Leap days may be good news for anyone who gets paid hourly. Not so much for some salaried workers.
Ryan Watkins, an employment lawyer with Whitten & Lublin Employment Lawyers,told CTV News thatemployees who are paid hourly are compensated for all actual hours worked. Salaried employees paid on a weekly or bi-weekly basis would also be paid for working on Feb. 29.
But it’s different for those paid monthly or semi-monthly -- once on the 15th and once on the last day of the month. If employees work a leap day they would likely not be eligible for additional pay.
“Unless there is a stipulation in the employee's employment contract that says that they get paid for this extra day, they're not going to get paid,” Watkins explained. “Employers are kind of getting away scot-free.”
He said Canadian employers are saving lots of money from their salaried workers each leap day.
“They're working an extra day for free, effectively,” Watkins added.
Why do we have a leap day?
Experts say without the leap day the timing of the seasons would all change.
“In just the span of 700 years, if we didn’t do this correction, the summer that we experience now in June, would actually have shifted all the way to December,” explained The Great Orbax, a science communicator with the Department of Physics at the University of Guelph, in a video posted online.
Orbax said it takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours for the Earth to complete one full orbit around the sun. But that would mean each year would have to start six hours late.
“Instead of changing our whole calendar, what we do is we save up those six hours, and every four years that makes 24 hours, and we tag on an extra day,” he explained in an interview with CTV News.
“But it works out well, because every 100 years we end up with a whole day extra, and we take that one away from what would otherwise have been a leap year,” Orbax explained.
That extra day is added every 400 years.
“This extra day accumulates pretty quickly and the reason that we do it is to keep our current calendar that we have now in line with what we picture the seasons to be.”
Orbax said fewer corrections would be needed if society followed a calendar based on the moon instead of the sun, but humans would still probably struggle to make the math work.
Oprah Winfrey announced Wednesday that she will leave her role on the WeightWatchers board of directors, only two months after the talk show host publicly revealed she was taking a weight-loss medication.
Winfrey, who has for the last nine years been widely considered the face of WeightWatchers, joined the company’s board of directors in 2015. A press release from WeightWatchers said Winfrey, 70, decided not to stand for re-election.
The announcement of Winfrey’s departure sent WeightWatchers shares plummeting. During premarket trading on Thursday, shares in the weight-loss company plunged more than 25 per cent.
Winfrey pledged to donate her WeightWatchers stock to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. The talk-show mogul owns a 10 per cent stake in the company.
“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Winfrey said in a statement.
“Weight Health is a critically important topic and one that needs to be addressed at a broader scale. I plan to participate in a number of public forums and events where I will be a vocal advocate in advancing this conversation.”
The WeightWatchers board of directors said it is “supportive” of Winfrey’s decision to donate her stock in the company. The board wrote that Winfrey’s aim in donating her shares to NMAAHC is to “highlight the contributions of African Americans and to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight loss medications.”
In December 2023, Winfrey told People magazine she was using an unnamed weight-loss drug as a “maintenance tool” for her fluctuating weight. The disclosure came after Winfrey’s social media followers speculated that the star may be taking Ozempic or another similar medication.
Winfrey told People she made the decision to take a medication that induces weight loss after being “blamed and shamed” for her weight across her 25-year career.
“I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control,” she said. “Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain.”
Winfrey said she “released my own shame” and reached out to her doctor to inquire about medication options.
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she said. “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”
Alongside her medication, Winfrey said she still uses the WeightWatchers point-counting methodology and drinks a gallon of water every day.
Thilo Semmelbauer, chairman of the WeightWatchers board, said Winfrey has been an “inspiring presence and passionate advocate” within the organization. He thanked Winfrey for her “energy, dedication, and for continuing to play a role as collaborator” with the brand.
Winfrey will donate her stock during the company’s upcoming trading window in March.
WeightWatchers’ latest financial report on Wednesday showed a total loss of US$88.1 million in the company’s fourth quarter of 2023. WeightWatchers’ gross profit for the same quarter came in at US$124.9 million.
