Skip to main content
morning update

Ricky Ray throws a pass during the second half of the Argonauts’ victory over Saskatchewan in the Eastern final last week at BMO field in Toronto.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Good morning,

These are the top stories:

The Toronto Argonauts are Grey Cup champions

After a wild, snow-filled game, the Argos topped the Calgary Stampeders 27-24 to pick up the Canadian Football League's top prize. It's the second consecutive Grey Cup loss for the Stampeders, who were ousted by Ottawa in the 2016 final. The Argos managed to score 10 points in the final moments of the game to complete the comeback: First, Toronto's Cassius Vaughn capitalized on a Stamps fumble and returned the ball 110 yards to tie things up. A field goal put the Argos ahead to give Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray his fourth Grey Cup title. As for the halftime show, country star Shania Twain made her grand entrance in the most Canadian way possible: on a dog sled.

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you're reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Morning Update and all Globe newsletters here.

COMING SOON: We have a new newsletter on the way called Amplify. It will inspire and challenge our readers while highlighting the voices, opinions and insights of women at The Globe and Mail. Amplify will land in your inbox every Saturday morning, with a different guest editor each week – a woman who works at The Globe – highlighting a topic of the author's choice. The topics will vary and will dive deep into issues and events around the world. The newsletter will also highlight Canadian women who are inspiring others. Sign up today.

Prince Harry is engaged to marry U.S. actress Meghan Markle

The marriage is due to take place in the spring of 2018, his father Prince Charles announced on Monday.

Harry, 33, currently fifth-in-line to the British throne, and Markle, 36, best known for her role in the U.S. TV legal drama "Suits," became engaged earlier this month. The couple met in July 2016 after they were introduced through friends.

Yemenis are urging Ottawa to act amid a humanitarian crisis

Canada has welcomed more than 40,000 Syrian refugees. But the figures don't even come close for those in Yemen, a country in the middle of a civil war that the United Nations declared the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Last year, Canada approved only five of the 344 Yemeni refugee claims. And those who have managed to make the move to Canada have waited years to bring their families here. Others continue to wait, to no avail. The Yemeni-Canadian community is calling on the federal government to address what some see as a double standard: "Why the Syrians, but not us?"

A settlement has been reached ahead of Trudeau's LGBTQ apology

The financial terms of the deal aren't public, but Ottawa has agreed to a settlement with members of the Canadian Forces and federal public servants who lost their jobs because of their sexual orientation. A lawyer representing the lead plaintiffs says it's a "fair and reasonable settlement." The agreement comes just as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets ready to deliver an apology in the House of Commons tomorrow for decades of government discrimination against LGBTQ Canadians. Trudeau is also set to expunge criminal records of those who were convicted for engaging in consensual same-sex activity.

The Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson spoke with LGBTQ Canadians across the country about the discrimination they have faced over the course of their lives. Their stories, he writes, highlight the importance of the apology.

Magazine publisher Time Inc. is being sold for $1.8-billion

And the conservative billionaire Koch brothers are backing the deal. U.S. media company Meredith is purchasing Time Inc., which publishes Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune magazines. The Kochs offered Meredith $650-million in preferred equity to help fund the purchase. The brothers won't have any influence on Meredith's editorial operations, the companies say.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Ontario PCs unveiled their platform, which is focused on the middle class

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown is vowing to reduce income taxes, take over Toronto's subway system and return the province to a deficit. There are also plans to invest more in child care and mental-health services. If his party is able to end the Liberals' 14-year reign in next year's election, Brown will be keeping in place most of Premier Kathleen Wynne's programs. However, a PC government would slow the transition toward a $15 minimum wage.

The PC platform was billed as the People's Guarantee, a turn of phrase that's being used with more and more regularity in politics, Campbell Clark writes: "It is now the rage for politicians to offer voters a 'guarantee,' a piece of consumer-marketing hucksterism that is particularly ill-suited for the process of choosing a government. Politics is now rife with commercial gimmicks, sure, but this particular piece of Madison Avenue flimflam should be recognized for what it is, because it is increasingly popular."

