Thursday, February 16, 2023

Rents are soaring in Canada as surge of people goes undercounted

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

Canada’s explosive population growth from immigration is causing rents to surge in its biggest cities. And there’s another problem: The country isn’t even properly counting the number of people who need homes.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents this year, and increase the annual target to half a million by 2025. But those often-cited numbers understate the pressure on the country’s limited supply of housing —because they don’t include a wave of foreign students, temporary workers and others with non-permanent visas.

The country actually had close to 1 million international arrivals last year, according to an analysis by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce that’s based on other data, including visas. It will probably accept a similar number this year, said Benjamin Tal, the bank’s deputy chief economist.

As a result, Canada is experiencing its fastest population growth since the 1970s, and apartments have become extremely hard to find. The vacancy rate on rental buildings is below 2 per cent, the lowest since 2001. In Vancouver, it’s less than 1 per cent. The situation is made worse by rising interest rates that have made buying a home unaffordable for many people, pushing them into the market for rental properties.

“We’re underestimating how many people are here and how many people are requiring real estate,” Tal said in an interview. “If you don’t have official numbers showing the demand accurately, municipalities making allocation for housing based on those are missing the magnitude of the need.”

The consequences of that undercounting can already be seen, Tal said. Rent inflation was nearly 6 per cent in the last two months of 2022, accelerating from 3.1 per cent early last year.

Landlords in many provinces face legal restrictions on how much they can increase rents on existing tenants. But when a two-bedroom apartment is vacated, the average increase for the next tenant is 18.2 per cent, according to Canada’s national housing agency.

“It’s dire from a consumer point of view,” said Mark Kenney, chief executive officer of Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s largest publicly traded apartment company.

Local government red tape is one reason more apartments aren’t being built, Kenney said, which means housing policy is out of alignment with Trudeau’s approach to immigration.

“Canada was at a point for many, many years where we had housing affordability and you could have open immigration policy. There were ample homes for all,” Kenney said. “The combination of turning up the volume on the immigration front, and turning down the volume on development, has put us in really bad shape.”

Housing costs are causing some to uproot from the priciest cities in search of cheaper locations. Toronto gained people from international migration but also saw a net outflow of nearly 100,000 residents to other parts of Canada in the 12 months ended July 1.

Some are landing in Calgary and Edmonton, the largest cities in Alberta, which saw a significant increase in migration from other parts of Canada. “It’s rare to be able to find an empty apartment now, unless it’s new,” said Sam Kolias, CEO of Calgary-based Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust. “There’s lots of jobs here.”

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said the government takes housing into account when it sets immigration policy, and it’s a factor in who it allows in.

“In order to meet housing demands for those who have newly entered Canada, and the nation’s housing needs in general, we have taken great care to ensure our immigration plan selects individuals with the skills to build homes in Canada, and encourage them to settle in parts of the country that have housing capacity,” Bahoz Dara Aziz, Fraser’s press secretary, said in an emailed statement.

'GET THE NUMBERS RIGHT'

CIBC’s Tal said it’s “misleading” to focus on the number of new permanent residents when calculating housing needs. And there are other quirks of Canada’s statistics-gathering process that may result in underestimating demand for places to live, he added.

It all suggests that “existing policy tools will easily fall short of addressing the current and future increase in housing demand,” Tal said in a report to investors. If there’s no change in how migration data are captured and debated, Canada may find it harder to absorb its rising number of immigrants, he said.

“The official numbers don’t tell you the story. When we think about the housing policy, a precondition is to get the numbers right.”

Canada needs to build 50 per cent more

homes as Ottawa plans for higher

immigration levels: report

Tom Yun
CTVNews.ca writer
Feb. 15, 2023

As Canada prepares to ramp up immigration levels, a new report says the country will need to build 50 per cent more housing than what's already being planned.

The report, published by economists from Desjardins on Monday, says in order to keep up with the federal government's immigration targets without causing substantial increases to home prices, 100,000 more homes need to be constructed annually in 2023 and 2024.

"Increasing the housing supply beyond the typical demand response would also take pressure off prices but requires extraordinary policy intervention and resolve," the authors wrote. "Indeed, we estimate that housing starts would have to increase immediately by almost 50 per cent nationally relative to our baseline scenario and stay there through 2024 to offset the price gains from the increase in federal immigration."

RELATED LINKS
Report on immigration and housing from Desjardins

Last fall, Ottawa unveiled plans to increase the number of immigrants entering Canada, with a goal of 500,000 newcomers arriving per year by 2025.

