BQ leader won't resign in wake of allegations Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. After an anonymous Facebook post last week alleged sexual assault by Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, Blanchet denied any wrongdoing but said he wouldn't comment further. Yesterday he repeated his defence in a press conference, announcing he had no intention of stepping down as party leader, and presenting a letter signed by all 31 Bloc MPs supporting him. The allegation claims the assault happened in 1999, when Blanchet was working in the music industry. It's unclear whether any charges have been filed with the police. The latest on WE: The media has been reaching out to determine which Liberal cabinet ministers knew what about the now-cancelled WE Charity deal, which would have seen the government hand $912 million to the mega-charity to dole out to student volunteers this summer. In response to questions about impropriety, the ministers are forming a firm line of defence. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland apologized on behalf of the party, but still stands by Justin Trudeau; Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne says he wasn't aware of the circumstances that led to the deal. But the most instructive line might come from Youth Minister Bardish Chagger: "I was not directed by the Prime Minister's Office" to offer the contract to WE, she told MPs. Wasn't it just recently that Canadians had this national debate over the difference between Trudeau "directing" versus "recommending" his team to do certain things? Regardless, Chagger confirmed the Liberal party assertion that it was all the public service's idea: "I was given a recommendation by the public service, I accepted the recommendation," she said. How deep do the WE troubles go? The team at Canadaland interviewed Kate Bahen, the managing director of industry watchdog Charity Intelligence, and dug deep into the financial documents from a whole host of complicated WE-related entites to determine how they moved money around. (WE Charity is the non-profit arm; Me to WE is the for-profit company; WE 365 was an app they tried to get school kids to download; and on, and on.) The upshot: it's complicated and sketchy and there's way too much real estate involved. Let's go, Blue Jays, let's go—somewhere else. After Major League Baseball announced plans for a salvaged 60-game season this year, the Canadian government shut the border on Canada's only team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Minister of Immigration Marco Mendicino told reporters that the risk of having so many American teams cross the border to play in Toronto was too risky . The Jays will continue to play away games, and they're expected to find some other stadium to play home games. Mendicino also told CBC News the government would reconsider their decision if the pandemic cools down and the Jays make the playoffs. (In other words, they government will not reconsider their decision.) So, about that inquiry... It's been three months since the worst mass murder in Canadian history took place in Nova Scotia. In that time, numerous government and police officials have claimed an inquiry was coming soon, leaving the public—and Maclean's Paul Wells—to wonder what exactly is the government's definition of "soon". But I note that there is no answer in this mopey villanelle to any of my actual questions. Will there be an inquiry? Blair’s office doesn’t say. When? They don’t say. What’s its structure? They don’t say. Will it reflect the concerns of passionate professionals working for women’s safety and deliver a prompt, public, independent inquiry with subpoena power? They don’t say. If I had not already been ground down by years of this shit, I would be cross. In a move being applauded by Canadian businesses, Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Friday announced the government would be nixing the revenue threshold for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). The previous restrictions offered a 75-per-cent payroll subsidy only if businesses had lost at least 30 per cent of their revenues in a given month. The new changes take effect until Nov. 21; CEWS is currently scheduled to end by Dec. 19. The Privy Council Office spent up to $3.7 million to have 16 behavioural scientists review their $120 million advertising campaign about public health and COVID-19, encouraging acts such as hand washing and social distancing. (The federal advertising budget in 2019 was $58.6 million, slightly less than half of what they've spent on COVID awareness alone.) In its annual report submitted to the House of Commons, the government office defended the expenditure, calling the scientists' input vital. And now, for your Monday morning laugh/cry. On Sunday morning, Fox News aired an 40-minute interview Donald Trump gave to Chris Wallace. There's plenty of fun stuff (including a bizarre back-and-forth about a competency test in which identifying an elephant is something the president seems mildly proud of) and plenty of troubling stuff (including Trump outright refusing to say whether he'll accept the election results). The interview comes as Trump's approval numbers are sinking fast. He's losing ground to Joe Biden on the coronavirus, race relations and even the economy, according to Fox's own polls. (When asked about them in the interview, the president brushed them off as "fake".) The perfect storm has begun to show Trump's true colours, according to Adnan R. Khan in Maclean's. Increasingly, a cornered Trump is turning to those people most like him, a segment of the American population lashing out at the prospect of losing its privileged position, of having to compete on an equal footing with immigrants and people of colour, with homosexuals, queers and the gender fluid. The dream for most of us—a world where the colour of your skin or the clothes you wear has nothing to do with your life prospects—is a nightmare for them. —Michael Fraiman | 