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The Canadian Press – Jun 8, 2023 / 6:20 am | Story: 430839
Photo: The Canadian Press
Canada’s agricultural land is under increasing pressure to produce more food as demand grows domestically and internationally, while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints, a new report found.
“We need to grow more food on less land and in a volatile climate,” said Tyler McCann, managing director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
The report by the institute released Thursday looks at the pressures on Canada’s agricultural land to produce more food while also mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, said McCann.
Despite Canada being a big country, it doesn’t have as much agricultural land as people might think, said McCann, with the report noting that agricultural land makes up only around seven per cent of the country.
Because of that, we can’t take what we do have for granted, he said. “We need to be really thoughtful about how we are using our agricultural land.”
In 2020, Canada was the eighth largest country in terms of cropland area, the report said, with that cropland decreasing by seven per cent over the previous two decades.
Canada is a major producer and net exporter of agriculture and agri-food products, the report said, exporting $91 billion in products in 2022, and one of the top 10 exporters of wheat, canola, pulses, pork and beef.
In the coming years, Canada will face increased demand from countries whose populations are growing, the report said.
“With population growth on one side and climate change on the other, Canada will be amongst an increasingly smaller number of countries that is a net exporter,” said McCann, noting that Canada’s own population is growing, and farmland also needs to be protected against urban sprawl.
The wildfires clouding Canadian skies this week are a “vivid reminder” of the pressure that extreme weather and the changing climate are putting on the agricultural sector, said McCann.
“We need to clearly mitigate … agriculture’s impact on climate change. But we also need to make sure agriculture is adapting to climate change’s impacts,” he said.
One of the ways the world has responded to demand for increased agricultural production over time is to create more agricultural land, in some cases by cutting down forests, said McCann. But that’s not a viable option for Canada, which doesn’t have a lot of land that can be sustainably converted into farmland — and even if it could, doing so could have a variety of adverse environmental effects, he said.
Some of the practices used to reduce emissions and sequester carbon in agriculture can also improve production output on existing farmland, the report found, such as precision agriculture and no-till practices.
However, intensifying the production of current agricultural land also comes with potential environmental downsides, the report said.
For example, McCann said fertilizer is an important part of sustainable agriculture, but there’s a balance to be struck because excessive use of fertilizer can quickly turn food production unsustainable.
“We need to be a lot more thoughtful about the inputs that we’re using,” he said, adding the same can be said about the use of technology in agriculture and the policies and programs put in place to encourage sustainable intensification of Canadian agriculture.
The report recommends that Canada adopt policies that provide financial incentives and technical assistance to farmers and develop regulatory frameworks promoting sustainable land use, as well as promoting education and awareness campaigns, so that the country can “ensure the long-term sustainability of its agricultural sector while protecting the environment.”
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 2:40 pm | Story: 430751
Photo: The Canadian Press
Canadian Pacific Railway trains sit at the main CP Rail trainyard in Toronto on Monday, March 21, 2022. A Federal Court of Appeal judge found Canadian Pacific Railway Co. guilty of contempt of court in 22 incidents linked to employees working long hours. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A Federal Court judge has found Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. guilty of contempt of court for employees working excessively long hours.
Over a 10-month period in 2018 and 2019, the rail operator failed in 22 instances to comply with cease-and-desist orders laid out by an arbitrator, the ruling states.
The orders related to rest provisions under federal regulations and a pair of collective agreements for conductors and engineers that largely limit shifts to 10 or 12 hours, depending on the circumstances.
“CP’s own evidence was that ‘thousands of situations continue to occur annually where employees are not off within 10 hours,'” Judge Ann Marie McDonald wrote, citing the labour arbitrator.
The railway made no argument that the situations qualified as exceptions spelled out in the collective agreement, the arbitrator said in March 2018.
Teamsters Canada president François Laporte said the company “needs to smarten up and stop putting profits over people before another tragedy occurs.”
“Canadian Pacific recklessly puts lives on the line in forcing so many train crews to work longer than allowed,” Laporte said in a statement Wednesday.
The Calgary-based company said it was disappointed with the ruling.