Revenue for the full 2023 fiscal year reached US$889.6 million, almost 15 per cent less than the year prior, the company reported.
Last year, WeightWatchers dipped its toe in the weight-loss drug game and purchased Sequence, a telehealth provider that offers users access to drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity, including Ozempic.
US burger chain Wendy's has denied it is exploring plans to raise prices on customers at busy moments, claiming its plans were "misconstrued".
The firm had told investors this month that it was rolling out digital menu displays at its restaurants and expected to start testing features "like dynamic pricing" early next year.
The term refers to the practice of rapidly changing posted prices.
The plans quickly drew backlash and accusations of "price gouging".
In a statement on Tuesday, Wendy's said the goal of the digital menu boards was to provide "more flexibility to change the display of featured items", including promoting discounts during slow periods.
"This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most," the company said.
It added that it had never used the phrase "surge pricing", as articles describing the comments by boss Kirk Tanner had.
The term "surge pricing" was popularised by Uber, which has long charged higher fares during busy periods.
The practice is also common in areas such as airlines and hotels and it is becoming more widely adopted as technology makes it easier to automate the changes.
In the UK, the Stonegate Group, a major pub chain that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates bars, said last year it was raising prices during peak hours.
The idea that Wendy's, which claims more than 6,500 restaurants globally, might adopt a similar strategy sparked outrage online, where many people said they would simply take their business elsewhere.
Left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of the most high-profile critics, saying on Wednesday that the plans meant people "could pay more for your lunch, even if the cost to Wendy's stays exactly the same".
"It's price gouging plain and simple, and American families have had enough," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
US burger chain Wendy's has denied it is exploring plans to raise prices on customers at busy moments, claiming its plans were "misconstrued".
The firm had told investors this month that it was rolling out digital menu displays at its restaurants and expected to start testing features "like dynamic pricing" early next year.
The term refers to the practice of rapidly changing posted prices.
The plans quickly drew backlash and accusations of "price gouging".
In a statement on Tuesday, Wendy's said the goal of the digital menu boards was to provide "more flexibility to change the display of featured items", including promoting discounts during slow periods.
"This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most," the company said.
It added that it had never used the phrase "surge pricing", as articles describing the comments by boss Kirk Tanner had.
The term "surge pricing" was popularised by Uber, which has long charged higher fares during busy periods.
The practice is also common in areas such as airlines and hotels and it is becoming more widely adopted as technology makes it easier to automate the changes.
In the UK, the Stonegate Group, a major pub chain that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates bars, said last year it was raising prices during peak hours.
The idea that Wendy's, which claims more than 6,500 restaurants globally, might adopt a similar strategy sparked outrage online, where many people said they would simply take their business elsewhere.
Left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of the most high-profile critics, saying on Wednesday that the plans meant people "could pay more for your lunch, even if the cost to Wendy's stays exactly the same".
"It's price gouging plain and simple, and American families have had enough," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
US burger chain Wendy's has denied it is exploring plans to raise prices on customers at busy moments, claiming its plans were "misconstrued".
The firm had told investors this month that it was rolling out digital menu displays at its restaurants and expected to start testing features "like dynamic pricing" early next year.
The term refers to the practice of rapidly changing posted prices.
The plans quickly drew backlash and accusations of "price gouging".
In a statement on Tuesday, Wendy's said the goal of the digital menu boards was to provide "more flexibility to change the display of featured items", including promoting discounts during slow periods.
"This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most," the company said.
It added that it had never used the phrase "surge pricing", as articles describing the comments by boss Kirk Tanner had.
The term "surge pricing" was popularised by Uber, which has long charged higher fares during busy periods.
The practice is also common in areas such as airlines and hotels and it is becoming more widely adopted as technology makes it easier to automate the changes.
In the UK, the Stonegate Group, a major pub chain that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates bars, said last year it was raising prices during peak hours.
The idea that Wendy's, which claims more than 6,500 restaurants globally, might adopt a similar strategy sparked outrage online, where many people said they would simply take their business elsewhere.
