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These are the top stories:
The Crown is set to end Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s breach-of-trust trial
Prosecutors are expected to drop the charge today, putting an end to the politically charged prosecution of the suspended second-in-command of the military. The Crown had alleged that Norman leaked government secrets in an attempt to influence cabinet’s decision on a $700-million shipbuilding contract.
The case has only been at the pretrial stage, with the trial expected to begin at the end of the summer, featuring potentially damaging evidence and testimony for the Liberal government just ahead of the federal election.
Norman’s defence team had been trying to obtain classified documents that they argued would exonerate their client. His lawyers also alleged political interference in the case, raising Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments – which he made before Norman was charged – that the case would end up in court.
Norman’s defence took aim at departing Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, saying he provided a “completely redacted” 60-page memo he wrote to Trudeau last fall about the breach-of-trust charge. Norman’s lawyers argued that the government’s claim of solicitor-client privilege on the documents was waived when Wernick discussed the Norman matter during his SNC-Lavalin testimony.
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China has repeatedly ignored Ottawa’s requests to talk during the ongoing diplomatic crisis
Five different Canadian federal ministers have requested conversations with Chinese officials since the December arrest of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, but China has ignored each one, four sources told The Globe.
China has also stonewalled requests to allow Canadian experts to inspect claims of contamination in canola exports, an allegation Beijing has used to ban shipments from Canadian companies.
Unable to reach Beijing directly, Ottawa has sought to deliver messages through intermediaries. Delegations from the European Union and elsewhere have voiced concern about the two Canadians detained in China following the arrest of Meng. But some of those foreign leaders have been told it’s a matter between Canada and China and none of their business, sources say.
Meanwhile, Tory Leader Andrew Scheer laid out his vision for Canadian foreign policy that was mostly Classic Conservative – with an anti-China twist, Campbell Clark writes: “Scheer wasn’t just advocating retaliation, but retrenchment: dealing with China warily, not currying favour in pursuit of trade.”
Bombardier inflated cost estimates to gain a $60-million payment, a South African inquiry was told
The chairman of state-owned Transnet said Bombardier and a Chinese rail supplier “inflated intentionally” their estimates of the costs of relocating their rail manufacturing plants. The two firms persuaded Transnet to give them lump-sum payments of US$60-million each, even though in reality there was no relocation, Popo Molefe testified as part of a public inquiry into state corruption. (for subscribers)
Bombardier’s US$1.2-billion deal with Transnet in 2014 was financed with a US$450-million loan from Export Development Canada, the federal export bank. EDC is investigating the transaction.
Canada’s refugee system isn’t equipped to deal with a surge in asylum seekers, the Auditor-General says
The wait time for a decision on a refugee claim rose to 24 months by the end of 2018, up from 16 months in 2017. And while the wait time declined to 21 months by mid-April, the number of claimants continues to grow, reaching 74,000 from 71,000 at the end of last year.
The report found Ottawa has struggled to keep up with the arrival of asylum seekers entering between official border points, thereby entitling them to a refugee-claim hearing. The Liberals are seeking to close that loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement in order to turn away more individuals.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the report is “unfortunately a snapshot in time” that doesn’t reflect new funding for immigration in the 2019 federal budget.
In Vancouver, luxury-car purchases are a key tool for money laundering
A new report reveals organized crime groups are using “straw buyers” to export vehicles from Vancouver to China while avoiding paying tens of millions of dollars in provincial sales tax. High-end car dealers reported seeing clients pay for cars using bags of cash filled with as much as $240,000. But the luxury market has no obligation to report suspicious transactions.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
SNC-Lavalin is considering breaking up the company before its criminal case goes to trial. With its stock sliding, executives told investors that SNC’s “Plan B” would involve spinning out some businesses in order to generate more revenue. The company’s stock has dropped 46 per cent since it announced in October that federal prosecutors would push ahead with bribery and fraud charges. (for subscribers)
Despite Pentagon threats, the U.S. government is again urging Canada to buy American fighter jets. Washington put out a statement affirming U.S. interest in the $26-billion contract a day after letters were published saying U.S. officials warned of pulling the Lockheed Martin F-35 from competition unless Canada dropped certain requirements.