The report notes that the federal government's target of 100,000 new housing units over the next five years falls short of the 100,000 new homes needed annually. However, the Ontario government aims to get 1.5 million new homes built in the province over 10 years by 2031 with Bill 23, also known as the More Homes Built Faster Act.

Ontario's target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031, over that time period, would result in far more than the 100,000 per year that Desjardins says is needed across the entire country. If the province can meet this target, the report says this could have a "disproportionate offsetting impact on the average home price in Canada."

The impact of immigration on housing affordability also depends on where newcomers decide to move. If newcomers predominately move to the Prairies, the authors say this would put less pressures on housing prices in areas where affordability is already stretched. Desjardins also says the Prairies are expected to have "the best performing economies in Canada" and having more immigrants move to these provinces "would support higher economic growth there and nationally."

Since 2018, Ontario and B.C. have received the greatest share of immigrants, despite also being the two provinces with the least affordable housing. If these provinces continue to receive the most immigrants, the authors of the report say this could "boost prices and erode affordability there and nationally."

Lowering immigration levels to what they were from 2018 to 2021 would reduce the impact on home prices, the report adds. However, the authors stress that higher immigration levels are still desperately needed to address labour shortages and that it's "wrongheaded" to blame immigration as the primary cause of rising home prices.

"Rather than being considered a reason to curb immigration, it should instead be a catalyst for reducing barriers to building more housing. The contribution of immigrants to the Canadian economy well outweighs their impact on the housing market," the report says.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE IN KARACHI

Tim Hortons: Cash-strapped Pakistan makes beeline for coffee

Faseeh Mangi, Bloomberg News

Soaring inflation and a stuttering economy hasn’t gotten in the way of a bumper opening for Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons’ maiden Pakistan outlet.

The Lahore branch has seen long queues since its launch Feb. 11, marking the biggest opening for “Tim Hortons outside of Canada and the U.S. in the last decade” said a spokesperson for Restaurant Brands International Inc., which owns the chain. Pakistan is “one of the fastest-growing markets for coffee chains,” she said.

Tim Hortons plans to open two more branches in the city this month. The success of the coffee shop, where a cappuccino costs 550 Pakistani rupees (US$2), comes even as the nation is skating on the verge of bankruptcy. The economic pain is visible in fuel and medicine shortage as the government takes tough measures, including raising taxes, to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The crisis has pushed millions into poverty in the South Asian nation as inflation soared to nearly five-decade high and the currency plunged sharply, making imports costlier. The queues outside Tim Hortons underscore the sharpening inequality in the nation.

Karachi’s Rashid Seafood, which reported a 50 per cent drop in sales this winter as middle class customers stayed away, is mostly serving the higher income segment now. In another sign of the widening rich-poor divide, Pakistan’s car sales dropped to the lowest in almost three years last month, while luxury car sales jumped.

The elite are able to ward off the impact of such events everywhere, said Saad Khan, head of research at Karachi-based IGI Securities Ltd. “When we talk about the masses, obviously they are impacted by one of the biggest crisis that nation has ever seen.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for TIMMIES AFGHANISTAN

How much Canadians have fallen behind amid high inflation (PRICE GOUGING) and who's hurting the most

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press

Inflation has eroded purchasing power for many Canadians, but the experience with rapidly rising prices has been far from uniform.

While the inflation rate shows how quickly prices are rising, other factors like income and consumption patterns can make it harder or easier for people to cope.

Here's a look at how high inflation is right now, who's feeling the pinch, and when Canadians can expect inflation to come down.

How high is inflation?

After reaching 8.1 per cent in the summer, Canada's annual inflation rate has slowed noticeably in recent months. In December, the annual inflation rate was 6.3 per cent.

Although that's still much higher than the Bank of Canada's two per cent target, recent monthly trends suggest inflation is heading closer to the target.

But even as inflation slows, food prices in particular have been a pain point for many Canadians. In December, grocery prices were 11 per cent higher than they were a year ago.

Have wages kept up with the cost of living?

Wages are rising but have not kept up with the rate of inflation. In December, average hourly wages were up 5.1 per cent compared with a year ago.

Brendan Bernard, a senior economist with hiring website Indeed, says Canadians on average have seen their real wages (amount earned after factoring in inflation) fall by about one per cent during that time period.

But some have seen their wages go up more than others, making it easier for those who have received a raise to cope with the rising cost of living.

University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe said workers who got a new job or leveraged a job offer with their employer likely saw their pay go up more than others.

Workers can't always negotiate their pay to reflect the rise in the cost of living. Unionized workers, for example, negotiate contracts on fixed schedules.