Left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of the most high-profile critics, saying on Wednesday that the plans meant people "could pay more for your lunch, even if the cost to Wendy's stays exactly the same".
"It's price gouging plain and simple, and American families have had enough," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
A new trend involving non-traditional methods of home ownership has emerged for Canadians hoping to enter the housing market.
A Leger survey commissioned by RE/MAX Canada found that 50 per cent of Canadians would consider alternative methods of buying a home, and 32 per cent are currently exploring non-traditional ways due to economic factors like high cost of living and the price of housing.
Canadians are having to make sacrifices, like purchasing small condominiums or townhouses instead of a detached home, or commuting from a more affordable community.
“People are struggling to make mortgage payments. It’s a very challenging housing market,” Noam Dolgin said in an interview with CTV News.
Dolgin, a Vancouver realtor at Collaborative Home Ownership B.C., is in the business of real estate matchmaking. He connects strangers with the common goal of owning home, but can’t do it alone.
Christian Veenstra is one of them.
Veenstra, his wife and three kids currently rent in Metro Vancouver with a roommate who is a longtime friend. Now, they’re ready to make the leap into purchasing… together.
“It feels very comfortable living with her already, and so rather than renting, I think maybe it’s time to buy," Veenstra told CTV News. "You get a lot more stability that way and your money isn’t just disappearing.”
Though Dolgin, with a specialty in co-ownership, calls it an affordability hack, he says there are more advantages than just that.
“You get access to different types of housing… single-family type homes with yards, or an acreage where you can grow food," he said. "You can get access to neighbourhoods you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get in to.”
He admits, however, that sharing a home and mortgage with friends, family, or strangers, can come with legal complications. Plus, plenty of legwork to do beforehand.
“What’s your plan for delinquency? How will you protect yourself in the case that somebody loses their job, or can’t pay their bill? What’s your exit strategy? There will come a time when one party wants to leave,” Dolgin said.
According to the survey, the leading demographics considering sharing a home are people aged 18 to 34, and BIPOC Canadians.
Dolgin says doing your due diligence in a collaborative owning situation in the beginning can go a long way to prevent problems in alternative arrangements.
Proponents of renewable energy projects on farmland will have to 'demonstrate the ability for both crops and livestock to co-exist on the land,' Alberta utilities minister says.
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Wind turbines are seen near Pincher Creek. Alberta will institute new rules for renewable energy projects, limiting their construction on farmland and adding buffers to protect landscape views.Leah Hennel/Postmedia file
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Alberta will adopt an “agricultural-first” approach when deciding where new renewable energy projects can be built in the province — while creating 35-kilometre buffer zones around “pristine viewscapes” and requiring developers to put up remediation bonds.
For industry proponents, the news feels more like a renewables-second policy. The sector is clamouring for more answers about the potential effect of the new rules on investment into the country’s hottest renewable market.
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The province is lifting its moratorium later this week on approving new renewable energy projects and overhauling the criteria for the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to approve future clean energy proposals.
The new policy was announced Wednesday by Premier Danielle Smith and Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf, who said the rules are intended to protect farmland while allowing the renewables industry to grow — although Neudorf acknowledged it will likely slow the sector’s rapid expansion.
“We’re only requesting that the proponent demonstrate the ability for both crops and livestock to coexist on the land for renewables projects. So, we are creating a pathway for this to continue,” he said in an interview.
“We anticipate that there will be some contraction of some of these (proposed) investment projects.”
The UCP government will instruct the AUC to use the new policy direction for approving new projects, beginning March 1.
Changes will not be retroactive, but will apply to 13 projects that began moving through the review process during the seven-month pause, which began in August.
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Reaction from the clean energy proponents and developers focused on the lack of specific details on key policies, such as how the province will define pristine viewscapes.
“We still need additional information,” said Canadian Renewable Energy Association CEO Vittoria Bellissimo.
Solar panels at the Travers Solar Project with wind turbines behind them west of Lomond, Alberta, on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.Mike Drew/Postmedia
“All uncertainty is bad uncertainty in this instance.”
