HIP CAPITALI$M

SNDL to purchase four Dutch Love cannabis stores in $7.8M deal

The Canadian Press

Calgary-based pot retailer SNDL Inc. says it is buying four Dutch Love cannabis stores from Lightbox Enterprises Ltd.

SNDL says it is paying $7.8 million for three stores in B.C., one in Ontario and the right to use some of Dutch Love's intellectual property.

Around $1.5 million of the price will be paid in cash, $3 million will come in the form of cancelled debt owed by Lightbox to SNDL and $3.3 million will be paid in common shares of SNDL.

The stores SNDL will acquire generated a combined annual revenue of $11.5 million in 2022, with an average gross margin of 36.5 per cent.

The deal is anticipated to close by the end of May, and is the result of a sale and investment solicitation process undertaken by Lightbox as part of its proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. 

The expected close will be concurrent with the proposed restructuring of Nova Cannabis Inc. and SNDL. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.

Shoppers Drug Mart moves away from

medical cannabis, will send patients to

Avicanna

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. is moving away from its medical cannabis distribution business and preparing to transfer patients to a platform run by biopharmaceutical company Avicanna Inc.

The pharmacy chain owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. announced the shift Tuesday, but did not say what prompted the change or how much money Toronto-based Avicanna is paying for Shoppers to refer patients to its MyMedi.ca platform.

“We are grateful for the trust placed in us by our medical cannabis patients over the past few years, and are confident we’ve found the right partner in Avicanna to continue to support them,” said Jeff Leger, Shoppers' president, in a statement.

His company will start to send customers to Avicanna's platform in early May, with all of the patients set to be off-loaded from Shoppers' medical pot service by the end of July. Customers will be able to place orders on Shoppers' website through the transition period.

Avicanna said it will offer a similar range of products including various formats, brands and "competitive pricing." Like Shoppers, its online medical portal will strive to educate customers around harm reduction and provide specialty services for distinct patient groups like veterans.

Shoppers first launched its medical cannabis business in Ontario in January 2019, months after recreational pot was legalized in Canada (medical pot was legalized in Canada in 2001) at a time when many predicted the weed sector would be booming in the coming years.

The sector has instead struggled with profitability and as high numbers of recreational cannabis shops cluster in several cities, many retailers and licensed producers have had to drop their prices to stay competitive.

However, Shoppers said it racked up tens of thousands of patients in its four years of existence, providing them with access to cannabis from more than 30 brands including Aphria Inc., Hexo Corp.'s Redecan and the Green Organic Dutchman.

Shoppers' medical cannabis patients were required to obtain a prescription from a licensed health care provider such as a doctor to begin ordering pot from the company, which shipped orders to their homes.

But the company was unhappy with how medical pot regulations limited its model. Shoppers claimed Tuesday that medical cannabis remains the only medication that is not dispensed in pharmacies.

“As we move away from medical cannabis distribution, we remain firm in our belief that this medication should be dispensed in pharmacies like all others and will continue our advocacy to that end," said Leger.

Avicanna's statement did not outline its feelings on the matters, but its chief executive said it was "motivated" to "put our full efforts toward advancing medical cannabis and its incorporation into the standard of care.”

“We are thankful to be selected as the partner for this transition and look forward to introducing MyMedi.ca, supporting patients and providing them with continuity of care,” said Avicanna chief executive Aras Azadian in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.

South Bruce Forum offers insight into proposed nuclear waste storage facility

By Janice MacKayMarch 21, 2023 

An upcoming forum in South Bruce will explore the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) Project.

The South Bruce Nuclear Exploration Team Community Engagement Officer Steve Travale said the forum takes place in early April.

“So on April 4 and 5, at the Teeswater Culross Community Centre, we’re bringing together Canadian and international experts for a two day conference,” said Travale. “And that’s for residents of South Bruce, and the neighbouring municipalities and communities to learn more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s project.”

