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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior aides were warned on at least two occasions that MPs should be cautious in their political dealings with former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan because of alleged ties to China’s consulate in Toronto, national-security sources say.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has a dossier on Chan that contains information on his activities in the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns and meetings with suspected Chinese intelligence operatives, according to the two security sources. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources, who risk prosecution under the Security of Information Act.
Chan, now deputy mayor of the city of Markham, told The Globe that he is a loyal Canadian and accused CSIS of character assassination, saying they never once interviewed him about his alleged involvement with the Chinese consulate.
Michael Chan, former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister, says CSIS never once interviewed him about his alleged involvement with the Chinese consulate.Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press
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U.S. shoots down flying object over Lake Huron as Canada works to recover wreckage in Yukon
The U.S. military shot down a mysterious flying object near the Canadian border over Lake Huron Sunday, the fourth time this month that fighter jets have scrambled to fire at aerial objects spotted in North American airspace.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the latest object, which was intercepted in American airspace by an F-16, was considered a threat in part because of “potential surveillance capabilities.” The object was linked to an earlier radar signal picked up over Montana, which passed close to sensitive military locations, according to the statement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told journalists a recovery team is headed into Yukon’s wilderness to retrieve and analyze the third airborne intruder that was brought down Saturday by a U.S. warplane over Canada’s north.
Israel on ‘brink of constitutional collapse,’ country’s President warns
Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to weaken judicial independence in Israel has brought the powerful Prime Minister into a deepening conflict with the country’s vaunted tech sector and with economic elites who warn he is courting democratic disaster.
In an unusual address Sunday night, President Isaac Herzog pleaded for a compromise plan that could modestly curb court powers to overturn legislation while preserving the judiciary’s independence.
Meanwhile, former Canadian Supreme Court judges signed a public statement urging Israel to rethink proposed legal changes – including a Canadian-style override clause that could nullify rulings of its top court.
John Tory’s departure leaves leadership vacuum at Toronto city hall
Now that John Tory is on his way out after admitting he had a months-long affair with a former staffer, the battle lines are being drawn over whether his budget should be honoured.
Tory’s exit as Toronto mayor has opened up a leadership vacuum atop Canada’s biggest city. A long list of possible mayoral candidates are weighing their options on replacing Tory in a coming by-election.
Read more:
- Marcus Gee: John Tory’s exit is a sad departure, but a big opportunity for Toronto
- John Tory’s resignation prompts debate over city’s future
- Toronto Mayor John Tory is stepping down. What happens next?
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Also on our radar
Turkey starts legal action against builders: So far, 131 suspects have been identified as responsible for the collapse of some of the thousands of buildings flattened in the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake, said Vice-President Fuat Oktay. Meanwhile, crews continue to rescue survivors a week after the earthquake.
Paxlovid still offers protection against hospital admission, study says: Even as the Omicron variant became the dominant strain, the anti-viral drug continued to help prevent high-risk COVID-19 patients from being admitted to hospital.
Rental fraud grows amid rise in fake, falsified tenant applications: Criminal groups are increasingly using fake tenant applications to commit real estate fraud, at a time when a growing number of prospective renters are also falsifying information to gain an edge in a hyper-competitive market.
Laith Marouf barred from re-entering Canada in 2009: The anti-racism consultant at the centre of a scandal over a series of tweets about “Jewish White Supremacists” was denied entry on his way back from Syria and interviewed by a Canadian intelligence official at the embassy in Damascus.
Morning markets
World markets steady: Global shares steadied, while the U.S. dollar rose on Monday, ahead of U.S. inflation data that could define the outlook for global interest rates, while news that the U.S. air force had shot down another airborne object created some geopolitical uncertainty. Just after 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.26 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.17 per cent and 0.48 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.88 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.12 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was down at 74.83 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Ottawa’s new health funding is tied to better data. What will that really mean?
“We then need to follow samples of individuals over time, to track which mode of primary care organization has patients with fewer illnesses, fewer hospitalizations and longer lives. It is only with these kinds of longitudinal, person-level data that we’ll be able to produce evidence on which we can base valid indicators of health outcomes, and connect them to jurisdictions’ current and evolving ways of providing primary care to their residents.” Michael Wolfson and David Castle
These practical ideas can help reinvigorate Canada’s public sector
“To improve the way the public sector works, governments should always invest in ways to bring in fresher and more objective perspectives and advice, challenge incrementalism and orthodoxy and help the public service craft implementable options for governments to consider. We don’t do as much of this in Canada as other countries do, and far less than we did in the past. Canada has allowed its supply chain of idea generation and debate about its public sector to erode to a pitiful state and has become more dependent on consulting firms for outside perspective.” - Michael Wernick
Today’s editorial cartoon
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
Living better
The top 10 most romantic getaways in Canada
From Trout Point Lodge, N.S., which is tucked away in the heart of the Tobeatic Wilderness, to Parc Omega, a 2,200-acre park in Quebec where you can sleep with the wolves, Gayle Macdonald reports on destinations to fall head over heels for.
Moment in time: Tonya Williams crowned Miss Black Ontario
Claudio Lewis
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 looking at pageants.
Beauty contests have historically been shallow, anti-Semitic, sexist and, especially, racist. In the 1930s, there was a written rule in the Miss America pageant that contestants had to be “of the white race.” There was no diversity, no inclusion. In 1968, African-Americans held a Miss Black America event and showed mainstream audiences that indeed, Black is beautiful and no ancient Eurocentric ideal of beauty could ever diminish that. In 1977, with the realization that the inherent racism in pageants was still alive in Canada, a contest was held at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel to crown Miss Black Ontario. The winner is pictured above – the former Miss Oshawa, 18-year-old Tonya Williams. She hardly needed the event to jumpstart her career. The accomplished actor starred in many Canadian productions, including Polka Dot Door, and enjoyed critical acclaim on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. It wasn’t until 1984 that there was a Black winner of the Miss America pageant, Vanessa Williams. Philip King
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