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Indigo founder acknowledges ‘tough four years’ for bookstore chain

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MONTREAL – The founder of Canada’s biggest bookstore chain says she wants to bring the company back to its core values following a “tough four years” for the bookseller.

Heather Reisman, chief executive of Indigo Books & Music Inc., says it was a mistake to temporarily step back from the company’s helm.

“For two years I gave the business over to someone else and … I made the wrong decision,” Reisman said Friday during a live taping of “Big Shot,” a podcast hosted by Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and DAVIDsTEA co-founder David Segal that celebrates Jewish entrepreneurs.

Reisman said the COVID pandemic cost the company $160 million in cash, and her “two-year misstep,” when she stepped down as chief executive a few years later, cost another $120 million. “That’s a lot of money for any retail company,” she said. “And it basically cleaned the cash off my balance sheet.”

The event took place as part of Startupfest, an annual gathering of entrepreneurs and investors in Montreal.

The conversation marked Reisman’s first public remarks since a pair of holding companies owned by her husband, Gerald Schwartz, completed a deal in May to acquire all of the bookseller’s outstanding shares and take it private.

The takeover by Trilogy Retail Holdings Inc. and Trilogy Investments LP came after a turbulent year for the bookstore chain, which has been working to turn around its business. The privatization allows Indigo to avoid scrutiny as it works to bring profitability and growth back to Canada’s biggest bookseller.

Indigo is still recovering from a cyberattack that downed its website for a lengthy period last year, a series of quarterly losses leading up to a January layoff, and a succession of changes that saw four of 10 board members depart last year with one claiming mistreatment and “a loss of confidence in board leadership.”

Reisman, who announced her full retirement from the company amid the turmoil in June, returned to the helm months later, in September.

The issues have played out as inflation and high interest rates make many Canadians think twice about opening their wallets, especially for the discretionary items Indigo is known for selling alongside its books.

Shortly after her return, Reisman launched a transformation plan meant to “return Indigo to both growth and profitability.” Asked about that plan on Friday, Reisman said she wants to focus on the company’s core values. “I have to bring the company back to who we were. We got a little bit lost for two years,” she said.

Though she offered few details, Reisman said she’s interested in the connection between reading and brain development “in a world where attention spans have declined.” She said she wants Canadian children to be the most literate in the world. She’s also interested in the application of artificial intelligence to book curation.

Reisman was briefly interrupted Friday by a pro-Palestinian protester who accused her of “funding genocide.” Indigo has been targeted in recent months by activists who take issue with the HESEG Foundation, created by Schwartz and Reisman in 2005, which offers scholarships to people from outside Israel who join the Israeli Defense Forces.

Reisman, who appeared unfazed by the disturbance, called the protester’s allegation a “lie,” and said the truth is the foundation “fund(s) education for people with no parents.” The man was quickly removed by security guards.

Since the conflict in Gaza began last fall, demonstrators have protested outside Indigo bookstores and called for boycotts of the company because of Reisman’s foundation. A Toronto store was vandalized last November.

More recently, a group of high-profile members of Canada’s literary community have called on the Scotiabank Giller Prize to cut ties with sponsors “directly invested in Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” including Indigo.

Earlier this week, the Giller Foundation announced it wouldn’t drop its lead sponsor, Scotiabank, over its investment in an Israeli arms manufacturer. A number of authors have pulled their names from consideration for this year’s prize due to the Scotiabank sponsorship.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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