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Rogers Communications Inc. chair Edward Rogers says he sees “room for improvement” in the company’s long-term performance, breaking his silence after a failed bid to oust chief executive officer Joe Natale and other executives.
Edward Rogers has also made a formal request for a list of the company’s shareholders and had discussions with potential candidates to replace board members, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
His attempt to overhaul the leadership at Canada’s largest wireless carrier was thwarted by the board and his own family. The boardroom rift has erupted during the $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc.
The Rogers Communications tower at One Mount Pleasant in Toronto on March 15, 2021. (Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail)Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
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First Nations chief reprimands Trudeau for missing ceremony
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was publicly reprimanded by the chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation after a ceremony in which he paid his first respects to missing children believed to be buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Trudeau bowed his head slightly at the rebuke and apologized for his belated visit, more than two weeks after the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and five months after the nation’s announcement that ground-penetrating radar had detected up to 215 unmarked graves on the school’s grounds. But the Prime Minister brought with him none of the concrete commitments the community has demanded.
Harper says he remains proud of $15-billion arms deal with Riyadh
Former prime minister Stephen Harper says he remains proud to have negotiated a controversial $15-billion armoured vehicles deal with Saudi Arabia, as he prepares to attend an international investment conference in Riyadh as a guest of the desert kingdom.
The deal to sell light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia faced significant criticism because of the country’s poor human-rights record, its role in the war in Yemen and its use of similar vehicles to fight with militants in its Eastern Province.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
New mayors elected in Calgary and Edmonton: Jyoti Gondek, a self-described centrist city councillor, will be the next mayor of Calgary, while former federal Liberal cabinet minister Amarjeet Sohi will return to civic politics as Edmonton’s new mayor. Gondek will be Calgary’s first female mayor and Sohi will be the first person of colour to hold the position in Edmonton after they each won their respective elections yesterday.
Businesses report labour shortages, higher expectation of inflation: Canadian businesses are grappling with labour shortages and supply-chain disruptions, and many plan to raise wages and pass on cost increases to customers in response, according to the Bank of Canada’s quarterly survey of businesses.
Ottawa urged to shut down wage subsidy: A Canadian economist who has served as a social policy adviser to the federal government says Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland should ignore the business lobby’s advice to the contrary and shut down the federal wage subsidy.
Pandemic has delayed treatment, exacerbated existing health conditions, survey: People living with cardiovascular disease are worse off than they were prior to the pandemic because of delays in accessing care, and a new survey of health professionals and researchers suggests the effect may continue even as COVID-19 pressures lift.
Drought worsens in Western U.S.: In a year of both extreme heat and extreme drought, California has reported its driest water year in terms of precipitation in a century, and experts fear the coming 12 months could be even worse.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks climbed to a one-month high today as a rally in technology shares and prospects of solid corporate earnings helped counter concerns about elevated inflationary pressures.
Oil prices took a breather from their eye-catching rise in recent weeks while the worrying trend of flattening global government bond yield curves paused, helping investors recoup some of their appetite for risky assets.
An MSCI gauge of world stocks climbed to its highest levels since Sept. 17 while U.S. stock futures gained in early London trading. European stocks advanced 0.3%.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
André Picard: “The way the COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding, we will likely all need a third dose of vaccine, eventually. But there is no reason we should be rushing to get everyone a so-called ‘booster’ shot at this time. In fact, there is every indication that the longer we can hold off, the better.”
John Ibbitson: “Reconciliation takes years. It requires all of us to listen more and demand less. And it means electing political leaders of a very high calibre – the kind who may be kept away from politics today because they don’t want the misery and personal risk. That’s the vicious cycle that nations must make virtuous, or risk losing their democracies.”
Cathal Kelly: “[Kyrie] Irving is sticking to his principles. You don’t have to like them to respect the commitment.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
If you’ve mastered the basics, here are three ways to up the ante on bodyweight exercises
The easiest way to advance an exercise is to add weight. The only problem with this approach is that you’re still performing the same exercise and can get bored doing the same things over and over. Here are some variations on classic bodyweight exercises that call into play more than just your ability to move weight.
MOMENT IN TIME: OCTOBER 19, 1945
Singer and drag artist Divine (Harris Milstead) performing at Heaven nightclub, London, on Sept. 28, 1981.David Corio/Redferns / Getty Images
Divine is born as Harris Glenn Milstead
Divine, born Harris Glenn Milstead on this day in 1945, was a 300-pound drag queen, a disco artist and a character actor known for outrageous performances in theatre and film. Divine was addicted to food and spending, and loved being larger than life. He was “frequently stoned. A real pothead,” said filmmaker John Waters, who came up with Divine’s stage name when they were working on their first movie together. As a drag-wearing actor, Divine chewed up scenery with the same gusto with which he devoured cake. He performed in 16 movies, most of them low-budget flicks directed by Waters, who loved to shock audiences. The underground hit Pink Flamingos brought Divine his most disturbing role. He ate dog feces in that film, a closing scene that produced Waters’s desired shock factor but haunted Divine the rest of his life. In 1988, he starred as Edna Turnblad/Arvin Hodgepile in Waters’s Hairspray, for which Milstead received critical acclaim. Finally, he was taken seriously as an actor who didn’t need drag. Just days before he was to guest-star on the TV sitcom Married … With Children, Milstead died of a heart attack. He was 42. Philip King
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