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TORONTO – Cineplex has filed an appeal of a record $38.9-million fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed against it by the Competition Tribunal.

The company says it has filed a notice of appeal with the Federal Court of Appeal.

It also says that with the consent of the Competition Bureau it is bringing a motion to request a stay of the fine pending completion of the appeal. Cineplex says it has been granted an interim stay until the motion is heard by the Appeal Court.

The penalty was part of a decision the tribunal issued in September that saw it side with the Competition Bureau, which accused Cineplex of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they bought seats online.

Cineplex began charging an $1.50 online booking fee in June 2022 to many customers not enrolled in its CineClub subscription and Scene Plus loyalty programs, which saw the fee waived and dropped to $1, respectively. It’s a practice known as drip pricing.

Cineplex has denied the accusations, saying moviegoers are promptly told about fees they may face and can avoid them all together by purchasing seats in-person at a theatre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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HALIFAX – A small memorial of flowers, prayer candles and condolence cards has been set up in a parking lot just outside a Halifax Walmart where a young woman died in a walk-in oven over the weekend.

As the police investigation unfolds, few details have come to light about how the tragedy occurred Saturday night, before first responders arrived at the bakery section of the big box store in the city’s west end.

On Wednesday, young people stopped by the memorial to pay their respects to the 19-year-old Walmart employee whose identity hasn’t been released by police. The Maritime Sikh Society, which is in contact with the teen’s family, has said the Sikh woman and her mother are originally from India and came to Canada two to three years ago.

A Sikh woman visited the memorial with two friends and added a bouquet of flowers to the collection of items attached to a lamp post in the parking lot, saying her community is devastated by the teenager’s death. The woman, who declined to give her name, said that while she did not know the victim well, she and her friends have been shaken by the death.

“We can feel it. She is so much like us,” she said. “She is very young. She is like a sister. She is just working at a bread place. She was just doing her job.”

Halifax police spokeswoman Marla MacInnis released no new information on Wednesday, repeating previous police statements that the “cause and manner” of the 19-year-old woman’s death remain unknown, and that the investigation is expected to be “lengthy.”

A Walmart worker who declined to be named visited the closed store Wednesday to add a plastic flower to the memorial. He said he didn’t know the deceased — they worked in different departments — but he felt it was important he come to pay his respects, adding that he is thinking about her family.

The worker said his Saturday shift at the store ended in the afternoon, before the teen’s death. He was in shock later that night upon learning the news through a company email.

The store in the city’s west end remains closed, but a Walmart spokesperson says the company will pay employees for the shifts they had been scheduled to work. “We will consider alternate work arrangements in the event the store remains closed for a longer-than-anticipated period of time,” Amanda Moss said.

Harjit Seyan, president of the Sikh society, says the group is fundraising and helping arrange visas to bring the young woman’s father and other family members to Canada for the funeral.

“The Halifax Maritime Sikh Society will be contributing towards the travel. And then we’re trying to also set up a GoFundMe page to raise financial support for that,” he said.

“You know, the community is definitely shaken by the whole event,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

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TORONTO – A new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information says 83 per cent of adults in this country have a regular primary-care provider, but that still leaves 5.4 million adults without one.

It says seniors 65 years and older are more likely to have access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner than younger adults between 18 and 34.

Access to primary care is highest in Ontario and lowest in Nunavut.

The CIHI report released Thursday morning measures the baseline of health priorities agreed upon by the federal government and the provinces and territories.

Federal health minister Mark Holland says there will be a report every year to measure progress across the country.

In addition to improving access to primary care, the priorities include reducing wait times for mental-health and substance-use counselling, recruiting more health-care workers, decreasing surgical wait times and increasing the use of electronic health information.

CIHI says it will also collect data to measure progress on two more health priorities in the near future, including ensuring seniors can age with dignity and improving cultural safety for Indigenous patients in the health-care system.

Thursday’s report says the surgical backlogs that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic have decreased and the number of surgeries performed has mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels across Canada.

Holland said each of the health-care funding agreements signed with the provinces and territories includes targets for the number of doctors and nurses that need to be added to the workforce.

Many rural and Indigenous communities are particularly hard-hit by the primary care shortage, the minister said in an interview by phone on Wednesday.

In addition to recruiting doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses from other jurisdictions, the solution requires a “sustained effort” to encourage more First Nations, Métis and Inuit people — as well as others living in small towns and rural areas — “to be choosing health careers and really seeing far more people serving their own communities,” Holland said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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