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and will be filing an appeal,” spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an email.
The June 6 decision comes less than two months after a Canadian Pacific freight train went off the tracks due to a washout in Maine that saw locomotives and four derailed lumber cars go up in flames.
The rail line is the same one where the fatal Lac-Mégantic disaster unfolded in 2013. Canadian Pacific did not own the track at the time.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 10:47 am | Story: 430702
Photo: The Canadian Press
People walk into a Dollarama store in Toronto, September 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Dollarama Inc. enjoyed a 21 per cent year-over-year boost in sales in its latest quarter as the discount retailer scooped up consumers seeking cheaper products amid high inflation.
In the quarter ended April 30, the company said strong demand held up across the board, from consumables to seasonal items and general merchandise, resulting in a profit boost of 23 per cent from a year earlier.
For same-store sales, the number of transactions grew nearly 16 per cent while purchase sizes also nudged up.
“We had a good Easter,” said chief executive Neil Rossy. “But there’s a slight move away from the consumables, in fact, a little bit towards the traditional mix.”
Consumables, which saw a spike in recent quarters, is a category that includes food as well as items ranging from batteries to laundry detergent.
Summer sales are looking bright despite some hurdles, Rossy said Wednesday.
“It’s unseasonably chilly still in many parts of the country along with other natural disasters, unfortunately, which are challenging many areas of the country … But the customer has started to move towards our summer offering,” he told analysts on a conference call.
Dollarama’s real estate footprint is increasing as well. It opened 21 net new stores in its first quarter, part of a ribbon-cutting spree that grew the company to 1,507 locations across the country as of April 30 versus 1,431 a year earlier — an 11 per cent expansion. Dollarama hopes to reach 2,000 stores in Canada by 2031.
Same-stores sales jumped by 17 per cent year over year, an “impressive” pace — the fastest in at least five years — said analyst Martin Landry of Stifel GMP.
“The strong same-store-sales appears to be driven by volume rather than price, an excellent sign and suggesting that Dollarama continues to gain market share,” Landry said in a note to investors.
“Consumers continue to turn to Dollarama for consumables in addition to everyday household items and seasonal products,” added RBC Dominion Securities analyst Irene Nattel.
On Wednesday, the company reported earnings of $179.9 million in its latest quarter, up from $145.5 million in the same period the year before.
The profits amounted to 63 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30, up from 49 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Sales totalled $1.29 billion, up from $1.07 billion in the same quarter last year.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 59 cents per share and $1.25 billion in sales, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 9:51 am | Story: 430682
Photo: The Canadian Press
Shopify Inc. says it wants to push back against the trend of companies filing hundreds of patent infringement lawsuits against businesses every year, and is waging a court battle to make its point.
So-called patent trolls are often shell companies who own vast portfolios of patents, which they profit from by demanding licence payments from businesses within the scope of the patents or pursuing court cases against firms they allege are patent infringers.
Ottawa-based e-commerce software company Shopify said Wednesday that patent trolls often target small businesses and startups that can’t afford to fight or lose a legal battle, thus stifling innovation.
“Shopify and our entrepreneurs are builders and innovators. They spend years, sometimes their entire lives, creating products designed to improve the world,” said Shopify general counsel Jess Hertz in a LinkedIn post.
“Patent trolls? They lazily sit back, burying hard-working entrepreneurs in piles of legal paperwork …They want to destroy and stifle. And Shopify? Well, we’re done with this game.”
She added people funding lawsuits pursued by patent trolls often “hide cowardly in the shadows,” but in the majority of cases exact a quick payout.
Research Shopify pointed to showed companies settling or losing patent troll cases reduce investment in research and development by an average of more than $160 million over the two years following the case.
It also said 90 per cent of patent litigation cases filed each year are abandoned or settled, “making ‘winners’ out of the patent trolls, and victims of the forward-thinking businesses who put in the work to create and innovate.”
As a result, Hertz said Shopify is pursuing litigation that will identify who is funding patent trolls in cases lodged against the company.
Hertz used the LinkedIn post to announced Shopify filed a motion Wednesday in a Texas court demanding Lower48 IP LLC, which has connections to a data analysis and portfolio management services provider in the oil and gas industry, reveal any third-party interests it has.
