Workers from 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto Area have a new collective agreement after a month-long strike.
The workers, represented by Unifor, voted to ratify a second tentative deal just two days after the grocery giant was granted a temporary injunction restricting secondary picket lines that blocked fresh product deliveries to its stores.
More than 3,700 workers had been on strike since July 29 after rejecting the first tentative agreement recommended by their bargaining committee.
Under the new deal, all workers will get an immediate raise of $1.50 an hour, said Unifor spokesperson Paul Whyte in a statement. Full-time and senior part-time workers will receive a $2-an-hour pay increase within months, he added.
Throughout the strike, the workers called for a return of so-called hero pay received during the pandemic, as well as better working conditions and more full-time jobs.
"This is a historic collective agreement that sets a new bar for grocery store workers," said Unifor national president Lana Payne.
"It was achieved thanks to our members' perseverance and unwavering solidarity, as well as incredible community support."
British Columbia Premier David Eby is calling on the Bank of Canada to halt further interest rate hikes.
In a letter today to Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, Eby urges him to consider the full human impact of rate hikes and not increase them at this time.
The Bank of Canada is set to make an interest rate decision early next month.
Eby has also written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, attaching his letter to Macklem and calling for a targeted approach to fighting inflation, focusing on housing and infrastructure improvements.
Eby's letter to Trudeau says a targeted approach to key sectors will have long-term inflation-fighting benefits while growing the economy and improving productivity.
Eby's letter to Macklem says “unnecessary” further interest rate increases pose a danger not just to homeowners looking to renew mortgages but to renters, students, seniors, families and small business people looking to pay bills, just as they start to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.
British Columbia Premier David Eby is calling on the Bank of Canada to halt further interest rate hikes.
In a letter Thursday to Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, Eby urged him to consider the "human impact" of rate hikes.
The Bank of Canada is set to make an interest rate decision next Wednesday.
"While the role of the Bank of Canada is to make decisions about monetary policy, my role as premier is to stand up for people in B.C. and ensure their voices are heard as decisions are made that impact them," said Eby's letter.
"People in B.C. are already hurting," he said. "In your role as governor, I urge you to consider the full human impact of rate increases and not further increase rates at this time."
The letter said the Bank of Canada had raised rates 10 times since March last year, with the current interest rate at five per cent, the highest in 22 years.
Eby also wrote Thursday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for a targeted approach to fighting inflation, focusing on housing and infrastructure improvements.
The letter to Trudeau said a focus on such key sectors will have long-term anti-inflationary benefits while growing the economy and improving productivity.
"There are other ways for us to achieve cost stability, but they do require diligence and co-ordination," said the premier's letter to Trudeau. "The time is overdue for such an effort," said Eby. "Ahead of September's rate decisions, I suggest a robust and targeted approach focused on the largest contributors to inflation."
Eby's letter to Macklem said "unnecessary" further interest rate increases pose a danger not just to homeowners looking to renew mortgages but to renters, students, seniors, families and small business people looking to pay bills, just as they start to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.
There are more options to stream TV shows, movies and music these days — from Netflix to Crave, Paramount+ to BritBox, and Rogers Sportsnet Now to Spotify.
But as those subscriptions add up, industry watchers point out that multiple options often come with a higher overall entertainment bill, with prices rising for services such as Disney+ and Spotify.
Have a question or something to say? Email: ask@cbc.ca or join us live in the comments now.
That means for many Canadians, the days of subscribing to one affordable streaming platform are gone — and they won't be coming back, experts say.
That's what it feels like for Star Trek fan Dyre Scheer-Peters in Calgary.
He previously subscribed to Bell Media's Crave to watch all of his favourite science fiction programs but was recently faced with having to add an additional monthly subscription to Paramount+ to keep watching Star Trek.
After Star Trek: The Next Generation left Bell Media's Crave last month, Dyre Scheer-Peters had to add a $10 per month subscription to Paramount+ to keep watching. (Colin Hall/CBC)
The entire Star Trek series except for one migrated from the Bell-owned streaming service to a U.S.-based competitor.
"It's all these extra purchases and such. It's becoming very annoying," said Scheer-Peters.
He said he had to keep his Crave subscription to be able to watch other programming.
