Thunder Bay-born Barbara Reynolds lived and made regular pension payments in the U.K. for two decades before returning to Canada, where she made another one-time payment to the British government to top up her contributions.
That didn’t protect her from worrying about paying the rent on her Halifax apartment this month after she was unceremoniously cut off from her pension by a U.K. government that said she had failed to provide proof that she’s still alive.
Reynolds told CBC News she was astonished to receive a letter from the U.K. Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) “saying that they had not received the life certificate they sent to me back in March and that my pension was being suspended because they didn’t receive the certificate.
“I was in shock, absolute shock, because I didn’t receive the life certificate back in March when they said they sent it.”
“The rents are horribly expensive,” she added. “I don’t have a pension because they stopped it in July. Well, I have a small savings account that I can draw on for a few months, but after that, I mean, I don’t know.”
Reynolds and other pensioners insist that they never received the request for proof-of-life in the first place.
On Thursday morning, after repeated calls and letters of protest, Reynolds was relieved to receive a call from the DWP assuring her that her pension would be reinstated. Some other U.K. pensioners have had their cut-off dates extended to allow them to assemble proof-of-life. Others have seen their payments halted.
The DWP told CBC News it will reinstate those pensioners affected — but only after they go through a process they must initiate themselves.
“We’ve implemented measures to enable the clearing of life certificates by phone and encourage those impacted to contact our International Pension Centre,” said the U.K. government department. “All payments will be backdated.”
‘A monumental cock-up’
“I’m still trying to get to the bottom of this,” British Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale told CBC News. “But it sounds as though there’s been a monumental cock-up on the part of the DWP, which has caused an immense amount of unnecessary distress.”
Gale, who chairs the British Parliament’s all-party committee on frozen pensions, said “we’re now pressing obviously to get any pensions that are not being paid reinstated as a matter of urgency. But we also have to get to the bottom of what went wrong.”
The DWP has conceded that the original request letters did not reach pensioners in Canada before they were cut off. But its explanations for that error have shifted.
Initially, the department suggested that Canada Post had misplaced the letters. “We understand the frustration of customers affected by Canadian postal delays,” it told U.K. newspapers the Daily Telegraph and Daily Express.
But when pressed by CBC News to elaborate on whether Canada Post was indeed to blame, DWP replied with a short statement with a subtle but significant change in language: “We understand the frustration and concerns of customers in Canada affected by postal delays.”
When asked by CBC News if it stood by its original allocation of blame, DWP did not answer directly.
Canada Post’s Phil Legault told CBC News that “while we continue to investigate and make inquiries with Royal Mail, we have not received any specific complaints about this matter.”
Gale told CBC News the allegation was never believable to begin with.
“I find it rather hard to believe that an organization that is known to be as efficient normally as the Canadian Postal Service would somehow manage to lose thousands of letters,” he said. “It just doesn’t stack up.
“So it seems to me that somebody in the DWP in the United Kingdom has made this claim to try to justify why the messages weren’t received and why therefore people suddenly found their pensions being terminated effectively without notice.”
Pensioners not buying explanation
Reynolds was equally skeptical of the DWP’s initial claim that “Canadian postal delays” were to blame.
“I highly doubt that it was Canada Post’s fault. Because why would lots and lots of mail across Canada for that one item, the life certificate, go astray?” she said. “So I would say it’s the pension service. They have a problem there.”
Ian Andexser of Nanaimo, B.C. heads the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners and also received notice that his pension would be cut off. He has won a one-month reprieve of that cut-off while he assembles the proof he needs to show DWP that he is still very much alive.
“Because I am well aware of these proof-of-life forms, I can assure you that had I received the initial one, it would have gone straight back to the U.K. to ensure that my pension did not get suspended,” he said.
“I think it’s completely abhorrent for the British government to turn around and put the blame on the Canadian mailing system for this, which is basically what they’ve done, as you can see in a number of newspaper articles that have been brought in the United Kingdom.”
Unequal treatment for Canadian pensioners
Andexser said that even if the current crisis of non-payment is corrected, the U.K. government continues to treat its approximately 130,000 pensioners in Canada in an unfair and discriminatory manner by refusing to index their pensions to inflation, as it does for British pensioners in the U.S. and Europe.
“The people who worked all their lives in the U.K. and paid into the U.K. system should be treated equally with every British pensioner around the world,” he said, decrying what he called a “ridiculous situation” where a British pensioner who settles in the U.S. ends up receiving more money than another British pensioner who has made the same contributions.
