Gold medalists in the ice dance, free dance figure skating Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, of Canada, pose during their medals ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. Virtue and Moir become the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history Tuesday, winning their fifth career medal at the Pyeongchang Games. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charlie Riedel
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Judge strikes down mandatory minimum sentence for Indigenous woman in drug trafficking case
An Ontario judge has ruled that the two-year mandatory minimum sentence would be cruel and unusual punishment in the circumstances of an Indigenous woman who brought $128,000 in cocaine to Canada. Cheyenne Sharma, who is from a background of extreme poverty, faced a minimum of two years, but her lawyers used the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to challenge the legality of the minimum sentences. They said the mandatory sentence has a disproportionate effect on individuals with Indigenous backgrounds. Ms. Sharma was sentenced to 17 months in custody.
The ruling comes shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould decried unfairness in the justice system following the acquittal of a white farmer, Gerald Stanley, in the shooting death of an Indigenous man, Colten Boushie.
OLYMPICS 2018
Canada's flag-bearers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won their fifth Olympic medal by taking gold in the ice dance competition. They defeated their rivals from France by less than a point. Ms. Virtue and Mr. Moir skated last and had no idea that the French team set a world record in their skate.
Skier Cassie Sharpe posted a score of 95.80 to win gold in women's halfpipe. She had the top score in qualifying going into the three-run final and set the tone early with big amplitude and delivering on all of her tricks.
The Canadian women's short-track relay team was disqualified from the 3,000-metre race, but the athletes and coaches weren't sure why.
Canada's women's curlers are on the brink of missing the playoffs after losing 7-5 to China and falling to 3-4 in round-robin play. Team Homan must win their remaining two games against Britain and the team from Russia if they have a hope of contending for a medal. The male curlers turned their fortunes around with an 8-4 win over Japan.
With five days remaining, the U.S. sits sixth on the medal table, but medals aren't the only problem. Cathal Kelly writes on the Americans and their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Games: "Ahead of this thing, you would've thought athletes having a bad go of it would console themselves with the idea that, 'Hey, at least we're not Russians'. Now it feels like nothing could be harder than to represent the U.S.A. – a country that no longer understands what it's supposed to be on the international stage, or how it should act while out in public. Russia may have been reduced to a winless and smouldering resentment at these Olympics. But it plays better than American cringing."
The Olympics are filled with feel-good stories, but Nathan VanderKlippe has a feel-bad tale – a moment of televised cruelty featuring speed skaters that has enraged South Koreans who are calling it bullying in elite sport.
Medal Count (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total)
- Norway: 11, 10, 8, 29
- Germany: 11, 7, 5, 23
- Canada: 8, 5, 6, 19
- Netherlands: 6, 5, 3, 14
- France: 5, 4, 4, 13
Coming up (All times Eastern)
- 7:05 p.m. Feb. 20: Curling (Women’s round robin)
- 8 p.m. Feb. 20: Figure skating (Ladies short program)
- 9 p.m. Feb. 20: Alpine skiing (Women’s downhill)
- 11:15 p.m. Feb. 20: Freestyle skiing (Men’s ski cross)
- 12:05 a.m. Feb. 21: Curling (Men’s round robin)
- 6:00 a.m. Feb. 21: Speed skating (Men’s and Women’s team sprint finals)
- 7:10 a.m. Feb. 21: Men’s ice hockey quarterfinals (Canada vs. Finland)
- 6:50 a.m. Feb. 21: Bobsleigh (Women’s runs 3-4)
Here is our full guide of what happened and what to watch
Mueller charges lawyer with lying in Russia probe
U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller has charged lawyer Alex van der Zwaan for lying to the FBI last November about his communications with Rick Gates, a former aide to Donald Trump's campaign. It revolves around work his firm performed in 2012 related to Ukraine. The charge puts pressure on Mr. Gates and Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who are both facing criminal charges including conspiracy to launder money and failure to register as foreign agents in connection with their political work for a pro-Russia Ukrainian party.
Former Ontario Tory leader Patrick Brown discussed $375,000 deal with future PC candidate
An affidavit says Jass Johal agreed to pay $375,000 for Aeroplan miles and a stake in a restaurant in former Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader Patrick Brown's hometown of Barrie. One month later, Mr. Brown deposited $375,000 in his personal account, ahead of a $2.3-million property purchase. But the former leader says the deal "was never done" and that his family helped him buy the home. The affidavit was sworn five months before Mr. Johal was acclaimed as the PC candidate in the riding of Brampton North. According to bank documents seen by The Globe and Mail, Mr. Brown deposited $375,000 one month after the affidavit was signed. He earned $180,886 a year as a leader of the Official Opposition.
Mr. Brown wasn't in the Ontario legislature Tuesday, instead choosing to campaign for his party's leadership. The party's interim leader said he informed the executive of his lack of confidence in Mr. Brown hours before the ousted politician launched a bid to reclaim the job.