South Bruce is under consideration to host the storage site for used nuclear fuel. The other community being looked at is Ignace in Northern Ontario. A variety of experts will be part of the event.

“Such as geoscience, water, some of the different engineering components. We’ll also have exhibitors from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Impact Assessment Agency. So they’ll be able to speak to the regulatory process and what happens in the community after a site is chosen. They’ll be panels on agricultural experiences in a nuclear host community,” explained Travale.

South Bruce Mayor Mark Goetz expects the forum will help further educate South Bruce and its neighbours on the proposed DGR.

“I look forward to taking in the presentations and panels, which will help inform South Bruce residents when it comes time to decide whether or not the community wants to host a deep geologic repository and the associated facilities,” Goetz said.

Panelists and presenters will include:
• Tom Isaacs – Former Lead Advisor to the U.S. Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and current advisor to the NWMO.
• Tiina Jalonen – Senior Vice President of Development at Posiva Oy, the Finnish counterpart to Canada’s NWMO. Finland’s DGR is well underway.
• Jacob Spangenberg – Former Mayor of Östhammar, Sweden, the host community of Sweden’s future DGR.

Registration for the full event remains open until March 24. For more information, or to register, visit www.southbruce.ca/Forum.

While most of the free-to-attend event does require registration, there is an open house scheduled from 4-6:30 p.m. on April 4 which is open to all. The deadline to register is March 24th.

Canada is raising the federal minimum wage April  1 

Isabelle Docto


Kamil Zajaczkowski/Shutterstock

Federal workers are getting a bump in their pay next month.

The Canadian government has announced that it will raise the federal minimum wage from $15.55 to $16.65 per hour on April 1, 2023.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) says this increase is to keep pace with inflation, which rose by 6.8% in 2022.

“The cost of living is rising, so we’re making sure that wages keep going up too,” said Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan Jr in a statement. “We’re looking after workers, because that’s how you grow the economy and create more prosperity for everyone.”

The government adds that this raise aims to make life more affordable for approximately 26,000 Canadian workers who earn less than the current rate.

Federally regulated private-sector employers will need to adjust their payroll information with the new rate to ensure employees and interns are paid correctly as of April 1, says the ESDC.

If the provincial or territorial minimum wage rate is higher than the federal minimum wage, employers must apply the higher pay.

This wage increase applies to workplaces including banks, postal and courier services, interprovincial air, railroad, and marine transportation.

The last federal minimum wage increase was in April 2022.

This change comes as provinces and territories make moves to boost workers’ paycheques. Here’s a rundown on which spots in Canada will and won’t be raising the minimum wage in 2023.

For more information on the federal minimum wage increase, you can check out the government’s pay and minimum wage, deductions, and wage recovery site, or contact the Labour Program at 1-800-641-4049.

Canadian branch not included in sale of Silicon Valley Bank to First Citizens

The Canadian Press

A regulatory filing shows the Canadian branch of Silicon Valley Bank is not part of First Citizens' purchase of most of the failed U.S. bank.

The U.S. 8-K filing shows that the Canadian, German and Hong Kong branches of Silicon Valley Bank will instead be available as an option for First Citizens to purchase.

Canada's banking regulator moved to seize the Canadian assets of Silicon Valley Branch as the parent bank collapsed, then secured a winding-up order that's designed in part to assist with a potential transition of the Canadian branch operations.

The wind-up order granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice also provide the framework for a future liquidation if no other option is possible.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., which has been appointed by the court to oversee the transition, didn't respond to a request for comment on how the sale to First Citizens, announced late Sunday, might affect the Canadian branch.

The Canadian branch of Silicon Valley Bank was especially active with startup funding in Canada's tech sector, but the assets of the bank and substantially all of its deposits were transferred to the bridge bank set up by U.S. regulators as part of efforts to keep U.S. operations running..

