Some high school students could be on the road legally without passing a driving test, as Manitoba Public Insurance scrambles to restore priority services while its employees are on strike.
Students who have already completed MPI’s driver education program — known as Driver Z and taken by high-schoolers at least 15 1/2 years old — will be issued a Class 5 licence (permitting operation of passenger vehicles primarily, held by most Manitoba motorists) without having to pass a road test in an attempt to prevent a backlog in testing. The seven-month program includes 20 class hours, 14 hours of in-car instruction and a minimum of 45 hours of mandatory driving practice.
Parental consent will be required for students to receive a licence without a road test, and they can request that their child be subject to one.
It’s part of a new contingency plan to restore services suspended by the walkout earlier this week of MPI’s 1,700 workers in the first strike in the Crown corporation’s 52-year history.
“I’m confident that there will be no safety concerns by taking this step.”–MPI board chair Ward Keith
While road tests have historically been used to determine driver aptitude, MPI board chair Ward Keith said students who complete the Driver Z program are more likely to pass road tests and have fewer future traffic violations than other drivers.
“I’m confident that there will be no safety concerns by taking this step,” Keith said Wednesday.
All other Class 5 drivers who were waiting for a road test before the strike began will be required to take one conducted by driver-education instructors under contract to MPI. The public insurer said 70 instructors have been contracted thus far, and they will have the ability to conduct tests in their modified training vehicles, many of which are fitted with an additional passenger-accessible brake pedal and other safety features the instructor can use to end the test safely.
Students who get licences without passing a road test could find themselves subject to taking one at a later date. Manitoba’s registrar of motor vehicles will have the discretion to require anyone licensed during the strike to pass the proficiency exam down the road, at no cost.
While road tests have historically been used to determine driver aptitude, MPI board chair Ward Keith said students who complete the Driver Z program are more likely to pass road tests and have fewer future traffic violations than other drivers.While road tests have historically been used to determine driver aptitude, MPI board chair Ward Keith said students who complete the Driver Z program are more likely to pass road tests and have fewer future traffic violations than other drivers.
Keith said while there aren’t any requirements in place yet to determine which new drivers are selected to take a test, MPI will be tracking safety stats.
“I’m not saying necessarily that anyone will need to get re-tested. I’m just saying that the registrar needs to have that discretion, if there’s a need to do so in the future. And that’s what we’ll learn from this program,” he said.
An MPI spokesperson said the corporation wasn’t able to provide the number of students who could have their road test waived, but about 12 per cent of all road tests are booked by Driver Z students.
MPI cancelled 2,048 Class 5 road tests this week. Drivers with appointments that were cancelled as a result of the strike are already being contacted, and Keith said the exams are expected to begin early next week.
“I’m hoping that actually we’ll be able to address some of the backlog that currently exists for driver testing by leveraging the driver-ed instructors throughout the province,” he said.
Some experienced driving instructors are less confident than Keith.
Lek Kinnarath, the owner of Maple Leaf Driving School, has been teaching Manitoba’s teenagers to drive for several decades. He said the Driver Z program alone isn’t sufficient to get them road-ready.
“It’s definitely unsafe for them to just get their licence without having a proper test…. I’m strongly opposed to that,” he said.
“I know for sure, most of the students that receive this course, the Drivers Z course, they usually get some basic knowledge only. They are not really in the advanced stage.”
“It’s definitely unsafe for them to just get their licence without having a proper test…. I’m strongly opposed to that.”–Lek Kinnarath, Maple Leaf Driving School
He said he has trained students who have completed the course but waited months to train for their road test, and they had retained little of what they were taught in the program.
“Let’s say, if I have 10 Driver Z students — and I’m talking from my experience of 36 years of teaching — I would say, out of 10 students, there may be only one student that (is) quite good… 90 per cent of them, they are nowhere close to be able to drive safely,” he said.
Ideally, MPI would be bringing in professional driving instructors to hold road tests for all drivers, regardless of what program they’ve completed, he said, adding he was invited by MPI Tuesday to work as a road test examiner. He won’t be crossing the picket line any time soon.
He said he knows many of the striking workers from taking students to their road tests and doesn’t want to betray them.
“They’re asking MPI for better pay, for better living and everything. And here, we, behind their back, we’re doing their job,” he said. “I would say that they would look at us as the enemy.”
Striking workers rallied at the Legislative Building Wednesday afternoon to call out Premier Heather Stefanson, who published a video on her X (formerly Twitter) account chiding the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union for calling back-to-back strikes for members from two (MPI and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries) Crown corporations.
Striking MPI workers rallied at the Legislative Building Wednesday afternoon to call out Premier Heather Stefanson.”>
Striking MPI workers rallied at the Legislative Building Wednesday afternoon to call out Premier Heather Stefanson.
To chants of “Where is Heather?” from more than 1,000 people in attendance, MGEU president Kyle Ross joked: “She’s probably shooting a video.”
“It’s not easy to take a stand when it comes to your livelihood; going on strike is scary. Over 1,700 families here in Manitoba are putting their lives on line, their necks out and their lives on hold. And so far all they received from their employer and their government is spin, and two poorly produced videos,” Ross said, drawing a loud chorus of boos from the crowd.
Earlier this month during the now-settled MLL workers strike, Andrew Smith, the Progressive Conservative government minister responsible for liquor and lotteries, posted a video blaming the dispute on “the NDP and their union friends.”
At the rally, MPI contact centre employee Cheryl Santilli told the crowd it was time for the province to “recognize the standard of excellence we provide and pay us what we deserve.”
“Stop your war of words with propaganda and false information and get back to the table to negotiate a fair deal for the employees of MPI who make you look so good to everyone.”
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.
