After cemetery strike, grieving Montreal families still waiting to bury loved ones

Morgan Lowrie
Thu, May 23, 2024 

MONTREAL — For more than a year, an urn holding the ashes of Bridget Heffernan's brother has remained in her Montreal-area home instead of being buried in the plot at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery where her family members have been laid to rest for nearly a century.

With her mother's death last September, Heffernan now has two sets of remains to bury instead of one.

But months after the end of a lengthy strike that brought operations at one of Canada's largest cemeteries to a halt, Heffernan says she still can't get an answer on when the burials can take place, despite repeated efforts to reach management.

While she doesn't mind having the urns at her home, she's looking forward to the moment when her mother and brother can be buried in the family plot, with a few family members present and a priest on hand to say a prayer.

"Technically, they're supposed to be in the ground, back to the earth," she said.

The cemetery was largely closed to the public from mid-January to mid-September last year due to a strike by some of its workers that, at one point, resulted in more than 300 bodies being kept in storage awaiting burial. The cemetery reached a deal with maintenance workers in July and with office workers in December.

Éric Choinière, director of sales and customer service for the cemetery, said he understands the wait is difficult for families. “Our hearts go out to the families, and we understand the situation very well,” he said in a phone interview Thursday.

He said a rainy spring and the need for additional IT training for the office workers — who only returned to the job in January — has slowed down the cemetery’s efforts to catch up after the strike. He said appointments are being made “every day,” and the cemetery hopes to clear the backlog by the end of the year.

Denis Martin, a resident of Oka, west of Montreal, said his mother, Eileen Ashford, died last April in Vancouver just shy of her 100th birthday. For months, he has been trying to arrange to have her ashes buried in the family plot at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in the presence of her large family, which included seven children.

They’d originally hoped to hold the ceremony in April, on the one-year anniversary of her death, but Martin was told the backlog at the cemetery was too long to secure the date. He said the process has been emotionally difficult for the family, and especially for those who couldn't attend last year's funeral.

“My mom was around a long, long time,” said Martin, who is now hoping for a date in September. “I'm in my 70s, so it's very rare that you lose your mother in your 70s, so she was a big part of our lives and trying to obtain closure on this has been very difficult.”

Heffernan, who first reached out to the cemetery soon after her brother's death in March 2023, said she's most frustrated by the lack of answers and guidance. While she's received responses to some of her emails, she said it's not clear what she needs to do in order to get a burial date, or where she is on the waiting list.

In frustration, she posted to a local Facebook page, asking if other people have had similar experiences. Several people responded with their own stories of trying to get a burial date, including some who have been waiting as long or longer than she has.

Andy Masterson, whose mother died in August, was among those who shared frustrations. In a phone interview, he said he and his sister have tried reaching out to the cemetery around 10 times, often waiting on hold for over an hour. While the people he manages to speak with are kind, he said he's found the entire process frustrating.

Masterson understands there was a strike, and that burials can't take place in winter, but he feels the way families are being treated is unacceptable. "It just seems to me that somebody would take some sort of initiative to bring on some extra staff, approve some overtime, try to find some way to get caught up, given the very, very sensitive nature of what they do," he said.

He said his mother's remains are being stored at a funeral home until they can be buried in the plot his family has owned since the 1930s. He said he wants a burial date — even if it's not until next year — and for someone to take responsibility for communicating properly with families.

"People need that closure and we just all need to get this done," he said.

Martin, on the other hand, got some good news. Less than an hour after speaking with The Canadian Press Wednesday, he received notice from the cemetery that his mother's burial can take place on Sept. 6 — one of the dates he had requested.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2024.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

CMA LOBBY

Majority of Canadians say capital gains tax changes will make healthcare worse: Survey

More than 60% expect longer waiting lists for family doctors, specialists and referrals


John MacFarlane
·Senior Reporter
Thu, May 23, 2024 

A majority of survey respondents say Canada's capital gains tax changes would probably or definitely lead to fewer physicians becoming family doctors. 

(Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images) 

Most Canadians believe changes to capital gains tax rules announced in the 2024 federal budget will have a negative impact on the healthcare system, with issues around family doctor and specialist access of particular concern, according to a survey by Abacus Data.

