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Rogers CEO defends outage response to MPs at committee hearing – CTV News

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OTTAWA –

Telecommunications experts called for scuttling the planned Rogers Communications takeover of rival Shaw, slamming the response of Ottawa and the federal telecom regulator to the serious Rogers outage earlier this month.

The House of Commons industry committee heard testimony Monday on the outage from various experts, as well as Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Rogers executives and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission officials.

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The experts provided a number of policy recommendations, including ways to ensure competition in the industry, and called for the Rogers-Shaw transaction to be blocked.

Rogers is pursuing a $26-billion merger with Shaw, but the deal still requires approval of the Competition Bureau and Champagne’s office.

The July 8 outage crippled the Rogers network and affected millions of customers across Canada, including people trying to contact emergency services.

All four experts who testified Monday criticized the CRTC’s response to the outage, including its decision to not pursue a full public investigation.

Carleton University communications professor Dwayne Winseck said the CRTC is responsible for the effect of the outage on access to emergency services, adding that “perhaps it should be required to rethink its relatively permissive approach to regulating critical services.”

CRTC head Ian Scott was asked during his appearance whether the telecom regulator needs any additional powers.

Scott said he couldn’t think of any provisions that might have prevented the outage. “With respect to network outages and network reliability, I think this is a situation that can be addressed by the industry.”

Geist criticized Scott’s response.

“It was, I thought, remarkable and exceptionally discouraging to watch the chair of the CRTC come give a virtual shrug when posed with questions about the role that new regulations could play,” Geist said.

John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said part of the problem with the CRTC is that it does not impose quality of service requirements.

Rogers submitted a letter to the CRTC on Friday, explaining how the outage happened and the degree to which its network was incapacitated.

Scott said the commission is in the process of reviewing the submission and determining next steps.

“Rogers said they will do better. The CRTC will make sure they do,” Scott said in his testimony.

Scott said it’s still to be determined whether penalties will be imposed, but cautioned that as per current legislation, penalties are meant to encourage compliance rather than be punitive.

Conservative MP Tracy Gray questioned the CRTC officials on their preparation for an outage’s affect on 911 calls, given the Rogers lapse limited Canadians’ ability to access emergency services.

“It’s very difficult to prepare for something that’s truly unprecedented,” Scott said.

Rogers Communications CEO Tony Staffieri also faced questions Monday from MPs about whether a lack of competition in the telecom sector might have contributed to the massive outage, which came as the company awaits government approvals for its purchase of Shaw.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith asked Staffieri whether the concentration of customers in a single company is a challenge to network resiliency.

“We work every day in a very competitive environment and we work hard to bring the best value in money for customers,” Staffieri said.

“You’re saying that with a straight face?” responded Erskine-Smith.

In his opening remarks, Staffieri said the outage reflects a failure on the part of Rogers. “On that day, we failed to deliver on our promise to be Canada’s most reliable network.”

The CEO further outlined some of the technical causes of the outage and what the company is doing to prevent additional failures, including a plan to separate the wireless and internet networks.

MPs also directed questions to Champagne on government action in response to the outage.

New Democrat MP Brian Masse pressed Champagne about passing legislation to make the internet a public utility, saying that COVID-19 had shown the internet to be an essential service.

Without more government power to regulate the internet, Masse told the committee hearing, “we have to rely on any minister being buddy-buddy with a bunch of CEOs.”

Champagne defended his meeting with the telecom CEOs, and while he did not say whether he would support legislation to make the internet a public utility, he said he was open to working across party lines and taking in the committee’s recommendations.

Masse asked Staffieri if he would support a bill of rights for consumers, but the Rogers executive did not answer directly.

“We are very much focused on what we need to do to ensure the resiliency and redundancy of our networks,” Staffieri said.

Champagne said on the day of the outage he contacted Staffieri to inquire about the situation but the conversation was not between a CEO and a cabinet minister. Rather, Champagne was speaking on behalf of Canadians.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2022.

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Calgary breaks all-time record in housing starts but increasing demand keeps inventory low – CBC.ca

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Soaring housing demands in Calgary led to an all-time record for new residential builds last year, but inventory levels of completed and unsold units remained low due to demand outpacing supply.

According to the latest report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), total housing starts increased by 13 per cent in Calgary, reaching a total of 19,579 units with growth across all dwelling types in the city.

That compares to a decline of 0.5 per cent overall for housing starts in the six major Canadian cities surveyed by CMHC.

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Calgary also had the highest housing starts by population.

“Part of the reason why we think that might have happened is that developers are responding to low vacancies in the rental market,” said Adebola Omosola, a housing economics specialist with CMHC.

“The population of Calgary is still growing, a record number of people moved here last year, and we still expect that to remain at least in the short term.”

Earlier this year, the Calgary Real Estate Board also predicted that demand, especially for rental apartments, wouldn’t let up any time soon. 

Industry can cope with demand, expert says

According to numbers from the report, average construction times were higher in 2023 for all dwelling types except for apartments.

The agency’s report suggests the increase in the number of under-construction residential projects might mean builders are operating at or near full capacity.

However, there’s optimism the construction industry can match the increasing need.

Brian Hahn, CEO of BILD Calgary Region, said despite concerns around about construction costs, project timelines and labour shortages, the industry has kept up with the demand for new builds.

Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary region CEO Brian Hahn.
Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary Region chief executive officer Brian Hahn. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

“I’ve heard that kind of conversation at the end of 2022 and I heard it in 2023,” Hahn said.

“Yet here we are early in 2024, and January and February were record numbers again.”

Hahn added he believes the current pace of construction will continue for at least the next six months and that the industry is looking at initiatives to attract more people to the trades.

