Good morning, and welcome to Friday! It’s Chris Bilton.

The Canadian military has witnessed a resurgence in hateful conduct and racism reports over the last year. Murray Brewster and Ashley Burke break down the data obtained by CBC News. And in U.S. news, Mike Crawley unpacks Trump’s tariff-triggered manufacturing plan. Plus, 18-year-old Victoria Mboko wins the National Bank Open!

THE LATEST

• Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City. Before the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said Israel intends to take control of the entire enclave, despite intensifying criticism.
   
• U.S. investigators searching for Canadian Olympian-turned-fugitive Ryan Wedding have zeroed in on a region in central Mexico.
   
• The Canada Games begin today in St. John's, N.L.

The Canadian military's hateful conduct reports spiked in 2024 after years of steady decline

The Canadian Armed Forces started tracking reports of hateful incidents in 2020. Data provided to CBC News by the Defence Department shows that hateful incidents rose last year after declining in the four previous years. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

The Canadian military has witnessed a resurgence in hateful conduct and racism reports over the last year following several years of decline, according to data obtained by CBC News. The detailed information comes as the army deals with a fresh set of extremism and disreputable conduct allegations.

By the numbers: 

• Since 2020, there have been 364 reported occurrences of hateful conduct entered into the Hateful Conduct Incident Tracking System (HCITS) register.
• In that same time, 21 incidents of hateful conduct have led to the release of members through the disciplinary system.
• The new data shows 54 incidents were reported last year to the register — nearly double what was logged in 2023.
• There were increases in most categories, including engaging in hate speech and propaganda (26 in 2024 versus 10 in 2023) and uttering threats (17 in 2024 versus 11 in 2023).

What experts say: Social and political events in the U.S. could be having an influence on the resurgence. But there has also been pushback within the military to the culture change over the last decade that has seen the Canadian military try to root out hateful activity and sexual misconduct.

Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan want to study the feasibility of a west-east pipeline

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, left, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, pictured here after signing an agreement last month, have teamed up with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to look at studying the feasibility of an east-west pipeline between the provinces. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

What's happening: Ontario Premier Doug Ford, along with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, want to explore the feasibility of a new west-east pipeline and issued a call for proposals to study how to "best establish a new economic and energy corridor" in Canada.

The rationale: U.S. tariff threats have revived discussions about making Canada’s energy infrastructure more self-reliant, and Ford specifically cited the need to “protect our energy security, find new markets for Canadian energy and resources and create new jobs.” Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Mark Carney's development agenda is stalled — and he's promising to "legalize" pipelines through new legislation to speed things up.

Why Trump's tariffs are unlikely to deliver the manufacturing jobs he claims

U.S. President Donald Trump shows charts about the economy in the White House on Thursday. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

President Donald Trump's most consistent pitch for tariffs has been that they will trigger a new golden age in domestic manufacturing, forcing companies to build factories in the U.S. and creating what he has said will be "millions and millions of jobs." But there’s little evidence that will happen at the scale he’s promising. 

The context: Growth in manufacturing in the U.S. no longer equates to comparable growth in employment, and hasn't done so for decades, according to experts. That’s mostly because of automation — U.S. manufacturing is already productive, due to technology and capital investments.

The reality: Manufacturing is seeing a contraction and job losses during Trump’s second term, according to the Wall Street Journal. And when Trump implemented tariffs on steel and aluminum in his first term, the job gains there were more than offset by losses in the manufacturing sector as a whole, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.  

PICTURE THIS

Attention stargazers! It's time for one of the best meteor showers of the year — the Perseids. The shower is considered one of if not the best of the year, mainly due it being summer in the northern hemisphere, when the skies tend to be clear — especially if you’re somewhere away from light pollution. This year, the shower runs from July 17 to Aug. 23, but it peaks on the night of Aug. 12-13. However, wildfire smoke could be an issue, and the moon will be roughly 84 per cent illuminated, which means it will wash out all but the brightest meteors. Read more here.

In case you missed it

• The Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to meet in the coming days.
   
• Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew calls U.S. politicians "attention-seekers" throwing a "timber tantrum" over wildfire smoke.
   
• Prime Minister Mark Carney told Métis leaders Indigenous rights are "at the core" of the major projects law.
   
• A senior Winnipeg police officer is accused of drug trafficking and taking an intimate picture of a deceased woman.

IN LIGHTER NEWS

Canadian teen Victoria Mboko outlasts Osaka to win National Bank Open title

Victoria Mboko reacts during her game against Naomi Osaka of Japan during finals tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal on Thursday. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

Victoria Mboko is the National Bank Open women's singles champion. The 18-year-old from Burlington, Ont., did it again last night, rallying back through the pain of a wrist injury to defeat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the National Bank Open final, capping a fairytale run that fans across Canada won't soon forget. Mboko became the third Canadian to capture the title at the hometown tournament in the Open Era, and the first to do so in Montreal. She will now climb to 25th in the women's singles world rankings, a stunning rise after she began the year outside the top 300.