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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The latest on Canada, China, McCallum and the Huawei executive’s arrest
Today, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said John McCallum was fired as ambassador to China because he expressed views that were contrary to the federal government’s position, Bill Curry writes.
Mr. McCallum last week weighed in on the case of Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive arrested in Vancouver at the request of U.S. officials, saying she had a good chance of avoiding extradition (for subscribers). The U.S. government today unsealed criminal charges against Huawei and Ms. Meng, who are accused of misleading banks about the company’s business and violating U.S. sanctions. The company is also charged in a separate case with stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile.
The Canadian government has jumped from crisis to crisis on the China file since her arrest, which was followed by the detainment of two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor, in apparent retaliation.
Also today, Canadian Robert Schellenberg, who was sentenced to death in China on Jan. 14 after a speedy retrial on drug-smuggling charges, launched an appeal, writing his own letter to ask a higher court to examine his case, Nathan VanderKlippe writes.
Judge issues stay in case of Adam Capay, who spent years in solitary confinement
A Thunder Bay judge has issued a stay of proceedings in the case of Adam Capay, the 26-year-old Lac Seul First Nations man who spent four-and-a-half years in solitary confinement, Patrick White writes.
In issuing his decision, Justice John Fregeau upheld a publication ban on all decisions and evidence in the case for another month, when the window for appeals closes. Mr. Capay, who walked free of the criminal justice system for the first time since he was a teenager, had been charged with first-degree murder for the 2012 stabbing death of Sherman Quisses.
Mr. Capay’s name came to public attention in October, 2016, when a correctional officer who’d witnessed his precipitous mental decline inside a notorious solitary confinement cell at Thunder Bay Jail notified Ontario’s chief human rights commissioner. She, in turn, told the media.
The outcome was dramatic. Mr. Capay was transferred to a hospital after spending more than 1,600 days in solitary confinement, Thunder Bay was promised a new jail, a minister of corrections resigned and Ontario’s prison system embarked on a controversial overhaul.
Read more on how four people’s stories have changed Canada’s hearts, minds and laws on solitary confinement.
Adam Capay smiles outside of the Thunder Bay Courthouse as members of his family greet him. David Jackson/The Globe and MailDavid Jackson
‘Significant development’ expected in alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur’s case tomorrow
Just over a year after Bruce McArthur was arrested and eventually charged with murdering eight men with ties to Toronto’s Gay Village, police say they are expecting a major event at the alleged serial killer’s next court appearance tomorrow morning, Tu Thanh Ha writes.
Toronto police would not confirm whether a guilty plea is possible, saying in a statement only that “a significant development in this case is expected.”
Fareena Marzook, widow of one of the men Mr. McArthur is accused of killing, who has stayed away from past proceedings, says police contacted her to make sure she would be at the courthouse tomorrow morning.
Excessive screen time could play role in development delays in children: study
One in four Canadian children are not developmentally ready for school by the time they start kindergarten, Wency Leung writes, and a new study suggests excessive screen time may be a key contributor.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics today, found toddlers and preschoolers who spent high amounts of time in front of televisions, computers and other digital devices were less likely to reach various milestones for communication skills, motor skills and problem-solving by age 5.
“We’re seeing that screen time is creating some disparities in children’s development over time,” says lead author Dr. Sheri Madigan, assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Calgary, here with her twins Alexander and Gabriella. Todd Korol/The Globe and MailTodd Korol/The Globe and Mail
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MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index finished flat today as shares of energy companies were pressured by a decline in oil prices after U.S. companies added rigs, a signal that crude output may rise further (for subscribers). The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index inched up 12.57 points to 15,378.62. SNC-Lavalin Group plunged 27.8 per cent, the most on the main index, after cutting its forecast for full-year 2018 profit (for subscribers).
Wall Street stocks followed global stock markets lower after Caterpillar and Nvidia warned of weak Chinese demand and oil’s biggest one-day drop in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 208.98 points to 24,528.22, the S&P 500 lost 20.91 points to end at 2,643.85 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 79.18 points to close at 7,085.68.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
At the sentencing hearing of Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, an agreed statement of facts said the truck driver barrelled through an oversized stop sign with a flashing red light before the deadly Humboldt Broncos crash.
Ottawa will host a meeting of Western Hemisphere countries next Monday to see what can be done to ease the crisis in Venezuela, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland confirmed today.
