Retail Industry Slashed by Covid-19

Scott McGinn

Published

5 years ago

5 minute read

How malls and stores across our city are taking measures to flatten the curve

Since The City of Calgary declared a state of emergency on Sunday March 15th, almost
every sector has been affected. This order brought immediate closures to all city owned
recreational facilities, the public library and any YMCA facilities including the Repsol
Centre sports complex.

Following this declaration, franchises and stores across our city have seen temporary
closures to combat any further spread of the virus. We can assume all of us are aware
of the major detriment this will have on our economy. Not often is there a communal
thought given to those who have welcomed our money for products or services.

The country wide chain of malls, Cadillac Fairview has reported to reduce their opening
hours and drastically improve cleaning. If we keep in mind that Cadillac Fairview owns
over 70 malls in 9 provinces, safe to say they will be hit hard. This is to say that tenants
are the ones to be hit the hardest.

How many times have you said the word “Social Distancing” in the last few weeks. This
comes to those as tenants or stand alone businesses in our city being directly affected.

Apple reports: “We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until
March 27”

The Hudson’s Bay company stated on facebook that they are temporarily closing all
stores nationwide. Also stating “stores will remain closed for two weeks, and reopening
will be assessed at that time. We will continue to serve customers through thebay.com”.

A letter from the CEO of the Canadian Tire Corporation stated: “To encourage social
distancing, we are limiting the hours of operation at certain banners, such as at our
Mark’s and SportChek stores. Please visit their websites, or check with your local store,
for updated hours of operation. At this time, we plan to maintain standard hours at
Canadian Tire stores, allowing us to continue providing the essentials that Canadians
need”

Cineplex Inc. reports “it will be temporarily closing its network of theatres and
location-based entertainment venues across Canada starting March 16, 2020, through
to April 2, 2020”. You can read the full press release here – Press Release.

You may be concerned about what this means for grocery stores. We have all seen
photos and videos of empty shelves across multiple chains, but what are they doing to
drive down the chance of contracting the virus? Check out what Calgary Co-Op is doing
to proactively care for their customers – Calgary Co-Op Covid-19 Measures.

As some may not be aware of what is happening across the globe, one thing that struck
home for St. Patrick’s day. Every bar across the country of Ireland is closed for two
weeks, which has never happened in the history of the country. Those poor souls.

It is clear that there is a trend for other retailers following suit. There is no way to know
how the economy will be hit at this time. Sure to say that those panic buying and
stockpiling toilet paper may be ahead of the curve, but the severity of the issue will
continue to play out in the coming weeks.

A lot of us will be fearful of their own health and safety in a time like this. The best way
to keep yourself up to date on information is to follow updates from the World Health
Organisation. Another trusted source for those curious about where our province lies in
the spectrum of outbreak, Alberta Health Services will be reporting all new findings in
the province. They have created an online screening section of their website for those
who feel that may be under the weather. You can find the self screening application
here – Covid-19 Self Assessment.

Click here for more stories from Todayville Calgary.

Related Topics:coronavirus COVID-19 feature retail shopping

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Worst kept secret—red tape strangling Canada’s economy

Published on February 22, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

In the past nine years, business investment in Canada has fallen while increasing more than 30 per cent in the U.S. on a real per-person basis. Workers in Canada now receive barely half as much new capital per worker than in the U.S.

According to a new Statistics Canada report, government regulation has grown over the years and it’s hurting Canada’s economy. The report, which uses a regulatory burden measure devised by KPMG and Transport Canada, shows government regulatory requirements increased 2.1 per cent annually from 2006 to 2021, with the effect of reducing the business sector’s GDP, employment, labour productivity and investment.

Specifically, the growth in regulation over these years cut business-sector investment by an estimated nine per cent and “reduced business start-ups and business dynamism,” cut GDP in the business sector by 1.7 percentage points, cut employment growth by 1.3 percentage points, and labour productivity by 0.4 percentage points.

While the report only covered regulatory growth through 2021, in the past four years an avalanche of new regulations has made the already existing problem of overregulation worse.

The Trudeau government in particular has intensified its regulatory assault on the extraction sector with a greenhouse gas emissions cap, new fuel regulations and new methane emissions regulations. In the last few years, federal diktats and expansions of bureaucratic control have swept the auto industry, child care, supermarkets and many other sectors.

