Jan 17 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Huawei Canada will be getting a piece of the US$2 billion that its global Chinese parent will spend over five years to hire more software engineers to make its equipment more secure, resilient and efficient, the company said Thursday. A company spokesman in Ottawa said Huawei's head office hasn't decided how much additional money and […]
Jan 11 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Two of Canada's largest mobile phone services are being targeted by a social media campaign launched by Remind.com, a San Francisco-based company that provides a free two-way texting service for teachers, students and parents. Remind is calling on its Canadian users — nearly one million individuals, according to the company — to pressure Rogers and Bell to […]
Jan 10 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Paul Godfrey is stepping down as CEO of Postmedia Network Canada Corp. but will remain as executive chairman of the company, which owns the National Post, other newspapers and digital publications. Andrew MacLeod, who has been Godfrey's second in command since 2016, becomes Postmedia's chief executive officer. The announcements came as the owner of the […]
Jan 7 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Anyone who has seen an "Intel Inside" label on a piece of computer technology will instantly grasp what BlackBerry Ltd. is aiming to achieve with its "BlackBerry Secure" branding strategy. The Canadian technology company, based in Waterloo, Ont., unveiled the latest components of BlackBerry Secure on Monday at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev. […]
Jan 7 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Canada's largest telecommunications group is getting mixed reviews for its plan to follow the lead of companies like Google and Facebook in collecting massive amounts of information about the activities and preferences of its customers. Bell Canada began asking its customers in December for permission to track everything they do with their home […]
Jan 3 2019 — David Paddon — TORONTO — The financial health of Canadian defined benefit pension plans was eroded in the fourth quarter by a combination of weak stock markets and low long-term interest rates, two pension advisory firms said Thursday in separate reports. Mercer Canada and Aon each concluded that fewer than half of the country's defined benefit pension plans were […]
Dec 28 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Aphria Inc. said it's skeptical that an Ohio-based company's hostile all-share takeover offer would be a good deal for the Canadian company's shareholders, a view shared by at least one pot sector analyst. Aphria said before markets opened Friday that the actual value of the shares it's being offered is substantially lower than the announced offer […]
Dec 21 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — An annual snap-shot of telecom services, released Friday, shows a year-over-year decline in Canadian wireless prices but, as usual, concludes that most G-7 countries had less expensive packages. "While progress is being made, prices in Canada remain expensive compared to other nations," the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, which commissioned the study, said in a statement. For example, […]
Dec 20 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — The CEO of BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday he hasn't seen any indication that recent political tensions between the governments in Beijing, Ottawa and Washington are affecting the company's long-term business prospects in China. John Chen said he's optimistic there will be a resolution of the diplomatic dispute that erupted after Canada arrested Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou […]
Dec 20 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Canada's main competition watchdog recommends that all internet service providers should be required to use a standardized, easy-to-understand format when providing contract quotes to consumers. The Competition Bureau, which made the recommendation in a filing to Canada's telecommunications regulator, says consumers need a simple way to compare competing offers from internet providers, also called ISPs. The bureau […]
Dec 19 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — The parent company of Labatt Breweries of Canada has struck a research deal with Tilray Inc. that's expected to result in the creation of a variety of non-alcoholic beverages containing some of the active ingredients found in cannabis. Tilray chief executive Brendan Kennedy says that the B.C.-based cannabis producer and the Canadian arm of brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev will […]
Dec 18 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Tilray Inc. shares jumped Tuesday after the B.C.-based company took another step to strengthen its medical marijuana business outside Canada through a new collaboration with Novartis pharmaceutical group's Sandoz AG. "Tilray is a global company and we're thrilled to build upon the success and momentum from our existing agreement with Sandoz Canada by taking our partnership global," Tilray chief […]
Dec 17 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — The country's three national wireless carriers have agreed to offer "broad range" data-only plans through their second- and third-tier brands, including $30-per-month plans with more megabytes than previously suggested, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced Monday. But OpenMedia, one of the consumer groups that had objected to the carriers' proposals earlier this year, says […]
Dec 8 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — Before the arrest of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver last weekend, the Chinese company wasn't a household name in Canada — certainly not in the league of an Apple, Samsung or BlackBerry. However, the Chinese tech giant considered by several of Canada's allies as a security threat has quietly established itself as […]
Dec 6 2018 — David Paddon — TORONTO — The biggest change to the country's pension plans in more than a decade will take place in the new year, but the effects will be felt differently depending on which generation you belong to. Beginning in early 2019, the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan will phase in enhanced benefits over the next seven […]