Over the last decade, Canada’s BCE Inc. (parent of Bell Media, which owns TSN, CTV, and more) has gone through several rounds of layoffs. Those have included 380 cuts in 2015, multiple rounds of layoffs in 2017, more than 200 cuts in 2021, cuts of 1,300 people last summer, and now, cuts of 4,800 people (across all of BCE, with an estimated 10 percent of that at Bell Media specifically) and sales of 45 regional radio stations this week. And the latter move has Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau “furious,” as it came right after the federal government granted Bell $40 million in regulatory relief:
“I’m furious. This is a garbage decision by a corporation that should know better,” PM Justin Trudeau tells reporters in King City, Ont., as he responds to a question about recently announced layoffs at Bell. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/udtnqbY8O7
Those remarks came at a press conference with Ontario premier Doug Ford (seen behind Trudeau) in King City, ON about a $3.1 billion deal to improve healthcare access and reduce wait times. But Trudeau’s fiery remarks here wound up getting more attention than what he was there to discuss. Here’s a transcription of his remarks:
“I’m furious. This is a garbage decision by a corporation that should know better. We have seen over the past years journalistic outlets, radio stations, small community newspapers, bought up by corporate entities who then lay off journalists, change the quality of offerings to people, and then when people don’t watch as much or engage as much, the corporate entity says ‘Ah, see, they’re not profitable any more, we’re going to sell them off.’
“This is the erosion not just of journalism, of quality local journalism, at a time where people need it more than ever given misinformation and disinformation, but it’s eroding our very democracy. Our abilities to tell stories to each other of how people’s lives are, stories that reflect our own communities and not just central offices in our biggest cities, is part of what binds this country together from coast to coast to coast. With incredible diversity of local experiences and geographies, we need those voices.
“And over the past years, corporate Canada, and there are many culprits in this, have abdicated their responsibilities towards the communities that they have always made very good profits off of in various ways. And as a government, we have been stepping up over the past year, fighting for local journalism, fighting for investments that we can have, all the while fending off attacks from Conservatives and others who say ‘No, no, no, you’re trying to buy off journalists.’
“We’re trying to support journalism in this country and across this country. But no government can do it alone. Canadians need to demand better, as we will be demanding better, from corporate leaders, like in this case Bell, that are eroding Canadians’ ability to know each other, to trust each other, and to trust in the country and the future we are building together. So yeah, I’m pretty pissed off about what just happened.”
The current wave of layoffs and station sales from BCE is not specifically about sports, but it has major implications for Bell Media’s news side, which does touch on sports. In particular, these moves have ended daily noon newscasts on all CTV stations but the one in Toronto, and have scrapped the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on weekends everywhere but Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. (This comes after a lot of previous reductions to CTV local newscasts, including having their Victoria/Vancouver Island one (the newscast responsible for the infamous Ravens-49ers Super Bowl mistake last month) produced on the mainland in Vancouver.)
Oh, and these cuts ended famed CTV investigative program W5 (described as the longest-running investigative series in North America, it started in 1966, two years ahead of CBS’ similar 60 Minutes) in its current form. That program has featured many important sports investigations, including ones with TSN’s Rick Westhead on topics from the concussion crisis to the post-career struggles of ex-NHLer Joe Murphy (described well in a book Westhead wrote) to former NHLer Ian White’s painkiller addiction to Tori Sullivan describing an alleged on-campus sexual assault she experienced at Boston College. And Westhead’s years of reporting at TSN on the current Canadian junior hockey sexual assault reckoning (now making huge NHL and international news) would seem to likely to be featured on W5 at some point, but it’s unclear how well that will work after these massive changes to the show.
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Bell Media claims the program will “evolve” from a standalone documentary series to become “a multi-part, multiplatform investigative reporting unit” with segments showing up on CTV National News, the CTV News website and other CTV platforms, similar to what ESPN hasdone with the Outside The Lines brand over the past several years. But those moves have been far from good for OTL, or for serious sports journalism at ESPN. And this one seems to pose similar concerns for investigative journalism (in news and in sports) at CTV.
It’s also worth noting that many of the past BCE layoffs heavily hit sports. The cuts of 1,300 people last summer included shutting down their sports radio station in Edmonton in the middle of the day, while the cuts of more than 200 people in 2021 took out their sports radio stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Hamilton mid-broadcast. And they blamed their 2017 cuts at least partially on a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Canadian broadcast governing body equivalent to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission) decision to end simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, which hadn’t even happened yet.
The simsub front is worth further discussion. The CRTC ended that in 2017, allowing Canadian consumers to actually watch higher-budget U.S. Super Bowl ads that drive cultural discussion on U.S. broadcast networks rather than the cheaper and lower production value Canadian ads (which in many cases, were not even original to the Super Bowl) that Bell took advantage of breaking into the U.S. feeds to show thanks to simsub.
