Iran protests continue as demonstrators commemorate deadly crackdown in southeast

NEWS WIRES - 30m ago


Protests in Iran raged on streets into Thursday with demonstrators remembering a bloody crackdown in the country's southeast, even as the nation's intelligence minister and army chief renewed threats against local dissent and the broader world.


Iran protests continue as demonstrators commemorate deadly crackdown in southeast© AFP

Meanwhile, a top official in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed it had “achieved” having so-called hypersonic missiles, without providing any evidence.

The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country's morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation's theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested in the unrest, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that's been monitoring the protests over their 54 days. Iran's government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one.

As demonstrators now return to the streets to mark 40th-day remembrances for those slain earlier - commemorations common in Iran and the wider Middle East - the protests may turn into cyclical confrontations between an increasingly disillusioned public and security forces that turn to greater violence to suppress them.

Online videos emerging from Iran, despite government efforts to suppress the internet, appeared to show demonstrations in Tehran, the capital, as well as cities elsewhere in the country. Near Isfahan, video showed clouds of tear gas. Shouts of “Death to the Dictator” could be heard - a common chant in the protests targeting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries or arrests in this round of protests, though Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the demonstrations near Isfahan. They commemorated the Sept. 30 crackdown in Zahedan, a city in Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan province, in which activists say security forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike amid the demonstrations.

>> Zahedan's 'Bloody Friday': Reconstructing a massacre in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province

Meanwhile Thursday, Guard Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a speech that his forces “achieved” acquiring hypersonic missiles. However, he offered no photograph, video or other evidence to support the claim and the Guard's vast ballistic missile program is not known to have any of the weapons in its arsenal.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.

China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and has said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Iranian officials have kept up their threats against the demonstrators and the wider world. In an interview with Khamenei's personal website, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib renewed threats against Saudi Arabia, a nation along with Britain, Israel and the U.S. that officials have blamed for fomenting unrest that appears focused on local grievances.

Khatib warned that Iran's “strategic patience” could run out.

“Throwing stones at powerful Iran by countries sitting in glass houses has no meaning other than crossing the borders of rationality into the darkness of stupidity,” Khatib said. “Undoubtedly, if the will of the Islamic Republic of Iran is given to reciprocate and punish these countries, the glass palaces will collapse and these countries will not see stability.”

Iran blames Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, for stirring up protesters. The broadcaster in recent days said the Metropolitan Police warned that two of its British-Iranian journalists faced threats from Iran that “represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”

Last week, U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia shared intelligence with America that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom. Iran later called the claim “baseless,” though the threats from Tehran continue.

The commander of the ground forces of Iran's regular army, Brig. Gen. Kiumars Heydari, separately issued his own threat against the protesters, whom he called “flies.”

“If these flies are not dealt with today as the revolutionary society expects, it is the will of the supreme leader of the revolution," he reportedly said. "But the day he issues an order to deal with them, they will definitely have no place in the country.”

(AP)

What’s ‘Putin’s chef’ cooking up with talk on US meddling?

By The Associated Press

Today

Yevgeny Prigozhin, top, serves food to then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at Prigozhin's restaurant outside Moscow, Russia in Nov. 11, 2011. Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin kept a low profile over the years, but he has been increasingly in the spotlight recently. He has admitted that he is behind the Russian mercenary force that reportedly has been involved in conflicts around the world, including Ukraine. 

(AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, Pool, File)

Yevgeny Prigozhin has had many roles: Convicted felon and hot dog vendor. Owner of a swanky St. Petersburg restaurant and holder of lucrative government catering contracts. Founder of a mercenary military force involved in Russia’s various conflicts.

Prigozhin has kept a low profile over the years. But in recent months, the 61-year-old entrepreneur with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin has become more and more public with his activities, especially involving Moscow’s 8-month-old war in Ukraine.

This week, he gained new attention by admitting his involvement — previously denied — in the events that drew the scrutiny of U.S. officials: meddling in American elections.

‘PUTIN’S CHEF’

Prigozhin and Putin go way back, with both born in Leningrad, what is now known as St. Petersburg.

During the final years of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin served time in prison — 10 years by his own admission — although he did not say what it was for.

Afterward, he owned a hot dog stand and then fancy restaurants that drew interest from Putin. In his first term, the Russian leader took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of them.

“Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk, he saw that I don’t mind serving to the esteemed guests because they were my guests,” Prigozhin recalled in an interview published in 2011.

His businesses expanded significantly to catering and providing school lunches. In 2010, Putin helped open Prigozhin’s factory that was built on generous loans by a state bank. In Moscow alone, his company Concord won millions of dollars in contracts to provide meals at public schools. He also organized catering for Kremlin events for several years — earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef” — and has provided catering and utility services to the Russian military.

In 2017, opposition figure and corruption fighter Alexei Navalny accused Prigozhin’s companies of breaking antitrust laws by bidding for some $387 million in Defense Ministry contracts.

MILITARY CONNECTION

For years, media reports and Western officials linked Prigozhin to a Russian private military contractor called the Wagner Group, a mercenary force said to have been involved in conflicts in Libya and Syria, as well as in under-the-radar military operations across at least a half-dozen African countries. The group also has played a prominent role in fighting in Ukraine.

Prigozhin had always denied having anything to do with Wagner. But in September, he acknowledged being the founder of Wagner in a social media statement released by his companies’ press service. He said that when fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Kyiv’s forces in 2014, he was seeking to “put together a group (of fighters) that would go (there) and defend the Russians.”

He also admitted that Wagner “defended the Syrian people, other peoples of the Arab countries, disadvantaged Africans and Latin Americans.”

Video emerged recently of a man resembling Prigozhin visiting Russian penal colonies to recruit prisoners to fight in Ukraine. Asked about these visits, he didn’t directly confirm or deny it, only saying through his press service that he was once incarcerated and thus has been in a number of prisons.

Prigozhin has also spoken about the construction of a “Wagner line” — a system of trenches and anti-tank defenses — in Luhansk, one of four Ukrainian provinces illegally annexed by Moscow in September, and the creation of training centers for defensive militias in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions that border Ukraine

Wagner also opened a business center in St. Petersburg to wide fanfare, and Prigozhin boasted it would become a platform for increasing Russia’s “defense capabilities,” promising to expand to other locations if successful.

ELECTION MEDDLING

In 2018, Prigozhin and a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged in the U.S. with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord and dividing American public opinion ahead of the 2016 presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump. They were indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference. Prigozhin was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.

After the indictment, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying, in a clearly sarcastic remark: “Americans are very impressionable people; they see what they want to see. I treat them with great respect. I’m not at all upset that I’m on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.”

The Justice Department in 2020 moved to dismiss charges against two of the firms, Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering, saying they had concluded a trial against a corporate defendant with no presence in the U.S. and no prospect of meaningful punishment even if convicted would likely expose sensitive law enforcement tools and techniques.

In July, the State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about Russian interference in U.S. elections, including on Prigozhin and the Internet Research Agency, the troll farm in St. Petersburg that his companies were accused of funding.

Prigozhin had denied involvement in any of that — until Monday, the eve of the U.S. midterms. The press service of one of his companies posted on social media his response to a question from a Russian news outlet about allegations of such interference.

“Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” the response read. “During our pinpoint operations, we will be removing both of the kidneys and the liver at once.”

Some Russian state-funded media described his remarks as irony.

In response, the White House called him “a known bad actor who has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union,” and State Department spokesman Ned Price said Prigozhin’s “bold confession, if anything, appears to be just a manifestation of the impunity that crooks and cronies enjoy under President Putin and the Kremlin.”

Prigozhin reacted to Price’s remarks in English, saying, among other things, that the U.S. has been “rudely meddling” with elections around the world for decades.

SARCASM OR BOOSTING HIS PROFILE?

Whether sarcastic or not, the remark gained wide attention in the West. It also fueled long-brewing speculation that he is seeking a bigger role on Russia’s political scene.

Prigozhin said through his press service he doesn’t plan to “formalize his political status in any way. ... And if I am offered this, I think that I will refuse.”

He has joined the strongman leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in publicly criticizing Moscow’s military brass over its conduct of the war.

Some media reports suggested Prigozhin’s influence on Putin is growing and he is after a prominent political post. But analysts warned against overestimating his political significance.

“He’s not one of Putin’s close figures or a confidant,” said Mark Galeotti of University College, London, who specializes in Russian security affairs, speaking on his podcast “In Moscow’s Shadows.”

“Prigozhin does what the Kremlin wants and does very well for himself in the process. But that’s the thing — he is part of the staff rather than part of the family,” Galeotti said.

