CALGARY —
While Alberta Health Services (AHS) is looking for a company to take over the rest of its laundry services, new data shows many restaurants and cafeterias in Alberta hospitals have been operating millions in the red for years.
AHS announced a request for proposal (RFP) from third-party providers to take over the process of cleaning the massive quantity of linens, towels and other products Alberta’s hospitals use each day.
The province announced it was taking the step toward privatizing many of the services currently offered at Alberta hospitals earlier this month.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the RFP will allow the health-care system to discover savings to benefit Albertans.
“By reinvesting savings from initiatives such as contracting out laundry services into the health system, we can improve patient care and ensure Albertans are provided with the best possible health care,” he said in a release Friday.
AHS says more than two-thirds of its laundry services are already provided through a third party, including all the laundry services in the city of Calgary and Edmonton.
It says the transition will save more than $38 million that could be used in other areas to support patient care.
An estimated 428 full-time, part-time and casual employees will be impacted by the change.
“AHS is committed to working with them and their unions throughout this process. AHS anticipates there will be some opportunities for employment with the new vendor(s),” officials say.
HOSPITAL-RUN RESTAURANTS LOST MILLIONS
One of the other areas identified by the health minister’s office as a potential for cost savings was the hospital-run cafeteria services and restaurants.
The highest losses in 2017/18 and 2018/19, the two years that the organization looked at for its study, were both at the University of Alberta’s main hospital cafeteria.
The main findings of SecondStreet’s study indicate that if hospitals can’t break-even on cafeterias and food kiosks, private companies should take them over.
(Source: SecondStreet.org)
“Several hospitals in Canada have done just that and they’ve been able to turn losses into gains and focus more on helping patients,” said SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig. “Cooks don’t do surgery, and health care administrators aren’t restaurant managers – and it shows.”
‘FINDINGS FIT WITH THE EVIDENCE’
The province says the data compiled by SecondStreet.org fall in line with what it found during its own research, including the MacKinnon report and the recent AHS review.
“The SecondStreet.org findings fit with the evidence,” said Steve Buick, press secretary for Health Minister Tyler Shandro. “We need to find efficiencies in the health system to pay for more services for patients, while ensuring Albertans are protected from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“AHS will contract non-frontline services to independent contractors that can operate more effectively than government. That includes laundry, lab tests, housekeeping, and food services. Contracting of food services will move forward in 2021.”
Buick adds some services at Alberta hospitals are already successfully contracted out to third party companies.
“Nearly 70 per cent of laundry services province-wide, and 73 per cent of community lab tests in Edmonton and northern Alberta.”
He also emphasized that the province’s plans will not necessarily mean any net loss of employment.
“In fact, many staff will simply do the same job for a different employer. Any reductions will be managed through attrition as much as possible.”
AHS says the RFP process for a potential vendor for laundry services could take approximately four months. Implementation would depend on the company chosen to take over the services.
CTV News has reached out for any details on RFPs for restaurants, housekeeping and lab services, the other areas identified for reorganization by Minister Shandro’s office.
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.
