The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, March 14

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GET TOUGH ON CANADA, TRUMP PICK TOLD: U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for trade secretary is being urged to get tough with Canada. Robert Lighthizer is having his long-awaited confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate today. Some of the most pointed questions in the hearing involve issues of interest north of the border. Orrin Hatch, the Republican chair of the Senate finance committee, urged Lighthizer to get more aggressive in ensuring inspections of cargo from Canada for counterfeit or pirated products. The top Democrat on the committee, Ron Wyden, urged a similarly tough approach on softwood lumber, saying he was disappointed Trump didn’t raise it in his meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Lighthizer replied that there are several trade issues involving Canada — and softwood lumber is atop the list.

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HOME PRICES POST RECORD FEBRUARY INCREASE: Canadian home prices posted a record jump for the month of February, fuelled by the Toronto, Hamilton and Vancouver markets. The Teranet-National Bank national composite house price index gained 1.0 per cent for the month, the largest February increase in the 18-year history of the index. Toronto soared a record 1.9 per cent, while Hamilton gained 1.4 per cent, also a record increase. Vancouver added 1.4 per cent. However the story wasn’t the same across the country as seven of the 11 major cities tracked posted a drop for February. Halifax slipped 1.9 per cent, while Calgary fell 1.3 per cent. Compared with a year earlier, the index was up 13.4 per cent, the largest 12-month increase since 2006. The year-over-year jump was due to a record 23.0 per cent increase in Toronto and a 19.7 per cent gain in Hamilton, also a record. National Bank senior economist Marc Pinsonneault said the Toronto market was especially worrisome. “In a city where apartments account for only 26 per cent of home sales, affordability of other types of dwellings has become an acute problem,” he wrote in a note.

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NIGEL WRIGHT STILL SUBJECT OF ETHICS PROBE: Almost a full year after Sen. Mike Duffy was acquitted on 31 charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, the man who paid him $90,000 remains under investigation by the federal ethics watchdog. Ethics commissioner Mary Dawson has revealed that she continues to examine the conduct of Nigel Wright, former prime minister Stephen Harper’s one-time chief of staff. Wright personally paid Duffy $90,000 to enable the senator to reimburse the Senate for his disputed living expense claims. Dawson initiated an investigation into Wright’s conduct in May 2013, but suspended it a month later once an RCMP investigation was begun. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, who had urged Dawson to investigate Wright, says the ethics watchdog recently informed him that she resumed her investigation last May after the Crown decided not to appeal Duffy’s acquittal. Wright resigned as Harper’s right-hand man once news of the payment leaked out. He maintained throughout the ensuing political and legal maelstrom that he had done nothing wrong and only wanted to ensure that taxpayers were not left on the hook for Duffy’s living expenses.

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SEX-TOY MAKER SETTLES INTIMATE DATA U.S. LAWSUIT: A Canadian vibrator maker accused of secretly tracking the intimate habits of thousands of its customers through a smartphone app has agreed to spend $5 million to settle a privacy lawsuit in the United States. Under the deal that still requires final court approval, Ottawa-based Standard Innovation will pay Americans who bought its We-Vibe sex toy before Sept. 26, 2016, up to US$199 each. Users who controlled the vibrator via its We-Connect application will get up to US$10,000 each — although the actual amounts in both cases are likely to be much lower. The company, which denies any wrongdoing, will also have to destroy much of the personal data it had collected through the app. The class action was launched in September by a Chicago-area woman known as N.P. The statement of claims users had to download the We-Connect app to allow them or their partners to remotely control the Bluetooth-equipped vibrator’s settings. The app’s “connect lover” feature, which promises a secure connection, lets partners exchange text messages, conduct video chats and control a paired We-Vibe device. However, the claim asserts, that information was also sent in real time to the company’s Canadian servers.

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INJURIES, CHEMICAL SPILL IN ONTARIO’S HIGHWAY 401 CRASH: A crash involving at least 30 vehicles on a major highway east of Toronto caused a chemical spill on Tuesday, prompting police to evacuate the area. The pile-up on Highway 401 east of Kingston, Ont., involved cars and about a dozen transport trucks, provincial police Const. Sandra Barr said. “One of the transports involved is leaking a toxic substance,” Barr said. “As a precaution, we’ve done an evacuation because there are residents within the vicinity.” It was not clear how many residents were involved in the evacuation or what the chemical was but first responders were dealing with the situation in white-out conditions, Barr said. No one was reported killed in the crash that happened in poor weather at about 2 p.m. ET in the area of Lansdowne, Ont., police said. However, people in need of medical attention were being sent to hospitals in Kingston and Brockville. The Kingston general hospital said it was told to expect about 10 casualties, including one person in critical condition, but gave no more details. The crash occurred in the eastbound lanes but the highway was closed in both directions around the accident site. It was not clear when the highway would reopen.

