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Black Friday brings massive crowds, multiple fights to Calgary mall – CBC.ca

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Despite new provincial restrictions introduced this week, large crowds descended on Chinook Centre during Black Friday sales — and Calgary police say a couple of instances quickly got out of control.

Multiple fights broke out Friday evening, police confirmed, and officers escorted a “whole bunch” of unruly patrons out of the facility. No charges were laid.

At this point, Calgary police Staff Sgt. Mike Calhoun said the emphasis remains on education rather than enforcement — but that could change.

“We’re starting on giving warnings,” Calhoun said. “If we’re starting to see [people] not complying, we’ll move to enforcement.”

Cadillac Fairview, which owns the mall, said a group of youth “impeded traffic flow and caused disturbances” throughout the mall, which resulted in numerous police officers attending the site to escort them from the facility.

“We will continue to work closely with CPS, who will have a presence again on site today and support our efforts to ensure customers’ shopping experience and safety is not hindered,” Cadillac Fairview said in a statement.

The company said it was actively monitoring capacity levels throughout the holiday shopping season to fall in line with the province’s new restrictions.

The facility has also implemented additional measures like enhanced cleaning protocols, signage, directional arrows and installation of barriers where required.

‘It makes me feel awful’

Taylor Tuffnell, who works in the mall, said she saw multiple “huge gatherings” of shoppers moving through the hallways.

“All of a sudden, another huge wave started happening,” Tuffnell said. “So I was like, this is awful! So I’m going to do something [about] this, because this shouldn’t be happening right now.”

In a recording shared to social media, Tuffnell captured the busy hallways within the facility, a scene that wouldn’t look out of place in a regular year.

“It is Black Friday, so we were expecting the mall to be pretty busy,” she said. “[But we had] people hanging out, talking in the hallways, blocking entrances and lineups. That’s basically what [the posts were] showcasing, just how many people were chilling at the mall.”

Taylor Tuffnell, who works at Chinook Centre, said there were multiple waves of large groups making their way through the mall’s hallways on Friday. (Taylor Tuffnell)

Tuffnell said it’s hard to say how this year might compare to Black Fridays of years past, but said it “felt like so much more” because many were chatting and hanging out instead of shopping.

“It made me feel awful. I love my store, I love my job, I love going to work every day,” she said. “But I am also filled with this overwhelming anxiety when I see these situations, because I have family too.

“To see people taking it lightly and hanging out in malls, instead of going out for essentials for Christmas shopping, holiday shopping, it’s so disheartening.”

Tuffnell said she hoped that people attending malls would follow implemented safety protocols.

“[If not], I would just say, guys, stay home,” she said. “If you’re not going to buy things in the mall, just stay home.”

New provincial restrictions

Justice Minister Kaycee Madu said Friday that about 700 peace officers in Alberta would be given the authority to enforce the province’s health orders. 

Madu said the province is ready to enforce the new rules, but added that Alberta is not asking officers to “harass responsible Albertans going about their everyday lives.”

“My expectation is that those who are in violation of the measures that we have put in place would have to be held accountable,” Madu said at the news conference.

“I think you are going to see a heightened level of enforcement in those cases where there are individuals who are blatantly not compliant with the health measures.”

WATCH | Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announces new COVID-19 restrictions for Alberta

Alberta rolled out new restrictions on Tuesday that prohibit all social gatherings in people’s homes and make masks mandatory for all indoor workplaces in the province’s two largest cities. 3:57

New mandatory restrictions announced by the province this week require businesses that can remain open to limit their capacity to 25 per cent of fire code occupancy.

Speaking earlier this week, Premier Jason Kenney said his government will re-evaluate the new restrictions on Dec. 15 and impose stricter measures should case numbers continue to rise at the current rate.

“We will continue to assess it, but we’re not going to let political pressure or ideological approaches to cause indiscriminate damage to people’s lives and livelihoods,” Kenney said. 

“We’re going to protect the health-care system using targeted measures. We’ll have to be more restrictive if they don’t work.”

Shoppers physically distance while waiting in line at an electronics store in Calgary on Black Friday. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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