"It will take potentially quite a bit of time for the current spike in inflation to be compensated for with increased wages for individuals," Tombe said.

Who's been hit hardest by inflation?

Though most Canadians have probably experienced sticker shock at the grocery store or elsewhere, not everyone is equally strained.

"Inflation is not just a single, homogeneous experience that everyone is going through," said Tombe.

Depending on what people buy, the amount they need to maintain their consumption levels and lifestyle could be higher or lower than the headline inflation rate.

Tombe said families with children have been particularly affected by inflation because a larger share of their budgets go toward food and fuel, two categories that have seen sharp increases in prices. According to his calculations based on October 2022, a family with children spent on average about $65 more per month than one without children.

"Price increases will strain households at lower income levels more because they save less than higher-income households," he said.

With less of a savings buffer, lower-income Canadians have a harder time covering the costs of rising bills. Meanwhile, higher income earners can absorb additional costs by reducing their savings.

Statistics Canada data shows net average household savings have declined across all income brackets. But the trend is more alarming for households in the bottom 40 per cent because they tend to spend more than they earn in income.

During the third quarter of 2022, for example, households in the bottom 20 per cent of income earners spent about $7,400 more than they earned. In the third quarter of 2021, that figure was $6,550.

Meanwhile, the top 20 per cent put away on average about $14,200 in the third quarter of 2022, down from $16,900.

How much have Canadians fallen behind?

With prices rising at the fastest pace in decades and the federal Liberals on the hot seat for cost-of-living issues, inflation has featured prominently in the House of Commons.

Federal Conservatives have been particularly focused on affordability concerns and have been calling on the government to rein in spending.

"Canadians are worse off than ever," said Conservative MP and finance critic Jasraj Singh Hallan on Jan. 31.

Recent polling suggests the Conservatives are indeed tapping into many Canadians' feelings about the state of the economy.

But the current bout of inflation hasn't pushed Canadians back as far as some may think.

Tombe says purchasing power has fallen to 2019 levels, which means a dollar today can purchase the same amount of goods and services a dollar could purchase in 2019.

"It's certainly false that Canadians have never been worse off," Tombe said.

"Inflation has dialed the clock back only just a few years in terms of average purchasing power of people's wages."

How do Canadians say they're faring?

A new poll suggests most Canadians feel their financial situation is about the same as it was a year ago.

According to a Leger poll, commissioned by the Association for Canadians Studies, 34 per cent of Canadian households say their financial situation has worsened over the last year.

Meanwhile, 58 per cent of those who responded say their financial situation has remained relatively unchanged and nine per cent say it's improved.

The percentage of Canadians who say they're worse off, however, is higher among low-income earners.

According to the survey, 42 per cent of those earning less than $40,000 say their household's overall financial situation is worse.

The online survey was completed by 1,554 Canadians between Jan. 23 and 25 and cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples.

When is inflation going to come down?

Barring unexpected global events, most economists anticipate inflation to continue slowing this year.

The Bank of Canada is forecasting the annual inflation rate will reach three per cent by mid-year and will come back down to two per cent in 2024.

Tombe said inflation still appears to be high because the rate is calculated on an annual basis.

The recent deceleration in prices, which has been driven by lower energy prices and easing supply chains, is expected to be reflected in the annual inflation rate in the months to come.

"And so, the worst may already be behind us," Tombe said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2023.

PRICE GOUGING BY ANY OTHER NAME

MPs summon big grocery store CEOs to testify in Ottawa over food inflation

The Canadian Press

Members of Parliament have summoned the heads of Canada's largest grocery store chains to answer for rising grocery prices.

On Monday, a House of Commons committee studying food price inflation called on the CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Companies, Metro and Empire Company Limited — which operates chains including Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo — to attend an upcoming meeting.

The hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The proposal to hear from the grocery leaders came from NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, and it received unanimous support from Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs.

Executives from all three companies, as well as Save-On-Foods, have testified at past committee meetings focused on the rising cost of food — but not their CEOs.

The committee began the study in October, originally setting aside six meetings to discuss the subject. MPs have now decided to add more meetings.

Prices for food purchased from stores rose nearly 10 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace since 1981, with higher prices in every food category except for canned salmon, according to Statistics Canada.

"Canadians are cutting back on their usual grocery lists and stretching their paycheques even further to get less for their families," said MacGregor, who is the NDP's food price inflation critic.

"But all the while, these grocery CEOs are making more money than they ever have before. It just doesn’t add up."

Last year, the Liberal government ordered the Competition Bureau to study food prices at grocery chains and whether competition between companies is contributing to higher prices.

