Morning Update: Trudeau and Trans Mountain pipeline expansion; Florida shooting; Bank of Canada

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Trudeau ratchets up pipeline pressure on British Columbia

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has increased the pressure on British Columbia in the dispute over the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, saying the province's proposal to block the project risks alienating Alberta and derailing any consensus on Canada's climate-change plan. Just two weeks ago, Mr. Trudeau said he was "not going to opine on disagreements between the provinces." Earlier this week, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr told the House of Commons that Ottawa will not allow B.C. to "stall or stop" the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. In an interview with the National Observer published on Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau made it clear that Alberta's willing participation in a national carbon-pricing plan is also at stake. With its resource-extraction economic base, Alberta plays a pivotal role in any national plan for reducing Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions. Alberta has the highest emissions among the provinces and the oil sands are Canada's fastest-growing source of GHGs.

Olympics 2018: Skeleton Olympic champion Yun Sung-bin blesses South Korea with a moment of national euphoria

First they called him "Iron Man." Now they're calling him the "Emperor." When South Korea's Yun Sung-bin roared his way to a first-place finish in skeleton, he not only doubled his country's gold medal count so far. He also took home a series of other firsts: first South Korean gold medal outside skating; first Asian medalist in an Olympic sliding sport; fastest man ever down the slick ice at the Olympic Sliding Centre. The Globe's Nathan VanderKlippe writes about Yun giving South Korea a moment of national euphoria with this historic victory.

Elsewhere on the Olympics front:

The triple axel that has plagued Patrick Chan's career proved his downfall once again when he fell on the jump in his short program. He heads into Saturday's long program in sixth place in his final Olympic appearance with 90.01 points. Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu sits in first, while Spain's Javier Fernandez is in second and Shoma Uno from Japan holds the third spot.

Cross-country skier Alex Harvey was trying to become Canada's first Olympic male medalist in the sport, but finished seventh with a time of 34:19.4.

The women's curling team dropped to a surprising 0-3 in round robin play with a 9-8 loss to Denmark in extra ends. Forced to an extra end tied 8-8, skip Rachel Homan had an easy hit to stick for a single and the win but wrecked on the guard. Canada is the only team that remains winless in the women's bracket.

Medal count (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total)

Germany 9, 2, 4, 15
Norway 6, 8, 5, 19
Netherlands 5, 5, 2, 12
United States 5, 1, 2, 8
Canada 4, 5, 4, 13

Want to get caught up further? Our daily Olympics guide gives you everything you need to know about the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

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In the echoes of the Florida shooting, gun-control advocates raise their voices

In the wake of mass shooting after mass shooting in America, pro-gun politicians have pressed their opponents into silence by telling them not to politicize the violence. But after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students at a Florida high school with a legally purchased rifle on Wednesday afternoon, gun-control advocates served notice that they will not shy away from naming what they saw as the cause of the massacre. "To those who say now is not the time to talk about gun violence because it's too soon … When is the time? How many more times do we have to do this? How many more folks have to die?" Florida Senator Bill Nelson said Thursday before a silent chamber. "Let's do what needs to be done and let's get these assault weapons off our streets." Whether the pressure will lead to anything is an open question. Attempts at toughening firearms laws in recent years have either been voted down by Congress or simply forgotten about as the country becomes inured to the epidemic of mass shootings and the debate has fractured along the lines of the country's rancorous partisan divide. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday made no mention of gun laws when he addressed the shooting.

Florida's embrace of gun culture – the state continues to lead the country in the number of concealed-weapons permits – will come under scrutiny in the wake of Wednesday's shooting, U.S. correspondent Joanna Slater writes.

Here's what we know so far about the suspect, the attack and the political reaction.

Bank of Canada exploring closer ties with Ottawa to counter future economic slumps

The Bank of Canada is exploring the possibility of working more closely with Ottawa to co-ordinate interest-rate relief with government spending to counter future economic slumps. The proposal comes as the central bank lays the groundwork for the next scheduled five-year renewal of its 2-per-cent inflation target in 2021. The bank is facing a series of emerging risks that could make monetary policy less effective when the next shock hits, deputy governor Lawrence Schembri warned in a speech Thursday to the Manitoba Association for Business Economists. Higher levels of household and government debt, a long-term decline in interest rates and slow growth are all making the job of central banks more difficult, Mr. Schembri pointed out. Real – or after-inflation – interest rates have slumped to near zero from more than 6 per cent in the early 1990s.

Globe in South Africa: Cleaning up Zuma's mess will be a tough task for Ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa, sworn in as South Africa's new President on Thursday, faces a monumental task as he begins efforts to clean up his government after nine years of misrule and corruption scandals under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. "I will try very hard not to disappoint the people of South Africa," Mr. Ramaphosa told Parliament in a brief speech after he was declared elected as the only candidate for president. Mr. Ramaphosa, a 65-year-old former trade-union leader who helped negotiate South Africa's first democratic Constitution in the early 1990s, becomes the country's fifth president since the end of apartheid. The ruling party chose him as its leader in December and then forced the reluctant Mr. Zuma to leave office this week.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Home sales drop in January as new mortgage rules hit

