Expect a lot of DIY candy dispensers on Instagram this year Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Maybe a trick; hope it's a treat. Canada's top doctor, Theresa Tam, said parents and kids can salvage Halloween this year by enforcing social distancing with props, like somehow handing out candy with a hockey stick. (A better solution: a plumber in Toronto crafted a nifty candy chute along his front porch railing.) Tam's ultimate request, which is not at all unusual but nonetheless amusing right now, is for Canadians to keep themselves safe by incorporating a mask into their costumes. (To be clear, she probably means turning fabric into something like a ninja mask, but no doubt thousands of people will just throw a ghost sheet over their heads and call it a day.) The number is in: despite launch-day glitches, about 240,640 Canadians applied for the new Canada Recovery Benefit yesterday, the $500-per-week government program for people who don't qualify for Employment Insurance. The good old Canada Emergency Response Benefit of days past ended up paying more than $81 billion to 8.9 million people over several months. Now that CERB has been phased into EI, those who don't qualify for EI (the self-employed or people who haven't worked the requisite number of hours) can still get this new CRB. The government expects 890,000 people will register before the end of the year. The government is also calling in the Red Cross to help out some long-term care homes across the country, in an effort to prevent COVID's second wave from taking the lives of more Canadian seniors. The move is seen as a disappointing acknowledgement by the government that long-term care homes have not permanently improved enough in the seven months since the pandemic began. On CTV's Power Play, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc dodged questions about whether the feds will offer a simple bargain: more money to fund provincial health budgets in exchange for national standards of care. If the provinces had it their way, they'd get the money with no strings attached. Expect the subject to come up at a First Ministers' meeting on Thursday. In Alberta, the provincial health agency announced it's cutting 11,000 jobs over the next few years, mostly through attrition, in an effort to save $600 million per year. The office of Health Minister Tyler Shandro said the jobs would not affect frontline workers (because, I mean, how could they?), but rather mostly outsourced jobs in labs, food services and laundry, with decisions being based in part on a $2-million review conducted by Ernst & Young last December. While news has been a long time coming, the optics ain't great. Ford vs. Uber. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called out third-party food delivery services like Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes and DoorDash at a press conference yesterday. While not exactly attacking the companies, he made an earnest plea for the sake of independent restaurants: "Please consider reducing the commission rates you charge the restaurants impacted by these new health measures," he requested. "We can't have restaurants paying as much as 30 per cent commission to have their food delivered right now." It's a totally reasonable request that Uber Eats, for their part, will absolutely not do. A better solution: call the restaurant and order directly. To probe or not to probe? That's the question being parried back and forth between the Liberals and the Official Opposition on the summer's WE Charity affair. The Tories have been pushing hard to hold Justin Trudeau to account (and keep the scandal embers burning), yesterday calling for an anti-corruption committee to investigate. The NDP have also supported an investigation, which was cut short when Trudeau prorogued Parliament in August. For his part, the PM rebuffed the idea yesterday , saying his government is focused on COVID-19 and Canada's economic recovery instead. But it's unlikely the Tories will back down. A new poll of 1,500 Canadians by Maru/Blue says Trudeau's government is still enjoying majority support (59 per cent) for his direction of the country, but is in danger of overplaying his hand: 67 per cent of respondents believe the government has to start addressing the ballooning deficit. The same survey also found that 62 per cent disapproved of austerity as a solution. The U.S. election is exactly three weeks away. What are the odds that Donald Trump will win? About 19 per cent, according to Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada. Trump is trailing by several points in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—the three key Midwest states he won by less than one point in 2016—and virtually every poll has Joe Biden coming out on top. The first presidential debate has not had the desired effect for President Donald Trump according to the data made public since early October. His own COVID-19 infection and hospitalization did not bring about a “sympathy boost” in the polls as many had hypothesized last week. Quite the opposite, it appears Joe Biden has solidified his position as the favourite to win the Nov. 3 presidential election south of the border. Minister of Economic Development Mélanie Joly announced a new $7-million federal investment: an "innovation hub" in Ottawa called Area X.O, which will expand an autonomous vehicle testing facility that started up last year. The facility's equipped with a self-contained 5G network and drone command centre, which the founders hope will cultivate Canadian startups and develop new technologies that will lead to smart cities, defense tech and smart agriculture. Fellow investors include BlackBerry QNX and Microsoft. Behind the scenes. Ottawans are well aware of the renovations happening to Parliament Hill's Centre Block this year. For a glimpse at how contractors play fixer-upper to a 100-year-old seat of national government, the House of Commons Twitter account can scratch your itch. Turns out, rolling up ceiling canvas is delicate stuff. —Michael Fraiman | 