The bureau has said that many factors may have affected the price of food, including extreme weather, higher input costs, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supply-chain disruptions. Its study is expected to be released sometime this year.

Pierre St-Laurent, the chief operating officer for Empire Company Limited, told the committee in December that global challenges are increasing the costs of food production.

"Unfortunately, present circumstances are such that our suppliers have no choice but to ask retailers for significant price increases if they are to remain profitable," St-Laurent said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2023.

Indigo risks reputational damage as outage drags on: experts

The risks of reputational damage are growing for Indigo Books & Music Inc. as its website remains off-line more than a week after a cyberattack, experts say.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

The company first announced on Feb. 8 that its website was knocked out and it was only able to accept cash payments in stores. Shoppers can now use payment cards in store, but still can't process returns or exchanges while the website is fully off-line and only shows the latest notification from the company.

Those updates, which have also gone out across social media, have been an important part of minimizing the damage, said retail expert Lisa Hutcheson.

"There is going to be some fallout on reputation, but I think that can be offset by all the things that they did do right in terms of being transparent, they informed the customer quickly."

The company has been responding to customer questions through various social media channels, including an update Tuesday that said customer credit and debit card information was not compromised as it doesn't store full credit or debit card numbers in our systems.

The latest notice also said the company is working hard with third-party experts to investigate and resolve this cybersecurity incident.

Updates only go so far and it's still not clear what, if any, other personal data was affected or what the nature of the incident is, so the company has work ahead of it, said Hutcheson.

"Customers do get a little nervous, regardless, so I think they'll probably be still some work to do on making sure that the customer is fully comfortable returning to the stores and on their website and making those purchases."

Indigo has also yet to say when it expects to be fully up and running, and the longer it goes on the worse the effect, said retail analyst and author Bruce Winder.

"If they let this drag on a lot more then there is going to be some serious reputational damage, because people will say, 'What's wrong with Indigo? Why don't they have their act together?"'

Customers are understanding to a degree as high-profile cyberattacks come up regularly. LCBO was hit in January in an attack that left its website down for two days, while Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. left customers unable to fill prescriptions at the chain's pharmacies for four days, while other in-store functions like self-checkout machines, gift card use and the redemption of loyalty points were off-line for about a week.

Overall about one-fifth of businesses are affected by cybersecurity incidents annually, Statistics Canada data shows.

The understanding only goes so far though, said Winder.

"Customers will give them a little bit of slack because they realize we live in an environment where hackers are everywhere and taking many companies hostage, but at some point they've got to end this quickly and apologize to customers."

Besides the reputational hit, Indigo's website being down also knocks out an important revenue stream for the company as online sales grew substantially as a portion of total sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About 30 per cent of revenue came from online for the company's last fiscal year that ended in April 2022, while online sales made up 17 per cent of revenue for the year ending March 2020.

The company noted in its last annual report that it had undergone a major update to its online presence, including entering into an agreement with Salesforce to provide its cloud-based e-commerce solutions that would function as a critical pillar for its digital architecture.

"These efforts will deliver an innovative and agile platform that will allow the company to fully realize the potential of the eCommerce opportunity," the company noted.

The incident also comes as the company works to deal with wider structural issues for its retail business after reporting profits were down in the last quarter, while its share price is down about 90 per cent from where it was in 2018.

"It is a short term distraction," said Winder. "There are other issues they have, there's bigger fish to fry, so to speak in terms of their viability long term."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2023.

Credit, debit info and Plum points not compromised in cybersecurity incident: Indigo

The Canadian Press

An Indigo bookstore is seen Wednesday, November 4, 2020, in Laval, Que. Indigo Books & Music Inc. is continuing to investigate what it calls a "cybersecurity incident" that has affected its website and electronic payments in stores. , THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Indigo Books & Music Inc. says customer credit and debit information was not compromised by a recent cybersecurity incident that has downed its online operations for almost a week.

The books and home goods retailer says in a new notice on its website that information linked to the cards was not compromised because the company does not store credit or debit numbers in its system.

It also says points collected through the company's Plum loyalty program remain intact and were unaffected by the incident.

Indigo is using third-party experts to investigate and resolve the situation and promises its online store will relaunch as soon as it is confident it can provide a seamless experience again.

The company says it is accepting cash, debit, credit and gift cards in stores, but is still temporarily unable to accept exchanges and returns.

Indigo first notified customers of the incident on Feb. 9, saying it temporarily couldn't process electronic payments, accept gift cards or deal with returns, but was able to complete cash transactions.

Canada orders telecom regulator to focus on bringing costs down

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government ordered Canada’s telecommunications regulator to focus on making internet access more affordable for consumers, a policy shift to help smaller firms compete with major providers.

