With train travel along two of Via Rail’s busiest routes halted by protesters for a second straight day on Sunday, passengers say they have found themselves in a quandary as they try to leave Toronto to head back home for work and school.
Via Rail says 18 of its trains were cancelled Sunday, affecting service between Toronto and Montreal, as well as Toronto and Ottawa in both directions.
“It’s been a bit of a disaster,” would-be passenger Kyle Kirkup told CBC News.
“I’m in solidarity with the protests that are going on, but it’s obviously complicated to get home.”
Kirkup is headed to Ottawa in time for work Monday after a weekend in Toronto.
Kyle Kirkup, who lives in Ottawa, says he’s in solidarity with the protests that are going on but it’s been complicated to get home following a weekend in Toronto. (CBC)
He said the problems started on Thursday while he was travelling to Toronto.
“We got to Kingston on Thursday, we were then told by Via that there’s a blockade that was happening and that the train was going to go back, and if we wanted to get off in Kingston we could find our own way to Toronto,” he explained.
“We then got an email last night saying that our train back to Ottawa had also been cancelled and that no alternatives were going to be provided by Via Rail.
“It’s definitely been complicated, a bit stressful trying to do bookings on the fly, and I wish that there would have been perhaps a bit better communication from Via about alternative options that might have been available,” he added.
Via Rail denied CBC’s request for an interview but issued a statement saying while its trains are prepared to leave on schedule should it achieve line clearance, “until the issue is resolved, departures from Ottawa/Montreal to Toronto and Toronto to Ottawa/Montreal can’t operate due to these circumstances beyond our control.”
“Services continue to operate between Ottawa and Montreal, between Montreal and Quebec City, and west of Toronto in southwestern Ontario,” the statement reads.
Blockade in solidarity with demonstrators in northwest B.C.
Protesters have been demonstrating at Belleville, Ont., against the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline project in British Columbia.
Canadian National Railway traffic was also blocked along the corridor east of Toronto.
The blockade took over the tracks Thursday night in solidarity with demonstrators in northwest B.C. where Indigenous people and supporters are protesting the construction of a pipeline that crosses Wet’suwet’en territory.
RCMP officers in B.C. have been arresting people for breaching a court injunction that attempted to clear the way for construction of the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline.
CN says it has been granted an injunction order to remove protesters from the site near Belleville, Ont.
Kirkup said while he has been inconvenienced by the demonstrations, he supports those staging them.
“I think it’s important to recognize why the protest is going on. I think it’s super important and even though I’ve experienced delays, I’m still happy to support the work that’s being done for a better nation-to-nation relationship in Canada,” he said.
Kirkup said it was quite the challenge trying to book a bus ticket back to Ottawa, but he was finally able to find a seat on the 2:30 p.m. Greyhound bus.
Kimia Fardfini missed her train from Ottawa to Toronto on Thursday and was also forced to make other arrangements to leave Sunday from Toronto to Ottawa. (CBC)
Another passenger, Kimia Fardfini, missed her train from Ottawa to Toronto on Thursday and was also forced to make other arrangements to leave Sunday from Toronto to Ottawa.
Fardfini, who is originally from Toronto, goes to school in Ottawa.
“I booked my Via Rail well in advance like I always do, and when I got to the train station in Ottawa it was delayed indefinitely and they cancelled it. So, I had to take the Greyhound and currently I’m in Toronto trying to figure out how to get back to do my school work tomorrow,” she told CBC News on Sunday.
“Since yesterday, well since all weekend, I’ve been looking at the train status for my train tonight and I can’t find anything for my specific train. It says it’s tentatively scheduled, but I don’t know if I really trust Via right now.
“The Greyhounds are booked already. So, it was either that or my family tried to take time off to drive me or rent a car, which is just as expensive as flying because I’m under 25 and that’s not really possible. So, I had to book on Porter last night and it was $422,” Fardfini added.
Plan ahead, Metrolinx spokesperson says
As people prepare for the start of the new work week, Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins is urging people to plan ahead, in the event any of its services are disrupted because of the ongoing protests.
“We always suggest to our customers, before you leave the house, check the website for any service updates, check your phones, sign up for on-the-go alerts, that kind of thing,” Aikins told CBC News.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins says people to plan ahead, in the event any of its services are disrupted because of the ongoing protests. (Angelina King/CBC)
“Our customers come a long distance. It’s a little different than often with the TTC customers [who] just jump on the closest subway or streetcar. Our customers will sometimes travel an hour and a half, two hours away to get to their destinations, so, we always tell them to plan ahead.”
Metrolinx is a government transportation agency that manages and integrates road and public transport in Ontario, including GO Transit.
Aikins said while she does not expect a disruption at all seven corridors, she’s hoping for the best on Monday.
“We transport 200,000 people a day from all over the region, so if they can’t get to their jobs and their medical appointments it disrupts a lot of lives, potentially.”
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.