More than 60 per cent of those surveyed say the tax changes would probably or definitely lead to fewer physicians becoming family doctors and longer waiting lists for family doctors, specialists and referrals.

The survey was paid for by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), which represents physicians in Canada and has declared itself “deeply concerned” about the tax changes. The government plans to tax Canadian companies and individuals on two-thirds of their realized capital gains, up from 50 per cent. (For individuals, only gains over $250,000 would be taxed at the higher rate.)

We must not create more roadblocks that will add further stress to the health workforce or prevent prospective physicians from choosing to practise in Canada.Dr. Kathleen Ross, CMA president

In a statement, the CMA says many family physicians run their practices through a corporation. It is lobbying for “an exemption for medical professional corporations,” which, it says, “is needed to stabilize and future-proof access to community-based medical care.”

In the statement, CMA president Dr. Kathleen Ross says the association has heard from members who feel “betrayed, discouraged and deflated” by the tax measures. “We must not create more roadblocks that will add further stress to the health workforce or prevent prospective physicians from choosing to practise in Canada.”

The capital gains tax changes have been a magnet for criticism since the budget announcement, with many business groups voicing opposition or seeking changes. Others have welcomed the move, with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives economist David Macdonald noting they've long advocated for the individual-level increase. "If your capital gains are over $250,000 per year, you can afford to contribute more to public services—it’s a question of fairness."

In the survey, 24 per cent of respondents say the capital gains tax changes were a “good” or “very good” idea, while 35 per cent say the idea was ”bad” or “very bad.” Another 24 per cent say the idea was “OK” and 18 per cent were not sure.

A majority of respondents thought a negative impact was probably or definitely likely on a number of different aspects of the healthcare system:

• Longer waiting lists for family doctors (64 per cent)

• Longer waiting lists for specialists and referrals (61 per cent)

• Fewer physicians becoming family physicians (61 per cent)

• Fewer specialist physicians (60 per cent)

• Family physicians moving to other areas of medicine (54 per cent)

• Fewer retirement savings options for physicians (54 per cent)

• Physicians retiring earlier (54 per cent)

The poll also provided details to respondents about the ways in which family physicians commonly structure their businesses. With that information shared, the proportion of respondents who say the government should exempt “healthcare providers who run a community-based medical clinic” from the changes increased from 20 per cent to 28 per cent. The proportion who feel the proposal should be scrapped grew from 29 per cent to 33 per cent, while the proportion who feel the proposal should be passed decreased from 20 per cent to 16 per cent.

The survey canvassed 1,500 Canadian adults between May 6 and May 8. Abacus Data notes “the margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.”

John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jmacf.

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New York will set aside money to help local news outlets hire and retain employees

ALL CAPITALI$M IS STATE CAPITALI$M

Maysoon Khan
Thu, May 23, 2024

The Associated Press


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York is offering up to $90 million in tax credits for news outlets to hire and retain journalists in an effort to help keep the shrinking local news industry afloat.

The U.S. newspaper industry has been in a long decline, driven by factors including a loss in advertising revenue as outlets have moved from primarily print to mostly digital. That prompted state lawmakers to help in a measure passed in the state budget.

New York’s three-year program allows some news organizations to tap into refundable tax credits each year, with a single outlet able to receive tax credits of up to $320,000 annually.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said preserving journalism jobs is vital for the health of democracy. As evidence, he cited the weakened New York news media's failure to research the background of George Santos, a Republican who fabricated many details of his life story, until after he had been elected to Congress.


“Some of my colleagues have dubbed this credit the ‘George Santos Prevention Act’ because many believe it was the lack of local press coverage that enabled Santos to spin his web of lies undetected,” Hoylman-Sigal said.

While it is intended to benefit small community news sites, larger media organizations could also potentially benefit. The tax credits would mostly only be available to news outlets that are not publicly traded, though there would be an exception for certain media businesses that can show a reduction in circulation.

Hoylman-Sigal said he is open to making revisions to expand the legislation to include nonprofit news organizations and digital-only media outlets, which are currently left out of the program.

