Morning Update: Diaspora groups tell inquiry of foreign intimidation efforts

Good morning,

Leaders of diaspora groups told the Foreign Interference Commission yesterday that intimidation from foreign states is a threat to Canadian democracy, and detailed how their communities have been bullied and harassed by hostile foreign states and their proxies in Canada.

The commission heard from a panel of Chinese, Sikh, Iranian, Russian and Uyghur-Canadian activists on the opening of nine days of public hearings into foreign-influence operations in the 2019 and 2021 elections – testimony that described threats of verbal and physical abuse and even an alleged murder.

Among the activists was Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, who had announced last month that he would not participate in the inquiry. He planned to boycott because he feared being cross-examined by former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan, now deputy mayor of Markham, and former Liberal MP Han Dong, now sitting as an independent, because of their alleged close ties to the Chinese government. Tohti decided to testify after Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue ruled that he and other activists would not face cross-examination.

• Campbell Clark: The inquiry gets a personal lesson in foreign interference

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Ontario to give majority of study permits to universities, public colleges

The Ontario government is giving nearly all of its international study permits to universities and publicly funded colleges as it looks to concentrate the funds generated by the international student program in the public sector.

In January, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller imposed a two-year cap on the number of international study permit applications that the federal government will process, in a bid to curb rapid growth in the number of foreign students entering Canada. Ontario, which has a disproportionately large share of foreign students compared with other provinces, was expected to be hard hit.

The province announced yesterday that 96 per cent of the 235,000 international study permit applications that it has been granted will go to publicly assisted colleges and universities, with the remaining 4 per cent given to language schools, private universities and unspecified “other institutions.”

B.C. pharmacies offer incentives to vulnerable patients in exchange for continued prescription business

A 40-year-old man leans against a window sill in his Vancouver single-room occupancy hotel, awaiting a delivery of medication from a pharmacy. A delivery man walks up and hands him a box of fentanyl patches, a container with 14 hydromorphone tablets, the pain medication naproxen, and an antipsychotic medication.

Taking a quick look around, the delivery man reaches back into the bag a second time, pulls out a rolled up $50 bill and hands that over, too.

The delivery man, whose actions were observed by a Globe and Mail reporter, is part of a kickback scheme perpetrated by a number of B.C. pharmacies in which prohibited cash incentives are paid to patients to fill their prescriptions at their locations and recruit others to do the same, maximizing the amounts that the pharmacies can bill the province’s publicly funded drug plan.

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Also on our radar

Temporary residents jump to 2.7 million: The population in Canada increased by nearly 1.3 million in 2023, Statistics Canada reported yesterday, fuelled largely by the arrival of temporary residents. The federal government is now trying to restrict these temporary residents as the country faces a housing crisis.

• Editorial: Immigration is more than a numbers game

Ontario school boards sue social-media giants: Four of Canada’s largest school boards are suing the tech giants behind social-media platforms Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok, accusing them of negligently designing products that disrupt learning and rewire student behaviour while leaving educators to deal with the repercussions.

RCMP acknowledges mistakes in mass shooting response: The RCMP made mistakes in its response to a 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, Commissioner Mike Duheme said yesterday, adding that the Mounties are making progress on changes. The Commissioner’s comments come a year after a public inquiry identified a series of disastrous failures and called for an overhaul of Canada’s national police service.

ArriveCan investigation is under way, RCMP says: Commissioner Duheme said yesterday the police force is specifically investigating concerns tied to the federal government’s ArriveCan app. The RCMP’s move expands on an existing investigation into allegations involving contractors who worked on the project.

Talks resume on bringing Israeli officials to the U.S.: Talks between the U.S. and Israel to discuss further military operations in Gaza have restarted in Washington after the Israeli Prime Minister earlier cancelled the talks because of the Biden administration’s decision to abstain from a United Nations Security Council vote on a ceasefire in Gaza.

• Doctors visiting Gaza hospital stunned by war’s toll on Palestinian children
• At least eight people killed in exchange of fire along Lebanon-Israel border

Twisted magnetic field observed in Milky Way: Astronomers said yesterday that they have detected a strong and organized magnetic field twisted in a spiral pattern around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, revealing previously unknown qualities of the immensely powerful object at the centre of our galaxy.

Morning markets

European shares opened higher after a mixed trading session in Asia today following another record close for the S&P 500 yesterday.

In early trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.36 per cent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.11 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.54 per cent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.5 per cent to 40,168.07, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.9 per cent to 16,541.42.

The dollar traded at 73.51 U.S. cents.

What everyone’s talking about

Andrew Coyne: “But in Canada, provinces can borrow as much as they like, in any currency they like. Like Europe, we are a monetary union without a fiscal union. Until lately that hasn’t posed much of a problem. It is about to become one.”

John Ibbitson: “The Liberals have tried to keep both Jewish and Muslim constituencies onside. But as last week’s vote suggests, they increasingly accord a high priority to the rights of Palestinians and to the Muslim community in Canada .... the days of Liberal/Conservative bipartisan consensus in support of Israel are over. This is the new lay of the land.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

Is the no-spend challenge like a crash diet? Not if it’s done right

The no-spend challenge promises big savings in exchange for purging any expenses outside of food staples, housing and transportation for a set period of time, but many dismiss it as as a financial crash diet. For advocates of the challenge, the problem lies in how it’s executed. Implementing the practice in small increments throughout the year is the best way and might offer the biggest rewards.

Moment in time: March 28, 1971

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Last episode of the Ed Sullivan Show broadcasts on CBS

It was his last “really big shew,” but Ed Sullivan had no idea. Two days after wrapping episode 1,068 of his legendary Sunday evening variety program on March 28, 1971, Sullivan learned alongside the rest of the world that CBS would not renew the show for a 25th season from a network press release. Many of the 20th century’s best-known performers – from Elvis Presley to the Beatles and even Barbra Streisand – used appearances on the show as a launchpad to superstardom. Sullivan differentiated the program by taking what at the time was a very progressive approach to booking guests, regularly inviting entertainers such as the Supremes, the Jackson 5 and Dionne Warwick to perform. In a 1952 edition of Colliers Magazine (when the show was still known as Toast of the Town), Sullivan wrote “In the conduct of my own show, I’ve never asked a performer his religion, his race or his politics. Performers are engaged on the basis of their abilities.” In 2013, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked No. 31 in TV Guide Magazine’s 60 Best Series of All Time. Jameson Berkow

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