As the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic approaches, Canada’s health minister says requiring a vaccine passport to travel internationally is a “very live” issue as more Canadians receive shots and countries consider loosening border restrictions.
“It’s being discussed around the world. I’m a member of the G7 health ministers, we meet every couple weeks. This has been on our agenda,” Patty Hajdu said Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live.
She said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is also discussing the concept with international partners.
Some jurisdictions are looking to use proof of immunization against COVID-19 as a way to allow travel within and between countries.
Last month, the World Health Organization ruled that national authorities should not require such certificates for travel because it’s still unclear how well vaccines minimize transmission of the virus, a point Hajdu herself acknowledged.
The concept has also drawn criticism for privacy and equity concerns.
“The intent is to co-ordinate,” Hajdu said. “You can imagine the confusion in international travel if there’s different certifications that are required.”
Tam ‘optimistic’ about pandemic’s future
Providing proof of immunity is one of several issues under consideration as countries turn to mapping out the next steps of their pandemic response.
In a separate interview, Canada’s chief public health officer said Sunday she’s increasingly optimistic about the future of the global health crisis — but cautions that some measures may stick around for months to come.
“I think we can be buoyant by that more optimistic outlook because it is a pretty tremendous thing that we have, which is several, not just one, but several, really great vaccines,” Dr. Theresa Tam told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
WATCH | What still worries Dr. Theresa Tam one year into the COVID-19 pandemic:
Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that the government is closely monitoring the new coronavirus variants and how vaccines respond to them. She says public health measures need to be in place to bring cases down. 9:33
“But with that sense of optimism comes … the need to just hang on in there for a bit longer, because I do think that if these vaccines are provided to as many people as possible, we can break the most severe consequences, the crisis phase of this pandemic.”
Canada has now approved four COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines are two-dose shots, while the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only a single dose.
Masks, distancing not going away soon
When asked how long Canadians should expect to keep up with mask wearing and physical distancing amid the country’s vaccine rollout, Tam said such guidelines won’t disappear any time soon.
“These viruses come in invisible ways, and so we need to keep up those measures,” Tam said, adding that while approved vaccines are effective at staving off the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, there are still those who may not be fully protected.
“With that in mind, I think these habits are going to continue for some time. But we want to stop the more restrictive measures as soon as possible.”
A woman wears a face mask as she walks along a street in Montreal in February. Tam says mask wearing and other public health measures will likely continue in the months to come. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
Avoid comparing vaccines
The country’s inoculation campaign has picked up steam in recent weeks. On Friday, the federal government announced that manufacturer Pfizer had agreed to accelerate the delivery of 3.5 million doses of its vaccine.
Some provinces have also moved to delay the second dose of two-shot vaccines after new national recommendations were issued earlier this week.
While the delay would allow more Canadians to receive their first jab, differing efficacy percentages between shots has led to a degree of public hesitancy over which inoculation is best.
Like other public health experts, Tam cautioned against comparing the efficacy of different vaccines head-to-head.
“What is the fundamental fact about these vaccines is that they are all very effective when it comes to preventing serious outcomes, such as hospitalizations … really serious illness and many deaths as well,” she said, adding that the millions of people who have been vaccinated worldwide is evidence of that.
“I think people should feel very confident as they go in, to get whatever vaccine is being offered to them, that they are really great for that purpose.”
That’s advice Hajdu also backed on Sunday.
“Take the first vaccine that you’re offered,” she said. “It’s really, really important that you get protected from a really terrible case of COVID that could lead to your death.”
Hajdu says she could have done many things differently
The health minister was also asked about comments she made just over one year ago, in which she said banning travel between Canada and China would do little to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“The long-term implication of shutting down borders is one, they’re not very effective in controlling disease … in fact, they’re not effective at all,” Hajdu said in February of last year.
Hajdu said those statements came from international health regulations, which she said still indicate that border measures are not entirely effective at halting transmission.
“When I look back — as a new health minister following the advice of my department — of course, I think, there are many things I think I could have done differently,” Hajdu said.
“The story is not done yet. The research will be done for decades. I just hope I am alive when we get a full analysis of what worked well and what didn’t globally around the COVID-19 pandemic response.
For Tam, part of the story will end when she sees hospitalizations and deaths from the illness decline.
“That is really important. We have to monitor to make sure … that the vaccine’s effectiveness continues,” she told Barton. “So I think that is where we will arrive at a good place, and we need the world to be around us there as well.”
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.
