Lai Changxing is led away in handcuffs from an immigration hearing in Vancouver on July 11, 2011. The alleged smuggler's deportation back to China appears imminent as Canadian authorities recently placed him in custody.Simon Hayter/The Globe and Mail
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
Canada deports hundreds to China each year with no treatment guarantee
The Canadian government deports hundreds of people to China each year without any assurances they will not be tortured or mistreated, statistics provided to The Globe and Mail reveal. Canada and China do not have a formal extradition treaty. The Trudeau government has signaled it may not complete a deal with China over concern over abuse. But not having a deal has not stopped Canada from sending people back to China. The Canada Border Services Agency has expelled 1,386 people to China over the past three years, according to agency statistics.
Mishandling of sex-assault cases violates right to equality, lawsuit alleges
A lawsuit filed against a police officer and the London Police Services Board alleges the Western University student whose sexual-assault allegation was dismissed as "unfounded" by the officer who relied on rape myths and stereotypes during his investigation was the victim of systemic discrimination based on gender. The claim argues that systemic police mishandling of sexual-assault cases violates a woman's Charter right to equality. "The LPS handling of sexual assault claims reveals a pattern of discriminatory conduct and attitudes against victims of sexual assault," alleges the statement of claim, which has not been proven in court.
Bombardier delays most executive pay hikes amid rise in public anger
Bombardier is postponing most planned pay hikes to six executives amid public outrage and growing pressure from politicians in Quebec. The move comes after renewed signs of anger over the hefty planned pay hikes. About 200 protesters voiced their outrage at the pay increases at Bombardier's Montreal headquarters on Sunday, hikes characterized as "inappropriate" and "indecent" in light of taxpayer aid and company layoffs. The compensation came during a year in which the company laid off thousands, finalized an investment deal from Quebec and obtained a $372.5-million pledge in assistance from Ottawa.
Health-care providers decry Ontario's assisted-death process
Health-care providers on both sides of the euthanasia debate say Ontario's system for connecting patients seeking assisted deaths with co-operative doctors is failing the grievously ill and pressuring doctors who want no part of the new law. Medical aid in dying has been legal in the province for 10 months. But Ontario still has no public co-ordinating service helping patients or their families to find doctors willing to perform assisted-death assessments and administer lethal drugs. Instead, Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is keeping a confidential roster of medical-aid-in-dying providers, the names of which are available only to other clinicians making referrals. Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins is promising to set up a co-ordinating service later this year.
Non-Indigenous man welcomed as member by First Nation
In a ground-breaking demonstration of kinship and independence, Fort William First Nation has accepted Damien Lee, who is neither a status Indian nor Indigenous, as a full-fledged member. As many other First Nations take legal action to limit membership and to exclude even Indigenous people who marry outsiders, Fort William First Nation this year accepted four people as members who do not possess Indian status, which is recognition by Ottawa that a person is registered under the Indian Act and entitled to the accompanying funding and benefits. Experts contacted by The Globe and Mail could not point to another Indian Act community that, like Fort William, has opened its membership to non-status people.
MORNING MARKETS
Global stock markets and the U.S. dollar started the second quarter on a positive note on Monday, although caution also set in as the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping loomed. Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.4 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.6 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 and the Paris CAC 40 were down by up to 0.1 per cent by about 5:25 a.m. (ET), while Germany's DAX was up 0.3 per cent. New York futures were up, and the Canadian dollar was at just about 75 cents (U.S.). Brent crude futures were flat at $53.50 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were little changed at $50.58.
