Longo’s grocery store chain has announced on its web site that a staff member at its Guelph location has tested positive for COVID-19.
The grocery store chain posted the information on Sunday, saying the team member’s last shift at the Clair Road store was on March 24.
The store remains open for business.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has an online tool that tracks and lists individual cases in Public Health’s coverage area, but that list hasn’t been updated since last Thursday. It currently lists seven cases in Public Health’s catchment area and that does not include the four Guelph General Hospital empoloyees who have tested positive because they do not reside in the area.
“As a family business, the wellbeing of our Team Members and our Guests is our number one priority. Today, we received confirmation that one of our Team Members at our Guelph location, has tested positive for COVID-19,” read the post from Longo’s president and CEO Anthony Longo.
The affected team member’s last shift was on March 24th. We want to assure you that our stores and Team Members have been operating under heightened preventative measures and in accordance with recommendations from public health to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
“At this time, we are taking immediate actions in the best interests of our Team Members and Guests while ensuring that the Team Member who tested positive has the support they need for a healthy recovery.
The chain says it is doing additional deep cleaning of the store that is “above and beyond our already elevated sanitation and cleaning protocols.”
“We will continue to partner with public health to identify and support any other Team Members who may need to self-isolate and immediately instruct them to stay home. These Team Members will continue to be compensated during this time.”
Longo’s says it is working with Public Health to investigate other employees who worked with the one who came down with the virus.
“To keep our stores safe, we will work in accordance with public health to identify and support any Team Member who should self-isolate. They are instructed to stay home and we will pay them in full. We continue to partner with public health to do everything possible to limit the risk to Team Members and Guests.”
The notice says that Public Health has assured Longos that the risk of grocery shopping remains low.
Anyone who shopped at the store and is concerned about their health should contact their family doctor or visit the Ontario Ministry of Health’s novel-coronavirus website for more information.
Longos said the store will remain open as they continue to work with Public Health.
“As a family business, there is nothing we care more about than the wellbeing of our Team Members and Guests. We are making our decisions under the guidance of public health and will continue to act immediately on their direction and protocols. This includes not hesitating to close a store when their direction suggests that as the best course of action.”
HALIFAX – Chorus Aviation Inc. says its shareholders have voted to approve the sale of the company’s regional aircraft leasing business to HPS Investment Partners.
The Halifax-based company says the $1.9-billion deal was greenlighted by 98.1 per cent of votes cast by shareholders at a special meeting. The transaction needed approval by a two-thirds majority vote.
Chorus also says the waiting period mandated under U.S. legislation has expired and that it has received approval from Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Chorus announced the sale of its plane leasing business to New York City-based HPS in July for $814 million in cash and $1.1 billion in aircraft debt to be assumed or prepaid by the buyers at closing.
The deal marked a one-eighty for Chorus, which bet big on aircraft leasing just two years earlier by buying London-based plane-leasing outfit Falko Regional Aircraft Ltd.
Chorus, which also provides regional service for Air Canada via Chorus subsidiary Jazz Aviation, says the sale remains subject to the other regulatory approvals and customary conditions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
TORONTO – AGF Management Ltd. says its net income attributable to equity owners totalled $20.3 million in its latest quarter, down from $23.0 million in the same quarter last year.
The investment manager says the profit amounted to 30 cents per diluted share for the quarter which ended on Aug. 31, down from 34 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Total net revenue for the quarter amounted to $102.0 million, up from $84.0 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, AGF says it earned 37 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 34 cents per diluted share a year ago.
The company says its total assets under management and fee-earning assets totalled $49.7 billion at Aug. 31, up from $42.3 billion a year earlier.
Kevin McCreadie, AGF’s chief executive and chief investment officer, says the company was pleased to see early signs of improvement with positive retail net flows complementing its solid investment performance amid an uncertain economic backdrop and significant market volatility.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
As of January 2024, Canada is home to more than 3,600 recreational cannabis retail shops and this number is increasing annually with a single store to every 10,000 Canadians. The retail sector has been facing multiple challenges and one is surely overabundance of stores within smaller communities. Too many retailers compared to users of cannabis. The use of cannabis has remained relatively the same, while multiple retailers and online sales forces are competing for this marketplace.
Failures within the retail field are not a surprise, as Tokyo Smoke closes its multiple stores, and most shops’ profit margins remain small and diminishing over time. Mass closures may happen within certain provinces such as Ontario where situations of multiple retailers are situated right beside a competitor. Massive amounts of revenue have been collected by provincial governments while these stores remain open to every possible financial flux possible.
The black market remains healthy and profitable. An excuse to legalize pot was to challenge illegal pot sales and make it difficult to sell this pot outside of legal means. 22% of Canadian pot smokers get their supply from the black market. They say the pot tastes better and is slightly less costly. Legal pot management is costly and this cost is passed onto the customer. With gummy sales growing, the cost of management by legal means is difficult and costly too.
It seems the government may need to rethink its policy regarding cannabis and the possibility of legalizing further types of illicit drugs in the future. A total ack of imagination exists within the policy network where old-fashioned prejudice towards addiction and the use of narcotics is seen as criminal and threatening to society. All the while the number of traffic stops due to drivers under the influence of narcotics continues to grow, and the use of drugs by the youthful generation continues to be a problem. A solution to our society’s problems will never come from present-day authorities.