A new mortgage-qualification rule sent a chill through Canada's housing market in January after buyers rushed to make purchases in December to beat the Jan. 1 deadline and sellers sat tight while assessing the fallout. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said sales fell sharply across Canada in January after climbing to their highest monthly level on record in December. CREA said the number of homes sold fell 14.5 per cent in January over December on a seasonally adjusted basis, with sales declining in three-quarters of all local markets, including virtually all major urban centres. The Greater Toronto Area recorded a 27-per-cent drop in January over December, while sales fell 32 per cent in Hamilton-Burlington, 20 per cent in Kitchener-Waterloo and 19 per cent in the Niagara region. The Ottawa region had the largest drop in sales in January, falling 33 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

MORNING MARKETS

World stocks set for winning week

World shares were set to post their best week of gains in six years on Friday after two consecutive weeks spent in the red, shrugging off a rise in global borrowing costs while the dollar hit its lowest level since 2014.Overseas, European markets were higher with Britain's FTSE trading up 0.74 per cent around 5:45 a.m. (ET) while France's CAC 40 was up 0.76 per cent. Germany's DAX rose 0.77 per cent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.19 per cent. Markets in China were closed for Lunar New Year. On Wall Street, futures were trading higher. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at US$61.56. The Canadian dollar was higher at 80.16 US cents at last check.

FYI: The Globe now provides all users access to real-time stock quotes for both Canadian and U.S. markets. Go here to find out about the major changes to our Globe Investor site.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

Native child welfare: Let's get this right

"Of all the challenges before the federal government, none may be more fraught than its decision to devolve trust for native child welfare to Indigenous communities. It's a fundamental aspect of an overarching vision outlined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons this week to redraft the relationship the country has with its aboriginal peoples, creating a new legal framework recognized in the Constitution that creates a true self-governance model. It will not be an easy journey, nor one that is made smoother simply with more dollars." – Gary Mason

As Abdoul Abdi's parent, Canada is guilty of child neglect

"Before last year, an immigrant child could not apply for Canadian citizenship. Their legal guardian had to do it for them. Abdoul Abdi has been here since 2000, but his citizenship paperwork was never filled out by his parents. Since he was 7, that role has been filled by the Nova Scotia government. In January, Mr. Abdi, now 24, completed a five-year sentence on multiple charges including aggravated assault. As a non-citizen convicted of serious crimes, he's facing deportation. Having forcibly assumed the responsibility of raising him, the government is now trying to shrug off the repercussions of its own negligence." – Denise Balkissoon

Millennials, don't make the retirement-wrecking mistake of avoiding stocks

"We all need stocks to build our retirement savings – especially the young adults of the millennial generation. With all their nastiness, stocks remain the everyday Canadian's best hope of growing money over the long term. Millennials have to be savvier about this than any other demographic. Because of a changing work force, they are less likely to be part of company pensions than previous generations. The Canada Pension Plan has been tweaked so it will pay more to today's young adults when they retire, but personal savings will be vital for people retiring in the 2050s and beyond." – Rob Carrick

FILM FRIDAY

Black Panther: The Globe's film editor Barry Hertz gives the much-anticipated superhero film three stars. He has this to say about director Ryan Coogler's "half-revolutionary, half-conventional superhero epic," which has the title character returning to his fictional African homeland of Wakanda aboard a futuristic aircraft: "Black Panther fights constantly and bitterly against the familiar constraints of Disney's superhero industrial complex. At every turn, the expectations of the genre, the bland sameness that breeds cinematic comfort for the millions who line up to fill Marvel's coffers, are met by the director with resistance and creative intensity."

Before We Vanish: Kate Taylor gives three stars to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's latest film where an alien-possessed adolescent girl – who has killed her family, two cops and a posse of government agents – is confronted by a journalist who is shepherding her through human society. "[Kurosawa] returns again to genre, with a small budget and a lot of deadpan, offering a low-key but amusing Japanese approach to the perennial theme of alien invasion," Taylor writes.

HEALTH PRIMER

Common misconceptions about the flu, and why you should get the shot

The flu is taking a higher-than-usual toll on children in Canada so far this flu season, according to data from the IMPACT network, which monitors the flu across major centres in Canada. Children die every year from flu-related complications, and this year the number of deaths so far is eight – a tragic reminder that the flu can be deadly. The rise in flu cases and associated complications can partially be explained by the lack of flu vaccinations. Less than 25 per cent of Canadian children are vaccinated each year for influenza (overall, only about one-third of Canadians of all ages get the flu vaccine each year). Dr. Ahmed Mian, an emergency physician and coroner in Toronto, looks at the common misconceptions about the flu, and why Canadians should get the shot.

MOMENT IN TIME

ABBA: The Movie premieres in London

Feb. 16, 1978: 'You're a teaser, you turn 'em on," ABBA sang on its swirling 1976 hit single Dancing Queen, "Leave 'em burning and then you're gone." And so it was with the band itself, a prepackaged Swedish quartet who blazed a trail of cheerful gloss and disco ditties across international charts in the mid-seventies, only to fade away, like cotton candy dissolving, by the early eighties. In the middle of it, on Feb. 16, 1978, the spirited foursome of Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad appeared at the London premiere of ABBA – The Movie, a quirky documentary of the band's first (and only) Australian tour. The film's director was Lasse Hallstrom, who would graduate from making ABBA videos to direct such stellar features as What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The Cider House Rules. A studio creation, ABBA was not built for live performances. When the hits stopped, the group did, too, disbanding in 1982. It was recently announced that ABBA will tour internationally in 2019, but as digitally recreated holograms, modelled on their appearances at the height of their significant fame. In palindromic fashion, ABBA will look the same coming as they did going. – Brad Wheeler

Morning Update was written by Kristene Quan and Shelby Blackley.

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