March 9: “At this point it is likely we will be dealing with this virus worldwide for many months to come.” Chief Medical Officer of Health Doctor Deena Hinshaw made that bleak prediction as she explained all the confirmed cases at the time were travel-related.
March 14: The City of Edmonton closed rec centres, playgrounds and golf courses.
March 15: On a Sunday afternoon, as thousands of students prepared to go to school the following day, Alberta’s education minister announced all schools and daycares were being closed and every student in Alberta would move to online classes. They would not return for the remainder of the school year.
March 17: Alberta declared a local state of public health emergency.
March 18: “In order to save lives, I have had to make recommendations that will take away livelihoods for many Albertans over the next several weeks to months,” Dr. Hinshaw admitted when asked about the impact restrictions were having on the economy.
March 19: Alberta recorded the first COVID-19 death in the province when a man in his 60s from the Edmonton zone died of the virus.
May 14:Stage 1 of the relaunch began for most of Alberta, though Calgary and Brooks had to wait because of high caseloads. Health services like dental offices reopened and restaurants were allowed to operate at half capacity.
May 29: Alberta Health expanded testing to include all Albertans with or without symptoms who wanted to receive a test.
June 12:Stage 2 began with businesses like public libraries, wellness services, movie theatres and more reopening.
July 27: “The curve is no longer flat,” Dr. Hinshaw announced as caseloads skyrocketed, prompting questions about whether Alberta reopened too quickly.
August 1: Masks became mandatory in Edmonton and Calgary after the cities introduced bylaws.
August 18: Dr. Hinshaw called rising caseload numbers in Edmonton a “wake-up call” with the area making up almost 66 per cent of new COVID-19 cases.
September 2:Most schools opened with masking and other changes in place in an attempt to slow the spread within the buildings.
September 23: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned of a fall worse than the spring as cases climbed across Canada including in Alberta.
October 13: The province shifted to appointment-only COVID-19 tests as drop-in testing proved to only account for a small amount of confirmed cases.
October 21: Alberta saw more than 400 cases recorded in a single day, a new record. Premier Kenney went into self-isolation after Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard tested positive for the virus.
October 27: Alberta Health rushed to hire contact tracers after Dr. Hinshaw admitted the existing staff could not keep up with new cases.
November 21: Alberta Health Services said intensive care units across the province were approaching capacity limits as hospitalizations increased.
November 26:Recordings of health meetings were leaked to the CBC and appeared to show tension between Dr. Hinshaw and the Alberta government pandemic response team. Dr. Hinshaw called the leak “a personal betrayal.”
December 8: The province announced new health restrictions banning in-person dining and outdoor gatherings, which would remain in place over the holidays.
December 15: As cases surged and broke new records in Alberta, the first dose of hope was given when health-care workers in Calgary and Edmonton became the first people in the province to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
