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Growing number of Canadians say Trudeau doing 'bad job' on vaccine rollout even as pace quickens – National Post

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Respondents living in Alberta were most critical, with 71 per cent saying Trudeau did a bad job. Atlantic Canada was the least critical, with 43 per cent

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OTTAWA — A growing number of Canadians believe the Trudeau government has fumbled its efforts to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the public in a timely manner, according to a new poll.

The survey by Maru Public Opinion, commissioned by the National Post, found 57 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has thus far done a “bad job” of distributing vaccines to the provinces, an increase of 14 per cent from when the same question was asked in the first week of January. At the same time, 60 per cent of respondents said the provinces are doing a “good job” of administering vaccines, up five per cent over the same period.

The poll results come amid rising public impatience with the federal government’s vaccination campaign, which has been hampered by temporary supply shortages and distribution delays. Federal efforts have nonetheless begun to show signs of returning to initial targets in recent days, with public health officials now hinting that vaccines could be administered well before the government’s end of September deadline.

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Even so, Canada’s dismal ranking in administering vaccines compared with other countries could have a lingering effect on public perception of the Trudeau government, particularly if new delays crop up, said John Wright, executive vice-president of Maru Public Opinion. That could in turn carry some weight should Parliamentarians trigger an election this spring.

“If they’re looking towards an election in June, which seems to be speculation, then I would be concerned about this, because the ballot question is not so much about vaccines as it is about competence,” Wright said.

However, public opinion could always shift back should the Liberals meet or exceed their current targets, he said.

“I think this can be reversed, but it could take the next month or more.”


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Maru surveyed 1,515 randomly selected Canadians on March 1 and 2; the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Respondents living in Alberta were most critical of the federal government, with 71 per cent saying Trudeau did a bad job, up from 52 per cent in January. The next most critical provinces were Manitoba and Saskatchewan (66 per cent), Ontario (61 per cent) and Quebec (52 per cent).

Atlantic Canada was the least critical, with 43 per cent saying Ottawa had done a bad job, up from 27 per cent two months earlier. Atlantic Canada also saw a drop in people who believed Ottawa had done a “good job,” from 73 per cent down to 57 per cent.

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Also in the survey, 62 per cent of respondents said they would get a vaccine “immediately,” up from 55 per cent in January and 36 per cent in December. The number of respondents who said they wouldn’t get vaccinated fell from 16 per cent in December to 10 per cent in March.

“It just shows the appetite,” Wright said. “We’ve got a population now that has confidence that this vaccine is going to work, and they want it. And when you see the demand escalating among the public and you don’t have the supply, that’s where the issue of competence certainly is going to play out.”

The schedule for Canada’s vaccine rollout remains highly uncertain. Ottawa has contracts with seven vaccine makers internationally, but still needs to approve some manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson and Novavax. The federal government last weekend approved Oxford University’s AstraZeneca vaccine, providing a major boost in incoming orders after Moderna and Pfizer both delayed shipments to Canada earlier this year.

Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy chief health officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada, said it now seems plausible that the federal government could beat its target of administering two vaccine doses to all Canadians by the end of September. The Trudeau government has been holding to the September date, viewed by many as a purposefully generous timeline that Ottawa could easily meet.

“If you look at it, the timelines would shift and we would be able to cover up, you know, the vast majority of the Canadian population in a sort of advanced timeline, or moving it up by several weeks,” Njoo said in a conference call with media Thursday.

• Email: jsnyder@postmedia.com | Twitter:

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Japan’s SoftBank returns to profit after gains at Vision Fund and other investments

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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.

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Trump campaign promises unlikely to harm entrepreneurship: Shopify CFO

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)

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RioCan cuts nearly 10 per cent staff in efficiency push as condo market slows

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)

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