Morning Update: Meng Wanzhou accuses U.S. of misleading Canada in ‘poisoned’ court proceedings

Good morning,

In new court filings in her battle against extradition to the United States, Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is asking for a stay of extradition proceedings, a request expected to be heard in court in early 2021.

Meng also alleges abuse by the U.S. government. In particular, she accuses the U.S. government of using her as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with China as well as misleading Canada’s government and courts about the evidence gathered against her. She is also challenging key elements of the U.S. case against her, alleging that facts have been distorted.

In May, Meng lost her first legal bid to end the extradition process.

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Read also:

• China orders U.S. consulate closure as ‘diplomatic war’ breaks out

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Antibody survey reveals ‘widespread vulnerability’ to COVID-19 across Canada, says expert

In Canada, the official count of confirmed COVID-19 cases stands at just over 112,000. However, a new survey based on 10,000 anonymized blood donations, which is the largest national serological survey to date, indicates that more Canadians have had COVID-19 than this official count.

In particular, the survey says fewer than 1 per cent of Canadians have had the coronavirus. In a country with over 37 million people, this finding puts the actual number of cases at roughly around 370,000, but sample size and testing uncertainties mean it is not yet possible to make a more precise estimate.

Virgin ends WE Charity donations, Telus drops partnership, as big sponsors to review ties

Amid controversy around WE Charity, Telus – the charity’s longtime sponsor – said on Thursday that it is terminating its sponsorship contract, which was supposed to go until 2022. One of WE Charity’s biggest corporate partners in Britain – Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. – has announced that it is suspending donations. Other big sponsors such as RBC said they are currently reviewing their relationship with the charity.

Also yesterday, opposition parties called for the Ethics Commissioner to expand his probe of Finance Minister Bill Morneau after he testified that he reimbursed WE Charity $41,000 for expenses related to 2017 travel with the organization. Morneau is already being probed for failing to recuse himself from the cabinet decision to award the now-cancelled contract to administer the federal volunteer program to WE Charity, despite his daughter working for the organization.

Read more

• Robyn Urback: In a normal government, Bill Morneau would be given the boot
• Konrad Yakabuski: Is the WE Charity affair Justin Trudeau’s sponsorship scandal?

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Three-member panel to examine Nova Scotia mass shooting: The federal and Nova Scotia governments have set up a three-member panel to review the circumstances around the Nova Scotia mass shooting. While the governments said the review process would avoid dragging families through emotional public testimony, the lawyer representing most of the families of the mass shooting’s victims said they are disappointed by the decision and that they had wanted a full public inquiry.

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Independent review launched of allegations against Julie Payette: The Privy Council Office is launching a review of workplace harassment allegations against Governor General Julie Payette via an independent, third-party investigator. Payette responded that she is committed to a healthy workplace and welcomes the review.

China drafts new rules for foreign teachers: The draft policy formalizes expectations for foreign teachers to avoid classroom discussion of topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, the status of Taiwan and the mass incarceration of Uyghurs. This could affect Canada, as its provinces have spent years building networks of schools in China that use Canadian curriculum materials and prepare large cohorts of Chinese students to attend universities in those provinces.

Vancouver council votes to ban street checks: Vancouver’s city council voted unanimously on Wednesday to ask the local police board to ban street checks. The practice has been found to disproportionately affect Black and Indigenous individuals.

Charges laid in assault that police say was motivated by racism: Jamie Allen Bezanson, a Vancouver man, is charged with assault in relation to a March 13 incident in which a 92-year-old Asian man with dementia was shoved to the ground outside a convenience store. Before the incident, someone began yelling remarks about COVID-19 when the Asian man walked into the store. Vancouver police said they are dealing with 155 hate-associated reports this year – with many victims being of East Asian descent – up from 69 for the same time in 2019.

MORNING MARKETS

World shares retreat: Global shares skidded further from five-month peaks on Friday as a bounce back in European business activity did little to ease the jitters surrounding Sino-U.S. tensions. Around 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.18 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.64 per cent and 1.33 per cent, respectively. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 3.86 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.21 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 74.50 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

The only thing Donald Trump is trying to save in Portland is his campaign

Omar El Akkad: “In that respect, those federal officers on the streets of Portland are not crime-fighters, not paragons of virtue in the war between civil society and barbarism. They’re walking election pamphlets, an interactive campaign ad.”

Hong Kong’s Chinese-Canadians are a community in limbo

Justin Bong-Kwan: “Hong Kong’s Chinese-Canadians may be eyeing a return home in the wake of Beijing’s new security law. But if they assume they won’t be affected by political developments because of their Canadian passports, they should think again.”

How artificial intelligence can predict mass shootings

Sheema Khan: “As we wait for the launch of a public inquiry, there are so many questions about the horrible incident in Nova Scotia. Foremost – given all the warning signs, how is it that a man with known violent tendencies was never detained? What can we learn from the past so that it does not revisit us in the future? This last question is now being addressed from a very different perspective due to advances in technology.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

The 10 best films of 2020 that you can stream right now to cure your summer-movie-season blues

The Globe’s film editor Barry Hertz wrote that with Tenet being delayed, we can stop worrying about how to save the big-screen season and just focus on the many non-blockbuster gems available to stream. Here are his 10 recommendations ranging from indies to foreign-language films to documentaries – all available for at-home viewing.

MOMENT IN TIME: July 24, 1963

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Bluenose II launches

When the Bluenose II was launched into Lunenburg Harbour in 1963, the glory days of Nova Scotia shipbuilding were already long gone. But the ship, financed by Halifax’s Oland Brewery as part of a promotional campaign for its Schooner lager, became a symbol of something greater – an iconic reminder of when the province was a sailing powerhouse. A replica of the original Bluenose, the legendary racing schooner that was built in 1921 and sank in 1946, the new vessel became a floating ambassador for Nova Scotia. Plans to revive the memory of the Bluenose came after Lunenburg’s Smith & Rhuland Shipyard was contracted to build a replica of the HMS Bounty for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Built by many of the same shipwrights who had worked on the first Bluenose more than 40 years earlier, the Bluenose II was sold to the Government of Nova Scotia in 1971 for $1. The Oland family spent $300,000 building the replica – nearly 10 times what the original cost. Retrofitting work to keep it operating as a tourist vessel has cost significantly more than that – more than $19-million at last count. Greg Mercer

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