Analysts say Prigozhin’s influence has grown but remains rather limited.

Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of the independent R.Politik think tank, in a recent Telegram post called Prigozhin “influential in his own way.”

Although Prigozhin denies it, Stanovaya said he meets regularly with Putin, especially recently. She added that he has close ties with certain security agencies and “with some of his functions, he can even claim the role of Putin’s private special service,” Stanovaya wrote.

She noted, however, that his influence “is indeed greatly exaggerated in the West” and is limited to a “narrow and peculiar” niche.

COLD WAR TOO

Canada FM warns businesses against deepening China ties

By ROB GILLIES

yesterday

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s foreign minister said Wednesday that China is an increasingly disruptive, global power and warned businesses against deepening their ties, saying there were “geopolitical risks.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly made the remarks at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto ahead of her government introducing a Indo-Pacific strategy next month.

“The China of 1970 is not the China of today. China is an increasingly disruptive, global power,” Joly said. “It seeks to shape the global environment into one that is more permissive for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours.”

Joly said Canada has serious concerns about Beijing undermining global security, commerce and peace. Part of that includes “credible accounts of human rights abuse and crimes against humanity” in the Xinjiang region against the Muslim minority known as the Uyghur.

“What I would like to say to Canadians doing business in and with China: You need to be clear-eyed. The decisions you take as businesspeople are your own. As Canada’s top diplomat, my job is to tell you that there are geopolitical risks linked to doing business with the country,” Joly said.

Joly said Canada will deepen economic ties with Taiwan and continue to stand up for freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Hong Kong. She said Canada will challenge China when it ought to and cooperate when it must.

The remarks represent a pivot for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who have generally tried to avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.

China previously embraced Trudeau in part because of his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who in 1970 became one of the first Western leaders to establish diplomatic relations with Communist China.

China has taken an increasingly hard line in foreign relations, and ties with Canada nosedived after China, the U.S. and Canada completed what was effectively a high-stakes prisoner swap last year involving a top executive from Chinese tech giant Huawei who had been charged with fraud by the U.S.

China jailed two Canadians shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request. They were sent back to Canada in September, the same day Meng returned to China after reaching a deal with U.S. authorities in her case.

Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage politics,” while China has described the charges against Huawei and Meng as a politically motivated attempt to hold back China’s economic and technological development.

Canada has banned wireless carriers from installing Huawei equipment in its high-speed 5G networks, joining allies in shunning the company that has close links with the ruling Communist Party and its military wing, the People’s Liberation Army.

Canada has also ordered three Chinese companies to sell lithium mining assets in Canada after it imposed limits on foreign involvement in supplying “critical minerals” used in batteries and high-tech products.

Former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, called new the strategy a major shift and said Beijing will not be pleased. He said Washington will be.

“China will say it’s a confirmation that Canada is the lap dog of the Americans but my answer would be you didn’t leave us any choice,” Saint-Jacques said.

Saint-Jacques said it took awhile for the Trudeau government to see China for what it is now.

“Justin Trudeau was living with the legacy of his father,” he said. “But after we opened diplomatic relations with China we invested in good faith in the relationship. We thought as China opened up it would open up with freedom of expression and basic human rights, but since Xi Jinping came to power 10 years ago China has become a very authoritarian regime.”

A housing bubble burst would be worse in Canada than U.S.: Rosenberg

Iva Poshnjari, 

BNN Bloomberg

Up Next 

Nov 4, 2022

A prominent Bay Street economist says if a housing bubble burst were to happen, it would be far worse in Canada than in the U.S.

“There can all be a little doubt that the housing market in Canada is heading into a steep downturn,” David Rosenberg, the president, chief economist and strategist of Rosenberg Research, wrote in a note to clients on Friday. 
 
“The bubble north of the border is far more acute and will pay a deeper price for the interest-rate hikes that have already been implemented.”

 
Rosenberg pointed to the reality of Canadian home prices reaching far above the average income level throughout the country, especially when compared to those in the United States. 
 
He cautioned that debt to disposable income in Canada is far greater than in the U.S. For every dollar Canadians earn, they owe $1.65 to debt, whereas Americans owe $1 to debt for every dollar they make, according to data from Havers Analytics. 
 
“On a relative basis, Canada is extremely exposed compared to the United States,” Rosenberg stated. 
 
