukrainian and Russian troops fought street by street for control of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk on Monday in a pivotal battle of the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
Elon Musk threatens to drop Twitter deal if fake-account data not provided: Musk put the deal “temporarily on hold” in mid-May, saying he will not move forward with the offer until Twitter showed proof that spam bots account for less than 5 per cent of its total users. In a statement, Twitter said it intends to close the deal at the agreed price and terms.
Many Canadians comfortable or somewhat comfortable with Liberal-NDP deal: Nearly 60 per cent of Canadians were comfortable or somewhat comfortable with a deal that could see the federal NDP prop up the minority Liberal government until 2025, a new survey says.
Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy in U.S. Capitol riot: The new riot-related indictments against Proud Boys members are among the most serious filed so far, but they aren’t the first of their kind.
Transgender youth at a higher risk for suicidal thoughts: The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that nearly 50 per cent of transgender respondents said they had seriously thought about suicide in the past 12 months, compared to 10.4 per cent of cisgender heterosexual respondents.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index inched higher to start the week with bond yields climbing to their highest level in more than three years on inflation concerns. Wall Street ended a choppy session also slightly higher, helped by gains in Amazon and other mega-cap growth shares, while persistent worries over inflation and interest rates kept a lid on the market.
The S&P/TSX composite index rose 28.36 points or 0.14 per cent to 20,819.09. The loonie traded at 79.48 U.S. cents.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 16.08 points or 0.05 per cent to 32,915.78, the S&P 500 gained 12.89 points or 0.31 per cent to 4,121.43, and the Nasdaq Composite added 48.64 points or 0.4 per cent to end at 12,061.37.
Also read: Canadian tech community braces for possible downturn as stocks fall, inflation rises
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TALKING POINTS
Reforms to Canada’s ineffective Royal Military Colleges are long overdue
“Changing the culture of any institution, military or otherwise, is hugely difficult, and I know this firsthand from this investigation, too.” -Ken Hansen
Instead of lurching from one catastrophe to the next, B.C. needs to understand how its crises are linked
“We recommend that the province create an expert team to continually scan the horizon for emerging systemic risks and their potential interconnected effects – especially those not seen by oft-siloed government departments.” -Thomas Homer-Dixon and Robin Cox
Bill Morneau talks about the Liberals’ economic policy failings as if they were someone else’s fault
“Whether he was a lone voice overwhelmed by the powers within his own party, or complicit in an economic strategy that habitually found excuses to keep the country’s most fundamental economic problems on the backburner, it doesn’t much matter.” -David Parkinson
LIVING BETTER
Coffee delivers health perks even with some sugar, new study suggests
A new study suggests that compared to non-coffee drinkers, people who drank moderate amounts of either unsweetened or sweetened coffee had up to a 30 per cent lower risk of premature death from any cause. Participants who drank sweetened coffee added only one teaspoon of sugar to each cup.
These associations were consistent for ground, instant and decaffeinated coffee. Keep in mind, too, that the health benefits associated with black or lightly sweetened coffee are seen with moderate intakes. The risk of harmful effects increases with heavy coffee intakes.
- Also read: Inside Canada’s music industry with rapper Cadence Weapon
TODAY’S LONG READ
Indigenous economic strategy offers blueprint for reducing poverty and bolstering economy, agencies say
The first-of-its-kind Indigenous economic strategy is based on the premise that closing socioeconomic gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians would reduce poverty among Indigenous peoples and pump billions into the Canadian economy
Put together by a core group of five agencies, the strategy builds on the recommendations of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It revolves around four key areas: people, lands, infrastructure and finance. Currently, lenders consider First Nations’ equity participation in resource projects to be high-risk capital.
“We need to change the page on Indigenous people being the highest-risk capital and see that their participation in resource projects actually de-risks the project,” said Shannin Metatawabin, chief executive officer of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA), one of the organizations that put the strategy together.
Evening Update is written by Sierra Bein. 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.