Toronto-based Canada Goose Holdings Inc. is in hot water with China, which has fined the winter-apparel maker for allegedly misleading consumers about the materials it uses.
The country’s regulator, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, fined the company 450,000 yuan, the equivalent of about $88,202.
The complaint centres on the company’s claim it uses “Hutterite down,” the warmest down available. It alleges the company uses other kinds of down in most of its products.
“The main filling is ordinary duck down, but it costs tens of thousands of yuan at every turn. Is the Canadian goose down jacket sold for warmth or IQ tax?” the commentary says.
In an emailed response to CBC News, the company said a technical error on a partner website was behind confusion about its products’ materials.
“Earlier this year a misalignment of text was found on a partner site, Tmall, in our [Asia-Pacific] region. The error was corrected immediately,” the email said.
Tmall is one of the largest online platforms for Chinese consumers.
Canada Goose isn’t the first foreign-owned apparel company to tangle with China about its marketing messages.
Jia Wang, interim director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, says relations between Canada and China are at what some would describe as their lowest point in the past two decades. (Submitted by Jia Wang)
Since the arrest, the relationship between Canada and China can best be described as “very fraught,” said Jia Wang, interim director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
“Some would even say this is probably one of the low points of our bilateral relations over the past couple of decades,” said Wang.
While it would be a stretch to draw a direct line between the Canada Goose fine and the geopolitical situation, said Wang, the downturn in relations was most notable with the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor shortly after Meng’s arrest. But there have been economic retaliations as well, she said.
“China’s ban on the imports of Canadian canola seeds, for example — that’s widely believed, for good reason, as a retaliation measure levied against Canada by the Chinese government.”
With its population of 1.4 billion and a growing middle class estimated at somewhere between 300 and 700 million, Wang said China is “the largest luxury goods market in the world,” representing about one third of the total global market.
“So that’s why a lot of luxury goods companies around the world, not just Canada, are really eyeing the Chinese market … because they see a downturn of their sales in other markets, the developed world markets, but they are hoping, of course, to maintain their revenue levels.
“They are looking at China, a big market, and it’s not shrinking. It’s still growing.”
People line up outside the Canada Goose flagship store in Beijing, in November 2019. China is the biggest market for luxury goods in the world, says Wang. (Submitted by Jia Wang)
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 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.