“This is the first time in American history that we have created a tax credit structure to support journalism jobs,” Jon Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild-CWA, a labor union for journalists, said.

Lawmakers in several states have weighed various approaches to help struggling news organizations.

The state governments in California and New Mexico help fund local news fellowship programs.

The California Legislature is considering a bill that would require tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay a percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content. Google pushed back recently by temporarily removing California news websites from some people’s search results.

In Illinois, lawmakers have proposed a journalism scholarship program, a tax credit and a requirement that news outlets notify the state of plans to sell their operations four months in advance. Bills in Connecticut and Illinois would direct that some money the state spends on advertising go to local outlets.

Most of the measures advancing this year have been in Democrat-controlled states. But Anna Brugmann, director of policy at Rebuild Local News, which advocates for government help for journalism, said there is interest in the idea in red states, too. The hang-up, she said: The initiatives can be expensive.

She noted that in Wisconsin, there were both Republican and Democratic news aid bills this year.

“We’re certainly looking at red and purple states, for the next legislative session,” Brugmann said.

About 203 counties across the U.S. do not have any local news outlets, according to a report last year from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. More than 1,500 – nearly half the counties – have only one.

New York's program, which would start in 2025, will divide tax breaks into two pots, with about $4 million worth of credits available to help newsrooms hire staff and about $26 million in credits to help with staff retention.

Newsrooms could receive $5,000 worth of tax credits for each new hire, with a cap at $20,000, or four new positions. Newsrooms could get up to $300,000 worth of tax credits to help retain staff.

“In a day and age where there’s so much information, having trained journalists who can ask the tough questions and hold elected officials and other public figures accountable is critical to our democracy as a country,” said state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, a Democrat who represents parts of the Rochester area in western New York.

News businesses applying for the tax credit wouldn’t be evaluated based on whether government officials like their coverage, state officials said.

Zachary Richner, the founder of Empire State Local News Coalition, said he hopes regulations for the program will be drafted in a way that prioritizes tax credits for “the news outlets that need it the most.”

Tom Wiley, publisher at The Buffalo News, said the tax credit will help them invest in frontline journalism.

“We think the tax credit will help us continue to be the key source for local news in western New York," Wiley said. “Our work is what sustains an informed electorate in our environment of misinformation and falsehoods.”

___

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Maysoon Khan, The Associated Press

RCMP adds ribbon skirt to uniform in effort to build bridges with Indigenous people

The Canadian Press
Thu, May 23, 2024 



OTTAWA — The RCMP has added a traditional Indigenous ribbon skirt to its uniform.

Commissioner Mike Duheme has announced on social media that officers can now wear the ribbon skirts when donning the red serge.

He says the addition demonstrates the RCMP's commitment to reconciliation, equity, diversity and inclusion.


The RCMP did not immediately provide more details.

Officers have also been allowed to incorporate eagle feathers and the Métis sash into their uniforms.

The national force has aimed to build bridges with Indigenous communities for the role it played in colonialism.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2024.

RCMP ribbon skirt initiative continues to draw mixed reviews

CBC
Sat, May 25, 2024

The RCMP ribbon skirt as shown on social media. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Facebook - image credit)


The national police force is expanding its ceremonial uniform dress code, adding ribbon skirts as an option for Indigenous women and two-spirit employees. It's a decision that has been met with a range of public feedback, from enthusiasm to criticism.

The RCMP announced the initiative on Wednesday with a photo featuring a headless Mountie wearing a ribbon skirt featuring the colours yellow, red, blue and white — meant to represent both the four directions and the RCMP colours.

The traditional skirts have different meanings for each person who wears them, but for many, the skirt is a symbol of resilience.

Knowledge Keeper and residential school survivor Judy Pelly was moved to tears when she saw the news. In 2020, Pelly's grand-daughter, Isabella Kulak, was shamed by a staff member at her school for wearing a ribbon skirt, an incident that garnered international attention.

Pelly said the RCMP ribbon skirt is a positive step forward to celebrating Indigenous women and reconciliation.

"It's so heartwarming," said Pelly, an Anishinaabe woman from Cote First Nation.

