Shoppers experienced a Boxing Day like no other on Saturday, with non-essential retail shuttered or restricted across much of the country to try and stem the spread of COVID-19.
While some donned masks and snow boots to brave outdoor lineups, many were watching their email inboxes instead, as some industry watchers say much of this year’s post-Christmas shopping will be replaced with internet searches and online orders.
A queue of a dozen deal hunters outside Best Buy in downtown Toronto wouldn’t be unusual in a normal year, but shopper Hao Chen said he was surprised to see it amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But once he got in line, Chen noted that the retailer was running a tight ship, with employees keeping shoppers apart and ensuring everyone in line had already placed an online order. Inside the Eaton Centre mall, Best Buy and other stores were empty apart from employees, as security guards kept scarce visitors focused on curbside pickup and takeout.
There were no window shoppers to be seen, said Chen, because “there’s nothing in the windows to shop.”
Ontario’s provincewide lockdown began Saturday, joining Quebec and Manitoba in closing non-essential retail, while much of the rest of the country has curtailed in-store capacity.
In a normal year, Chen said he would be in Chicago with family over Christmas. But as a recent graduate, he said he decided to spend this holiday trying to save money on a vacuum instead. Chen said he ordered online and only came out to the mall “boots to ground” for a pickup because his apartment isn’t a great place to accept deliveries.
Despite the restrictions forcing most shopping online, there will be fire-sale prices on some items, said Farla Efros, president of HRC Retail Advisory. She said retailers don’t want to get stuck with a backlog of holiday and seasonal inventory and also need to shore up their balance sheets in the face of mounting lockdowns and restrictions.
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“People are buying a lot of gift cads this year and not the traditional wrapped gift so there’s an excess of inventory and some pent-up demand,” says Lisa Hutcheson, managing partner at consulting firm J.C. Williams Group.
Some politicians urged shoppers to look locally for Boxing Day deals amid the restrictions. Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley encouraged shoppers to check out local establishments — “socially distanced, of course.” Maurizio Bevilacqua, mayor of Vaughan, Ont., said residents should show support by shopping online and ordering food.
But shoppers were few and far between at boutiques in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood. Andrew Koppel of Kops Records said shoppers have been supportive of local businesses, lining up at nearby shops on Christmas Eve and Black Friday. But he said he purposely did not offer discounts on Saturday to avoid lines and promote health measures.
“Boxing Day is quite non-existent for us,” said Koppel. “Once everything is opened back up again, we might do something to make up for it. Maybe it will be Boxing Day in March. We’ll figure something out to reward our patient customers.”
— With files from Brett Bundale in Halifax and Anita Balakrishnan in Toronto.
TORONTO – Ontario is pushing through several bills with little or no debate, which the government house leader says is due to a short legislative sitting.
The government has significantly reduced debate and committee time on the proposed law that would force municipalities to seek permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a car lane.
It also passed the fall economic statement that contains legislation to send out $200 cheques to taxpayers with reduced debating time.
The province tabled a bill Wednesday afternoon that would extend the per-vote subsidy program, which funnels money to political parties, until 2027.
That bill passed third reading Thursday morning with no debate and is awaiting royal assent.
Government House Leader Steve Clark did not answer a question about whether the province is speeding up passage of the bills in order to have an election in the spring, which Premier Doug Ford has not ruled out.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
EDMONTON – Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen says the decision to lift limits on trapping for animals like wolverines is being done to get more data on what to do with them.
Until recently, trappers on Crown land were almost entirely prohibited from trapping wolverines, lynx, river otters, and fishers — but Loewen’s decision means it’s now open season on all four.
Loewen says it was impossible for him to defend the virtual ban on these fur-bearing creatures because current population numbers for the animals are not known.
He says by lifting the limits, the government and conservationists will better understand the overall health status of each species through the data collected by trappers.
Conservationist Ruiping Luo, with the Alberta Wilderness Association, says the government should find a way to collect the data without killing the animals.
Luo says while lifting the ban may not lead to extinction, any further species loss or damage could create a domino effect with consequent harm to ecosystems.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
GATINEAU, Que. – A court order obtained by the Competition Bureau will require legal-software company Dye & Durham Ltd. to release records related to its business practices, the federal watchdog agency said Thursday.
It’s the latest development in an ongoing Competition Bureau probe, which aims to determine if Toronto-based Dye & Durham has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour and abused its dominant position in the market.
The bureau is examining what it calls certain Dye & Durham practices that may prevent competing software firms from supplying products or services to legal practitioners.
While no conclusion of wrongdoing has been made, the Competition Bureau said in a news release Thursday it is seeking information from the public to advance its investigation. It said it welcomes feedback from legal-software users and providers.
Dye & Durham’s stock price immediately sank on the news, and was down more than 17 per cent as of midday trading Thursday.
In a news release, Dye & Durham said it is fully co-operating with the Competition Bureau’s investigation and will “continue to take steps to inform and educate the bureau on its business and industry practices.”
The company went on to say it is concerned the Competition Bureau may be acting on allegations from industry competitors who have “resisted productivity enhancing innovation.”
It said it is also concerned the bureau’s allegations “improperly contextualize” commercial relationships and standard software industry business practices.
At the same time it is being investigated for potential anticompetitive behaviour, Dye & Durham has been trying to defend itself against an aggressive activist investor.
New York-based Engine LLP, which owns approximately 7.1 per cent of the company’s stock, has proposed its own slate of rival candidates for election to Dye & Durham’s board of directors at its upcoming annual general meeting.
Engine said this week that a boardroom overhaul is warranted at Dye & Durham after what it called “years of disappointing shareholder returns, value-destructive M&A, high employee turnover, inappropriate executive compensation and anti-shareholder action.”
Dye & Durham responded by saying that Engine’s attempt at a wholesale replacement of the board and management team puts the company’s “extraordinary track record and future trajectory at risk.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
