Federal Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary blew the whistle on vote rigging in the race.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
CANADIAN NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Liberal government has approved a Chinese takeover of a Montreal technology company -- a deal blocked by the previous Conservative government over national-security issues.
Australia has shelved its extradition treaty with China, after concerns about the country's justice system. Canada has said it would pursue talks for a similar agreement with China.
Given how much discretion is being left to provinces in handling marijuana legalization, a target of next year for legal pot might be too ambitious.
The federal government has begun negotiations for a settlement in the so-called Sixties Scoop. One class-action lawsuit was found in favour of the plaintiffs, but more cases remain.
Today is the final day to sign up as a Conservative Party member and vote for the new leader. The final rush to sign up supporters has seen candidates pitch attention-grabbing ideas, such as Maxime Bernier's proposal to use the army to stop asylum-seekers from crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
Conservative senators, meanwhile, are picking a leader of their own today to guide them in the Red Chamber. As Kady O'Malley writes in iPolitics, there are three contenders for the Conservative Senate leadership: former journalist Linda Frum; former CFL commissioner Larry Smith; and Stephen Greene, who would like to make the caucus more independent and stop whipped votes. Mr. Smith and Mr. Greene both unsuccessfully sought election to the House of Commons before being named to the Senate.
And B.C.'s Auditor-General says there's a curious timing to when the provincial government spends a lot on advertising.
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U.S. NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
First came health care, now comes tax reform. The White House and Republicans in Congress are looking to overhaul the tax code but divisions remain. Mr. Trump is saying that he is open to working with Democrats but they may have little incentive to accept that offer after leaving the health-care showdown emboldened. Any changes to tax laws will have repercussions in Canada, as the Trudeau Liberals' tabled a relatively cautious budget while keeping an eye on Washington.
Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest funds in the world, is unsure of Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau's infrastructure plans' ability to attract major global players.
After the health-care failure, U.S. financial markets are questioning Mr. Trump's ability to deliver on his aforementioned taxation and infrastructure plans.
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LUNCHTIME LONG READ
In a Georgia district near Atlanta, Democrats are lucky if they can raise $10,000 during an election. For a special election going on right now, they've raised $3-million. As Vox explains, this special election will test the message of anti-Trump opposition activists in some deep-red country.
QUOTABLE
"In some quarters, that would be considered an act of war. I think it's a kind of conduct and activity we will see going forward. We know he's attempted it previously in other states in the Baltics." Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney on Russia's interference in the U.S. election process.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail): "In the last few days Conservative candidates have been desperate to recruit members who can vote for them before the party's deadline at 5 p.m. Tuesday. And the tool of choice was ill-considered, clickbait policies to stop border-crossers."
David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail): "But that's beside the point. Having a government start to cherry-pick the economic forecasts that it likes, and "adjust" the ones it doesn't, takes us down a dangerous path – one overexposed to political gamesmanship over sound economic analysis. It looks like the government has wisely reversed its course, and gone back to a contingency based on a sense of prudence, rather than an urge to micromanage."
Andrew Coyne (National Post): "The 18 months of the Trudeau government have been an education in cynicism."
Vicky Mochama (Metro): "In 2015, Trudeau told delegates at a climate summit in Paris that 'Canada is back.' In 2017, why not lead Canada and the world in feeding a starving and desperate population?"
David Shribman (The Globe and Mail): "There are early indications that the more the administration reviews the record of presidents who have achieved history-altering measures, the more the Trump team may conclude that it must return to the profile that brought him to the White House in the first place: as an insurgent with no ties to the establishment of the party that provided him with its nomination."
Mara Casey Tieken (The Washington Post): "In defining rural white America as rural America, pundits, academics and lawmakers are perpetuating an incomplete and simplistic story about the many people who make up rural America and what they want and need. Ironically, this story — so often told by liberals trying to explain the recent rise in undisguised nativism and xenophobia — serves to re-privilege whiteness."
Written by Chris Hannay and Mayaz Alam.