Morning Update: Dalian received ArriveCan contract same day company president joined Defence Department

Good morning,

Dalian Enterprises, one of the companies hired by the federal government to work on its troubled ArriveCan app, was given a contract from the Defence Department the same day its founder started working at the department as a full-time public servant.

Dalian founder David Yeo told a parliamentary committee yesterday that he started leading an IT project team as an employee of the department on Sept. 19, and public records show his company received the service contract on the same day. He told the committee that, “in hindsight,” he should have fully separated himself from his company before commencing his public service job.

Auditor-General Karen Hogan’s recent report on ArriveCan said that Dalian had received $7.9-million to work on the app. Parliament’s review of the project’s $59.5-million price tag, and of the many contractors who worked on the app, has revealed details of the opaque world of procurement in the federal government.

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Fired Winnipeg infectious-disease scientists living under pseudonyms in China

Two infectious-disease scientists fired from Canada’s high-security National Microbiology Laboratory over threats to the country’s security have been using pseudonyms as they build a new life in China.

Canadian citizens Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, who were escorted out of the Level 4 biosafety lab in Winnipeg in 2019, are working in China and at times are using aliases. These new names are Sandra Chiu and Kaiting Cheng, but the couple describe their work and academic interests in ways that are sometimes identical to descriptions employed in the past by Qiu and Cheng.

Online records indicate that the two former Winnipeg scientists have begun to work and publish under new names, conducting research at prestigious institutions in China and alongside some of the country’s most noted scientists.

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Also on our radar

Winter 2024 is Canada’s warmest on record: Canada just experienced its warmest winter on record as climatologists warn that it could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, and offer a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

Report says First Nations policing failing to grow: A new Auditor-General report shows that there has been little progress in Indigenous policing programs even as the federal government allocated more than half-a-billion dollars in recent years to improve and expand them.

MP weighs future in Liberal Party after Israel-Hamas motion: Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said yesterday that he’s considering leaving the party after the Liberal government supported a softened NDP motion on the Israel-Hamas war. Housefather said the result of the vote left him feeling isolated by his own party.

• John Ibbitson: A divide is growing between the Conservatives, Liberals on issue of Israeli and Palestinian rights
• Robyn Urback: The NDP’s motion on Palestine ended up being a vain exercise in nothingness
• Blinken heads to Middle East for sixth Gaza diplomacy push
• Ontario woman says brother died hungry in Gaza, waiting for word on Canadian visa

Gildan board puts company up for sale: Gildan Activewear’s board has put the clothing manufacturer up for sale and private equity funds are circling as a three-month battle for control of one of the country’s largest consumer product companies continues.

Hong Kong passes draconian new law: Hong Kong has passed a national-security law that will further criminalize dissent in the Chinese territory, disregarding widespread criticism from human-rights groups, media organizations and Western governments.

Greece to purchase Canadian-built water bombers: Greece is planning to announce an agreement to purchase a fleet of Canadian-made water bombers, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview. The announcement will be made during Mitsotakis’s official visit to Canada this weekend where he will promote his country’s economic recovery and court potential investors.

Morning markets

U.S. stock index futures ticked lower today as investors waited for the Federal Reserve’s meeting to wrap up. The central bank finishes its two-day meeting later today, and is expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged and provide cues on its monetary policy trajectory. Most megacap growth stocks inched lower in premarket trading, while Tesla gained 0.7 per cent. The Canadian dollar opened at 73.53 U.S. cents.

What everyone’s talking about

Editorial: “This is more than a plea for organization for the sake of being organized (though that would be a plus). The drift of federal budgets into March, and now past the start of the fiscal year, undermines the ability of parliamentarians, and Canadians, to scrutinize the government and hold it to account.”

Andrew Coyne: “It may simply be that the public were all for action on climate change as long as the economy was strong, but as soon as inflation began to climb, they lost all interest. Either way, Mr. Poilievre correctly read their ambivalence, understood that they were every bit as cynical as he is and is about to be rewarded for it. To the victor the spoils and all that.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

Is online dating still the best way to meet people?

In the past decade or so, online dating became the default way many people found a potential partner. But there’s also a growing frustration with online dating. Has the shine of swiping worn off? Is online dating still the best way to meet people? Is it even fun anymore? We want to hear from Canadians, who are 20 years and older, about how they’re dating now.

Moment in time: March 20, 1969

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John and Yoko get married

The bride wore white – and so did the groom. John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married on this day in 1969. The famous couple, who met less than three years earlier, chose Gibraltar for the brief, private ceremony because it was a British colony and required less paperwork than other places. A photo after the wedding shows the two in front of Gibraltar’s rock, Ms. Ono in floppy hat and Mr. Lennon in corduroys, a blazer and shaggy beard. They honeymooned in an Amsterdam hotel, inviting the press to their bed-in staged as a protest against war. The bed-in continued in Montreal. Alas, Beatles fans did not share Mr. Lennon’s love for Ms. Ono, an artist from Japan. The band broke up a year after the marriage, and some blamed its end on Ms. Ono. She has faced decades of racist and sexist attacks from Beatles fans who accused her of getting between Mr. Lennon and his bandmates, and destroying the popular group. The couple made music together over the next decade, including the record Double Fantasy, released three weeks before Mr. Lennon’s murder in New York, with Ms. Ono at his side. Eric Atkins

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