A Saudi Arabia flag is seen flying on Parliament Hill November 2, 2016 in Ottawa.DAVE CHAN/The Globe and Mail
A judge has rejected Ottawa's attempt to block a lawsuit over Saudi arms sales
The legal challenge aimed at blocking the $15-billion deal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia was brought forward after footage emerged last summer showing Canadian-made armoured vehicles being deployed in a Saudi neighbourhood. The federal government wanted the suit dismissed, but a federal judge ruled that the long-running controversy over arms sales to the Saudis merits fresh examination thanks to the footage from the summer.
According to export rules, Canada shouldn't ship arms to countries with a "persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens." When The Globe and Mail reported on the footage of the Canadian-made vehicles being used against Saudi Arabia's Shia minority population, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was "deeply concerned." She announced a probe of the incident, but those details have never been made public. This lawsuit will force the government to shed light on what happened.
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A private Toronto high school falsely guaranteed university admissions, parents allege
Foreign students were misled into thinking they would be granted admission into certain Ontario schools, including York University, if they enrolled at Royal Crown Academic School, according to allegations filed in small-claims court. The families of two students are looking to recover more than $20,000 each in tuition (for subscribers).
Ontario's private-school system is "one of the least regulated" in the country, according to a 2013 report from the province's Auditor-General. Private elementary schools aren't inspected, only "validated" to ensure that basic rules are followed. Private high schools that offer provincial diplomas are only checked to ensure they comply with credit regulations.
Donald Trump has signalled that he's open to comprehensive immigration reform
During a bipartisan meeting, Trump said he wanted to first reach an agreement for the roughly 700,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Last year, Trump ended Obama-era protections that prevented deportation. Trump has set a March deadline to solve that issue with what he called a "bill of love." Separately, he said he wanted to pursue widespread overhaul of immigration legislation that could result in citizenship for millions. But the President wants any agreement to address border security, which could include funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Meanwhile, Canada's Immigration Minister says the nearly 200,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. facing possible deportation aren't interested in coming north of the border. Ottawa has reached out to the Salvadoran community in the U.S., and they want to stay put, Ahmed Hussen said. But a member of the El Salvador Association of Windsor, Ont., said she has received inquiries from Salvadorans about the possibility of moving to Canada, if they can do so legally.
Concordia's creative-writing department has been hit with allegations of sexual harassment
On Monday, writer Mike Spry wrote a blog post about "the abuse of power and the normalization of sexualization of students by professors" at Concordia. That prompted responses on social media from former students, including novelist Heather O'Neill, who said harassment and power abuse was "pervasive" when she was enrolled in the late 1990s. She said the issue is "exactly the same" today. Concordia President Alan Shepard issued a statement saying sexual harassment allegations "are serious, and will be treated seriously." He added that the school's sexual violence and harassment policies are "a work in progress."
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Steve Bannon stepped down as executive chairman at Breitbart News
His exit from the conservative media outlet, which often shares false or misleading information, comes less than a week after his criticisms of Trump and his family were published in Michael Wolff's new book Fire and Fury. In it, Bannon appeared to refer to Donald Trump Jr.'s actions during the 2016 election campaign as "treasonous." But after Trump publicly derided his former White House strategist, calling him "Sloppy Steve," Bannon walked back some of his comments.
MORNING MARKETS
Markets mixed
Major government bond yields hit multimonth highs on Wednesday on heavy supply and as investors re-evaluated the likelihood of continued easy-money policies by the world's major central banks. Tokyo's Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, though Hong Kong's Hang Seng and the Shanghai composite each gained 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2 per cent by about 4:40 a.m. ET, while the Paris CAC 40 was up marginally and Germany's DAX was down 0.3 per cent. New York futures were down, and the Canadian dollar was just above 80 cents (U.S.). Oil was moving higher.
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
Senator Lynn Beyak is no free-speech martyr
"...The charge [being levelled at Beyak] is using her unelected position to promote the views of racists. It's what prompted Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to remove her from caucus last week. … This is not a free-speech issue. And it's a shame that Beyak is tarnishing that cause. As the Lindsay Shepherd fiasco at Wilfrid Laurier University demonstrated, the Canadian left has a tendency to stifle legitimate speech and cruelly go after perceived heretics. Beyak is not a victim of that tendency. She unrepentantly aired the most clear-cut and pernicious bigotry. For that – since she is a senator, unelected and unaccountable – her fate will be to sit as an unaffiliated member until she is 75 and then collect a fat pension. Some martyr." – Globe editorial
Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury won't hurt Trump
"Written by journalist Michael Wolff, the reign-of-error book was supposed to bury this President once and for all by establishing that he's darn-near certifiable. But don't count on it. Mr. Trump is surviving the crackpot chronicles well enough. In fact, the book will do him less harm and more good. Already has. Most importantly it is serving to unify a frayed Republican Party. It has led to the fall of party rebel Steve Bannon, who was running a campaign to torpedo the party establishment. … A fear was that the book would build momentum for an invocation of the 25th Amendment, which allows for the President to be removed if he is deemed unfit to serve. But no Republican has come forward to back up Mr. Wolff's no-brainer Trump account. Party members have rallied behind the President. There is no chance the amendment will be pursued." – Lawrence Martin
The blame game will not solve Toronto's homelessness
"Despite attempts by his critics to paint him as a callous plutocrat, [Toronto Mayor John Tory] thinks a lot about poverty and inequality in the city he leads. He just happens to think that he should listen to expert advice before yielding to pressure to act, act, act. The barrier isn't a lack of resources, either. Toronto is spending millions to create new shelter space. The federal government is spending billions on housing. One of its aims is to curb homelessness. This problem is just exceptionally hard. … [That doesn't mean] we should just throw up our hands and accept that the homeless are beyond help. It does mean that we should lower the temperature, pay attention to the facts and stop trying to assign blame. Choosing a scapegoat will not bring a single person in from the cold." – Marcus Gee (for subscribers)
HEALTH PRIMER
I'm going skiing, so how do I fall without injuring myself?
Falling comes with the territory when learning how to ski. If you feel like you're losing control, concentrate on where you want to land. "If you're focusing on where you don't want to go, that's probably where you're going to go," says Jason Young of the Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance. Then, make sure to fall to your side and slightly back. That'll ensure you don't tumble down the hill head-first.
MOMENT IN TIME
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks divorce
Jan. 10, 1936: When the wildly successful Toronto-born actress Mary Pickford married fellow Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks (after a secret love affair of three years' standing), it was big celebrity news in the spring of 1920. She was "America's Sweetheart," he was "Everybody's Hero," and the movie-going public was delighted – contrary to fears of a public backlash over their recent divorces – that the two had joined in marriage. When the honeymooners arrived in Europe, they were mobbed by fans in London, Paris and elsewhere. Returning to Beverly Hills, they reigned as Hollywood royalty from Pickfair, their hilltop mansion, where they entertained luminaries as diverse as Helen Keller and Noël Coward, Albert Einstein and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It should have been a long marriage: The pair had much in common, not only as pioneering film stars but also as canny producers who, along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, had formed the independent studio United Artists in 1919. But they separated in 1933 when word emerged of Fairbanks's infidelity with a young socialite. Divorce followed early in 1936. With the silent-film era well over, both Pickford and Fairbanks soon retired from the screen. – Christopher Harris
Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.
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