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Doug Ford used legislative threat to oust Hydro One CEO, board

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford ousted the board of directors and CEO at Hydro One Ltd. by threatening to rip up executive employment contracts at the utility, an aggressive approach that is expected to make it difficult to draft a new leadership team. According to government sources not authorized to speak to the media, Ford’s Progressive Conservative government drafted legislation shortly after last month’s election that would have scrapped existing agreements between Hydro One and senior executives such as CEO Mayo Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt chose to “retire” Wednesday with a $400,000 lump-sum payment while the 14-member board resigned after being told by the government to negotiate or see their contracts shredded. Hydro One will announce 10 candidates for its new board on Aug. 15; the company’s shareholders will nominate six, and the government plans to name four.

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Statistics Canada set to resume reporting on unfounded cases

After conducting training workshops for police services in Canadian cities across the country earlier this year, Statistics Canada plans to publish data on unfounded criminal cases − offences that police investigations determine didn’t occur, nor were attempted − for the first time in 15 years. The resumption of data collection comes after a 20-month Globe and Mail investigation last year, which gathered data from more than 870 police jurisdictions, and revealed that one in five sexual-assault allegations was dismissed as unfounded. StatsCan stopped producing data on unfounded cases after 2003 due to quality problems, including inconsistent reporting by police. The agency, which reached more than 400 personnel in nearly 130 police services with its workshops, hopes an updated and standardized approach to data collection will improve clarity on the outcomes of these cases.

Ghostly particles identified below Antartica’s surface provide new understanding of universe

An international team of researchers, including five Canadians, said Thursday they’ve identified a deep-space source for subatomic particles called high-energy neutrinos. The particles traverse space, zipping unimpeded through people, planets and whole galaxies. The scientists, working at a U.S. scientific research station at the South Pole, located the neutrinos in ice deep below the surface of Antarctica, then traced their source to a giant elliptical galaxy located 3.7 billion light years from Earth in the Orion constellation. The discovery is one of several in an emerging field of “multi-messenger astrophysics,” in which scientists use more than electromagnetic observations − studying light − to examine the universe. The findings solve a research mystery dating to 1912 over the source of these and other particles that dash through the cosmos.

Actor, #MeToo activist Ashley Judd praises Canada’s funding for reproductive rights worldwide

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Actor and women’s rights activist Ashley Judd praised Canada’s support of global reproductive health and rights in an exclusive interview with The Globe and Mail. A goodwill ambassador for the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency (UNFPA), Judd recently visited war-torn South Sudan, where she saw firsthand the impact of the $650-million program for sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide unveiled last year by the federal government. Some of the money has gone to funding a teaching hospital in Juba that trains midwives, a project that Judd noted to be of particular importance. “At independence, there were only nine midwives in South Sudan and today there are 600 and that’s directly related to Canadian international development dollars,” Judd said.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Trump, NATO allies at odds ahead of President’s meeting with Putin

The NATO summit ended in confusion on Thursday with U.S. President Donald Trump exulting that he’d persuaded the other 28 North American and European member states to drastically increase their military spending. This was immediately challenged by other NATO leaders, such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said afterward that the members had “reaffirmed our commitment to the Wales declaration,” a set of commitments made at the 2014 NATO summit. The discrepancy occurred amid existing confusion over reports that Trump privately suggested that the U.S. may leave NATO entirely. With Trump heading into a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, many NATO members worry that he will enter into deals with Russia that compromise European security.

MORNING MARKETS

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Stocks rise

World stocks rose for a second consecutive week on Friday as investors prepared for an expected run of strong earnings in the United States, although fears about the U.S.-China trade conflict kept gains in check and pushed the greenback higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.9 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 0.6 per cent by about 5:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up as major U.S. banks kick off earnings season today. The Canadian dollar was at 75.74 US cents.



WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

In the war zone of women’s bodies, some are closer to the line of fire

“The backlash in the United States is affecting the most vulnerable women first – pregnant women currently in immigration detention have reported being held in shackles while they miscarried, usually after being denied prenatal health care – but that’s always been how misogyny works...Since the beginning of time, misogynist battles have always hurt the most vulnerable women first. The luckier ones watch, hoping that their own bunkers will keep their bodies safe.” - Denise Balkissoon

No, Trump, your allies aren’t delinquent on defence spending

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“Given NATO’s defence spending realities, it’s a wonder whether Mr. Trump was properly briefed. If he was, how could he have made his wild 4-per-cent demand? Mr. Trump’s attitude – and that of his political base – is that when it comes to defence expenditures, enough is never enough. Though he has been adroit enough to call the Iraq invasion the disaster that it was, he is very much a captive of the defence lobby. His budget this year, despite a potential deficit crisis, saw major increases in military spending.” - Lawrence Martin

Good sex-ed is a vaccine that protects all students

“Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government announced this week it would instruct school boards to revert to the old curriculum, which dates from 1998. In doing so, it is both fulfilling a campaign promise and bowing to pressure from a vocal minority of parents who protested the changes introduced in 2015, sometimes withdrawing their children from school. Those parents are joyous at this retreat into the past; many of the rest of us are angry to see the curriculum, which was the product of consultation with parents, educators and students, hijacked in this way. In any case, all of our kids, who carry the sexual world on screens in their pockets but have no guidance on how to navigate it, will be the ones who lose.” - Elizabeth Renzetti

FILM FRIDAY

Gayle MacDonald says Three Identical Strangers is an engrossing, heartbreaking journey into the lives of three innocent people who became experiments for scientists on a quest to unravel how identity is shaped (three stars).

Brad Wheeler says Hotel Transylvania 3, starring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez, fails to properly transmit its intended message of inclusivity and falls flat with its jokes (one and a half stars).

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Mark Medley says Mary Shelley, starring Elle Fanning and Maisie Williams, is a somewhat amusing look into the turbulent life of the teen girl who wrote Frankenstein in the early 1800s, but falls short of being even remotely memorable (two stars).

LIVING BETTER

How veganism went from niche diet to cultural staple

Once a radical and fringe dietary choice, veganism is becoming an all-encompassing lifestyle choice of the young, hip and socially conscious. Julie Van Rosendaal explores the restaurants, blogs, food brands, and people on the cutting edge of the plant-forward wave. Go here for more.

MOMENT IN TIME

Uruguay plays host to first World Cup

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On this day in 1930, the first games of the inaugural World Cup were played in Montevideo. It was disappointing to start. All of FIFA’s member countries were invited. Most took a pass. Uruguay was too far to go, and European players feared they would lose their day jobs after so long an absence. Only 13 teams participated. The tournament was also beset by scandal. One game inexplicably ended six minutes early in the midst of a breakaway. In another, five penalty shots were awarded. Argentina versus Chile concluded in a massive fistfight. The Argentines – shaping up as the villains of the piece – met the hosts in the final. Argentine fans flooded Montevideo via ferry, waved off by crowds chanting “Victory or Death!” The match itself was more a brawl than a game. At the half, an Argentine player warned his teammates, “If we win this, the crowd will tear us apart.” Uruguay won 4-2. Spectators flooded the field, prompting the referee to flee for his life. The winners declared a national holiday. The next day, a mob attacked the Uruguayan consulate in Buenos Aires. It seemed the idea of a World Cup was catching on. - Cathal Kelly

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