Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
RCMP to move away from Wet’suwet’en territory, plus more blockade developments
The RCMP in British Columbia have agreed to move away from Wet’suwet’en territory in northern B.C. to a nearby location, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said today.
The announcement comes after the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs – who are opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project through their traditional lands – made that a condition before they would meet with federal and provincial ministers.
Some of the hereditary chiefs have travelled to Ontario to meet with representatives of the Mohawk Nation, who have erected blockades near Belleville in support of the Wet’suwet’en chiefs. That meeting is now expected to happen tomorrow.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced political pressure to provide more specifics on what his government is doing to address the issue and what he calls “unacceptable” disruptions, shutdowns and layoffs. He will be holding a conference call with the premiers this evening, his office said.
Meanwhile, Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay has deleted and replaced a tweet that praised the actions of “counter protesters” who tried to clear a blockade on CN tracks in Edmonton.
Context: Wet’suwet’en chiefs vs. RCMP: A guide to the dispute over B.C.’s Coastal GasLink pipeline
Opinion: “The only voices that matter in this dispute are the voices of those in the Wet’suwet’en Nation, where, we should remind people again, there is widespread support for this project, and the voices of Indigenous leaders elsewhere along the route of the pipeline.” - Gary Mason
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Canadian-developed drug shows dramatic outcomes in reducing stroke damage
A Canadian-developed drug has shown dramatic outcomes in curtailing the damage caused by strokes.
The results of the Phase III clinical trial, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, show that the medication, Nerinetide, reduces the mortality rate of stroke from 19 to 11 per cent, potentially saving the lives of eight out of 100 patients.
In Canada, every nine minutes someone has a stroke, this country’s third-leading cause of death.
Trump adviser Roger Stone sentenced to more than three years in prison
Roger Stone, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison, following an extraordinary move by Attorney-General William Barr to back off his Justice Department’s original sentencing recommendation.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that his crimes demanded a significant time behind bars, but that the seven to nine years originally recommended were excessive. He drew 40 months instead.
Stone was convicted in November on all seven counts of an indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign co-ordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
The latest on Canadians and the coronavirus
Healthy Canadians from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan are heading home, Ottawa says, after weeks under quarantine for COVID-19. They will land at CFB Trenton in the early hours of tomorrow.
Among the 634 passengers that having tested positive on the cruise ship so far, 47 are Canadians who will have to remain in Japan for treatment.
The first group of Canadian evacuees from Hubai province, where the virus originated, are set to be released tomorrow following two weeks of quarantine at CFB Trenton.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Far-right motives suspected in German shooting spree: In what German authorities are treating as an act of domestic terrorism, a 43-year-old man shot and killed nine people of foreign background, most of them Turkish, in an attack on a hookah bar and other sites in a Frankfurt suburb. He was later found dead at his home along with his mother.
China warns of further action against WSJ: China warned today that it might take more action against The Wall Street Journal, a day after revoking the press credentials of three of the U.S. newspaper’s correspondents over a column that China said was racist.
Supreme Court to hear appeal in Via Rail terror case: The Supreme Court of Canada will review a lower-court decision to grant a new trial to Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, who were found guilty in 2015 of terror-related charges arising from a plot to crash a Via Rail train.
Netanyahu’s East Jerusalem announcement: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is pushing ahead with the construction of 5,000 new Jewish homes in key areas of East Jerusalem, where critics counter that additional building could cut Palestinian residents off from the rest of the West Bank.
Ontario public school teachers strike tomorrow: Ontario’s public school teachers are planning a massive protest at the legislature tomorrow as they’re set to hold a joint, province-wide strike, leaving about two million students out of class. Meanwhile, bargaining continues today for English Catholic teachers and those in the French system.
Human brain found in package shipped from Toronto: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found a human brain, packed in a glass mason jar, in a Canada Post shipment sent from Toronto during a random inspection on Valentine’s Day.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index closed slightly higher today as investors weigh how bad the economic damage will be from the coronavirus outbreak as the number of cases rise outside of China. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index rose 18.70 points to 17,944.06, securing its fourth-straight session of gains.
The rally in U.S. equities took a pause and the U.S. dollar gained strength, rising to a three-year high against a basket of trading partner currencies, after a steep slide in the Japanese yen called into question its safe-haven status.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 128.05 points to 29,219.98, the S&P 500 lost 12.92 points to end at 3,373.23 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 66.22 points to 9,750.96.
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TALKING POINTS
Ottawa should be cautious in pushing debt-laden Canadians to buy electric vehicles
“Electric vehicle rebates are all well and good, but Ottawa must also make it clear that being in the red is no way for Canadians to go green.” - Rita Trichur
It’s time to ask the question – what if these Leafs just aren’t good enough?
“The Leafs have given up on paying their employees to do their jobs. They’re hoping the city shames them into working.” - Cathal Kelly
LIVING BETTER
If a trip to the movies is part of your weekend plans, first check out The Globe’s guide to this week’s new releases. They include a four-star review of Ordinary Love, a serviceable update of The Call of the Wild and more.
LONG READ FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Steve Vogelsang’s dark journey from broadcaster to bank robber: ‘I didn’t recognize how far gone I was,’ he says from prison
Steve Vogelsang at the Drumheller Penitentiary in Alberta. (Photo by Todd Korol for The Globe and Mail)Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
If there was a moment Steve Vogelsang realized his metamorphosis to “scumbag” was complete, it came just after 9 a.m. on July 8, 2017. That’s when he walked into a Royal Bank in a strip mall in northeastern Regina wearing a fake bomb duct-taped to his chest. He was 53 years old. It was his first heist. He was so freaked out that he fled without picking up the money.
In the 1990s, Vogelsang was one of Manitoba’s best-known broadcasters, covering sports for CTV’s suppertime news. The Saskatoon native went on to head the newsroom before leaving at 39 for Red River College, where he created one of the country’s top broadcasting programs. A number of Winnipeg reporters still privately credit their careers to him.
But by the time he was arrested in October, 2017, he was broke and living in his 12-year-old Ford F-150, his only remaining possession. Read Nancy MacDonald’s full story here.
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