Skip to main content
morning update

Bruce McArthur, a 66-year-old freelance landscaper from Toronto, was arrested Thursday morning and is charged in connection with the homicides of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen.

Good morning,

These are the top stories:

A Toronto man has been charged with murdering two missing men – and police believe there are more victims

Bruce McArthur has been charged with the first-degree murders of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, two men from Toronto's gay community. Here's what we know so far:

The police: In December, police Chief Mark Saunders said there was no serial killer believed to be behind a string of missing-persons cases, despite fears of those in the gay community. Now, police say McArthur is responsible for the two murders as well as the "deaths of other men yet to be identified."

The suspect: McArthur is a 66-year-old freelance landscaper who was known in Toronto's Gay Village. He was active on dating sites, where he described himself as "a bit shy until I get to know you." He is scheduled to appear in court today.

The victims: Andrew Kinsman, 49, went missing in June of last year. McArthur and Kinsman are believed to have had a sexual relationship. Selim Esen, 44, moved to Canada from Turkey about three years ago, a friend said. He went missing in April of last year. Police are executing search warrants in an effort to find their bodies.

Here's Marcus Gee's take: "Chief Saunders said he was simply going on the evidence at hand when he dismissed concerns about a serial killer back in December. 'In policing, what we do is we follow the evidence,' he said. What he said at that time, he argued, 'was accurate at that time.' That will not do. If it turns out that a serial killer has been abroad in Toronto, perhaps for years, the chief will need to be clear with the public, and especially the gay community, how the force decided despite a string of suspicious disappearances that there was not."

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you're reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Morning Update and all Globe newsletters here.

Heads up: We have a new newsletter called Amplify. It will inspire and challenge our readers while highlighting the voices, opinions and insights of women at The Globe and Mail. Amplify will land in your inbox every Saturday morning, with a different guest editor each week – a woman who works at The Globe – highlighting a topic of the author's choice. The topics will vary and will dive deep into issues and events around the world. The newsletter will also highlight Canadian women who are inspiring others. Sign up today.

Allegations of money laundering at Trump properties surfaced in a U.S. hearing transcript

The Trump Organization may have engaged in money laundering via Donald Trump-branded properties, including one in Toronto, according to testimony. In November, Glenn Simpson, the head of a commercial intelligence firm, spoke in front of a congressional committee investigating Trump's links to Russia. In the early 2000s, after being rejected for bank loans in the U.S., Trump turned to Russians for cash, Simpson said. Those individuals signed agreements to buy condo units in properties that included the former Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto. "The guys connected to the Toronto project are Russian Mafia, too," Simpson said.

Elsewhere on the U.S. politics front, the House of Representatives passed a plan to fund the government. But it's not yet clear if a shutdown, pegged to a deadline of this evening, will be avoided, with members of the Senate expected to vote against the bill. The House-passed bill would only fund the government through Feb. 16, as lawmakers try to hammer out a deal on immigration.

The BC Greens are threatening to take down the minority NDP government over LNG

The Greens agreed to a formal alliance with the NDP last July, which allowed John Horgan to form a minority NDP government. But now Green Leader Andrew Weaver says he'll move to bring down the government on a no-confidence motion if it pursues investments for a liquefied natural gas industry. "If BCNDP caucus continue the generational sellout embodied in the LNG folly of the BC Liberals, their government will fall," Weaver tweeted. Premier Horgan is set to meet with backers of a proposed LNG project as part of his trade trip to Asia, which begins this weekend.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Toronto is on the shortlist for Amazon HQ2

It's the only Canadian city on the list of 20, which includes a diverse range of U.S. locations including Denver, New York and Columbus, Ohio. Amazon received 238 applications, including from Canadian communities, when it announced last year that it was looking to build a second headquarters to complement its Seattle location. The online retail giant says it expects to create 50,000 jobs and invest $5-billion (U.S.) in the city it selects. A number of bidders – but not Toronto – bent over backward to offer Amazon tax incentives. The company will make a selection later this year.

Here's Andrew Willis's take: "It's going to be harder to sell the greater Toronto region as superior to the remaining contenders, vibrant U.S. cities such as Boston, Austin, New York and Denver. But it's worth trying, not just to win Amazon HQ2, but also to lay the groundwork for a technology-driven future in southern Ontario."

