Good morning. This is Hanna Lee.

The review body that's meant to investigate the Mounties has been without a chairperson for months. That means that though investigations are continuing, no decisions can be issued — and that's a blow to transparency for Canadians across the country. We'll get into that below.

THE LATEST

• Last night, the Toronto Blue Jays ambushed the L.A. Dodgers to move within one win of a World Series title. The series returns to Toronto Friday for Game 6.
   
• U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at a summit in South Korea today.
   
• The Trump administration struck another alleged drug ship in the eastern Pacific, killing everyone on board.
   
• Energy Minster Tim Hodgson and Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin will co-host the G7 Energy and Environment Ministers' Meeting in Toronto.
   
• Tyler Robinson, accused in the murder of U.S. commentator Charlie Kirk, will appear in court today for a pre-trial hearing.

RCMP watchdog without senior leadership for months, stalling investigations 

(Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC), meant to investigate Mounties' conduct, has been without a chairperson for months.

What's happening: Investigations have been stalled, weakening transparency about how the national police force interacts with Canadians. The watchdog is set to be rolled into a new organization called the Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC), which will also reviews claims against border officers. But a year since legislation was passed creating that agency, there's been no indication of when it will be operating.

Another complication: The CRCC's chair left in January after her term was up, after a troubling internal report into the commission's "toxic workplace." Other senior roles also remain vacant. The effect is that teams of investigators and lawyers are still working, but the review body can't issue any decisions. As of Oct. 21, there were 235 review and investigation files awaiting a decision. “Justice delayed is justice denied and that applies here,” said Tom Engel, a lawyer and chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association's policing committee.

Speed cameras are controversial in Canada. So why does Europe love them?

(Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images)

Speed cameras have drawn some ire in Canada, particularly in Ontario, whose premier has called them a "cash grab" and threatened to ban them. Yet an ocean away in Europe, they have broad support. Why?

What's happening: Take Italy, for example, which is home to more than 10,000 active speed cameras — the most in any European country. One survey found that nearly 70 per cent of Italians supported stricter speeding rules, despite nearly half of them saying they'd gone over the speed limit in the last 30 days. In France, the president in 2002 vowed to prioritize reducing traffic deaths after a series of high-profile accidents. Today, it has more than 2,400 cameras in operation.

The difference: A lot of it is buy-in at the top levels, said Laurent Carnis, a traffic safety expert in France. Having that commitment helps create centralized systems that can dole out fines against drivers. Nevertheless, Europe isn't immune to changes in public sentiment, and governments should also be cautious and transparent in who they target with the cameras, he said. Carnis likened them to vaccines; the better they work, the fewer people are impacted — which will naturally cause some to question their efficacy.

Billion-dollar government deals with Stellantis, NextStar for EV battery plant revealed

(CBC)

CBC News has obtained more than 70 pages of documents showing the conditions of funding deals with Stellantis and LG Energy Solution's EV battery plant.

What's happening: The contracts have come under intense scrutiny in Parliament after Stellantis announced it was shifting production of a Jeep model from Brampton, Ont., to Illinois. These documents centre around two deals between Ottawa and NexStar Energy, a joint venture between Stellantis and Seoul's LG Energy Solution. 

Key takeaways: The documents have dozens of conditions that, if violated, give officials the power to end the agreements and in some cases even force repayment. One deal from 2022 requires NextStar to hire 2,500 full-time employees within a year of the project's completion and maintain that throughout the duration of the agreement, for example. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has raised the possibility of legal action against Stellantis for the Brampton about-face; the text doesn't include mention of that plant in particular, at least in the portions that are unredacted.

In case you missed it

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging Pete Hoekstra to apologize, after the U.S. ambassador was seen in an expletive-laced rant toward Ontario's trade rep on Monday. 
   
• Meanwhile, negotiators were taking "important steps" before President Donald Trump halted talks, Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman told the Senate foreign affairs committee.
   
• The ceasefire in Gaza is back in effect, the Israeli military said, after killing 104 people in airstrikes. Both sides traded blame for violations of the deal.
   
• Hurricane Melissa has been blamed for dozens of deaths as Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica begin assessing the damage.

IN LIGHTER NEWS

How British drag queen La Voix unwittingly provided the makeup for a $73M jewel heist

(BBC)

He may be known as the drag performer La Voix now, but in 2009, the U.K.'s Chris Dennis was working as a freelance makeup artist at Charles Fox of Covent Garden. One day, he was booked for two men who wanted to get makeup that aged them, allegedly for a music video. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the appointment, Dennis said, other than that the men were a bit rude.

Those two men would later commit armed robbery at Graff's flagship jewelry store in London's West End, stealing about £40 million in rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches — using prosthetics and makeup to disguise themselves. Whoops!