"Crave had a bunch of stuff. It had almost everything," he said. "It still has lots, but it has less than it used to, for the same price."
Scheer-Peters has noticed. He says he now subscribes to multiple services totalling more than $100 each month in order to replace one or two services that used to include more programming at a lower price.
It's a far cry from 2010, when Netflix first launched streaming in Canada for less than $10 a month. Many Canadians got used to paying for a single account and sharing the password among many users.
Scheer-Peters estimates he's paying more than $100 a month for various streaming services. (Colin Hall/CBC)
Lower prices not 'sustainable' for streamers: analyst
The gradual increase in total costs for media consumers isn't a surprise, says John Buffone, vice-president and media industry analyst at U.S.-based market research firm Circana.
"Inevitably, prices were going to go up," said Buffone in an interview with CBC News from New York.
Experts, including Buffone, point out prices for streaming services stayed low even as costs rose.
"When these services launched, they were launched at loss-leader prices — prices that weren't sustainable, that the companies knew weren't sustainable," he said.
John Buffone is an analyst with market research firm Circana, and says streaming companies want to make more profit — and are charging consumers more to increase returns. (Anis Heydari/CBC)
And as both U.S. and Canadian economies have shifted in recent years, investors and shareholders have become less willing to invest in companies that aren't delivering immediate profits.
"Wall Street basically said to Netflix, 'We want to see profitability, right? Subscriber growth is no longer going to be the bellwether of success for your company. We need to see profit coming from services,'" said Buffone.
Paramount+, Amazon Prime and Rogers declined requests for interviews from CBC News on this topic. Netflix and Bell Media, which owns Crave, did not respond to requests for comment.
Too many competitors and low margins
That message of low profit margins for streaming outlets is echoed by Vincent Georgie, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Windsor's Odette School of Business and executive director of the Windsor International Film Festival.
He said companies want streaming profit margins to match the money they used to make from older, higher-priced cable and satellite TV bundles.
WATCH | Consumers warned to get used to paying more for streaming:
Streamers warned to get used to paying more
2 days ago
Duration 1:45
Streaming industry watchers warn that the days of low streaming bills are over as more services, like Netflix and Disney+, make moves to increase profitability.
"They've lost quite a bit and haven't quite regained the profitability piece. There's no doubt about that," he said.
Echoing a famous Canadian retail slogan, the film industry expert pointed out that consumers need to just get used to higher prices overall.
"The lowest price is the law? As far as streamers go, that's not coming back."
Vincent Georgie, an assistant professor at the University of Windsor, says the low streaming prices of the past aren't coming back. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)
Georgie also predicts that with so many players, each charging between $10 and $20 a month, some services may not survive the competition.
"Some of these just will fold up; some will get acquired," he said.
"I'm actually a bit surprised that it hasn't shaken out yet because the margins aren't attractive enough."
In the ongoing series of recalls of energy drinks, the latest announcement from Health Canada pertains to a range of caffeinated energy drinks.
According to a recall notice issued on Wednesday, Health Canada has identified 27 specific caffeinated energy drinks, including popular brands like 3D Alphaland, 5 Hour, Alan Nu, Bang, and Monster, as being potentially unsafe due to concerns related to caffeine content and labelling accuracy.
Health Canada warns that high levels of caffeine can pose potential health risks, especially for children, pregnant individuals, breastfeeding individuals, and those who are particularly sensitive to caffeine.
Furthermore, engaging in physical activity while consuming caffeine can result in adverse health effects. Excessive caffeine intake may lead to side effects such as insomnia, irritability, headaches, and nervousness, the healthy agency said in the notice.
Canadians are urged to not consume, use, sell, serve, or distribute recalled products, and to throw out recalled products or return them to the location where they were purchased.
Health Canada advises those who believe they became sick from consuming a recalled product to promptly contact their health-care provider for appropriate guidance and medical assistance.
On Tuesday, more than 20 brands of energy drinks were recalled as part of an ongoing series of recalls initiated by The Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The agency said those recalled energy drinks also failed to meet the necessary criteria related to caffeine content and bilingual labelling requirements.
A list of the various recalled energy drinks is on the government of Canada's recalls and safety alerts website.
Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.
