Via Rail says partial passenger train service will not resume this week — as was announced one day earlier — as the company moves to temporarily lay off nearly 1,000 people.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Via says it “has no choice but to continue the cancellation of its services on a large part of its network” while CN Rail lines in other parts of the country remain closed.
As a result, Via says roughly 1,000 of its employees will be temporarily suspended.
The news comes one day after CN Rail granted Via permission to resume service on a total of four corridors between southwestern Ontario and Quebec. The routes were due to open Feb. 20.
Sudbury-White River and Churchill-The Pas are the only exceptions at this time, the company says. More than 530 passenger trains have been cancelled since the blockades began on Feb. 6
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“VIA Rail was pleased to have obtained authorization yesterday from CN Rail to resume partial service,” spokesperson Marie-Anna Murat said in a statement.
“Despite these latest developments, however, until CN Rail opens the remaining tracks for service, Via Rail has no choice but to continue the cancellations of its services on a large part of its network.”
3:08 Railway blockades continue across Ontario
Railway blockades continue across Ontario
Layoff notices will be sent to affected employees on Wednesday. The company said terms of the collective agreements “will be respected.”
“This general interruption is an unprecedented situation in our history. In 42 years of existence, it is the first time that VIA Rail, a public intercity passenger rail service, has to interrupt most of its services across the country,” Cynthia Garneau, Via Rail president and CEO, wrote in a statement.
“Since the beginning of the crisis, we have been closely working with the infrastructure owner in order to formulate a progressive, safe and orderly resumption plan. We have done everything to mitigate the impact on our employees and our passengers. At this point, we believe we have made the fairest and most reasonable decision with the proposed temporary suspension plan.”
The back-and-forth debacle on Canada’s railways stems from blockades at rail lines across the country, set up two weeks ago in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who are opposed to the construction of a massive natural gas pipeline in northwestern B.C.
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The protests have emerged at rail lines in Ontario, Montreal and B.C., tangling a huge swath of the network.
On Tuesday, CN Rail announced that it would lay off around 450 of its workers following hundreds of train cancellations and network suspensions. The national railway announced plans to lay off roughly 1,600 employees last year, citing international trade tensions and slowing economic growth.
But as protests and blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have persisted at rail lines across the country, CN says a “progressive and methodical” shutdown was necessary.
Saskatchewan’s Premier Scott Moe will be hosting a conference call of Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders on Wednesday to discuss the fall out from the protests and the blockades.
On Twitter, Moe said the call was to address “a lack of federal leadership in addressing this ongoing illegal activity,” and linked to an article about the layoffs at CN Rail.
2:08 Rail blockades cause emergency debate in the House of Commons
Rail blockades cause emergency debate in the House of Commons
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
