Evening Update: Michael Spavor reaches multimillion-dollar settlement with Ottawa; Bank of Canada holds interest rate steady - The Globe and Mail | Canada News Media
Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
The federal government has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with Michael Spavor to compensate him for the nearly three years he was incarcerated under harsh conditions in Chinese prisons.
The settlement came after Mr. Spavor threatened to sue Ottawa and fellow prisoner Michael Kovrig, alleging he was arrested by China because of information that he unwittingly shared with Mr. Kovrig. That information, he alleged, was later passed on, unbeknownst to Mr. Spavor, to the Canadian government and its Five Eyes spy-service partners in the course of Mr. Kovrig’s duties as a diplomat with Global Affairs Canada’s Global Security Reporting Program.
A statement from Mr. Spavor’s lawyer, John K. Phillips, confirms a mediated settlement has been concluded but he offered no further details. “The only thing any party is able to say is that the matter has been resolved,” Mr. Phillips said.
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Bank of Canada holds interest rate steady, offers few hints about timing of cuts
The Bank of Canada held the policy interest rate steady today at 5 per cent for the fifth time in a row, and offered few hints about the timing of potential future cuts. The interest rate has been at 5 per cent since last July, after one of the most aggressive monetary policy tightening campaigns in Canadian history.
With the rate of inflation growing closer to the bank’s 2-per-cent target, and the economy growing slowly, central bank officials don’t expect to raise interest rates further. At the same time, they’re not yet willing to entertain rate cuts, which would offer relief to homeowners with mortgages and businesses struggling to pay debts.
Opinion: The case for an April interest rate cut by Tiff Macklem
How economists and market bets for rate cuts are reacting to today’s central bank decision
More small towns in Canada will be able to choose which immigrants can settle, minister says
More small towns will be able to choose newcomers to settle in their communities under a pilot project to be made permanent by Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot has been popular in towns such as Moose Jaw and North Bay, in helping address skill shortages. Now the Immigration Department plans to extend the pilot to more small towns, and to make it permanent in around 18 months.
Gaza ceasefire talks at an impasse as humanitarian crisis deepens
An Israeli army convoy moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on March 6, 2024.Amir Levy/Getty Images
Talks of a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas were at an impasse today, as worries over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened. Negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt – but not Israel – have been trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire in time for Ramadan, which begins next week.
Just yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Hamas to accept the terms of the offer, saying it’s in the hands of the militant group now. While Hamas has pledged to continue with the talks, officials in the group said a ceasefire must be in place before hostages are freed, Israeli forces must leave Gaza, and all Gazans must be able to return to homes they have fled.
“We are showing the required flexibility in order to reach a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people, but the occupation is still evading the entitlements of this agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.
U.S. politics: Nikki Haley ended her presidential bid today, clearing the way for Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination. In a speech to staff, she refused to endorse Trump. Her bid was a last-ditch effort by Reaganite Republicans to take back their party.
Acne woes: A U.S. lab says high levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, were detected in some acne treatments from brands such as Clinique, Target’s Up & Up and Clearasil.
‘Dead’ galaxy discovered: The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a galaxy that was “dead” when the universe was only a fraction of its current age. Many dead galaxies have been detected over the years, but this is the earliest by about 500 million years.
No more nukes: The Oscar buzz around Oppenheimer has prompted celebrities and activists to sign an open letter as part of a preawards campaign calling for an end to nuclear weapons worldwide.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street’s three major indexes and the TSX closed higher today as economic data and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforced expectations that the U.S. central bank would reduce its benchmark interest rate this year.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 68.03 points at 21,593.96. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 75.86 points at 38,661.05. The S&P 500 index was up 26.11 points at 5,104.76, while the Nasdaq composite was up 91.95 points at 16,031.54.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.92 cents US.
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TALKING POINTS
When governments got things done: Mulroney, Chrétien and a lost age of capacity
“The era in which they governed, 1984 to 2003, might be called the Age of Capacity, a time when governments took on big problems and fixed them.” – Andrew Coyne
Ottawa risks repeating Alberta’s climate policy of all talk and no walk
“Industry commitments to improve performance are a good thing, but the history of such efforts in the oil and gas sector shows that talk is cheap.” – Martin Olszynski and Sara Hastings-Simon
Measles is not some harmless childhood infection
“Before antibiotics were available, measles killed more people than influenza.” – Dawn Bowdish
LIVING BETTER
Revenge travel is over – it’s time to embrace better reasons for seeing the world
A lot of us who cancelled trips in 2020 during the pandemic booked “revenge” trips once restrictions lifted, eager to cross things off our bucket lists and regain all the time stolen from us. Revenge travel was born. But now it might be time to rethink that concept, writes Heather Greenwood Davis. “Travel has never been just about taking the trip. It’s about being present while you’re on it.”
TODAY’S LONG READ
A blocked exit and barrage of bullets: Video shows B.C. Sikh leader’s final moments
The entrance of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, BC on Monday, March 4, 2024. The Globe and Mail viewed the surveillance footage from the evening of June 18, 2023 at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. The surveillance camera, showing a similar wide-angle view, captured the shooting of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.Ethan Cairns/The Globe and Mail
The brazen slaying last June of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjarwas over in less than two minutes and was caught on surveillance video. The Globe and Mail has viewed the footage from that evening – including the 75 seconds up to and including the shooting that left Mr. Nijjar dead. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has publicly blamed the Indian government for his death, an accusation that had an immediate impact on Indo-Canadian relations. Read more here.
Evening Update is written by Maryam Shah. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
