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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Final straw for Quebec mosque shooter was Canada’s welcoming immigration policies after Trump travel ban

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Alexandre Bissonnette, the man who attacked a Quebec City mosque last year, killing six, told police during his interrogation that it was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban that prompted him to finally “do something.” His comments were shared at his sentencing hearing today. Bissonnette said he feared Canada would become “like Europe.” When the Prime Minister tweeted on Jan. 29, 2017, that Canada would welcome “those fleeing persecution, terror & war ... regardless of your faith,” Mr. Bissonnette said he lost his mind.

“I was watching TV and I learned that the Canadian government was going to take more refugees, you know, who couldn’t go to the United States, and they were coming here,” Mr. Bissonnette said. “I saw that and I like lost my mind. I don’t want us to become like Europe. I don’t want them to kill my parents, my family. I had to, I had to do something, I couldn’t do nothing. It was something that tortured me.”

Yesterday at his sentencing hearing, a recording was played of Bissonnette calling 911 and confessing just 10 minutes after he fled the mosque. “Um, yes, it’s me who was at the mosque earlier,” he is heard saying. “You are the shooter?” the operator asked. “Yes,” Bissonnette replied. He has pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. A judge is weighing whether and when Bissonnette would be eligible for parole.

Also played in court this week was video footage of the attack showing how one of the victims, Azzeddine Soufiane, lunged at Bissonnette in an attempt to put a stop to the rampage. Najat Naanaa had heard the story of her husband’s actions, but the security footage finally provided her with a measure of solace. “I knew about my husband’s bravery, but the cameras proved it,” Naanaa said. “He died the way he had lived – helping others.”

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Police identify man in photo linked to alleged killer Bruce McArthur

Toronto Police have identified a man they believe could be the eighth victim of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur, but they are withholding the man’s name until his next of kin have been notified. Investigators had been trying to establish the man’s identity as recently as two days ago even though they had released a digitally enhanced picture of the man on March 5. Until Friday, police had requested the public’s help in putting a name to the face of the man, taking the extraordinary step of releasing a photo that, they believe, was taken after his death.

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Mr. McArthur currently faces seven counts of first-degree murder. The victims named in the charges are men linked to Toronto’s Gay Village who disappeared between 2010 and 2017. The 66-year-old landscaper was arrested in January.

RCMP search Fortress office in mortgage fraud probe

RCMP officers searched the head office of Toronto-region real estate developer Fortress Real Developments Inc. this morning as part of a syndicated mortgage fraud investigation. The Integrated Market Enforcement Team carried out search warrants at six locations in the Greater Toronto Area including the company’s head office in Richmond Hill, Ont. Officers were seen removing a box of materials from the office.

Fortress is a real estate developer focused primarily on multi-unit residential projects and has faced questions from regulators related to concerns about risky mortgage practices. Ontario’s financial regulator revoked the mortgage broker licence of Fortress co-founder and chief operating officer Vince Petrozza and three other people in early February after an investigation into risky syndicated mortgage investments, requiring them to stop all mortgage brokering business immediately. A fifth person voluntarily surrendered her licence.

Trump slams Comey as ‘slime ball’ over critical memoir

U.S. President Donald Trump attacked former FBI director James Comey as a “weak and untruthful slime ball” this morning. The tirade followed news accounts of Mr. Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, which paints a deeply unflattering picture of Mr. Trump, comparing him to a mob boss who stresses personal loyalty over the law and has little regard for morality or truth.

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“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values,” Mr. Comey said in the book, due out Tuesday.

The President, who fired Mr. Comey last May while his agency was investigating potential collusion between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia in the 2016 U.S. election, declared in one of a series of scorching Twitter messages, “It was my great honor to fire James Comey!”

MARKET WATCH

The close: Wall Street dips as bank stocks, Syria nerves weigh

Financial stocks led a drop on Wall Street on Friday as results from big banks failed to provide enthusiasm and fear of broader conflict in Syria further unnerved investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122.81 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 24,360.24, the S&P 500 lost 7.69 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 2,656.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 33.60 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 7,106.65.

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Canada’s main stock index was little changed on Friday as gains for the shares of mining and energy companies were offset by declines in financial stocks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed up 4.7 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 15,273.97. Four of the index’s 10 main groups ended higher.

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WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL

As CBC’s new The National rises, ratings fall

Five months after the relaunch of The National, ratings for CBC Television’s flagship news program are down about 10 per cent from last season’s average, but executives with the public broadcaster say they are unconcerned because of the increasing numbers on digital platforms such as YouTube.