Unprecedented construction needed in B.C. to offset record immigration: Report

The Canadian Press

Home construction in British Columbia will need to rise to unprecedented levels to offset the impact of record immigration on the housing market, the B.C. Real Estate Association said in a new report on Tuesday. 

The province must build 25 per cent more new homes than usual for the next five years to address deteriorating housing affordability, the association said in the report.  

Construction needs to be ramped up to a record 43,000 housing completions a year for the next five years to counteract rapid population growth, up from an average of around 30,000 between 2000 and 2022, it said. 

"While this pace of completions is close to that achieved from 2020 and 2021, higher interest rates and weaker market conditions make that rate of completion less likely," the association said.

Lowering price growth so incomes can catch up to prices is integral to improving housing affordability in B.C., said Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist with BCREA.

Increasing supply would ease the upward pressure on housing prices from an immigration-driven demand shock and if sustained, help improve overall affordability, he said. 

B.C. is expected to welcome an estimated 217,500 new permanent residents from 2023 to 2025, nearly double the historical average immigration levels.

In that time, two federal government policies — the ban on foreign homebuyers and record-high immigration targets — will be the key factors shaping housing demand in B.C., the association said.

Bill C-19, which implemented a two-year ban on home sales to non-Canadian buyers, will help offset some of the demand for housing, said BCREA, but not nearly enough compared with the expected demand from new immigrants. 

There is "weak evidence" that the ban will achieve its objective of lowering home prices given that a relatively small number of transactions involve purely foreign buyers, the association said. 

"The potential impact of the increase in immigration is much more significant than the decline in sales due to the prohibition on foreign buyers," the report said. 

BCREA said an "unfortunate unintended consequence" of the ban on foreign homebuyers is that financing new home construction is more difficult without access to international capital markets.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023. 

BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID

Sam Bankman-Fried charged with bribing 

Chinese officials

Ava Benny-Morrison and Chris Dolmetsch, Bloomberg News

Up Nex

Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with bribing Chinese officials, adding a new dimension to the U.S. government’s case against the FTX co-founder.

The new charge was unsealed Tuesday in a revised indictment by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Bankman-Fried is accused of authorizing the payment of US$40 million to one or more Chinese government officials in order to get them to unfreeze accounts at Alameda Research, a Hong Kong-based trading firm affiliated with FTX, holding more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried and others sought to regain access to the assets held in Alameda accounts in 2021 to fund additional trading activity, according to the indictment. 

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

13-COUNT INDICTMENT

With the charge of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Bankman-Fried now faces 13 criminal counts. He has already pleaded not guilty to several fraud charges for allegedly funneling billions of dollars from now-bankrupt FTX to Alameda and for personal expenses.

Three of his close associates, Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh, have already pleaded guilty to fraud and are cooperating with the government. 

Bankman-Fried is currently free on a $250 million bail package and is due to face trial in October. He was arrested in the Bahamas, where his cryptocurrency empire FTX was based, in December and extradited back to the United States. 

An earlier revised indictment unsealed in February beefed up campaign-finance related charges against Bankman-Fried, a onetime major donor to Democratic political candidates. Prosecutor claimed Bankman-Fried conspired to influence U.S. crypto regulation through donations by him and others at FTX.

According to the latest indictment, Chinese law enforcement authorities in 2021 froze Alameda trading accounts on two of the country’s largest crypto exchanges as part of a probe into a counter-party. 

Bankman-Fried and “others operating at his direction” tried to unfreeze the accounts, including by recruiting attorneys to lobby in China for the assets to be released and trying to transfer the crypto to fraudulent accounts set up on a Chinese exchange. 

After months of failed attempts, prosecutors allege, Bankman-Fried directed a bribe payment in the form of cryptocurrency to be transferred from Alameda’s main trading account to a private wallet. The accounts were subsequently unfrozen and Bankman-Fried authorized the transfer of the remaining bribe. 

