Data centres reshaping B.C.’s commercial real estate market – Business News
.February 28, 2025
The Canadian Press – Feb 28, 2025 / 8:52 am | Story: 535871
Photo: The Canadian Press
The S&P/TSX composite index screen at the TMX Market Centre in downtown Toronto is photographed on Friday, Nov.11, 2022.
Losses in technology stocks and the base metal sector helped nudge Canada’s main stock index lower in late-morning trading, while U.S. markets moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 7.61 points at 25,120.63.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 197.57 points at 43,437.07. The S&P 500 index was up 23.48 points at 5,885.05, while the Nasdaq composite was up 85.46 points at 18,629.88.
The Canadian dollar traded for 69.35 cents US compared with 69.34 cents US on Thursday.
The April crude oil contract was down 54 cents at US$69.81 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$3.86 per mmBTU.
The April gold contract was down US$31.30 at US$2,864.60 an ounce and the May copper contract was down nine cents at US$4.53 a pound.
Jami Makan / BIV – Feb 28, 2025 / 8:22 am | Story: 535865
Photo: Cologix Inc..
The server room of the “VAN3†data centre at 2828 Natal Street in Vancouver operated by Denver-based Cologix.
Data centres, which quietly connect the digital world, are emerging as a darling of commercial real estate in B.C. and beyond.
Although the data centre industry has complex needs and high barriers to entry, experts say it’s only just blooming, and that the industry will grow exponentially with the development and adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies.
Data centres, initially developed by financial institutions and others to house critical data, offer five key services to a wide range of customers: Space, power, cooling, security and interconnection. Companies used to operate “switch rooms” or “telco rooms” in-house before outsourcing that work.
“It’s really exciting that data centres have now come into the mainstream a bit more,” said Jordan Scott, account director with Denver-based Cologix, Inc., which operates five data centres in and around Vancouver.
“For a while there, it felt like we were kind of just operating behind a curtain or behind the shadows.”
Scott, who is based in Vancouver, said data centres can be thought of as airports. They are the hubs where all the activity happens—where data is processed, transmitted and stored.
“In the airports, it’s a multi-tenant environment. Many, many customers come into our facilities and they co-locate their IT infrastructure within our walls,” he said.
Data centres are buildings for powering and cooling racks of servers and connecting them with fibre-optic and network cabling. Customers generally bring their own equipment, such as servers, switches, cabling, cabinets and power distribution units (PDUs).
Today’s data centres are expected to provide adequate physical space to host client equipment, sufficient electrical power, liquid cooling to create an ideal environment for running equipment, physical security and interconnection with the outside world.
Cologix’s 45-plus data centres in North America operate on a lease model. In addition to certain one-time costs, customers pay monthly lease rates for the square footage they occupy and their power usage, and can choose a two-, five- or 10-year term.
Although real estate is scarce and expensive in Greater Vancouver, urban hubs are needed for proximity to clients, electrical power and connectivity.
“None of our customers are going to want to drive six hours to the middle of nowhere if they have to reboot a server,” Scott said.
Data centres must coordinate with utilities and telecommunications companies to access power and fibre networks, and the barriers to entry are significant due to the amount of time and capital involved.
“You can’t just set up shop overnight,” he said.
AI boosts demand for data centres
“Data centres are ultimately real estate businesses,” said Marc Mondesir, Canadian managing director with California-based Equinix, Inc., which bills itself as the world’s largest data-centre company with 470,000-plus physical interconnections available to clients.
“We are really in the business of providing space and power for our customers, so that they can house the computer equipment that’s required to power the internet.”
Mondesir said his industry is positioned for massive growth as AI, cloud and other technologies—which ultimately runs on computers that in turn run within data centres—evolve.
“What’s at the core of all this infrastructure is the network. The network is at the core of the internet. The network is at the core of AI. The network is at the core of large language models,” he said.
An AI prompt currently requires 10 to 15 times more computing power compared to a keyword search, he said. This places extra demands on the grid, one reason for BC Hydro’s moratorium on Bitcoin mining announced in December 2022.
Crypto volatility aside, Mondesir said there is considerable room for long-term growth in the sector.
“Data centres account for less than one per cent of electricity consumption in this country,” he said. “The U.S. hovers in that three- to four-per-cent mark—these numbers change constantly—and then you’ve got China that’s reported to consume even more electricity than that, so [Canada is] sort of skimming the surface.”
By concentrating providers and equipment under one roof, data centres can unlock synergies for complex computing tasks that require low latency and high security. “The closer that these network nodes are to one another, the better they perform and the more securely they perform,” he said.
As demand for energy grows, so do concerns about the environment. Mondesir said Equinix data centres use 100-per-cent renewable energy and that the company aims to be carbon-neutral by 2030. He also said heat from hardware can be repurposed.
