A spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce told reporters Thursday afternoon that US and Chinese negotiators have discussed rolling back tariffs, saying the rollbacks could happen even before a "phase one" trade deal is signed.
Japan's Nikkei(N225) was up 0.3%, while China's Shanghai Composite(SHCOMP) fell 0.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index(HSI) fell 0.6% and South Korea's Kospi Index(KOSPI) dipped0.3%.
China's remarks raised hopes — yet again — that China and the United States are inching toward a resolution to the 18-month-long trade war.
President Donald Trump first announced last month that the countries had reached a "phase one" agreement on trade, though that pact has yet to be finalized. Trump hinted that he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would sign that preliminary agreement at an economic summit in Chile this month, but the summit was canceled because of an ongoing political crisis and violent protests in the planned host country.
The two sides are now reportedly looking into a new location for a signing ceremony, but the Ministry of Commerce spokesman said there is no news on that at the moment.
India's economic woes, meanwhile, are not going away anytime soon, according to Moody's. The credit rating agency downgraded its outlook for India from "stable" to "negative," saying the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to urgently pull growth up from its six-year low of 5%.
"Financial stress among rural households, weak job creation, and a credit crunch among non-bank financial institutions have increased the probability of a more entrenched slowdown," Moody's said.
The Indian Finance Ministry responded to the downgrade on Friday, saying recent reforms to boost the economy would spur more investment.
"The fundamentals of the economy remain quite robust," the ministry said in a statement. "India continues to offer strong prospects of growth in the near and medium term."
The ferry service says the Salish Raven experienced a problem with its bow thruster.
The ferry service says the Salish Raven experienced a problem with its bow thruster.NICK PROCAYLO / PNG
A mechanical problem on a B.C. Ferries vessel Thursday turned a 40-minute sailing into a four-hour marathon for passengers travelling though in southern Gulf Islands.
Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall says the Salish Raven had a problem with one of its two thrusters while making the short trip from Pender Island to Swartz Bay, just north of Victoria.
The ferry set out at 9:10 a.m. and was due to dock just before 10 a.m., but Marshall says it idled off Swartz Bay until nearly 1:30 p.m., when a tug was able to assist it with docking.
She says all 85 passengers safely left the ship and technicians are now checking the troubled bow thruster to determine what caused the malfunction.
The malfunction led to the cancellation of at least three morning sailings.
The Salish Raven has been in service for just 30 months and Marshall says it can manoeuvre with a single thruster, but safety procedures require a tug to assist with docking if two functioning thrusters are not available.
BC Ferries replaced the Salish Raven with another vessel. B.C. Ferries says the MV Mayne Queen will provide extra service with an additional round trip between Swartz Bay and Otter Bay on Pender Island.
B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall says the passengers are being provided free food and beverages.
The Salish Raven was one of three Polish-built ferries brought into service in 2017 by B.C. Ferries.
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November 08, 2019 at 03:37AM
Superstar rapper Drake is jumping into the cannabis game through a cleverly structured deal that marketing experts say could effectively circumvent strict advertising rules that govern the promotion of cannabis.
Drake announced Thursday morning the launch of his new cannabis company More Life Growth Co., a joint venture with Canopy Growth Corp. in which Drake will own 60 per cent Canopy the remaining 40 per cent. As part of the deal, More Life will become the beneficial owner of a cannabis production facility in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ont., that is already being operated by Canopy.
“The structure of setting up the joint venture between Canopy and Drake’s new company is a very clever way around the general sponsorship prohibition because he’s not technically being paid by Canopy to promote cannabis,” said Chris Bolivar, vice-president of strategic growth at cannabis retail chain Fire & Flower.
Cannabis advertising rules in Canada are similar to that of tobacco — any kind of endorsement that glamourizes cannabis or promotes it as a lifestyle is strictly prohibited. Although there are hundreds of different cannabis brands on shelves in legal retail stores, none of the licensed producers associated with those brands are allowed to promote them, or package them in anything other than plain packaging, resulting in weak brand recognition by consumers.
But Drake is Drake, and anything he touches tends to become part of the country’s cultural fabric, potentially giving More Life Growth an edge over other cannabis brands.
According to Bolivar, if Drake were to promote More Life on Instagram for instance, that would be well within his right and not a violation of advertising rules on cannabis because he is an owner of the company, and not just a celebrity paid by Canopy to endorse their product.
“The issue around sponsorship by a celebrity is whether or not the celebrity is paid consideration for the endorsement of the product,” said Bolivar, who was part of a Canadian Marketing Association team that developed advertising guidelines to help the cannabis industry navigate the tough regulations.
