Good morning,
These are the top stories:
The Trudeau government is eyeing changes to federal contract bans
Ottawa is examining a change to procurement rules at a time when SNC-Lavalin is facing charges of fraud and corruption (for subscribers). If convicted, SNC could be barred from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years. But Public Services and Procurement Canada is proposing granting itself more flexibility in deciding how long a company is banned from bidding when convicted. In the fall, Public Services held a public consultation on its proposal that would leave it to officials in the department to set the ban period.
Over the weekend, The Globe reported top Trudeau aides Gerald Butts and Katie Telford attended a key meeting with Jody Wilson-Raybould’s chief of staff in late December where they discussed the SNC affair. (for subscribers)
Wilson-Raybould is expected to testify tomorrow morning in the justice committee hearings on SNC. Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office have denied putting inappropriate pressure on the then-attorney general to drop charges against SNC in favour of a settlement.
The key question in the hearings, writes Campbell Clark, “is whether the Prime Minister or the people around him did something wrong. Not criminal – there’s a high bar for willful obstruction of justice – but wrong. Did they meddle in a prosecution?” (for subscribers)
This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.
Jagmeet Singh’s political future is on the line today
There may be three federal by-elections today, but all eyes are on the race in Burnaby South, where the NDP Leader is trying to secure a seat in Parliament ahead of the fall vote. His biggest competitor is Richard Lee, who took over as the Liberal candidate after Karen Wang stepped down over a post on the social media app WeChat, which flagged Singh’s ethnicity and noted she was the only Chinese candidate.
The riding is far from a safe seat for Singh: Kennedy Stewart, now Vancouver’s mayor, won Burnaby South for the NDP in 2015 by just 547 votes over his Liberal opponent. What would happen if Singh loses? Former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has said it would be difficult for Singh to stay at the helm of the party. Singh, however, says he’ll stay on to lead the party in the October election regardless of the outcome.
The other two by-election races are in Toronto and Montreal, where Trudeau’s Liberals are hoping to retake a seat that’s been held by Mulcair since 2007.
Venezuela crisis: The international reaction to violent clashes
Troops backed by Nicolas Maduro blocked foreign aid from entering Venezuela over the weekend in clashes that left nearly 300 injured and at least three dead. The U.S. threatened new sanctions against Maduro, who contends Washington’s aid efforts are part of a coup attempt. Juan Guaido, who’s been declared Venezuela’s legitimate leader by Western countries, says “all options” should be considered to oust Maduro.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland denounced the military response as “simply unacceptable and a violation of basic humanitarian principles and human decency.” Freeland will be attending a Lima Group meeting today in Bogota, where U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence is set to announce “concrete steps” to address the crisis.
The highs and lows of this year’s Oscars
From Roma director Alfonso Cuaron to If Beale Street Could Talk actress Regina King, a diverse group of winners took home trophies at the 91st Academy Awards. But there was plenty to criticize, film editor Barry Hertz writes. Green Book won best picture, despite facing criticism for its portrayal of race relations. And the decision to open the show with a performance featuring the surviving members of Queen was boring and predictable, he notes. (for subscribers)
One bright spot came courtesy of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, who delivered a show-stopping rendition of A Star is Born track Shallow. Hertz writes: “Captured in an intimate and gently swooping single-camera take, the performance generated more goosebumps and heart palpitations than anything else during the broadcast, and may have resulted in a few eventual pregnancies.” (for subscribers)
And how exactly did Green Book pull off the shocking best-picture win? It proves that Academy members are by and large not especially learned or curious cinephiles, if they were so easily seduced by the paint-by-numbers narrative and lazy aesthetics, Barry Hertz writes.
(Mike Blake/Reuters)MIKE BLAKE/Reuters
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Pope Francis closed out a Vatican conference by calling for an “all-out battle” against sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. But his remarks drew condemnation from victims and their advocates who were looking for more concrete steps, including a zero-tolerance policy for bishops who cover up sex crimes.
More than 4,000 people came out over the weekend to mourn the loss of the seven children who were killed in a Halifax house fire. Kawthar Barho sobbed and gasped during the funeral services for her children, four of whom were born in Syria, two in Lebanon, and one in Canada this past October. Her husband, Ebraheim, is still in hospital with severe burns.
B.C.’s initial tax revenues from legal cannabis sales were just a fraction of what the province had budgeted. The province had originally estimated $50-million for its share of a federal tax. But the provincial budget lumped in cannabis revenue with disaster financial assistance at a total of just $17-million. (for subscribers)
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is being threatened with a lawsuit over his response to the appointment of his friend Ron Taverner as head of the provincial police force. Deputy police commissioner Brad Blair, who is challenging the Taverner appointment, alleges Ford smeared his reputation during television remarks late last year.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks rise
Equity markets across Europe and Asia rose on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold off on hiking tariffs on Chinese imports, buoying hopes of a resolution to a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Tokyo’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, meanwhile, each gained 0.5 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 0.4 per cent by about 6:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up. The Canadian dollar was above 76 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
To protect the vulnerable, vaccines should be mandatory
Globe editorial: “Measles is in the news now, but vaccine skeptics put the human herd at risk of other highly infectious diseases. The resurgence of the mumps, polio or rubella would be disastrous. … Making vaccines mandatory for all but those with health exceptions, and finding mechanisms to enforce the rule, may now be necessary.”
Trump finds his real ‘Tariff Man’
Barrie McKenna: “Donald Trump likes to call himself ‘Tariff Man.’ But the President isn’t the real mastermind behind the United States’ muscular use of tariffs to grab more of the spoils of global trade. The nickname rightly belongs to his trade envoy, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.” (for subscribers)
Why some Chinese immigrants living in Canada live in silent fear
Yaqiu Wang: “The news media give the impression that Chinese people living in Canada wave the Chinese national flag at demonstrations and parrot Chinese Communist Party propaganda. But one should keep in mind that many live in silent fear, struggling with guilt for failing to speak up for the sufferings of those inside China. Most of my interviewees said they had not spoken to Canadian authorities about Chinese government harassment or their concerns about it, thinking that it would not be helpful to their plight and could lead to further repercussions if the Chinese government found out about it.” Yaqiu Wang is a China researcher at Human Rights Watch.
LIVING BETTER
It’s the girls who suffer more: Why young women face increasing anxiety
A growing number studies say girls are more likely than boys to labour under feelings of psychological stress and tension. As Lisa Damour writes, studies show that: girls are more likely than boys to worry about how they are doing in school and how they look, and that girls are more likely than boys not only to be cyberbullied but also to dwell on the emotional injuries caused by their peers. Go here to read an essay adapted from Damour’s book Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls.
MOMENT IN TIME
Toronto’s new First Baptist Church, 1955
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo librarians working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. In February, we’re focusing on Canada’s black history.
(The Globe and Mail)The Globe and Mail
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of churches throughout the history of black communities in Canada and the United States. As Dorothy Shadd Shreve observed in The AfriCanadian Church, “Religion, indeed, was fundamental to the Black experience: in slavery, it was the only consolation; in freedom, it inspired exultation and gratitude.” Until well into the 19th century, blacks and whites often worshipped together in this country. As more and more slaves escaped from plantations in the United States and made their way north to Canada, white congregations became alarmed and encouraged black people to form their own churches. Toronto’s First Baptist Church was formed by just such a group of former slaves, initially holding services beneath trees – as Jesus did. More than a century later, on Dec. 1, 1955, the congregation dedicated a new, permanent church. A joyful home, so many sorrowful years in the making. – Massimo Commanducci
If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.