“The Olympic pool in Paris was heated by Equinix data centres,” he said.
Data centre operators face challenges
Wholesale colocation data centres are seen as desirable because infrastructure funds are able to deploy large chunks of capital into real estate assets that produce stable income, said Scott Harper, Toronto-based vice-president with CBRE Limited.
But operating a data centre is no walk in the park, as it brings legal risk, and the technical complexities of data centres make the market difficult to penetrate.
“If there is a problem in a data centre and your client needs an operating platform 24-7 and you cause there to be some type of interruption in that service, the penalties that you’re going to pay for each minute that you’re down are substantial,” he said. “It’s like the difference between owning a retirement home as a real estate play and then owning and operating a hospital that operates 24-7. It’s just much more technical, and you’re having to buy equipment that’s very expensive and back up the data centre twice.”
The hardest thing for an operator right now is aligning a facility to the power supply on a client’s timeline, said Dave Cervantes, CBRE’s Montreal-based executive vice-president.
There is exponential demand for built data-centre space and large quantities of power, he said. The challenge for an operator is getting that space to market with a scarcity of utility power on the grid and significant capital costs to develop the data centre around that power.
Despite these logistical challenges, demand is only beginning to grow, Cervantes said.
“We are continuing to develop at a very, very accelerated pace,” he said.
According to Scott, there are now more eyes and ears focused on the data centre industry in B.C. and elsewhere.
“There’s a ton of investment flowing into this space right now,” he said. “I think it’s really just the beginning of data centres and everything that’s going to be possible.”
Christopher Rugaber And Anne D’innocenzio, The Associated Press – Feb 28, 2025 / 8:01 am | Story: 535859
Photo:AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File
FILE – Customers wait in line for eggs at a Costco store in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.
Ongoing tariff threats from Washington and potentially sweeping government job cuts have darkened consumers’ mood and may be weighing on an otherwise mostly healthy economy.
Data released Wednesday showed that consumers slashed their spending by the most since February 2021, even as their incomes rose. On a positive note, inflation cooled, but President Donald Trump’s threats to impose large import taxes on Canada, Mexico, and China — the United States’ top trading partners — will likely push prices higher, economists say. Some companies are already planning to raise prices in response.
Americans cut their spending by 0.2% in January from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday, likely in part because of unseasonably cold weather. Yet the retreat may be hinting at more caution by consumers amid rising economic uncertainty.
“The roller coaster of news headlines emanating from Washington D.C. is likely going to push businesses to the sidelines for a time and even appear to be impacting consumers,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander, in an email.
Inflation declined to 2.5% in January compared with a year earlier, down from 2.6% in December, the Commerce Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices dropped to 2.6%, the lowest since June, from 2.9%.
Economists noted that inflation would likely keep cooling, but the progress could be upended by tariffs. Trump said Thursday he would impose 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico, though just 10% on oil from Canada. He also said he wanted to double the current tariff on imports from China to 20%.
Trump is also calling for widespread layoffs of federal workers, which could cause hundreds of thousands of job losses and potentially lift the unemployment rate.
Randy Carr, CEO of World Emblem, says the tariffs, if imposed, will force him to raise prices and cut jobs. World Emblem makes patches, labels and badges for companies, universities and law enforcement agencies.
The firm has factories in Georgia and California but it makes about 60% of its products in Mexico. Carr said if the 25% import taxes are imposed, he expects to raise prices by 5% to 10%. He also plans to cut “a handful” of jobs among the 500 workers his company has in the United States to help absorb the rest of the costs.
Carr said he would also cancel about $9 million in planned investments in artificial intelligence and online commerce.
“It’s so annoying,” he said. “Right now you have this volatility, and so you really can’t plan anything. You just got to wait until we get a final verdict from from the administration. It’s definitely not punishing Mexico, it’s punishing us.”
The inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve said in January they planned to keep their key short-term interest rate on hold, at 4.3%, to slow borrowing and spending enough to lower inflation back to their 2% target. The Fed’s elevated rate has contributed to higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.
The Fed prefers Friday’s inflation measure to the more widely-known consumer price index, which rose for the fourth straight month in January to 3%. Friday’s gauge calculates inflation slightly differently: For example, it puts less weight on the costs of housing and used cars.
Inflation spiked in 2022 to its highest level in four decades, propelling President Donald Trump to the White House and leading the Fed to rapidly raise interest rates to tame prices. It has since fallen from a peak of 7.2%, and some economists expect it could fall closer to 2% in the coming months.
“The inflation data could be distorted higher at exactly the time when the Fed would otherwise be in a position to declare a win,” Stanley said.
One other bright spot in the report was that incomes jumped 0.9% in January from December, fueled in part by a large annual cost of living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries.