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Mysterious earthquakes shake New Brunswick village again

Two years after a mysterious “swarm” of earthquakes rattled homes and nerves in a New Brunswick village, they’ve started up again. Earthquakes Canada has recorded 22 earthquakes in New Brunswick over the last 30 days, with most of those near McAdam, on the western edge of the province, near the border with the United States. Stephen Halchuk, a seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, said there is no well defined fault in the area, so it remains a mystery why the area is getting clusters or swarms of earthquakes.

TALKING POINTS

B.C. politicians need a history lesson

If British Columbia politicians knew their history, perhaps they would not be so cavalier about thwarting their neighbour’s economic prospects with rash regulatory roadblocks. From the early decades of the 20th century, the province was always one of the main spoilers in the Prairie provinces’ quest to gain control over their resources. British Columbia always insisted that its concerns had to come first. Those clashes were rarely amiable and usually about resource wealth – the lands, minerals, oil and natural gas, forests and water power of the rich Prairie west. The disputes have left a historical legacy of mistrust and resentment that still runs deep in the western soul. And it was dangerous to awaken them. — Mary Janigan

In Gaza, a march into the unknown

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In the years since the peace process began, Israeli right-wing politicians, journalists and non-governmental organizations made a special effort to track and broadcast to the Israeli public (and to the world) evidence that shows that the Palestinian leadership talks to the international community about its desire to co-exist with Israel, but says something completely different to its own people. The code name has always been “48” (Israel was founded in 1948) and referred to the taking back, by force, the entirety of what they see as historic Palestine. With the recent events in Gaza, there is no need to use coded language as they are saying it loud and clear: We are marching back in. — Shimrit Meir

Why a pipeline could cost Justin Trudeau the next election

A confluence of issues and events – hello, India! – have reshaped the Liberal Leader’s image in the unkindest of ways. However, it’s his government’s contentious environmental agenda, and his handling of the dispute over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which have shaken the confidence and trust many Canadians had in him to lead the country. — Gary Mason

LIVING BETTER

Seven steps toward making a healthy meal plan

If “what’s for dinner?” is a daily question, it’s time to embrace meal planning. A play-it-by-ear approach to meals can undermine your diet, not to mention create additional stress. And meal planning doesn’t have to be a complicated, time-consuming task. With the right plan of attack, it’s possible to make home cooking a manageable (and enjoyable) part of your busy schedule.

Everything you need to know about Aurora Station, the new luxury space hotel

The final frontier is about to go condo. That is, at least, the aim of Orion Span. The Silicon Valley-and-Houston-based firm is planning Aurora Station, outer space’s first hotel-condo. The project, currently slated to see its first visitors in 2022, will house four guests and two crew and will give anyone willing to plunk down US$9.5-million per person the full astronaut experience for 12 days in outer space.

The luxury space hotel will span 5,600 square feet and feature two suites that can be configured as four, each the size of a small bedroom. There’ll be no gravity, and guests will shower and use the bathroom just like astronauts on the International Space Station. So get comfortable showering out of large plastic bags.

LONG READS FOR A LONG COMMUTE

Rethinking therapy: How 45 questions can revolutionize mental health care in Canada

Therapy is a tried-and-true treatment for what ails our minds, but it hasn’t caught up with medicine in tracking the data needed to make patients better. Could simple surveys help change that?

The crossing: Tima Kurdi on her family’s voyage through tragedy and hope

For a Syrian family, a global refugee crisis became a personal tragedy when two-year-old Alan Kurdi, his mother and brother drowned off a Turkish beach in 2015. Now, the boy’s aunt in Canada reflects on the struggle to remember their deaths and find new life

PLAYOFFS

NHL playoffs: Bruins crush Leafs; Jets look for second win

Toronto fell 5-1 to Boston in the opening game of the series. The Bruins hammered the Leafs on the power play, picking up three goals on six opportunities. And Leafs forward Nazem Kadri is facing a possible suspension after hitting a Bruins player from behind. The Leafs will be looking to turn things around on Saturday.

The Jets are back at it in Winnipeg tonight (7:30 p.m. ET) as they look to go up 2-0 against the Minnesota Wild. Wednesday may have been the first playoff win for this version of the Jets, but they’re not shying away from making a statement, writes Roy MacGregor. “The Heart of Canada and birthplace of the most intimidating playoff environment in the NHL,” reads a poster in the lower lobby of their arena.

NBA playoffs: Raps tip off tomorrow

Fresh off the best regular season in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors start their playoff campaign on Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET) as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, although not exactly a popular pick to reach the NBA final.

Evening Update was written by Michael Snider. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.