MORNING MARKETS

Stocks rise, U.S. dollar in focus

The greenback wallowed near three-year lows on Friday as heightened fears of a U.S. government shutdown unnerved investors, while U.S. Treasury yields continued an upward march to hit their highest levels since September, 2014. Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Shanghai composite each rose 0.4 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 0.9 per cent by about 5:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up, and the Canadian dollar was above 80.5 cents (U.S.). Oil prices slid, putting them on course for the biggest weekly fall since October.

FYI: The Globe now provides all users access to real-time stock quotes for both Canadian and U.S. markets. Go here to find out about the major changes to our Globe Investor site.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

The inexcusable treatment of Sears employees: A cautionary tale

"How can corporations be allowed to underfund pension plans, be allowed to fritter away resources set aside for retirement health benefits, while paying out massive profits to shareholders? How can our governments sit back and allow corporations to treat their employees like total rubes? The business world could see what was happening to Sears, analysts could see the ruthless and deliberate winddown of the company, and yet no one thought to ask: what does this mean for retirees and their benefits? It's truly sickening. And it should serve as a cautionary tale for workers who might be in a similar situation. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If something smells wrong, it likely is." – Gary Mason

Liberals must remember their values aren't the only ones that count

"Thousands of student summer-job grants, along with a brand-new community-service program, have been rendered unavailable to organizations and people of faith, thanks to an obnoxious new Liberal values oath. This oath is not only offensive; on its face, it's a clear violation of the very Charter rights that it claims to defend. The Liberals say they will work with churches and other charities to ensure they can still apply for grants. There is a much better way. The government should scrap the odious clause from the application forms where it has popped up, apologize to Canadians for violating their right to freedom of religion and come up with something that doesn't place people in an intolerable moral conflict." – John Ibbitson

Women don't have to agree, but we do need to fight fair

"I've seen it put forth a number of places that disagreement between women risks 'wasting' the #MeToo moment, which I don't think is true. Women – and feminists – have always disagreed and to suggest our differences are a tool of the patriarchy is another way of telling some of us (usually the less powerful ones) to be quiet. Yes, I am disappointed by those who indulge in blame, shame, or scoring points with witty barbs. … None of that is helpful. But rather than stifle our disagreements, I think we need to make them respectful and constructive." – Denise Balkissoon

FILM FRIDAY

And the 2018 Oscar nominees should be …

This year's Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday. Film critic Kate Taylor and film editor Barry Hertz have selected a few under-the-radar picks that they feel are deserving.

Taylor says Wonder Woman is deserving of a Best Picture nod: "This is the first superhero movie ever to rejoice in a trifecta of narrative cohesion in what is normally a weirdly muddled genre, a forceful female protagonist and real fan support for the Amazon in question."

Hertz, meanwhile, gives a push for Get Out: "It's a comedy! It's a horror! It's a documentary! Jordan Peele's genre-defying debut is all those things (well, maybe not a doc, as Peele jokingly tweeted), and much more. As the surreality of 2017 played out, Peele's work seemed only that much more of-the-moment, in its own terrifying way."

We're trying out a new weekly section to highlight the latest in film news. Let us know what you think, and if there are any other topics or issues you'd like to see covered in Morning Update.

HEALTH PRIMER

How to walk, squat or simply move your way to a better state of mind

Exercise is too often thought of as a weight-management tool. Instead, writes personal trainer Kathleen Trotter, we should think of it as a mood-management tool. In other words, exercise can do wonders for your psychological well-being. So next time you're frustrated, try some low-barrier exercise: Go for a short walk or pace during conference calls.

MOMENT IN TIME

New Horizons departs for Pluto

Jan. 19, 2006: Like a speeding bullet aimed at the outer reaches of the solar system, the rocket bearing NASA's New Horizons mission lifted off atop of a pillar of fire and smoke on a sunny winter's day at Cape Canaveral, Fla. With a departing velocity of 58,536 kilometres an hour (more than 16 kilometres a second), the interplanetary probe was the fastest object ever to leave Earth, but it would still take it nearly a decade to reach Pluto in the summer of 2015. By then, an international body of astronomers had voted to revoke Pluto's official status as the solar system's ninth planet on the grounds that there are other objects of similar size orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. New Horizons found Pluto to be a unique and mesmerizing world with several moons and signs of a subterranean ocean, causing some scientists to push back on Pluto's demotion. New Horizons is now more than six-billion km from Earth. The probe is still operating and is slated for an encounter next New Year's Day with 2014 MU69, one of the countless small, frozen bodies that populate the solar system's outer fringe, before heading out into the Milky Way for parts unknown. – Ivan Semeniuk

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

If you'd like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe