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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Michael Wernick, the Clerk of the Privy Council, told the House of Commons justice committee today that he believes former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould will raise concerns about three conversations between senior government officials and her and her staff on the possibility of granting a deferred prosecution to SNC-Lavalin when she speaks with the committee next week.
“The first is the meeting with the Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau],” he said. “The second is a conversation between the prime minister’s office staff and her former chief of staff ... on Dec 18. And the third is a conversation that I had with her in the afternoon of Dec. 19,” he said.
As Robert Fife and Steven Chase report, Mr. Wernick was speaking on the first day of hearings by the justice committee as it began an inquiry into allegations first reported in The Globe Feb. 7 that Ms. Wilson-Raybould was improperly pressured by the Prime Minister’s Office to cut a deal with the Montreal engineering giant.
Justice Minister David Lametti also spoke to the justice committee and said it would have been appropriate for the PMO to discuss with Ms. Wilson-Raybould the option of intervening to prevent criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
Here’s the view from our opinion section:
John Ibbitson on how Mr. Trudeau becomes focus as the Liberals’ hopes of containing SNC-Lavalin scandal fail: “We are at that stage in this scandal – for this is now certifiably a scandal – when the story seems to get worse for the government every day.”
Jen Gerson on why the Liberals’ curiouser and curiouser efforts won’t make the SNC-Lavalin affair go away: “We are just two weeks into the SNC-Lavalin affair, and already this scandal has exhausted a country’s goodwill, its credulity – and its store of metaphors for political ritual-suicide and murder.”
For all of the background and context you need to understand the myriad threads in this evolving story, read our two explainers: What is the PMO, who works there and what does it do? and SNC-Lavalin, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau’s PMO: The story so far. They lay out why SNC-Lavalin is facing prosecution, what happened to Ms. Wilson-Raybould, and how the PMO was involved and what the reaction has been so far.
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Ontario caps compensation for Hydro One chief at $1.5-million
The Ontario government has decided to impose a limit on compensation for the chief executive officer of Hydro One, ordering the board to offer no more than $1.5-million in salary and bonuses. Last week, the Hydro One board sent Energy Minister Greg Rickford a proposal that included a CEO compensation cap of more than $2.75-million, which was rejected. As Shawn McCarthy and Laura Stone report, Mr. Rickford said cabinet has passed a directive that covers not only the CEO salary but also reduces compensation paid to board members and the senior executive team at the company.
Actor Jussie Smollett staged Chicago attack to ‘promote his career,’ unhappy about salary on the show Empire
Empire actor Jussie Smollett turned himself into Chicago police to face accusations that he filed a false police report when he told authorities he was attacked on Jan. 29 by two men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs and looped a rope around his neck. Chicago police accuse the actor of staging the attack because he was unhappy about his salary and wanted to promote his career. After three weeks of mounting suspicions, Mr. Smollett was charged yesterday with felony disorder conduct, something that could put him in jail for up to three years.
Huawei chair says company committed to Canadian investment, despite CFO Meng Wanzhou’s arrest
Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said today that the company is committed to increasing investment in Canada despite the arrest last December of Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the United States. Huawei plans to increase Canadian research and development investment by 15 per cent this year and add 200 R&D jobs. How those plans might be affected if Canada bans Huawei from supplying equipment for future 5G networks is not known. Mr. Liang said that he hoped any decision would be based on the merits of the company’s technology rather than other factors. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned today that the United States would not be able to share intelligence information with countries that adopt Huawei systems, citing security concerns.
Top NBA prospect Zion Williamson injures knee when Nike basketball shoe blows out
In one of the most anticipated U.S. college basketball games of the year, superstar Zion Williamson of Duke University was knocked out of the game against arch-rival North Carolina when his Nike running shoe seemingly exploded. Mr. Williamson, a freshman and Atlantic Coast Conference’s second-highest scorer, sprained his knee mildly in the incident. North Carolina Tar Heels went on to beat the Duke Blue Devils 88-72. Meanwhile Nike, which has had an exclusive deal with Duke as its supplier of uniforms, shoes and apparel since 1992, saw the company’s stock drop at the open.
WHAT ELSE IS ON OUR RADAR
- President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, will be sentenced for bank and tax fraud on March 8, according to a court filing posted today, just days before he is set to be sentenced in a separate case for lobbying violations. (Reuters)
- An inferno claimed at least 110 lives in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Bangladesh, a country where hundreds have died in recent years in fires that tore through crowded, unsafe structures, and where a promised crackdown on building violations has fallen short. (The New York Times)
- Britain and the European Union played down the chances of clinching an immediate Brexit divorce deal but diplomats said they were edging closer to a legal compromise that Prime Minister Theresa May hopes will win over the British Parliament. (Reuters)
- The board of Toronto’s beleaguered community housing authority has shown the organization’s CEO Kathy Milsom the door, after an investigation found she oversaw the “flawed” signing of a $1.3-million management consultant’s contract. (The Globe and Mail)
- The BC Centre on Substance Use is proposing a policy to sell legally regulated heroin as part of an urgent response to reduce opioid overdose deaths from a toxic drug supply that is profiting organized crime groups. (The Canadian Press)
MARKET WATCH
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was unofficially down 30.38 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 16,000.86. The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, shed 0.6 per cent as gold future. The energy sector sat 0.9 per cent lower as crude oil prices were slightly lower. Vermilion Energy Inc. lost 2.5 per cent, while Husky Energy Inc. dipped 2.1 per cent.
Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday due to a deteriorating economic outlook that was only partially offset by signs of trade progress between China and the United States, while gold and oil prices retreated from their recent peaks.
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WHAT’S POPULAR WITH READERS
Alexander Wells/The Globe and Mail
WestJet is in trouble. Is becoming more like Air Canada the fix?
Born as a scrappy discount upstart, WestJet has suffered through internal upheavals and badly lagged Air Canada in recent years. But now the airline is adding big new planes, a business class with lie-flat seats, an ultra-low-cost subsidiary and much more. Is any of it going to work? Report on Business Magazine takes a long, critical look at the 23-year-old airline and wonders if WestJet’s strategy means it will risk losing what made it unique.
TALKING POINTS
Denise Balkissoon on why Trudeau’s troubles don’t erase the problems with Scheer: “The election slate at this point is dismal. Mr. Trudeau’s reputation is besmirched, Mr. Bernier is unacceptable and Jagmeet Singh still doesn’t even have a seat. That doesn’t automatically make Mr. Scheer a good choice, particularly for Canadians who want a leader guaranteed not to steer them off a rightward cliff.”
David Parkinson on why looking to the number of pundits talking about a recession may be a reliable indicator of a pending recession: “Merely saying the word ‘recession’ hardly means one is imminent; indeed, many commentators are kicking the word around expressly to dismiss it. But the mere fact that this is a topic of debate, even to argue in opposition, is evidence of the growing fears.”
Robert Ragotte on how mandatory vaccination is a pragmatic solution to a growing problem: “Herd immunity, the term used to describe the protection conferred on the whole population when most are vaccinated, requires that everyone who is able to be vaccinated does so. It is herd immunity that protects those who are unable to get vaccinated, but will not work if overall vaccine coverage continues to decline. Vaccination, like paying taxes, is a civic duty; it is part of the social contract. Opting out for personal beliefs should not be an option.”
LIVING BETTER
The beginner’s guide to beauty subscription boxes
Once upon a time, the only way to discover new beauty products was by testing them in a department store. Today, there are subscription boxes, sometimes seasonal, sometimes monthly mail-delivered packages that contain samples of beauty products. The subscription box trend has been growing in popularity since the advent of Birchbox’s sampler in 2010. Most subscription boxes provide some kind of cost savings for those looking to experiment with new products, writes Randi Bergman for The Globe’s Style section. Here we review five of the best subscription boxes.
Adam Driver and John David Washington in "BlacKkKlansman," a film directed by Spike Lee.DAVID LEE/The New York Times News Service
Oscars 2019: Who will win, and who should win
The finish line is finally in sight for this year’s bewildering Academy Awards race. From the artistic and ethical merits of the nominees to the consistent bungling of the ceremony’s producers, the 2019 Oscars narrative would be terribly sad were it not so hilariously emblematic of the current culture, writes Barry Hertz. With that in mind, here’s a last, best tally to ideally help your office pool, and a few last-minute Hail Marys, lest the movie gods are still listening.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Ms. Zhong said her 2016 arrest was a bewildering experience.Darren Calabrese
How a PEI motel became the centre of a fraud crackdown – and the province’s immigration record was thrust into the spotlight
Federal border security investigators believed that they had uncovered the biggest immigration fraud scheme in PEI’s history in February, 2016. More than 500 immigrants who applied for permanent residency had used street addresses that traced to Ping Zhong and her hotel on their government immigration forms. The reason for doing so was to create “the illusion they are living in Canada” while actually living elsewhere, according to allegations. Ms. Zhong and her brother were accused of being major players in a fraudulent scheme to skirt residency rules in the province. Now, the Premier says the case ‘probably should have been thrown out.’ The Globe’s Atlantic bureau chief Jessica Leeder explains what happened.
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.