"[Ribbon skirts] mean a lot to us. They're our connection to Mother Earth, our connection to being the foundation of our communities, and also women stepping up and being proud of who they are."

Others doubt the RCMP's intentions are sincere.

"A lot of people out there are very upset because of the colonial history of the RCMP, what they've done to us as a people, and now here they are again, colonizing our identity, what we choose to wear," said Jessica Gordon, who is the director of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for YWCA Canada and a member of the Pasqua First Nation.

Gordon said the RCMP is displaying the ribbon skirt initiative like an act of reconciliation, but she feels it is performative.

"Throwing a few ribbons on a skirt — it's not really getting to the root causes of colonialism and what they have to do to repair those relationships."

Uniform skirt lacks individuality, Gordon says

The RCMP said, in a written statement, that the ribbon skirt initiative came from the Women's Indigenous Network, which is an employee-led, force-wide network for RCMP Indigenous women and two-spirit employees.

But Gordon criticized the RCMP's approach to the uniform ribbon skirt, saying it lacks individuality and uniqueness.

"I think if [RCMP] want to show their Indigenous members that they want to hear them — and they want to be able to show their pride and who they are as Indigenous people — they should allow them to wear their own skirts made by themselves or their family members, something that means something to them," Gordon said.

She said this would respect the individualism, empowerment and uniqueness that is shown and felt through a ribbon skirt.

RCMP say the usage of the ribbon skirt went through broad internal and external consultations before the Commissioner "approved the addition of the RCMP Ribbon Skirt as an Indigenous cultural item of honour and distinction."

It noted the Eagle Feather, for First Nation members, and the Métis Sash, for Métis members, are also approved Indigenous cultural items of honour and distinction.

The RCMP said some examples of occasions that members can wear an approved cultural item include: receiving an award, formal spiritual services, weddings, mess events, cadet troop graduations, formal dinners and ceremonies, school talks or presentations, as well as media or community events.

As of May 2024, there were 311 Indigenous RCMP members who identified as women, non-binary or Two-Spirit. They will have the option of wearing the skirt at such events.

Building bridges important, says Pelly

Knowledge Keeper Pelly acknowledged the dark role the RCMP played in colonization and residential schools, as well as ongoing issues of systemic racism and a distrust toward police stemming from intergenerational trauma.

But she believes the police force is taking steps to acknowledge these harms and make changes.

Judy Pelly, an Anishinaabe woman from the Cote First Nation, never imagined ribbon skirts would become an official part of the RCMP. She says it's a positive step forward.

Judy Pelly, an Anishinaabe woman from the Cote First Nation, never imagined ribbon skirts would become an official part of the RCMP. She says it's a positive step forward. (Jason Warick/CBC)

"None of us is responsible for what happened in that history. None of us alive were there, but we can do what we can to go forward," Pelly said.

"Now we're building bridges."

She said she's excited to see ribbon skirts more widely worn and respected.

"It's become quite a sense of pride for me. I wear ribbon skirts every day," Pelly said.

"It helps me ground me, and who I am and never to forget that we are here. We're Indigenous women. We're not going anywhere."

Removing religion as hate speech defence an idea worth exploring: antisemitism envoy

The Canadian Press
Thu, May 23, 2024 

OTTAWA — Canada's special envoy for combating antisemitism says she is "very interested" in exploring the idea of removing religion as a possible defence against hate speech charges, drawing concern about the prospect of a chill on religious expression.

Deborah Lyons, whose title also includes preserving Holocaust remembrance, made the comment before a parliamentary committee that is studying antisemitism on university campuses.

"I am very interested in exploring (it) as an option because I think, frankly, we are seeing it used in this country and in other places as a defence that, frankly, does not stand the ground in these very difficult times," she testified Thursday.

Still, Lyons said she is not ready to offer a final opinion on the matter, and is still discussing it with Justice Department officials.

Jewish leaders, students and faculty have for months been voicing concerns over an increase in hate speech and violence since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war last fall.

Lyons said she believes universities' equity, diversity and inclusion strategies are "failing Jews in this country" because they don't make much mention of antisemitism specifically.

