OTTAWA —
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused carnage for restaurants and hotels in Canada, MPs on the House of Commons finance committee heard Thursday.
According to a survey conducted by Restaurants Canada, 10 per cent of restaurants across the country had already permanently closed as of the end of March, restaurant operator Andrew Oliver told the committee.
And another 18 per cent expect to close their doors for good by the end of this month.
The casualties include 50 per cent of independent restaurants which don’t expect to survive the health crisis, Oliver added.
Most restaurants, except those offering takeout and delivery, have been shuttered since mid-March in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
David Lefebvre, vice-president of Restaurants Canada, said the industry normally employs 1.2 million Canadians, generates $93 billion in economic activity each year and serves 22 million people every day.
The pandemic “has wreaked havoc” on the industry, which has already shed 800,000 jobs, he said.
“More than half our industry does not have any sales. Dreams are broken, retirement hopes are broken, careers are broken, lives are in shambles.”
With Canadians being advised to stay home and avoid travel as much as possible, hotels have also been hard hit.
Marc Staniloff, owner of Superior Lodging Corp., told the committee that 20 per cent of the hotels in his company, which owns franchise rights to Super 8, Travelodge and Microtel Inn and Suites hotels across the country, are closed.
And he said occupancy in those that are open is running at just nine per cent.
But it’s not just businesses in the hospitality sector that are suffering.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told the committee that 80 per cent of small- and medium-sized businesses across Canada are closed. And 55 per cent of those that are open report their sales have plunged by 50 per cent or more.
The CFIB has been surveying its 30,000 members every week. Kelly said the most worrisome statistic from those surveys is that more than 50 per cent of small businesses say they’ll go bankrupt if the current level of restrictions on non-essential businesses continues until the end of May.
“That’s how dire the situation is for many small companies as they look forward,” he said.
The federal government has plowed almost $110 billion into emergency aid for individuals and businesses. That includes a $73-billion wage subsidy program, under which qualifying companies will get a subsidy worth 75 per cent of each employee’s wages, up to $847 per week, retroactive from March 15 to June 6.
Kelly and other witnesses at the committee warned that many businesses will need that wage subsidy beyond June as they slowly reopen and get back on their feet.
Rose Dennis, of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island, said seasonal businesses that rely on tourists fear they won’t be able to open at all this summer if the wage subsidy is not extended until the fall.
Witnesses also called for substantial rent relief for companies and easier access to interest-free loans and deferrals on loan repayments.
The federal government has promised, in collaboration with the provinces, to provide rent relief for commercial tenants. With rent due May 1, Kelly said it’s urgent that the relief be provided quickly to cover at least 75 per cent of a company’s rent and that it apply to all companies, without a lot of cumbersome eligibility rules.
“If we do that, I think we have a fighting chance of having the majority, not all, but the majority of our small business community make it across the emergency phase of this (pandemic),” he said.
The committee also heard Thursday from beef and pork producers, who said emergency federal aid targeted specifically at their industries is desperately needed. They said most cattle and hog farmers are not eligible for any of the emergency aid programs provided by the federal government so far.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2020.
OTTAWA – Via Rail is asking for a judicial review on the reasons why Canadian National Railway Co. has imposed speed restrictions on its new passenger trains.
The Crown corporation says it is seeking the review from the Federal Court after many attempts at dialogue with the company did not yield valid reasoning for the change.
It says the restrictions imposed last month are causing daily delays on Via Rail’s Québec City-Windsor corridor, affecting thousands of passengers and damaging Via Rail’s reputation with travellers.
CN says in a statement that it imposed the restrictions at rail crossings given the industry’s experience and known risks associated with similar trains.
The company says Via has asked the courts to weigh in even though Via has agreed to buy the equipment needed to permanently fix the issues.
Via said in October that no incidents at level crossings have been reported in the two years since it put 16 Siemens Venture trains into operation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
LAVAL, Que. – The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven says it has received a new management buyout proposal from a member of the family that helped found the company, offering an alternative to the takeover bid from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
The proposal for Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. is being made by Junro Ito, who is a vice-president and director of the company, and Ito-Kogyo Co. Ltd., a private company affiliated with him.
Terms of the non-binding offer by Ito were not disclosed.
In a statement Wednesday, Seven & i said its special committee has been reviewing the proposal with its financial advisers.
Stephen Hayes Dacus, chair of the special committee and board of directors of the company, said the company is committed to an objective review of all alternatives as it considers the proposals from Ito and Couche-Tard as well as the company’s stand-alone opportunities.
“The special committee and the company board will continue to engage with all parties in a manner designed to maximize value and will continue to act in the best interests of the company’s shareholders and other stakeholders,” he said in a statement.
The company noted that Ito has been excluded from all discussions within the company related to the offer and the bid by Couche-Tard.
Quebec-based Couche-Tard made a revised offer for Seven & i last month after an earlier proposal was rebuffed by the Japanese firm because it was too low and did not fully address U.S. regulatory concerns.
It did not respond to a request for comment about Ito’s offer.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel said the latest development underscored her belief that a Couche-Tard deal with Seven & i is a “low probability event.”
“Assuming attractive pricing and a fully-funded transaction, the potential privatization from a friendly Japanese group would seemingly provide investors with the value creation event they seek,” said Nattel, adding that it would skirt potential competition issues in the U.S. and concerns around the foreign takeover of a core local entity for Japanese regulators.
Couche-Tard has argued its proposal offers clear strategic and financial benefits and has said it believes the two companies can reach a mutually agreeable transaction.
However, the Japanese company has said there are multiple and significant challenges such a transaction would face from U.S. competition regulators.
Couche-Tard operates across 31 countries, with more than 16,800 stores. A successful deal with Seven & i could add 85,800 stores to its network.
Seven & i owns not only the 7-Eleven chain, but also supermarkets, food producers, household goods retailers and financial services companies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
MONTREAL – Quebec provincial police say a body found in a nature park last month was that of a cryptocurrency influencer who had been missing since he was kidnapped from his Old Montreal condo in June.
Police say Kevin Mirshahi’s remains, discovered on Oct. 30 at Montreal’s Parc de l’Île-de-la-Visitation, were formally identified by the coroner’s office.
Mirshahi, 25, had been missing since he and three other people in their 20s were kidnapped from the parking garage of his condo building on June 21.
Three of the four people kidnapped — two women and a man — were found alive a day later in western Montreal, but Mirshahi remained unaccounted for.
By August, Quebec provincial police had concluded Mirshahi had been killed and they arrested Joanie Lepage, 32, of Les Cèdres, 45 kilometres southwest of Montreal.
She was charged at the courthouse in Valleyfield, Que., with first-degree murder, forcible confinement and accessory after the fact to murder on Aug. 22.
According to the charges, the killing is alleged to have taken place in Les Cèdres on the same day as the kidnapping.
Police say other arrests could be coming as the investigation is ongoing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