The union that represents 11,000 Manitoba civil servants is planning a strike vote after negotiations appear to have stalled on the issue of wages.
The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union says the government has offered wage increases of two per cent each year for four years
In a letter to members, the union bargaining committee says that is not enough to keep up with inflation.
It's the latest potential labour trouble for the Progressive Conservative government, and comes amid a walkout that started Monday by 1,700 workers at Manitoba Public Insurance, the Crown-owned auto insurance corporation.
The province also recently reached an agreement to end a strike by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries workers that forced many government-run stores to close and disrupted supplies to private retailers.
The labour strife comes with a provincial election set for Oct. 3, and opinion polls suggesting the governing Tories are lagging behind the Opposition New Democrats.
There was no immediate response from the government Tuesday evening.
The Tory government angered public-sector unions in 2017 when it threatened to impose a two-year wage freeze on all new collective agreements. The government passed a bill to enact the freeze but never proclaimed it into law. Labour leaders said government negotiators acted as if it was law.
Last year, an arbitration board awarded retroactive pay increases to the civil service totalling about six per cent over four years, dating back to 2019. That collective agreement expired in March of this year.
"Your bargaining committee is strongly recommending that you reject the employer's offer and provide your committee with a strike mandate," the committee letter to members Tuesday said.
"A strike mandate shows strength and solidarity. The intention is to increase our leverage at the bargaining table so that we can achieve a fair agreement."
The strike at Manitoba Public Insurance, as well as the recently concluded strike at Manitoba Liquor and lotteries, prompted Premier Heather Stefanson to take to social media Monday. In a video, she said the government could not say yes to the union's demands, and accused them of seeking higher wage increases than those recently given to health care workers.
Labour leaders have pushed back, saying provincial politicians have been given higher raises through an automatic cost-of-living adjustment each year.
The Manitoba government and General Employees Union was planning to hold a rally at the legislature Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023
Metro says that it has reached a tentative deal with the union representing striking employees at 27 grocery stores around the Greater Toronto Area.
“The agreement, which is fair an equitable for our employees and our customers, is unanimously recommended by the union's bargaining committee and will put an end to the labour dispute if ratified,” the company said in a statement Wednesday morning.
The tentative deal will be submitted to the employees, who are represented by UNIFOR, for a ratification vote that will take place “shortly,” the company said.
More than 3,700 workers at stores around the GTA have been on strike since July 29.
Some of the workers have said that their wages have meant they can barely afford to buy the food being sold in the stores where they work.
In what could be the most powerful fast-fashion alliance yet, Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Shein has struck a deal with Forever 21.
The agreement will allow the popular online fashion retailer to sell Forever 21 clothing, accessories and beauty products on its site. In return, Shein could soon operate distinct retail spaces within Forever 21 stores.
While Shein has experimented with pop-up stores, including one in Montreal last month, it has no brick-and-mortar stores in North America.
The move came as a surprise to some, given the two companies were seen as one of each other's biggest rivals.
"In terms of price point, definitely they're very, very close," said Sheng Lu, an expert in the global textile and apparel industry at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. "Shein could be one of the largest competitors for Forever 21."�
Forever 21 has faced challenges in recent years. In 2019, it filed for bankruptcy and closed more than 30 per cent of its stores in the U.S. and all of its stores in Canada. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Lu says this was part of the calculation, with the two companies opting to work together rather than directly compete.
The deal comes as Shein looks to expand in the United States. Last month, it launched an Amazon-style marketplace where third-party vendors can sell everything from housewares to appliances directly to consumers.
"The partnership will focus on meeting the needs of customers in the U.S. and around the world who enjoy affordable, high-quality fashion," wrote Shein in a press release.
Shein, which is based in Singapore, has seen its popularity skyrocket in recent years. Its trendy and dirt-cheap clothing is especially attractive to gen-Z shoppers, many of whom take to TikTok to post videos hashtagged #sheinhaul, where they show off large quantities of Shein items they purchased for next to nothing.
Last year, Shein was valued at $100 billion US — more than fast-fashion giants H&M and Zara combined.
On the other hand, Los Angeles-based Forever 21 has faced a number of challenges in recent years. In 2019, it filed for bankruptcy and closed more than 30 per cent of its stores in the U.S. and all of its stores in Canada. Since then, the company has reopened a few stores in Canada.
