Morning Update: Trudeau to offer well above $100-billion for health care over 10 years

Good morning,

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will table a funding offer considerably higher than $100-billion to help fix the country’s struggling health care system when he sits down with provincial premiers and territorial leaders today, according to a senior federal source.

The 10-year funding proposal from Ottawa will include tens of billions of dollars of new money as well as earlier planned increases to the Canada Health Transfer [CHT], the source said. The provinces are already scheduled to get a 9.5-per-cent increase in health care transfers this year, amounting to $49.4-billion from the $45.2-billion in projected payments in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

A large sum of the new money will be set aside for separate bilateral deals that will target key areas such as primary care, according to the federal source. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to discuss the federal offer.

• Campbell Clark: Enough talk. Get that health care deal done and move on to actually fixing the system
• Trudeau is meeting with Canada’s premiers to reach a new health care funding deal. Here’s what to know

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 other Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.

Rescuers scramble in Turkey, Syria after 7.8-magnitude earthquake kills thousands

Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into the morning, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 5,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.

Authorities feared the death toll from yesterday’s pre-dawn earthquake and aftershocks would keep climbing as rescuers looked for survivors among tangles of metal and concrete spread across the region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.

Survivors cried out for help from within mountains of debris as first responders contended with rain and snow. Seismic activity continued to rattle the region, including another jolt nearly as powerful as the initial quake. Workers carefully pulled away slabs of concrete and reached for bodies as desperate families waited for news of loved ones.

• Canadian Turkish diaspora stepping up to help after massive earthquake
• In Photos: Thousands dead as devastating earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria
• Earthquake felt in Ontario is largest to hit Buffalo area in decades

CBC signals plan to go digital-only as audience shifts to streaming

The head of the CBC says it is preparing to end traditional TV and radio broadcasts and move completely digital, as audiences shift to streaming, but the move is unlikely to happen over the next decade.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail, Catherine Tait, president and CEO of the CBC, said the broadcaster is eventually preparing to move online “in order to remain relevant.”

She said more and more Canadians are “moving to streaming” while the CBC is “sitting here loyally broadcasting over the air waves.”

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop

Also on our radar

Many Bay Street analysts see rate cuts later this year: Many Bay Street analysts expect the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates later this year as inflation cools and economic growth stalls, according to a survey published for the first time by the bank yesterday.

Ottawa to repatriate Canadian children in Syria: Ottawa has offered to repatriate Canadian children held in detention camps in northeast Syria, but their foreign mothers are being told they can’t come to Canada because they are not citizens. Four mothers and their Canadian children are held in a Kurdish-run camp for those with suspected ties to the Islamic State. The fate of their children, who have Canadian citizenship through their fathers, has been the focus of human-rights organizations and lawyers seeking their return to Canada.

Quebec funding help for asylum seekers: Quebec is increasing its funding to community groups that help refugee claimants as the province grapples with a sharp increase of people coming through the unofficial border crossing at Roxham Road, south of Montreal. The announcement came on the same day the mayor of New York revealed that his administration helps provide bus tickets to migrants looking to leave the city, including those travelling north to claim asylum in Canada.

Canada, Commonwealth face difficult dilemma over Zimbabwe bid: After allowing a wave of authoritarian regimes to become members in recent years, the Commonwealth and member states such as Canada are now pondering one of their toughest dilemmas: whether to approve Zimbabwe’s bid to rejoin their club.

Morning markets

Global markets steady: The steepest market sell-off of the year so far looked to be fizzling out on Tuesday, as traders waited to see if the head of the Federal Reserve gives any new insights later on where interest rates are heading. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.49 per cent. Germany’s DAX slid 0.05 per cent. France’s CAC 40 added 0.10 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed off 0.03 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.36 per cent. New York futures were modestly higher. The Canadian dollar was up at 74.58 US cents.

What everyone’s talking about

Editorial: “There is a need for a sensible discussion about how some semi-automatic hunting rifles are capable of firing ammunition that is far more powerful than any hunter would want, and which can turn a legitimate civilian firearm into a tool of mass murder and destruction. The Liberals, however, will need to consult extensively – especially with hunters and other legitimate firearms owners – before they can be trusted on the issue again.”

Michael Byers: “U.S. President Joe Biden has been criticized for allowing the Chinese balloon to fly across the United States for days before ordering it shot down. Republicans have argued that the delay made him look weak. However, the audience that matters most is Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he is more likely to see the co-ordinated responses by both Canada and the U.S. as a show of strength.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

Living better

Tiny wines find home in B.C.’s market, as Canadians consider reducing consumption

Multiple British Columbia wineries over the past several years have begun offering their product in smaller, single-serve cans and bottles. Along with making wine more attractive to those looking to toss some in a backpack or sip on the golf course, the petite containers leave wineries with options for a potential shift in mindset as Canadians discuss the health benefits of reducing alcohol consumption.

Moment in time: Feb. 7, 1965

Viola Desmond dies

Nine years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., Halifax businesswoman Viola Desmond took a stand against racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, N.S., by refusing to leave a whites-only area. The ticket seller handed Ms. Desmond a ticket to the balcony. She thought it was a mistake so she sat where she had requested – on the main floor. Desmond was arrested, jailed overnight and convicted without legal representation for an obscure tax offence. The Nova Scotian Black community helped with her appeal, which made it all the way to the provincial Supreme Court. But Ms. Desmond remained unpardoned in her lifetime. Eventually, she moved to New York, where she died in 1965 at age 50. In 2000, Desmond’s younger sister, Wanda Robson took up the fight and 10 years later – more than six decades after her incarceration on trumped-up charges – Ms. Desmond was posthumously pardoned by the Nova Scotia Legislature. Her brave stand inspired generations of Black people in Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada. In 2016, she became the first Canadian woman to be featured by herself on a banknote – the $10 bill. Gayle MacDonald

Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.

If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.