Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Canadian officials must be hoping Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine shipments come in like a lion in March, because in February they continue to arrive like a lamb.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would receive the expected shipment of the Moderna vaccine the week of Feb. 22, but today the Globe learned the actual amount of doses may be curtailed. And today, as previously reported, Canada received 180,000 doses from Moderna instead of the originally promised 230,000.
Speaking to a House of Commons committee about her government’s negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, Procurement Minister Anita Anand noted that every vaccine maker was asked about producing doses in Canada, and each one said it would not be possible.
Still, Moderna says it will deliver about 1.5 million more doses to Canada by the end of March, and Pfizer-BioNTech is set to resume expected shipments of doses by mid-February. Provincial health officials are hoping they can extract six doses from the Pfizer vials, instead of the intended five.
- Explainer: What you need to know about the latest medical guidance on mask-wearing to reduce the spread of COVID-19
- Editorial: Australia crushed the pandemic. Canada didn’t. Why?
Canadian athletes cautioned on speaking out at Beijing Olympics
This summer’s Tokyo Olympics may be on the horizon, but winter athletes have their sights set a little further ahead, on the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing a year from this month. North American athletes have been lauded for helping propel social change by speaking their minds in recent months, but Canadian Olympic officials say they will caution against trying that approach in China. Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker points to “implications that that could have for them under things like the national security law,” which has been used to crack down on Hong Kong activists.
And while China provides numerous reasons to be critical – from detaining Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for political reasons to mass incarceration of minority Uyghur Muslims – Shoemaker dismisses a Winter Games boycott (a popular idea in some quarters) as a viable form of protest.
Rather, Shoemaker says, a boycott would be “a politically inexpensive alternative to real and meaningful diplomacy.”
- Cathal Kelly: Our athletes are powerful tools for good – they deserve a chance on the world stage
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Militia leader deemed sex criminal: Until today, nobody who has stood trial at the International Criminal Court has been convicted of forced marriage as a crime against humanity. Former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen became the first when he was found guilty of 61 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his role in systematic violence in Uganda.
Trump refuses to testify: House Democrats who are managing the impeachment of Donald Trump have asked him to testify under oath before the Senate next week, but through an adviser he has refused. The refusal could be used to support arguments to convict him, the impeachment managers say.
Green energy from North Sea: Denmark has approved a $33.9-billion plan to build a so-called energy island in the North Sea, a world first that would harness wind power to provide enough electricity for three million households in Europe.
- Related: Canadian Power buys Okanagan Wind to kickstart renewable-energy expansion plan
Raptors extend GM: Toronto Raptors general manager Bobby Webster, an architect of the 2019 NBA championship team, will remain in the role beyond his current contract after signing a multiyear extension today. That leaves team president Masai Ujiri – a coveted executive around the NBA – as the most critical member of the front office still unsigned past the current season.
MARKET WATCH
North American stock markets continued to ride the wave of encouraging company earnings and positive economic stimulus signals today, with the TSX even hitting an all-time intraday high before closing below a record.
Optimism about lower COVID-19 case counts globally have also helped investors enjoy a strong week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 126.06 points, or 0.70 per cent, at 18,041.97 (the index was at an unparalleled high of 18,072.17 earlier in the day.) The S&P 500 index rose 41.57 points to 3,871.74. The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 332.26 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 31,055.86. The Nasdaq gained 167.20 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 13,777.74, also an all-time high.
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TALKING POINTS
Coup turns Myanmar’s fallen angel back into a freedom fighter
James Trottier: “It was the appalling persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority that provided the wedge issue the military thought could destroy [Aung San Suu Kyi] and her party. It was a lose/lose situation for her and exposed the real price of the Faustian bargain she had struck.”
Canada’s tax return system jeopardizes the privacy of millions of Canadians
Michael Beauvais: “Taxpayers are entitled to trust that their personal information will not be sold to the highest bidder by online filing products provided by private companies. Taxpayers are entitled to expect that they can file their tax returns digitally and directly with the CRA.”
Laurentian University becomes a victim of a failing business model
Konrad Yakabuski: “But while the pandemic certainly exacerbated Laurentian’s woes, it is not the cause of a financial crisis that had been unfolding well before COVID-19 struck. The new model of Canadian university funding has created winners and losers among postsecondary institutions – and Laurentian is among the losers.”
LIVING BETTER
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Canadian snowbirds weigh COVID-19 quarantine costs against tax and health insurance consequences
While it may seem the path of least resistance, opting to remain in a U.S. winter home longer than usual could cause snowbirds some serious expenses this year – not to mention headaches. The federal government is now requiring Canadians returning from abroad to get a COVID-19 test and fork over the money for a hotel stay while awaiting test results. But depending on the particulars of your health insurance and tax situation, experts say, it may be prohibitively costly or risky to stay.
Rents are dropping during the pandemic, which makes now the time to renegotiate
In a development made possible by the COVID-19 pandemic but welcomed by residential rental experts, it’s never been a better time to rent a living space in most parts of Canada. And as rents have gone down, landlords have grown more willing to renegotiate with their tenants. This represents an opportunity for some people to move to a better home or save money on their current residence. Says one expert: “I’m sure the landlord would prefer to have a chance at negotiating versus losing a tenant, especially a great tenant.”
TODAY’S LONG READ
Lifting the veil of secrecy on MindGeek’s online pornography empire
Tomorrow, in a testimony to a House of Commons committee on privacy and ethics, two of the men behind one of the world’s most successful pornography giants will face questions about allegedly non-consensual material that has appeared on their websites.
The hearings into pornography platforms could have sweeping effects on Montreal-based MindGeek’s lucrative business model. Until recent high-profile stories emerged about questionable user-generated content on its flagship site, PornHub, CEO Feras Antoon, COO David Tassillo and silent partner Bernd Bergmair have been mostly shielded from public view.
In this investigative feature, The Globe’s Joe Castaldo follows the trail to learn how MindGeek emerged from smaller pornography-industry players and eventually came to dominate with a combination of professional content creation and publishing, user-generated “tube” model publishing, advertising sales and other techniques.
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