In court documents, Shopify indicates publicly available documents indicate Lower48 may be receiving funding from a third-party for some or all of Lower48’s legal fees.
Shopify alleges sent Lower48 a letter on May 5 requesting it reveal information about third-party interests so a court can determine conflicts of interests, but Shopify said the company didn’t respond.
Shopify said it followed up on May 24 and both parties met and conferred on May 30 only for Lower48 to share with Shopify that it would not be providing the requested info.
Lawyers representing Lower48 in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 9:49 am | Story: 430680
Photo: The Canadian Press
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem.
The Bank of Canada hiked its key interest rate Wednesday by a quarter percentage point, bringing the rate to 4.75 per cent — the highest it’s been since April 2001.
The hike is aimed at quelling inflation, which has proved stubborn, not moving down quickly enough toward the central bank’s target of two per cent.
However, the hike is also bound to weigh on those hunting for homes or holding mortgages.
What does the interest rate have to do with my mortgage?
Mortgage rates tend to move in tandem with interest rates, so when one goes up, the other is likely to follow.
Canadians buying homes have two kinds of mortgages they can choose between — fixed rate or variable. Fixed-rate mortgages allow borrowers to lock in the interest rate they will pay for a set amount of time, while variable-rate mortgages fluctuate with interest rates.
What does this mean if I have a variable rate mortgage?
While banks have yet to announce how they might change their mortgage rates in response, those with variable rate mortgages will see their interest rates increase to absorb the rate hike, said James Laird, co-chief executive of rates comparison site Ratehub.ca.
He estimates a homeowner who had a 10 per cent down payment on a $716,083 home with a five-year variable rate of 5.55 per cent amortized over 25 years has a monthly mortgage payment of $4,075.
With today’s 25-basis point rate increase, the homeowner’s variable mortgage rate will increase to 5.80 per cent and their monthly payment will increase to $4,173. This means that the homeowner will pay $98 more per month or $1,176 per year on their mortgage payments, Laird said in a press release.
For those who have fixed payments on a variable rate mortgage, he predicts they will exceed their trigger rate if they haven’t already — the point where your payments are no longer enough to cover all of the interest you’ve accrued since your last payment. This means your entire mortgage payment is covering interest, so none of it is allocated toward principal.
What about if I have a fixed-rate mortgage?
“Fixed rates had already started to increase in anticipation of a possible rate hike and will increase further now that we know the bank has hiked rates,” Laird said.
This will impact anyone getting a fixed-rate mortgage, or renewing an existing one.
With the interest rate the highest it’s been in more than 20 years, “fixed rates are also higher than the rate that probably many people who are renewing are at right now,” said Olympia Baldrich, vice-president of retail products and real estate secured lending at TD Bank.
She recommends that people whose mortgages are coming up for renewal consider a rate hold, which locks in a mortgage rate for a certain period of time.
If I have a variable-rate mortgage, should I switch to a fixed-rate mortgage?
Every mortgage holder’s situation is different, said Baldrich.
For those concerned about mortgage payments, she urges people to review them with a mortgage specialist or financial adviser who can help determine whether to switch to another kind of mortgage.
They can also help you explore options for increasing your payments, making lump sum payments or slowing down your payments.
“Go look at your finances, take a step back and just look at your whole financial picture and what would it mean if rates continue,” she said.
I am looking for a home. What does this mean for me?
“The market sort of bottomed out at the beginning of the year and so home sales and home prices really hit bottom then, but confidence grew again (recently),” Baldrich said.
National home sales jumped by 11.3 per cent between March and April as the real estate market picked up again, but supply remained at a 20 year-low, the Canadian Real Estate Association said last month.
Seasonally adjusted sales for the month totalled 38,164 compared with 34,277 in March, while the average home price was roughly $716,000 in April, down 3.9 per cent from April 2022, but up $103,500 from January 2023.
Those who are wading into the market now can expect higher rates than others received in the months or years before, but it will be a few weeks before we start seeing the ramifications on the market, Baldrich said.