And Bell repeatedly lost court challenges on that decision, and spent a lot of money doing so. But they got simsub back in 2020 thanks to legislative action in a 2018 USMCA trade deal. That was one that saw NFL commissioner Roger Goodell praise then-U.S. president Donald Trump for “leadership and determination” on that issue.
Bell has been posting good ratingsnumbers and profits on the Super Bowl since while having to put very little work into it. TSN, CTV, and RDS do do some of their own pre-game coverage, including with on-site personalities, but they just simulcast the U.S. game broadcast (albeit with French commentary on RDS), and simsub their ads onto the feed of the U.S. network showing it. So the Super Bowl is a nice profit center for them, and that’s part of what led to them extending their NFL deal in 2022. Oh, and they sent a release on Jan. 31 about record ad sales for Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII:
As Canada’s home for SUPER BOWL LVIII, Bell Media announced today record ad sales for the NFL’s iconic championship game, airing live from Las Vegas on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. ET on TSN, CTV, and RDS. In advance of the showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, Bell Media confirmed that advertising inventory for SUPER BOWL LVIII is nearly sold out, with limited new inventory available for advertisers looking to have placement in the big game.
“Our calendars are circled for Feb. 11 as audiences across Canada come together for this epic matchup for the Lombardi Trophy,” said Stewart Johnston, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Sports, Bell Media. “Not only is SUPER BOWL LVIII the culmination of a phenomenal NFL season, it’s also the most coveted position for advertisers to showcase their brands for Canadian viewers during TV’s biggest live broadcast of the year.”
FanDuel and Expedia return as sponsors of the broadcast, while advertising partners showcasing creative during the game include PepsiCo, Questrade, Government of Ontario, TD, Kruger Products, L’Oreal, BMW, BMO, Hershey, Boston Pizza, Novo Nordisk, Toyota Dealers, Maple Leaf Foods, Intuit TurboTax, and Fidelity Investments Canada. New partners with a presence in SUPER BOWL LVIII include Temu, Canadian Kawaski Motors, King’s Hawaiian, and more.
This speaks to a larger issue around these cuts, too. Yes, there are challenges at Canadian media outlets, just as there are at media outlets in many other countries. But Canadian federal governments over the years (including the Trudeau-led Liberal majority government from 2015-19, and the Trudeau-led Liberal minority government with support from the New Democratic Party since 2019) have tried many things to support Canadian media corporations.
The efficacy and implementation of those moves can be debated. That includes the current fight with Facebook parent Meta that’s led to Facebook blocking news in Canada. And Google was doing the same before reaching a settlement last fall to pay $100 million CAD into a fund to support Canadian news outlets, and there’s lots of debate about how that fund will be used and overseen.
But there at least have been governmental aid attempts here, and on a larger scale than we’ve seen in many other countries. And many of those particular moves have been at the behest of companies like BCE, including allowing them to buy up local outlets on a scale that previously would have seen regulatory pushback and then the recent $40 million in regulatory relief (coincidentally, the same number BCE claims it will lose on Bell Media this year).
Meanwhile, BCE has said that these moves will let them hike their already-high dividend to $3.99 CAD a share as part of improved overall profits. And that’s why we’re seeing such fiery commentary on this from the likes of Trudeau, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, and NDP heritage critic Peter Julian. Here’s some of that, via John Paul Tasker at CBC:
“In the past decade, when acquisitions were allowed by these big companies, it came with a promise,” St-Onge said. “Today, they backed away from that promise.”
St-Onge said it’s not like Bell is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
“They’re still making billions of dollars. They’re still a very profitable company and they still have the capacity and the means to hold up their end of the bargain, which is to deliver news reports,” she said.
…NDP MP Peter Julian, the party’s heritage critic, said Bell’s layoffs are “horrible.”
“We need professional journalism. We need to be able to tell stories about each other and our country. The federal government has simply not been there. They’ve ignored what’s a deepening crisis,” Julian said.
“They’ve been asleep at the wheel. The government needs to start taking this seriously.”
BCE is certainly not alone in making media cuts. We’ve seen massive layoffs at many U.S.mediafirms so far this year as well, and also at many tech firms. And in Canada alone, Sportsnet parent Rogers has gone through plenty of layoffs and cutbacks itself, as have many other media companies. But the timing of these BCE cuts does feel particularly blatant, with it coming after their regulatory relief and ahead of their record-setting Super Bowl coverage. And that now has figures like Trudeau and St-Onge going in on them in terms often always seen from government officials.
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.
After a long day at a work event in July, Kathryn Kozody was relieved when she spotted a car with a lit-up taxi sign.
She thought it was odd when the driver told her she’d have to pay her fare with a debit card. Still, a tired Kozody hopped in the car.
