Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe.
In this issue, Robert Fife and Steven Chase dig into top-secret CSIS documents that reveal China’s effort to influence Canada’s 2021 federal election and its subsequent push to protect its network of “Canadian friends” from being caught up in the spy agency’s investigations. Fife says the story has been in the works for many months: “It takes time to build a relationship with whistleblowers who can trust us with sensitive information that the Canadian public should know about, especially since it involves the sanctity of the country’s elections.” Unlike the United States, Britain and Australia, Fife says, Canada has been less upfront with its citizens about China’s operations, keeping secret the extent of its foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections instead of shining a light on these activities so they “know exactly what to look for.”
Joe Friesen, meanwhile, explores the billion-dollar contract cheating industry and pores over the data on academic misconduct cases at Canadian universities. The height of the pandemic saw the rise of cheating incidents as students were forced to conduct most of their studies remotely and in isolation. His interest was prompted by one high-profile case in which more than 100 students at the University of British Columbia were accused of cheating on a midterm exam. “That’s just one anecdote, so you can’t really tell whether there’s something bigger,” Friesen says. Though data can often be hard to obtain in Canada, he says, universities’ efforts to track such incidents offered a window – albeit limited – into the scale of the issue.
And Marty Klinkenberg meets a hockey card collector who wants you to get familiar with every Black player who ever played in the NHL.
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CSIS documents show China warned ‘Canadian friends’ of foreign-interference investigations
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Classified documents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service reveal an effort by Chinese diplomats to warn “friendly” influential Canadians in early 2022 to reduce their contact with federal politicians to avoid being ensnared in the spy agency’s foreign-interference investigations. The documents obtained by The Globe’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase show how China sought to protect its network of “Canadian friends” – a community it relies on to build relations, influence and covertly gather information from MPs and senators. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in response to the story, says he expects the agency to find the source of the leaks, and stuck to his long-held view that Chinese interference operations did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Hired exam-takers, blackmail and the rise of contract cheating at Canadian universities
Illustration by sumnersgraphicsinc
A troubling trend is sweeping Canada. More students are cheating on their assignments and exams and more are getting caught. Incidences of cheating doubled across the country during the 2020-21 academic year. Some blame the pandemic, which forced more exams and other evaluations online. Joe Friesen reports on what’s causing the increase and what can be done to encourage academic honesty.
Quebec’s Lion Electric Co. transforming an industry by cranking out electric school buses
Lion C electric buses are assembled at the Lion Electric Plant, in Saint-Jerome, Que., on Jan. 27.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
Marc Bedard sees Lion Electric as a disrupter in an industry ripe for change. It’s on what it sees as a noble mission: help save the environment and bolster the health of our children by making the yellow bus go green. Whether Lion becomes king of the jungle or lunch for its competitor is, for now, less important, Nicolas Van Praet reports. The big challenge facing the Quebec-based company is how to get as many of its electric buses on the road as quickly as possible or risk losing the first-mover momentum he says is critical to success.
Opinion: We must urgently reinvent public transit for the post-pandemic world
Illustration for Andy Byford opinion pieceThe Globe and Mail
There may be no forcing the work-from-home genie back into the bottle. With transit ridership still below pre-pandemic levels, and unlikely to return to previous highs, turning to service reductions might seem like a necessary fix to financial shortfalls. But Andy Byford, former head of Toronto, London and New York’s transit authorities, argues not only are service cuts not the solution, such an approach sets off a “death spiral.” The entire business of moving people, he says, needs rebuilding.
Sandra Demontigny has become a vocal advocate for expanding the country’s assisted dying legislation since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.MATHIEU BELANGER/The Globe and Mail
For many Canadians, MAID’s main objective is to allow a person control over their fate, and relieve unbearable suffering. But in practice, Erin Anderssen reports, when a patient can’t confirm they want to die, that complicates the “assisted” part of an assisted death. The laws in Canada prioritize a patient’s voice: Patients say when their suffering has grown intolerable, and when their treatment is at an end. But what happens when a patient’s voice is silenced by the progression of a disease? In the Netherlands, where advance requests are allowed, making that final call for someone who can’t confirm their desire to have an assisted death is emotionally challenging for family members.
Norway sets out to show that, unlike oil and water, fossil fuels and clean energy can mix
Hilde Roed is the senior vice-president of climate and sustainability for Equinor, the state-owned company formerly known as Statoil.Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
Norway appears unbothered by the petrostate paradox it’s embraced. Espen Barth Eide, its climate minister, doesn’t see its mission to heal the climate to be at odds with its continued push to keep the taps flowing on oil and gas platforms that have made it rich. The seeming incompatibility of a petrostate espousing green goals is a familiar conundrum for Canada, as Ottawa tries to fulfil its promise of a “just transition” and faces resistance from Alberta.
One man’s lifelong goal to preserve Black excellence in the NHL
Dean Barnes has assembled a collection of approximately 100 cards of Black and biracial hockey players. A portion of his collection rests behind him.Duane Cole/The Globe and Mail
Dean Barnes is no ordinary collector. He’s spent the past three years assembling approximately 100 cards of Black and biracial players. His collection grew as it became a pandemic diversion, as well as from being unable to play in the Burlington Oldtimers League because of COVID-19 but also from social-justice issues that erupted in the United States. For Barnes, “each card is a piece of history” and represents a chance to “amplify the contributions” players have made.
Hawaii offers up a lesson in responsible, authentic tourism
Lahaina Restoration Foundation/Supplied
Hawaii has long suffered from overtourism, but the problem grew worse during the pandemic, when many tourists flocked the island, prompting the mayor of Maui to ask airlines to reduce the number of visitors. With tourism still an economic engine of Hawaii, the state’s tourism board has worked to create a program that makes it easier for travellers to figure out what it means to be a “responsible” visitor. On its surface, Maryam Siddiqi says, it’s classic voluntourism. But there are a number of experiences that put cultural stewardship at the centre.
25 books, movies, TV shows and more to get you through the last of winter
Illustration by Elijah White
For news junkies, the long-awaited return of Succession is sure to lift your spirits. What better way to beat the winter blues than to spend a few hours watching other people solve problems much worse than your own? For those who can’t escape to sunnier climes during February’s grey days, consider curling up with The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane. And for those who are in the mood for a heartbreaking but hilarious movie, don’t miss out on I Like Movies, a feature debut from a Canadian filmmaker.
Drawn from the Headlines
Illustration by Dawn Mockler