Laird expects the rate hit will put downward pressure on home prices.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 7:17 am | Story: 430658
Photo: The Canadian Press
The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point today, marking the first interest rate change since the central bank announced a pause earlier this year.
The rate now sits at 4.75 per cent, the highest it’s been since April 2001.
The Bank of Canada says its governing council determined interest rates are not high enough to rebalance the economy and bring inflation back to the two per cent target.
The decision today comes after speculation among economists and forecasters that a recent string of strong economic data would push the central bank to raise interest rates again.
The central bank says excess demand in the economy appears to be more persistent than it had anticipated, citing a tight labour market, better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter as well as “surprisingly strong” consumption growth.
It says it still expects inflation to fall to about three per cent in the summer from the 4.4 per cent April reading, but with core inflation still elevated, its concerns about inflation getting stuck above two per cent have increased.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 7:02 am | Story: 430653
Photo: The Canadian Press
Chris Licht is out after a year as chief executive at CNN, following a series of missteps and plunging ratings.
David Zaslav, the CEO of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, announced the leadership change on CNN’s morning editorial call on Wednesday.
Zaslav appointed a four-person leadership team to lead the network in the interim.
Licht replaced Jeff Zucker as CNN’s chief executive last year, with a mandate to move the network more toward the political center. But a town hall meeting with Donald Trump received wide criticism, and a revamp of the network’s morning show imploded with the firing of Don Lemon.
A lengthy profile of Licht in Atlantic magazine that came out on Friday proved embarrassing and likely sealed his fate. Only two days ago, Licht promised on the same morning editorial call to fight to regain the trust of CNN employees.
But internally, Licht couldn’t gain the support of many at the network who felt loyal to Zucker, who was forced out following the revelation of an improper relationship with a work colleague.
CNN’s May ratings were dismal, with prime-time viewership less than half of rival of MSNBC, with Fox News Channel still leading among the cable networks.
Zaslav appointed four current CNN executives — Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy — to run the network while a search for a replacement is conducted.
“We are in good hands, allowing us to take the time we need to run a thoughtful and thorough search for a new leader,” Zaslav said in a memo to CNN staff.
The Associated Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 6:56 am | Story: 430650
Photo: The Canadian Press
Policymakers seeking to make the U.S. electric grid less reliant on fossil fuels have long looked north to Canada and its abundant surplus of hydropower, advocating for new transmission lines to bring more of that cheap, clean electricity south.
But with demand for green energy growing north of the border, too, there are new concerns that Canada’s hydro supply isn’t as bottomless as it once seemed.
A study published in May by the Montreal Economic Institute predicted that Quebec, now home to one of the world’s largest hydroelectric systems, will over the next decade fall short of the generating capacity needed to meet increasing demand for power in the province.
Some New England lawmakers are questioning the wisdom of plans to construct new transmission lines across their states, despite Canadian energy giant Hydro-Québec’s insistence it can still meet its energy obligations.
“They have their own energy needs,” Maine state Sen. Nicole Grohoski said of the Canadians. The Democrat said it is “overly optimistic” for policymakers to rely on Canadian hydropower. “There are industrial users up there that are already having issues and they’re not interested in investing in Quebec because they’re worried about power supply.”
Over decades, Hydro-Québec, which is owned by the Province of Quebec, has built a series of hydro-electric facilities, most in the northern reaches of the province. The dams’ construction and the subsequent flooding of areas behind them has drawn protests from indigenous groups and environmentalists on both sides of the border.
But in the process Hydro-Québec has become the largest producer of renewable energy in North America. It produces nearly half of all Canadian hydropower as well as a smaller number of wind and other renewable projects.
The capacity to generate electricity left the utility with extra power to sell in the energy-hungry U.S. There are already a number of transmission lines that carry power from Canada to the United States and more on the drawing board.
A line from the border down Lake Champlain and the Hudson River to New York City is under construction. Authorities in Maine just gave approval to resume construction of a separate line from the border to Massachusetts.
There are also pending proposals for lines to reach southern New England through Vermont and New Hampshire.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has been rallying his fellow New England governors to seek federal funding for transmission line projects. The push comes as billions of dollars are available for electric transmission line projects under President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law.
