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Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines.

This week: Parliamentary hearings for the ArriveCan misconduct allegations were suspended, after a preliminary report was released to MPs. The committee has been reviewing how the cost for the ArriveCan app ballooned to more than $54-million and related IT procurement issues for months. The federal investigator’s report wasn’t made public, but MPs said any further hearings could disrupt investigations by the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP.

Also this week, Super Bowl Sunday is here, with a little something for football fans and Swifties alike. Plus, happy Lunar New Year!

Do you remember these stories and more? Take our news quiz.


1Palestinians applying to come to Canada were not asked to provide which of these details?
a. If they have any scars and how they sustained them
b. Which social media accounts they have, with links
c. Previous work history, with supervisor’s names and any discipline issues
d. Their favourite song by a Canadian artist

d. Their favourite song. The others were included in an application for Palestinians to join their relatives living in Canada. Immigration lawyers told The Globe that they have never seen questions like these for applicants fleeing a war zone.

2What was called, “an absolute epidemic in Ontario” this week?
a. A surge in car thefts
b. A lack of development in the Greenbelt
c. COVID-19, still
d. The increasing rat population in urban areas

a. Car thefts. After facing pressure from federal and provincial politicians on the issue, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says stiffer penalties for auto theft are under consideration. Data from 2022 indicate that vehicle theft rose by 50 per cent in Quebec and 48 per cent in Ontario.

3Which of these celebrities won’t be in a Super Bowl commercial this Sunday (that we know of)?
a. Other-football star Lionel Messi
b. Actor and writer Tina Fey
c. Pop superstar Taylor Swift
d. Chris Pratt impersonating the Pringles man

c. Taylor Swift. Expect to see everyone else on Super Bowl Sunday. Though Swift hasn’t been confirmed to be in a commercial, she hasn’t said she wouldn’t be in one either.

4What word was used to describe a secret preliminary report on contracting misconduct allegations surrounding ArriveCan?
a. ‘Illuminating’
b. ‘Urgent’
c. ‘Scary’
d. ‘Disappointing’

c. Scary. “I’m not a lawyer … but what I read, it's scary,” said Liberal MP and committee vice-chair Majid Jowhari, without giving further details on the findings of the investigator’s report. The Auditor-General’s report is expected to be released Monday.

5Why are the federal Conservatives calling for Trudeau to resign this week?
a. He failed to address the growing car theft problem
b. He invited a former Nazi soldier to a reception last year
c. He accepted a luxury vacation in Jamaica
d. He hasn’t installed a heat pump in his residence

b. He invited a former Nazi soldier to a reception. In September 2023, Trudeau claimed he had no knowledge of Yaroslav Hunka’s invitation to Parliament, which resulted in the resignation of House Speaker Anthony Rota. But a recently-revealed invitation directly from the PM to a reception later that evening now says otherwise, and Conservatives are saying if the blunder was worthy of Rota’s resignation, Trudeau should step down too.

6The medals for the 2024 Paris Olympics are going to be embedded with which part of an iconic Parisian landmark?
a. Iron taken from the Eiffel Tower
b. Stone taken from the Arc de Triomphe
c. A small container of water from the Seine river
d. A tiny sliver of the canvas of the Mona Lisa

a. Iron from the Eiffel Tower. A hexagonal piece of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes’ necks at the July 26-Aug. 11 Paris Games and Paralympics. It was taken from iron swapped off the tower during renovations.

7True or False: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against a federal law affirming Indigenous Peoples have a right to self-government, claiming it would go against Canada’s Constitution and would force an amendment.
a. True
b. False

b. False. The law, called an Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families, was introduced in 2019 to affirm Indigenous peoples’ right to write their own child-welfare laws. Quebec appealed the decision, but the Supreme Court unanimously upheld it.

8After she tested positive on a doping test, what reason did Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva give for the result?
a. She accidentally ate laced food prepared by her colleague
b. She was owed an Olympic gold medal
c. A coach has been regularly sneaking performance enhancers into her drinks
d. Her grandfather accidentally dropped his medication in a strawberry dessert served to her

d. A laced strawberry dessert. In a hearing after her positive test, Valieva’s lawyers claimed her grandfather dropped heart medication into a strawberry dessert and the skater shouldn’t be at fault. The Court of Arbitration for Sport didn't buy it, and banned the skater for four years.

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