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Morning Brief

Monday, August 24, 2020 – by John McHutchion

Here’s what you need to know to get the day started:

Erin O'Toole wins Conservative leadership race, reaches out to broaden blue tent

 
Erin O'Toole has won the leadership for the Conservative Party, promising to present a vision to make Canada more prosperous and reaching out to broaden the party's base of supporters.

After a six-hour delay due to glitches with the ballots, O'Toole took 57 per cent of the votes on the third and final ballot, compared to 43 per cent for second-place contender Peter MacKay. O'Toole claimed victory after taking support from Leslyn Lewis, who finished with a surprisingly strong performance but dropped off on the second ballot. Derek Sloan dropped off after the first ballot.

In his acceptance speech, O'Toole promised to work to unite the party, champion Conservative values and hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to account. "We must continue to point out Liberal failings and corruption, but we must also show Canadians our vision for a stronger, more prosperous and more united Canada." 

Acknowledging the party needs to broaden its base to win the next election, O'Toole reached out to all Canadians in all regions of the country and from diverse backgrounds. "I believe that whether you are Black, white, brown or from any race or creed, whether you are LGBT or straight, whether you are an Indigenous Canadian or have joined the Canadian family three weeks ago or three generations ago, whether you're doing well or barely getting by, whether you worship on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or not at all … you are an important part of Canada, and you have a home in the Conservative Party of Canada."

David Stewart, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said O'Toole's victory speech suggests he understands the need to deliver a positive message and to reach out to a broader base of voters. "The Conservatives have badly underestimated Trudeau in two elections and have to be careful not to assume that the current controversies will dominate the next election," he said in an email. 

The results of the leadership vote were delayed by several hours because the machine used to open ballot envelopes damaged several thousand voting cards. The technical glitch left the four candidates vying for the party's top job waiting in limbo throughout Sunday evening until the final result was announced shortly after 1 a.m. ET on Monday.
 

More on this issue

Read more about O'Toole's leadership win

Read: Erin O'Toole courted the right of the Conservative Party and won

Read: The Conservative Party has a new leader. Is that enough to win the next election?

Victory splash

 

(Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters)

 
IndyCar Series driver Takuma Sato celebrates by dumping the traditional bottle of milk over himself after winning the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Due to the pandemic, it marked the first time that the race had been run outside of May, and it also took place without spectators.
 
 
 

In brief

 
Myriad Canadians got a rough introduction to online education when the pandemic closed classrooms this spring and forced educators into rapid implementation of "emergency learning at home."  Now, as Canadian school districts grapple with a physical return to class in September, many are making plans for remote instruction, too. Thousands of families across Canada have opted to continue with distance schooling. In different regions, districts are centralizing their virtual offerings. The Calgary Catholic School District, for example, created a whole new virtual elementary school named Saint Isidore. Days ahead of an Aug. 21 deadline, close to 3,000 of the district's 60,000 students had already registered for the school. Read here as we answer your questions on how remote learning is shaping up for fall.

The #MeToo movement has reverberated through Regina this summer with several high-profile men being accused of sexual misconduct and apologizing or stepping down from roles. But new research shows #MeToo apologies rarely do a good job of saying, "Sorry." Law professor and former employment lawyer Charlotte Anderson studied more than 200 public statements made by people accused of work-related sexual harassment and misconduct since the #MeToo movement began in October 2017 to determine whether their words offer any hint of individual or structural change. "The text offers up little hope," Anderson concluded in her study. She found only a third of statements included an apology of any kind and most included denials or defences. Read more on this story here. 

If there's one theme to emerge from this week's Republican National Convention, which will formally nominate U.S. President Donald Trump as the party's candidate, it will likely be this: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is a pawn of the radical left. "The Democrats desperately want this race to be a referendum on Trump, and the Republicans need this race to be a choice between Trump and the radical left," said Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Republican convention — a mostly virtual affair due to the COVID-19 pandemic — is expected to have more live components than the Democratic convention. While parts of the Republican convention will take place in Charlotte, N.C., Trump plans to make his acceptance speech from the White House lawn. Read more about the Republican convention here.

With her hands on the purse strings, new Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland knows there is only so much money to go around, writes CBC business columnist Don Pittis. But with so much in flux and so much money spent already, she may have a window to make significant change. Tax historians have suggested this might be a rare moment when Canadians would support a more distributive tax regime. Radical changes are risky. They can lead to radical errors. But time is of the essence. And the window may soon close. Freeland's task is no cakewalk. Without a majority government, the job may be impossible, as a cacophony of opposition from entrenched and divergent interests overwhelms the conductor's timely measures. Read more analysis on Freeland’s task here.

The NBA defending champion Toronto Raptors are moving on to the second round of the playoffs after they completed their sweep of the Brooklyn Nets last night. Norm Powell scored 29 points, while Serge Ibaka added 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Raptors dumped the Nets 150-122. Not only was it the first playoff series sweep in franchise history, the Raptors bench scored an NBA-record 100 points, while the team's 150 points were also a franchise record. There was one cause for concern, however: all-star point guard Kyle Lowry left the game early after apparently rolling his left ankle. The Raptors hope to have Lowry back in the lineup for Thursday when they face the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Read more about the Raptors' victory here. 

Now for some good news to start your Monday: Ed Stafford has marched in the Canadian National Exhibition’s Warriors Day Parade every year for the last 60 years. But due to COVID-19 and the subsequent CNE cancellation, the 99-year-old Second World War veteran was unable to march this year. So the Ontario Military Vehicle Association (OMVA) arranged a parade of 10 military vehicles past his home in Etobicoke, Ont., on Saturday. "My goodness, I'm astounded, didn't know what to expect," Stafford told CBC News. The absence of the 2020 parade means that more than 1,200 veterans from across Ontario did not get to make their annual march, which has traditionally taken place the Saturday of the CNE's opening weekend. But a virtual event continued the tradition with an online tribute to Canadian veterans and celebration of the CNE's military heritage with photos and videos from past years. Read more about the parade for Stafford here.
 
Front Burner, CBC News

Erin O'Toole elected next Conservative Party leader

Erin O'Toole was elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in the early morning, on the third ballot. O'Toole's victory wraps up an unprecedented race. But despite the obstacles presented by campaigning in a global pandemic, Conservatives participated in record numbers. Today on Front Burner, Vassy Kapelos, the host of CBC's Power & Politics, on O'Toole's win and what it means for the future of the party.
Listen to today's episode

Today in history: Aug. 24

 

1791: The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act, which divides Quebec into two provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, each with its own lieutenant-governor and legislature. 

1814: British troops burn the White House in Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.

1920: Celebrated Canadian artist Alex Colville is born in Toronto.
  
1922: Quebec politician René Lévesque is born in Campbellton, N.B.

 

(With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters)

 
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