The Liberals are up in the polls but the public is betting on the Conservatives
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Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson talks to reporter Christopher Nardi about why bettors might be putting money on the Conservative party, despite national polls showing the party several points behind the Liberals.
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A recent Postmedia-Leger poll last week found that the Liberals are hanging onto the lead in the federal election with 43 per cent of support nationally, five points ahead of the Conservatives who are at 38 per cent support.
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But the sports betting site FanDuel, which carries odds for political events, says that 70 per cent of the bets placed on the winner of the federal election are on the Conservative party, with only 28 per cent of bettors wagering on the Liberals. The company says that more than 80 per cent of the bets on the Conservatives were placed after March 25, when the election was underway and the Liberals were pulling away as favourites.
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Toronto Sun
11 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
GUNTER: Schools have a duty to remove, or strictly control, sexually graphic content in books
Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta's Minister of Education and Childcare speaks at a media conference in Calgary on Monday May 26, 2025. The government is ensuring age-appropriate books in school libraries. Alberta's government is conducting a public engagement to collect feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries. Photo by Dean Pilling / Postmedia Should library books with graphic content (words or pictures) be banned from school libraries, as the government of Alberta is considering? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The simple answer is 'Yes.' I would vigorously defend the right of public libraries to lend graphic content to patrons — with proper age restrictions, of course. Freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and overall freedom are more important than some people's desire not to be offended. Or worse yet, their desire to make sure books they find objectionable are banned, so no other adults may make up their own minds what is and isn't appropriate for themselves. We have no duty or right to protect other grown-ups from their own decisions and choices. The right to make our own moral, ethical and ideological decisions has to absolute, or as near absolute as humanly possible. Once we reach adulthood. But schools aren't about the public. They are by their nature a sheltering environment for students, many of whom (especially those below the age of 16 or 18) shouldn't be exposed to or be expected to process the content of the graphic novels the Alberta government has asked a committee to consult with the public about. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The four in question are Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Blankets by Craig Thompson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Flamer by Mike Curato. Before you make up you mind about whether these are appropriate for school kids, check out their contents on the website set up by the Alberta government. ( I don't think this is a case of prudes or Christian fundamentalists trying to foist their morality on the rest of the province. In the past, I have fought battles against small minds who want good literature excluded from schools because it uses naughty words, racist names or literary depictions of same-sex relationships. By and large, I am only too willing to let educators and librarians make decisions about what's appropriate and what's not, as the Canadian School Libraries and the Young Alberta Book Society, have argued. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. I also have very little trouble with adults consuming adult content. I take the libertarian view, not the feminist or puritanical one. The opponents argue adult material is poisonous to personal intimacy, equality or morals. Yet so long as everyone involved in the production and consumption is a consenting adult, indulge your fantasies and fetishes as you see fit. Or don't indulge. As a grown-up, you have every right NOT to expose yourself to pornography. And I have no objection to parents who genuinely feel graphic novels such as those under consideration have a place as learning aids in their own homes. Share them and discuss them with your children, if you're sure they're ready. But school libraries are different since most of their users are underage. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Should there be different standards for high school libraries versus ones in elementary schools? Of course. But the duty to protect children from imagines they cannot process or understand should be paramount at each age level. The four books in question deal with some difficult and important themes, such as child sexual abuse in the home and teens grappling with their sexuality. As general topics, these are important for schools to address up to the abilities of their students to understand. But the four books currently being considered contain graphic depictions of oral sex, for instance, and what effectively amount to how-tos on masturbation. I can't imagine a scenario in which any of that is appropriate for teens and preteens with the official approval of the school. At the very least, devise a system where school libraries stock these volumes, but in order to access them, students must present a note from their parents. I know the gender activists will object to this. They will insist it is precisely become some parents object that their children should have access to 'progressive' materials. But that's propaganda perpetuated by people with an agenda, even if they are educational professionals. Olympics Sunshine Girls Columnists NHL Editorial Cartoons
Globe and Mail
12 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Analysts Love DraftKings Stock, But This New Tax Bill Could Send DKNG Shares Plunging
