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GTA mayors urge residents to stay home, shop online and support local for Black Friday – CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

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It’s a noticeably different Black Friday this year in the GTA as strict restrictions are in place amid a second wave of the novel coronavirus.

The hustle and bustle that typically occur on the biggest shopping day of the year are not visible today as many individuals are avoiding in-store shopping and staying home to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

And some shoppers simply can’t access their favourite brick and mortar stores in person as Toronto and Peel Region are currently under a provincial lockdown for at least 28 days.

The two hot spots entered the grey lockdown level of the province’s new COVID-19 response framework on Monday in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

Lockdown restrictions include the closure of non-essential businesses, including many small businesses and malls, during the lucrative holiday season.

However, big box stores, like Walmart and Costo, that sell essential items such as groceries and medicine, are permitted to stay open during lockdown.

Although public health officials are urging residents to stay home as much as possible, shoppers were seen lining up outside of Walmart locations in Toronto Friday morning to get their hands on some of the store’s hottest Black Friday deals.

Walmart

Mayor John Tory has urged residents and stores to avoid Black Friday sales in order to avoid crowds and reduce the spread of the virus.

He also encouraged residents to shop online and support small businesses that are taking a hard hit during the pandemic.

“Nothing against the big box stores, they are what they are but I think this is a way we can help smaller, independent stores by purchasing online from them, many of them have an online presence, and by doing the curbside pickup, and we’re trying to make that much easier,” Tory told CP24 Friday morning.

The owner of Early Bird & Worm in Toronto’s Roncesvalles areas told CP24 that she’s providing customers a variety of shopping options so her business can stay afloat during the lockdown.

“This is the second lockdown and we’re trying to do as many orders to help the community as possible, by doing email orders, telephone orders. We’re doing local deliveries after my children go to sleep at night just to try and make ends meet,” she said.

Roncesvalles BIA representative Adam Langley said most small businesses in the neighbourhood are trying to cope with the restrictions and urged residents to remember to shop local.

“One of our mantras has been you can shop local, even if it’s online so a lot of our businesses during the first wave did pivot to online shopping and the ones that haven’t are still offering service,” Langley told CP24.

“I think the business owners are ready to fight for the business. They’re inside and they’re waiting to hear from you and they want to get you what you need for the holiday season.”

Black Friday shopping

Meanwhile, Peel Regional Council passed a motion on Thursday that asks the province to immediately look at ways to address the inequity between businesses forced to close their doors and those allowed to stay open during the lockdown.

The motion, however, does not limit the sale of non-essential items at big box stores that Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie had previously advocated for.

“Although the original wording of the motion was amended, I’m pleased that the intent remained- supporting small businesses,” Crombie said in a statement issued on Thursday. “What’s important to me is that we had consensus and presented a united front in defense of our small business community.”

Peel Region recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 case count on Thursday with 572 new infections, while Toronto recorded 356 cases.

The province logged more than 1,800 new cases and 20 more deaths on Friday.

GTA areas not in lockdown ask residents to stay in their region

With limited options for in-store Black Friday shopping in Toronto and Peel, officials in nearby York Region, which is in the red control level under the provincial COVID-19 response framework, are worried many shoppers might flock to the area to try snag a deal.

Under the control category, non-essential businesses, including malls, are allowed to remain open with certain restrictions.

On Friday morning, people were seen lining up outside of Vaughan Mills Mall before it opened at 8 a.m.

Vaughan Mills

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua is asking people to stay home and avoid shopping unless they need to pick up essential goods.

“We need to continue to be focused on the defeat of COVID-19 and its transmission. When people get up in the morning, the question they need to ask themselves is what can I do to reduce the transmission of COVID-19,” Bevilacqua told CP24.

Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti is echoing Bevilacqua’s remarks and is asking people not to travel outside of their regions to access in-store shopping elsewhere.

He also warned that enforcement officers will be patrolling the city this weekend to ensure businesses and residents are following the rules.

“We will be out there. There’s a coordinated effort this weekend between the Ministry of Labour, our bylaw officers and even York Regional Police when they all have to be called on,” Scarpitti told CP24.

Scarpitti added that Costco and T&T in Markham have recently been charged for overcrowding and issues with physical distancing at their stores. He said fines could range anywhere from $5,000 a day for an operator to $25,000 a day for a corporation.

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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