The average price of a home in Canada is $640,479 as of September 2022, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). In the country's more densely populated regions, like Toronto, the average home price remains well above $1 million, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. 
 
Rosenberg is also concerned about the large amount of Canadians who have taken on variable interest rates for their home mortgages in comparison to Americans.
 
Slightly over one third of Canadians hold a variable rate mortgage that will be renewed within the tightened interest rate environment versus only the five per cent of U.S. homeowners who have a variable rate, according to Havers Analytics.  
 
“That is an absolutely astonishing number. I’m talking about that 34 per cent share in mortgages that respond quickly to higher interest rates in Canada,” he stated.
 
The data also revealed that Canadians have tied 46 per cent of their assets to residential real estate and 55 per cent of their net worth is from housing.
 
This is double compared to their U.S. counterparts, the data showed

The pace of tech job cuts is reaching early pandemic levels

Julia Love, 

Bloomberg News 

Nov> 8,2022

Job cuts in the technology industry are accelerating, nearing levels seen in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies both large and small curtail ambitions and brace for tough times ahead.

In recent weeks, a spate of tech companies have said they will pause hiring or cut jobs outright in the face of sluggish consumer spending, spiraling inflation and a strong dollar undercutting sales overseas. Leaders in the industry, a major driver of the global economy for the last decade, sense that they're in a higher-risk environment, making them less willing to spend to grow their businesses like in years past.  

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is poised to cut thousands of workers this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. That follows Elon Musk's decision to halve Twitter Inc.'s staff last week after acquiring the social network. Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have all slowed or paused hiring. 

Investments in more speculative technology will receive greater scrutiny, said Jo-Ellen Pozner, an assistant professor of management at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business.

“For the big companies, it's reasonable to assume that the rising tide that has been floating their boats for the past 15 years is just now a lot choppier,” Pozner said. “They clearly need to trim and to rationalize projects that they just haven't had to do for a decade and a half because the environment was so munificent.”

With tech executives growing more pessimistic about the economy, the industry shed 9,587 jobs in October, the highest monthly total since November 2020, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a consulting firm. Challenger tallies job cuts announced or confirmed by companies across telecom, electronics, hardware manufacturing and software development.

The second quarter of 2020 still ranks as the worst three-month period for layoffs since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but this year is shaping up to be grimmer for job cuts than 2020 overall, according to Roger Lee of Layoffs.fyi. More than 104,000 startup workers have lost their jobs so far this year, surpassing the roughly 81,000 posts shed in 2020, said Lee, whose site tracks cuts at startups, which it defines as any firm formed after the dot-com bubble. Layoffs.fyi's estimates differ from Challenger's because they include numbers from media reports companies may not have confirmed.

The pandemic cuts may not compare to the current situation. As soon as people started working from home and isolating, they turned to tech companies' products for remote work, food delivery and social connection, spurring significant growth. Now, the tech companies face a different economic reality. 

In recent earnings reports, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft Corp. and others fell short of projections, sending shares plunging and shaving hundreds of millions to billions of dollars from their market valuations. Meta, for instance, has lost more than 71 per cent of its value so far this year, with investors uncomfortable with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg's invesments in an immersive digital world called the metaverse.

The predicament is more dire for startups, which likely will have to make more significant cuts to their staffs as soaring interest rates hinder their ability to raise capital, said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, a research firm based in Palo Alto, California.

“It's real, and it won't go away until we get interest and inflation rates back to normal,” Levy said of startups' woes.

To be sure, the scale of layoffs remains a far cry from the cuts made after the dot-com bubble burst. In 2001, the tech industry shed 168,395 jobs, followed by another 131,294 posts lost in 2002, according to Challenger.

The composition of the industry has changed greatly since those days. Many of the firms that survived the dot com bust are now sprawling enterprises, meaning that this contraction in the tech economy may be more a case of large firms tightening their belts, rather than small companies closing up shop.

“Most of the industry, and the jobs, are in the big companies now,” Levy said.

Centre aims to help Calgary retain its title of 'energy capital of Canada'

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Nov 8, 2022

Across from the headquarters of some of Canada's largest oil and gas companies, a new initiative aims to ensure that Calgary and its largest industry aren't left behind in the global pursuit of a low-carbon economy. 

