Articles by Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

Jan 16 2020 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Magna International Inc. is scaling back its partnership with Lyft Inc. to co-develop self-driving technology as it focuses research and development spending on more near-term prospects. It was only about two years ago that the Aurora, Ont.,-based auto parts giant struck an ambitious partnership with ride-hailing firm Lyft to develop and manufacture self-driving systems at […]

Jan 14 2020 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The Australian bushfire season had already started when Joe Pickerill booked his flight to the country, but he had hoped things would have settled down by New Year's Eve when he was set to arrive. Instead, the fires intensified and the death toll mounted, while some families were forced to take refuge on beaches […]

Jan 2 2020 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — In a year that saw companies such as TransUnion, Facebook and Desjardins urge their Canadian users to change their passwords and monitor their financial accounts due to data breaches, it's never been more important to safeguard your personal information. The crucial part, however, is to actually take steps to make your personal data less […]

Dec 22 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The last vehicles of an era rolled out of GM Canada's Oshawa assembly plant last week, but workers and the union behind them hope it's not the end of the line. "We shouldn't let go of the manufacturing capacity we have there," said Tony Leah, who worked at the plant for 39 years […]

Dec 18 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — OSHAWA, Ont. — The last pickup trucks rolled down the line Wednesday at General Motor's Oshawa Assembly Plant as an era of vehicle production comes to a close for the Ontario motor city. "This has been coming in slow motion, and suddenly it's here," said Joel Smith, a union organizer with Unifor Local 222. Outside […]

Dec 9 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Storytelling platform Wattpad says it will open what it calls a second headquarters in Halifax to tap into the city's talent pool as the company grows. The company said Monday that starting early next year it will have a team based out the 60,000-square-foot Volta innovation hub in the city's downtown core to […]

Dec 1 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — When Chris Pollard wanted to list his Toronto condo, he decided to try a private sale in his neighbourhood first. And thanks to a Supreme Court decision last year against the Toronto Real Estate Board, he and his wife were able to look up how much similar units had sold for in the […]

Nov 26 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — Toronto still dominates Canada's tech scene but smaller markets are making inroads as companies compete to find talent, a new report says. The report by real estate services firm CBRE notes that while Toronto's tech talent pool grew by 54 per cent between 2013 and 2018 to reach 228,500, numerous smaller cities have also notched strong […]

Nov 21 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz wasn't asked about climate change risks at a discussion about economic change and emerging risks on Thursday, so he brought them up himself. "It's about the transition risk, right, as everyone's portfolio and all their lending practices kind of converge on a different climate trend line, that that […]

Nov 21 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — When an annuity of almost a thousand dollars a month stopped coming in to Neil Hewton's 94-year-old mother, she just thought it was supposed to end. It was only months later, when her son had to take over her finances after a health scare, that he caught the strange cutoff in payments. "It's kind of flukey […]

Nov 19 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The Ontario government has introduced a bill to update regulations for realtors that includes new enforcement tools, rules on business structures, and more disclosure of competing bids for homes. Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompson said the bill is a needed update to rules put in place in 2002. "It's been nearly 20 years since the […]

Nov 19 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The Ontario government has introduced a bill to update regulations for realtors that includes new enforcement tools, rules on business structures, and more disclosure of competing bids for homes. Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompson said the bill is a needed update to rules put in place in 2002. "It's been nearly 20 years since the […]

Nov 18 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — An Ontario tribunal has upheld rules passed by the City of Toronto on short-term rentals like Airbnb. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal said in a ruling released Monday that it has dismissed an appeal by several residents who objected to the rules that put limits on how people can rent out their properties. The city put the rules in […]

Nov 18 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — An Ontario tribunal has upheld rules passed by the City of Toronto on short-term rentals like Airbnb. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal said in a ruling released Monday that it has dismissed an appeal by several residents who objected to the rules that put limits on how people can rent out their properties. The city put the rules in […]

Nov 15 2019 — Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press — Canada has for a second year denied visas to numerous researchers hoping to attend an artificial intelligence conference in Vancouver, but has reversed some of those denials after coming under pressure to review them. Black in AI, a group promoting black representation in the field, started to publicly raise concerns recently after about a third of researchers set to attend its […]