OTTAWA —
A month-long slowdown in Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine deliveries should end next week, with the single biggest shipment of vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech to date and almost two million doses expected in the next month.
“We’re approaching something we’re calling the big lift,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday in a virtual roundtable with nurses and doctors from around Canada.
Trudeau acknowledged the struggle with deliveries, and how frustrating it has been for Canada, but he said things will get better in the weeks ahead, and even better than that in April, when Canada is expecting as many as one million doses a week.
But the troubles aren’t entirely over. Moderna’s next shipment on Feb. 22 will now be only two-thirds of what it was supposed to be. Pfizer’s deliveries will only meet the promised number of doses if medical professionals can adjust to extracting six doses instead of five from every vial.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander overseeing Canada’s vaccine distribution, says Pfizer has confirmed it will ship 403,000 does next week, 475,000 the week after that, and then 444,000 doses in each of the first two weeks of March.
“I think it’s very promising,” said Fortin.
Canada’s vaccination efforts have slowed to a crawl since mid-January, when Pfizer slowed production at its plant in Belgium to expand it. Instead of getting 1.15 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine between Jan. 18 and this week, Canada was shipped 339,000 doses.
Christina Antoniou, spokeswoman for Pfizer Canada, says that work is now done and the company is on track to deliver four million doses by March 31, as stated in its contract.
Antoniou also said next week’s shipment to Canada has been authorized for export by Europe, which imposed new export transparency controls as it tries to get vaccines to its population as well.
Moderna, however, has confirmed its next shipment on Feb. 22 will be only 168,000, two-thirds of what had been promised. Moderna, which delivers once every three weeks right now, shipped 180,000 doses last week. That was only 80 per cent of the promised amount.
To date, Canada has received about 928,000 doses from Pfizer and 515,000 from Moderna.
Pfizer will need to ship 450,000 doses a week on average in the last two weeks of March to meet its contract for four million doses by March 31. Moderna will need to ship about 1.3 million doses in March to meet its contract to ship two million doses by the same date.
Next week also marks the first time Pfizer’s label will say the vials each contain six doses. The company found it was overfilling its vials with enough vaccine to get that sixth dose, and Health Canada agreed to the change earlier this week.
Getting that sixth dose requires the use of a low dead-volume syringe, which traps less vaccine in the needle and syringe after an injection, which goes to waste.
Canada has now ordered 72 million of those syringes, and two million were delivered last week. Almost half are to arrive by mid-April and almost 90 per cent by May, with the rest due to come by the end of the summer.
Fortin said those are being shipped to the provinces to be ready for Monday. Several provinces reported not yet receiving any of the low-dead volume syringes. Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Thursday that Alberta had received a shipment and now had “a good supply” of them.
Provincial governments are also concerned about how easy it will be to get that sixth dose, even with the special syringes.
Deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo said Thursday about 1,800 professionals took part in an English-language training session online Wednesday to learn how to do it. There will be a second session Friday in French.
Federal officials did not answer questions Thursday about whether there is a clause in the label change approval or the contract with Pfizer that would amend the doses being sent if Canada can’t get that sixth dose all the time.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021.
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.
