Good morning. Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his efforts to rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia during a trip to the kingdom. More on that below, along with Spain’s bullfighting debates and the rising costs of drag.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
TOP STORIES
Carney courts the Crown Prince
Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his trip to Saudi Arabia to cultivate deeper trade and investment – a pivot from his predecessor Justin Trudeau, who clashed with the desert kingdom over human rights. “Lecturing countries from afar is an ineffective strategy,” Carney said. “It’s satisfying, but it’s ineffective.”
The rift: Carney is the first Canadian prime minister in 26 years to visit Saudi Arabia. Relations deteriorated in 2018, when Riyadh expelled Canada’s ambassador after Chrystia Freeland, then minister of foreign affairs, called for the release of imprisoned political activists. Ottawa then imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. media later reported that the CIA believed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder.
A rekindling: Carney met with the Crown Prince, and the two have established a Canada-Saudi council meant to deepen co-operation in key sectors like defence and trade. Canada also expects to sign a foreign investment protection and promotion agreement with Saudi Arabia by the end of 2027.
The case for ties: Canada now has a clear interest in deepening its relations with Saudi Arabia, argues Thomas Juneau, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa. “Canada still has legitimate disagreements with Saudi Arabia, whether on human rights or a range of foreign policy issues,” he writes. “But in 2026, we simply cannot afford to focus on these differences.”
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A bullfight in Madrid’s famous Las Ventas bullring.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
Red flags for bullfighting
The debate over bullfighting in Spain – art form or act of cruelty – has intensified recently as lawmakers attempt to ban children from attending the events. Bullfighting aficionados have fiercely opposed the proposal, but animal-rights groups believe it’s only a matter of time before bullfighting comes to an end.
A long history: Bullfighting has been part of Spanish culture for centuries, but the country is rapidly becoming an outlier as other nations (and even a handful of regions in Spain) ban them. Polls show a majority of Spaniards would like to see the spectacles abolished.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Ottawa.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Another Ottawa fixer-upper
Stornoway, the historic home of Canada’s Official Opposition leader, needs better electrical wiring and other upgrades, but the commission in charge of official residences in Ottawa says it has no firm plan on how to proceed with the renovation.
First in line: Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper are helping raise money for the restoration of 24 Sussex Dr., which has fallen into such disrepair that no one has lived there for more than a decade. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized Ottawa’s plans to renovate the Prime Minister’s official residence, calling it a misplaced priority.
A truck driver on the lam
Days before a Brampton truck driver was due to be sentenced for smuggling $7.5-million worth of drugs into Canada from the U.S., he allegedly cut off his GPS ankle monitor and is believed to have fled the country, according to police and the Crown lawyer who handled the case.
A loophole: Charanpreet Singh, the driver, had posted $65,000 bail, but given the severity of his crimes, the Crown lawyer wanted it revoked. New bail laws would have let the judge do that – but those laws don’t come into effect until later this month.
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Kawhi Leonard at Kyle Lowry’s retirement press conference in Toronto on Tuesday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Raptors hit pause on Kawhi
The Toronto Raptors have put their proposed trade for Kawhi Leonard on hold, after the NBA said the team would assume the risk of any outcome from an investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers.
The details: The NBA opened an investigation in September after Leonard was alleged to have signed a US$28-million “nSao-show” endorsement deal with Aspiration, an environmental financial technology company. The deal required no work from Leonard other than staying with the Clippers, whom he joined in 2019. Aspiration’s co-founder was later charged with fraud and the company entered bankruptcy, though Leonard has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Programming note
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The Take
Children are not simply using technology – they are growing up inside it.
— Nikki Martyn, child development scholar, educator and author
The important question isn’t how much screen time is too much, Nikki Martyn writes – it’s whether kids can develop skills to live well with technology.
The Shot
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Tynomi Banks, one of Toronto’s best-known drag performers, spends up to $25,000 a year maintaining his drag persona.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
Drag has never been cheap, but performers say U.S. tariffs, rising costs and higher audience expectations have made the financial equation harder to pull off.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Extradition proceedings began this week for three B.C. men arrested in a joint U.S.-Canada transnational gang investigation.
Abroad: Iran and the U.S. exchanged fire, threatening an interim ceasefire deal, while Iranians ended a week of mourning for former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Politics: Eddie Goldenberg, an influential Chrétien-era aide, died at 77 after a battle with cancer.
Good goal: Kylian Mbappé helped propel France to the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Morocco.
Bad robot: AI models reflect a world where women are paid less than men – and their advice may as well, author Janine Rogan argues.
Nuts: More than 800 pounds of peanut butter have been spread across the floor of a Dutch museum in a tribute to artist Wim T. Schippers.