Canada has agreed to pay to bring back garbage from the Philippines after the country’s President, Rodrigo Duterte, threatened to “declare war” if Ottawa didn’t act. But it’s not clear if Canada will meet Duterte’s May 15 deadline for removing the 69 containers that have been sitting in Philippine ports for years after it was discovered they were filled with trash and not plastics for recycling. (for subscribers)
One 18-year-old student was killed and seven others were injured in a Denver-area school shooting. Two male students entered the science and technology school and opened fire in two locations before being taken into custody.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks mixed
Global shares held near five-week lows on Wednesday as renewed trade tensions and fears for the global economy drove investors into the safety of bonds and the Japanese yen, with the latter rising to a six-week high against the U.S. dollar. Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 1.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.2 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite 1.1 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent by about 6:45 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX down marginally. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar was below 74.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Canada’s housing market – built on faulty assumptions – is falling down on affordability
Jennifer Keesmaat: “Over the past 20 years, Toronto and Vancouver – two of Canada’s three most populous cities – have built 400,000 homes between them. That’s an enviable number for any city in North America seeking to increase supply, a reliable tactic for relieving a housing crisis. But for its efforts, Toronto and Vancouver continue to top international rankings of unaffordable cities. That highlights a cold reality: We cannot build our way out of this affordability crisis.” Jennifer Keesmaat is the CEO of the Keesmaat Group and the former chief planner of Toronto.
On jobs, jobs, jobs, two cheers for Trump and Trudeau
Lawrence Martin: “The onslaught of automation was supposed to be killing jobs. The disappearance of manufacturing jobs was taking a heavy toll. Online shopping was supposed to devour retail employment. And the reality? Well, it’s so bleak you have to go back to the era of the Second World War to find much better job markets. Is there something to celebrate here? Should we be doing the unthinkable and giving political leaders, Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau included, a bit of credit?” (for subscribers)
Canada has a national unity crisis. We just don’t know it
Gary Mason: “Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has suggested that a failure to build more pipelines could incite a national unity crisis. Too late; there already is one. Although we may not realize it, the moment in which we find ourselves is beyond worrisome. We face a common enemy in climate change amid a hyperpartisan age that almost by definition means our political leaders can’t come together to find a common solution.” (for subscribers)
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Remembering L’Arche founder Jean Vanier, a man who transformed the lives of people with disabilities
(Ian Brown/The Globe and Mail)Ian Brown/The Globe and Mail
In this obituary, Ian Brown reflects on Vanier, who died at the age of 90: “In the laboratories of human transformation known as L’Arche houses, where residents live on equal footing and status with the assistants who help them, and where everyone sits down to at least one meal a day around a common table – a simple rite that defines the entire project – Vanier demonstrated that the able-bodied need the fragility of the intellectually disabled as much as, and probably more than, they need us.”
MOMENT IN TIME
Father of the roller coaster dies
Roller coasters on New York's Coney Island. (Alexander Alland Sr./Corbis via Getty Images)Alexander Alland, Jr./CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
May 8, 1919: By the time LaMarcus Adna Thompson died at the beginning of the 20th century, he’d built 50 roller coasters worldwide. When Mr. Thompson started out on the path to becoming a roller-coaster tycoon, he was a religious man who owned a hosiery company and blamed the “evils of society” on the “degrading nature” of taverns, brothels and gambling halls. His mission was to create an alternative that was “clean and wholesome." Then a leisure trip to Mauch Chunk, Pa., inspired a change in careers. There, he saw the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, which was initially designed to move coal, carting passengers through the mountains of Pennsylvania. Mr. Thompson sold his company, using the money to design and patent the “Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway.” Built on Coney Island in New York, the 600-foot (183-metre) wooden track was elevated 50 feet (15 m) in the air, and cost 5 cents to ride. With a maximum speed of 16 kilometres an hour, the ride was a novelty, faster than a horse and high above a train. Almost at once, the ride was a success, bringing in hundreds of dollars each day. While his competition built bigger, faster rides, Mr. Thompson developed the idea of a “scenic railway” – with images of faraway lands along the route. – Jessie Willms
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