Canadians planning their Thanksgiving dinners can breathe easy this year.
There is “abundant supply” of turkey in the country ahead of the busy holiday season, producers say, but farmers are still wary of the risks of bird flu that disrupted supply last year.
So far this year, one million birds have been impacted by avian influenza detected in 47 locations across seven provinces, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) told Global News.
Out of these, 12 infected premises had turkeys on them along with other species, CFIA said.
Turkey Farmers of Canada (TFC), which represents more than 500 turkey farmers across the country, said it is monitoring the avian flu situation moving into fall and is in regular communication with the CFIA.
“Currently, there have been only a few isolated cases of avian influenza in poultry flocks this season, and we have no concerns about avian influenza impacting turkey availability for the holiday seasons in 2023,” Phil Boyd, executive director of Turkey Farmers of Canada, told Global News in an emailed statement.
Turkey groups say the sector has bounced back from underproduction and inflationary pressures that elevated prices.
“We’re not expecting any shortages heading into the holiday period this year,” said Natalie Veles, executive director of the B.C. Turkey Marketing Board.
“Our producers have gotten right back into business after last year’s case(s) of avian influenza that really had a big impact on our sector,” she told Global News in an interview.
As of Sept. 28, an estimated 7.7 million birds have been impacted by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), also known as H5N1 across the country, according to the latest data by the CFIA.
Despite fewer occurrences seen this year, farmers remain “very vigilant” in the fall amid the migratory season for wild birds when the risk of infection is typically high.
“It’s something that’s at the top of mind, especially during those migratory seasons and we’re in the middle of one right now,” said Matt Steele, chair of the Turkey Farmers of Ontario.
“Our farmers are being vigilant with the security of their flocks and making sure they’re safe and comfortable and protected from the avian flu,” he told Global News.
Is your Thanksgiving turkey safe?
Avian flu is spread through contact with an infected bird or poultry products. Although rare, humans and non-avian species can also get infected.
However, the virus does not pose a food safety concern, the CFIA says.
“There is no evidence to suggest that eating cooked poultry or eggs could transmit HPAI to humans,” the agency states on its website.
To keep the virus in check, the CFIA in collaboration with the industry has surveillance programs in place that target wild birds and domestic flocks.
Biosecurity measures involve maintaining good hygiene practices and limiting exposure to external sources of contamination, the agency says.
“Canadian turkey farmers meet strict biosecurity standards, and as we move into fall, have heightened precautions to prevent avian influenza from entering their barns,” Boyd said.
Canada has also placed restrictions on imports of some poultry products or by-products from U.S. states affected by a bird flu outbreak.
For Thanksgiving last year, more than two million whole turkeys were purchased by Canadians, which was almost a third of all whole turkeys sold in 2022, according to the Turkey Farmers of Canada.
In total, Canadians consumed 127.9 million kilograms of turkey throughout the year.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, the industry is working hard to get the birds ready and is hopeful there is enough appetite.
“It’s a robust time for sales of whole turkeys across Ontario and across the country and so we look forward to having a strong Thanksgiving sales program,” Steele said.
How much does a Thanksgiving turkey cost?
Over the past year and a half, Canadians have seen grocery trips become more costly amid overall inflationary pressures.
Farmers have also seen the cost of grains to feed the birds go up that, in turn, translated to consumers paying more for turkey last year.
Shoppers shifting spending habits, but not for Thanksgiving
However, Canadians could expect to see stable turkey prices when they go shopping for their Thanksgiving meals.
“We’re seeing less inflationary pressure on prices,” Steele said. “We think that this season Canadians can look forward to a competitively priced product at the stores, and we’re going to hopefully see some stability with that.”
Prices are set by retailers and they vary across the country.
For instance, a pound — which is less than half a kilogram — of frozen turkey could cost around $1.99 and between $2.49 and $2.99 for fresh turkey in Ontario, according to Steele.
In B.C., the price can range from $6 to $8 per kilogram and higher if it’s a specialty locally grown bird, Veles said.
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.
