VICTORIA —
Another 21 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in British Columbia, health officials announced Wednesday.
The total includes 19 new positive tests for the coronavirus and two additional epidemiologically linked cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in B.C. since the pandemic began to 3,149.
There have been no additional deaths from the virus over the last 24 hours, leaving the provincial death toll at 189.
There have now been 2,753 recoveries from the virus in B.C., leaving the province with 207 active cases. Of those, 14 people are hospitalized and five are in intensive care.
Wednesday’s update from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix came in the form of a news release. It comes after a surge in new positive tests reported over the weekend, many of them related to private parties in the province’s Interior.
The 21 additional cases announced make Wednesday the sixth day out of the last seven in which the provincial case count grew by at least 20. Tuesday, when 13 new cases were reported, was the only day in the last week not to cross that threshold.
Dix and Henry addressed these increases in their joint statement Wednesday.
“We are concerned about the increase in new cases in recent days as COVID-19 continues to silently circulate in our communities,” the pair said. “As we spend more time with others, we need to find our balance with COVID-19. We need to minimize the number of cases, manage new cases as they emerge and modify our activities accordingly.”
The officials noted that many of B.C.’s early cases of the coronavirus were found in long-term care and assisted-living facilities, the recent growth in the provincial caseload has happened mostly in the broader community.
There continue to be three ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in health-care facilities, including two in seniors’ care homes and one in an acute care unit. There is also one ongoing “community outbreak,” according to Dix and Henry.
Most cases of COVID-19 in B.C. have been located in the Lower Mainland, with 1,659 in the Fraser Health region and 1,023 in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region.
Elsewhere in the province, there have been 216 cases in Interior Health, 135 in Island Health and 65 in Northern Health.
An additional 51 cases of COVID-19 reported in B.C. have been found in people who reside outside Canada, according to Wednesday’s update.
Henry and Dix will deliver their next live briefing on Thursday.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
