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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that Jody Wilson-Raybould lost her job as attorney-general and justice minister because Scott Brison’s departure from politics triggered a cabinet shuffle. “If Scott Brison had not stepped down from cabinet, Jody Wilson-Raybould would still be minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada,” Mr. Trudeau said today in Ottawa. As Steven Chase and Sean Silcoff report, he did not explain why it was necessary to move Ms. Wilson-Raybould into Veterans Affairs.
Yesterday, Anthony Housefather, the Liberal MP who will oversee hearings into the Wilson-Raybould affair, raised the possibility that she was removed from her high-profile roles because she doesn’t speak French.
Mr. Trudeau has faced questions for more than a week about his government’s handling of the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for fraud and bribery charges and The Globe’s report that members of the Prime Minister’s Office put pressure on Ms. Wilson-Raybould to override a decision of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada about whether SNC-Lavalin would face a trial.
Meanwhile, we reported this morning that SNC-Lavalin obtained at least $2-billion in loans from Export Development Canada over the past two decades, at least $800-million and as much as $1.7-billion of which was provided after news broke of an RCMP investigation into alleged corruption at the company in 2011.
This weekend the Report on Business looks at the future of SNC-Lavalin and finds that opinion is divided on whether the company should be rescued, broken up or simply cut loose some assets.
We have analysis and comment on various aspects of the story today:
- Margaret Wente says Justin Trudeau is in the middle of a perfect storm and the SNC/Wilson-Raybould scandal has made a mockery of the Prime Minister’s pledges of transparency.
- Omer Aziz, a former policy adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, suggests that after the SNC-Lavalin affair, we should strip the influence of political staffers.
- Konrad Yakabuski asks whether we should be trying to save SNC-Lavalin and suggests the answer pits Quebec against the rest of the country.
For all of the background and context you need to understand the myriad threads, read our explainer: SNC-Lavalin, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau’s PMO: The story so far. It lays out why SNC-Lavalin is facing prosecution, what happened to Ms. Wilson-Raybould and what the reaction has been so far.
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Father charged with first-degree murder of 11-year-old-daughter
Police in Peel Region have charged Roopesh Rajkumar with first-degree murder in the death of his 11-year-old daughter, Riya. He was arrested yesterday in Orillia, Ont. Police issued an Amber Alert on Thursday after Riya’s mother alleged Mr. Rajkumar had threatened to harm his daughter and himself. The pair was supposed to be celebrating Riya’s 11th birthday. Riya’s body was found in Mr. Rajkumar’s Brampton home.
Trump declares national emergency to build border wall
U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to declare a national emergency to fulfill his pledge to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bypassing Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought, Mr. Trump said he will use executive action to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall, the Associated Press reports. The move drew immediate bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill and is expected to face rounds of legal challenges.
Hydro One chair defends compensation plan after province rejects CEO pay proposal
Hydro One’s chairman Tom Woods says the company’s $2.5-million compensation package is needed to attract an experienced CEO and attract a top quality management team. Mr. Woods laid out the argument of the board, which was appointed by the Progressive Conservative government last summer, in a letter to Energy Minister Greg Rickford and posted on the company’s website. As Shawn McCarthy and Laura Stone report, Mr. Woods said that under the government’s proposed salary cap, which is considerably less than the proposed package, the directors could not do their duty to ensure Hydro One’s stability on behalf of all shareholders.
Sidewalk Labs wants cut of property taxes
The Alphabet Inc.-backed company Sidewalk Labs, which is looking to develop parts of the Port Lands in partnership with Waterfront Toronto, revealed yesterday that in exchange for funding a light-rail transit line along the waterfront, the organization hopes to receive some of the profits generated from development fees and property taxes typically funnelled toward the city. As The Canadian Press reports, the proposal is the latest in a string of controversial plans that Sidewalk has put forward, after months of facing criticism for not committing to strict enough data collection policies and not addressing questions around the ownership of intellectual property.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index posted a triple-digit gain Friday after oil hit a three-month high to extend the market’s winning streak to six weeks. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 142.26 points to 15,838.24.