Increase in row house and apartment construction

Construction growth was largely driven by new apartment projects, making up almost half of the housing starts in Calgary in 2023.

The federal housing agency says 9,034 apartment units were started that year, an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year. Of those, about 54 per cent were purpose-built rentals.

Apartments made up around two-thirds of all units under construction, CMHC said, with the total number of units under construction reaching 23,473.

Growth, however, was seen across all dwelling types. Row homes increased by 34 per cent from the previous year while groundbreaking on single-detached homes grew by two per cent.

“Notwithstanding challenges, our members and the industry counterparts that support them managed to produce a record amount of starts and completions,” Hahn said.

“I have little doubt that the industry will do their very best to keep pace at those levels.”

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Ottawa real estate: House starts down, apartments up in 2023 – CTV News Ottawa

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Rental housing dominated construction in Ottawa last year, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Residential construction declined significantly in 2023, with housing starts dropping to 9,245 units, a 19.5 per cent decline from the record high observed in 2022. But while single-detached and row housing starts fell compared to 2022, new construction for rental units and condominiums rose.

“There’s been a shift toward rental construction over the past two years. Rental housing starts made up nearly one third of total starts in 2023, close to double the average of the previous five years,” the report stated.

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Apartment starts reached their highest level since the 1970s.

“The trend toward rental and condominium apartment construction follows increased demand in these market segments due to population growth, households looking for affordable options, and some seniors downsizing to smaller units,” the CMHC said.

Demand from international migration and students, the high cost of home ownership, and people moving to Ottawa from other parts of Ontario were the main drivers for rental housing starts in 2023. The CMHC says rental and condominium apartment starts made up 63 per cent of total starts in 2023, compared to the average of 37 per cent for the period 2018-2022.

There was a modest increase in rental housing starts in 2023 over the record-high seen the year prior and a jump in new condominiums. The report shows 5,846 new apartments were built in Ottawa last year, up 2.1 per cent compared to 2022.

Housing starts in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Big demand for condos

The CMHC said condo starts reached a new high in 2023, increasing 3 per cent from 2022 numbers.

“As of the end of 2023, there were only 13 completed and unsold condominium units, highlighting continued demand for new units,” the CMHC said.

Condominum starts increased in areas such as Chinatown, Hintonburg, Vanier and Alta Vista, as well as some suburban areas like Kanata, Stittsville, and western Orléans. Condo apartment construction declined in denser parts of the city like downtown, Lowertown and Centretown, the report says.

Taller buildings are also becoming more common, as the cranes dotting the skyline can attest. The CMHC notes that buildings with more than 20 storeys accounted for nearly 10 per cent of apartment structure starts in 2022 and 2023, compared to an average of 2 per cent over the 2017-2021 period. The number of units per building also rose 7 per cent compared to 2022.

Apartment building heights in Ottawa by year. (CMHC)

Single-detached home construction down significantly

The number of new single-detached homes built in Ottawa last year was the lowest level seen in the city since the mid 1990s, CMHC said.

“The Ottawa area experienced a slowdown in residential construction in 2023, driven by a significant decline in single-detached and row housing starts,” the CMHC said.

Single-detached housing starts were down 45 per cent compared to 2022. Row house starts dropped by 38 per cent compared to 2022, marking a third year of declines in a row.

“Demand for single-detached and row houses also declined in 2023. Higher mortgage rates and home prices have led to a shift in demand toward more affordable rental and condominium units,” the report said.

There were 1,535 single-detached housing starts in Ottawa last year, 208 new semi-detached homes and 1,678 new row houses.

The majority of single-detached and row housing starts were built in suburban communities such as Barrhaven, Stittsville, Kanata, Orléans and rural parts of the city.

“Increased construction costs resulting from higher financing rates and inflation that occurred in 2022 and 2023 contributed to the decline in construction in the region,” the CMHC said. 

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Trump’s media company ticker leads to fleeting windfall for some investors

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A man looks at a screen that displays trading information about shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group, outside the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, U.S., March 26.Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Possible confusion over the new stock symbol for former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social (DJT-Q) saw some investor brokerage balances briefly jump by hundreds of thousands of dollars on Tuesday, the first day Trump’s “DJT” ticker traded.

Several people complained on social media about briefly seeing the value of their DJT stock holdings on Charles Schwab platforms inflated to figures more in line with what they would be worth if the shares traded at the level of the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Some users said they faced a similar issue in pre-market hours on Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade trading platform.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group opened Tuesday at $70.90, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average started the session at 15,937.73 points.

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For one trader, the Schwab brokerage balance jumped by more than $1 million due to the error, according to a screen grab shared on social media platform X. Reuters was unable to contact the trader or independently verify the brokerage balance.

“It sure was nice seeing millions in the account, even if it wasn’t real,” another person, going by the username @DanielBenjamin8, who faced the issue in his E*Trade account, posted on X.

Two X users and one on Reddit surmised that the inflated balances were due to the ticker symbol for the company being nearly identical to the index.

A spokeswoman for Charles Schwab said that certain users on some of Schwab’s trading platforms saw their brokerage balances briefly inflated due to a technical issue.

The issue has been resolved and investors are able to trade equities and options on Schwab platforms, she said. Schwab declined to describe the exact cause of the issue.

E*Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

Trump Media & Technology Group and S&P Dow Jones Indices, which maintains the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index, did not immediately comment on the issue.

While social media users said the issue appeared to have been resolved, many rued not being able to cash out their supposed gains from the error.

“I better go tell my boss that I’m actually not retiring,” the trader whose account balance had briefly jump by more than $1 million, wrote on X.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares surged more than 36% on Tuesday in their debut on the Nasdaq that comes more than two years since its merger with a blank-check firm was announced.

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