“We’ve got to speed things up when it comes to reliability and reserves and more carbon-free power,” Lamont said.
But Quebec is on its own quest to reduce use of planet-warming fuels. The province is hoping to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while demand for hydropower is predicted to grow 14% over the next decade.
“No province now is in a position where they see huge surpluses of electricity that would be available for exports,” said Pierre-Oliver Pineau, an expert on Canadian energy policy and professor at HEC Montréal, the University of Montreal business school.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Maine who oppose the proposed 145-mile (233-kilometer) New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line recently asked the governor of Massachusetts to review whether Hydro-Québec can still meet its energy obligations.
They also sent a letter to Quebec Premier François Legault questioning whether there will be enough electricity to power both that line and the Champlain-Hudson Power Express line, which is currently under construction. That line is intended to provide New York City with 20% of its power needs.
The Maine lawmakers said they worry new dams might need to be built, a process that could take years.
“Many people in New England have lived with a myth that Quebec has so much power that it doesn’t know what to do with it all,” the legislators said in a joint statement.
Local news has reported Jean-Hugues Lafleur, Hydro-Québec’s financial officer, said during an analyst call last month that the company could meet the energy demand when it signed the contract in 2018 and that “we still have enough energy to supply the New England region.”
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said hydropower is just one piece of the puzzle and that the New England states are also working together to decarbonize the electric system through other means, including offshore wind.
Hydro-Québec, meanwhile, has also expressed interest in transmission lines capable of moving power in both directions. Developers of the proposed 1,000-megawatt transmission line known as New England Clean Power Link, which would run from Quebec to southern New England through Vermont, are working to modify its approval to turn it into a bi-directional line.
“This modification would allow the line to be used as originally intended to move hydropower from Canada to New England, while also allowing the line to move loads such as off-shore wind generation from New England to Canada for storage and later use, which could materially help winter reliability in the region,” said June Tierney, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service.
Last month, the state of New Hampshire highlighted a new entrant into the northeast transmission mix by announcing plans for a 211-mile, 1,200-megawatt power line that would enter the United States at Canaan, Vermont, and follow a buried route south. If built, the $2 billion proposal would also be a bi-directional line.
“This project is also not dependent solely on hydropower — it would have the ability to deliver other forms of clean energy being generated in Canada — such as wind and solar power — to New England,” said a statement from the utility National Grid, which is proposing the line.
Kerrick Johnson, chief innovation and communication officer for the Vermont Electric Power Cooperative, which manages the state’s electric transmission system, said there’s a transformation underway of the electric production and distribution system across the world and including the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada.
“This is a new chapter in the shared-energy history of North America,” he said.
The Associated Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 6:49 am | Story: 430649
Photo: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal safety regulators are urging consumers to stop using baby pillows that have been linked to 10 infant deaths but are still being sold on Facebook Marketplace, despite being recalled two years ago.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday that Boppy Newborn Loungers are no longer legally for sale but it has found thousands of them on Facebook Marketplace since the 2021 recall began.
The agency wrote to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook parent Meta Platforms, on Tuesday saying it had made repeated requests to have recalled items taken down from Marketplace. It cited the Boppy loungers as “a particularly egregious example” of a product that puts consumers at risk.
“Until these sales are stopped, babies will continue to be at risk of death,” CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka said in a statement. He added that Meta “has not taken effective action” in response to CPSC’s average of one thousand takedown requests made each month over the last year for the Boppy loungers.
The Boppy Co. recalled more than 3 million of its infant pillows due to suffocation risk in September 2021 — with reports of eight deaths associated with Boppy’s loungers between 2015 and 2020. The CSPC said Tuesday that two additional babies died shortly after the recall began.
The CSPC is urging consumers to stop using the recalled loungers — as babies can suffocate if they roll over, are placed on the lounger in a position that restricts breathing or move off the infant pillow.
Meta’s online policy states that listings on Marketplace cannot promote or sell recalled products and encourages users to check current recalls before purchasing items. The company says that Marketplace posts featuring recalled products are removed when identified.
