Two Inuit leaders in Labrador are calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to chip in for flights to their fly-in communities as the province becomes the latest to support leisure travel to and from international destinations.
Johannes Lampe, president of the Inuit Nunatsiavut government, and Barry Andersen, the AngajukKak – or mayor – of Makkovik, N.L., say the staggering cost of flights to their communities make the cost of groceries and essential goods out of reach for many.
In Nain, where Lampe lives, a pound of butter at the local store was nearly $10 in May; a two-litre jug of whole milk cost $9.50; a litre of coffee cream was $12.89; and a large pack of laundry detergent pods cost nearly $90.
If the province can support WestJet flights between St. John’s and Europe, it has “a responsibility” to improve air access to Indigenous communities in northern Labrador, and help make food and other basic needs more affordable, Lampe said in a recent interview.
“That responsibility must be taken seriously,” he said. “Labrador Inuit are in dire straits.”
The Inuit leaders were reacting to an announcement last month by Premier Andrew Furey, who said his government would support the St. John’s International Airport Authority in a deal with WestJet to provide direct flights between St. John’s and London, England, beginning in May 2024.
John Gradek, an aviation specialist and lecturer at McGill University, says Lampe is making “very valid comments.” Provinces that provide financial backing for non-stop flights to international destinations walk a “fine line,” and they need to be clear about why they’re using taxpayers’ money to serve a highly specific portion of the population, he said in a recent interview.
Neither the province nor the St. John’s International Airport Authority will say what the agreement entails, nor how much money is involved, but the provincial Tourism Department said the funds come from a pot of $3.75 million, “to support the expansion and development of air access.” The more tickets are sold, the less the airport authority will have to pay out, the department said.
Gradek said the airport authority may have promised a minimum number of ticket sales, with government money filling the gap if the minimum isn’t met.
The Manitoba government also pitches in for WestJet flights between Winnipeg and two American cities: Los Angeles and Atlanta. Since August 2022, the province has contributed $9.8 million to a fund supporting the routes, according to an emailed statement from the provincial government.
The fund was set up “to establish direct air service between Manitoba and international markets that offer significant economic opportunity,” the email said.
Meanwhile, WestJet announced in November that it was once again making a profit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the first three quarters of this year outpacing earnings from 2019. When asked why WestJet needed public money, Andy Gibbons, the company’s vice-president of external affairs, said he could not comment on specific arrangements.
“Communities often work with airlines to bring connectivity to attract investment opportunities and foster economic development,” Gibbons said in an emailed statement.
Return flights between St. John’s and London in May 2024 are going for as little as $602, according to the airline’s website. Return flights between St. John’s and Nain, however, are about $2,500, according to the website for Air Borealis, which offers passenger and cargo flights to the six fly-in communities along Labrador’s northern coast.
Nain is the northernmost such community and the largest town in Nunatsiavut, with a population of about 1,200 people. Andersen lives in Makkovik, which is further south, but still only accessible by plane in the winter, or by ferry in the warmer months.
Just before Christmas, a regular-size turkey at the grocery store was $78 and a pound of ground meat was $11, he said. When food brought in during the summer months by ferry runs out and is replaced by flown-in goods in the winter, the price will rise further.
“Tea bags, sugar, the stuff you need for baking, it gets really, really, really expensive,” Andersen said in a recent interview.
He said he’s been asking the province to introduce a service like Quebec’s Regional Air Access Program, which allows air travel between smaller, remote regions of the province and larger provincial centres for $500 return, with some conditions. But so far, he feels the provincial government isn’t listening.
“I think with a small population, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” he said.
The provincial Department of Labrador Affairs did not provide a comment or an interview.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.
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.
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.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
