RCMP dive team members return from a dive in the Nelson River in Northern Manitoba on Sunday evening. The team searched eddies beyond the the lower rapids near where a banged up rowboat was spotted on Friday. The dive team was assisting in the search for triple murder suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Good morning,
These are the top stories:
The manhunt for the B.C. fugitives – and the never-ending debate on the role of pop culture
RCMP officers have found several items “directly linked” to fugitives Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod on the shore of the Nelson River in Northern Manitoba. The latest search effort, now coming to an end, was triggered by the spotting of a wrecked rowboat on Friday. Police are still no closer to finding the two men wanted in three deaths.
In the absence of any clear motivation for the killings, the focus has turned to the pair’s online behaviour, which includes an interest in Nazi symbolism as well as first-person shooter video games. The impact of cultural consumption on a person’s behaviour has been raised for decades, with lawsuits and inquests probing comic books, films and music in various youth-perpetrated crimes. Experts say it’s “clutching at straws” in the search for answers.
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A Vancouver doctor has been cleared of wrongdoing over an assisted death at a nursing home
The province’s physician’s regulator says Ellen Wiebe didn’t break the rules when she helped end the life of a resident at an Orthodox Jewish nursing home that forbids assisted death. Wiebe snuck into the facility in 2017 to conduct the end-of-life procedure.
The case is believed to be the first time a medical regulator has offered a decision on whether doctors can be punished for going against the wishes of faith-based facilities opposed to assisted dying – and it could have implications for physicians, patients and religious health sites across Canada.
The former CannTrust CEO warned the ex-chairman of governance problems
On Dec. 31, 2018 – at a time CannTrust was growing thousands of cannabis plants in unlicensed rooms – then-CEO Peter Aceto wrote a letter to then-chairman Eric Paul saying “Management often receives conflicting instructions from board members. … and when decisions are made, they are often second-guessed.”
The letter doesn’t mention illegal growing; The Globe previously reported that Aceto and Paul were informed about the unlicensed rooms as early as November. Aceto, the former CEO of Tangerine Bank, was fired “with cause” by CannTrust, while Paul was forced to resign.
When asked about the letter and whether he had done anything to stop the illegal activity, Aceto told The Globe: “I did act. But again, this is not the proper forum to discuss details.”
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
China’s new ambassador to Canada: Cong Peiwu, who recently served as director-general of China’s Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, is expected to be named Beijing’s next envoy to Canada. In the early 2000s, Cong was posted to the embassy in Ottawa. Canada, meanwhile, has been without an ambassador to China since January.
Takeover battle for Transat: The company that operates Air Transat is urging shareholders to reject a takeover offer from Montreal real-estate developer Group Mach, calling the plan “misleading and coercive.” Mach is seeking to block a takeover of Transat by Air Canada.
RCMP raid property after off-duty officer finds cannabis plants: A homeowner in Revelstoke, B.C., is outraged that the RCMP took out a search warrant when an off-duty Mountie participating in a community fundraiser spotted three small cannabis plants in her garden.
Cautious calm returns as White House softens trade war rhetoric: A cautious calm returned to stock markets on Wednesday as softer rhetoric from Washington on the U.S.-China trade war soothed investors, though demand for safe-haven assets underscored lingering anxiety. Europe’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.7 per cent, recovering from a three-day sell-off as investors fled after an escalation in the trade war. MSCI’s world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, rose 0.2 per cent. Tokyo’s Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite each lost 0.3 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.7 and 1.2 per cent by about 5:30 a.m. ET. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was below 75.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Toni Morrison transformed the texture of English
Dionne Brand: “Toni Morrison was the greatest writer in English of the 20th century and the 21st, since this century is still in its infancy. She had a remarkable body of work. Her imagination and intellect, immense. Morrison imagined what was never imagined before her in literature.” Novelist and poet Dionne Brand is a winner of the Governor-General’s Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
There’s an identity crisis at the core of Hong Kong’s protest paroxysms
Frank Ching: “If there had been a semblance of choice regarding Chinese nationality, then the sense of resentment today would not be as great. After all, Hong Kongers would have voluntarily decided to become citizens of the People’s Republic of China. They would not feel that the nationality had been foisted on them and, consequently, that their freedom was threatened – the root cause of these protests that show no sign of abating.” Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based journalist.
Trump’s Pakistan concessions only provoked India’s Kashmir move
Brahma Chellaney: “India’s action in revoking the special status of the mountainous northern region known as Jammu and Kashmir was driven not just by domestic factors, but by U.S. President Donald Trump’s looming Faustian bargain with the Pakistan-reared Afghan Taliban.” Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and the author of nine books.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Chronic exposure to even low levels of pollution could damage the brain, experts say
Air pollution has been linked to millions of deaths from heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. Now, a growing body of research suggests it could also be affecting the way people think and behave.
A 2017 study found Ontarians living near busy roadways were at a higher risk of developing dementia. And a new U.S. study showed that children exposed to higher levels of pollution were more anxious.
MOMENT IN TIME
Frances Oldham Kelsey wins award for keeping thalidomide out of the U.S.
(John F. Kennedy Presidential Library via Reuters)John F Kennedy Presidential Library via Reuters
Aug. 7, 1962: In presenting her with the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, John F. Kennedy praised Frances Oldham Kelsey of Cobble Hill, B.C., for her professionalism and unwavering integrity. In 1960, less than a month into her new job as a medical officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kelsey was assigned to review a new drug, thalidomide, first marketed in West Germany in 1957 as a sleeping pill, but later prescribed to treat morning sickness. The manufacturer, Chemie Grunenthal, insisted the drug was safe, but Kelsey found the evidence unconvincing. Years earlier, she learned some drugs can pass through the placental barrier and affect the fetus. Grunenthal continued to press, eager to get approval for the huge U.S. market. Kelsey resisted. Canada went ahead and approved it for sale in April, 1961. Soon, reports began to emerge from Germany and Britain of babies born with missing arms and legs to mothers who had taken thalidomide. Thousands of children around the world were violated by the drug, but babies in the United States were spared because one woman said no. – Massimo Commanducci
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Arik Ligeti