OTTAWA —
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced another update to the massive wage subsidy program, more help for students, and says he’ll be attending this afternoon’s cabinet meeting in person after spending the last month largely in COVID-19 self-isolation.
Previously the government said that businesses would have to show a 30 per cent drop in revenues compared to this time last year, which some start-ups and new businesses would not be able to do, so companies can now compare their lost revenue to what they made in January and February of 2020, and will only need to show a 15 per cent decline in March.
“Because most of us only felt the impact of COVID-19 halfway through the month,” he said. The subsidy would be on 75 per cent of employees’ salaries, up to $847 a week per employee, retroactive to March 15.
Charities are also being granted the ability to choose whether or not to include government revenues in their calculations of lost revenue when applying.
The government has also announced temporary changes to the Canada Summer Jobs program. Now, employers who hire summer students can apply for a subsidy of up to 100 per cent to cover the cost, helping create up to 70,000 jobs for Canadians between the ages of 15 and 30.
The time frame for the job placements are also being extended until the winter, given some jobs will “start later than usual,” Trudeau said. The student hires can also be employed part-time, given many businesses have had to scale back their operations.
The prime minister said the Liberals are asking MPs across the country to help connect businesses and organizations that are providing critical services with students who can help at this time.
Trudeau thanked stakeholders for their input in the billions of dollars of aid programs unveiled to date, saying they have helped to “refine” their approaches, making the assistance being offered as inclusive as possible.
Anticipating a second parliamentary recall to pass the expanded wage subsidy, the prime minister said he is calling on the opposition to join them in bringing back the House “as soon as possible” to enact these changes.
His meeting with cabinet today will be to “discuss next steps,” Trudeau said.
“I will continue to work from home day in and day out as we’re asking most Canadians to do, there will be moments for strategic meetings or particular issues where I will go in to the office.”
This will mark his first known public outing since entering self-isolation in mid-March when his wife Sophie tested positive for COVID-19.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve all had to make changes because of this pandemic,” Trudeau said, adding that having to stay indoors and not see loved ones, and adjusting to new work situations has meant big adjustments for everyone.
“What makes this situation so difficult is how quickly it all happened. Through no fault of your own, your whole world has been turned upside down in a matter of weeks and that can create even more uncertainty and even more anxiety,” Trudeau said.
There have been some positive indications that the spread is slowing in some parts of Canada, but with projections from Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta now indicating that there could be hundreds of thousands of cases by summer’s end, any return to normalcy could still be months away.
Trudeau has faced questions about why the federal government has yet to release comprehensive national scenarios on the scale of the virus’ spread.
As CTVNews.ca reported on Wednesday, by mid-February federal scenario planning had begun and it was being used to recommend further measures and to look at the social and economic implications “should the situation continue to evolve.”
This planning included the Public Health Agency of Canada conducting “advanced thinking and scenario analysis including a pandemic scenario” according to a briefing note labelled “confidential advice” for Health Minister Patty Hajdu to use during a call she held with her provincial counterparts on Feb. 10. It went on to say that Canadian governments “need to be prepared to respond based on the latest scientific evidence.”
These public health scenarios were to be used to “inform response planning, triggers for further measures and potential recommended actions across jurisdictions as the situation evolves,” according to another briefing note for a call nine days later.
Trudeau continues to say the government will have more to say about further help for Canadians, all of whom have, in some way, been impacted by the virus.
Since mid-March, more than four million Canadians have applied for financial assistance, but there are still many who are having trouble making ends meet and do not qualify for the benefit programs created so far.
The prime minister said at the start of the week that the federal government will soon introduce new measures to make the benefits accessible for those Canadians, such as contract workers and students.
Wednesday afternoon, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Minister Mary Ng, and Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains are set to hold a press conference in Toronto to provide more information about the expanded wage subsidy program.
A total of 17,897 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Canada, and 381 people have died.
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.