“Like other platforms where people can buy and sell goods, there are instances of people knowingly or unknowingly selling recalled goods on Marketplace,” Meta said in a statement. “We take this issue seriously and when we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them.”
CPSC said it has also made similar takedown requests to other online secondhand marketplaces and for other recalled products, including the recalled Fisher Price Rock ’n Play sleepers, which have also been linked to infant deaths.
The Boppy loungers under recall are Boppy Original Newborn Loungers, Boppy Preferred Newborn Loungers and Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Loungers. The products were sold online and at retailers nationwide, including Target and Walmart, between January 2004 and September 2021, according to the CPSC’s original recall notice. Consumers can contact The Boppy Company to get a refund and for instructions for how to dispose of the products.
“CPSC continues to emphasize that the best place for a baby to sleep is on a firm, flat surface in a crib, bassinet, or play yard,” the agency said in its Tuesday notice. “Parents and caregivers should never add blankets, pillows, padded crib bumpers, or other items to an infant’s sleeping environment. Babies should always be placed to sleep on their backs.”
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 6:45 am | Story: 430647
Photo: The Canadian Press
General Motors says it’s investing $280 million in its Oshawa assembly plant to produce its next generation of full-sized internal combustion engine pickup trucks.
The company says in a press release Tuesday that Oshawa plays a critical role in meeting demand for its trucks, and the investment builds on its commitment to Canadian manufacturing.
It did not provide details on the new trucks or the timing of their launch.
GM invested more than $1.2 billion to reopen production at the plant in 2021 after shutting it down in 2019.
Unifor president Lana Payne says in a press release that the more than 3,000 union members at the Oshawa plant welcomed the latest announcement.
GM says since the plant reopened, it has increased production to three shifts, and brought on fifty per cent women in new production hires.
The Canadian Press – Jun 7, 2023 / 6:03 am | Story: 430640
Photo: The Canadian Press
Tim Hortons is launching a credit card that can be used through its mobile app, the latest move into an increasingly competitive rewards space.
Tims Financial is a new division of Tim Hortons that will offer a no-annual-fee Mastercard powered by Neo Financial, the company said in a press release Wednesday. The card will be launched in the coming months, but interested customers can sign up for a waitlist on the Tims Financial website.
Customers will be able to earn Tims Rewards Points on most purchases, including on many gas, grocery and transit purchases, and extra points at Tim Hortons restaurants.
“There’s millions of Canadians who are actively seeking better and accessible financial products,” said Markus Sturm, senior vice-president of digital, loyalty and consumer goods at Tim Hortons, which is owned by Restaurant Brands International.
The Tims Rewards app already has features like mobile order and scan and pay, making a new payment option the logical next step, said Sturm.
Other companies have also been pushing further into the intersection of rewards and credit cards to build customer loyalty, including BMO’s recent purchase of Air Miles, while Scotiabank has been expanding its Scene Plus rewards program in partnership with Cineplex Inc. and RBC relaunched its Avion Rewards program last year.
Canadian Tire rolled out its Triangle Mastercard rewards program a few years ago and in March announced a paid tier offering further enhancements to the program.
Tim Hortons will also offer a second version of its credit card aimed at students, newcomers and others with limited or no credit history.
This secured credit card will earn Tims Rewards Points and may help users build their credit, the company said.
The credit card management will be fully embedded into the existing rewards app, said Sturm, including applying for the card and viewing statements. However, customers can also load the card to a digital wallet like Apple Wallet, he said, and they can also receive a physical card.
Almost five million Canadians are using its app every month already, Tim Hortons said in the release, and the company believes its new card will be an attractive option for many of them.
Brands have been increasingly offering not only rewards programs but also linked financial services and credit cards, but Sturm said he thinks the Tim Hortons rewards program stands out because of the accessibility of its rewards. Instead of saving up for what he calls more aspirational rewards, Tim Hortons customers can easily rack up enough points to get a more tangible, practical reward like free coffee or food, he said.
Tim Hortons wanted to offer an inclusive financial product for people with limited or no credit history, said Sturm.