The case is U.S. v. Bankman-Fried, 22-cr-673, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

SHOOT, SHOVEL, SHUT UP

Japan to resume imports of Canadian processed beef, 20 years after mad cow disease

The Canadian Press

A black Angus cow eats hay at a farm in Pleasureville, Kentucky, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Congress had authorized additional borrowing authority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in coronavirus-relief legislation passed earlier this year, and the second round has been widely anticipated. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Japan is lifting the last of its restrictions against Canadian beef, 20 years after BSE, often called mad cow disease, devastated this country's cattle industry.

The federal government says Japan is reopening its doors to processed beef and beef patties from Canada.

The move puts an end to the market access barriers Japan put in place in 2003, after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered in Alberta.

While Japan initially shut its border to all Canadian beef, it has been lifting restrictions in stages over the years, most recently with its 2019 decision to begin accepting Canadian beef from cattle older than 30 months of age.

The federal government says Japan is now Canada's second-largest market for beef, with exports worth $518 million in 2022.

Around 40 countries closed their borders to Canadian beef during the height of the 2003 BSE crisis, resulting in billions of dollars in losses for the industry.

ROFLMAO

Walmart Canada CEO says retailer not trying to profit from inflation

The Canadian Press

WALMART INC (WMT:UN)

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Walmart Canada is not trying to profit from food inflation, president and CEO Gonzalo Gebara told a parliamentary committee studying the issue Monday evening.

Gebara told MPs that Walmart Canada’s gross profit rate for its food business declined last year, as did the company’s total operating profit in dollars. However, he declined to provide specific numbers for the private business, saying Walmart Canada has provided relevant financial information to the Competition Bureau.

MPs pressed Gebara on the fees and penalties that grocers charge suppliers. These fees are one of the topics being discussed as part of efforts to create a grocery code of conduct. 

Gebara said Walmart Canada has received a draft of the code of conduct recently and is reviewing it. 

“We will support any initiative that would bring better conditions and the ability to have more transparency in the whole chain,” he said.  

Gebara's comments before the committee followed a highly anticipated appearance by the leaders of Canada’s three biggest grocery chains on March 8. 

The CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. told the committee that food inflation is not being caused by profit-mongering, and insisted their margins on food have remained low. 

Federal politicians have been calling for more transparency from the grocery industry as food price inflation has been significantly outpacing overall inflation.

Gebara said Walmart Canada strives to maintain a price gap between its products and those sold by its competitors, naming the other grocery giants. 

He said Walmart is known for its “everyday low price” strategy: “This is not a stunt or our response to the challenging times we’re living in.” 

The retailer is doing everything it can to fight inflation, said Gebara, such as taking measures to control operating costs, identifying improvements in its supply chain and working to keep prices down on private-label products. 

"The past two years have presented a perfect storm of external factors that have driven up food prices," he said. "These inflationary pressures are passed through the entire supply chain."

Grocery prices were up 10.6 per cent in February compared with a year ago, while overall inflation was 5.2 per cent. 

During the past year, the Bank of Canada has repeatedly raised interest rates in an effort to quell inflation’s rampage.

Galen Weston, the billionaire chairman and president of Loblaw, told MPs earlier this month it’s “impossible” that grocers could be causing food inflation, and said the company makes bigger profits off the non-food parts of its business such as apparel and pharmacy. 

A report last fall out of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University found that all three of the big grocery companies posted higher profits in the first half of 2022 compared with their average earnings over the past five years. 

The March 8 meeting featured NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh repeatedly asking Weston, “How much profit is too much profit?” 

Weston argued that “reasonable profitability is an important part of operating a successful business,” while earlier Empire president and CEO Michael Medline took a similar tack, saying, “It is folly to suggest that an unprofitable grocery business is somehow better for customers and better for shelf prices.”

At the March 8 meeting, the heads of Metro and Empire both questioned why MPs seemed to be excluding American retail giants like Walmart and Costco from their research into food inflation. The committee agreed unanimously to invite the leaders of those two retailers’ Canadian arms to speak before them. 

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2023.