Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that his government won’t engage in constitutional talks about scrapping the monarchy while a pandemic is still raging and the country faces unprecedented economic disruption.
“Obviously, I wish all members of the Royal Family the very best. But my focus, as we’ve said, is getting through this pandemic,” Trudeau said when asked if Canada should rethink its ties to the House of Windsor after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, made some bombshell allegations in an interview.
“If people want to later talk about constitutional change and shifting our system of government, that’s fine. They can have those conversations. But right now, I’m not having those conversations,” Trudeau said.
In a sensational sit-down interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle described the Royal Family as a tabloid-obsessed group that failed to protect their young son, Archie, and made racially tinged remarks about his skin colour.
The couple also described the royals and their coterie of advisers as cold, distant and indifferent to Meghan Markle’s mental health as she grappled with bad press.
In the interview’s aftermath, some republican-minded members of the Commonwealth have called on countries like Canada to do away with the institution of the monarchy altogether.
“I think it’s clear. I’ve said it in the past. I don’t see the benefit of the monarchy in Canadians’ lives,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters.
WATCH: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says ‘I don’t see the benefit’ of the monarchy to Canadians
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh reacts to Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and addresses the impact of systemic racism on Canadians during the pandemic. 1:41
“There’s no benefit to them and now even more so with concerns about racism in the institution that were raised, and pressures that were placed on Meghan Markle.”
Abolishing the monarchy in Canada would be difficult. Under the Constitution, all 10 provinces and both chambers of Parliament would have to agree to such a change. There has been little political appetite for constitutional amendments of any sort in recent years.
Trudeau said he wouldn’t comment on the specific allegations raised by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. “I won’t comment on what’s going on over in the U.K., but I will continue to endeavour to fight against racism and intolerance every single day in Canada,” he said.
WATCH: Trudeau says, ‘I won’t comment on what’s going on over in the U.K.’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he “won’t comment on what’s going on over in the U.K.” after being asked about allegations of racism made against the Royal Family in Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. 2:23
Trudeau said that while many of Canada’s institutions, including Parliament itself, are built on a legacy of systemic racism, the solution is not to dump them altogether but to reform them from within.
“The answer is not to suddenly toss out all the institutions and start over,” he said. “The answer is to look very carefully at those systems and listen to Canadians who face discrimination … to understand the barriers, inequities and inequalities that exist within our institutions that need to be addressed, that many of us don’t see because we don’t live them.”
The prime minister himself has had to apologize for wearing blackface makeup in the past. A former Liberal MP, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, has said the government also hasn’t done enough to address anti-Black racism in Canada and the systemic barriers that racial minorities face, particularly in politics.
‘A guardian of our country’s traditions’
The prime minister is known to have a warm relationship with the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth, having met with her a number of times at Buckingham Palace and at Commonwealth summits abroad. He previously met her when his father, Pierre, was prime minister.
On her 94th birthday last year, Trudeau said Canada was “grateful for her leadership and steadfast commitment to our country and to the Commonwealth” and praised her “extraordinary service, strength and enduring grace.”
Trudeau also called the Queen “a guardian of many of our country’s traditions” and said “many Canadians feel a deep appreciation for the Queen” on her 93rd birthday in 2019.
Queen Elizabeth II receives Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during an audience at Buckingham Palace in London, Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
During a 2018 town hall with young voters in Etobicoke, Ont., Trudeau said he takes a “pragmatic” approach to the monarchy.
“Right now, I think it’s fairly convenient and even nice to have a head of state that actually does not engage herself in the politics of the country,” Trudeau said.
“We now have 150 years of a tradition that has worked, that isn’t directly harming us or preventing our success and our self-determination as a nation. It would be very difficult and complicated to make this change,” he added. Ending the constitutional ties, however, “wouldn’t actually have a massive impact on our daily lives,” he said.
He said “cracking open the Constitution” and “rewriting it” would prompt many questions apart from whether Canada should have the Queen and her heirs as our heads of state.
‘They have a knack for getting past these things’
John Fraser is the author of The Secret of the Crown: Canada’s Affair with Royalty. He said Buckingham Palace must address allegations of racism or risk permanently damaging the brand in the eyes of Britons and Canadians alike.
Some of what Meghan Markle said is verifiably untrue, Fraser told CBC News, but talk of possible racial animus could be harmful to the family’s standing. Markle claimed the Royal Family withheld the title of “prince” for Archie — but according to royal protocol, he doesn’t have a right to that title until Prince Charles himself ascends to the throne.
Markle told Winfrey that Harry relayed to her that a member of the family had “concerns” about how the baby would look when he arrived, given that his father is white and his mother is biracial.
Fraser said that, with Harry himself ruling out the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, it leaves observers to wonder whether it was Prince Charles or Prince William who made the racial remark.
In this Monday, June 18, 2018 file photo, Prince Charles, left, and his son, Prince William, participate in the procession of the Order of the Garter Service at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. (Matt Dunham/AP Photo)
While Charles has grappled with damage to his reputation in the past — “Some people don’t think very highly of him since the Diana business,” Fraser said — few people would tolerate someone who’s racially insensitive as the head of the Commonwealth, which is composed of many African and Caribbean countries.
“Harry and Meghan mean zilch constitutionally but because the racist question affects the nature of the head of state or the future head of state, it’s a serious issue that has to be dealt with,” Fraser said. “If it’s the heir to the throne, it’s a problem.”
The Sussex interview also has the potential to derail the search for Canada’s next governor general, Fraser said, as it may be hard to recruit quality candidates to be the Queen’s representative in the midst of this scandal.
“I don’t envy the prime minister trying to find our governor general in this stressful moment,” he said, adding Black, Indigenous or other people of colour might be reluctant to take the job in the current context.
Prince Harry, left, speaks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a reception after a receiving line for the Queen’s Dinner for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Buckingham Palace in London, Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Matt Dunham/AP Photo)
The comments will rock the institution and draw considerable media attention, but, Fraser said, he doesn’t believe it’s enough to bring down the monarchy or fuel a republican movement in Canada. He said the Royal Family has proven to be a resilient institution.
“There’s trouble in Dodge City but they’ve certainly survived crises worse than this. I don’t think this is the tipping point,” Fraser said, adding the family has endured the abdication of King Edward VIII, the misadventures of Princess Margaret, the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana — and her subsequent death — and Prince Andrew’s questionable relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier who was accused of various sex crimes.
“I think they have a knack for getting past these things. People didn’t think they’d survive the death of Diana, but they did,” he said. “When the dust and chicken feathers settle they’re always there, and I think that’s what will happen this time, too.”
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.