It is very smart, because it is certainly a run around the regulations
Drake commands market access that no cannabis company comes close to having. His Youtube channel has over 13 billion views, and he has almost 53 million followers on Instagram. Within hours of teasing the launch of More Life in an Instagram post Wednesday evening, the company’s own account had gained more than ten thousand followers.
“I’m not sure whether the association right now is stronger between More Life and Drake or between Canopy and Drake, but as this rolls out, this is going to continue creating publicity,” said David Soberman, a marketing professor at the Rotman School of Management. “It is very smart, because it is certainly a run around the regulations. You’re not supposed to use a person in the promotion of cannabis and that’s exactly what this is, if you think about it,” he added.
Soberman believes that Drake’s promotion of More Life on social media falls within a grey area of cannabis advertising regulations. “One of the reasons the government came up with strict marketing regulations is to stop this kind of thing. But at the same time he owns the company, and you are allowed to have some kind of targeted brand promotion talking about the attributes of the products. I think this will be an interesting test case for the regulators,” he said.
Marketing aside, the deal comes at a crucial time for Canopy Growth, which saw revenue decline in its most recent quarter.
Under the terms of the arrangement, the Smiths Falls, Ont.-based company will reserve the right to nominate two board members to More Life, and will continue to hold the Health Canada licence required to cultivate and sell product from the Scarborough facility. And more crucially, Canopy will retain the rights to distribute More Life products.
Drake, a progressive avant-garde celebrity, is the right fit for a brand new industry
“As a cannabis business person, I’ve seen these celebrity strategies work and not work. When it works best, it is with a celebrity that has true involvement with the cannabis plant and plays an active role in building the brand,” said Steve DeAngelo, a long-time cannabis activist in chairman of California cannabis company, Harborside.
“Drake may do very well, but I think there are risks because larger cannabis companies have not been very successful at producing high quality cannabis and at the end of the day, that’s what we know customers in this business want,” he said.
Soberman, however, believes that the key to the success of any celebrity brand is ensuring that that product category is promoted by the right person. “If Donald Sutherland was the person promoting cannabis, I would say that just wouldn’t make much sense,” he said.
“When there are two things that go together from a marketing perspective, that adds traction. In this case, Drake, a progressive avant-garde celebrity, is the right fit for a brand new industry.”
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November 08, 2019 at 06:35AM
More than 550 objects have been unintentionally left in Canadian medical and surgery patients between 2016 and 2018, and the problem appears to be getting worse.
A new report released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information says 553 foreign items — such as sponges and medical instruments — were left behind over that two-year period.
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That’s a 14 per cent increase between the most recent data collected 2017-2018 and statistics collected five years earlier.
It’s also more than two times the average rate of 12 reporting countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, which had the next highest rates.
The information was examined as part of a broad look at how Canada’s health-care system compares to other member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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Tracy Johnson, CIHI’s director of emerging issues, said the data only notes how often the mistakes occurred, but not how or why.
“Often they are smaller things and they may be things like clips or sponges,” said Johnson, suggesting the reasons are likely complex and multifaceted.
2 surgical sponges left inside woman following surgeries
“Some surgeries are long and complicated and if they have to change people during that surgery because some surgeries last a long time, it may be that things get missed because of that. It may be that they don’t have protocols in place — surgical checklists are one of the things that are utilized to try and prevent a number of things happening….
“What we know is patient safety is complicated. People don’t go to work to make mistakes but these things happen.”
Johnson said several peer countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, do not report on cases where foreign objects are left behind, making comparisons difficult.
And the Canadian statistic is based on data provided by hospitals in only nine provinces.
Still, Johnson said there’s clearly work to be done to improve patient safety, noting the average rate of forgotten items was 9.8 incidents per 100,000 surgeries.
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That number also varied widely between regions — from a low of 5.7 per 100,000 surgeries in British Columbia to about 15 per 100,000 surgeries in Quebec, said Johnson.
She suggested that variation may have more to do with how thorough one province’s counting and recording system might be versus another, rather than apparent deficiencies in care.
The information was examined as part of a broad look at how Canada’s health-care system compares to other countries.
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The report also found Canada had the highest rate of severe tears during vaginal childbirth among 23 countries measured, at twice the average.
Canada also had the highest rate of avoidable complications after surgery, including lung clots after hip or knee surgery among 12 countries studied. Those numbers hovered 90 per cent above the average.
Sandi Kossey of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute said the findings are alarming but that the focus should be on why such avoidable injuries happen and the steps needed to correct them.