The "Energy Transition Centre," a $4.2 million office space that marked its grand opening Tuesday, is meant to be a place where academics, start-ups, and the traditional oil and gas sector can work together on the development and commercialization of new energy technologies — everything from emissions reduction to hydrogen to carbon capture to renewable fuels.

The facility is a partnership between the University of Calgary, Innovate Calgary and Avatar Innovations, a local company that works with the oil and gas sector to promote innovation and technology, and has received funding from the federal government as well as CIBC.

Ed McCauley, president of the University of Calgary, said the purpose of the centre is to help ensure "the title of the energy capital of Canada will never leave town."

While Calgary still ranks oil and gas as its number one industry, climate change and the global push to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions represent a major challenge to the city's dominant sector. And though oil prices are currently high, the city is still dealing with the after-effects of eight years of low commodity prices, layoffs and consolidation. For example, Calgary has a downtown office vacancy rate of around 30 per cent, the highest in the country.

But many in the city believe Calgary, because it already has the energy infrastructure and engineering talent pool in place, is better poised than most cities to benefit from the coming global energy transition. 

“I’m very positive on the energy transition in Calgary. Everybody knows Calgary is one of the biggest energy centres in the world," said Ling Bai, founder and CEO of VL Energy Ltd., a start-up with office space in the Energy Transition Centre, working in the area of emissions reduction.

"For myself, I started my career working in the traditional, conservative, oil and gas industry," Bai added. "To me, we have the biggest foundation to do the energy transition here."

A 2021 study commissioned by provincial economic development groups concluded the global energy transition could create 170,000 jobs in Alberta and contribute $61 billion to the province's GDP by 2050. 

The report also suggested Alberta will have to swiftly ramp up investment in clean tech or risk missing out. It said Alberta will need to invest more than $2.1 billion a year in clean tech by 2030, increasing to $5.5 billion in clean tech by 2040 in order to fully capitalize on the opportunity.

The current level of cleantech investment in Alberta is less than $1 billion annually.

Last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the creation of two new tax credits for clean technology and low-emitting hydrogen production. The government also previously announced an investor tax credit for carbon capture and storage projects.

Kevin Krausert, CEO and co-founder of Avatar Innovations, said there is a growing recognition that countries won't be able to meet their climate commitments through electrification and renewables alone. 

"The cheapest, fastest and simplest way to get (to net-zero) is by working with existing systems," Krausert said. "The oil and gas industry, and its multi-trillions' worth of dollars of energy infrastructure, can and must drive the emissions reductions needed to get to net-zero by 2050."

Krausert said thanks to 2022's high oil prices, this country's large-cap energy companies have the financial capital to deploy some of the solutions that are currently being developed by start-up entrepreneurs and university researchers. He said many of the start-ups working out of the Energy Transition Centre are already working on contracts or collaborations with some of Calgary's biggest corporations.

“The oil and gas industry has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to come out as the hero in the energy transition, by responsibly delivering abundant and affordable energy and investing in the technologies that are going to get us to net-zero," Krausert said.

"This forum – immediately across the street from Suncor, Cenovus, TC Energy — provides a direct daily interface between the customer who can deploy (the solution), and the technology developer or entrepreneur who develops it," Krausert said.

Canada's economy seen taking 5.8% hit on climate change by 2100

Danielle Bochove, 

The Canadian Press

Nov 8, 2022

Higher temperatures and more extreme weather are likely to lower Canada's real gross domestic product by 5.8 per cent in 2100, assuming countries around the world fully meet their climate commitments.

Changing precipitation patterns, along with higher temperatures, affect the economy through their impact on agricultural output, labor productivity, human health, coastal sea levels, energy use, property damage, and tourism, according to report released Tuesday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in Ottawa.

“Some climate effects like longer growing seasons and warmer weather could increase Canada’s GDP while more frequent days over 30 degrees Celsius, droughts, and severe storms will have a negative economic impact,” the budget watchdog says in the report. 

The 5.8 per cent scenario assumes that climate pledges by governments around the world are met in full, and on time, limiting the global rise in temperatures to 1.8C compared to pre-industrial levels. The report is meant to be a “first step” in the watchdog’s analysis of the economic impact of climate change.

The planet is on track to warm 2.1C to 2.9C by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, according to the UN Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Countries, including Canada, that ratified to the 2015 Paris Agreement aim to keep that rise to 1.5C, although the UN said last month there is “no credible pathway” to that goal. 