Valued at a market cap of roughly $17 billion, DraftKings (DKNG) operates as a digital sports entertainment and gaming company. It offers online sports betting, daily fantasy sports, iGaming products including casino games, and retail sportsbooks across the U.S. and internationally. The Boston-based company also develops gaming software for operators, and provides digital lottery services and media content. DKNG stock went public in 2019 and currently trades 55% below all-time highs. However, the stock has also gained over 150% in the last three years, driven by improving profit margins and steady revenue growth. DKNG stock fell 6% on Monday, June 2 following the approval of a budget in Illinois that imposes new wager taxes on the industry. According to a CNBC report, Illinois will implement a $0.25 tax per wager on the first 20 million online sports bets annually, rising to $0.50 thereafter. Truist analyst Barry Jonas called the duties a 'surprise,' noting it's the second consecutive year of unexpected state taxes on betting operators. Jonas expects DraftKings and FanDuel (FLUT) to surpass 20 million wagers, triggering the higher tax rate. Illinois will have among the highest rates nationally under the new plan. Wall Street has warned that other states may follow Illinois' lead in addressing budget deficits through sports betting taxes. CNBC explained that current statewide digital sports betting taxes range from 51% in New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island to 6.75% in Nevada and Iowa. Further, only 27 states, plus the District of Columbia, currently permit online sports betting statewide. Is DraftKings Stock a Good Buy Right Now? In Q1, DraftKings reported first-quarter revenue of $1.409 billion, a 20% year-over-year increase. Still, it revised full-year guidance downward due to unfavorable sports betting outcomes that offset strong underlying business fundamentals. Management revised 2025 revenue guidance to $6.3 billion at the midpoint from $6.45 billion, while adjusted EBITDA guidance dropped to $850 million from $950 million. The sports betting giant generated nearly $103 million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter while demonstrating continued strength in core operational metrics. CEO Jason Robins emphasized that core value drivers are outperforming expectations, with product enhancements driving higher structural hold rates and more efficient promotional deployment. The company's adjusted gross margin expanded by more than 100 basis points year-over-year to 45%, reflecting both hold percentages and promotional efficiency gains. Live betting emerged as a significant growth driver, exceeding 50% of the total handle for the first time in the company's history. Recent acquisitions, including Simplebet and Sports IQ, are contributing to enhanced live betting capabilities, with MLB live handle up 36% year-over-year in April. DraftKings completed the quarter with $1.1 billion in cash after repurchasing $140 million worth of shares. It expects to generate approximately $750 million in free cash flow for 2025, which will support its $1 billion share buyback authorization. What Is the Target Price for DKNG Stock? Analysts expect DraftKings' sales to increase from $4.77 billion in 2024 to $11.08 billion in 2029. Comparatively, adjusted earnings are forecast to expand from $0.24 per share to $3.82 per share in this period. DKNG stock trades at a forward price-earnings multiple of 22x, which is reasonable. If priced at 20x, the stock is expected to trade around $75 in June 2029, indicating upside potential of 127% from current levels. Out of the 30 analysts covering DKNG stock, 24 recommend 'Strong Buy,' three recommend 'Moderate Buy,' and three recommend 'Hold.' The average target price for DraftKings stock is $53.48, 60% above the current trading price.
Calgary Herald
14 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
History Rhymes: Guy Gavriel Kay's new novel begins with a poet protagonist and a royal murder
In Guy Gavriel Kay's new novel, Written on the Dark, there is a segment where the powerful but ruthless Duke de Barratin is leading a group of men through the countryside and stops to get a blessing from a cleric. Instead, the cleric chides the Duke for the chaos he is causing, which triggers the royal's nasty sense of entitlement. Article content In January, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde made headlines after she gave a sermon at the interfaith prayer service following Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration. She called on Trump to show compassion towards the marginalized groups that he was already intending to target and persecute. Article content Article content Trump and his followers went ballistic. Meanwhile, an American book reviewer whom Kay has known for years received an advance-reading copy of Written on the Dark the very next day. Article content Article content 'I said 'You know I wrote that a year-and-a-half, two years ago,'' says Kay, in a Zoom interview with Postmedia. 'It is an example of history not repeating but rhyming. I wasn't making any direct (reference.) I couldn't have been, I'm not prophetic in that way. I wasn't making any direct association with right now. But he said he didn't sleep that night, thinking about history and power and the people who push back against power. That effect, I love to achieve.' Article content Kay is a veteran novelist who uses reflections of historical backdrops for his fantasy fiction. The famous quote 'history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes' is one of his favourites. It guides his work. Article content Article content 'I like looking into history and finding things that evoke, associate with, trigger thoughts about the present without trying to pin anything down to specific repetitions,' he says. Article content Kay's 16th novel is set in a world meant to reflect a turbulent Medieval France, called Ferrieres in the book, during the Hundred Years War. His hero, Thierry Villar, is a tavern poet who becomes entangled in the dangerous power struggles among members of royalty after he is enlisted by the king's provost to help investigate the brutal murder of the Duke of Montereau, the king's brother and advisor. The country teeters towards civil war as the powers behind the assassination become clear. Article content So, yes, Written on the Dark begins with a tantalizing murder mystery, although it doesn't take long for the reader to learn who the culprit is. Kay says the early sparks of inspiration for the novel came from rereading Dutch historian Johan Huizinga's 1919 classic Autumntide of the Middle Ages, which had just been reissued as a handsome, illustrated coffee table book. It is about 14th- and 15th-century France and Burgundy, a time and place that Kay had not spent much time evoking in previous novels.
