Good morning! This is our daily news roundup with everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning.
Here's why Joe Biden is smiling this morning, even after U.S. midterm setbacks
Joe Biden might someday look back fondly on the first two years of his presidency as a carefree ride in his beloved convertible Corvette.
Because the next two could be painful.
ADVERTISEMENT
His party's potential loss of the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm election would mean both personal and professional turmoil.
It likely means a hostile Congress that blocks his legislative agenda and investigates his son, his family businesses, his administration officials, the FBI, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Here's the most surprising part, however: Biden may be celebrating.
That's because a surprising thing happened on the way to the widely anticipated drubbing for Democrats. It didn't quite happen.
"Definitely not a Republican wave, that's for darn sure," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham lamented on NBC.
The incumbent president's party appeared to lose its razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives while remaining unexpectedly competitive.
It was not the type of midterm pounding habitually handed out to incumbent presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
In brief
The mayor of a southern Alberta village where a protest against COVID-19 restrictions closed traffic lanes to the U.S. last winter believed then-premier Jason Kenney was ignoring the severity of the situation, according to texts obtained by the Emergencies Act inquiry. A text chain between Coutts Mayor Jim Willett and Alberta's transportation minister at the time, Rajan Sawhney, was entered into evidence as part of the Public Order Emergency Commission. The commission is investigating the federal government's decision last winter to invoke the Emergencies Act to end the protests in Coutts, Alta., and in Ottawa — where protesters gridlocked the downtown for weeks. "If you get a chance could you find out why the premier is ignoring the province being held hostage by domestic terrorists? And why has he not labelled it such? My rant for the day," Willett texted Sawhney on Feb. 12, referring to Kenney. According to the text chain, Sawhney didn't respond for two days.
A Saskatchewan farmer who served two tours in Afghanistan has died fighting in Ukraine, family members say. Joseph Hildebrand, 33, and others in the military unit he was volunteering for were killed over the weekend during a combat mission, the family members said. They said surviving soldiers called them, and are currently guarding the bodies with their Ukrainian colleagues in hostile territory until arrangements can be made to extract them. "We're all here together at the farm, trying to get more information," Hildebrand's brother, Jake, said from his mother's home near the village of Herbert, Sask., 200 kilometres west of Regina. "I'm 35 years old and have to make arrangements for my brother's body. This is as bad as it gets.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith claimed a seat in the provincial legislature as she won a byelection Tuesday in the riding of Brooks-Medicine Hat. Smith took 54.5 per cent the votes cast to defeat four other candidates on the ballot. NDP candidate Gwendoline Dirk placed second, while Barry Morishita of the Alberta Party was third. "This is more than a victory party. This is the start of something much bigger," Smith told supporters after her win. Dirk said she was "actually quite ecstatic with our result" after the party won 17 of the 26 polls in Medicine Hat, where they'd focused their efforts. In the last election, they didn't claim a single poll.
Canada's premiers say "no progress" has been made in health-care funding discussions with Ottawa as meetings between federal and provincial health ministers wrapped up Tuesday. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos was in Vancouver for two days of discussions with his provincial and territorial counterparts as provinces and territories continued their push for more federal cash for health services. But before the meetings could conclude, premiers released a media statement saying that "no progress" had been made and repeated their request for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Canadians should be able to receive high quality health services now and for the future. It is time for the prime minister to honour his commitment and come to the table," Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said in the statement.
In February, Russian soldiers tried to infiltrate the streets of Kharkiv, but were forced to withdraw. Then, for months, Russian forces continued an artillery assault on the city from the positions they held to the north and east. It wasn't until the last days of summer that Ukrainian forces pushed Russian soldiers back enough to take Ukraine's second-largest city out of artillery range, making the city safer than it has been since Feb. 24. That safety is a relative one, though, as Kharkiv remains a target for frequent attacks from missiles and drones. What remains in the wake of this trauma is a mix of beauty and destruction that highlights the community's capacity for resilience that is best explained by the people who have chosen to stay.
Now here's some good news to start your Wednesday: Wyatt Moulton, 17, of Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick, learned to speak Wolastoqey from his mother and grandparents. Their family is a rarity as Wyatt is one of very few young people in his community who can speak the language. Wyatt would love it if other people his age could speak to him in Wolastoqey. "I call for my fellow youth to … learn as much words as they can," he said. "You could learn one word. You could learn 100 words. It doesn't matter. Your ancestors hear you and they love hearing you." He's currently putting his language skills to use calling bingo games in Wolastoqey and English in his community.
Front Burner: Is the notwithstanding clause being abused?
In Canada, if a government really wants to, it can take away many of the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If a provincial government is willing to risk the potential blowback, it can use Section 33 of the charter, the notwithstanding clause, which allows a government to temporarily override some of its protections and freedoms. And while once quite taboo, the notwithstanding clause is being increasingly, and controversially, used as a legislative tool by provinces like Ontario and Quebec.
Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford tried to take away education workers' right to strike by invoking the clause. Then, on Monday, the union agreed to return to work after Ford promised to repeal the legislation that had imposed a four-year contract on it.
Today on Front Burner, John Michael McGrath, writer and columnist at TVO.org and the co-host of the TVO podcast #Onpoli, explains why the notwithstanding clause exists and why critics argue it's being misused.
Today in history: November 9
1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and Germany is proclaimed a republic, two days before the end of the First World War.
1970: Charles de Gaulle, president of France from 1959-69, dies at the age of 79.
1972: Anik-1, Canada's first domestic communications satellite, shoots into orbit atop a Delta rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
2010: Montreal author Johanna Skibsrud, 30, becomes the youngest recipient of the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel The Sentimentalists.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
Report Typo or Error