Gale agreed that is the crux of the problem for British retirees in Canada, and one that will remain even when the current mess is fixed.
“It’s got to be completely daft that somebody living on one side of the Niagara Falls in Canada has a frozen pension, while a hundred yards across the river in the United States, that pension is up-rated,” he said.
The British government has argued that it cannot alter pensions in Canada because it has no reciprocal agreement with Canada, as it has with the U.S. and nations in Europe and elsewhere.
Gale said that situation is not due to a lack of effort on Canada’s part.
“Canada has made the offer to enter into a reciprocal arrangement,” he said. “The British government, having sheltered behind this no-reciprocal-arrangement argument, is now saying, ‘Well, we don’t want a reciprocal arrangement.’
“I’m sorry, you can’t have it both ways. Canada has made the offer. We should take the offer and then honourably pay what is due.”
In any case, said Gale, “this idea that there has to be a reciprocal arrangement before a pension can be pro-rated is an arrant nonsense.”
Even without a reciprocal agreement, Canadian pensioners living in the U.K. already have pensions pegged to inflation because the Canadian government unilaterally decided to do so.
“Canada respects its pensioners no matter where they live in the world,” said Andexser.
Trade leverage
That unequal treatment is costly not only for the individual British pensioner in Canada but also for the Canadian taxpayer — who has to come to the rescue when British pensioners slip into genteel poverty.
Moreover, hundreds of millions of dollars that would be spent in the Canadian economy are being withheld.
Since Canada’s appeals for change have been rebuffed by a U.K. government that saves money under the status quo, Andexser said, it’s time for Canada to use the leverage it has with the U.K.
“I have tried repeatedly to get through to the Minister of Trade Mary Ng to point out to her that, recently, pension matters were included in trade negotiations that Britain conducted post-Brexit with a few of the countries in the [European Economic Area],” he said. “And the response I keep getting from the trade department is that pensions should not form part of trade agreements.
“Well, that’s nonsense. Britain has already set the precedent. And to us, it’s a no-brainer that Canada should be insisting that this part of the trade discussions should include the end to the frozen pension issue that British pensioners are suffering in Canada.”
Andexser said that while U.K. pensions in the past lost value steadily but slowly, they are now eroding several times faster because of dramatically higher inflation. The cost to the Canadian economy is also now increasing much faster, he added.
“And I’m just praying for all of these people who are suffering in Canada that the Canadian trade delegation will finally recognize this is the best opportunity they have had in well over 25 years to insist that Britain stop this discrimination.”
TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $526 million compared with a loss a year ago.
The company says the profit amounted to 98 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
The result compared with a loss of $99 million or 20 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $5.13 billion, up from $5.09 billion a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Rogers says it earned $1.42 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.27 per diluted share a year ago.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.36 per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
MONTREAL – Before she owned one, Sarah Evans had no experience in hair-removal clinics — other than the personal kind.
She began searching for a new spot for treatments after moving to Toronto from the U.K. in 2013 and found a suitable service.
“It wasn’t terrible, but there were some things where it was a little bit dodgy and suspect,” said Evans, whose professional background lies in optometry and journalism. “They were using soft wax, which isn’t the most comfortable experience.”
Then she spotted Waxon, a hair removal service just starting to franchise.
“It looks very clean, it looks very inviting … so the next time I needed a wax, I went in. And that was kind of the beginning of the story.”
Fast-forward a decade, and Evans runs three Waxon locations in the Greater Toronto Area, part of a franchised brand with 18 locations and eight more slated to open before 2026.
“It’s like being on a roller-coaster … the wheels just started turning,” Evans said. “I always had this bug in me to own my own business.”
Many Canadians feel likewise. More than 40,000 franchisees run operations that employ two million people across 600-plus brands in sectors ranging from painting to event planning, home health care, construction and — of course — food retail, according to the Canadian Franchise Association.
Compared with launching a new enterprise, opening a franchise typically comes with head office support, brand recognition and lower financial risk, as well as a connection with the local community and colleagues. But it can also mean tight corporate restrictions, heavy workloads and a big up-front investment — among other challenges of small business ownership, from rising costs to rude customers.
Head office assistance — from site renovation to software, signage equipment and furniture — is among the selling points for those considering a move into the world of franchising.