“I was like, ‘Fine, it’s kind of weird, but let’s go home,'” said Kozody, who lives in Calgary.
Nothing else seemed off — until the next day when she discovered that almost $2,000 was missing from her bank account. On top of that, her debit card had someone else’s name on it.
Kozody concluded that the taxi driver was a fraudster who, during the debit card transaction, recorded her PIN, stole her card and handed her back a fake.
“I started freaking out,” she said. “It’s terrifying when they have your debit card.”
It took Kozody about two weeks to get her money back from her bank, and she’s still rattled by the experience.
The day after taking what she thought was a ride in a taxi, Kathryn Kozody of Calgary found out someone had withdrawn almost $2,000 from her bank account. (James Young/CBC News)
“It really felt like an invasion of privacy and a violation to be a victim of this scam,” she said. “I really don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
The taxi scam isn’t new; Toronto and Montreal have been seeing it for years. But the crime is becoming more widespread.
This summer, police in Calgary,Edmonton and at least five cities in southern Ontario, including Kingston and Ottawa, posted warnings online that they had received multiple reports of the scam.
Police and the Canadian Taxi Association say the fraudsters have a helping hand: with the click of a button, they can purchase a generic — but official looking — taxi roof sign on e-commerce sites like Amazon.
Edmonton Police posted this alert on Facebook in July, warning people about an ongoing taxi scam. The city’s police department says that it received about 10 reports of the scam that month. (Edmonton Police/Facebook )
“They do have a moral responsibility to at least sell the signs to individuals that are properly licensed,” said association president Marc André Way.
However, the U.S.-based company continues to sell the product to all customers.
“These lights are legal to sell in Canada,” Amazon told CBC News in an email.
‘Eye-popping’ numbers
The taxi scam has several variations but typically ends the same way: the victim pays with a debit card, then the scammer secretly steals it and hands the victim a similar but fake card. Shortly thereafter, money disappears from the victim’s account.
Ron Hansen, deputy chief of police in Sarnia, Ont., said his department received 12 reports of the scam in July, with one victim losing $9,900.
Toronto police report that since June 2023 the department has received 919 reports of the taxi scam, totalling $1.7 million in losses.
Jessica Chin King of Toronto said after a recent cab ride, she got a suspicious activity alert from her bank. She learned $600 had been withdrawn from her account. (Craig Chivers/CBC)
The numbers are “eye-popping,” said Toronto police detective David Coffey.
“When they do get a victim, they are quick to go right into the bank accounts. They’re quick to empty them out.”
Jessica Chin King of Toronto said just 15 minutes after a recent cab ride, she got a suspicious activity alert from her bank. Turns out, $600 had been withdrawn from her account.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that just happened.’ I was in shock,” said Chin King, whose bank later reimbursed the cash.
She said she too was fooled by the taxi sign atop the car.
“I was in the car with somebody who wasn’t a taxi driver. Anything could have happened,” she said. “I was thankful that it was only my bank [account] that was compromised.”
Taxi light for $35 on Amazon
CBC News bought a taxi sign from Amazon for $35. It has a magnetic strip on the bottom, so it easily sticks to the top of a car.
To power the light, an attached wire can be run through the driver’s window and plugged into the car’s auxiliary power outlet, also known as the cigarette lighter outlet.
The taxi association says licensed taxi drivers typically get their roof signs from speciality suppliers, and they are hardwired to the car — not powered via the cigarette lighter.
“When you see that … it’s obvious that it’s not a legitimate taxi,” said Way, the association president.
“This is not a safe, practical way to distribute the trusted ‘Taxi’ signs,” he wrote.
CBC News ordered this $35 taxi sign on Amazon. The attached wire can be run through the driver’s window and plugged into the car’s auxiliary power outlet, while the lights for licensed drivers are hardwired into the vehicle. (Sophia Harris/CBC News)
But Amazon told Way — and CBC News — the signs will remain on its site, because the company isn’t breaking any rules.
“It’s going to be quite difficult, I think, for anyone to stop Amazon from selling a product that is perfectly legal to sell,” said Toronto criminal lawyer, Daniel Goldbloom. “It’s true that these taxi signs can be used to commit scams, but kitchen knives can be used to commit murder — and we don’t stop retailers from selling those.”
But Way isn’t giving up hope.
He says the taxi association also plans to ask other online retailers, such as Temu and eBay, to stop selling the taxi signs and will lobby provincial governments for legislation that regulates the sale of the product.
However, Coffey said he believes the best way to fight the taxi scam is to educate people about it.
“Never, never give another person control of your debit card,” the detective said.
Victims Chin King and Kozody also want to spread the word.
“The more people know, the less likely it is to happen again to somebody else,” Kozody said.