Experts say Shein may be looking to Forever 21 for more than just its retail space, viewing it as a trusted American brand that could help the Chinese company with its image in North America.
Shein's image problem
Shein has repeatedly been in the hot seat over its labour practices. Last year, a Bloomberg report found that lab tests on two occasions showed Shein's clothing was made from cotton from the Xinjiang region of China. The country has been accused of exploiting the Uyghur Muslim minority in the region for forced labour, including in the cotton and garment industries, and Canada and the U.S. have barred the import of such goods.
An investigation by Channel 4 in the U.K. last year also revealed some employees at Shein garment factories in China worked up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
In an email response to CBC News, Shein stated it has zero tolerance for forced labour and denied sourcing any cotton from China or having any manufacturers in the Xinjiang region.
Forever 21's cultural and retail knowledge could be seen as an asset to Shein, says Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, a professor of marketing and sustainable business at Glasgow Caledonian University's British School of Fashion in London.
Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas is a professor of marketing and sustainable business at the British School of Fashion in London. She's concerned about the Shein, Forever 21 deal. "In terms of sustainability, I think it's a nightmare," she said. (Submitted by Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas)
"I think that partnership is probably [intended] to give that more solid, trusting brand that people recognize … and maybe remember from retail in-store experiences," she said. "Whereas Shein hasn't really got any of that because it has been primarily in an online space."
Lu says when it comes to Shein's image, the new partnership can only do so much.
"If Shein really cared about its image … it has a lot of space, a lot of opportunities to improve … even if Shein acquires Forever 21, these concerns about Shein will not go away."
Favouring growth over sustainability
Some experts CBC talked to raised concerns about what the new partnership means for sustainable fashion.
"I can see that it looks like this sort of fast-fashion marriage made in heaven," said Radclyffe-Thomas. "In terms of sustainability, I think it's a nightmare."
In 2021, Shein was responsible for about 6.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, according to the Business of Fashion, an online platform focusing on the global fashion industry. Shein said 99 per cent of those emissions came from its supply chain. In comparison, ASOS, the British online fashion and cosmetic retailer, says it emitted 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 2021.
Shein has also been criticized for contributing to the industry's environmental footprint by selling clothing that's not made to last.
"It encourages consumers to keep purchasing cheap clothing and dump them," said Lu.
WATCH | How a Shein PR campaign went wrong:
Influencers on blast: how a Shein factory trip backfired | About That
2 months ago
Duration 6:18
A group of influencers has come under fire after attending a brand trip with Shein, one of the world's largest fast-fashion makers, which has been accused of labour law violations and an outsized environmental footprint. Andrew Chang explains how this PR campaign went so wrong.
While Shein's popularity continues to rise, there are also growing calls from some consumers and governments for fashion companies to produce clothing that is ethically made and environmentally friendly. The European Commission is drawing up new regulations that will require fashion companies to produce clothes in a more sustainable way and take accountability for their environmental impacts.
With Shein's track record, Radclyffe-Thomas says, further expansion will only do more harm.
"They have an extremely low score on the Fashion Transparency Index," she said, referring to the online database that ranks companies according to the information they disclose about their social and environmental policies, operations and supply chain.
"They bat off any kind of comments about labour exploitation.… There doesn't seem to be anything proactive about actually trying to be sustainable."
Lu agrees. "[Shein] wants to keep growing rather than focus on solving those current concerns."
Two different models
There are also questions around how successful the partnership will be given the two companies have fundamentally different business models.
Shein's model operates on ordering small batches of clothing and scaling up if there's demand, using its own data and technology to identify what's popular. Because of this, Lu says, Shein is not concerned with keeping items in stock, which can be tricky when operating in a retail space.
"Shein does not care about replenishment," he said. "It does not care about whether its products are selling or not selling because it always keeps launching new products based on new consumer data and newly emerging fashion trends."
WATCH | Shein's Amazon-sized ambitions:
Could fast-fashion giant Shein take on Amazon? | About That
29 days ago
Duration 9:28
Fast-fashion retailer Shein is launching a global online marketplace, selling from third-party vendors similar to Amazon. Lauren Bird sits down with About That producer Julie Zenderoudi to break down Shein's plan, and the potential environmental and labour implications of the move.