The government wants to strengthen rules so that it’s faster and cheaper for internet resellers to cut deals to lease network access from large companies including Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. The new direction, which came into force Monday, replaces an old policy that said the regulator should rely on market forces.

“While progress has been made, Canadians still pay too much and see too little competition,” Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement. “These objectives will ensure that affordable access to high-quality, reliable and resilient telecommunications services, is available in all regions of Canada.”

The policy change comes amid an effort by two of Canada’s largest telecommunications firms to combine and concern that the merger may lead to higher prices. Rogers and Shaw Communications Inc. are awaiting Champagne’s approval after winning two court cases attempting to block their deal in recent months.

Government officials said in a background briefing that the regulator, known as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, will also try to make internet more affordable by ensuring that wholesale access is “available evenly across the market,” including on fiber-to-the-home networks like the kind owned by BCE and Telus Corp.

The government also said the regulator should “improve” its hybrid mobile virtual network operator model — a complex set of rules designed to make it easier for regional cable companies such as Quebecor Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. to sell wireless services.

Separately on Monday, Champagne said he’s not bound by a Feb. 17 deadline that Rogers and Shaw have set to close their merger, adding that he would focus on the “interests of Canadians” in making his decision.

Chile issues fresh measures against Lundin Mining for giant sinkhole

Cecilia Jamasmie | February 15, 2023 |

Sinkhole at the Alcaparrosa mine. (Image by Sernageomin, Twitter).

Chile’s environmental regulator SMA said on Wednesday it had issued fresh measures against a copper mine owned by Canada’s Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) after detecting new leaks around a sinkhole that opened up last year near one of the company’s mines.

The huge 36-metre-diameter sinkhole that appeared in late July in the Tierra Amarilla commune, close to the Alcaparrosa mine, drew widespread global attention and saw Lundin being charged by authorities.

Together with extending six “urgent and transitory” measures that Lundin was asked to implement last year, the SMA issued four new mandatory actions, which seek to determine the reason for the lower levels in nearby aquifers.

“Based on new information provided by the company and through monitoring by the water authority, we can say there have been leaks around the Jocelyn and Gaby caves, with a flow that would have reached 80 litres per second,” the SMA said in the statement.

“These actions requested from the mining company must be carried out between 10 and 20 days, and subsequently be reported to the SMA for the corresponding analysis,” it added.

Alleged over extraction

Chilean authorities, including the SMA superintendent Emanuel Ibarra, have said that preliminary investigations linked the sinkhole on the mine’s property to ore over extraction.

“In addition, when the event occurred, large amounts of water began to leak into the mine from places where the company intervened beyond what was considered in the environmental assessment,” Ibarra said last year.

The environmental watchdog’s previous orders are related to filling the sinkhole, sealing the adjacent tunnels, replacing groundwater, reopening the mine, protecting employment and improving the social environment.

Operations at Alcaparrosa remain suspended while the company, which has already spent around $10 million on resolving the issue, works on fulfilling all the conditions imposed.

Alcaparrosa is one of two underground mines that make up the Ojos del Salado operation, within the Candelaria complex (pictured).

(Image courtesy of Minera Candelaria.)

The Toronto-based miner owns 80% of the Ojos del Salado complex, which holds two underground mines: Santos and Alcaparrosa. The remaining 20% is held by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation.

Sinkholes are pits that form over areas where water gathers underground without external drainage, causing the water to carve out subterranean caverns.

These cavities also form regularly near old and active mines, where large amounts of rock and ore have been extracted, studies have shown.

Sinkholes often form gradually over many years, but can also open quite suddenly, taking cars, homes and streets down with them.

MINING IS NEITHER GREEN NOR SUSTAINABLE

GRI presents sustainability reporting standard for mining companies

Amanda Stutt | February 15, 2023 |

Tailings dam. Stock image.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an international independent organization for impact reporting across sectors has proposed a new sustainability reporting standard for mining companies.

KPMG confirmed last year the GRI Standards are the most widely used sustainability reporting standards globally.

Mining was identified by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) in 2020 for prioritization, and the Standard would apply to all organizations engaged in mining and quarrying – with the exception of coal, and oil and gas, for which GRI sector Standards are already available.

GRI presented a draft Standard last week at Alternative Mining Indaba in South Africa, which identifies 25 environmental, social and economic topics. The exposure draft, open for consultation until April, includes topics that are new to the GRI Standards: tailings facilities and hazardous waste streams, artisanal and small-scale mining, and operating in conflict zones.