“We want to support them just like we do in fuelling their day with coffee and beverages and food,” he said. “We also want to fuel their growth to financial prosperity and give them options to help build their credit.”
The Tim Hortons rewards app was in the spotlight around a year ago after an investigation by federal and provincial privacy watchdogs found the app had violated the law by collecting large amounts of location information from customers. The app was found to continually track users regardless of whether they were using it, though this practice stopped in 2020. Tim Hortons agreed to implement recommendations that it delete remaining location data, establish a privacy management program for apps, and report on measures it took to comply with the recommendations.
Sturm said the company has made a lot of changes since the report to strengthen privacy through “highly reputable external partners” and an internal review, as well as improving communication around the company’s privacy policy, which has also been updated.
“Everything that we’ve done for Tims Financial has taken all that progress into account and frankly added additional security and safety measures,” he said.
Claire Wilson / Glacier Media – Jun 6, 2023 / 1:09 pm | Story: 430538
Photo: Submitted.
Nexii currently has two plants in Canada located in Squamish and Moose Jaw
Vancouver-based unicorn Nexii Building Solutions Inc. is having their business practice called into question once again as the company defends itself in a second lawsuit.
Just two years ago, the green building startup declared it had attained unicorn status – a private company with a valuation of US$1 billion or more – faster than any other Canadian company.
Nexii also advertises a board of directors and leadership team stacked with big names, including former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, former global president and COO of McDonald’s Mike Roberts and actor Michael Keaton, an investor in the company.
As of 2022, the company’s valuation was estimated to be more than $2 billion following a $45 million raise from investors.
Two previous funding rounds in 2021 and 2020 raised $45 million and $33 million, respectively, thanks to the company’s development of “Nexitte,” a low-carbon alternative to cement and concrete for floors, walls and roofs.
Since then, the company been battling an alleged breach of contract in B.C. Supreme Court. And in the eastern district of Pennsylvania, Nexii is being sued for breach of contract, as well as fraud, tortious interference and securities fraud.
Green construction company NexUS1 LLC and investor Nex-Stock LLC, assert that Nexii made false representations to generate investment and participation in their franchise program. This allegedly resulted in significant financial losses, reputational harm and operational setbacks for the plaintiffs, according to court documents.
The suit also names Stephen Sidwell, “serial entrepreneur” and CEO of Nexii, as a defendant. Sidwell is described in court documents as the “individual bad actor principally responsible for perpetrating these frauds, doing so for his own personal monetary gain and aggrandizement.”
Closer to home, Nexii’s B.C. Supreme Court civil suit involves a subsidiary of Burnaby-based Symphony Group, Symphony Advanced Building Technologies Inc. (SABT).
SABT is suing Nexii over alleged issues between the two companies to fulfill an early-stage licensing agreement.
Symphony Group Companies’ managing director Gurdeep Kainth said that he and multiple family members have invested millions of dollars in Nexii. These investments assumed that SABT would enter into a licensing agreement with the company.
“The Kainth family was very much in support of Nexii. They wanted Nexi to succeed, thought this was a huge breakthrough in construction technology and really wanted to be a part of it, not just as investors but also hands on the ground, let’s build this stuff and build up a big business. Nexii made a number of representations in that respect and certainly that’s why this relationship was entered into that way,” said Max Krangle, vice-president of business development at SABT.
Nexii denies all claims of wrongdoing in both cases, according to a statement to Glacier Media.
“It is unfortunate that SABT and NexUS1 pursued litigation. Nexii believes their claims have no merit and continues to be confident in a just resolution. Once again, Nexii emphatically denies the allegations and will vigorously defend its case,” said the statement.
BIV previously reported that in late 2019, Nexii and SABT entered into a letter agreement – a term sheet that laid out the conditions for a licensing agreement. This was to allow SABT to be the first licensee of Nexii’s technology in Ontario.
Following a modification of the term sheet, and Nexii reportedly failing to provide the licensing agreement within a 90-day period, Nexii allegedly provided SABT with a manufacturing pact.
This allegedly led to a series of drafts, changes in terms and Nexii promising a new “side letter” to accompany the manufacturing agreement. In the end, SABT was allegedly told there would be no “side letter” and that Nexii was pursuing an agreement with a different company for Ontario production.
