Cargill’s Alberta beef plant to reopen next week after COVID-19 outbreak forced closure - The Globe and Mail | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Business

Cargill’s Alberta beef plant to reopen next week after COVID-19 outbreak forced closure – The Globe and Mail

Published

 on


Cargill’s beef plant in High River, Alta., on April 23, 2020. The facility usually churns out about 36 per cent of beef processed in Canada.

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Cargill Ltd.’s Alberta slaughterhouse, which accounts for 36 per cent of Canada’s beef production, will resume operations next week after shutting down because of a surge of COVID-19 cases among its workers.

The High River facility will restart on May 4, according to a company statement. About 2,000 people work at the plant, which shut down on April 20 as the novel coronavirus swept through its work force.

So far, 821 Cargill employees have tested positive for the virus, and one has died. Another 276 employees and contractors at rival JBS Canada’s operation in Brooks, Alta., have fallen ill and one died after being infected with the coronavirus.

Story continues below advertisement

Cargill said it has sanitized the plant and introduced new physical distancing measures for the workers, limiting carpooling and providing transportation for others.

The announcement was made one day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that compels his country’s meat plants to remain in operation.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, told the Commons Industry Committee on Wednesday that Ottawa is working on deals with different provinces and territories to help resolve future shortages of meat. Current rules prevent meat inspected by provincial government inspectors from being sold in other provinces, while only meat inspected by federal inspectors can be sold nationwide.​

Ms. Bibeau said that “if we face a food shortage in one province or territory,” the Canada Food Inspection Agency is willing to allow movement of provincially inspected meat even if it has been inspected by a provincial authority rather than federal inspectors.

Canada’s meat production was halved last week after the Cargill plant shut down and JBS axed one of its two shifts because it was short on employees. Pressure on the supply chain led McDonald’s Canada on Tuesday to roll out plans to import beef.

The High River facility usually churns out about 36 per cent of beef processed in Canada, while JBS’s plant in Brooks adds another 32 per cent. COVID-19 infections have disrupted operations in at least eight meat-processing plants from Quebec to British Columbia, including facilities in Yamachiche, Que., Brampton, Ont., Hamilton, Waterloo, Ont., and Vancouver.

Cargill said it is resuming work with “support” from Alberta Health Services and the watchdog Occupational Health and Safety. Alberta’s meat-processing industry is classified as an essential service, making the employer responsible for the safety of its workers.

Story continues below advertisement

Jon Nash, the head of Cargill’s North American protein division, in a statement said the company implemented some safety suggestions from the workers’ union, and welcomed representatives to examine the site.

“We will continue to put people first and do the right thing as we navigate this difficult time together,” he said.

The Alberta government and the province’s chief medical officer, Deena Hinshaw, have said the plants in High River and Brooks are not exclusively responsible for the explosive spread of the virus. They pointed to carpooling, multi-generational households, homes with multiple roommates and workers clocking in even when showing symptoms. These workforces are dominated by temporary foreign workers and immigrants.

Cargill said it will limit access to the plant to no more than two people per vehicle, with one occupant in the front and one in the back, to bolster physical distancing. The company, in partnership with AHS, will also provide buses retrofitted with protective barriers between the seats to alleviate the need for carpooling. Hundreds of Cargill employees live in Calgary, about 60 kilometres north of the plant.

Employees returning to work “should be healthy and not had contact with anyone with the COVID-19 virus for 14 days,” the company said. Cargill said it sanitized the plant, installed more protective barriers in washrooms, reassigned lockers and continued to educate workers about the importance of social distancing. The company had implemented some mitigation measures, including protective barriers in the cafeteria and thermal checks at entrances, before halting operations, but employees told The Globe and Mail the company acted too late.

Cargill also noted in its news release that it had installed protective barriers between workers on the production floor since the beginning of March.

Story continues below advertisement

Dr. Hinshaw said members of her team who visited the plant believe Cargill’s latest efforts “are sufficient to prevent the spread of infection.”

McDonald’s Canada did not respond to an e-mail asking whether it will reverse its import plan now that the High River facility will soon reopen.

Meat processors say Canadians do not need to worry about supply.

“On balance, the system is holding and weathering this,” Chris White, president of the Canadian Meat Council, which represents 55 federally inspected meat packers and processors, said. “There is ample supply product. The product is still being processed. It’s not being as quickly as it was pre-COVID, but it’s still being processed.”

Asked if he would require meat processors to stay open, as Mr. Trump has done, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this country would “do whatever needs to be done” to protect workers in the food industry while keeping supply flowing.

“We need to make sure those supply chains can keep functioning but we also need to make sure the people who work in those supply chains – and will continue to need to work in difficult circumstances over the coming weeks and months as we continue to battle COVID-19 – are kept safe,” the Prime Minister said.

Story continues below advertisement

Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Business

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

Published

 on

 

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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:T)

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

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

Published

 on

 

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)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

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

Published

 on

 

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)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version