BluEarth Renewables CEO Grant Arnold said he was pleased to see the changes will not be retroactively applied to projects already built in the province.
However, the Calgary-based company also has about 400 MW of proposed wind and solar developments in the works in Alberta.
“The concepts discussed today by the province, combined, add cost and red tape,” Arnold said.
“I’m not giving the green light on a new project today in Alberta until I have some certainty, and I don’t know if I’ll see it in the near future or in the far future.”
Alberta has seen a surge of wind and solar projects over the past five years.
The province added almost 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable capacity in 2022 — about three-quarters of all such additions across the country — and the percentage topped 90 per cent last year.
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With the changes, renewable projects will no longer be allowed on what the province considers Class 1 and 2 farmland under a land suitability rating system — covering about seven million hectares out of 26 million hectares — unless the proponent shows livestock or crops can coexist on the site, Neudorf said.
The province will also look to create tools to ensure native grassland, irrigable land and productive farmland will continue to be available for agriculture.
“We’re trying to be responsible with not just one industry, but many industries,” the minister said.
Buffer zones extending at least 35 kilometres will be created around protected areas and what the province designates as pristine viewscapes, such as the Rocky Mountains or the foothills.
In those areas, wind farms with turbines will be a “no-go,” said Neudorf. Other developments in the zone could require the AUC to conduct a visual impact assessment.
The minister doesn’t anticipate many projects will be affected, but the Pembina Institute said it appears the buffer zone could cover up to 76 per cent of southern Alberta due to protected areas in place.
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“If the government is interested in agriculture-first, these rules should apply to the oil and gas sector, to residential and industrial development,” said Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute.
The province said protected areas will focus on the western portion of Alberta and haven’t been established yet.
The new policy will also create guidelines around reclamation costs to pay for the cleanup once a renewable project reaches the end of its life, such as putting up a bond to cover those expenses.
The money will either be given to the AUC or negotiated with the landowner, but the specific amount required has not yet been set.
The incoming changes will give municipalities the automatic right to participate in AUC hearings on new projects. Other parts of a broader government review of the electricity sector are also being developed and expected to be revealed later in March.
Controversy over Alberta renewables policies unlikely to abate
The new policy will likely continue to stir the controversy that has surrounded Alberta’s pause, which was adopted last summer amid a growing lineup of proposals before the AUC.
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Alberta has excellent wind and solar resources and, as Canada’s only deregulated power market, it has become a magnet for private-sector investment. The energy-only market allows developers to build projects and sell the electricity, along with renewable energy credits, to corporate customers through power purchase agreements.
The Business Renewables Centre Canada said corporate-based PPAs have garnered more than $6.4 billion in investment since 2019.
Greengate Power CEO Dan Balaban, which developed the largest solar project in the country south of Calgary, said Wednesday there is still uncertainty and some subjectivity in how the new rules will be applied.
His company, which has been involved in renewable development in Alberta for more than a decade, has seen the province become Canada’s top investment destination for wind and solar, which is “a modern miracle to see that happen in oil country.
“I am a little disappointed, I’d say, that it looks like that pace of growth is not going to continue,” Balaban added.
“It certainly seems like they’re prioritizing agriculture over renewables — agriculture-first would imply that…I think both can coexist.”
However, the review tackled issues that needed a deeper examination due to the industry’s speedy expansion, said Rural Municipalities of Alberta president Paul McLauchlin.
“This is actually not that limiting,” he said.
“Most of rural Alberta should be happy with the path forward.”
Rather this is a story that will unfold every single day inside the company and in the impacted communities until the process is done. It will be discussed at every single investment conference a Macy's executive speaks at between now and 2026. It will be discussed on the next umpteen earnings calls for the company.
So if you own stock in Macy's, this is something that warrants deeper digging and staying on top of the situation (reading local news publications is helpful on this front). It's a major moment for the company that could have implications on whether it's in business 20 years from today.
