Many employers have been refining hybrid work arrangements and experimenting with rotating staff through the office to adhere to physical distancing guidelines.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Concerns about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant are throwing a wrench into company plans for a broader return to the office in January and putting added pressure on local businesses that had benefited from higher foot traffic in commercial districts.
On Tuesday, Sun Life Financial Inc. said it was pausing a pilot return-to-office project until the end of January and would not add more employees to the program, which was launched last summer, citing concerns about Omicron. The company was also considering additional safety measures in its office, even though the vast majority of its staff are still working remotely.
A day earlier, Bank of Nova Scotia said a previously announced plan to start most employees on a phased return to the office on Jan. 17 had been put on hold. Spokesperson Clancy Zeifman said the bank was “pausing its plans” in response to the latest guidance from the Ontario government “and will reassess timing in the new year.”
The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Kieran Moore, recently urged employers to keep employees working remotely where possible, and Ontario and Toronto have delayed plans to bring more public servants back to the office.
Though most of Canada’s largest employers had yet to issue company-wide orders to bring employees back to the workplace regularly, increasing numbers of people had been turning up at offices either voluntarily or with gentle encouragement from their superiors. The emergence of Omicron, on the cusp of the Christmas holidays, now threatens to reverse that trend, at least in the short term.
In Toronto’s financial district, “foot traffic was absolutely picking up,” said Lara Zink, the chief executive officer of Women in Capital Markets. “I think all of that is on hold.” As COVID-19 case numbers tick higher, bank employees are likely going to be told to stay home, she said.
For small businesses such as restaurants, cafés and barbers in downtown cores, a return to the office also meant the return of customers. A delay means those businesses have to hold on longer with diminished foot traffic.
Christine Leadman, the executive director of the Bank Street BIA in downtown Ottawa, said the pandemic has been devastating for businesses in her city’s core, which includes a number of office buildings owned by the federal government.
“Our main streets are really suffering,” she said.
She said there seemed to be an increase in the number of workers returning to the office this fall, which generated some optimism among her members. But she said a number of the businesses in her district are raising concerns about the variant.
“It’s a grave concern to businesses,” she said. “People who maybe took their lunch hour to go and get their hair done, or go and get that extra Christmas gift that they missed … that’s all disappeared.”
Many employers have been refining hybrid work arrangements and experimenting with rotating staff through the office to adhere to physical distancing guidelines. But with the new variant creating renewed uncertainty about government reopening plans, “many businesses have now delayed their return-to-work strategies,” Rocco Rossi, the CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said in an e-mail.
Telecommunications giant Telus Corp. is aiming for a “voluntary and limited” return to the office starting Jan. 31 but is monitoring developments around Omicron and will make a final decision in the middle of January. Even when Telus offices do reopen, the company expects about 90 per cent of employees will still work remotely.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and will promptly apply the required changes to our return to office plans,” Erin Dermer, a Telus spokesperson, said in an e-mail.
Manulife Financial Corp. , the country’s largest insurer, announced last month that it plans to reopen buildings on Jan. 24, implementing hybrid work arrangements that will require staff to come in three days a week. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the status of that plan Tuesday.
Other large banks and insurers, which have critical staff working on site but a majority of employees working remotely, have repeatedly pushed back timelines for a broader return to the office and more recently avoided setting firm target dates. On Tuesday, spokespeople for several large financial institutions declined to provide updates on their expected timelines.
Even workers in jobs that were at the vanguard of the march back to offices could be compelled to retreat. At banks, many traders have spent months working rotating schedules that keep trading floors busy but below full capacity. But even they may be forced back to home offices set up in the early months of the pandemic.
“I suspect the trading floors will go into temporary shutdown until the data confirms what we’re dealing with,” Ms. Zink said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone was told to stay home until the end of January, until the whole effect of the holiday passes us.”
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TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
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