Radclyffe-Thomas also questions how Shein's business model might fit with Forever 21's, given that normally, Shein comes out with hundreds of new products every single day.
"If you're doing direct-to-consumer shipping, you're not shipping until someone's buying," she said. "But if you have a retail store, you obviously have to have stock. So I'm not sure how they would address having those volumes of stock.… It's completely different from Forever 21."
However, Dave Xie, an expert at Oliver Wyman consultancy who focuses on China's retail sector, sees similarities between the two brands, particularly in their price points.
"Both of them are fast-fashion 'value-for-money' brands," he said.
There is no word yet on when Shein might be sold at Forever 21 stores in Canada.
A video posted to social media by Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson has prompted ridicule from the province's largest public service union.
In a video posted Monday to Facebook and Instagram, the premier accused the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union of playing politics because two of its bargaining units rejected contract offers and went on strike this summer.
"I'd like to say yes to everything, but sometimes the answer has to be no," Stefanson said in the video, referring to wage increases requested by employees with two provincial Crown corporations.
A five-week strike by unionized workers with Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries ended Sunday when workers approved a new deal by a margin the union has declined to disclose.
Manitoba Public Insurance employees, also represented by MGEU, went on strike the following morning.
Stefanson accused MGEU president Kyle Ross of engaging in a political act by seeking strike mandates over the wage increases offered by two Crown corporations.
"The same union leader said no to fair raises and binding arbitration because of politics, and worse, they're demanding increases double the size of health-care workers. That's where I draw the line," Stefanson said in the video.
On Tuesday, Ross called Stefanson's video amusing because the premier previously insisted she played no role in labour negotiations.
"For the past five weeks, every time we said the premier [refused wage increases], she continued to say it wasn't her, she wasn't involved, she had nothing to do with it. All of a sudden she's telling us she said no," Ross told reporters at a meeting space at Winnipeg's Union Centre.
Unionized workers with Manitoba Public Insurance walk the picket line outside MPI's service centre on Main Street in Winnipeg as the strike began Monday morning. (Travis Golby/CBC)
Ross, a former MPI employee, claimed Manitoba's government handed a mandate to its Crown corporations, demanding they limit wage increases.
Ross could not produce a mandate letter pertaining to recent labour negotiations. Instead, he produced a November 2020 letter sent to MPI executives from former PC finance minister Scott Fielding and then-Crown Services minister Jeff Wharton, who requested zero-per-cent wage increases during the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that letter, Wharton and Fielding told MPI leaders, "You will appreciate that setting broad monetary collective bargaining mandates for employers within the public sector reflects government's traditional role — spanning several decades — as the overall steward of public funds."
On Sunday, Liquor and Lotteries employees voted in favour a four-year contract that calls for wage hikes that work out to 2.95 per cent, per year. Those wage increases were only 0.55 percentage points below the union's stated target.
This result led Ross to poke fun at Stefanson's statement about drawing a line.
"Obviously, the line wasn't set in stone or drawn in the sand. It must have washed away, because honestly we proved that their mandate wasn't set in stone," he quipped.
Stefanson declined further comment. Cam Eason, a PC campaign spokesperson, said the video posted Monday speaks for itself.
Unifor has chosen the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. as the target for negotiations as the union looks to work out new contracts for autoworkers.
"I was encouraged by Ford Motor Company's transparency with our union on product programs and business plans," Unifor president Lana Payne said during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon.
Unifor and the Detroit Three automakers — Ford, Stellantis and General Motors — engage in pattern bargaining, where a deal with the target company will set the template for agreements with other two.
Across the three companies, Unifor represents more than 19,600 autoworkers.
Payne suggested on Aug. 10 at the kickoff of talks that Ford would likely be the choice because of co-operation Ford had already shown. She said progress has already been made at the subcommittee levels since talks began in earnest on Aug. 22.
Payne repeated four main priorities for the union during these negotiations: pensions, wage improvements, investments and supports for the transition to producing electric vehicles.
In a statement, Ford Canada's vice-president of human resources, Steven Majer, said Ford and Unifor have a long history of "productive collaboration."