Yet Americans spent less anyway, in particular on cars, where purchases fell sharply. The cutbacks may also reflect a need for many consumers to save after spending a bit during the winter holiday season. Credit card debt surged in December, economists noted.
A big concern right now is whether tariffs will push up inflation, or slow the economy, or — in a particularly toxic combination — both.
A report from the Federal Reserve’s Boston branch this month concluded that 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, along with Trump’s initial 10% import taxes on China, could lift core inflation by as much as 0.8 percentage points.
Many toy companies had expressed relief when Trump has announced a 10% increase in tariffs on products from China because they thought they could share the extra costs between themselves and the retailer. But with a 20% tariff, they say they have no choice but to raise prices for shoppers. Around 80% of toys sold in the U.S. are made in China, according to industry reports.
Curtis McGill, CFO of small toy maker Hey Buddy Hey Pal, called the move “a nightmare scenario.”
McGill had just confirmed a price for a toy with one major retailer Wednesday, but then had to withdraw the price after he heard about the tariffs. For the year-end holiday season, his toys will see a 10% price increase.
Worries about tariffs pushing prices higher have sent consumer confidence plunging, unwinding the modest gains that had occurred after the election. Americans are also expecting inflation to move higher in the coming months. That’s a risky trend because if consumers and businesses expect higher prices, they may act in ways to lift inflation, such as accelerating their purchases and boosting demand.
On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% in January from the previous month, matching December’s 0.3% increase. Core prices rose 0.3%, up from 0.2% in December. If sustained, January’s increases would keep inflation running above the Fed’s target. The Fed pays more attention to core prices because they provide a better read on future inflation.
Josh Funk, The Associated Press – Feb 28, 2025 / 7:47 am | Story: 535850
Photo: AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File
FILE – Egg cartons for sale are displayed at a grocery store, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 in Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for driving prices to record highs, but critics believe giant companies are taking advantage of their market dominance to profit handsomely at the expense of budget-conscious egg buyers.
Advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers and a Federal Trade Commission member are calling for a government investigation after egg prices spiked to a record average of $4.95 per dozen this month. The Trump administration did unveil a plan this week to combat bird flu, but how much that might ease egg prices — a key driver of inflation — remains to be seen.
“Donald Trump promised to lower food prices on ‘Day One’, but with egg prices skyrocketing out of control, he fired the workers charged with containing bird flu. Working families need relief now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement.
What’s behind the record egg prices?
The industry, and most experts, squarely blame bird flu. More than 166 million birds have been slaughtered to contain the virus. Some 30 million egg layers have been wiped out just since January, significantly disrupting egg supplies. The Department of Agriculture’s longstanding policy has been to kill entire flocks anytime the virus is found on a farm.
As a result, the number of egg layers has dropped nationwide by about 12% from before the outbreak to 292 million birds, according to a Feb. 1 USDA estimate, but another 11 million egg layers have been killed since then, so it’s likely worse. When prices spiked to $4.82 two years ago and prompted initial calls for price gouging probes, the flock was above 300 million.
“This has nothing to do with anything other than bird flu. And I think to suggest anything else is a misreading of the facts and the reality,” American Egg Board President Emily Metz said.
“Our farmers are in the fight of their lives, period, full stop. And they’re doing everything they can to keep these birds safe,” Metz said. “This is a supply challenge. Due to bird flu. Nothing else.”
Farm Action suspects monopolistic behavior. The group that lobbies on behalf of smaller farmers, consumers and rural communities notes that egg production is only down about 4% from last year and some 7.57 billion table eggs were produced last month, yet some consumers are still finding egg shelves empty at their local grocery stores.
“Dominant egg corporations are blaming avian flu for the price hikes that we’re seeing. But while the egg supply has fallen only slightly, these companies profits have soared,” said Angela Huffman, Farm Action’s president. The Justice Department acknowledged receiving the group’s letter calling for an investigation but declined to comment on it.
The fact that a jury ruled in 2023 that major egg producers used various means to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase the price of products during the 2000s only adds to the doubts about their motives now.
What do the numbers show?
Retail egg prices had generally remained below $2 per dozen for years before this outbreak began. Prices have more than doubled since then, boosting profits for egg producers even as they deal with soaring costs.
Most of the dominant producers are privately held companies and don’t release their results. But the biggest, Cal-Maine Foods, which supplies about 20% of the nation’s eggs, is public, and its profits increased dramatically. Cal-Maine reported a $219 million profit in the most recent quarter when its eggs sold for an average of $2.74 per dozen, up from just $1.2 million in the quarter just before this outbreak began in early 2022 when its eggs were selling for $1.37 per dozen.
Sherman Miller, Cal-Maine’s president and CEO, said in reporting the numbers that higher market prices “have continued to rise this fiscal year as supply levels of shell eggs have been restricted due to recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.”
