Evening Update: Canadian sentenced to death in China on drug charges; Philpott replaces Brison at Treasury Board as Trudeau shuffles cabinet

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Canadian sentenced to death in China on drug charges

A Chinese court has sentenced to death Canadian Robert Schellenberg, calling him a “core member” of an organized international drug-trafficking conspiracy.

The court in Dalian issued its verdict today barely an hour after the trial concluded. The stunningly quick decision stands to heighten tensions between China and Canada, Nathan VanderKlippe writes. Critics say Mr. Schellenberg’s case has become political following the December arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly deplored China’s decision to impose the death penalty, accusing China of acting arbitrarily and said the Canadian government will do all it can to convince Beijing not to execute Mr. Schellenberg.

Mr. Schellenberg had been sentenced last year to 15 years in prison as an accomplice to drug smuggling. But on Dec. 29, he was ordered to face retrial after prosecutors citing new evidence said he was involved in organized international drug trafficking, a crime whose maximum sentence is execution.

Jane Philpott replaces Scott Brison at Treasury Board as Trudeau shuffles cabinet

With nine months to go before the next federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shuffled his cabinet, moving three ministers and elevating two. Jane Philpott becomes Treasury Board president, moving from Indigenous Services. Veterans Affairs minister Seamus O’Regan will take over her duties there, and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould moves to Veterans Affairs.

Joining cabinet for the first time is David Lametti, who becomes Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada, and Bernadette Jordan, who takes on the newly created position of Minister of Rural Economic Development.

Departing Treasury Board President Scott Brison triggered the shuffle with his announcement late last week that he was stepping down from cabinet after deciding not to run for re-election.

Ontario court rejects call for expedited review of Taverner’s OPP appointment

An Ontario judge has refused to order the province’s Ombudsman to conduct an expedited review of the appointment Toronto Police Service Superintendent Ron Taverner, a close friend of Premier Doug Ford, as head of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The matter is still under review by the province’s Integrity Commissioner. Supt. Taverner has deferred taking the OPP position until this review is complete in several weeks' time.

The Ontario divisional court must still consider the question of whether it should force a review by the Ontario Ombudsman, which so far has declined to launch its own probe.

A Globe investigation has found Supt. Taverner met with Premier Ford multiple times in the months leading up to his appointment, including a dinner with Mario Di Tommaso, the hiring official who vetted him for the high-profile position.

Canada’s Goldcorp to be swallowed by Newmont in $10-billion deal

Goldcorp is being swallowed by U.S. major Newmont Mining in a US$10-billion acquisition that sees Canada’s second-biggest gold miner by production sell at a 17-year low in its share price, Niall McGee writes (for subscribers).

This is the second huge mergers-and-acquisitions deal in the global gold sector in the past few months. Barrick Gold closed its US$6-billion acquisition of Randgold Resources a few weeks ago, in a deal that left Barrick with a hollowed-out head office, almost no Canadian representation on the board and few Canadians in top management positions.

Opinion: “Canadian investors and managers have proven time after time that they’re happier to sell rather than build, happy to take a quick buck rather than take a long-term gamble on a double or triple,” Eric Reguly writes. “The cost of doing so is a hollowed-out corporate sector – a branch-plant economy.”

‘Grave uncertainty’ awaits U.K. if MPs don’t back Brexit plan, May says on eve of vote

British Prime Minister Theresa May has made a last-ditch effort to win support in Parliament for her deal to leave the European Union, but she has made little progress and the United Kingdom appears headed for a chaotic Brexit, Paul Waldie writes.

MPs will vote on her deal tomorrow evening and are expected to widely reject it. The result will throw the Brexit process into turmoil with less than three months to go before Britain is supposed to leave the EU on March 29.

A wave of Britons who call themselves “preppers” and are hoping for the best but preparing for widespread disruption and shortages: Sales of canned food and instant milk have jumped 10 per cent since October, according to a market research firm.