“To say it was devastating is a polite way of putting things. It’s bewildering to us on the management side of Nexii as to where they hope to go with their expansion. We don’t have any insight into that anymore. I mean with the millions of dollars invested in Nexii, of course nobody likes to lose money, but certainly this one felt even harder because of all the promises that were made,” said Kainth.
SABT and Nexii’s court date is set for April 2024. Minor pre-litigation applications have recently been made on both sides, according to Kainth and Krangle.
“We have invested huge amounts of money, millions of dollars, in costs that we’ve expended on bringing forward our licensing, attempts to set up our business, bringing on people and it’s caused an absolutely huge amount of disruption within our business. In fact, we don’t have a business in Symphony Advanced Building Technologies without this,” said Krangle.
While both SABT and U.S.-based plaintiffs assert that Nexii allegedly failed to deliver on a business contract, the U.S. plaintiffs go farther by questioning the validity of the “Nexitte product” and by accusing the company of Canadian tax fraud.
John Wolfington, co-owner of NexUS1 alongside Daniel Metzler, was allegedly approached by Sidwell, who pitched the investment opportunity in Nexii.
Sidwell and Nexii allegedly claimed to have a franchise-ready system for building structures using proprietary software, manufacturing methodologies and materials. Based on their representations of a $1.2 billion pipeline, two successful plants in Canada and other successfully completed projects, among other things, NexUS1 entered into a franchise agreement with Nexii.
Court documents highlight several alleged misrepresentations and deficiencies in Nexii’s claims, including issues with completed projects and Nexii’s system not being ready for franchising. The plaintiffs assert that Nexii made false representations to generate investment and participation in their franchise program.
“Defendant Nexii used [NexUS1] as a guinea pig hoping that it might be able to use [NexUS1] and its substantial capital investment to create a franchise program on the fly. It was unable to do so.”
“Unfortunately, [Nexii] is a Theranos, not a Tesla,” states the lawsuit, referencing the American corporation whose CEO has been convicted of fraud in connection to the company’s blood-testing technology.
Nexii’s sustainable cement product allegedly does not meet its “grandiose claims,” according to the U.S. lawsuit.
These documents claim that “Nexiite” panels are “far heavier” than other types of manufactured panels, that their fire and water-resistance capabilities are not based on legitimate testing and that the panels that were tested were done so under unrealistic conditions, and do match the panels Nexii would “ultimately design.”
NexUS1 also alleges that “Nexiite” cannot be manufactured and delivered at prices consistent with Nexii’s estimates. In addition, they claim that Nexii failed to provide any reliable research that proves “Nexiite” has the capabilities advertised.
According to Kainth, when SABT requested similar research to provide to investors, Nexii did not do so.
Multiple examples of issues with the product are included in the lawsuit, with one allegedly involving Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) almost suing Nexii due to deficient work. To avoid a lawsuit, Nexii allegedly settled this claim and took a “massive loss on the project” despite representing the contrary to NexUS1.
In another case, Nexii constructed the building envelope of a Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) hotel. The project is described in court documents as being more than a year behind schedule with cost overruns of roughly $1 million.
According to filings, Nexii allegedly acknowledged some of the company’s failings and offered to pay back $10 million in direct losses. However, NexUS1 claims that this is an attempt to commit Canadian tax fraud, with Nexii allegedly insisting upon labelling the reimbursement as “research and development.”
“Even if the true purpose of these payments was research and development into manufacturing Nexii panels, this would still constitute an admission of defendant Nexii’s fraud. If defendant Nexii had a franchise-ready system … it would not need its franchisee to research the defects in its system and develop solutions,” said the court documents.
Nexii and NexUS1 are currently in settlement negotiations, according to Nexii’s statement.
“Should these discussions prove to be unproductive over the next 60 days, Nexii will proceed to dismiss all matters commenced by the unauthorized agents of NexUS1, John Wolfington and Dan Metzler. These individuals are acting outside their authority and in breach of the NexUS1 corporate charter and operating agreement,” said Nexii.
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