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Rogers Communications Inc. may have to sell off some wireless assets to get its $20.4-billion bid for Shaw Communications Inc. past a government that has been pushing to increase wireless competition and reduce cellphone bills, analysts say.
The deal announced yesterday is likely to face significant regulatory hurdles, analysts said, because it would eliminate Canada’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile. The regional carrier has been credited with driving price competition in recent years.
Read more:
Rogers seeks to buy Shaw for $20.4-billion in deal that would transform Canadian telecom market
Rita Trichur: American telecoms are our best hope for sustainable competition
Sale of telecom empire has ‘generational impact’ on Shaw family
Shaw family to receive Rogers stock in takeover of Shaw Communications, unlike other shareholders
The Rogers Communications building at 333 Bloor Street East in Toronto on March 15, 2021.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
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Internal data offer rare glimpse into how RCMP deploy force in the line of duty
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers drew their weapons 500 times in encounters with unarmed civilians in three years, and nearly 1,500 people were sent to hospital after interactions with officers in that same period, according to internal data from the police force.
For years, the RCMP has resisted calls to make reports from the database public, but it shared reports after a request from The Globe and Mail.
The reports are being released amid scrutiny of how police officers use force against Black, Indigenous, racialized people and those experiencing mental-health crises. A series of deaths after interactions with law enforcement, including the RCMP, have led to calls to defund the police.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Kielburgers accuse Liberals of letting WE Charity take fall for government failings: Craig and Marc Kielburger accused the federal Liberals yesterday of letting WE Charity take the fall for the government’s botched student service program, noting that they were not responsible for managing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s conflicts of interest.
Women in skilled trades make half as much as men, new research shows: Men with trades certificates have some of the highest earnings among workers early in their career, but their female counterparts lag far behind, making only half as much as they do, according to findings of a new labour market report.
Home sales and prices to jump this year as economists warn of overheated market: Canadian home sales were 39 per cent higher than in February of last year and the average home price was 25 per cent above last year at $678,091, with low mortgage rates, a desire for bigger properties and low inventory propelling the boom. The rise prompted the country’s national real estate group to raise its forecast for the year and economists to warn of an overheated market.
Kaleb Dahlgren details his recovery after the Humboldt Broncos tragedy: On April 6, 2018, 16 of Kaleb Dahlgren’s Humboldt Broncos teammates died and 12 others, including himself, were injured in a horrific bus crash that saddened millions. Today, Dahlgren’s memoir, Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco, will become available in stores.
MORNING MARKETS
Global stocks gain: World stocks rose on Tuesday, as investors anticipated the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks meeting this week will keep policies accommodative to help drive a post-pandemic global economic recovery. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.63 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.55 per cent and 0.08 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.52 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 0.67 per cent. Wall Street futures were mixed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 80.06 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
André Picard: “While there is a lot of noise out there, there is also a clear signal: Coronavirus vaccines are remarkably safe and effective. And the best vaccine is the one you can get into your arm.”
Editorial Board: “So when will Canada’s pandemic be over? When enough people are vaccinated that the risks from COVID-19 are reduced to a manageable level – a level of risk that will never fall to zero.”
David Milstead: “The big banks take pains to say that the vast majority of the money they pay their CEOs is ‘variable’ or ‘at risk.’ However, 2020 showed us that when the books close on a disappointing year, the CEOs’ paycheques don’t vary significantly from prior years, or seem to be much at risk at all.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
cartoonBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
In the market for a new car? We can help you with your next vehicle purchase
Whether you’re in the market for a new car or a used car, Globe Drive’s car buying guides will help you make an informed purchase.
Globe Craft Club: Coming up next – making handmade notebooks
Join us Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET for our next livestreamed Craft Club lesson – making handmade notebooks. Globe and Mail feature writer Jana G. Pruden will host Catalina Sanchez, an artisanal notebook maker who will teach basic bookbinding to make a simple notebook. Find a list of supplies you’ll need and watch the event live at tgam.ca/craftclub. Share your projects with us on our Craft Club Facebook group or on social media with #GlobeCraftClub.
MOMENT IN TIME: MARCH 16, 1831
Frontispiece from the 1844 edition of 'Notre Dame de Paris' [The Hunchback of Notre Dame]. First published in 1831 by Victor Hugo, this edition's illustrations were engraved by Auguste Francois Garnier.Archives Charmet/Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is published
In a life spanning the greater part of the 19th century, French writer Victor Hugo produced countless poems, plays, novels and essays. While perhaps most celebrated in France for his poems, his fame abroad rests on two novels, Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. The latter came out when he was 29 and appeared later in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The doorstopper of a novel, published in three volumes and running almost a thousand pages, is set in 1482, with the cathedral featuring almost as a character itself. Much of the impetus for the story was Hugo’s outrage over the urban renewal efforts of his time and the concomitant destruction of Paris’s medieval buildings – in particular its Gothic architecture. (A few years later, he published the essay Guerre aux Démolisseurs (War on the Demolishers). Hugo had promised the novel to his publisher by 1829 but was distracted by other work. Facing demands to finish it, he worked exclusively on the novel until it was completed in February, 1831. A month later, it was published. Its success was credited for turning the cathedral into a national icon and contributing to its restoration. Ian Morfitt
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