Again, the negative results are evident. Over the past nine years, Canada’s cumulative real growth in per-person GDP (an indicator of incomes and living standards) has been a paltry 1.7 per cent and trending downward, compared to 18.6 per cent and trending upward in the United States. Put differently, if the Canadian economy had tracked with the U.S. economy over the past nine years, average incomes in Canada would be much higher today.

Also in the past nine years, business investment in Canada has fallen while increasing more than 30 per cent in the U.S. on a real per-person basis. Workers in Canada now receive barely half as much new capital per worker than in the U.S., and only about two-thirds as much new capital (on average) as workers in other developed countries.

Consequently, Canada is mired in an economic growth crisis—a fact that even the Trudeau government does not deny. “We have more work to do,” said Anita Anand, then-president of the Treasury Board, last August, “to examine the causes of low productivity levels.” The Statistics Canada report, if nothing else, confirms what economists and the business community already knew—the regulatory burden is much of the problem.

Of course, regulation is not the only factor hurting Canada’s economy. Higher federal carbon taxes, higher payroll taxes and higher top marginal income tax rates are also weakening Canada’s productivity, GDP, business investment and entrepreneurship.

Finally, while the Statistics Canada report shows significant economic costs of regulation, the authors note that their estimate of the effect of regulatory accumulation on GDP is “much smaller” than the effect estimated in an American study published several years ago in the Review of Economic Dynamics. In other words, the negative effects of regulation in Canada may be even higher than StatsCan suggests.

Whether Statistics Canada has underestimated the economic costs of regulation or not, one thing is clear: reducing regulation and reversing the policy course of recent years would help get Canada out of its current economic rut. The country is effectively in a recession even if, as a result of rapid population growth fuelled by record levels of immigration, the GDP statistics do not meet the technical definition of a recession.

With dismal GDP and business investment numbers, a turnaround—both in policy and outcomes—can’t come quickly enough for Canadians.

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute

Business

‘Out and out fraud’: DOGE questions $2 billion Biden grant to left-wing ‘green energy’ nonprofit`

Published on February 22, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The EPA under the Biden administration awarded $2 billion to a ‘green energy’ group that appears to have been little more than a means to enrich left-wing activists.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Biden administration awarded $2 billion to a “green energy” nonprofit that appears to have been little more than a means to enrich left-wing activists such as former Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams.

Founded in 2023 as a coalition of nonprofits, corporations, unions, municipalities, and other groups, Power Forward Communities (PFC) bills itself as “the first national program to finance home energy efficiency upgrades at scale, saving Americans thousands of dollars on their utility bills every year.” It says it “will help homeowners, developers, and renters swap outdated, inefficient appliances with more efficient and modernized options, saving money for years ahead and ensuring our kids can grow up with cleaner, pollutant-free air.”

The organization’s website boasts more than 300 member organizations across 46 states but does not detail actual activities. It does have job postings for three open positions and a form for people to sign up for more information.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, along with new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, are raising questions about the $2 billion grant PFC received from the Biden EPA’s National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF), ostensibly for the “affordable decarbonization of homes and apartments throughout the country, with a particular focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities.”

PFC’s announcement of the grant is the organization’s only press release to date and is alarming given that the organization had somehow reported only $100 in revenue at the end of 2023.

“I made a commitment to members of Congress and to the American people to be a good steward of tax dollars and I’ve wasted no time in keeping my word,” Zeldin said. “When we learned about the Biden administration’s scheme to quickly park $20 billion outside the agency, we suspected that some organizations were created out of thin air just to take advantage of this.” Zeldin previously announced the Biden EPA had deposited the $20 billion in a Citibank account, apparently to make it harder for the next administration to retrieve and review it.

“As we continue to learn more about where some of this money went, it is even more apparent how far-reaching and widely accepted this waste and abuse has been,” he added. “It’s extremely concerning that an organization that reported just $100 in revenue in 2023 was chosen to receive $2 billion. That’s 20 million times the organization’s reported revenue.”

Daniel Turner, executive director of energy advocacy group Power the Future, told the Beacon that in his opinion “for an organization that has no experience in this, that was literally just established, and had $100 in the bank to receive a $2 billion grant — it doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it’s out and out fraud.”

Prominent among PFC’s insiders is Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader best known for persistent false claims about having the state’s gubernatorial election stolen from her in 2018. Abrams founded two of PFC’s partner organizations (Southern Economic Advancement Project and Fair Count) and serves as lead counsel for a third group (Rewiring America) in the coalition. A longtime advocate of left-wing environmental policies, Abrams is also a member of the national advisory board for advocacy group Climate Power.