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Demand eclipses supply for protective glasses for safe solar eclipse viewing


Ali Van Orman is still looking for specialized glasses to protect her family’s eyes during Monday’s solar eclipse because she never counted on demand totally eclipsing supply.

She tried to buy a coveted pair of solar eclipse glasses for herself and two children from Amazon back in July, but the hot commodities wouldn’t have arrived in time.

Van Orman and many others are turning to social media to try to track down retailers that still have the glasses in stock. As of Thursday, supplies had dwindled in stores across Canada. Inventory status reports on the websites for Best Buy and Toys “R” Us showed the devices, which cost about $3, were sold out in many cities.

“There’s a little toy store here in Calgary. I called them and they said ‘no, you are the 50th person that’s phoned us,”‘ Van Orman said.

“It’s just one of those great things that I wish that I had done earlier,” she said, adding that she will investigate other options such as a pinhole camera or welding goggles. Optometrists have said that watching the eclipse without certified protection could lead to permanent vision loss.

Early birds who snapped up extra pairs before the rush are selling them for up to $40 online.

Andy Kahrmann, spokesman for Vancouver-based pharmacy retailer London Drugs, said the chain sold thousands of pairs and B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Saskatchewan were the first to sell out.

“I personally didn’t even get a pair of glasses. We sold everything we had,” he said.

“A couple of speciality magazines were including viewing glasses inside the magazines. Those are even sold out.”

He said the chain ordered double the amount of glasses it thought it would need, but that still wasn’t enough to meet demand. The glasses didn’t sell at first, he added, and by the time sales picked up, it was too late to re-order from the manufacturer, one of the more popular companies listed by the American Astronomical Society as a reputable supplier.

This week, Amazon issued refunds to customers who had bought potentially-shady solar eclipse glasses on its site, saying it could not confirm that glasses came from a recommended manufacturer.

“We recommend that you DO NOT use this product to view the sun or the eclipse,” the refund email said. With an online retail giant out of the picture, supply is even more strained.

Canada will only get a partial eclipse, with 90 per cent of the sun covered in Victoria, to just 31 per cent coverage in St. John’s. But stores in U.S. regions where the sun will be more covered sold out a week ago. One planetarium in Utah sold 21,000 pairs in a single day.

Some universities and science museums in Canada will be distributing the glasses for free at viewing parties across the country on Monday. If you can’t get a hold of glasses, NASA’s website recommends other ways to view the eclipse safely.



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Oceanex says cost of ships slowing down for whales is $100K a week


Due to new rules brought in by the federal government in an attempt to protect an unusual number of endangered right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Oceanex has introduced a temporary surcharge for vessel operations between St. John’s and Montreal.

The Canadian Coast Guard implemented a temporary reduced speed limit of 10 knots for vessels in a portion of that area. Normally those ships travel at around 18 knots.

This is in an effort by Ottawa to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whales seen in an unusual frequency in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

In order to make up for lost time, Oceanex said its boats will travel at 23 knots outside the area where the speed limit is temporarily reduced, which will mean extra fuel is needed.

Even with that increased speed in some areas, the changes mean an extra seven hours per sailing.

Oceanex said in its Friday press release that vessel departure times from Montreal are not expected to be impacted, but arrival times in Montreal and St. John’s will be delayed.

Surcharge will go when reduced speeds gone

“Operating at increased speeds significantly increases vessel fuel consumption and modified terminal operating times will increase labour costs loading and discharging cargo in port,” the company said in its release.

“As a result, Oceanex is implementing a temporary Marine Protection Surcharge of 4.0% of freight charges on future invoices related to the movement of goods to and from Newfoundland over Oceanex’s Montreal service.”

Oceanex says reduced speed limits mean route delays between St. John’s and Montreal, as well as increased labour and fuel costs. (Photo courtesy Wes Pretty/MarineTraffic.com)

Oceanex said the reduced speeds cost the company around $100,000 per week for its two ships that travel the route.

However, the company said it is not passing the full cost on to customers, and is absorbing some of the increased costs itself.

The new temporary fees will come into effect on the next sailings.

As soon as the reduced speed is removed by the federal government, Oceanex said the surcharge will be removed.

Between 10 and 12 dead right whales have been found in the Gulf since June 7. Several others have washed ashore in the U.S. There are only about 500 North Atlantic right whales left in the world.



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TMX working with Canadian regulators on how to deal with U.S.-linked pot stocks


TMX Group Ltd. is seeking guidance from Canadian securities regulators as it weighs how to deal with marijuana companies listed in Canada with interests in the United States where the business remains federally illegal.

“This is a complex matter which touches multiple aspects across our capital market system, and as such requires close examination and careful consideration,” Toronto-based TMX Group said in a release Thursday. “We are working with regulators to arrive at a solution that will clarify this matter for issuers, investors, participants and the public.”

The move seeks to draw a line under policy uncertainty for investors and companies that pits more liberal rules around cannabis cultivation and distribution in Canada against a Trump administration that has taken a harder line.

