Evening Update: Canada promises Venezuela financial aid

Good evening,

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Canada announces $53-million in aid for Venezuela and refugees

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning Canada will contribute more than $50-million to support the Venezuelans, including the three million refugees who fled the humanitarian crisis in the South American country. He made the commitment at the 10th meeting of the Lima Group, a regional bloc tasked with finding a peaceful resolution to the Venezuelan crisis that’s being held in Ottawa this week. Globe reporter Michelle Zilio, based in Ottawa, reports that the Prime Minister said the bulk of the funding will go to “trusted” organizations on the ground in Venezuela and neighbouring countries to support them as they handle the influx of refugees. The funding will provide emergency food assistance, health-care, water, sanitation, education and protection services, with a focus on the needs of women and girls. It will also help monitor and report on the human rights situation in Venezuela.

Yesterday, Mr. Trudeau had his first phone call with Juan Guaido, 11 days after the opposition leader declared he was Venezuela’s legitimate interim leader. The United States, which is not a member of the 14-nation Lima Group, last week issued sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil firm PDVSA, in a move likely to cut revenues for a country hit by medicine shortages and malnutrition. In an interview yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not rule out using military force in Venezuela. Canada says it opposes military intervention.

Also, a column by Ken Frankel, president of the Canadian Council for the Americas, in which he argues the Venezuela crisis will be a true test of Canada’s leadership.

The Globe’s editorial board has weighed in on the Venezuela power struggle, coming out firmly behind the argument that disputed President Nicolas Maduro has got to go.

We have some background resources readers might find valuable following the Venezuela crisis. Our What we know so far is updated whenever there’s new news to add.

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Prosecutor describes gruesome details of Bruce McArthur’s crimes at sentencing hearing

Prosecutors in Toronto revealed new disturbing details about Bruce McArthur’s crimes and the failures of the police investigation on the first day of sentencing hearings for the 67-year-old landscaper who pleaded guilty last week to eight counts of first-degree murder. (There is a warning on the article because the story contains graphic details). The Globe’s Victoria Gibson was in the courtroom and reports prosecutors laid out the sequence leading up to Mr. McArthur’s arrest, including how a video of a 2004 Dodge Caravan proved to be the key tip that broke the case open, and how when police arrested Mr. McArthur they found a man tied up in his apartment, alive and unharmed. Monday afternoon, Friends and family of the eight men he killed − Skandaraj Navaratnam, Majeed Kayhan, Abdulbasir Faizi, Soroush Mahmudi, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, Dean Lisowick, Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman − began giving victim impact statements.

Employee fired after leak of Ford government’s health plan

An Ontario government employee has been fired and the Ontario Provincial Police have been notified after confidential documents about a provincial health-care overhaul were leaked to the NDP. The Globe’s Queen’s Park reporter Laura stone reports that an internal government memo from interim cabinet secretary Steven Davison says that, as a result of an investigation, “the employee responsible for this breach is no longer employed in the Ontario Public Service. The Ontario Provincial Police have also been notified.” Last week, the NDP leaked a draft government bill that has prompted critics to accuse the Progressive Conservative government of planning to create a two-tier health-care system.

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Lobsters and parkas: Huawei dispute does little to diminish Chinese lust for Brand Canada

In the midst of an ugly crisis between Beijing and Ottawa, Brand Canada is holding its own. Asia correspondent Nathan Vanderklippe, who’s based in Beijing, reports today that despite the Meng Wanzhou arrest and subsequent poisoned diplomatic relations, sales of such items as Canadian lobster or Canada Goose don’t seem to be negatively affected. In China, Brand Canada connotes a sense of reliability, cleanliness and authenticity, he reports. In its reputation, Canada is as an “all-around champion,” open, inclusive and friendly – less domineering than the United States, a place that is “more modern and fashionable,” according to an analysis in the Blue Book of Canada written by Liu Chao, a communications scholar at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

MARKET WATCH

The Canadian stock exchange joined the global stock surge today, rising 96.01 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 15,602.32. The S&P/TSX composite index closed at its highest level in four months on a big surge in cannabis stocks. Gains for technology and industrial shares fueled a rise on Wall Street, while the U.S. dollar gained for a third straight session against a basket of currencies and U.S. Treasury yields rose. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 175.48 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 25,239.37, the S&P 500 gained 18.34 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 2,724.87 and the Nasdaq Composite added 83.67 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 7,347.54.

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WHAT WE’RE ALSO WATCHING

• Worried about a potential Republican primary challenge, President Donald Trump’s campaign has launched a state-by-state effort to prevent an intraparty fight that could spill over into the general-election campaign. (The Associated Press)
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday offered a way to break the deadlock over the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, calling for a creative compromise to allay concerns over the future of Irish border arrangements. (Reuters)
• The federal government should consider dropping retaliatory tariffs against the United States, Ontario’s economic development minister said Monday, as he and his Quebec counterpart pressed Ottawa for action on American levies on steel and aluminum. (The Canadian Press)
• Five people died and two others were injured after a small plane apparently came apart, raining debris across a Southern California neighbourhood and igniting a house fire before landing in a backyard, authorities said Sunday. (The Associated Press)
• The CEO of Historica Canada, former Maclean’s editor in chief Anthony Wilson-Smith, says the organization is losing faithful donors after the Conservative Party released a partisan attack ad mimicking a Heritage Minute.

WHAT’S POPULAR WITH READERS

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In a Brantford Tim Hortons, the toll of the opioid crisis is in full view

Columnist Marcus Gee has reported on Canada’s opioid crisis several times over the past few months, writing from Barrie, Oshawa (twice) and now from Brantford, Ont., where he visited a local 24-hour Tim Hortons that has become opioid users' informal clubhouse, “a place to get out of the cold, chat with friends and buy and use drugs.” Over the course of seven hours on a recent Friday night, as temperatures dipped into the minus-20s, Marcus had an up-close look at the effect of the opioid crisis in Brantford, speaking with several patrons so that he could tell their stories.

TALKING POINTS

John Doyle’s Super Bowl: I’ve had afternoon naps that were more exciting

“Look, it wasn’t my idea to write about the Super Bowl. They asked me. They’ve been asking for years, so I finally mumbled ‘yes.’ The Super Bowl is like an infectious disease – there is a long, hard battle to defend against it, and no matter your resources, you can succumb.” – John Doyle

Trump’s trade war is now a global tech war

"[The United States] wants radical changes in Chinese economic policy, including an end to the subsidies and other devices Beijing is using to accelerate its technological progress – the program known as ‘Made in China 2025’. Last week in Washington, the Chinese offered to buy five million tonnes a day of soybeans from the United States. Mr. Lighthizer looked as if he’d just swallowed a bowlful. In any case, the trade war is no longer the war that matters. In the words of Ronnie Chan, the Hong Kong property developer and human dynamo: ‘Trade is insignificant … The bigger issue is technology.’” ― Niall Ferguson

Tilting at windmills won’t solve our health-care woes

“On Thursday, an Ontario panel examining the perennial Canadian problem of wait times released its interim report, but it was quickly overshadowed by the leak of draft legislation purportedly showing the province is preparing to throw open the doors to privatization. There, in a nutshell, is why nothing ever improves in Canadian health care: We’re so preoccupied with slaying mythical privatization beasts that we never get around to solving real problems.” ― André Picard

LIVING BETTER

How to recognize the early signs of degenerative cervical myelopathy

Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), which involves compression and injury to the spinal cord, can cause serious disability over time and is the leading cause of spinal cord impairment in adults. An estimated one in 10 people will eventually develop the condition, which is commonly diagnosed among patients over the age of 50. Globe health reporter Wency Leung outlines what DCM is, what the symptoms are and how doctors are treating patients with mild symptoms and more advanced symptoms.

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Why increasing your fibre intake can add years to your life

New research commissioned by the World Health Organization analyzed the impact of fibre intake on premature death and the risk of a diet-related diseases found high-fibre eaters have a 15- to 30-per-cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and cardiovascular-related death compared to people who eat much less fibre. The findings were published last month in the journal The Lancet. Nutritionist Leslie Beck offers some tips on how much fibre you need in your daily diet and how to get it. To top it off, she lists some breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes as well.

LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE

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In the dark: The cost of Canada’s data deficit

That line about known unknowns? Canada has those, too. We don’t have a clear national picture of the vaccination rate in particular towns and cities. We don’t know the Canadian marriage or divorce rate. We don’t know how much drug makers pay the Canadian doctors who are charged with prescribing their products. We don’t have detailed data on the level of lead in Canadian children’s blood. We don’t know the rate at which Canadian workers get injured. We don’t know the number of people who are evicted from their homes.

When it comes to basic data about its own citizens – from divorce rates to driving patterns to labour trends – Canada simply doesn’t have the answers. If information is power, this country has a big problem. Globe reporters Eric Andrew-Gee and Tavia Grant uncovered myriad data deficits, culled from dozens of interviews, research reports, government documents, international searches and feedback from our own newsroom. The months-long investigation has shown that Canada still has a long way to go. Here’s a list of what we found, which we’ll be adding to as the investigation continues.

Is there a data gap you want investigated? Let us know and we’ll investigate.

Evening Update is written by Michael Snider. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.