She noted the data only captures hospital errors and suspected preventable — and sometimes deadly — mistakes are far more widespread than the general public knows.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg with respect to all types of serious preventable patient harm that happens in health-care institutions,” said Kossey, adding her group’s data suggests one out of every 18 people currently in a hospital bed will experience some form of preventable harm during their hospital admission.
“This is only focusing on hospitals so we know that preventable harm happens in all health-care encounters in all care settings. We know from the available data just in general that preventable harm in health-care is the third leading cause of death in Canada and that in terms of mortality only follows behind cancer and heart disease. And the general public doesn’t truly understand the true magnitude of preventable harm.”
Man has surgical scissors removed 18 years after being left inside stomach
It wasn’t all bad news.
The report measured Canada’s performance in 57 health indicators and found we met the average in 32 categories, and exceeded them in 13.
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We especially did well in areas related to quality of care, including survival rates for breast and colon cancer which are among the highest in the world. And across the country, rates of in-hospital deaths due to heart attacks and stroke have declined by more than 20 per cent over the past five years.
But we fall below average in 12 categories, including patient safety, where Canada performed below average in four out of five related areas.
Kossey said she wants Thursday’s data to galvanize action. Back in August 2017, her patient advocacy group released its own report examining the scope of patient harm and found about 28,000 deaths a year can be linked to preventable injuries.
“When something like this happens the hospital has an obligation to actually investigate what happened, do an analysis, look at the incident — What happened? What contributed to that event happening? What can be done to prevent similar incidents from happening? What was learned?” said Kossey.
“Yes, the numbers are important but what’s more important is that something is being done about these numbers. So we need to continue to focus improvements across the country on reducing this preventable harm in all health-care institutions across the country.”
Canadian Tire Corp.’s chief financial officer is welcoming the competition from online retailers like Amazon.com Inc.
“I always say the best thing that happened to Canadian Tire was Walmart, second-best thing was Target. I firmly believe that this change that we’re undergoing right now with a new way of doing business will be the next best thing for Canadian Tire over the next couple years,” Canadian Tire CFO Dean McCann told BNN Bloomberg in a Thursday interview.
McCann said Canadian Tire’s bricks-and-mortar base gives it an advantage in Canada.
“Canadian Tire retail is a little different, and we’ve got a 500-store network with forward-deployed inventory right across the country,” he said. “So, that last mile effect, if you will, that’s the costly part... I think we’ve got an advantage with respect to that.”
He also said that the versatility in pick-up/delivery options allows the company to better cater to the needs of its customers.
“There are things that you want, you need it now. There are things that a customer is willing to wait for… Or you can come to the store, click-and-collect, and pick it up there. We’ll have it ready for you,” he said.
“We’re well positioned to take whoever comes at us.”
The company’s shares rose Thursday as the company announced it plans to cut more than $200 million in annual costs by 2022.
The more commonly traded class-A shares in the company rose $5.10, or 3.53 per cent, to $149.29 in early afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Steve Eisman still short Canada's banks, now taking aim at Canadian Tire
Steve Eisman, portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman, joins BNN Bloomberg to provide his latest take on the Canadian bank earnings and why he's now shorting Canadian Tire.
The company’s shares have recovered from the sudden dip the stock experienced in August when famed U.S. short-seller Steve Eisman revealed he bet against the Canadian retailer. Eisman is best known for his billion-dollar bet against the U.S. housing market made famous in the book and film The Big Short.
The portfolio manager at New York based Neuberger Berman told BNN Bloomberg at the time he expected Canadian Tire would suffer as a result of competition from Amazon as well as potential weakness in its credit card portfolio.
The rise came as the company released its third-quarter financial earnings and announced an operational efficiency program that targets more than $200 million in annualized savings by 2022.
"We expect the market will adopt a 'wait and see' attitude before incorporating (the cost-savings initiative) into earnings forecasts," wrote Irene Nattel, an RBC Dominion Securities Inc. analyst, in a note.
However, with "solid" third-quarter financial results and plans for future growth, RBC views Canadian Tire's valuation "as ripe for re-rating," she said, with key catalysts being solid same-store sales and revenue performance, as well as the realization of cost reductions.
The cost-cutting program's focus areas include eliminating duplicate systems and processes, decommissioning legacy infrastructure and continuing to reduce internal and external expenses.
Management expects to record one-time costs for items like severance, retraining and real estate related closure costs, the company said.
In the third quarter, it recorded $19.8 million for severance, store closure and other related expenses, it said, while on a year to date basis it has recorded $27.9 million.
The cost-cutting measures were announced as the company also said it would raise its quarterly dividend for the eleventh time in a decade.