On Sunday, Mr. Brown stood at a small podium bearing his name, flanked by his two sisters and 18 PC candidates running in the looming provincial election. Three weeks later after his resignation was imminent, he was launching a bid to reclaim his old job.
Pipeline constraints to cost economy $10.7-billion in 2018: Scotiabank
Delayed oil pipeline construction is causing a steep discount for Canadian crude prices that is costing the economy roughly $15.6-billion a year or about 0.75 per cent of GDP, according to Scotiabank. The discount is expected to ease as rail capacity becomes available bringing the expected cost to roughly $10.7-billion for 2018. Delays continue for all three major proposed oil pipelines to export more oil from Western Canada, including the Trans Mountain expansion, where Alberta and British Columbia are quarrelling over the construction.
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MARKET WATCH
Canada's main stock index finished flat Tuesday, with strength in the heavyweight energy sector offsetting weakness among mining stocks. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.09 per cent to end at 15,439.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell on Tuesday to snap a six-session winning streak as a sharp decline in Walmart weighed heavily, but gains in Amazon and chip stocks helped the Nasdaq hold near the unchanged mark. The Dow fell 1.02 per cent to close at 24,962.76, the S&P 500 lost 0.58 per cent to finish at 2,716.24 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.07 per cent to end at 7,234.31.
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WHAT'S TRENDING
Some of India's biggest companies say they will invest more than $250-million in Canada in the coming years in everything from pulp mills to pharmaceuticals and the IT sector. Canada, meanwhile, will invest $750-million in India. The news came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent his third morning in India meeting with six of the country's most influential business tycoons making deals that he says will create at least 5,000 new jobs in Canada.
TALKING POINTS
Australia pays fast-food workers $20 an hour and the sky hasn't fallen
"A low-wage system shifts the burden of providing the necessities of life from the employer to the taxpayer. It subsidizes marginal businesses with cheap labour. It disadvantages those employers who either voluntarily pay higher wages or are forced to do so through collective bargaining. Some credit the Australian 'wages welfare state' as having contributed to a comparatively low level of sovereign debt." – Andrew Newman
Trudeau's Orwellian logic: We reduce emissions by increasing them
"To say that Mr. Horgan's resistance to fossil-fuel expansion is an attack on Albertan jobs is the biggest whopper of them all. But Ms. Notley has only a year before an election she will probably lose. Her political survival depends on her finding an issue that draws Albertans to her. As Orwell witnessed in the 1930s in Europe, politicians benefit if they are seen to be protecting their citizens from external threats, even if these threats are fictional." – Mark Jaccard
To vilify Sir John A. Macdonald is to wrongly seek a single scapegoat for Canada's mistreatment of Indigenous people
"Macdonald's reputation has also taken a dive after the attention given more recently to the residential-schools catastrophe. While Macdonald was acting on the recommendations of the experts in his day, he was succeeded by 18 prime ministers before the last residential school was closed. As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission records, residential schools were in place before Macdonald became prime minister and did not reach their peak until about 40 years after his death." – Bob Plamondon
LIVING BETTER
Do I get enough Vitamin D from sunlight in the winter?
Most people can make enough vitamin D from sun exposure during the summer, but several studies have concluded that inadequate ultraviolet-B limits vitamin D synthesis for at least a few months during the winter. However, a person's vitamin D supply doesn't plummet immediately in the winter because our bodies can store it in the liver and fat tissues. Studies show vitamin D status peaks in September and is lowest in March. So for some people it may be important to rely on supplements at least part of the year.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Canada's race to 5G: How carriers plan to win the next wireless era
Telus, Bell and Rogers are racing to build the next generation of lightning-fast wireless networks that will power everything from smart cities to driverless cars. 5G, the fifth generation of wireless networks, will make download times 10 times faster and the time between sending a message and its arrival should be reduced to less than a millisecond. It isn't ready for permanent deployment, but carriers, equipment makers and governments are pushing hard to prepare for hit and, as Christine Dobby reports, it is set to change everything. (for subscribers)
Billions of new connected devices will come online in the next decade. They'll need to transmit significantly more data and do so reliably. But today's wireless networks are not up to the task. Here is an explainer on how 5G works and what a city enabled with this technology could look like.
Higher learning, higher living: Developers move into student housing
Gone are the painted cinder-block walls and lineups for showers down the hall. Instead, today's students get condominium-quality units, high-speed WiFi, fitness and games rooms and a host off programming from yoga classes to animal-petting events. With many universities unable to meet the demand for residence space, the sector is seen as safe for investors and developers are moving in looking for less-competitive, untapped niches in the highly competitive market. As Janet McFarland reports, the shift capitalizes on the increasing willingness of students – or their boomer parents – to pay healthy rents for higher-end residences.
Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley and Kristene Quan. If you'd like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.