A Kingston teenager facing terrorism charges will be back in court next week, after his lawyer has had more time to study his case (for subscribers).
Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka is the first player from Asia to top the men’s or women’s tennis rankings, while Canada’s Bianca Andreescu’s first title win at the Oracle Challenger boosted her 38 positions to a career-high No. 68 (for subscribers).
TALKING POINTS
When the world’s population shrinks, Canada is poised to grow and prosper
“Immigration, and the multicultural ethos it has produced, offers Canada a unique advantage in a world that is about to experience one of the great defining events of the 21st century. In about three decades, give or take, the human population will start to decline.” - John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker, authors of Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline
When even the pros don’t understand Canada’s income tax system, you know there’s a problem
“One modest first step would be to follow the lead of the United Kingdom and set up an Office of Tax Simplification. More ambitiously, the time is ripe for a broad rethinking of Canada’s tax system. Our last such effort, the Carter Commission in the 1960s, took 10 years to move from initiation to very piecemeal implementation.” - Ian McGugan
People with mental illness don’t need more talk
“It does no good to raise awareness if you have an underfunded mobile crisis team that only has the capacity to go out on calls for 12 hours a day, or if patients wait months for assessment, or if you can’t provide stable, supportive housing for those who need it so they can recover and carry on with happy and productive lives. Let’s talk about that.” - Philip Moscovitch
LIVING BETTER
Wouldn’t you love to get away right about now? Globe subscribers, here are some strategies for travelling without breaking the bank. Cut back on baggage fees by learning how to pack carry-on only for your whole family. Budget destinations can still be found at the French Riviera, New York and the Seychelles. Plus get four money-saving tips to make your dream vacation a reality.
LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE
The dissenting camp: Why Canada’s tent cities keep coming back
Dwayne Martin’s home has a door, a wooden floor and a roof that keeps out the rain, Wendy Stueck writes. That makes it an exception at Anita Place, a tent city in Maple Ridge, B.C., about an hour’s drive east of Vancouver. Elsewhere on the site, tents sag under puddles of water. On some paths, the muck is ankle deep. The camp is on a slope and people have dug trenches to try to keep water from running into their tents.
Anita Place is one of a string of tent cities that have popped up in recent years in B.C., confounding municipal officials and throwing a spotlight on the rising cost of housing. Campers, with support from housing and legal activists, have pushed the issue into court in cases that have set the rights of homeless people to shelter against city bylaws that restrict structures in parks or on other city property. Near Victoria, a camp called Namegans moved from site to site before a court order closed it last year.
But while tent cities may have become more politicized in B.C. than elsewhere, they are not restricted to the West Coast. Encampments were set up in recent years in Winnipeg, Oshawa and Fredericton. This month, Toronto officials began issuing notices to people living in tents under the Gardiner Expressway that they must leave in two weeks, even though most city shelters were at or near capacity. And while no one, including the people living in them, would call tent cities a solution, they persist, raising the question of what, if anything, should be done.
Anita Place is on a city-owned lot next to a highway bypass. It was erected in 2017 as a protest after the province closed a nearby homeless shelter. Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and MailRafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
George Taylor, 78, was a business visionary who helped build a stadium for the Blue Jays, launched TSN, got Rocky Horror to Stratford Festival
George Taylor was a man who confounded expectations, Martin Morrow writes. At first glance, he appeared to conform to the stereotype of his profession as a corporate accountant: He was bespectacled, mild-looking, conservative in his attire. If you spent some time talking to him, though, you would have quickly discovered a worldly, progressive, widely read and sharply intelligent individual.
If you had got to know him even better, you would have learned that he was a man of charming contradictions. This was the long-time executive and onetime chief executive officer of one of Canada’s iconic breweries, who largely preferred sipping coffee to chugging beer. The visionary who helped build a world-class stadium for the Toronto Blue Jays and launched TSN, Canada’s first 24-hour sports channel, but who’d rather spend his Sundays tending to his vegetable garden at the family farm than watching a game on television.
He was also the prudent fiscal manager who encouraged people to take risks and dive out of their comfort zones. One of his great delights last year was to see the Stratford Festival produce a wildly successful version of The Rocky Horror Show. A former member of the festival’s board of governors, Mr. Taylor had been urging artistic director Antoni Cimolino to stage the cult musical for years. Globe subscribers, read the full obituary here.
George Taylor, former Labatt CEO and supporter of the arts, on Baffin Island. Photo courtesy of the family.Courtesy of the Family
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