Canadian Tire will now pay a quarterly dividend of $1.1375 per share, an increase of 10 cents.
The retailer reported a profit attributable to shareholders of $197.2 million or $3.20 per diluted share for its third quarter. That compared with a profit attributable to shareholders of $203.8 million or $3.15 per diluted share in the same quarter last year when the company had more shares outstanding.
Canadian Tire's normalized earnings per share amounted to $3.46 per diluted share for the quarter, down from $3.47 per diluted share a year ago, due to an accounting changes at its financial services business.
Revenue totalled $3.64 billion, up from $3.63 billion a year ago.
Comparable sales at Canadian Tire stores were up 2.4 per cent, while SportChek comparable sales were up 4.6 per cent. Mark's comparable sales increased 1.2 per cent.
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November 08, 2019 at 08:38AM
Photo: A TransLink bus in downtown Vancouver. Marc Bruxelle / Shutterstock.com
TransLink confirms that 11 bus routes were affected as a result of the transit strike action during the morning rush today. However, Unifor, the union representing bus operators and transit maintenance workers, argues that 42 ‘segments’ were affected.
TransLink has been scaling back SeaBus sailings on the busy Waterfront to Lonsdale Quay connector since Friday, Nov. 1, when Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) operators and maintenance workers represented by Unifor began job action.
Each day, the transit authority has issued a statement about which sailings would be cancelled, and has been able to do so in advance of the scheduled sailings. In contrast, it reports that it cannot provide notice on which bus routes will be affected.
Ben Murphy, Senior Media Relations Officer, TransLink, told Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that the SeaBus isn’t permitted to sail without a minimum number of crew on board as required by Transport Canada. Since there is a shortage of skilled workers who can operate the SeaBus, the transit authority knows in advance of how many sailings will be cancelled. If someone is sick or on vacation, it relies on ‘flexible shifts who can cover absences.’
With this in mind, Gavin McGarrigle, Western Regional Director, Unifor, told Vanouver Is Awesome that he believes that TransLink is aware of which bus routes will be affected. In fact, he said that many ‘rank and file’ Unifor members – such as transit operators and maintenance workers – provided anecdotal evidence of up to 42 ‘bus segments’ that had been affected as a result of job action.
McGarrigle notes that all 42 bus segments originated in the Vancouver Transit Centre, but that a possible that five or six came out of Surrey, too. He adds that he believes TransLink is creating, “A misleading campaign to blame the workers,” and minimize their own impact on the dispute.
McGarrigle remarks that TransLink hasn’t addressed pay inequities between executives and workers, as well as minimum break time. He notes that the workers won’t forget this struggle, and that it can only lead to “poor labour relations” down the line.
TransLink did not inform riders of delays on buses due to the transit strike today. In addition, its numbers do not match the ones provided by McGarrigle.
“Union job action resulted in a reduction of frequency on 11 bus routes during the morning rush today,” wrote Murphy in an email. “The majority of routes affected were high-frequency routes.”
Murphy notes that the affected bus routes include the 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 17, 22, 25, 32, and 41.
“Coast Mountain Bus Company is making every effort to ensure reliable service, but the union’s job action will continue to have impacts on the system. The union has been asked to return to bargaining and take part in mediation, but they have repeatedly refused,” he states.
Statement from Coast Mountain Bus Company President Michael McDaniel.
On top of what Coast Mountain Bus Company is currently offering, the union is demanding an additional $608 million in wages, benefits, and working conditions over 10-years.
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November 08, 2019 at 07:06AM
BC Ferries says a vessel carrying 85 passengers is currently waiting for a tug boat assist to Swartz Bay after one of its thrusters broke down.
The ferry was en route from Pender Island when it broke down Thursday morning just off Swartz Bay.
"As a precaution, we're going to have a tug-assisted docking at our Swartz Bay terminal ... which is expected to arrive at 1 p.m.," said Deborah Marshall, the director of public affairs at BC Ferries.
The passengers on board are currently being provided with complementary food and beverages.
Marshall said the Salish Raven vessel is "about two and a half years old."
She added that "occasionally we do have mechanical problems with our vessels and our technicians and mechanics make repairs as quickly as they can."
She said as soon as the vessel docks, a technician will board to try to diagnose the problem.
BC Ferries has now cancelled sailings with the Salish Raven and added an extra sailing with another vessel to leave Swartz Bay at 1:30 p.m., bound for Otter Bay on Pender Island.
The vessel will then depart Pender Island at 2:15 p.m. and return to Swartz Bay.
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November 08, 2019 at 04:13AM
