Nova Scotia’s justice minister says the RCMP owes the public an explanation for a high-speed chase that played out in Halifax during heavy traffic and an armed raid at an apartment that happened just as students were being dismissed from a nearby high school.
A federal RCMP investigation became very public Wednesday as unmarked police cars cut across traffic-filled roads and sidewalks before crashing into the car they were chasing near Joseph Howe Drive, a busy arterial road in the city. At the same time, armed RCMP officers raided an apartment building near a high school in Bedford.
The Mounties have provided few details, other than to say it was all part of an operation targeting organized crime and drugs and that arrests have been made.
Justice Minister Mark Furey, who was a member of the RCMP for 32 years, wasn’t impressed.
A car crashed into a power pole on Elliott Street in Halifax on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, after a police chase with RCMP members. (CBC)
“I’m concerned, so certainly the public concern is warranted and it, quite frankly, deserves an explanation, and these are discussions that I will advance with RCMP senior managers,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
While Furey didn’t know what led up to the pictures and videos that have circulated widely online from the chase, he recalled the force’s policy not permitting chases in unmarked vehicles and for chases to be abandoned if there is a risk to public safety.
“There are clear policies when it comes to high-speed pursuits and pursuits that don’t have that element of high speed,” said Furey. “And there’s a supervisory role when public safety could be put at risk or compromised; the senior officer has a responsibility to cease that pursuit.”
The province has “a gangs and guns problem,” said Furey. His government has spent a lot of money in recent years trying to provide police the tools they need to address that problem and he supports their efforts.
But Furey also said it is “critically important as they do that work that they recognize the broader element of public safety, in that we would not want to be doing anything that’s going to put public safety at risk, whether it’s students in school communities or pedestrians in the Joseph Howe circumstances.”
Police arrest a man on Elliott Street in Halifax on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, after a car chase ended on the west-end street. (Craig Paisley/CBC)
Furey said the events of Wednesday have him reaching out to law enforcement leaders across the province with the RCMP and municipal forces to remind them of how important strong community communication is. While police can’t always share all of their information with the public, Furey said the community is owed as much transparency as possible.
“There are circumstances where we see strong communications and there’s strong outcomes,” he said. “When there’s poor communications, there are poor outcomes, there’s a lack of transparency and accountability.”
RCMP transparency in Nova Scotia has been criticized this year, largely because of how public communication related to the investigation of last spring’s mass shooting was handled. A situation like Wednesday doesn’t help, either, said Furey.
“My experience has been that when you engage the public, you get constructive outcomes, you build relationships,” he said. “That’s a challenge that we’re facing right now; that’s a challenge that the law enforcement community is facing not only here in Nova Scotia, but across the country and continent.”
Officers raided an apartment building near Charles P. Allen High School just as the school was letting out for the day. (Submitted by Angela Guptill)
Although there have been concerted efforts to engage Black and First Nations communities in an effort to improve communications, Furey said there is a need for broader efforts to ensure the public has confidence and trust in law enforcement.
“I see every day police officers in our communities engaging youth — they’re in our schools, they’re problem solving with youth and families and schools and educators. There’s lots of good work happening,” he said.
“But it’s these types of incidents and social media — public awareness through social media — that raise the level of concern of residents and we have to address that. We need our uniformed officers to understand the optics that it presents and the concerns that Nova Scotians have.”
Although it’s not driven by any recent events or criticism, Furey said he’s initiated talks within his department about provincial policing service models. The Police Act allows for the creation of a provincial force.
Provincial policing review initiated
Furey said the issue at hand is labour issues within the RCMP, the fact membership has become the largest police labour group in the country, and rising contract costs that are becoming increasingly difficult for municipalities to afford.
Policing is the largest line item for most, if not all, municipalities in the province, said Furey, and many are concerned about the sustainability of it. His department has periodically done policing reviews at the request of municipalities looking at alternatives to the RCMP because of the growing costs of the contract.
“With the labour circumstances within the RCMP, it’s only prudent that the minister responsible for policing in the province would look to this as an area that requires attention and work, because the discussion will continue with municipalities,” he said.
Furey said there is no timeline for the review. There is an existing contract between the provincial government and RCMP that runs until 2032.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
