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Many Canadians will turn to debt when government benefits run out, survey suggests

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A large number of Canadians receiving emergency government assistance will turn to debt to meet their needs when those benefits run out, a new survey suggests.

The survey, which was commissioned by insolvency firm MNP Ltd. earlier this month, found that among respondents currently receiving benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic, 45 per cent will take on more debt in the event that financial support ends.

That’s a pretty startling figure,” MNP President Grant Bazian said in an interview.

Twenty-one per cent said they would use credit cards, and eight per cent said they would rely on payday lenders. Nine per cent said they’d sell their homes.

Forty-five per cent said they would reduce their expenses.

The survey comes just weeks before the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which has paid out $76.4 billion since March, is set to end.

More than 8.7 million Canadians had applied for CERB to pay their bills and feed their families in wake of the biggest economic shock seen in decades.

After September, federal government plans to transition recipients to Employment Insurance (EI), and has also introduced new benefits programs to assist those who might be left out — including caregivers, those who are sick or must isolate due to COVID-19, along with Canadians who do not qualify for EI.

Those benefits, too, have an expiry date. The new programs are scheduled to be in place for the next year.

The survey did not ask how many of those currently receiving aid intended to apply for the new programs, but 28 per cent said they would apply for EI when their benefits ran out.

Experts have expressed concern about that transition, along with what could come next for those who are most vulnerable.

Kirstin Beardsley, Food Banks Canada’s chief network services officer, said in a previous Global News interview that food bank use spiked when the pandemic broke out — but things changed when CERB started.

Recent food bank use is now comparable with previous years, she said.

“But folks have now gone through their CERB allotment. We have things like eviction notices back in force. People who were able to defer payments may now need to pay bills,” Beardsley said.

“People were able to keep their heads above water with the CERB. As that ends, we’re concerned there will be a moment where folks just can’t make it all work.”

While Canada posted record unemployment rates earlier this year, it has seen significant job gains in the last four months. The latest figures show Canada remains short about 1.1 million positions relative to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Six months into the pandemic, the MNP survey found that 43 per cent of respondents said they, or someone in their household, were still experiencing some form of disruption or impact to their employment.

Among those, 15 per cent are working fewer hours or receiving reduced pay. Fourteen per cent said someone in their household has lost their job, and 13 per cent said they personally lost their position.

Perhaps surprisingly, so far in 2020 the number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy or looking to settle their debts through consumer proposals has fallen off dramatically.

Personal insolvencies were down 45.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2019, government statistics show.

Bazian said aid programs have been a “saving grace” for many who might have otherwise become insolvent. And at the same time, collections agenies and the Canada Revenue Agency have taken a somewhat softer approach, he said.

Some people have also been able to curb their spending this year because there’s simply less to do, he noted. The nation’s household debt ratio has actually fallen slightly, according to Statistics Canada.

But all of that could change when things get back to normal — whenever that may be.

Bazian encouraged people to take a deep look at their finances, and get some help from a debt professional such as a licensed insolvency trustee if necessary.

I don’t think people’s problems have gone away … I think there’s just problems being deferred,” Bazian said.

The survey was conducted by Ipsos between September 1-3, 2020, on behalf of MNP LTD. For this survey, a sample of 2,001 Canadians aged 18 years and over was interviewed. The poll is accurate to within plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled.

— With files from Rachael D’Amore and The Canadian Press

 

 

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Mexican schools have 6 months to ban sale of junk food or face heavy fines

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Schools in Mexico will have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or else face heavy fines, officials said Monday.

The rules, published on Sept. 30, target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile. School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense, amounting to nearly a year’s wages for some of them.

Mexico’s children have the highest consumption of junk food in Latin America and many get 40% of their total caloric intake from it, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund which labeled child obesity there an emergency.

The new ban targets products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile.

Previous attempts to implement laws against so-called ‘junk food’ have met with little success.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday schools would have to offer water fountains and alternative snacks, like bean tacos.

“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips,” Sheinbaum said. “It is much better to drink hibiscus flower water than soda.”

However, the vast majority of Mexico’s 255,000 schools nationwide do not have free drinking water available to students. According to a report in 2020, the effort to install drinking fountains succeeded in only about 10,900 of the country’s schools, or about 4% of them. Many Schools are located in areas so poor or remote that they struggle to maintain acceptable bathrooms, internet connection or electricity.

Also the most common recipes for beans, refried beans, usually contain a significant dose of lard, which would violate rules against saturated fats.

Mexico instituted front-of-package warning labels for foods between 2010 and 2020, to advise consumers about high levels of salt, added sugar, excess calories and saturated fats. Some snack foods carry all four of the black, octagonal warning labels.

But under the new rules, schools will have to phase out any product containing even a single warning label from school snack stands. It wasn’t immediately clear how the government would enforce the ban on the sidewalks outside schools, where vendors usually set up tables of goods to sell to kids at recess.

Mexican authorities say the country has the worst childhood obesity problem in the world, with about one-third of children overweight or obese.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Panthers’ Reinhart named NHL first star after posting nine points over four games

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NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.

Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.

New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.

Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.

Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s season ended by ruptured Achilles tendon, team said he’ll have surgery

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.

He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.

Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.

The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”

Watson was injured on a noncontact play in the second quarter of Cleveland’s 21-14 loss to the Bengals and carted off the field in tears.

It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.

The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.

He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.

As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.

Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.

The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.

“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”

Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.

“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.

“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”

The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.

Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.

With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.

The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.

But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.

Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.

Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.

Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.

Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.

___

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