Her office is working to develop better training to counter anti-Jewish discrimination, which she hopes institutions, including governments, will use.

Members of Parliament asked Lyons about the role police and prosecutors play in laying hate-speech related charges, and whether Criminal Code changes are needed.

They pointed to a recent decision by Quebec prosecutors not to charge Montreal imam Adil Charkaoui over comments said during a prayer.

The comments were delivered at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Montreal, and led to a complaint alleging threats and incitement of violence, which was investigated by the RCMP.

Leading a prayer in Arabic, Charkaoui had called on God to "take care of aggressor Zionists," adding "O God, don't leave any of them."

Last week, the province's director of public prosecutions announced that a committee of three Crown attorneys found the evidence insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the words amounted to an incitement of hatred toward an identifiable group, as defined in the Criminal Code.

Using the case as an example, Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin asked Lyons whether she supports his party's proposal to eliminate a section of the Criminal Code that allows the use of religious beliefs or a religious text as a defence against the promotion of hatred and antisemitism.

The Criminal Code states that people shouldn't be convicted of the willful promotion of hatred or antisemitism — defined as downplaying or denying the Holocaust — if, "in good faith," they expressed an opinion "on a religious subject" or "based on a belief in a religious text."

Fortin said his party wants to ban "exceptions" to hate speech based on religion.

"Certainly I think that it's something we've got to continue to examine," Lyons said.

Justice Minister Arif Virani's office said the government is reviewing the Bloc's proposal.

“Canadians of any religious identity have the right to express their religious beliefs in public in Canada. This right is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," said spokesperson Chantalle Aubertin.

"Hate speech is markedly different from free expression."

Virani is already seeking to increase the punishments for existing hate-related offences, including increasing the maximum consequence for advocating genocide to life imprisonment.

Those changes are part of Liberal online harms legislation tabled in February.

Boris Bytensky, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, said in light of that legislation, now is the time to examine the defences allowed for hate speech and whether they are being applied correctly.

He suggested the current reference to religion is meant to apply when someone is lecturing about what a religion or religious text says, not to be used as a justification for promoting hate.

"That's the line that gets crossed."

Removing the religion defence altogether would create "genuine fear" among those with deeply held religious beliefs about what they are allowed to say in the public square, said Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett.

"Often, religious people privatize their faith because they're afraid that if I speak about what I believe, in good faith, in the public square, I'm going to be cancelled, or I'm going to be shut down," said Bennett, the faith communities program director at the Cardus public-policy think tank.

He said if any "chill" is put on religious expression, that could marginalize a sizable part of the population, including many new Canadians for whom "religion is not just some sort of cultural relic" but "informs all aspects of society."

"In many cases, they've come here because of the religious freedom we enjoy, and so to then say to those new Canadians in particular, 'Oh, by the way, you can't speak about your religion publicly for fear of being (censored),' I think that's a very bad message to send."

Bennett said the debate raises questions about how hate is defined and what makes a hateful view "different from a peacefully held opinion that someone might profoundly disagree with."

In the case of Charkaoui's comments, Marco Mendicino, a Liberal MP, said he found the call by Quebec's Crown not to press charges against the imam "incomprehensible and deeply problematic."

Mendicino, a former prosecutor who previously served as public safety minister, listed other examples at the committee hearing of what he described as hateful comments uttered at recent demonstrations.

But Charkaoui's words were "perhaps one of the most egregious offences that I have seen," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2024.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

This N.W.T. man was on a survey looking for birds. Instead he found the wreckage of a plane


CBC
Fri, May 24, 2024 

Earl Evans has flown the same survey flight for years, but has never seen anything like what he spotted earlier this week: the wreckage of a plane that went down 53 years ago.

(Submitted by Earl Evans - image credit)


Earl Evans was out on a whooping crane survey in Wood Buffalo National Park with Parks Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service when he saw something he'd never seen before.

Evans, who lives in Fort Smith, N.W.T., said he's done the same survey flight for years.

"I told the pilot, 'there's something on the ground over there that shouldn't be there,'" he said.