If governments fail to meet their policy commitments, and instead maintain their current trajectories, Canada’s GDP would fall an addition three-quarters of a percentage point, or 6.6 per cent, the watchdog said.

CANADA

Here are the new cost of living support measures announced in the Fall Economic Statement

Hilary Punchard, BNN Bloomberg

Nov 3, 202

The federal government announced six initiatives in its Fall Economic Statement focused on helping Canadians navigate higher inflation. 

The Department of Finance outlined the new support measures in its Fall Economic Statement that are meant to help at-risk Canadians and “designed to avoid pouring fuel on the fire of inflation.”

Here’s a look at the different announcements Ottawa outlined and how much Canadians could qualify for in the coming months.

ELIMINATING INTEREST ON STUDENT LOANS

Finance officials said it would permanently make all Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans interest-free. This includes loans that are currently being repaid by Canadians. The move will cost the government $2.7 billion over five years and $556.3 million annually after that five-year period is over.

ADVANCING THE CANADA WORKERS BENEFIT

The Fall Economic Statement proposed advancing the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB), a refundable credit delivered through tax returns that would impact three million Canadians.

The change would issue advance payments of the credit for workers that qualified the previous year.

“The CWB would provide up to $1,428 for single workers or up to $2,461 for a family this spring through the existing tax return payment, and then new advance payments for 2023 across three quarterly advance payments starting in July, putting more money in workers’ pockets to help cope with the rising cost of living,” it said in the economic statement.

The changes would result in $4 billion in new spending over the next six years.

SLASHING CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION FEES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Government officials will also negotiate with credit card payment companies to help lower transaction fees for small businesses and will draft new legislative changes to the Payment Card Networks Act. But the government warned it will take action if the credit card industry doesn’t find a solution to lowering fees next year.

“Should the industry not come to an agreed solution in the months to come, the government will move forward with these draft legislative proposals in the New Year and move forward on regulating credit card transaction fees,” it said in the Fall Economic Statement.

REITERATING PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS

The federal government also reiterated the cost of living support measures that were announced earlier this fall.

The economic update did not include any new housing affordability measures, however it flagged the Canada Housing Benefit top-up that was announced in September.  

DOUBLING GST TAX CREDIT

Ottawa will also double the Goods and Services Tax (GST) credit for an estimated 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians. The additional one-time payment will start on Friday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the additional GST payments earlier this week. The additional credit will cost the government $2.48 billion in its current fiscal year.

“Single Canadians without children will receive up to an extra $234, and couples with two children will receive up to an extra $467. Seniors will receive an extra $225 on average,” it said in the economic statement.

CANADA HOUSING BENEFIT TOP-UP

The federal government also reiterated its plans to top-up the Canada Housing Benefit. In September, it announced a tax-free payment of $500 to 1.8 million low-income renters, who are spending at least 30 per cent of their income on rent.

The federal benefit will be available for families with an adjusted income below $35,000, or below $20,000 for single Canadians. The initiative is expected to cost $1.16 billion in the current fiscal year.

CANADA DENTAL BENEFIT

The Fall Economic Statement also highlighted the federal government’s move to introduce legislation for the Canada Dental Benefit.

The benefit will provide parents or guardians with tax-free payments to cover dental expenses for kids under 12-years-old.

“For those without dental coverage and with an annual family income under $90,000 per year, the Canada Dental Benefit will provide payments of up to $650 per year, over the next two years,” it said.

EU's Call of Duty: Probe Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal

Matt O'brien and Raf Casert, 

The Associated Press

Nov 8, 2022

Attendees play the "Call Of Duty: WWII" video game by Activision Blizzard Inc. during the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. , Troy Harvey/Bloomberg

The European Union has launched an investigation into Microsoft's planned takeover of video game giant Activision Blizzard, fearing the US$69 billion deal would distort fair competition to popular titles like Call of Duty.

Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, first announced the agreement to buy the California-based game publisher in January, but it still awaits scrutiny by antitrust regulators in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. If it goes through, the all-cash deal would be the largest in the history of the tech industry.

Members of the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive arm, said in a statement Tuesday that "the point is to ensure that the gaming ecosystem remains vibrant to the benefit of users in a sector that is evolving at a fast pace."

