Morning Update: B.C. Senator Yuen Pau Woo challenges reports suggesting China targeted MPs

Good morning,

A B.C. senator is casting doubt on the findings of two federal election-monitoring reports that suggest the Chinese government in 2021 may have targeted then-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and former fellow MP Kenny Chiu through disinformation campaigns.

Yuen Pau Woo raised his concerns in a Feb. 6 submission to the foreign interference commission headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue that is preparing for hearings in March. The commission is probing meddling primarily by China in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

The two documents in question, written by the federal government’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, were released in partly redacted form during preliminary hearings in early February.

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RCMP say three children, two women dead in Manitoba, suspect in custody

The RCMP have extended condolences to families and friends of the victims as they investigate the deaths of three children and two women in southern Manitoba, in separate but connected circumstances.

Inspector Tim Arseneault says a 29-year-old man is in custody and it’s believed he knew all the victims, adding that there is no risk to public safety. Arseneault says the five bodies were found at three locations.

Police came across the first scene at around 7:30 a.m., when the body of a woman was found in a ditch on the side of Highway 3, outside the town of Carman. At 10 a.m. police say a witness pulled the bodies of three children from a burning car found on Highway 248. And a short time later, Arseneault says police found the body of another woman inside a home in Carman.

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Trump’s threat to ‘encourage’ Russian attacks on NATO allies that don’t pay enough sparks concern

An assertion made by former U.S. president Donald Trump that he once threatened to “encourage” Russia to invade U.S. allies that fail to pay their share of NATO costs is sending alarm through the alliance as leaders grapple with the rising possibility of the Republican candidate’s return to the White House.

The threat lands as Ukraine warns it is running out of money and weapons to hold back Moscow’s invasion and President Joe Biden’s effort to send more aid remains stuck in Congress.

At a campaign rally on Saturday evening in South Carolina, Trump recounted a conversation with the president of an unnamed “big country.” The other leader, Mr. Trump said, asked whether the U.S. would protect his country from a Russian attack if the country missed its targets on NATO spending.

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Scientists probe high and low in rare study of winter air pollution

Scientists at Environment Canada are heading up the CN Tower, and going to other locations, to get their most comprehensive look yet at urban air pollution in the dead of winter and the implications for human health.

The project, dubbed SWAPIT, for Study of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto, focuses on Canada’s largest city. The results, however, are meant to inform cold-weather pollution in urban centres across the country and at similar latitudes elsewhere.

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Also on our radar

Kansas City wins second straight Super Bowl, this one in overtime: Patrick Mahomes did it again. Kansas City’s superstar quarterback rallied his team to a 25-22 come-from-behind Super Bowl victory in overtime over the San Francisco 49ers.

Opinion: The Super Bowl itself isn’t special. What sets it apart is the pre-show, which has no parallel - Cathal Kelly

Telecom companies push back on CRTC moves to open access to networks: Canada’s telecom regulator took steps to open more of the country’s broadband infrastructure to wholesale-based competitors. Now, network operators are pushing back.

What does restoring affordable home ownership actually mean? One economist crunches the numbers: There’s no universal definition of affordability, but chief economist at credit union hub Alberta Central, Charles St-Arnaud, looked at a handful of measures, including house prices relative to income, mortgage payments relative to income and required income to afford the average home. He compared the current numbers with the historical average since 1980, city by city.

Couche-Tard CEO made almost $132-million from stock options over past year: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. chief executive officer Brian Hannasch earned an estimated profit of almost $132-million by selling $172-million worth of shares in the company over the past 11 months, reaping the rewards of steering the convenience store company through a decade of stock-market success.

CPA Canada cuts staff in advance of Ontario, Quebec exit: Canada’s national accounting organization has laid off a fifth of its employees in advance of the pullout of all its Ontario and Quebec members, as part of an industry split.

Canada’s Nick Taylor wins Phoenix Open on second playoff hole: Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor made an 11-foot birdie putt to beat Charley Hoffman on the second hole of a playoff after birdieing three of the last four holes in regulation yesterday, capping another wild week at the Phoenix Open with his second memorable victory.

Morning markets

Markets await U.S. inflation data: European stocks opened higher on Monday and world stocks were steady at their highest in more than two years, as investors waited for U.S. inflation data due this week. Just before 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.13 per cent. Germany’s DAX was up 0.44 per cent while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.47 per cent. Markets in Japan, Hong Kong and China were closed. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was lower at 74.25 US cents.

What everyone’s talking about

As the federal government dithers, Canada’s technology sector languishes

“While it is understandable that a strategy to stimulate R&D spending as the COVID-19 pandemic receded would not be easy, no one expected such a complete halt. Telling an exhausted, pandemic-drained, financially strapped and talent-starved Canadian technology community to sit back and wait three years to ‘possibly’ receive support from the new innovation agency is effectively flashing a big sign saying: ‘You are on your own.’ ” – Adam Froman and David A. Wolfe

Governments can ease the cost-of-living crisis – they just don’t want to

“When government policies result in higher prices or product shortages, politicians often attribute the prevailing conditions to a market failure. However, these are policy failures, unintended consequences inhibiting the market from functioning as it should.” – Jerome Gessaroli

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

Escape to Martinique, where stunning beaches and lush rainforests await

Martinique is the kind of Caribbean island where you can spend the morning wandering through lush forests bursting with a rainbow of native flowers and plants, and while away the afternoon sunning on a stunning nearby beach, relaxing in warm, sapphire water. But it’s the undeveloped rawness of the island that captured Emma Graney’s heart. Growing up in Queensland, Australia, she is well-versed in tropical paradise; in fact, she openly admits to being an Aussie beach snob. But Martinique, she writes, blew her away.

Moment in time: June 2, 1954

Fergie (Ferguson) Jenkins, first Canadian to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

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For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re remembering the accomplishments of Black Canadians in different fields.

Baseball prowess ran in the family of Ferguson Arthur Jenkins Jr.: His father had been an outfielder with the Chatham Coloured All-Stars, a barnstorming semi-pro club in the years before the American pro leagues desegregated. And Jr.’s achievements were extraordinary: Nineteen seasons pitching in Major League Baseball; six 20-win seasons in a row, seven altogether, including one astonishing 25-win year; Cy Young Award-winner; three-time All-Star on a notoriously sad-sack Chicago Cubs team. In 1991, when Jenkins was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., the first Canadian to be so honoured, he paid tribute to his home country. Then he acknowledged his dad sitting in the front row, and noted the barriers he’d faced. “On this day, I’m not only being inducted alone,” he said. “I’m being inducted with my father.” Simon Houpt.

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