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China appears to have targeted Justin Trudeau in a foreign influence operation after he became Liberal Leader in 2013, according to a national security source who said Beijing’s plan involved donating a significant sum of money to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
The source said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service captured a conversation in 2014 between an unnamed commercial attaché at one of China’s consulates in Canada and billionaire Zhang Bin, a political adviser to the government in Beijing and a senior official in China’s network of state promoters around the world.
They discussed the federal election that was expected to take place in 2015, and the possibility that the Liberals would defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and form the next government. The source said the diplomat instructed Zhang to donate $1-million to the Trudeau Foundation, and told him the Chinese government would reimburse him for the entire amount.
- TikTok banned on all mobile devices owned by Canadian government
- Editorial: Shine a light on China’s election meddling. Call a public inquiry
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during an announcement in Mississauga, Ont., February 27, 2023.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
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Rishi Sunak reaches deal with the EU to end trade dispute over Northern Ireland
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reached a deal with the European Union to resolve one of the thorniest problems arising from Britain’s decision to leave the bloc: how to manage trade in Northern Ireland.
Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the “Windsor Framework” yesterday, an agreement that will govern the movement of goods between Ireland and Northern Ireland, something that bedevilled two previous prime ministers and led to a political stalemate in Belfast.
But the deal is far from final, and Sunak will now have to win over skeptics in his Conservative Party caucus and politicians in Northern Ireland who do not want the EU to have any role in the province’s affairs.
Canada Soccer president resigns amid quarrel with national teams
Nick Bontis resigned as president of the board of Canada Soccer yesterday amid calls for change from provincial and territorial federations, and as discontent continues to grow among the women’s and men’s national teams over a long-running labour dispute.
His sudden departure comes two weeks after the women’s national team threatened to boycott a high-profile tournament over what they described as biased treatment by Canada Soccer, and deep budget cuts to training programs in the run-up to this summer’s Women’s World Cup.
Under Bontis’s watch, a series of embarrassing incidents had marred the sport at a moment that it has captured the country’s imagination, after the women won gold at the Olympics in 2021 and the men conquered their continental division on the way to qualifying for the FIFA World Cup last November.
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Also on our radar
New drug dramatically altering lives of cystic fibrosis patients: A drug called Trikafta, which Health Canada approved in June of 2021, is giving people with cystic fibrosis completely different futures, making it easier for them to have children and imagine life beyond their thirties.
Tory MPs knew about far-right German politician, organizers say: The people who arranged a lunchtime meeting between three Conservative MPs and controversial far-right German politician Christine Anderson are disputing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s claim that the Canadian legislators went into the gathering with no knowledge of Anderson’s views.
Alberta, B.C. to release budgets: Alberta, which yesterday became the seventh province to strike a bilateral deal with Ottawa on health care funding, will unveil its provincial budget today. Premier Danielle Smith has said more money will be directed toward the Health Department. British Columbia’s financial status will not be as rosy as it has been over the past year, Finance Minister Katrine Conroy says. The NDP government will release its budget today.
TD agrees to pay US$1.21-billion to settle lawsuit: Toronto-Dominion Bank has agreed to pay US$1.21-billion to settle a lawsuit from investors accusing it of contributing to one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes. The bank was accused of missing or ignoring red flags in a scheme led by Allen Stanford, a former Texas billionaire whose financial empire unravelled in 2009 to reveal a US$7.2-billion fraud.
Telecoms on buying spree of independent providers: Canada’s biggest telecommunications companies are on a buying spree of small competitors, arguing that the acquisitions will help them expand their footprints and lower-cost offerings. But independent players say the spate of takeovers is a bid to quash competition from smaller firms, which are in a vulnerable state at the moment.
Ontario has enough land for new homes without touching Greenbelt, report says: Ontario already had enough land designated to build two million new homes – more than its overall goal of 1.5 million over the next decade – before it decided to release parts of the protected Greenbelt and force municipalities to earmark even more farmland for housing, according to new research.
Morning markets
Inflation fears hit global shares: Global equities slipped and bond yields hit multi-year highs on Tuesday after consumer prices hit a record in France and accelerated in Spain, adding to expectations that major central banks will need to continue tightening policy. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.43 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were off 0.07 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei ended up 0.08 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.79 per cent. New York futures were modestly lower. The Canadian dollar was down slightly at 73.62 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
André Picard: “Let’s get on with the pan-Canadian licensure of all health professionals, without delay. How are we ever going to implement the reforms needed to bolster Canada’s crumbling health system if we can’t even do the simple, non-controversial stuff?”
Nina L. Khrushcheva: “At least the Bolshevik secret police exerted deadly control over society for the sake of moving the Russia of the czars into the industrialized future. Russia was, after all, the first country to launch a satellite, and then a person, into space. Mr. Putin’s cultural crackdown, by contrast, will succeed only in driving Russia backward.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon by Brian Gable, Feb 27, 2023.Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Too much coffee may harm kidney function in some people, study finds
While some research has suggested that coffee protects against chronic kidney disease, other studies have linked it to impaired kidney function.
Now, new findings from the University of Toronto and Italy’s University of Padova suggest the link between coffee and kidney dysfunction depends on your genetics – and how much of it you drink.
Moment in time: Feb. 28, 1983
Cast of "M*A*S*H", 1979.CBS
Over 105 million viewers tune in to final episode of M*A*S*H*
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen: a fitting title for the finale of the M*A*S*H series, which aired 251 episodes after the series made its debut on Sept. 17, 1972. Following the antics of doctors and nurses caring for wounded soldiers at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (hence the title acronym) in South Korea, it was set during the Korean War but was widely considered to be antiwar commentary related to Vietnam, which was still raging during the first three years of the CBS show’s run. Starring Alan Alda as Captain Benjamin (Hawkeye) Pierce, M*A*S*H (which was based on a 1970 movie, in turn based on a novel) brilliantly paired eccentric comedy with serious drama, earning it 14 Emmys and a Peabody Award during its 10½ years on air. The seminal show’s final shot – the word “goodbye” spelled out in stones – may have been a message fellow captain B.J. Hunnicutt left for Hawkeye in that episode’s plot line, but it was also clearly directed at the 105.9 million viewers who tuned in that night, making the feature-film-length finale the most watched episode of TV in U.S. history for 37 years, until it was eclipsed by the 2010 Super Bowl. Rasha Mourtada
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