The draft Standard sets expectations for site-level reporting, aligns with existing ESG and disclosure frameworks for the sector – including those set by the International Council on Mining and Metals, the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, Copper Mark, the OECD, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management.

Judy Kuszewski, Chair of the GSSB. Submitted.

“Why the GRI sector standard for mining was pulled together was a recognition of the fact that we have among the large companies in the extractive sectors, a pretty high rate of sustainability reporting, which is right and fair because they have a very large environmental and social footprint and a very high degree of scrutiny,” Judy Kuszewski, Chair of the GSSB, the independent body that sets the GRI Standards, told MINING.com.

“[But] If you look at the kind of the major extractive companies, around 80% of them publish information on their sustainability performance, the quality of reporting in the mining sector is widely considered inadequate and not up to the expectations of stakeholders — and that’s why we pursued this project with mining, which was always one of the highest profile one of the highest priority sectors on the on the GRI and the GSSB,” Kuszewski said.

Kuszewski noted the purpose of the Standard is to address the impacts of the mining sector on people and planet with a common set of metrics that represents the broad information needs of stakeholders, adding that a stronger focus will be on the responsibilities of larger mining organizations in respect of their relationships with smaller ones and their relationships through the supply chains.

“Informal, artisanal and small scale mining operators might use the standard, but we don’t really expect it to be widely picked up by those organizations,” she said.

While noting 100% transparency of all ASM operations that may be connected to larger companies reports is a significant challenge, Kuszewski pointed to the sometimes disjointed relationship between the aggregate level global corporate reporting and mine site level disclosure of relevant impact.

“We really need to draw much more kind of connection and transparency between the corporate entity and the mine site,” she said.

The draft Standard remains open for public comment until April 30, and after feedback has been considered, the final Mining Standard is expected to publish in Q3 2023. Webinars will take place on February 23 and March 2.

Suncor draws regulatory probe after deaths
Bloomberg News | February 15, 2023\

Suncor Energy Inc. — the Canadian oil producer that’s being targeted by activist Elliott Investment Management LP — has racked up 32 safety violations in the past three months amid a special regulatory probe of its sites.

The province’s Occupational Health & Safety division stepped up inspections of Suncor late last year, and that resulted in increased citations, spokeswoman Kristjanna Grimmelt said in an email. The agency’s orders cite problems ranging from general housekeeping matters to fire and explosion dangers.

By contrast, just three orders were issued against the five other largest oil-sands producers in the same period, including two against Cenovus Energy Inc. and one against Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

Suncor is “committed to improving our safety performance,” Sneh Seetal, a spokeswoman for the Calgary-based company, said by email.

“We met with OHS in the fall and are working to support them in their inspections,” Seetal said. “Initial inspections took place in November and December 2022, and the inspection plan is expected to continue through 2023.”

Many of the compliance orders have been closed, and the remainder are in progress to be resolved, she said. None required Suncor to stop work, she said.

While some of the orders pertained to issues like chemical and biological hazards, many were for concerns including scaffold design, guardrails, specifications and certifications, as well as log books for cranes, hoists and lifting devices, according to OHS records.

Suncor Base Plant. Credit: Suncor Energy

Suncor interim Chief Executive Officer Kris Smith addressed safety at the start of an investor call early Wednesday, saying collision-awareness and fatigue-management systems are being rolled out at all of its sites. The company also doubled the safety component of employees’ annual incentive program, he said.

Suncor’s safety record has been a central theme of Elliott’s campaign against the company, which it took public in April, about three months after a truck accident killed a contractor and injured two others at its Base Plant mine. In June 2021, a person was killed at a Syncrude mine, and two deaths occurred in December 2020 at the Fort Hills mine.

(By Robert Tuttle)

Suncor's fourth-quarter profits increase 76 per cent to $2.74 billion

The Canadian Press

Suncor Energy Inc. says it earned $2.74 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, a 76 per cent increase from the $1.55 billion it earned in the same three months of 2021.

The Calgary-based company says its increased profit was due to the higher price of crude and refined product realizations as well as higher upstream production, partially offset by increased operating expenses.

On an adjusted basis, Suncor says it earned $2.43 billion, or $1.81 per common share, compared to $1.30 billion or 89 cents per common share in the prior year's quarter.

The energy giant says its total upstream production increased to 763,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 743,300 boe/d in the prior year quarter, primarily driven by increased production from the company's oilsands assets.

Suncor's refinery crude throughput was 440,000 barrels per day and its refinery utilization was 94 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 447,000 bbls/d and 96 per cent in the prior-year quarter.