But he said Cal-Maine also sold significantly more eggs — some 330 million dozens, up from 288 million the year before — in the quarter because demand is so strong and Cal-Maine has made a number of acquisitions. Cal-Maine also suffered few outbreaks on its farms, outside of a couple facilities in Kansas and Texas. The Mississippi-based company didn’t respond to calls from The Associated Press.
What about production costs?
Economists and analysts say the record egg prices aren’t a sure sign of something nefarious, and short-term profits might only last until farms get hit. Once a flock is slaughtered, it can take as long as a year to clean a farm and raise new birds to egg-laying age. The USDA pays farmers for every bird killed, but it doesn’t cover all the costs for farmers as they go without income.
“The consumer, I think, will probably feel like they’re getting the rough end of the stick. But I guarantee you, the farmers that are having to depopulate the barns, they’re having a rougher time,” CoBank analyst Brian Earnest said.
Inflation in the costs of feed and fuel and labor have contributed to rising egg prices, and farmers have been investing in biosecurity measures to help keep the virus away. So production costs also appear to be at an all-time high, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ producer price index.
“This isn’t a case where they’re taking the price up to gouge the market. It is the price is going up through auction at wholesale. And they’re benefiting from higher prices because supplies are tight,” University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson said.
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press – Feb 28, 2025 / 6:25 am | Story: 535833
Photo: The Canadian Press
About a quarter of public servants working at Canada’s largest departments and agencies aren’t following the government’s return to office rules, according to data from the organizations.
Large numbers of public servants working in the federal government’s three biggest departments aren’t following Ottawa’s three-days-per-week office work rule, federal data shows.
The federal government’s latest remote work mandate, which took effect in early September, requires all staff employed under the Treasury Board to work on-site a minimum of three days a week. Executives are expected to work in the office four days a week.
The Canadian Press asked for compliance rates from a number of federal departments, including the three with the largest workforces — the Department of National Defence, the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada.
Of those three, Defence, which employs about 28,700 people, saw the lowest rate of compliance with the three-day rule, especially in the National Capital Region.
The department, known informally as DND, says its average rate of compliance with the three-day rule in January was 60 per cent — but just 31 per cent in December.
DND’s reported compliance rate nationally was 61 per cent in November and 72 per cent in both October and September.
Staff in the National Capital Region seemed less likely to meet the requirement, with 57 per cent of DND staff in the Ottawa area meeting the three-day requirement in November, compared with 69 per cent elsewhere. In September and October, 70 per cent of DND staff in the capital region were compliant, compared to 76 and 77 per cent outside the Ottawa area.
Andrée-Anne Poulin, a spokesperson for DND, said the data does not factor in all leave, including vacation, training and sick days.
Poulin said compliance rates only track employees with hybrid work arrangements, adding that about half of DND employees continued working on-site full-time throughout the pandemic and thereafter.
“DND’s compliance monitoring equips leadership with general information needed for oversight of the workforce,” Poulin said in an email. “Managers are responsible for monitoring individual compliance by accounting for the location of employees during working hours.”
The Canada Revenue Agency estimates that 80 per cent of its 59,000 employees met their on-site requirement in December, up from 76 per cent in November and 77 per cent in October.
Benoit Sabourin, a spokesperson for the CRA, said the agency’s transition to increased on-site presence “has been going well” and most CRA employees are working under a hybrid schedule.
A graph shared by Employment and Social Development Canada, which employs just over 39,000 people, estimates its rate of compliance with the three-day rule has hovered at around 75 per cent since September.
Smaller departments and agencies saw varying levels of compliance.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which employs around 13,000 public servants, says its compliance rate was 93 per cent in January, compared with 72 per cent in September.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which employs about 6,800 public servants, says about 60 per cent of employees are front-line staff and have worked on-site since the start of the pandemic.
The agency said the compliance rate among its other workers was 73 per cent between October and January, excluding the holiday period in December.
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says managers are responsible for monitoring their employees’ performance and presence in the workplace.
“Managers need to confirm expectations with employees and ensure compliance with the common hybrid work model,” TBS spokesperson Martin Potvin said in August 2024.
A Treasury Board document says penalties for violating the in-office work rule can include verbal reprimand, written reprimand, suspension without pay and termination of employment.
“Before taking any of the above measures, managers should ensure that individual circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis, including human rights obligations, such as the duty to accommodate, or whether an employee has a reasonable explanation for the behaviour,” the document says.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents many federal public servants, says it has not heard of any members being suspended or laid off for breaking remote work rules. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says it does not gather information on those disciplinary measures.