A few further thoughts after digging of my own last night:
The size of Macy's: After Macy's closes these 150 stores, the company will have about 350 locations open in the US. That barely quantifies as a national retailer, let alone one that could compete effectively with Amazon (AMZN). The company is ceding a ton of market share to rivals such as discounter Target (TGT), which has almost 2,000 stores in the US. Kohl's (KSS) has 1,100 stores in 49 states.
Citi's Paul Lejuez put context around the competitive dynamic in a new note this morning: "With Macy's putting over $2 billion in sales up for grabs over the next three years from its store closing plan, we believe this is most likely to benefit the off-price group (TJX Companies (TJX) in particular) that tends to pick up market share (sales) when department stores close stores."
The losers: What happens when 150 Macy's stores vanish? The retailers that sell products at these stores lose a key outlet to offer merchandise. Lejuez highlighted a few potential losers, all of which are publicly traded: "Those brands that sell into Macy's (SHOO, PVH, RL, CRI, LEVI, COLM, VFC, CPRI) are likely to feel some sales pressure as a result of Macy's store-closing decision. Typically, sales put up for grabs by a department store do not end up getting picked up by other department stores."
Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma caught up with Macy's new CEO Tony Spring to discuss the store closures, among other topics. More on that here.
Royal Bank of Canada reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates even as the lender set aside more loan loss reserves and recorded higher expenses.
RBC earned $3.6-billion, or $2.50 per share, in the three months that ended Jan. 31. That compared with $3.2-billion, or $2.29 per share, in the same quarter last year.
Adjusted to exclude certain items, including transaction and integration costs related to its proposed takeover of HSBC Bank Canada, the bank said it earned $2.85 per share, down 6 per cent from the same quarter last year. That edged out the $2.80 per share analysts expected, according to Refinitiv.
“Underpinned by our balance sheet strength, prudent approach to risk management and diversified business model, we delivered solid, client-driven volume growth and a continued focus on expense control,” RBC chief executive officer Dave McKay said in a statement. “As we look towards the completion of our planned HSBC Canada acquisition, we remain focused on being a trusted advisor to clients through the delivery of new and differentiated banking experiences.”
The bank kept its quarterly dividend unchanged at $1.38 per share.
RBC is the third major Canadian bank to report earnings for the fiscal first quarter. National Bank of Canada is also releasing results on Wednesday. Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal reported financial results Tuesday. Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will close out the week on Thursday.
RBC’s pending takeover of British-based banking giant HSBC’s Canadian unit received approval from the Finance Minister in December, and is expected to close at the end of the first calendar quarter.
In the quarter, RBC set aside $813-million in provisions for credit losses – the funds banks set aside to cover loans that may default. That was higher than analysts anticipated, and included $133-million against loans that are still being repaid, based on models that use economic forecasting to predict future losses. In the same quarter last year, RBC had set aside $532-million in provisions.
Total revenue rose 1 per cent in the quarter to $13.5-billion on slimmer net interest margins – the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay on deposits. Expenses increased 10 per cent to $8.3-billion, in part driven by costs related to its HSBC Canada deal and higher salaries and benefits, partly offset by a staff reduction announced last year.
Profit from personal and commercial banking was $1.97-billion, down 4 per cent from a year earlier, mostly due to higher loan loss provisions and expenses.
The wealth management division generated $606-million of profit, down 27 per cent largely due to costs from an industry-wide special assessment by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as well as investments in its Los Angeles-based bank, City National.
Capital markets profit fell 7 per cent to $1.15-billion, driven by lower revenue in global markets and higher provisions.
An Ontario university is pulling dozens of vending machines that were tracking the age and gender of customers in the latest example of pushback against technology that tests the boundaries of privacy rules.
The move comes amid opposition from University of Waterloo students, who became aware of the technology after a Reddit user spotted an on-screen error message on one of the machines earlier this month, about an apparent problem with its facial recognition program.
"The natural question that follows there is, 'Why does it have a facial recognition app? How can this error even exist?'" said River Stanley, a fourth-year computer science and business student who broke the story in the campus journal mathNEWS.