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MARKET WATCH

Outside of Canada, stock indexes fell today after a shock contraction in Chinese trade reignited fears of a sharper slowdown in global growth and caused investors to sell riskier assets (for subscribers). Adding to the gloom were weak industrial output numbers from the euro zone, which showed the largest fall in nearly three years.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.11 points to 23,909.84, the S&P 500 lost 13.65 points to end at 2,582.61 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 65.56 points to 6,905.92.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 36.35 points at 14,975.53. Seven of the index’s 11 major sectors were higher, led by a 4.4-per-cent jump in health care stocks as marijuana producers increased.

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Several Canadians take to the tennis courts today at the Australian Open amid punishing heat that could rise to 35 C in Melbourne. Mississauga teen Bianca Andreescu, who recently beat Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki en route to the final of the ASB Classic, will be in singles action, as will Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard. Read about the strong Canadian contingent here (for subscribers), and check tgam.ca/sports for the latest results and updates.

Ottawa police have identified the three people who died in a bus crash on Friday: Bruce Thomlinson, 56, Judy Booth, 57, and Anja Van Beek, 65, were all public servants.

Pawel Adamowicz, mayor of Gdansk, Poland, and a leading liberal critic of the populist, right-wing national government, died today after being stabbed at a charity concert Sunday night, the minister of health told reporters.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a staunch critic of socialized health care, plans to undergo hernia surgery in Canada - at a private hospital, his spokeswoman points out.

The eighth and final season of the popular HBO drama Game of Thrones is set to begin on April 14.

TALKING POINTS

Good riddance to Criminal Minds and female-subjugation porn

“It’s time for it to stop production because, increasingly, its fetishization of the kidnap, subjugation and torture of female characters looks out of touch, out of date and perverse. It carries the whiff of another age; an age when it was more acceptable to invite the audience to drool over scenes of a frightened woman in the clutches of a deviant male, and then cheer or shrug when the FBI turned up at the last minute to rescue her.” - John Doyle (for subscribers)

Canadian universities must stop undervaluing female academics

“Policies remain on paper while seats at the decision-making table are stacked with men, and for those women who get to the top floor, they are grossly underpaid. It is 2019 and Canadian universities need to live up to their progressive reputation.” - Bessma Momani, author and professor at the University of Waterloo

LIVING BETTER

Most of us don’t have time to prepare all of our meals from scratch, so we rely on packages foods such as sliced bread, canned tomatoes and store-bought condiments. But read ingredient lists and you may find that food additives are a bigger part of your diet than you thought, Leslie Beck writes. Here’s what you need to know about controversial synthetic additives – what they’re used for, which foods you’ll find them in and how to avoid them.

LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE

They came to Hong Kong for the hustle. Now, with China encroaching, they’re coming back to Canada

The sheen of opportunity and adventure that made Hong Kong into one of the world’s great gateways – the City of Life, as it calls itself – has dulled for some as the cost of living rises and the grip of China tightens, Nathan VanderKlippe writes.

According to a recent survey, nearly a third of the Hong Kong population is thinking about leaving the city of 7.4 million. Canada, as it has in the past, is playing an outsize role in their search for an alternative; Hong Kong has boasted an estimated 300,000 Canadian passport holders, enough to rank the Asian financial centre as the equivalent of one of Canada’s 20 most populous cities.

Many Hong Kong residents fled the island for Canada before it came under Chinese rule in 1997 – fearing Beijing’s power. They later returned for jobs. Now, the current of human movement has once again shifted, moving back toward Canada. It is for some a third cross-Pacific move. They call themselves the “re-returnees.” Globe subscribers, read the full story here.

‘Emotional trauma’: New therapy for couples undergoing fertility treatments targets relationship strife

Helplessness and hell: That’s how Mike Clabby describes the three years he and his wife, Lyndsey, spent trying to conceive. Both in their early thirties, they had been given the frustrating diagnosis of “unexplained infertility.” Three rounds of intrauterine insemination and two rounds of in vitro fertilization followed, as well as a miscarriage, Zosia Bielski writes.

There were tears and anger, with the two blaming themselves for not trying for a baby when they were younger. The agonizing experience tested their marriage.

“It’s the emotional trauma of your relationship going from two people in love who go for dinner and have fun, to having sex on a time clock,” said Mike Clabby, a senior bank executive in Mississauga, Ont., who is now 39. “It can make or break you." Read the full story here.

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