It attributes the decrease in part to unexpected maintenance that occurred in the quarter, including that required as a result of bad weather at the company's Commerce City refinery.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2023.

Decision on new Suncor CEO expected 'very soon'

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Suncor Energy Inc. did not announce the name of its new CEO on its fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday, though interim chief executive Kris Smith said a decision is expected "very soon."

The Calgary-based oil producer and refiner has been on the hunt for a new CEO ever since former chief executive Mark Little resigned last July, under pressure from an aggressive activist investor and in the wake of a spate of workplace deaths and safety incidents.

Smith, who was formerly executive vice-president of Suncor's Downstream division, has been serving as interim CEO since that time. Suncor had previously indicated a permanent CEO would be named by mid-February, and Smith told analysts on a conference call Wednesday that a decision is imminent.

"The board is going through a very diligent process, ensuring that they make the decision that's going to take this company forward," Smith said.

"I mean, we're sitting here at Feb. 15, so I expect the decision and the announcement will be coming fairly soon."

Two of the board directors serving on the CEO search committee were named to Suncor's board in July, as part of a deal the company struck to appease U.S.-based activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

Elliott publicly expressed frustration last spring at what it called a recent decline in performance at the energy producer. At Elliott's urging, Suncor recently completed a strategic review of its downstream retail business, a review that considered possibly selling off the Petro-Canada chain. However, the company ultimately decided to keep the retail business.

In the eight months since being named interim CEO, Smith has implemented a number of changes aimed at improving worker safety at Suncor sites, which had been another problem area flagged by Elliott. At least 12 workers have died at the company's oilsands operations in northern Alberta since 2014, and former CEO Little resigned just one day after the most recent fatality.

Smith told analysts that collision awareness systems are scheduled to go live at Syncrude's Aurora mine by the end of the first quarter, and Suncor is also on track to complete implementation of collision awareness and fatigue management technology systems across all nine of its oilsands sites.

The company is also reducing the size of its contractor work force by 20 per cent, a move Smith said will reduce the number of exposure hours that put the company at risk for workplace injuries or fatalities, while also lowering costs.

"We are making progress on contractor workforce reductions in our mining and upgrading business and remain on track to achieve a 20 per cent reduction by mid-2023," Smith said.

"And to be clear, these reductions will not be replaced by our in-house workforce."

Smith told analysts that he is pleased with the progress that has been made on workplace safety so far.

"I always say, this is a journey, and you don't measure this thing in days and months," he said.

"But what I would say is since I've taken the interim CEO role, I've been pleased with the direction I've seen in safety performance, both in personal safety and process safety. And we've seen a reduction in the number of incidents over that period of time."

Suncor reported Tuesday evening that it earned $2.74 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, a 76 per cent increase from the $1.55 billion it earned in the same three months of 2021.

The company said its increased profit was due to the higher price of crude and refined product realizations as well as higher upstream production, partially offset by increased operating expenses.

On an adjusted basis, Suncor says it earned $2.43 billion, or $1.81 per common share, compared to $1.30 billion or 89 cents per common share in the prior year's quarter.

The energy giant said its total upstream production increased to 763,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 743,300 boe/d in the prior year quarter, primarily driven by increased production from the company's oilsands assets.

It attributed the decrease in part to unexpected maintenance that occurred in the quarter, including that required as a result of bad weather at the company's Commerce City refinery.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Former UK Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn Ruled Out as Election Candidate

BY SIR KEIR RIGHT WING LABOURITE
by Ben Cohen

UK Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer. Photo: Reuters/Jane Barlow

Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, on Wednesday pledged that his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, would not be permitted to stand on the party’s ticket at the next general election as the UK’s main anti-racism watchdog declared itself satisfied that Labour no longer needed to be monitored for antisemitism.

Corybn’s term at the helm of the party — from his shock win as a far left candidate in 2015 to his heavy general election defeat in 2020 — was marked by a succession of scandals over antisemitism. One of the consequences was the monitoring of the party by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent body whose report into Labour antisemitism in Oct. 2020 found that under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour had been guilty of unlawful harassment and discrimination against Jews.

Speaking after the EHRC announced that it would no longer be scrutinizing the party — declaring in a statement that “Britain’s equality regulator has now confirmed that it is content with the actions taken and has concluded its work with the party” — Starmer said that Labour had arrived at an “important moment” in its history that had taken “many, many months of hard work and humility.”

The Labour leader emphasized that it was not a day for “celebration” but rather “one for reflection on how a party that has always prided itself on its anti-racism, its commitment to equality, its belief in a better, fairer Britain could have fallen so far as to betray its own principles, as well as the principles of the country.”

