Conflict of interest disclosures made by members of the government’s COVID-19Vaccine Task Force are now available for the Canadian public as the country continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The move follows reporting by Global News into the fact that although the government acknowledged it was deliberately seeking out vaccine experts who could have a real or perceived conflict of interest to sit on that advisory board, none of their conflict of interest disclosures were being shared with Canadians.
That meant that while members of the task force had recused themselves 18 times from discussions since June, none of the details of those recusals or the reasons given were public.
That came amid the rising spread of misinformation online from anti-vaxxers and data suggesting skepticism among some in the country about whether to get a vaccine if one becomes available.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force is an advisory body set up to provide recommendations to the government about which coronavirus vaccine research is promising and which deals to pursue. It includes 12 experts from the medical research and development industry along with four ex-officio members of the federal public service.
In order to have people considered “leading experts” in the field involved, the government says “the deliberate decision was made to include individuals who may have a real or perceived conflict of interest (COI) with respect to one or more proposals to be evaluated by the (COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force).”
Each individual was required to fill out a conflict of interest disclosure form and bureaucrats were tasked with monitoring and enforcing their observance of avoiding conflicts of interests — for example, by recusing themselves from deliberations where they had a conflict.
But unlike with politicians and public servants, whose conflicts of interest disclosures are registered publicly with the ethics commissioner, none of the disclosures of the experts recruited to the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force were being listed publicly.
A government official said earlier this month there were no plans to change that.
But on Tuesday, the government appears to have reversed course.
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Global News reached out asking whether two members of the vaccine task force who previously worked for Sanofi Pasteur recused themselves from deliberations on a deal announced on Tuesday to secure 72 million doses of the firm’s coronavirus vaccine candidate.
In response, a spokesperson for the National Research Council shared a copy of a list of the members’ conflict of interest disclosures for each meeting of the task force about a vaccine deal current to Sept. 22.
Another official confirmed the new information was published on Sept. 22 and will be updated going forward.
“Given the significant interest in the vaccine task force’s process, the task force is taking the exceptional step of publishing a registry of declared interests,” said John Power, press secretary for Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains in an email to Global News.
“The registry will be updated on the [National Research Council]’s website following each vaccine announcement that is based on a task force recommendation.”
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That means there will still be meetings where Canadians do not know what was discussed or who may have recused themselves, but that any meetings leading to actual vaccine deals will be listed so the public can see who made what declarations.
The list outlines the topic of each of the five meetings held so far along with the names of each member, any previously declared conflicts of interest, and what action was taken if required to prevent the individual from being in a conflict of interest.
For the most recent meeting on Sept. 3 at which the task force discussed the Sanofi vaccine deal, task force co-chair and former Sanofi Pasteur president Mark Lievonen is listed as having recused himself because of his previous work with the firm and the fact he still owns “modest” shares in it.
Michel De Wilde, who was previously a vice president of research and development for Sanofi Pasteur, did not attend that meeting while Dr. Joanne Langley, also a co-chair, disclosed that the university where she works has received research funding from Sanofi Pasteur, among other sources.
The norm in the medical research field is for individuals publishing work in any kind of credible, serious medical journal to disclose and publish any conflicts of interest at the same time.
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Dr. Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of The BMJ — formerly known as the British Medical Journal — said this has become standardized in an effort to maintain trust in medical research and that vaccine research, in particular, is an area where it is difficult to find experts without some kind of conflict of interest.
“I think it’s a basic issue of trust that people want to see what’s gone into decisions or recommendations, and that includes both the person’s expertise and the potential or real influences on any recommendations or decisions they may make,” she said in a previous interview with Global News.
“It’s become a standard thing.”
0:52 Coronavirus: Canada signs agreement with Sanofi for 72 million possible COVID-19 vaccine doses
Coronavirus: Canada signs agreement with Sanofi for 72 million possible COVID-19 vaccine doses
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.
