Good morning,
It’s the Fourth of July, so there will be plenty of fireworks today – both literal and metaphorical.
Of the latter variety, U.S. President Donald Trump continues to butt heads with his allies, this time on the subject of military spending. In letters sent to many countries, including Canada, Germany and Norway, the Trump administration criticizes the fellow NATO members for not living up to their goals of spending 2 per cent of their GDP on defence.
Canada, which has no plan to meet the 2-per-cent target, is focusing on the other ways it is supporting the military alliance. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit the mission in Latvia next week on his way to a meeting of NATO leaders in Belgium.
And even if the constant international conflict makes you just want to go back to bed, unfortunately the trade war will reach you even there. Canada’s tariffs on U.S. goods – triggered in retaliation of other moves made by the U.S. – are affecting the American mattress industry. You may not have heard about this yet, since it’s, ahem, a sleeper issue.
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.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Police and politicians in the Toronto and Vancouver areas are struggling to contain gang violence, as the number of people killed in shootings grows in both regions. Toronto’s mayor is pleading for provincial and federal support after 208 shootings so far this year – including 10 in a span of just five days.
In Surrey, B.C., south of Vancouver, the local government has released a report that offers a shocking assessment of the problem there: children as young as 10 are being recruited into gangs. The city plans to step up programs aimed at steering young people away from a life in gangs.
A judge in British Columbia has ruled that more than 100 claims from resident-school survivors that were abandoned after their lawyer was disbarred must be reviewed to determine if they have merit.
The B.C. government says its review into money laundering in the…