"At Ford, we are committed to finding new approaches, new solutions and the flexibility required to be successful in the short and long term in Canada," he said. "We look forward to working together with Unifor to create a blueprint that leads our employees, our business, our customers and our communities into the future."
Bargaining comes this time while the United Auto Workers (UAW) is also negotiating deals in the U.S. and analysts are predicting strikes at all Detroit Three automakers.
Tallying the costs of striking
Patrick Anderson, chief executive officer of Anderson Economic Group, a consulting firm that does work in the auto industry, predicts a 10-day strike at all three of the Detroit automakers would cost the companies and workers $5.6 billion US.
He said it would also affect Canada.
"It's a serious interest to people who are in Ontario and Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and it is something that won't stay on one side of the border," said Anderson.
Over the weekend, autoworkers in Ontario voted 99 per cent in favour of striking.
Unifor bargaining teams for GM and Stellantis will now go home, while the Ford bargaining team, chaired by Local 200 president John D'Agnolo, will continue talks in Toronto.
D'Agnolo was pleased with the announcement and said he will collaborate with Stellantis chair James Stewart and GM chair Jason Gale every day during the negotiations.
Both Gale and Stewart offered their support and congratulations to the Ford committee.
"I'm looking forward to it. We have a great team led by Lana and the national staff ... and I can't wait to get at it," said D'Agnolo.
Aug 29 (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Canada's third and fourth largest banks, missed analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as they set aside more funds to cover for bad loans.
The results come as the Bank of Canada's 10 interest rate hikes since last year have slowed the housing market, increased consumer debt and delayed mortgage repayments, forcing banks to set aside more money to protect against potential loan losses and restraining their earnings growth.
BMO, which bought U.S. regional lender Bank of the West earlier this year, said provision for credit losses rose to C$492 million ($361.42 million), compared with C$136 million a year ago.
The bank's earnings were also affected by severance costs of C$162 million and C$83 million in legal provisions at its capital markets unit. Chief Financial Officer Tayfun Tuzun said the costs were a one-quarter phenomenon, but would drive expense savings of C$200 million next fiscal year.
BMO's shares, which have lose about 7% so far this year, were down more than 2% in early trading in Toronto.
At Scotiabank, provision for credit losses jumped to C$819 million from C$412 million.
"We are closely monitoring customer behavior and have observed a very rational and responsible shift in spending as households manage through this period of reduced discretionary income," Scotiabank CEO Scott Thomson told analysts.
"We are seeing the impact of recessionary conditions, which are reflected in our elevated provisions," Thomson said, highlighting its international business.
Income declined at home for both banks, leading to a 5% and 12% fall in BMO and Scotia's Canadian personal and commercial banking segment.
BMO's U.S unit, however, grew marginally helped by a strong dollar. Income from Scotiabank's international business, which includes Mexico and other Latin American countries, also declined.
"While higher provisions are a bit troubling, the fact that Scotiabank is building its reserves on performing loans should receive some favor. However, the pressure on the International segment will not go unnoticed by bears," Barclays analyst John Aiken said.
Analysts were encouraged by an improvement in Scotia's capital position to 12.7% and improved expense management.
Scotiabank's shares were up about 1.3% in early trading.
The aggressive hikes have also allowed banks to charge higher rates and boost their net interest income, the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay on deposits.
At Bank of Montreal, net interest income for the quarter rose to C$4.91 billion, compared with C$4.20 billion last year.
"I like where the rates are today, clearly, we are benefiting from higher longer rates. And we are, I think, pretty well positioned to deal with whatever the monetary authorities do in Canada and the U.S. So at an enterprise level," BMO's Tuzun said.
At Scotiabank net interest income fell to C$4.58 billion, from $4.68 billion a year ago, largely hurt by lower corporate lending and lower loan fees.
BMO reported adjusted net income of C$2.04 billion, or C$2.78 per share, in the three-months ending July 31, compared with C$2.13 billion, or C$3.09 apiece, a year earlier. Analysts had forecast C$3.13 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
At Scotiabank, net income came in at C$2.23 billion, compared with C$2.61 billion. On a per share basis, the bank earned C$1.73, a cent below analysts' expectations.