“It’s turnkey. They provide you with a fully operational bakery that’s open and running,” said Tait Mitchell, who launched a Cobs Bread bakery in Barrie, Ont., with his wife Lisa in 2021.
Franchisees receive 16 weeks of training — much of it spent baking at another location — as well as recipes and menus. All food items are ordered through Cobs distributors.
In the case of College Pro window cleaners, franchisees often draw on an existing client list that they then build out, relying on corporate staff to handle payroll and taxes.
Ambrose Obe trained part-time for two months before jumping into the business he took over in Winnipeg after coming to Canada from Nigeria last year to study management.
“This was going to be an opportunity for me to learn how businesses work here in Canada and to get some business experience,” said Obe, who ran a trucking outfit in his home country.
A closer bond with the surrounding community can also be a surprising bonus for some new franchisees.
“We have people that come in once, twice, sometimes three times a week … they know my front staff, and my front staff knows their order as soon as they walk in the door,” said Lisa Mitchell of Cobs. “That means a lot.”
Though familiarity with spreadsheets and balance sheets is a plus, franchising is open to people from all walks of life, said Waxon founder Lexi Miles Corrin.
“We have widows, we have women who are just coming out of mat leave, corporate jobs, lawyers … they really wanted to do their own thing and be their own boss but were maybe too scared to make the leap alone,” she said, adding that some franchises can feel like a “boys’ club.”
Even with that hand-holding — or because of it — the financial side of franchising can be tough to swallow.
Opening a location often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, on top of royalties that typically hover between five and 10 per cent of sales as well as fees for marketing and advertising.
At Waxon, the investment is between $500,000 and $600,000, with $150,000 in liquid capital up front, Miles Corrin said. There’s also a one-time $50,000 “franchise fee,” plus a six per cent royalty on sales and 1.5 per cent for marketing.
Tim Hortons, which has about 3,500 restaurants across the country, requires at least $100,000 in cash up front and minimum net worth of $500,000 — the investment may be up to four times that amount, however. Operators must also kick between 4.5 to six per cent of sales upstairs and another four per cent for advertising and marketing.
Franchises are not insulated from the hurdles that confront many small businesses these days, from employee retention to inflation to abrasive clientele.
“One of the greatest challenges is finding good workers,” said Tait of Cobs.
Costs for some items have also soared.
“Cocoa went up by about 75 per cent,” he said. “The war in Ukraine caused canola and oil issues.”
Many owners may also learn the hard way that not all Canadians live up to the nation’s reputation for niceness.
“Sometimes somebody will not even listen to you at the door, just tell you, ‘Go away.’ I was like, wow, so rude,” said Obe, recalling his porch pitches.
Meanwhile, the corporate structure and guidance that some see as a life-jacket will be felt by others as a straitjacket.
“Our franchisees can’t go out and design their own wonderful glitter ad and take our brand mark and make it pink,” said David Druker, CEO of the UPS Store Canada and past chairman of the Canadian Franchise Association board of directors.
“If you’re a lone wolf personality, if you don’t like taking advice from others, if you don’t like the concept of team, then chances are franchising is not for you.”
While small franchises can offer more leeway and closer relationships with executives, larger companies tend to have stricter rules and impersonal ties to head office.
Either way, hard work is part of the package, along with ground-floor involvement in the business.
“Food service is Monday to Sunday, every day of the week, early morning to late nights, weekend nights when your family’s celebrating and you can’t because somebody called in sick,” said Domenic Primucci, president of Pizza Nova.
Franchisors and franchisees alike recommend speaking with others in the business and thinking it through before jumping in.
“Be truly prepared for the amount of effort that you have to invest in it,” said Lisa Mitchell.
“It’s a marathon.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Teck Resources Ltd. reported a $748-million loss from continuing operations attributable to shareholders in its latest quarter as it took a one-time asset impairment charge related to its Trail operations.
The Vancouver-based mining company says its loss amounted to $1.45 per diluted share for its third quarter compared with a loss of $48 million or nine cents per share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $2.86 billion, up from $1.99 billion in the same quarter last year.
In its outlook, Teck says it now expects its 2024 copper production to amount to 420,000 to 455,000 tonnes, down from earlier guidance for 435,000 to 500,000 tonnes. The company also lowered its 2024 guidance for molybdenum and refined zinc production and reduced its expectations for zinc net cash unit costs.
On an adjusted basis, Teck says it earned 60 cents per diluted share for its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 37 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.