World Headlines: What young voters are watching as election day approaches

First Up

By Manuela Vega

Good morning. Here’s the latest on young voters’ priorities ahead of the Ontario election, Canada’s major banks’ response to signs of money laundering, and a Brampton-based artist killed in India.

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The Hamilton Spectator

ontario election

For Ontario’s young, undecided voters, action on mental health is top of mind

With the provincial election on Thursday, some young people in swing ridings say mental health policy could be a deciding factor in their vote. The issue has emerged in focus groups held by the nonpartisan group Future Majority, which encourages millennials and Gen Zs to vote. Speaking on wait times for mental health services, affordability and the climate crisis, here’s what four young undecided voters want to see from the government.

By the numbers: Mental illness and substance use account for 11 to 15 per cent of Ontario’s disease burden, according to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, but mental health spending makes up just seven per cent of Ontario’s overall health budget.
More: All four major political parties have promised to advance mental health care, with some aiming to bolster funding, bring mental health services under OHIP or make care more comprehensive.
ICYMI: Here’s why more than half of Ontario’s young students say they feel depressed about the future.

Richard Lautens/The Star

star investigation

Canada’s major banks failed to flag millions of dollars in suspicious wire transfers

Showing telltale signs of money laundering, businessman Runkai Chen moved tens of millions of dollars through hundreds of wire transfers into accounts at several Canadian banks. So why did the biggest players — RBC, CIBC, TD and BMO — accept the money without sounding the alarm? “It just shows that the system is broken,” said VersaBank’s chief anti-money laundering officer. The Toronto Star and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project examined the Chen case, probing the due diligence of Canadian banks to detect and report money laundering. Here’s what the investigation revealed as illicit foreign funds enter Canada’s overheated real estate markets.

Go deeper: A report from the Vancouver arm of Switzerland’s UBS bank calls Chen’s high volume of transactions in a short time a sign of a money laundering technique called “layering,” in which “complex layers of financial transactions are used to obscure the source of the ownership of funds.”
ICYMI: A B.C. commission probing money laundering has been honing in on the Chinese businessman’s wealth and its movement to Vancouver.

Burak Cingi/Redferns

crime

Brampton-based singer Sidhu Moose Wala shot dead in India

The singer/rapper who rose to fame after arriving in Brampton from India as an international student was killed on Sunday in the Mansa district of Punjab, reports say. “Unidentified assailants” shot 30 rounds, and injured two others, just a day after the Punjab government withdrew Moose Wala’s security personnel. His music had reached the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 charts and led him on an international tour that included a stop in a 5,000-seat arena in Mississauga. Here’s what we know about long-standing concerns for his security at shows.

Context: The Punjab government withdrew Wala's personal security detail the day before he was gunned down.
More: On twitter, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann stated he was “Shocked and Deeply saddened by the gruesome murder … Nobody involved will be spared. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his fans across the world. I appeal everyone to stay calm.”

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WHAT ELSE

London North Centre is a battleground like few others in Thursday’s election.

Could Doug Ford’s cottage riding go Green? Pollsters say “the stars are aligning.”

An underdog and still an unknown: Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca tries to make tracks on the campaign trail.

“They’re going to have blood on their hands.” Liberals are being urged to support a bill to decriminalize drugs.

“There’s no climax. There’s no end.” Here’s why we’re already suffering pandemic amnesia.

More Ontarians are moving to Quebec, where housing can be half the price.

Is Quebec about to push Canada into another language war? Here are five things you need to know.

Bike lanes in car-loving Berlin show change can happen where there’s political will. Here’s what Toronto needs to do.

Trump’s backing doesn’t get you the win, but Trumpism does.

Finland defeated Canada in overtime 4-3 to win the World Hockey Championship.

Here’s how Scarborough’s Leonard Miller became this year’s most intriguing NBA draft prospect.

Rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins has died at 87.

GET THIS

Cameron Tulk/The Star

Who is poised to win the Ontario election on June 2? Here’s what the polls are saying.

CLOSE-UP

Fernando Vergara/AP Photo

COLOMBIA: Sen. Gustavo Petro and his running mate Francia Marquez stand before supporters on election night in the capital city of Bogotá. In a dramatic shift for Colombian politics, voters have chosen a leftist candidate who was a member of a rebel group and an outsider populist businessman to advance to a runoff election in June. Leading the race Sunday with 40 per cent of votes, Petro could become Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader.

Thanks for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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