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MAJOR WINTER STORM SETTLES INTO SOUTHERN ONTARIO: The merging of two major weather systems will leave a huge stretch of central Canada blanketed in snow, Environment Canada said Tuesday. Meteorologist Mark Schuster said a system that was originally to bring upwards of 20 centimetres of snow to much of southwestern and central Ontario has now been absorbed into a low-pressure system that’s set to hit eastern Ontario and parts of Quebec and New Brunswick. Schuster said that while some parts of Ontario have emerged relatively unscathed from the storms, others should still brace for significant precipitation over the next 24 hours. Police were urging caution on the roads and air travellers were being warned to check the status of their flights before leaving home. By Tuesday afternoon, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport was reporting 248 cancelled arriving flights and 267 cancelled departing flights. A spokeswoman said the cancellations were partly to do with weather in the Greater Toronto Area but were also linked to storms hitting the U.S. eastern seaboard. Ottawa’s airport was reporting several cancelled flights as well. The past day has brought anywhere from 20 to 30 centimetres of snow to the Hamilton and Niagara regions, Schuster said, adding more precipitation is expected over the next few hours.

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IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD SAYS ASYLUM CLAIM RISE NEEDS RESPONSE: The head of the Immigration and Refugee Board says his agency is doing its best to cope with a growing number of asylum claims, but the federal Liberals must act as well. The rapid pace of the increase in new claims over the last few months in particular now sees the IRB on track to receive 30,000 claims in 2017 — triple the number lodged just four years ago. Mario Dion told The Canadian Press that while the board is already making internal changes to deal with the increase, there is only so much it can do. Dion says he’d like to see the Liberals eliminate the Designated Country of Origin system, which determines how refugee claims are processed, as well as scrap the legislated timelines for hearing those claims. He says an internal audit showed that both the DCO system and legislated timelines have further complicated the refugee process and contributed to a backlog. Both the NDP and refugee advocates say the backlog threatens the integrity of the refugee system and if the Liberals are serious about their message of Canada welcoming the world, they must act.

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DUTCH-TURKISH LEADER OF PRO-MIGRATION PARTY PULLS OUT OF ELECTION: The Dutch-Turkish leader of a pro-migrant political party has pulled out of an election eve debate in the Netherlands. National broadcaster NOS says Tunahan Kuzu of the Denk party pulled out of the event on Tuesday because he did not want to debate with right-wing populist Jan Roos. During the nationally televised debate, Roos later called Kuzu a “lapdog of (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan” and his absence “cowardly and contemptuous of democracy.” The debate is the final clash of political leaders ahead of Wednesday’s parliamentary election. It comes amid a diplomatic crisis between the Netherlands and Turkey over a Dutch decision to prevent two Turkish ministers to address rallies about an upcoming referendum that would give Erdogan more power.

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ALL EYES ON BUDGET FOR HIGH-TECH JOB STRATEGY: Expectations are running high that next week’s federal budget will provide a more detailed federal strategy — and perhaps more cash — to help post-secondary students land real-life work experience in emerging, employee-starved fields. In last year’s budget, Ottawa committed $73 million over four years to fund an initiative aimed at ensuring that what’s being taught inside the classroom is better aligned with the tech-related needs of the job market. Specifics have yet to be released, but the government plans to launch the program this year — and advocates will be watching the March 22 budget for signs of a framework. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s second budget comes amid growing awareness that a wide range of today’s jobs will eventually be replaced by the rapid advance of new technologies, such as automation and artificial intelligence. The Liberal government has spent more and more time in recent weeks talking about the need to address the evolving labour market, as well as the importance of finding ways to increase participation in the workforce.

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LIBERALS WANT SUPER HORNET DEAL BY YEAR’S END: The Liberal government has taken the next step toward buying 18 Super Hornet fighter jets on an interim basis, a purchase it hopes to make official by year’s end. The government sent a letter to the U.S. government on Tuesday outlining exactly what it needs in the warplanes, when it needs them, and what type of economic benefits Canada expects in return. Aerospace giant Boeing will use those requirements to draw up with a formal proposal by the fall, with the government hoping for a contract by the end of 2017 or early 2018. The Liberals have said any deal will be contingent on getting the Super Hornets at the right price, on the required schedule and with the right economic spinoffs. “We will assess whether an interim Super Hornet fleet purchase will help ensure Canada remains a credible and dependable ally for many years to come,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a statement Tuesday. The agreement must also be approved by the U.S. Congress. The government announced in November its plans to augment Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet with the new Hornets until a full competition to replace the CF-18s can start in 2019.

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