Wall Street rallied on Friday, with the Dow and the Nasdaq posting their eighth consecutive weekly gains as investors grew hopeful that the United States and China would hammer out an agreement resolving their protracted trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 444.04 points, or 1.75 percent, to 25,883.43, the S&P 500 gained 29.86 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,775.59 and the Nasdaq Composite added 45.46 points, or 0.61 percent, to 7,472.41.
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WHAT’S POPULAR WITH READERS
Matt Kuchar plays his shot from the 13th tee during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Spyglass Hill Golf Course on Feb. 08, 2019 in Pebble Beach, Calif.Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Rich U.S. golfer Matt Kuchar’s true colours apparent in miserly tip to caddy
Globe Sports columnist Cathal Kelly goes off on Matt Kuchar. He writes about the 40-year-old American professional golfer who has earned some US$47-million in prize money over his career, not to mention product endorsements and advertising agreements. But it seems the two-decade pro-circuit veteran is a bit of a skinflint. When his normal caddie missed a recent tourney, at which Kuchar won top prize ($1.3-million), Kuchar apparently bucked convention and paid his stand-in caddie for the week’s work at a rate far lower than generally accepted. Kuchar paid David Ortiz (no, not the retired baseball player) $5,000 when traditionally, one-time bag men get a cut of the purse. For this one, it could have been anywhere between $25,000 and $50,000.
“What Kuchar has inadvertently revealed is his terminal disconnect from the lived reality of regular people," Cathal writes. "He actually thinks Joe Lunchbucket will hear his argument – ‘Sure, I made more than most of you will in a lifetime to swing a stick for four days, but, hey, a deal’s a deal.’ – and nod along with him.”
TALKING POINTS
Cinar Kiper, on why Lea Gabrielle is America’s new propaganda czar: “But past that initial chuckle, [of a former Fox News correspondent being hired to run the U.S. State Department’s bureau in charge of combatting misinformation] one veers off into questions about journalists’ reputations and just how easy it is to permanently stain our professional brands with that one controversial job or one questionable assignment. And how, as our industry becomes increasingly precarious and the people in it increasingly desperate, if we even have the luxury to cultivate our brands any more.” Cinar Kiper is a Turkish journalist based in Vancouver.
Doug Saunders on why Japan has discovered immigration: “While the Western world has been fighting about building walls, Japan and its East Asian neighbours have been opening their gates.”
Globe editorial: Pot’s finally legal, but market problems need to be weeded out: “And so, a short-sighted hunger for government revenue and a misguided effort to coddle consumers has put the legal cannabis market in the strange position of being low on product and customers alike.”
LIVING BETTER
istock
Keep your brood occupied with our Family Day fun and games package
Staring down a long weekend and wondering how to fill the time? We’ve got a few ideas for you – from a multiple-choice quiz to a printable version of Snakes and Ladders that’s perfect prep for the Oscars. Grab some dice and some clever family members and friends to test your skills and your luck.
The Associated Press
A road story for the Trump era – Valeria Luiselli’s remarkable new novel
In Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli weaves a masterful tale that uses the deeply personal details of a dissolving family to illustrate a story of humanitarian crisis. Reviewer David Ebner writes: Luiselli’s construction of Lost Children Archive is masterful. She employs the tools of fiction – shifting points of view, shifting from the past to the present and back – and draws out a truth that a lot of non-fiction generally does not reach. But Luiselli does slip here and there. Several scenes feel pedantic. A few characters in cameos veer into caricature. And she loudly hammers away at her themes of echoes and ghosts and archiving – compilations of sounds, pictures, words and memory."
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Julia Burnham poses for a photograph in her home in Vancouver, B.C.Jackie Dives/The Globe and Mail
As more students seek mental-health care, they face long waits – or pay out of pocket – as universities struggle with demand
After nearly a decade of increases, the number of students using counselling services at University of British Columbia dropped sharply last year by more than 500 students and nearly a thousand sessions. On the surface, the drop may seem like a sign of relief. But it doesn’t mean the demand that’s plagued Canadian universities for years is now letting up. In fact, it marks a shift in how the Vancouver school, and many others across Canada, are trying to handle student mental health. Their new tactic is to send students outside of the university’s counselling centre, when the demand or complexities of a certain case are too much for them to handle. High demand for counselling is changing how Canadian campuses get students the help they need, but many feel they’re falling through the cracks.
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.