The university says it has asked that all 29 machines, from the Switzerland-based company Invenda, be removed "as soon as possible," and that the software be disabled in the meantime.
"We thank our students for bringing this matter to our attention," said university spokesperson Rebecca Elming.
She did not respond to a followup question from CBC News about whether the university was planning to change its procurement process if machines with facial analysis technology were showing up unbeknownst to administrators.
This error message was spotted by a university student and posted on Reddit, raising questions about why the machines had such technology. (Reddit)
Invenda says the machines use facial analysis, not facial recognition, software, and that it isn't storing data or photos.
The company says its technology is mainly used to tell when a person is standing in front of a vending machine, and to change the screen from "standby" mode, which shows ads, to "sales" mode, which shows different products.
Critics say that explanation isn't good enough, and that customers should know whether they're being watched and be given the choice to opt in.
"There was no [camera] marking on these vending machines at all," said Stanley.
Stanley investigated further, contacted the vending machine operator and Invenda, and published a story that was later picked up by CTV Kitchener.
Approximately 100 Invenda vending machines have been shipped to Canada, the company said, although it's not clear if all of them have been installed.
Student River Stanley, who is pursuing a double degree in computer science and business, wrote about the machines in the campus journal MathNEWS. (Karis Blake/CBC)
No one from Invenda was available for an interview Monday, a spokesperson said, but in an email the company emphasized that its software is used for people detection and facial analysis, not facial recognition (though the company's CEO has previously referred to it as "facial recognition" in a 2020 promotional video).
"People detection solely identifies the presence of individuals whereas, facial recognition goes further to discern and specify individual persons," the statement said.
The machines can "only determine if an anonymous individual faces the device, for what duration, and approximates basic demographic attributes unidentifiably."
The company said those "basic demographic attributes" include age and gender — information that one privacy advocate says would help retailers decide which products are most likely to sell.
"No point putting products in the vending machine that aren't going to sell, take up space and just cost money to throw out when they're stale," said Sharon Polsky, president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, who is based in Calgary.
"From a business perspective, it absolutely makes sense."
The technology is not currently common in Canada, the Canadian Automatic Manufacturing Association said in a statement.
WATCH | Privacy violations at the mall:
Shoppers’ privacy violated at major Canadian malls: Privacy commissioners
3 years ago
Duration 2:01
Cadillac Fairview, the real estate company behind some of Canada’s biggest malls, violated the privacy of shoppers by collecting five million images without consent from cameras inside digital information kiosks, an investigation by federal, British Columbia and Alberta privacy commissioners found.
As retailers become hungrier for consumer insights and technology becomes better able to deliver those insights, retail analyst Doug Stephens says it's unlikely that even a significant consumer backlash will stop other companies from trying similar tactics.
"The genie is kind of out of the bottle here," said Stephens, founder of the Retail Prophet. "I don't see this [technology] as being something that's simply going to go away."
Stanley, the student, likened the situation to the real estate company Cadillac Fairview's use of similar technology in directory displays in some of its malls.
That company advanced a similar argument in its defence — that it used the technology to monitor foot traffic patterns and predict demographic information about mall visitors.
But investigators took issue with how the images were stored, and said the company did not obtain meaningful consent from customers ahead of collecting their images. Cadillac Fairview said it stopped using the technology.
Polsky, for her part, wants to see a similar investigation into the Invenda machines and stricter privacy legislation overall. She also applauded the University of Waterloo students for figuring out the software embedded in their vending machines.
"It's terrific that people are noticing these affronts to our privacy … and not just shrugging [their] shoulders and saying 'Not a big deal,'" she said.
Cineplex Inc. has made almost $40 million from online booking fees, which are central to a competition bureau lawsuit against the Canadian cinema chain.
An agreed statement of facts filed in the case before the Competition Tribunal shows Canada's largest theatre owner made more than $11.6 million in the six months after the fees were implemented in June 2022. It made another $27.3 million on the fees in 2023.
Cineplex charges an additional $1.50 on every ticket purchased online, but Scene+ members get a discount and CineClub members have the fee waived.
Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell alleges the online fees are deceptive, because moviegoers are not presented with the full price of a movie ticket on the very first page they encounter when buying tickets from Cineplex.com.
Cineplex has argued Boswell's claims are without merit and should be thrown out, with costs awarded to Cineplex, because moviegoers are told about fees they may face from the start of the purchase process.
The bureau sued Cineplex in May 2023, alleging the company is breaking the law by adding a fee that raises the price of tickets purchased online.
LISTEN | What is drip pricing and how does it impact consumers?:
Columnists from CBC Radio4:51How drip pricing affects you the consumer
Cineplex Canada is facing two class-action lawsuits for allegedly using drip pricing. What is this tactic and how does it affect consumers? The CBC’s Manjula Selvarajah explains.
It says an investigation found consumers can't buy tickets online at advertised prices, because of the mandatory $1.50 fee.
The bureau alleges this is misleading and an example of drip pricing, also known as a junk fee. It notes that recent amendments to the Competition Act explicitly recognize drip pricing as a harmful business practice.
BMO missed analysts’ estimates in the first quarter.
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Bank of Montreal missed analysts’ estimates as it grappled with weak capital-markets revenue and reported an increase in loan-loss provisions.
The Toronto-based bank earned $2.56 per share on an adjusted basis in the fiscal first quarter, it said in a statement Tuesday, falling short of the $3.02 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
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Some analysts had predicted that BMO’s trading revenue could come in light for the quarter. The bank’s capital-markets division reported net income of $393 million, down 19 per cent from a year earlier, with lower trading revenue countered by higher underwriting and advisory fee revenue.
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“In our opinion, there is no way to put a positive spin” on the results, Meny Grauman, an analyst with the Bank of Nova Scotia, said in a note to investors. “The big story for this quarter is the substantial drop in revenues.”
Total revenue fell almost eight per cent from the fourth quarter of last year, to $7.67 billion.
The bank’s shares dropped 3.9 per cent to $121.93 at 10:06 a.m. in Toronto after earlier slumping as much as 5.8 per cent, their biggest intraday decline since December 2022. The stock is down eight per cent this year, compared with a 2.7 per cent decline for S&P/TSX Commercial Banks Index.
Adjusted results were affected by a number of one-time items, including a special assessment by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. of $417 million before taxes related to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Provisions for credit losses in the three months through January totalled $627 million, more than the $514.2 million analysts had forecast.
Gross impaired loans on commercial real estate continued to march higher, to $481 million in the quarter.
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BMO acquired San Francisco-based Bank of the West last February, and investors have been closely watching for signals that it will deliver on plans to wring cost savings as well as revenue synergies out of the deal. Last quarter, it increased its outlook for pretax cost savings from the takeover to US$800 million annually from a previous estimate of US$670 million.
“With the integration of Bank of the West complete, we have achieved 100 per cent of the US$800 million run-rate cost synergies to start the second quarter, and we’re delivering incremental operational efficiencies across the enterprise, resulting in a sequential decline in our expense base,” chief executive Darryl White said in the statement.
The bank also announced a restructuring program last August and incurred a total of about $340 million in severance charges over the past two quarters. Savings from those efforts aren’t expected to be fully realized until later this year.
Elsewhere, the lender has been trying to bolster its regulatory capital ratio by lowering the risk-weighted assets on its balance sheet. Among Canadian banks, it’s been the biggest user of synthetic risk transfers — which entail partly passing on risks tied to certain loans to private investors — and also sold a recreational-vehicle loan portfolio to KKR & Co. for US$7.2 billion in December. That deal saw BMO provide seller financing by buying bonds backed by the RV loans, and it remains the servicer of the debt.
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The bank said Tuesday it recorded a pretax net accounting loss of $164 million on the sale of the RV portfolio.
BMO’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio increased three basis points from the previous three months to 12.8 per cent, and the bank said it was ending a discount on its dividend-reinvestment plan given its “strong position and consistent internal capital generation.” Several banks have used DRIP discounts as a means of raising capital.
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