The owners of a Downtown Eastside single-room-occupancy building say a well-viewed TikTok video featuring one of its renovated rooms for $2,000 per month was “unauthorized” and removed from the social media site.
The video, which attracted the attention Thursday of Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, features a young woman showing the inside of the 200 sq. foot furnished room located in the Lotus Hotel at 455 Abbott St.
Forum Asset Management, which is based in Toronto, owns the Lotus Hotel.
“The video was unauthorized and when we learned about it, was taken down immediately — no further comment,” Greg Spafford, Forum’s managing director of real estate management and head of the firm’s real estate income and impact fund, said in an email.
The video was produced by reAngle Consulting Inc. and has since been removed from TikTok, although it is still live on the media platform formerly known as Twitter, where Poilievre retweeted a post Thursday from CBC journalist Justin McElroy.
“$2,000 a month to live in a 200 sq. ft. room in one of the most drug and crime-heavy neighbourhoods in Canada,” Poilievre wrote. “Housing, after 8 years of Trudeau and the NDP.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh followed with this response: “None of this is an accident. Conservatives and Liberals have let rich investors use housing as a get-rich quick scheme. Now their greed is so out of control that a 200 sq. foot ‘apartment’ is going for $2,000/mth.”
Glacier Media left phone and email messages Wednesday with reAngle but had not received a reply before this story was posted. The company’s newest TikTok video features a 5,000 sq. foot home in Whistler, listed for $14.9 million.
McElroy posted the video in question Tuesday night, which attracted a torrent of criticism from people on the X platform. The post attracted 1.9 million views, as of Thursday afternoon. CBC and Global News broadcast stories Wednesday.
The Lotus Hotel at 455 Abbott St. is owned by a Toronto-based real estate investment firm that has made repeated attempts to buy out some of the building’s longtime, low-income tenants. Photo Mike Howell
‘It’s been really good for them’
The video appeared on TikTok two weeks after Glacier Media reported that some low-income tenants of the Lotus were being repeatedly asked by Forum and a property management company if they were interested in moving out of their suites in return for payments between $15,000 to $25,000.
Three tenants interviewed for the story said they were paying less than $650 per month and did not want to leave, knowing how much it would cost to find another place in Vancouver’s expensive housing market.
Rentals.ca, a website that lists rental housing across the country, recently posted a report showing that one-bedroom apartments in Vancouver were being advertised for an average of $3,037 per month in July.
As Glacier Media reported, three renovated furnished “studio apartments” in the 1913-era Lotus Hotel, which range in size from 145 to 172 sq. feet, were advertised in early August on the property management’s website for $1,995 per month.
Another 10 “micro-suites,” ranging in size from 159 to 201 sq. feet, were advertised for $1,700 and $1,800 per month, with all but three unfurnished.
Forum’s Spafford said in an email two weeks ago that contact made with tenants about buyouts was “misrepresented by some tenants and there are others who have welcomed our approach.”
He said the company, which purchased the Lotus a year and a half ago, checks in with tenants “two to three times” per year about buyouts. He described the offers as “generous,” which he elaborated on in an interview.
“We have reached agreement with half a dozen tenants so far over the past year, where they relocated in Vancouver or elsewhere, and it’s been really good for them,” he said, noting one tenant moved in with his brother.
“It’s a life-changing time for him. He has some money to travel, he’s moving in with family, which is where he wanted to go. Other people are moving into assisted living and that money is helpful.”
‘Rapidly escalating rents’
The loss of SRO rooms for low-income tenants was highlighted in a Vancouver city staff report to council in May.
“Privately-owned SROs are being removed from the city’s low-income housing stock at a rapid rate due to two intensifying trends: disinvestment in the most affordable SRO buildings, leading to unsafe conditions and building closures, and rapidly escalating rents in the better maintained buildings, both of which are contributing to the ongoing homelessness crisis in Vancouver,” the report said.
The “critical issue” of tenant displacement from private SROs was highlighted in the report.
“The majority of the time, private landlords conduct light upgrades (paint walls, replace floors, etc.) at turnover that do not require an SRA [single room accommodation] permit but result in the ability to charge higher rents,” the report said.
“To accelerate turnover, some landlords pressure long-term tenants to accept cash buyouts in exchange for mutual agreements to end tenancies, leaving tenants with few housing options in the long term.”
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
