TORONTO – COVID-19 cases appear to be on the rise in Ontario again and business groups are calling for a vaccine certificate system as a means to avoid another lockdown.
Ontario has reported rising positivity rates and more than 300 new COVID-19 cases for the past four days, with more than 400 on Sunday – levels not seen since mid-June.
Premier Doug Ford has rebuffed calls from medical, political and business groups to implement a vaccine certificate system for non-essential activities, saying he doesn’t want a “split society.”
But while saying he “can’t stand lockdowns,” he also has not ruled out having to enact another one.
Ryan Mallough, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says his group would support a vaccine certificate system if it’s the difference between that and going back into a lockdown, but the government would need to be very clear on what responsibilities are for employers and employees.
Either way, Ontario businesses need to see the plan of what happens in the face of rising cases, and what the thresholds will be, Mallough said. Previously, rising cases meant lockdowns, but he wonders what it means now that the province has relatively good vaccine coverage.
“Everyone is watching those numbers like a hawk,” he said. “We’ve been conditioned to do that over the last 17 months…but what does the numbers going up mean now?”
Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said a vaccine certificate system would be a way to avoid another lockdown and accelerate an economic reopening.
He took issue with the premier leaving open the possibility for another lockdown while at the same time nixing a vaccine certificate over concerns about individual rights.
“Our point is simply that you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” Rossi said.
“If you accept through the use of lockdown that society retains the right to limit individual rights, then we should be looking for practical tools that are the lesser of two evils and all of us can agree that the greater danger to individual rights is a society-wide lockdown, which none of us wants to see return.”
A request for comment from the premier’s office about vaccine certificates was met with a reply from a spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott.
“We have been clear that the government will not make vaccines mandatory within Ontario,” Alexandra Hilkene wrote. “Certain settings and/or businesses may require proof of vaccination which is why everyone receives a COVID-19 vaccination receipt after their first and second dose.”
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Toronto Region Board of Trade have also spoken in favour of vaccine certificates as a way to avoid lockdowns. Health groups such as the Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario have called for their use as well.
The province’s science table advisory group said certificates would allow high-risk settings to reopen sooner with greater capacity and help plan for future waves of the virus. However, it also noted there’s no evidence linking the impact of vaccine certificates to vaccine coverage or virus transmission.
Quebec announced Thursday that it would introduce a vaccine certificate system, and the health minister said 11,519 people booked a first dose appointment that day – double the number of previous days.
McMaster University political science professor Peter Graefe said he doesn’t think Ford will reverse his position unless several more provinces implement similar systems.
“I think his issue is that it’s a relatively small number of people who are really skeptical about the vaccines or are really opposed to the idea of a vaccine passport,” he said.
“But that’s still an important part of his base. He’s looking at trying to win 35 per cent of the electorate, there are maybe 10 or 15 per cent (who) feel really strongly about those things, and I don’t think he feels that he can, you know, risk their support.”
Ontario reported 325 new COVID-19 cases on Monday after conducting more than 15,800tests.
There were 113 patients in intensive care with COVID-related critical illness and 70 people on ventilators.
Public Health Ontario says that from the end of June to the end of last month, unvaccinated people were eight times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2021.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
