Morning Update: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s family members paid to speak at WE Charity events

Good morning,

WE Charity confirmed on Thursday that the organization – through its for-profit affiliate ME to WE – has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, mother and brother at WE Day events. This information appears to contradict a previous statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, which said “The Prime Minister and his wife have never been paid by WE.”

WE Charity said Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was paid $1,400 for an event that took place before Trudeau became Prime Minister. The payments to his mother and brother were made while the Liberals were in government. Between 2016 and 2020, the organization paid Margaret Trudeau a total of $312,000 to speak at approximately 28 events, before the speakers’ bureau takes a 20-per-cent commission. During the 2017-2018 academic year, Alexandre Trudeau received $40,000 for eight events before commission.

This revelation also comes amid the third ethics investigation for the Prime Minister, which arose over the now-cancelled contract for WE Charity to administer the Canada Student Service Grant program. Trudeau also did not recuse himself from the cabinet decision on this contract.

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Report on AIMCo’s $2.1-billion loss blames risk-management lapses and inadequate oversight

Alberta’s public-sector investment manager’s poor approach to risk management and insufficient oversight have led it to lose $2.1-billion on derivatives trading, according to an investigation by the Crown corporation’s board of directors.

Assisted by the former chief risk officer of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the board released its report on Thursday, which finds that Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) failed to properly gauge the potential for huge losses from a derivative trading strategy that involved betting against market volatility. The report also offered 10 recommendations for change, which range from putting more oversight on senior executives and directors to developing procedures that identify highly risky strategies.

COVID-19 pandemic will reshape how Canadian kids experience school in the next academic year

With two months to go until the new school year for millions of children, provinces are asking their school boards to prepare back-to-school plans amid COVID-19. In Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, schools are resuming full time for the youngest learners while undertaking COVID-19 precautions. However, in places like Ontario, the province is asking its school boards to plan for hybrid scenarios, which could range from a mix of in-person and online learning to only in-class learning with public-health measures.

Regardless of the plan, only one thing is certain: The simmering global pandemic will reshape how Canadian children experience school in the next academic year.

Read more

• Campbell Clark: Canada’s leaders won’t enjoy those high approval ratings past fall if they can’t organize a new normal for schools and child care
• Shelley Morse: In reopening schools, Canada will get a passing grade if we listen to teachers

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Victims say CRTC not taking seriously complaints that confessions forced by Chinese police are being broadcast: The British communications services regulator recently found that Chinese network CCTV News had violated the country’s broadcasting code for its reports on a confession by a British man in 2013. A similar complaint was filed with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) late last year, but the CRTC has not formally responded or reached out to some of the key people whose confessions were broadcast.

Police chiefs call for decriminalization of simple possession: Canada’s police chiefs are calling on the federal government to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs, which they argue is urgently needed to slow opioid deaths and help people addicted to illicit substances. This call to action comes amid a spike of overdose deaths across the country, as COVID-19 crisis hit.

More policing stories

• The board overseeing Toronto’s police force heard a blistering critique of policing in the city during the first day of a virtual town hall scheduled to stretch over four days to accommodate overwhelming community interest.
• Durham police chief Paul Martin announced his retirement amid provincial probe into allegations by police officers about cronyism and harassment within the Durham Regional Police Service.

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Waiting list for elective surgeries in Alberta grows longer: The waiting list for elective surgeries in Alberta has grown by 10 per cent since the medical system focused its resources on containing COVID-19, according to provincial health officials.

Surrey gang leader receives 18-year sentence recommendation: The Crown and defence are jointly recommending an 18-year sentence for Jamie Bacon, who entered a guilty plea to a key role in the Surrey Six murders. The 2007 shooting killed six people, including two innocent bystanders, and became a flashpoint in a bloody gang war in the Vancouver region.

Second day of Matthew McKnight sentencing: On the second day of sentencing, convicted serial rapist Matthew McKnight recounted an assault he suffered while on remand after his arrest in August, 2016. His lawyer argued that the beating should affect the sentence he receives. The Crown is asking for 22.5 years in prison for Mcknight’s five counts of sexual assaults.

MORNING MARKETS

World markets struggle: World stocks and oil prices were faltering on Friday as record-setting new coronavirus cases in several U.S. states led to worries that more lockdowns may be necessary, making a quick economic recovery unlikely. Around 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.38 per cent. Germany’s DAX gained 0.27 per cent. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.22 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei lost 1.06 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.95 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.84 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.51 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Vulnerabilities in governance of public health and COVID-19

Colleen M. Flood and Jane Philpott: “It is hard to have predicted last December 2019 that we would have been experiencing a life-time pandemic event by March 2020. Good governance requires Canadian governments to prepare for the next such event: to hope for the best but plan for the worst to protect our people and our economy.”

There’s less to this snapshot than meets the eye

Andrew Coyne: “In a crisis, speed comes before efficiency. What is more troubling is the government’s apparent unconcern with the risks of continuing to spend and borrow at such a clip, to the point of refusing to offer even a hint of a plan for stabilizing federal finances. A snapshot is all very well, but at some point we’re going to need a compass and a map.”

Ontario made the right call on streaming. A student’s future should not be decided in Grade 9

Andy Hargreaves: “Kids shouldn’t have their futures decided at the age of seven or at 14 either. Putting an end to streaming solves half of the problem. Now is the time for government and teachers to work together to put in place something better.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

I’m in my 60s and enjoy wearing makeup, but I’m applying it the same way I did in my 40s. Could you give me some tips for products and techniques?

Toronto-based makeup artist and on-air beauty expert Christine Cho says that no matter how old you are, you should take a moment with yourself before you start applying your makeup to set your intention for how you want to look that day. Cho added that the biggest change in your skin between your 40s and 60s is a loss of hydration, which should be addressed first by your skin care and then boosted by your choice of makeup products.

MOMENT IN TIME: July 10, 1980

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Raffi releases his Baby Beluga album

He has been called the most popular children’s singer in the English-speaking world, beloved for toe-tapping and uplifting songs about a goose kissing a moose in a bay, bananaphones and “a little white whale on the go,” a.k.a. Baby Beluga. Raffi, whose full name is Raffi Cavoukian, has sold over 12-million, gold- and platinum-certified albums, including Singable Songs for the Very Young, Baby Beluga, Rise and Shine, and One Light, One Sun. The Cairo-born entertainer started out singing folk songs in coffee houses across Toronto in the early ’70s before he fell into what he calls an “accidental career” as a children’s songwriting superstar after an acquaintance invited him to perform at a public school. Kids (and parents) felt an instant rapport with the gentle-spoken entertainer who wrote silly, infectious songs such as The Bowling Song, Six Little Ducks and Down by the Bay. By the late ’80s, however, the Order of Canada recipient had grown weary of performing to packed auditoriums, and he quietly slipped from the limelight. Raffi moved to British Columbia in 1990 and has devoted the latter part of his career to children’s rights and environmental activism, urging “Beluga Grads” (his fans who are all grown up) to help clean up the planet for the next generation. Gayle MacDonald

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