"The sun hit something off to the north, so I kept my eye on it. Just as we were going by, I saw it was something that wasn't normal."

Evans told the pilot to turn the helicopter around to go check it out.

As they got closer, Evans realized what he was seeing.

"It appeared to be a wing. A wing off an aircraft," Evans recalled.

"I've been in Fort Smith all my life and I've never heard of a plane going down in that area."

Evans said he thinks that area is normally underwater, which is why he and others on the flight hadn't spotted the downed aircraft before. The N.W.T. is experiencing historically low water levels across the territory.

"It looked like it was submerged in a bit of water," he said. "It looked kind of eerie sitting in that swamp over here like that."

He said he had also flown the exact same route a few months ago.

"I flew over that several times," he said. "It would have been visible," he said

.

.Satellite imagery taken on May 8, 2024 by the European Space Agency's Sentinel 2 satellite shows the area south of Little Buffalo River where Evan said he spotted the plane. ((Sentinel-2/European Space Agency))

Evans said he only got a "fleeting" glimpse of the plane. The survey team only did one loop down to where the plane was spotted so they wouldn't run out of fuel.

No one on the flight managed to take a photo.

"No one even thought of taking a friggin' picture," Evans said.

A fatal crash

When Evans got back to Fort Smith, he talked to Parks Canada who got ahold of NAV Canada. Both told Evans they were looking into it.

A spokesperson for Parks Canada referred CBC to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada and the RCMP.

In a statement, the TSB said the plane Evans spotted dates back to a collision from 1971, when two water bombers collided mid-air while fighting a forest fire at Little Buffalo River and answering a distress call from a downed helicopter.

Both planes spiralled into the ground, killing four people.

It was investigated by Transport Canada at the time.

SWEAT SHOP BOARD ROOM POLITICS

Glenn Chamandy officially back at the Gildan helm after boardroom battle

The Canadian Press

Glenn Chamandy is officially back as the chief executive of Gildan after a months-long public battle over leadership of the Montreal-based clothing company he co-founded.

Chamandy was terminated last year to make way for Vince Tyra, kicking off protests by several major Gildan shareholders that disagreed with the decision.

Shareholders, led by activist investor Browning West, campaigned to have the Gildan board replaced at the company's annual meeting next week, and to have co-founder Chamandy brought back.

Browning West announced Thursday evening that its campaign was successful, as Gildan's board and new CEO stepped aside after preliminary votes showed the investor's plan was the clear favourite.

Gildan announced Friday that Chamandy is officially back in as its president and CEO, effective immediately.

The company says Michael Kneeland is now the non-executive chair of the board.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2024

Gildan's board resigns en masse, handing victory to activist Browning West

Thomas Seal and Mathieu Dion, Bloomberg New

GILDAN ACTIVEWEAR INC (GIL:CT)

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Gildan Activewear Inc.’s entire board of directors and Chief Executive Officer Vince Tyra quit on Thursday, conceding defeat after a bruising five-month battle with an activist shareholder over the future of the Canadian clothing maker.

The mass resignation marks a dramatic win for investment firm Browning West LP, owner of about five per cent of Gildan’s shares. It will take control of the board, install Michael Kneeland as chair and reinstate former CEO Glenn Chamandy to run the business under a new strategy.

Gildan’s board took the decision after shareholders “made their views clear” in advance of an investor meeting scheduled for May 28. Browning West said preliminary results suggested an “overwhelming majority” of shares would be voted in favour of its eight proposed directors at that meeting. 

The outgoing board halted all discussions on a previously-announced sale process, Gildan said in a statement. 

The company, one of the world’s largest makers of affordable T-shirts and owner of the American Apparel brand, has spent months embroiled in a toxic feud over its direction and who should be in charge. Browning West launched a campaign to eject the board in December after directors fired Chamandy and replaced him with Tyra, a former Fruit of the Loom executive and former athletic director at the University of Louisville. 

Montreal-based Gildan, which was founded by Chamandy’s grandfather, has become a US$6 billion company through a strategy of manufacturing in cheap-labour countries, allowing it to become a low-cost supplier of T-shirts and other apparel to retailers such as Walmart Inc. and to printwear shops and designers.

