 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Most Canadians want more spending on the military, polls suggest | | |  | Ordinary Seaman Page Francis learns navigational skills during field training in 2018. New polls track growing support among Canadians for a boost in military funding. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press) | | | Canadians are concerned about the state of the country's military and want more money spent on defence, new polls suggest.
The Angus Reid Institute released new data Tuesday showing a larger share of Canadians — 29 per cent — are choosing military preparedness and the country's place on the world stage as their top political priority. Almost a decade ago, that figure was just 12 per cent.
"Slightly more than half (53 per cent) say Canada should increase its spending level to two per cent or beyond," the survey analysis said — a reference to NATO's spending benchmark, which calls on member countries to spend the equivalent of two per cent of their gross domestic product on the military. That support jumps to 65 per cent when the idea of a second presidency for U.S. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is factored in.
Another survey, conducted by EKOS Research Associates Inc. on behalf of the Canadian Association of Security and Defence Industries (CASDI), also found increasing support for higher defence spending. Asked if the defence budget should be increased, two-thirds of those surveyed by EKOS said more dollars should be going in, while only 18 per cent favoured a reduction.
"There is a view that Canada's position on the world stage has eroded sharply and that our relatively poor performance is linked to problems with how our defence and security capabilities are responding to deepened challenges," the EKOS survey said.
In fact, a clear majority (71 per cent) told EKOS Canada is not taken seriously by other countries on international defence and security issues (20 per cent of poll respondents claimed that it is). And 67 per cent told the pollster Canada's allies view this country as "weak" on defence.
A separate recent poll, conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights, offers an interesting contrast. People who participated in that survey were asked if Canada should increase defence spending because of Trump's threats to abandon allies who don't hit the two per cent benchmark — even if it meant fewer dollars for other priorities.
That choice appears to have given some Canadians pause. The Pollara survey polled support for increased defence spending at 34 per cent. A full 43 per cent said Trump's threats shouldn't require an increase in defence spending. | | | | | Good news for Trump | | |  | (Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press) | | | | Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., yesterday. The Supreme Court unanimously restored Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to ban him over the Capitol riot. Read more about the court's decision here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | The Conservatives have held onto the seat left vacant by former leader Erin O'Toole. Lawyer and political commentator Jamil Jivani won a byelection in the Ontario riding of Durham on Monday night, CBC News projects. Jivani was president of the Canada Strong and Free Network, the political advocacy group and think-tank formerly known as the Manning Centre. "We set out to send Justin Trudeau a message and I think we were successful," Jivani told supporters at a restaurant in Clarington, Ont. "Durham wants Pierre Poilievre to be the next prime minister of Canada. I think that has been the resounding message from Scugog to Oshawa to Clarington." The byelection was called in January after longtime representative O'Toole announced his retirement from politics and resigned his seat last year. O'Toole held the riding, located east of Toronto, for the Conservatives for 11 years and also led the party in the 2021 federal election. Read more about Jivani's win here.
Companies and anti-fraud professionals are warning consumers to watch for fake listings on search engines that redirect people to fraudulent versions of familiar companies and brands. In one recent case, a longtime B.C. client of travel agent chain Flight Centre lost more than $2,000 after calling a fake listing; he was unable to recover those funds as he paid with an uninsured debit card. "It's a constant endeavour," said Flight Centre's executive vice-president Chadd Andre. "Our legal team from multiple angles has been involved, to work with Google and to send cease and desist letters where there's been points of contact." He said search engines and online providers are quick to remove the offending links, but new ones pop up quickly. The federal government says malicious websites should be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. "As we see things and identify them as confirmed malicious, then we're able to take those down," said Melanie Anderson with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a government agency in Ottawa. Read more about fake search engine listings here.
Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian opposition politician, has spoken to CBC News about being banned from running for president and his opposition to the war in Ukraine. He says change in his country needs to come from the inside. "Elections in Russia now are not fair and not free," he told CBC News in a Zoom interview from Dolgoprudny, a town on the northern outskirts of Moscow. "But I do not know another way to change the politics and the power in Russia." Nadezhdin dismissed any suggestion that Russia could only change through an uprising, and said the revolution that some observers hope for would be a big problem for the entire world. "The collapse of a big country with nuclear weapons is a nightmare." Nadezhdin, who campaigned against the war and urged Russia to enter into peace talks, has repeatedly called Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine "a fatal mistake." While he has openly criticized the government on state-controlled media, he has thus far managed to escape the fate of many of Russia's other dissidents who have been killed, jailed or have fled the country for their own safety. Read more of Nadezhdin's interview here.
It's four times the babies, but one-fourth the birthdays: A family from La Ronge, Sask., marked leap year day by bringing quadruplets into the world. Savannah Ratt and Gilbert Merasty welcomed Aleah, Beautiful, Celia and Dominic on Feb. 29 at the children's hospital in Saskatoon. The four babies and mom are doing well, Merasty said. The babies were born two months premature, so they are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and will need to stay in hospital for quite some time. Merasty said this new chapter of parenthood has been an amazing experience, but it's also been a juggling act trying to spend time with each child. "I'm trying to visit one kid, but then you gotta jump to another one … just trying to put your attention equally among the four — and then your other ones, too." The four babies are joining five other siblings in the family: Kyla, Gilbert, Kaitlyn, Kerrian and Surriah. Read more about the quadruplets here.
Now here's some good news to start your Tuesday: A New Jersey diner owner put the booth from The Sopranos iconic final scene up for auction — and was stopped short by the level of interest. "My mind was blown," Chris Carey of Holsten's Ice Cream Parlor in Bloomfield, N.J., told CBC's As It Happens. "How far can this go?" Carey thought the booth where Tony Soprano and his family gather in the HBO crime drama's final shots might fetch $3,000 US; instead, the bidding closed at $82,600. The diner is undergoing renovations, and Carey had hoped selling the piece of TV history would help offset the costs. That shoot, Carey said, is a memory he holds dear. He's a fan of the show, he said, and he hopes the booth's winning bidder is, too. "I just hope that it winds up with somebody who appreciates it, not just somebody who's got a lot of money that wants to buy something," he said. "It means a lot to us." To read more about the Sopranos booth, and see that controversial final scene, just— | | |  | As Gazans crowded for aid, Israeli troops opened fire | | Israeli soldiers are accused of shooting hundreds of Palestinians getting food from aid trucks. Front Burner asks what happened and, as famine looms, could ceasefire negotiations provide relief? Listen to today's episode. | | | Today in history: March 5 | | | 1946: Winston Churchill gives his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. Said Churchill, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent."
1970: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after 43 countries ratify it.
1982: Comic actor John Belushi is found dead of a drug overdose in Hollywood. He was 33.
1982: Steve Podborski of Toronto becomes the first North American to win the World Cup men's downhill skiing championship. He achieved the title with three wins and two seconds in the 10-race event. Later that year, he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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