This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. Get this newsletter in your inbox.
Good morning,
As China’s parliament passed its national security law for Hong Kong, groups are calling on Canada and other Western countries to be a safe harbour for fleeing Hong Kongers. In particular, they suggested changing Canadian refugee and immigration rules — including work and study visa programs — to reduce barriers for entry. Similarly, they advocated against denying Hong Kongers’ ability to seek visa or asylum in Canada based on any protest-related arrests, charges or convictions.
The full draft of the national security law has not been made public. But it is known that the legislation aims to “stop and punish foreign and overseas forces’ use of Hong Kong to carry out separatist, subversive, infiltrative, or destructive activities.”
Advocates believe the law will squash freedom of speech and opposition politics in the city, further eroding the autonomy that originally came with the “one country, two systems” formula. Prominent activists like Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Agnes Chow have already stepped down from their pro-democracy group in fear for personal safety.
The law is not yet in effect because it still needs to be gazetted in Hong Kong, but this is seen as imminent. The U.S. has already halted defence exports to the city.
China’s parliament passes national security law for Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam listens to reporters' questions during a press conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 30, 2020.Vincent Yu/The Associated Press
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. Get this newsletter in your inbox.
Alberta unveils economic recovery plan
As part of Alberta’s multibillion-dollar recovery plan, Premier Jason Kenney announced yesterday that the province will be implementing a 20-per-cent cut to corporate taxes by July 1 and investing over $1-billion in infrastructure projects this year. He said the province will also vastly reduce its reliance on temporary foreign workers – with a few exceptions, such as meat cutters in slaughterhouses.
More specific details about diversification plans are expected to come in a few weeks.
Surge in Leicester COVID-19 cases forces city to postpone re-openings
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain will soon lift most of its pandemic restrictions, allowing venues to re-open in a bid to boost a battered economy. But the case surge in Leicester, a city in the East Midlands region of England, has forced officials to reconsider re-opening plans.
The government reported that Leicester’s infection rate had been three times higher than that of the next highest city, but the reason why is unclear.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Class-action lawsuit: The Ontario government is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly breaching its duty of care for long-term care (LTC) facility residents during the pandemic. The lawsuit alleges that the province’s loose oversight of LTC homes and “willfully blind” attitudes towards COVID-19′s heightened risks on the elderly have led to widespread preventable suffering and deaths. In Canada, around 80 per cent of COVID-19-related deaths are concentrated in LTC facilities.
Participants react during a vigil for COVID-19 victims at the Orchard Villa long-term care home in Pickering, Ont. on Monday, June 15, 2020.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Policing reform in Toronto: The Toronto City Council voted yesterday to approve a number of policing reforms, which include body-worn cameras, more diversity training and a new non-police-approach to mental-health calls. But councillors voted against the 10-per-cent cut to the police department’s budget, stopping short of delivering the change that the Black Lives Matter movement has most supported.
MORNING MARKETS
European shares fall as optimism from Asian session falters: European shares edged down, oil fell and the U.S. dollar erased some gains on Tuesday, with little of the optimism of the Asian session extending into early London trading. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.60 per cent. France’s CAC 40 slid 0.14 per cent while Germany’s DAX edged up 0.13 per cent. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.52 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.33 per cent. New York futures were weaker. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.01 US cents.
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. Get this newsletter in your inbox.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats are not winning Beijing any friends
Frank Ching: “From Canada in the far north to Australia in the southern hemisphere, China is stoking the flames with its assertive and ruthless diplomacy – a surefire formula for alienating friends and losing influence.”
Kingston nailed its response to a COVID-19 salon outbreak
André Picard: “One of the key lessons of pandemic response that we’ve (hopefully) learned is that you have to shut down quickly and reopen slowly. And when things don’t go as planned, you need to have the political and public-health acumen to adjust.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Looking for some food inspirations this summer? A number of notable Canadian recipe developers and food writers have shared the treasured cookbooks they have come to depend on with The Globe. Choices range from Feast: Recipes and Stories from a Canadian Road Trip to Kraft Country Farm: Cheese Recipe Book to La Cuisine Raisonée.
MOMENT IN TIME: June 30, 1906
A 1906 illustration from Puck magazine targeting the meat industry. Illustration shows an oversized man labelled "Beef Trust," with skeleton face, performing a magic trick on a stage by taking "Diseased Livestock" and pushing them through a tube labelled "Packingtown" to produce packaged "Pure Meat Products." A diminutive man, "The Prof's Assistant," wearing a cap labelled "Inspector" is standing on the stage on the left. Illustration from Puck [Magazine], v. 59, no. 1525 (May 23, 1906), centrefold.Library of Congress
U.S. Pure Food and Drug act becomes law
The creation of today’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates about US$2.6-trillion worth of consumer goods, was in no small part inspired by the work of a progressive American novelist. At the turn of the century there existed few effective standards and little enforcement to prevent the production and distribution of unsafe foods and medications. Writer Upton Sinclair’s 1905 novel The Jungle forced the issue into the spotlight. An unabashed socialist, he took a job in a Chicago stockyard for seven weeks and documented the squalid conditions under which workers toiled. But what was originally intended to be an indictment of the treatment of immigrant labourers instead sparked an outcry with its lurid descriptions of the disgusting and unsanitary conditions common throughout packing plants, and led to widespread calls for reform. Shortly after the novel’s February publishing, then-president Theodore Roosevelt referred to Sinclair as a “crackpot.” Just months later, on this day in 1906, Roosevelt signed into law the Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Sinclair later joked about his novel: “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” Ian Morfitt
If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.