TORONTO —
Via Rail’s cancelled train services could take as long as 36 hours to resume when the Wet’suwet’en solidarity blockades are lifted, and delays could be forcing people to look at alternative forms of transportation.
“Via Rail is working with the infrastructure owner on the specifics of the resumption of service which is estimated to take at least 36 hours from the time the line is cleared,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Via Rail announced it was cancelling all train service from Toronto-Montreal and Toronto-Ottawa until Thursday, due to an ongoing blockade just east of Belleville, Ont.
Protesters have disrupted travel across much of the country for several days in a show of solidarity for the Wet’suwet’en Nation, whose hereditary chiefs oppose the construction of a 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline through northern British Columbia. Blockades around the country have now halted railway service for five days.
In Senegal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was receiving information on the situation, which he called an “issue of concern, obviously.” He added he’d be speaking with his other cabinet ministers about it as well.
“We recognize the important democratic right — and we will always defend it — of peaceful protests,” he said. “This is an important part of our democracy in Canada, but we are also a country of the rule of law and we need to make sure those laws are respected.
“That’s why I am encouraging all parties to dialogue to resolve this as quickly as possible,” Trudeau added.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau echoed Trudeau’s words, saying, “we are very concerned with the impact the blockages are having on the movement of goods across the country.” He added the government was “working across a number of departments to find a solution to this issue.”
On Tuesday, he had called the blockades “dangerous” and “illegal.”
Via Rail stated that, by Thursday, 223 trains will have been cancelled affecting at least 34, 200 passengers.
VIA RAIL URGES PEOPLE TO SEEK OTHER TRANSPORTATION
“We know that this unfortunate situation has an impact on our passengers travelling plans and we apologize for the inconvenience it is causing,” Via said. “We encourage them, if they need to travel in the affected areas over the next 2 days, to use alternative modes of transportation.
CTV News Toronto reported that the blockades could be forcing people in the Greater Toronto Area to rely on buses to get from Toronto to Montreal or Ottawa.
Porter Airlines told CTV News Toronto planes headed to affected cities are currently booked up this long weekend. But generally, they have enough capacity to take passengers there and back.
CTV News Toronto has reached out to Greyhound Lines, Inc. to see if and how the train disruptions have affected them and whether they’ve seen a recent increase in the number of passengers.
‘WAITING GAME’ BETWEEN PROTESTERS, OPP
Beginning last week, RCMP clashed with Wet’suwet’en land defenders after officers began to move into Wet’suwet’en territory to enforce a court-ordered injunction requiring protesters to stop blocking roads.
In Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, within Hastings County, Ont., CTV News’ parliamentary bureau reporter Annie Bergeron-Oliver told CTV News Channel on Wednesday, it was just a “waiting game” as to whether the Ontario Provincial Police would break up the blockade or not.
On Tuesday, the OPP called the situation “dire” and said they had to enforce the court order to end the blockade so that passenger and freight trains could resume normal service. Officers have asked protesters to peacefully disperse but they have not budged.
Bergeron-Oliver also clarified that the protesters were situated close enough to the train tracks that Via Rail felt it wasn’t safe enough to run trains through the area.
The company also added that, “since the blockade continues near New Hazelton, B.C., normal rail activities are interrupted between Prince Rupert-Prince George, in both directions until further notice.”
Via Rail also mentioned it was providing full refunds for passengers’ cancelled trips, which could take up to 10 days to complete due to the volume of requests.
Service from Toronto to Southwestern Ontario, between Montréal-Ottawa and Montréal-Québec is unaffected, Via Rail said.
But Via Rail isn’t the only company facing disruptions. On Tuesday, Canadian National Railway Co. announced it “will be forced to shut down significant parts” of its network until the blockades are removed.
Railway disruptions across the country could lead to holdups in the transportation of products such as foods, propane, Canadian grain, coal, potash, lumber and aluminum. And although rail transportation only accounted for 0.5 per cent of Canada’s GDP, disruptions such as blockades or worker strikes greatly affect the bottom line of companies that rely on it.
With files from CTVNews.ca writers Graham Slaughter and Alexandra Mae Jones
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.