($1 = 1.3609 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto, Pritam Biswas and Sri Hari N S in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal, Bernadette Baum, Mike Harrison and Jonathan Oatis
Nivedita Balu is a correspondent for Reuters based in Toronto, where she reports on Canadian banks and financial services. She previously covered U.S. tech, media and telecom companies, and consumer and retail companies in Bengaluru.
Contact: +13434016776
Canadian and U.S. autoworkers are both negotiating with the Detroit Three carmakers simultaneously for the first time in 25 years, creating the potential for a co-ordinated strike against one of the major producers.
Workers at the Canadian arms of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis this past weekend voted between 98 per cent and 99 per cent in favour of allowing Unifor to call a strike if bargaining committees fail to secure the collective agreements.
York University associate professor Steven Tufts says the strong strike mandate signals that the workers may not be happy with the current offers and are willing to strike and make gains.
"They do have a mandate that strong," he said of the union representing 18,000 autoworkers.
"(The workers) may push the employer a little bit harder, not only to expand the investments but also to secure wage gains that a lot of workers want now, especially in a period of high inflation and higher interest rates."
Along with a wage boost and commitments for electric vehicle production, Unifor wants to improve workers' pensions. When automakers were on the brink of bankruptcy during the financial crisis of 2008-09, employees made significant pension concessions, including a shift toward defined contributions. Payne has said Unifor will be fighting to restore some of what was lost.
Detroit Three workers' contracts, for Unifor in Canada and United Auto Workers south of the border, are set to expire days apart in September making it an interesting time for bargaining.
Tuft said while Unifor and UAW are bargaining at the same time, both unions have separate goals for their workers.
He said the Canadian Auto Workers are looking to secure and expand investment, with a focus on the transition to electric vehicle-related production.
"We've been focused in recent years on securing investment because the footprint in Canada was shrinking," he explained.
He added that getting investments in electric vehicle manufacturing would secure jobs in Canada for years to come.
Daniel Ross, senior manager of automotive industry insights at Canadian Black Book, said the deal could be foundational for Canada's electric vehicle industry.
"(This) could make us a definitive new car production powerhouse for the next generation of vehicles," he said. "We need to have that foundation built down."
The U.S. auto counterparts are focused on securing higher cumulative wages, pushing for a 40 per cent hike, which Tuft says is an attempt to make up for the lost territory in wages over the years.
Members of the United Auto Workers union also handed down a strike mandate with 97 per cent of members in favour.
Tuft said the strong mandate for strikes on both sides of the border could possibly lead to a continental shutdown of the auto sector if Unifor and UAW go out days or weeks apart.
Unifor is expected to announce their target company after the Labour Day weekend.
The union usually picks one automaker with which to concentrate bargaining. Whatever terms are agreed to with that target company general carry over to the other two.
Unifor will likely focus on Ford Motor Co. over General Motors or Stellantis as the lead automaker during this round of three-year contract talks, Unifor leader Lana Payne has said. Ford is most advanced and forthcoming on its electric vehicle transition plans and other negotiations, she said, but the union hasn't announced a final decision.
Tuft said if the unions on both sides pick the same auto company, despite having different priorities, they could have a greater affect bargaining.
A potential strike could add to the COVID-19-induced supply chain issues that the industry is still recovering from.
Ross said if the union and employers fail to come to agreeable terms, it would affect the production of new vehicles, further dampening the automotive industry.
"As we know, the scenario is not perfect," he said. "This is just going to be an insult to injury."
— With files from Ian Bickis
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2023.
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OTTAWA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Organized cybercrime is set to pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years, the national signal intelligence agency said on Monday.
The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in a report identified Russia and Iran as cybercrime safe havens where criminals can operate against Western targets.
Ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure such as hospitals and pipelines can be particularly profitable, the report said. Cyber criminals continue to show resilience and an ability to innovate their business model, it said.
"Organized cybercrime will very likely pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years," said CSE, which is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency.
"Ransomware is almost certainly the most disruptive form of cybercrime facing Canada because it is pervasive and can have a serious impact on an organization's ability to function," it said.
Official data show that in 2022, there were 70,878 reports of cyber fraud in Canada with over C$530 million ($390 million)stolen.