As of 2024, 367,772 people were working in the federal public service.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press – Feb 27, 2025 / 6:00 pm | Story: 535773
Photo: The Canadian Press
The company logo hangs on the Ottawa headquarters of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify, May 29, 2019. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Shopify Inc. has listed a U.S. address alongside its Canadian headquarters for the first time in an annual regulatory filing it made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The e-commerce software business names both its Lafayette Street hub in New York and its O’Connor Street site in Ottawa as “principal executive offices” in the Feb. 11 filing.
TD Cowen analyst Peter Haynes spotted the shift mid-February and alerted investors to the fact that the filings also featured a U.S. employment identification code.
Annual filings Shopify made with the SEC dating back to 2017 have only listed the Ottawa location and were typically made under the foreign issuer 40-F designation rather than the domestic issuer 10-K that Shopify used this month.
He also pointed out that Shopify reorganized how it reports some data to “flip the geographic breakdown” of the company’s assets from mostly Canadian to mostly U.S.
Haynes mused the move was likely meant to help Shopify gain membership to certain US indexes, but company spokesperson Alex Lyons instead positioned it as a voluntary way to align Shopify’s disclosures with its software peers.
The Canadian Press – Feb 27, 2025 / 2:28 pm | Story: 535732
Photo: The Canadian Press
Telus Place in Montreal, Thursday, November 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
For the second time this month, Telus is offering buyouts to hundreds of employees across the country.
The telecom company said it’s offering “generous” buyout packages as part of the company’s push for more self-serve solutions.
The United Steelworkers union says Telus has offered buyout packages to about 560 workers across the country.
The union condemned the move, accusing the company of reducing service levels and outsourcing work overseas.
Telus spokesperson Catherine Leclerc said it’s standard for the company to offer the packages to a broad number of team members.
She said Telus anticipates a very small number of those offered buyouts to take them, and said the company may limit the number of departures.
The Steelworkers union said the latest offers come after a wave earlier this month when Telus offered voluntary severance packages to 545 employees in several departments.
Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press – Feb 27, 2025 / 11:45 am | Story: 535684
Photo: The Canadian Press
A person makes their way past a Toronto-Dominion Bank in the Financial District of Toronto, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
TD Bank Group’s restructuring is well underway, said chief executive Raymond Chun, as the bank works to complete its anti-money laundering reforms and prepare for growth despite imposed U.S. limitations.
“The strategic review is advancing as planned,” said Chun, who took on the CEO job in February following the fallout from the bank’s US$3.1 billion settlement last year on money-laundering deficiencies.
“We are identifying significant opportunities to restructure operations, reduce costs, and improve processes,” he said on an earnings call Thursday.
The efforts to fix the bank have led to heightened expenses, including a 12 per cent adjusted jump from last year, along with guidance for elevated expense growth next quarter because of the ramp-up in governance and control investments.
The costs weighed somewhat on earnings, which came in at $2.79 billion, down from $2.82 billion in the same quarter last year, or flat on both an adjusted and per share basis.
But the bigger question than a single quarter result is what’s ahead for TD as it looks to put the anti-money laundering scandal behind it, and as Chun moves to shape a new direction for the bank.
As part of those efforts, TD announced in February it was selling its full stake in The Charles Schwab Corp. for proceeds of about $20 billion, with about $8 billion going to share buybacks and the rest going back into company expansion.
Since the bank is still going through a strategic review, Chun declined to give specifics on where it will be putting the rest of the money.
The bank is also working to reduce its assets in the U.S. to give it more options, since as part of its settlement with U.S. regulators, the bank has a U.S. asset limit of US$434 billion.
So far the bank has reduced its assets by about 10 per cent, including US$25 billion of borrowings paid down during the first quarter, while it has also since announced a deal to sell a US$9 billion mortgage portfolio.
Tackling expenses is also part of the longer-term strategy, and one of its key priorities, even as it works to expand some operations, said Chun.
“From a cost optimization, we’re going deep to rightsize our cost base,” he said.
“As we move forward, we will continue to invest in our business, but then manage our expenses back down to a more normalized growth.”
While expenses were a pressure, the bank also benefited somewhat from the elevated trading levels seen at other banks, and growth in some lines of business.
Revenue for the first quarter totalled $14.05 billion, up from $13.71 billion.
The bank says its profit amounted to $1.55 per diluted share for the quarter ended Jan. 31, the same as a year earlier.
The bank’s provision for credit losses amounted to $1.21 billion, up from $1 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, TD says it earned $2.02 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $2.00 per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of $1.96 per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
Jeffries analyst John Aiken said TD had a solid quarter, though not as strong as its peers.
“TD is progressing on its AML remediation and restructuring of its balance sheet. While expenses are at a higher run-rate, we note that operationally, profitability is improving and the restructuring has not had a dire impact on earnings.”
Leo Salom, head of TD’s U.S. division, said the measures the bank is taking is setting itself up for the future.
“Our focus here is to leverage 2025 as that transition year, to make the investments we need to in the core franchise to be able to address some of our remediation activities,” said Salom on the call.
“We’re doing those things to be able to enter into 2026 with a more normalized profile.”
Indigo Lemay-Conway / Glacier Media – Feb 27, 2025 / 9:35 am | Story: 535655
Photo: .
Wild and Heart owner Candice Kane.
It’s lunchtime on a Wednesday in February and the shops of downtown Squamish are quiet.
Some are buzzing with more energy than others, but for around half of the businesses on Cleveland Avenue, customers are far and few in between.
But with the “shop Canadian made” movement—launched after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to potentially impose 25% tariffs on exported Canadian goods and 10% on Canadian energy resources—growing stronger by the day, many shop owners are hoping residents can swap their online shopping to support local instead.
Wild and Heart
For Wild and Heart boutique owner Candice Kane, the lack of local support has been a difficult pill to swallow.
“I find outside of a small little group of locals, it’s just tourists [shopping downtown] and I don’t get it,” Kane told The Squamish Chief.
“I’ve had people come in here and say, ‘I’ve lived here 20 years, I’ve never been in your store.’ I don’t know where they’re shopping or what they’re doing [but it’s not downtown].”
With over 23 Canadian brands in store, ranging from skincare, jewelry, clothing and more, Kane is urging Squamish shoppers to check out other businesses downtown before opting to shop online.
The previous Thursday, Kane said not one person came into her store, a disheartening feeling she believes other shop owners can sympathize with.
“I had nobody, like zero sales … You have to be doing at least probably $500 a day to kind of make it,” she said.
“There’s money here, you can see the cars, I stand at the window and there’s BMWs and Teslas everywhere so I don’t really buy that argument [that people can’t afford to shop here].
“So how can we work together to get the word out to the tourists or to the local people. Because [if it keeps going this way] we won’t all be here. And is that what Squamish wants?”
Kane said the ripple effect of failing to support local businesses extends further than just one store.
“If we’re gone, all these people that we support [with small businesses] they’re gone,” she said, noting many of her products are made by Squamish entrepreneurs.
“I know that tourists are going to come when the summer comes back, but I think just the local people coming in, supporting all of us downtown, that’s the thing. They’re non-existent for the most part.”
Be Clean Naturally
Another local store boasting a huge range of Canadian and Squamish-made products is Be Clean Naturally, owned by Kirstin French.
While some may be frustrated by the potential tariff taxes, French believes the movement will have a positive effect on Canadian brands.
“We have had a number of opportunities to see how important it is to shop local, and we haven’t really taken them seriously enough,” French told The Squamish Chief.
“So I think that this political situation that we have right now is a fantastic opportunity for us to realize the importance of supporting our own economy.”
Be Clean Naturally stocks a variety of house-made soaps, alongside a number of environmentally friendly products made by local artisans across B.C. and Canada.
“Before we moved into the space, I sold the Be Clean Naturally products at the farmer’s market for four years. So, I made a lot of connections with other people that sold at the farmer’s market and still sell their products here now, 10 years later,” French said.
Throughout the store, shoppers can find pottery, honey, skincare, mushroom products, essential oils and more, all of which are Canadian-made.
While 2025 is looking more promising for French, the previous year proved to be a tougher one financially.
“We had a tough 2024, the first five months was, of all the years that I’ve been in business, the hardest,” she said.
“I think after the small business loans had to be paid back for COVID, my understanding from talking to other people was that there was a massive amount of businesses that were not prepared to pay that money back, and so they took out loans at much higher interest rates than when they borrowed the money.
“And so it just hit our economy hard when that deadline came. Normally, our tourist season here starts to pick up, like April, May, and that didn’t happen until August, and we didn’t get back to normal numbers until October.”
French hopes that whether or not the tariffs are imposed upon Canada, consumers will take the opportunity to support Canadian and Squamish-made products.
“I do think that a large part of the onus is on the consumers to make choices that support rather than undermine our economy,” she said.
“This is a difficulty that we’re going to learn something great from in the longer run, we just have to be a little patient in the meantime with people that are really frustrated and want to blame someone else for forcing this on us.”
Empire of Dirt
For Laura Bradley, the past 10 years at her store Empire of Dirt on Cleveland Ave. has brought many ups and downs, but one thing that has held strong is her desire to support local.
“I’ve been here nine years, and it’s all local artists and jewelry, art, you name it and my store is specifically for local artists,” Bradley said.
Much like others on the strip, Bradley has noticed fewer locals opting to spend in stores and instead swaying towards online websites.
“I think coming downtown is a little bit difficult. I don’t think people have extra money these days to be buying all the wants and plus Amazon, it’s right there delivered to your door and it’s cheap,” she said.
“It’s so hard I find with people spending a little extra money on local artists, rather than Amazon and whatnot.
“You know, it might cost you a little bit extra, but it’s going into the pockets of hundreds of people in town, families. We always donate to the sports and dance clubs, but Amazon doesn’t do that for the local people.”
Since news of the potential tariff taxes though, Bradley has seen a slight uptick in sales.
“I have actually found in the last couple of weeks that there are people who are supporting local artists, I have noticed a bit of an uptick,” she said.
Scandinavia Wolf
Kristy Turney has been selling jewelry in Squamish for almost nine years and almost all of her stock is made in-house.
“Pretty much everything in here is Canadian, so we’re lucky that way, because we make the majority of ourselves in-house, and most of our suppliers are also Canadian,” she said.
While other businesses have felt a drop in customers, Turney, who relocated Scandinavia Wolf to downtown Squamish just over a year ago has felt an uptick in sales.
“We’ve seen a lot more traffic, because we came from somewhere that was a bit more hidden so it’s kind of different for us than people that have been on this street for a long time,” she said.
“It was a really good Christmas season, and I think a lot of it had to do with people just wanting to shop local, but also because of the strike that was happening with the postal service so most people had to kind of stop buying online and then shop local.”
However, she did note that this past month has seen quieter foot traffic.
Echoing the sentiment from fellow shop owners, Turney said the benefit of shopping local and Canadian-made ensures that funds trickle throughout the community.
“If you’re shopping local, you’re spending money at our store, so then I’m going to spend money at your store because I have money to spend. It brings the community together,” she said.
Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association
“Many of our downtown businesses have long been dedicated to providing products that reflect quality and craftsmanship with many businesses choosing to focus on Canadian-made or locally crafted products,” Neil said.
“The shift towards selling Canadian-made goods will be great for our community and is also a response to consumer demand for products that are made responsibly.
“This puts our businesses in an advantageous position attracting conscious consumers who care about where their products come from.”
Neil agrees that downtown Squamish has seen a drop in customer rates over the past year and hopes locals will listen to the calls from local business owners to support them where they can.
“It’s true that foot traffic has been slower, which I believe is a reflection of broader trends we’ve seen across many communities and is due to economic factors and changing consumer habits,” she said.
“People are shopping more online, and there are also shifts in how people choose to spend their limited time and money. However, when consumers are encouraged to support local businesses and buy Canadian, it creates a sense of connection between the products they purchase and the community they are part of.
“This connection is something that big-box retailers or online shopping can’t provide. Supporting Canadian-made products, especially from Squamish businesses, is crucial because it directly benefits our local economy.”
While shopping Canadian made has become a priority for many, Neil is also reminding folks to support businesses who may have already purchased stock from America.
“While I am a strong advocate for supporting local and buying Canadian-made products, it’s important to remember that many businesses have already purchased stock from the U.S. that is now on hand,” she said.
“I encourage consumers to be mindful of this when making purchasing decisions. Avoiding these products simply because they are imported could have unintended consequences, potentially harming the very businesses we aim to support.
“The reality is that these businesses have already invested in their inventory, and purchasing what they currently have in stock is just as vital to their success.”
Is it Canadian made?
According to the federal Competition Bureau, to be labelled a “Product of Canada,” at least 98% of the total direct costs of producing or manufacturing the product being sold has to have been incurred in Canada.
To have the “Made in Canada” label, (a) the last substantial transformation of the good has to have occurred in Canada; (b) at least 51% of the total direct costs of producing or manufacturing the good have to have been incurred in Canada; and (c) the item has to have a qualifier, such as “60% Canadian content and 40% imported content.”
Herbaland / BIV – Feb 27, 2025 / 9:30 am | Story: 535653
Photo: .via Herbaland
With a bold commitment to innovation, Herbaland continuously expands its product line, offering diverse and accessible nutrition solutions.
As Canadian consumers become more discerning about the origins of their products, the demand for locally made goods continues to rise. For businesses, this shift presents both a market opportunity and an economic responsibility. Herbaland Naturals, Canada’s largest gummy manufacturer, stands as a prime example of a company maintaining its commitment to local production while expanding its presence in the global health and wellness sector.
Globalization and inclusive innovation since 2009
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Herbaland has grown into Canada’s largest producers of gummy supplements and functional snacks. The company’s global expansion strategy has propelled it to international success, with products now available in over 40 countries.Herbaland expects the growth to accelerate, projecting a 37.5% increase in export markets, expanding to 55 countries by the end of 2026. Additionally, the international market revenue growth rate is forecasted to reach an impressive 240% in the coming years.
As part of its innovation-driven approach, in 2024, Herbaland announced it would introduce 30 new products between then and the end of 2025, incorporating five unique delivery forms—gummies, gel, jelly, liquid and powder—into the global market. This diverse product range ensures accessibility and inclusivity, catering to various consumer preferences and dietary needs worldwide.
Proudly made in Canada: Strengthening local economies
Herbaland proves local manufacturing can drive global success while boosting Canada’s economy and jobs. Photo via Herbaland
Unlike many competitors that outsource manufacturing to cut costs, Herbaland has steadfastly maintained its production within Canada. This decision is not just about quality control—it’s a strategic move that strengthens the brand and the local Canadian economy. Herbaland projects to experience a 145% growth in sales in 2025, potentially strengthening its position as an economic contributor.r. Beyond business success, Herbaland’s dedication to local manufacturing generates substantial economic benefits. By keeping its operations domestic, the company directly supports employment growth and contributes to Canada’s economic resilience.
Additionally, Herbaland’s status as a certified B Corporation underscores its commitment to ethical business practices. The company actively partners with over 40 charitable organizations, has planted more than 700,000 trees as part of its sustainability initiatives, and continues to invest in environmentally responsible manufacturing practices.
Innovative nutrition
As a B Corp, Herbaland blends sustainability and social impact, showing that ethics and profit can thrive together. Photo via Herbaland
Innovation is one of Herbaland’s core values, always striving to create something truly unique but also something their customers will love. With their in-house research and development team, Herbaland is able to create products that align with market demands and with a fast turnover. In 2024, Herbland launched its award-winning probiotic powder stick, Yumbiotic Powder Stick, which uses a unique easy-melt formula, meaning you can pour the powder directly in your mouth without any water. This makes for a fun, tasty and convenient way for their customers to get their daily probiotics. Herbaland is working on two new products for 2025, with energy gels and liquid collagen coming down the pipeline. With a focus on functional nutrition, Herbaland’s offerings include low-sugar, high-fibre snacks and targeted supplements designed to meet the needs of health-conscious consumers.
By maintaining production within Canada, Herbaland upholds the highest quality standards, ensuring that every product meets Health Canada’s regulations. This dedication has positioned the company as a global leader in health and wellness while fostering trust among consumers seeking premium, effective and high-quality supplements.
Why businesses and consumers should prioritize local business
With potential tariffs from the USA, investing in Canadian-made products is both a strategic and practical decision. Herbaland’s ability to scale its operations without offshoring demonstrates that high-quality, competitively priced and sustainably produced goods can be manufactured domestically without compromising profitability. As Canada continues to grow as a hub for health and wellness innovation, supporting local enterprises can contribute to economic stability, foster innovation and strengthen supply chains.
The Canadian Press – Feb 27, 2025 / 8:40 am | Story: 535647
Photo: The Canadian Press
Royal Bank of Canada signage is pictured in the financial district in Toronto, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
Royal Bank of Canada reported a first-quarter profit of $5.13 billion, up from $3.58 billion in the same quarter last year, helped by growth across its business and its acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada.
The bank said Thursday the profit amounted to $3.54 per diluted share for the quarter ended Jan. 31, up from a profit of $2.50 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $16.74 billion, up from $13.49 billion.
RBC’s provision for credit losses totalled $1.05 billion for the quarter, up from $813 million a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, RBC says it earned $3.62 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $2.85 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of $3.26 per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
“In Q1, we delivered strong results and client-driven growth across our businesses, while prudently managing risk and making investments in technology and talent to position the bank for the future,” RBC chief executive Dave McKay said in a statement.
RBC said its personal banking business earned $1.68 billion in its latest quarter, up from $1.35 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, while its commercial banking operations earned $777 million, up from $650 million.
The bank’s wealth management business earned $980 million, up from $664 million. RBC’s insurance division earned $272 million, up from $220 million.
RBC’s capital markets business earned $1.43 billion, up from $1.15 billion a year earlier.
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press – Feb 27, 2025 / 7:36 am | Story: 535639
Photo: AP
This combination of photos shows Gayle King, from left, Lauren Sanchez and Katy Perry.
Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin announced the all-female celebrity crew on Thursday.
Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and former TV journalist, picked the crew who will join her on a 10-minute spaceflight from West Texas, the company said. They will blast off sometime this spring aboard a New Shepard rocket. No launch date was given.
Blue Origin has flown tourists on short hops to space since 2021. Some passengers have gotten free rides, while others have paid a hefty sum to experience weightlessness. It was not immediately known who’s footing the bill for this upcoming flight.
Sanchez invited singer Perry and TV journalist King, as well as a former NASA rocket scientist who now heads an engineering firm Aisha Bowe, research scientist Amanda Nguyen and movie producer Kerianne Flynn.
This will be Blue Origin’s 11th human spaceflight. Bezos climbed aboard with his brother for the inaugural flight.
