The Statistics Canada offices are shown in Ottawa on July 21, 2010. Quebec's anglophone population is declining, rather than booming, Statistics Canada said Thursday as the agency officially corrected a census finding that stoked political fires in Quebec's emotionally charged language debate.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Good morning,
With each new release from the 2016 census, we get a better picture of who we Canadians are and how we're doing. Often, the data isn't surprising for those of us watching month-to-month trends, but it does give us greater detail and a deeper understanding of the big picture.
With today's release, Statistics Canada tells us that overall median income in Canada is up over 10 years. But the big-picture average masks some very varied changes in different parts of the country. For example, Ontario, the largest province, had one of the highest median incomes in 2005 – and now, after a tepid decade, has the slowest growth of the provinces and is in the middle of the pack nationally.
You can read more about the release here. Also of note: Statistics Canada is comparing all of its data in this release to 2005, the previous longform census. The agency is skipping comparisons with the data from the National Household Survey of 2011.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa and James Keller in Vancouver. If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
Liberal MPs are more openly disagreeing with their government about the proposed tax changes for private corporations, at least so far as its consultations are going. "The communications was just god-awful," says Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who is chair of the House of Commons finance committee.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, concerned about a Bombardier plant in Northern Island, is voicing support for Canada in a trade dispute with Boeing. Ms. May will meet with Mr. Trudeau on Monday to talk about it.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is appearing as a witness today in the Sudbury by-election bribery trial.
B.C.'s New Democrats tabled a budget this week that left out several key election promises — and now their partners in a power-sharing agreement say they'll make sure two of them don't happen. The NDP budget didn't mention a $10-per-day childcare system or a $400-a-year subsidy for renters, though the government says it remains committed to both. But the leader of the Greens says he doesn't think either will see the light of day. The discord could make life awkward for the NDP as it prepares its February budget, though it's not clear how far the Greens are willing to go to push back.
Allan MacEachen, former Liberal MP, former senator and a driving force behind social-welfare reforms in the 1960s, has died at the age of 96.
A judge who wore a "Make America Great Again" hat the day after Donald Trump's election will keep his job, but has been suspended without pay for 30 days.
And people who wrote letters to the government about Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa detail how horrible it was. "I have never seen such a poor, chaotic display. Shame on you Ottawa. You actually ruined Canada Day for many thousands of people visiting Ottawa. If this is the way Canadian citizens now have to be treated at an event in our country then perhaps the terrorists are winning," one letter-writer wrote.
Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail) on Hillary Clinton: "You'll be happy to know, Hillary-shooers, that she is abject in defeat. Before the publication of her new memoir, What Happened, we were told that she would be score-settling, rock-throwing and all manner of other behaviour unbecoming to a woman. However, by my count, Ms. Clinton accepts blame for her defeat or offers apologies for her strategies 21 different times in What Happened. I could have missed a few."
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on U.S. politics: "Along with Hillary Clinton's What Happened, the other book that is getting the buzz in Washington is Kurt Andersen's Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. In, shall we say, a nutshell, the author's thesis is that the crackpots are taking over. The surreal has become the real. It's all been inevitable."
Jeffrey Crelinstein (The Globe and Mail) on the government's innovation agenda: "Urging Canada's chief executives to spend more on R&D is exactly the same as telling people with lower income to buy more luxury goods to improve their station. Spending precious dollars on R&D doesn't automatically help a firm succeed – unless it has customers with a need that requires a new product or service that they would gladly buy."
Tim Harper (Toronto Star) on marijuana legalization: "This is the type of social legislation that sparks emotions that can't be allayed with pie charts."
Tim Fontaine (CBC) on the Liberals' indigenous policy: "This government talks a lot about renewing its relationship with Indigenous Peoples, but when it comes to actually delivering on its promises, it falters."
Chris Hannay