The board had accused Chamandy of being a disengaged CEO, of stalling an agreed-upon succession plan and of wanting to pursue a risky acquisition strategy — he proposed to acquire two distributors for more than $3 billion, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

But shareholders, led by Browning but including other large investors such as Jarislowsky Fraser and Janus Henderson Group, rallied to Chamandy’s side and called for his reinstatement.

The very public proxy fight already prompted Gildan to overhaul its board only one month ago. On May 1, five directors stood down, with replacements appointed including former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Tim Hodgson as chairman. Another two said they’d leave at the May 28 shareholder meeting.

But that wasn’t enough. In recent days, proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. backed Browning West. Unusually, so did a group of Gildan’s own executives, who wrote a letter to shareholders suggesting they should support Browning West’s efforts so that Chamandy could return. 

In March, Browning West and Chamandy laid out plans to boost revenue, borrow more money and accelerate share buybacks to lift the stock price. Their strategy proposed that Gildan, which employs about 43,000 people worldwide, should shift more of its production to a facility in Bangladesh and away from Honduras, where energy and labor costs are higher, and focus on trying to grow in higher-end segments of the market, such as fleece products and clothing with better-quality fabric.

Their stated goal is to increase the share price to $60 by the end of next year and more than $100 in about five years. Gildan closed at $35.55 on Thursday in New York. 

“Our directors are eager to begin working toward their common goal of delivering enhanced shareholder value, which begins with reinstating Glenn Chamandy as CEO,” Browning West’s Usman Nabi and Peter Lee said in a statement. 

“Glenn is a visionary leader with a track record of value creation, an unparalleled knowledge of Gildan’s manufacturing business, a deep connection with the company’s employees and shareholders, and an impressive ability to foresee key industry shifts to keep Gildan one step ahead of competitors.”

 

Bank regulator in Canada warns of housing-payment shock by 2026

Stephanie Hughes, Bloomberg News

Residential buildings in Toronto, Ontario.

, Bloomberg

Canada’s banking watchdog warned that many homeowners who took out mortgages when rates were near zero during the pandemic will soon face a reckoning as those loans renew.

The “payment shock” faced by some borrowers is among the most important risks currently in the financial system, according to the latest risk outlook from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, released Wednesday. 

The regulator said that 76 per cent of outstanding residential mortgages as of February will be coming up for renewal by the end of 2026. Most worrisome are the 15 per cent of mortgages that have variable rates with fixed payments. Some of those loans are negatively amortizing — that is, the regular payments no longer cover the full interest costs because rates have gone up so quickly, so the principal balance is increasing. 

Eventually, those borrowers have to make lump-sum payments or accept much higher monthly outlays, the regulator said.

“We expect payment increases to lead to a higher incidence of residential mortgage loans falling into arrears or defaults,” OSFI said. 

Housing risks have been a longstanding concern for Canada as households contend with high home prices, elevated interest rates and inflation levels eating more of their take-home pay. 

The report added that the labor market remains relatively strong, but any weakness may change the risk landscape significantly. 

The Bank of Canada’s benchmark overnight lending rate has been at 5 per cent since last July, the highest level in more than two decades. That’s crucial because many Canadians have mortgages with interest rates tied to the central-bank rate. The longer rates stay elevated, the longer those households will be dealing with financial strain.  

‘Mouse in the Snake’

Peter Routledge, the superintendent of financial institutions, said the issue of variable-rate mortgages with fixed payments is like a “mouse in the snake” — it’s a sizable problem the banks are slowly digesting, but it still has the potential to lead to outsized losses.

“The good news is that banks and Canadians are managing that problem early, and part of the reason we’ve been vocal about it is to prompt a bit of early action,” Routledge said in an interview on BNN Bloomberg Television.

OSFI’s report also raised security risks from hostile foreign actors, wholesale credit and liquidity as potential problems in the system. The regulator said it was concerned about financial institutions’ security and integrity being under attack by fraud and money laundering. 

The regulator plans to address foreign-interference concerns through a new group given the task of ensuring that banks and other financial institutions address threats to national security.