"We must ensure that opportunities remain for future and existing distributors of PC and console video games, as well as for rival suppliers of PC operating systems," the commissioners said. They have until March 23, 2023, to decide whether to approve the deal.

At the heart of the dispute is who gets to control future releases of Activision Blizzard's most popular games, especially the first-person military shooter franchise Call of Duty. Activision this week said its latest installment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, has already made more than US$1 billion in sales since its Oct. 28 launch.

Microsoft's console rival Sony, maker of the PlayStation, has brought its concerns about losing access to what it describes as a "must-have" game title to regulators around the world. In response, Microsoft has promised to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation "for at least several more years" beyond its current contract with Sony. It also has said it might make it available on Nintendo's Switch console, where the game isn't currently available.

In a preliminary probe, the EU found potential antitrust issues with the distribution of video games and halting access to Microsoft's rivals. The bloc said it "has concerns that the proposed acquisition may reduce competition on the market for PC operating systems."

Microsoft said it will keep working with the European Commission on next steps "and to address any valid marketplace concerns."

"Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we've said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation," Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday. "We want people to have more access to games, not less."

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in an email to employees Tuesday that global competition in the video game industry makes it "understandable that regulators are trying to better understand the games business." But he said the "process is moving along as we expected" and foresees the deal closing by June.

"We will continue to cooperate with the European Commission where, in the countries they represent, we have many employees," Kotick wrote.

He highlighted Brazil's recent approval, saying the country's competition authority understood "we operate in a highly dynamic and competitive industry, and that the merger will not harm competition in any way."

Saudi Arabia also has signed off on the deal, but it still awaits important decisions from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and authorities in the U.K. and EU.

Tuesday's decision was another example of how the EU has led the way on regulating Big Tech companies, opening antitrust investigations, enacting strict regulations on data privacy and pushing through landmark rules that threaten online platforms with billions in fines unless they respect fair market conditions and crack down on harmful content like hate speech and disinformation.

It's possible regulators could impose conditions on the gaming deal that force Microsoft to keep access open to Call of Duty for longer and ensure that its rivals aren't getting a lesser version.

Among those listening to Sony's concerns are antitrust regulators in the United Kingdom. Last month, they escalated their investigation into whether Microsoft could make Call of Duty and other titles exclusive to its Xbox platform or "otherwise degrade its rivals' access" by delaying releases or imposing licensing price increases.

“These titles require thousands of game developers and several years to complete, and there are very few other games of similar caliber or popularity," according to a September report from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority.

FedEx parks planes as weak demand prompts cost-cutting steps

Thomas Black, Bloomberg News

Nov 8, 2022

FedEx Corp. has reduced the frequency of flights and parked some of its planes, following through on the courier’s plan to reduce costs in response to weak demand for package delivery.

The company has halted 23 domestic flights and about nine international ones, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lenz said Tuesday at the Baird 2022 Global Industrial Conference. FedEx has also reduced sorting points and consolidated loads at the Ground unit, he said.

The efforts are in line with those laid out in September, when FedEx said it would reduce costs by as much as US$2.7 billion in its current fiscal year due to a variety of issues, including weakness in Asia and challenges in Europe. The company withdrew its forecast at the time.

The cutbacks are a response to a large shift of spending toward services rather than goods -- reversing a pandemic trend -- that has particularly hurt the business in Asia. While FedEx knew those spending habits would revert toward services, Lenz said the company didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.

“Unquestionably, the commencement and the speed and depth of that shift was beyond what we certainly had anticipated,” Lenz said. “That’s why we have been taking down trans-Pacific flights.”

Along with the reduced flight frequencies, Lenz said FedEx will temporarily park aircraft because it doesn’t need as much air capacity as anticipated. FedEx is also eliminating older, inefficient planes from its fleet. The company will completely retire its MD-10s by the end of this year and will then look at retiring MD-11s.

FedEx shares pared gains as Lenz spoke and briefly moved into negative territory. The stock was up less than 1 per cent at 3:34 p.m. in New York.

SOFT DEMAND

In Europe, demand is soft because of the impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the energy crunch.

Lenz said the peak holiday season will be “solid,” but more moderate than the last two years when the pandemic was driving people to spend more on goods than services. 

On-time deliveries at the company’s Ground unit have improved in recent weeks and are now at 2019 levels, he said. Even as the company slashes expenses, maintaining pricing power will remain a priority, Lenz said.