MORNING MARKETS

Global stocks edged lower on Monday, led by a fall in Chinese share prices and a sell-off in South Korean tech stocks that kept risk appetite muted, while the euro hit a two-month high against the dollar on optimism around German coalition talks. Bitcoin's ascent showed no signs of abating, with the cryptocurrency soaring to another record just a few per cent away from $10,000. Tokyo's Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.6 per cent, and the Shanghai composite 0.9 per cent. But in Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 0.4 per cent by about 6:15 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up, and the Canadian dollar was just shy of 79 cents (U.S.). Oil prices slipped in early going.

Heads up: The Globe now provides all users access to real-time stock quotes for both Canadian and U.S. markets. Go here to find out about the major changes to our Globe Investor site.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

What Trudeau isn't saying about inequality

"Some of the most brilliant minds on the planet have been grappling to come up with ways to reverse the increase in income inequality that many believe is behind rising populism in Western democracies. Spoiler alert: Most have concluded there are none, or none that are politically feasible. … That is the challenge facing Justin Trudeau and like-minded politicians who take up the income-inequality mantle. In Canada, our basic redistributive infrastructure – progressive taxation, public education and a robust social safety net – achieves pretty much all that can be asked of it. More meddling, to score political points or otherwise, won't tip the scales much if at all. But that is one historical truth about inequality Trudeau won't tell you." – Konrad Yakabuski

Femicide in our own backyard: We need to wake up and take it seriously

"Five women have gone missing in less than two years in North Okanagan, B.C. The remains of one woman, Traci Genereaux, were found earlier this month. In Newfoundland, three women have been murdered in the past six months, prompting the provincial government to strike a committee to study the issue of violence against women. … As a country, we are not very good at connecting the dots when it comes to the systemic causes and prevention of violence against women. We are particularly ill-equipped, or perhaps too hardened, to look at the violence committed against the most vulnerable – sex workers, trans women, women who are poor, marginalized and voiceless. It's an epidemic with no name, that we look up and notice about once a year (Nov. 25 and Dec. 6 are designated as days to mark the elimination of violence against women and girls)." – Elizabeth Renzetti (for subscribers)

Gutting net neutrality is a death knell for the resistance

"Last week, the Federal Communications Commission announced it was planning a sweeping rollback of net neutrality, allowing corporations to decide what content is available online while pricing most citizens out of equal access to information. For nearly a year, America has stood at the crossroads of a damaged democracy and a burgeoning autocracy. If net neutrality is destroyed, we will cross firmly into the latter, and our return is unlikely." – Sarah Kendzior

HEALTH PRIMER

If you're looking for a healthy heart, go nuts

Those who ate one serving of nuts at least five times a week were 20 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, a new study found. Nut consumption has also been shown to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Yes, nuts are high in calories, but there's no evidence that eating them causes weight gain. Instead, those who eat nuts regularly tend to experience less weight gain, research shows.

MOMENT IN TIME

The price of a stamp is set

Nov. 27, 1867: Legislation governing the postal service in the new Dominion of Canada was revealed in late November of 1867. The price for mailing a letter weighing up to half an ounce was fixed at 3 cents, the same as in the United States but higher than Britain. The Globe favoured a lower rate of 2 cents, saying it would encourage more letter writing and thus a higher volume of business for the post office. But the paper acknowledged that 3 cents was still a "very moderate charge … for carrying a letter from Halifax to Windsor or Owen Sound." There was also controversy over the price set for delivering newspapers by post – half a cent each. One letter to the editor in The Globe suggested newspapers should be carried for free because because a fee "is a tax on knowledge" and delivering them without cost "would greatly promote the intelligence, the virtue and the happiness of the people." – Richard Blackwell

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

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.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe