Morning Update: What Meng’s lawyers are examining; recapping a Super Bowl snoozer

Good morning,

These are the top stories:

Meng Wanzhou’s lawyers are exploring a defence alleging U.S. political motivation

“The political overlay of this case is remarkable,” said Richard Peck, the lead counsel for Meng in her extradition case. “That’s probably the one thing that sets it apart from any other extradition case I’ve ever seen. It’s got this cloud of politicization hanging over it.” (for subscribers)

His team is weighing a defence based partly on the abuse of the Canadian legal process, and another one which would question whether Meng’s alleged role in U.S. sanctions violations would be deemed criminal under Canadian law. Both of those defence strategies would echo comments made by John McCallum, who was fired as Canada’s ambassador to China.

Meanwhile, Canada’s financial sector is warning telecom companies to prepare for a future without access to Huawei’s equipment for 5G wireless networks. CIBC analysts say Telus and BCE are pushing for “no Huawei ban at all,” but at the moment, “that seems like wishful thinking.” (for subscribers)

David Shribman writes that the U.S.-China trade war and Washington’s indictments against Huawei have underscored the “unusual alignment between President Donald Trump and his Democratic rivals on the vexing problem of Beijing.”

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The New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams in a low-scoring Super Bowl

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The first half closed out with the Patriots up just 3-0, with the only touchdown finally coming in the fourth quarter – a Super Bowl record. With a final score of 13-3, David Shoalts says the contest was “so bad that Maroon 5 was the best group of players at the game.”

Quarterback Tom Brady, now 41, became the first player in NFL history to win six championships. It was also the sixth title for the Patriots, who are now tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most titles.

Meanwhile, Unifor refused to back off on airing its Canadian Super Bowl ad that called General Motors greedy and “un-Canadian.” GM, which last year announced plans to shutter its Oshawa plant, accused Unifor of “misleading the Canadian public.” (for subscribers)

From The Handmaid’s Tale to Serena Williams, subscribers can go here for a full rundown of this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

Canada says it opposes U.S. military intervention in Venezuela

On the same day that Donald Trump said military intervention is “an option,” a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland emphasized that “the restoration of democracy must be driven by Venezuelans themselves.”

The remarks come as Canada and its Lima Group allies – 13 North and South American countries, excluding the U.S. – gather in Ottawa today to discuss the crisis and urge the international community to recognize self-declared interim president Juan Guaido. Eight European countries have recognized Mr. Guaido’s leadership, including Germany, Austria, Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Denmark. They said they would support Guaido if President Nicolas Maduro doesn’t immediately announce new, free and fair elections.

Canadian Council for the Americas president Ken Frankel writes: “Canada’s Lima Group experience could be a jumping-off point to a more ambitious leadership role in the region, particularly as the United States pulls back from its support for human rights and democracy around the world.”

Nearly two Albertans are dying every day of fentanyl overdoses

A total of 582 people died of fentanyl-linked overdoses from Jan. 1, 2018 through Nov. 11, 2018, a jump from 463 during the same period in 2017. In Calgary, which recorded 271 of those deaths, residents are now more likely to die from an opioid overdose than a car accident, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said. Calgary’s only supervised drug-use site has been met with some pushback from residents who have reported an increase in breaking and entering.

In Southwestern Ontario, Marcus Gee reports from a Brantford Tim Hortons, where the toll of the crisis is in full view. The 24-hour location has become an “informal clubhouse, a place to get out of the cold, chat with friends and buy and use drugs. The men’s room has a couple of dozen spent needles in the yellow safe-disposal bin on the wall.”

Advocates have called on Ontario’s government to declare a state of emergency over opioids, and to remove a cap on the number of consumption sites.

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is refusing to resign over a racist photo in a 1984 medical-school yearbook showing a man in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. Northam apologized on Friday, but on Saturday said he wasn’t in the photo. He has lost support from a wide swath of the state’s Democratic and Republican politicians.

The Halifax-based spiritual leader of the Shambhala Buddhist organization is being urged to “take responsibility for the harm he has caused” for allegedly having inappropriate sexual contact with his followers. The Shambhala governing council says Mipham Rinpoche, whose title “Sakyong” translates roughly to “king,” should “express true sympathy” for his actions.

Surrey RCMP have arrested 35-year-old Daon Glasgow, the suspect in the shooting of a transit police officer on a SkyTrain platform. The arrest brings to an end a manhunt that began after the non-fatal shooting last Wednesday.

MORNING MARKETS

Stocks mixed

Global stocks remained near two-month highs on Monday with the dollar and oil chalking up gains, though some European bourses struggled as momentum from last week’s U.S. employment and manufacturing data bounce started to fade. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.5 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.2 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 per cent by about 6:35 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 down by between 0.3 and 0.6 per cent. New York futures were up, though not by much. The Canadian dollar was at 76.36 US cents. Brent crude hit a two-month high above $63 a barrel as OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s petroleum industry offset forecasts of weaker demand and an economic slowdown.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

All it took for the world to forget Jamal Khashoggi’s murder were Saudi Arabia’s petro-dollars

“The murder led to worldwide condemnation and – in places like Canada – unease about economic ties to a country that has the second-largest reserves of the world’s petroleum, and pumps many of those petrodollars into arms-makers in the West. And yet, at Davos – where political leaders and elites mingle annually in the name of the global liberal order – we’ve seen just how little the world really cares about that moral reckoning.” – Rashid Husain Syed, Toronto-based journalist, consultant and energy analyst

Welcome to the Asian century

“Asians once again see themselves as the center of the world – and its future. The Asian economic zone – from the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey in the west to Japan and New Zealand in the east, and from Russia in the north to Australia in the south – now represents 50 per cent of global GDP and two-thirds of global economic growth.” – Parag Khanna, author of The Future Is Asian

Let’s make 2019 the year Canada finally gets pharmacare

“If the Trudeau government is serious [about reforms], it has to ensure that whatever it proposes under the banner of “pharmacare" is actually pharmacare. Pharmacare means 100 per cent of Canadians covered by comprehensive drug insurance. It means zero per cent of Canadians unable to fill a prescription due to cost. And it means reining in Canada’s high drug bill through an improved system of regulation, negotiation and centralized buying.” – Globe editorial

LIVING BETTER

Can researchers bring a brain-stimulation remedy for depression out of clinics and into the home?

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) – a safe, effective non-invasive treatment that brings relief to patients who do not respond to antidepressants – remains out of reach for most Canadians because most provinces don’t fund it, and the cost at private clinics can be out of reach. But now, Wency Leung reports, researchers have investigated a way to make rTMS more efficient, cost-effective and accessible.

MOMENT IN TIME

Children in Africville, 1967

For more than 100 years, The Globe and Mail has preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. In February, we’re focusing on Canada’s black history.

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In 1967, Globe and Mail photographer Erik Christensen visited Africville, north of Halifax, while touring the country for a centennial series. The seaside village was founded in the mid-18th century by white families, including slave traders, but after the abolition of slavery in 1834, black families bought land and created a thriving community, with a church renowned across the region for announcing in song every birth, death and vow of love and devotion. By the time Christensen got there, however, Africville was vanishing. More than a century of neglect and abuse by authorities saw taxes collected, but municipal services denied. The church was razed in the middle of the night. Land was expropriated and homes were bulldozed – the last one in 1969. In his notes, Christensen wrote that these children were wary of strangers. He got them to pose for a single shot. And then they were gone. – Massimo Commanducci

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