But Chris Lynam, director general of Canada's National Cybercrime Coordination Centre, said very few crimes were reported and the real amount stolen last year could easily be C$5 billion or more.
"Every sector is being targeted along with all types of businesses as well ... folks really have to make sure that they're taking this seriously," he told a briefing.
Russian intelligence services and law enforcement almost certainly maintain relationships with cyber criminals and allow them to operate with near impunity as long as they focus on targets outside the former Soviet Union, CSE said.
Moscow has consistently denied that it carries out or supports hacking operations.
Tehran likely tolerates cybercrime activities by Iran-based cyber criminals that align with the state's strategic and ideological interests, it added.
($1 = 1.3598 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by David Ljunggren
Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Grant McCool
Thousands of air travellers around the world faced delays on Monday after Britain's air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the U.K. on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
More than three hours after it reported the "technical issue," flight control operator National Air Traffic Services said it had "identified and remedied" the problem.
NATS said the outage had hit its ability to process flight plans automatically, meaning the plans had to be input manually, a much slower process.
The service said it had "applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety" but that U.K. airspace remained open.
Monday is a holiday for many in the U.K. and a date when many families return from vacations before the start of the school year.
After fixing the problem, NATS said it was "working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible. Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system's performance as we return to normal operations."
European air traffic authority Eurocontrol warned of "very high" delays, and airports both inside and outside the U.K. told passengers to expect waits and cancellations. Passengers scheduled to fly to Britain from European airports said they were being told to expect delays of several hours or more.
Heathrow, Europe's busiest air hub, said "national airspace issues" were causing disruption to flights, and advised passengers to check with their airline.
Dublin Airport said in a statement that air traffic control issues were resulting in delays and cancellations to some flights into and out of the Irish capital. "We advise all passengers due to travel today to check the status of their flight with their airline in advance of travelling," it said.
British Airways said it had had to make "significant changes" to its schedule. It advised passengers booked on short-haul flights Monday: "Please do not travel to the airport without checking the status of your flight, as it may no longer be operating."
Aviation analyst Alastair Rosenschein, a former BA pilot, said the air traffic system appeared to have suffered "some kind of patchy failure as opposed to a total shutdown."
He told Sky News that "the disruption will be quite severe at some airports" and some U.K.-bound flights will likely have to land in other European countries in order to reduce the flow of inbound planes.
We are currently experiencing outages on our Presto Fare Vending Machines system wide. We are investigating the cause and working to fix it as quickly as possible.
Shares in embattled Chinese developer Evergrande have fallen by around 80% as they started trading in Hong Kong for the first time in a year and a half.
The shares have lost more than 99% of their value in the last three years as Beijing cracked down on property firms.
Evergrande is at the centre of a real estate market crisis threatening the world's second largest economy.
On Sunday, the firm posted a 33bn yuan ($4.5bn; £3.6bn) loss for the first six months of the year.
However, that was an improvement on the 66.4bn yuan loss it reported for the same period a year earlier.
The firm added that its revenue for the first six months of this year had jumped by 44% to 128.2bn yuan from a year earlier. However, its stockpile of cash fell by 6.3% over the same period.
Evergrande shares had been suspended from trading since March last year.
Earlier this month, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the US to protect its assets there.
"The key for policymakers at this moment is to prevent financial contagion and limit spillover into the overall financial system," Qian Wang, chief Asia Pacific economist at investment firm Vanguard told the BBC.
"Policymakers will need to provide further liquidity and credit support to the economy and the real estate sector," she added.
Earlier this month, Country Garden, which is also one of China's biggest property developers, warned that it could see a loss of up to $7.6bn (£6bn) for the first six months of the year.
Rating agency Moody's downgraded the company's rating, citing "heightened liquidity and refinancing risks".
China's real estate industry was rocked when new rules to control the amount of money big real estate firms could borrow were introduced in 2020.
Evergrande, which was once China's top-selling developer, had racked up debts of more than $300bn as it expanded aggressively to become one of the country's biggest companies.
Chapter 15 protects the US assets of a foreign company while it works on restructuring its debts.
Evergrande's financial problems have rippled through the country's property industry, with a series of other developers defaulting on their debts and leaving unfinished building projects across the country.
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