The State Department on Wednesday countered claims made by human rights groups and others that it had withdrawn the nomination...

Addressing those Labour members who had “suffered the most appalling abuse,” Starmer offered an apology.

“Today, on behalf of the entire Labour Party, I say sorry,” Starmer continued. “What you’ve been through cannot be undone. Apologies alone can’t make it right.” He stressed that “under my leadership, there will be zero tolerance of antisemitism, of racism, of discrimination of any kind.”

Dame Margaret Hodge, a Jewish Labour MP, offered her support for Starmer, arguing that Corbyn was responsible for being stripped of the Labour Party’s parliamentary mandate because of his own actions.

“One of the first phone calls that Keir Starmer made after he became elected leader was to me and to other Jews who had suffered under the time of Jew hate with Corbyn,” Hodge told Sky News. “And he promised us then that he would show zero tolerance to antisemitism, and he’s acted.”

Keir Starmer’s decision to bar me is a

‘flagrant attack on democracy’, says Corbyn

Ban is a ‘denial of due process’, claims former leader – as Diane Abbott suggests clash is partly down to Brexit

Adam Forrest
Political Correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as Labour candidate at next election, Keir Starmer says

Jeremy Corbyn has lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to bar him from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election – calling it a “flagrant attack” on democracy.

The former Labour leader, who currently sits as an independent MP, hit out at his successor and described the move as a “divisive distraction from our overriding goal: to defeat the Conservative Party”.

It comes after Sir Keir unequivocally barred Mr Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election during a speech on his party’s crackdown on antisemitism on Wednesday morning.

The Labour leader also welcomed the decision by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to lift the party out of special measures after it was ordered to take action two years ago over its past failings on the issue.

“Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election as a Labour Party candidate. What I said about the Labour Party changing, I meant, and we are not going back,” Sir Keir said.

He added that the party was “unrecognisable from 2019” before delivering a message to left-wingers unhappy with his approach. “To them, I say in all candour: we are never going back. If you don’t like it, nobody is forcing you to stay.”

Recommended

No Jeremy Corbyn: What’s next for Labour’s left?

Responding to Sir Keir, Mr Corbyn said: “Any attempt to block my candidacy is a denial of due process, and should be opposed by anybody who believes in the value of democracy.”

He said blocking his candidacy was thwarting the democratic rights of Labour Party members in the constituency of Islington North. “It is up to them – not party leaders – to decide who their candidate should be,” Mr Corbyn said.

Mr Corbyn, who has been MP for Islington North since 1983, has been sitting as an independent since Sir Keir withdrew the Labour whip from him in October 2020 over his response to the EHRC antisemitism investigation.

The former leader was readmitted to the party by a disciplinary panel as a rank-and-file member, but was then denied the parliamentary whip after a personal intervention by Sir Keir.

Critics of Mr Corbyn say that antisemitism ran out of control in the party under his watch, while his defenders claim that the problem was exaggerated by Labour opponents to undermine him politically.

The left-wing former leader did not say in his statement posted on Twitter whether he would stand as an independent against an official Labour candidate.

“At a time when the government is overseeing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, this is a divisive distraction from our overriding goal: to defeat the Conservative Party at the next general election,” he said.

Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer together in 2019
(Reuters)

Mr Corbyn said he was still “proud to represent the labour movement in parliament”, adding: “I am focused on standing up for workers on the picket line, the marginalised, and all those worried about their futures. That is what I’ll continue to do. I suggest the Labour Party does the same.”

Writing for The Independent, Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said Sir Keir was “right to confirm” that Mr Corbyn would not be a candidate for the party.

“His stubborn refusal to accept his role in allowing antisemitism to flourish, and his assertion that his opponents within the party had exaggerated the issue, means he remains part of the problem and not the solution,” she said.

Labour MP Diane Abbott, one of Mr Corbyn’s longest-standing allies, suggested his clash with Sir Keir was inevitable because of Brexit, saying that the left-wing former leader “in his heart of hearts is a Brexiteer”.

She told the News Agents podcast: “Jeremy in his heart of hearts is a Brexiteer, and Keir Starmer at that point was passionately pro-European.”

Recommended

Starmer has ended Labour’s antisemitism shame, says watchdog

Pressed on whether Mr Corbyn really wanted Britain to leave the EU, she said: “Yes, I’ve known Jeremy a long time. He saw it as a conspiracy of business people and so on. So, that was the common view on the left in the 80s.”

She added: “But Jeremy has always been about uniting the party. He knew most party members were pro-European. But himself, I would say, deep down he was a Brexiter.”