THE LOOKAHEAD
Canadian economic forecasters will tap a gold mine of illuminating economic data this week, as fresh numbers covering critical ingredients for Canada's economic recovery will shed considerable light on whether the economy's recent pick-up has staying power. Following last week's strong gross-domestic-product report for January (up 0.6 per cent month over month), pundits and policy makers will get updates on the state of trade, jobs and business sentiment – three vital components for sustaining the upturn that the economy has enjoyed not only in January, but for much of the past six months. The new numbers will be particularly timely for the Bank of Canada, as it spends the week in deliberations ahead of its interest-rate decision and quarterly economic-outlook update on April 12.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
"It's hard to measure what's happening inside the Conservative leadership race, but what we do know tells us this: Unless there are major game-changers, either Kevin O'Leary or Maxime Bernier will win. Two things must be injected into the race if a mathematical march to a Bernier-O'Leary final ballot is to be disrupted. One is some hate and the other is Machiavellian deal-making. Without them, the dozen other candidates, even potential compromise candidates, are doomed. Okay, that's admittedly too definitive for a race that's so hard to measure. But the point is the rules and dynamics of this 14-candidate race make the math hard for a 'consensus' candidate." – Campbell Clark
"British Columbia's spring grizzly bear hunt opened on the weekend. If the BC New Democratic Party wins the May 9 election, this will be the last time the bears will face trophy hunters as they emerge from hibernation, groggy and hungry. The BC Liberals maintain the hunt is sustainable, while both the NDP and the Greens have promised to end trophy hunting of this species, which plays an essential role in the ecosystem. Bryce Casavant is determined to make this an election issue – it is a prime reason he signed on as a candidate for the BC NDP in Oak Bay-Gordon Head. To make sure no one forgets it, his party campaign signs have been customized to include a logo of a bear. … Mr. Casavant says the province's claim of a science-based hunt is founded on 'junk data,' because not enough conservation officers are in the field to monitor grizzly populations or the number being killed. The province estimates it has 15,000 grizzlies, and last year hunters killed 235." – Justine Hunter (for subscribers)
"Now that the Trump administration has outlined what it wants in a renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement, it's time for Canada to post its own NAFTA 2.0 wish list. For many, killing Chapter 11 would be a good place to start. That's the provision that allows companies to directly sue governments for damages – one of the most controversial and maligned parts of the deal. It's worth recalling that Chapter 11 was put in NAFTA at the insistence of U.S. negotiators. Basically, the Americans didn't trust Mexican authorities to play fair with U.S. companies. They wanted an insurance policy in case Mexico arbitrarily nationalized key industries, as it had done in the oil business. Few would have imagined what actually happened. Canada has become the main target of Chapter 11 claims, which allow companies to seek compensation before quasi-judicial panels for investment losses caused by unjust government actions." – Barrie McKenna (for subscribers)
"Ontario has just trumped Quebec in designing and implementing an extraordinarily wasteful electric-vehicle (EV) subsidy policy. As of January, 2017, certain battery-powered vehicles qualify for purchase subsidies of up to $14,000. This follows hard on the heels of the Quebec government's Bill 104 that mandated minimum sales of electric vehicles for all major vehicle manufacturers, beginning in 2018. Ontario's purchase subsidies, which are similar to smaller subsidies available in Quebec and British Columbia, have been shown in a multitude of peer-reviewed environmental studies to be inefficient. They are also regressive, in that they provide the biggest benefits to buyers at the very top of the income distribution." – Ian Irvine, professor of economics at Concordia University and associate researcher at the Montreal Economic Institute
"Many have questioned what happened to the government's promise to dispatch up to 600 Canadians on a peacekeeping mission, a major pillar of the Liberal campaign platform and part of its 'Canada is back' mantra. With a major peacekeeping conference scheduled this fall, the government has to choose one of two things: Abandon the promise to enter into peacekeeping operations or restart the process to find the location which will be most suitable for Canada. The decisions the government considers will be influenced by Canada's fiscal condition – especially as concerns the defence budget. Also, the Trump administration's review of UN funding and the utility of UN missions recently announced at the UN by U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley will be in contradiction to the government's desire to reinforce the 'Canada is back' idea, and equally affect the presumptive search for a Security Council seat." – George Petrolekas, fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute
HEALTH PRIMER
Leslie Beck: Here's how six common nutrition beliefs hold up to the science
Hardly a day goes by without one hearing some piece of diet advice, be it sound, questionable or just plain quackery. We're surrounded by nutrition conversations – on social media, in magazines and books, on the news, at the gym, even at the hair salon. With so many trends, fads, opinions and "experts" out there, it's easy to get confused – and become frustrated. Sometimes it's hard to know just what to eat. (To be fair, even legitimate nutrition experts differ in opinion, often the result of evolving, back-and-forth science.) So I'm taking a science-based look at six nutrition beliefs that keep bouncing around. Chances are, you've heard a few of them and, perhaps, even based your diet around one or two.
MOMENT IN TIME
Russian-American telegraph line is abandoned April 3, 1867: The ambitious plan to build an overland telegraph line from San Francisco to Moscow (with one marine stretch under the Bering Strait) was conceived as an alternative to the problem-plagued efforts to link North America to Europe via cable under the Atlantic Ocean. The colony of British Columbia – which the Russian-American line would pass through – was agreeable, and construction went on there for two years. But the completion of a transatlantic cable rendered the Pacific project moot, and it was killed in 1867. In an editorial, The Globe noted the telegraph faced a business reality others should keep in mind: It cost too much with little prospect of generating revenue. "We would suggest that the best thing will be to wind up the affairs of this exhausted company, and hold up the scheme itself as a warning for the future." – Richard Blackwell
Morning Update is written by Steven Proceviat.
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