EDMONTON —
Alberta is reverting to Step 1 of COVID-19 restrictions and will shut down indoor dining as cases of the COVID-19 variants of concern increase across the province.
Tuesday at midnight, the government will reduce retail capacity to 15 per cent, close libraries, only allow one-on-one training and prohibit activities such as dancing and singing.
And on Friday, restaurants, bars and cafes must close indoor dining, but can remain open for outdoor patio dining, takeout and curbside pickup.
Indoor gatherings are still banned, outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people and places of worship continue to be restricted to 15 per cent occupancy.
RISING NUMBERS
Alberta reported 931 cases, including 676 variant infections, and three deaths, increasing the death toll to 2,001.
The province has seen a recent surge of cases and has added more than 800 new infections every day since March 31.
Since the start of April, the province’s active case count has grown by more than 1,700. Meanwhile, its test positivity has exceeded eight per cent each of the last five days, including 10.2 per cent on Tuesday.
Variants of concern now represent 42.6 per cent of the 10,809 active cases, up from 27 per cent last Monday.
“In the race between variants and virus, the variants are winning,” Kenney said.
“It is not clear yet if P.1 causes more severe outcomes than other strains, but we do know that it, like the B.117 variant, is more infectious,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said. “We need to make sure we are looking at this big picture when considering all of the variants that we were seeing in the province, and taking actions every day to prevent spread of all strains of COVID-19.”
When asked if variants would become the dominant source of infections this week, Dr. Hinshaw said: “Yes, I think that’s accurate.”
Hospitalizations have remained above 300 six of the last seven days including the last five straight. The number of patients in intensive care units has grown more rapidly, up to 76 reported on Tuesday, nearly double the 40 reported three weeks prior.
Kenney said projections show Alberta could reach an average of 2,000 daily cases by the end of April based on current transmission rates, and up to 1,000 patients in hospital.
“We believe, based on the current trajectory, that if we don’t slow down this curve that we are set to hit the maximum capacity of our system in mid-May,” Premier Jason Kenney said.
“We can only do this together to prevent a long situation, a huge wave that causes massive cancellations of surgeries in our hospitals, and hundreds of preventable deaths,” he said.
THE PATH TO RECOVERY
Alberta had administered 734,403 vaccine doses and fully immunized just over 123,000 people as of Monday.
Starting Wednesday as part of Phase 2B, every Albertan 16 and older with a chronic condition can book a vaccine appointment, and people aged 55 to 64 with no underlying conditions can get an AstraZeneca shot, Kenney said.
The premier also announced the Path to Recovery, a number of stages with vaccination targets paired with reopening.
“By the end of May, that will be almost half of our population and by the end of June, it’ll be almost two-thirds with some level of protection, and by mid-September if Albertans take us up on the vaccines as I hope they will, almost three quarters of Albertans will have a good degree of immunity,” Kenney said.
“This is the end of the tunnel. It is our path to recovery. It is our path to freedom. Right now, we’re in a transition period, fighting to keep control of the virus, just a little while longer, until it is vanquished by vaccines.”
Alberta will share more details on its Path to Recovery later this month.
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.