While TMX has largely shied away from listing marijuana-related companies with U.S. investments or operations on its own Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and other venues, it processes all Canadian equity trades via its clearing house, the Canadian Depository for Securities Ltd. (CDS).

That means dealing with a string of marijuana companies that have swarmed to the smaller Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) to raise funds, often to fund U.S. opportunities.

TSX-listed producer Aphria Inc. also has investments in Arizona and Florida, where medical marijuana is legal. The company was not immediately available to comment.

The TMX said Thursday there is no CDS ban on the clearing of securities of publicly traded marijuana companies with U.S. investments. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

CSE chief executive Richard Carleton, who also sits on the board of the CDS, said regulators have allowed such stocks to list with adequate disclosure and that he is actively exploring alternatives in case TMX decides to stop clearing their trades.

“We view it as a matter of risk disclosure for the issuers and their prospective investors and not as an institutional risk to our exchange,” he said, pointing out that the Ontario Securities Commission recently approved the prospectus of CannTrust, a company with operations in both countries due to list on the CSE on Monday.

Money has poured into Canada-listed stocks recently, in contrast to the tough financing environment for U.S. marijuana companies operating in states that have made cannabis legal.

A more liberal regulatory framework in Canada has led to an explosion in publicly traded marijuana companies, serving the existing medical market and preparing for the countrywide legalization of cannabis for recreational use, expected by mid-2018. Consultants estimate the size of the Canadian marijuana market could range from $5 billion to $10 billion.

However, a tougher line in Canadian capital markets could cut that flow significantly and would essentially close off the opportunity for expansion into larger markets in U.S. states where marijuana is legal.

TMX said Thursday, “We will communicate more on this as soon as we can. In the meantime, we want to clarify to the marketplace that there is no CDS ban on the clearing of securities of issuers with marijuana-related activities in the U.S., despite media reports.”



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Western farmers worry they'll pay the price of saving supply management under NAFTA


Kevin Auch has been putting in long hours on his southern Alberta farm harvesting durum wheat — and also fretting about distant trade negotiations that may affect the price.

He wasn’t pleased, earlier this week, when Canada’s foreign affairs minister vowed to defend supply management on Canadian farms in the NAFTA negotiations just getting underway.

The system of controlled production and price protection doesn’t directly affect wheat farmers. But Auch, who is also chairman of the Alberta Wheat Commission, wonders who will pay the price of shielding supply management from competition.

“It seems like the government is overly concerned with this one sector of agriculture, and we [in grains] are part of the other 90 per cent of agriculture. We just want to make sure that the government doesn’t put that other 90 per cent at risk, to preserve that 10 per cent that’s involved in supply management.”

Auch recalls tariffs on wheat before NAFTA. What might the Canadian government be prepared to cede, he wonders, if it’s protecting the supply-managed sectors so tightly.

Earlier in the summer the Alberta Wheat Commission included these concerns in a formal submission to the federal government.

Barley growers made a similar point.

“We recognize that negotiations are a process of give and take,” said Jason Lenz, chairman of the Alberta Barley Commission, which made a joint submission to the government with the Barley Council of Canada. 

“If the Americans give us supply management, and allow Canada to protect areas like dairy, what are they going to take?” he asks. “That is what our submission asks negotiators to be mindful of. We want to make sure there are no unintended consequences.”

On Wednesday, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico began renegotiating the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump instigated the talks, vowing to wrest a better deal for his country.

Protected farmers

Supply management affects only the dairy, egg and poultry industries in Canada.

Production quotas are set for Canadian farmers in those sectors, to manipulate prices; hefty tariffs, in some cases several hundred per cent, are levied on imports.

A field of canola ripens near Cremona, Alta. Wheat, canola and other crops get far less attention than the dairy industry, which is protected by supply management policies.

While the system reaches across the country, the overwhelming majority of farmers within the supply-managed system are in Ontario and Quebec. In dairy, the most valuable supply-managed sector, fully two-thirds of production is in those two provinces.

By contrast, concern that the defence of supply management will cost other sectors is most evident across the Prairies and centred in Alberta.

However, not all farm groups are worried. A spokesperson for the Pork Council said the issue is not nettlesome for hog farmers.

And other groups have been careful to articulate to the government only their own aims in the NAFTA talks. “We have not commented on other sectors,” a spokesperson for Soy Canada said.

Grounds for concern

But many analysts say the worry that protecting supply management will come at a cost to Canada, and potentially to other farm groups, is reasonable.

“Yes, it is likely other Canadian farmers will pay the price,” said Alexandre Moreau, public policy analyst at the Montreal Economic Institute. “Trump has promised increased market access to U.S. dairy farmers, he has directly taken aim at Canada’s supply management.… this is about politics, if he can’t deliver that [increased access to the Canadian dairy market] then he is going to need some other victory.”

Moreau said it is also possible the Americans would seek trade-off concessions from unrelated industries. “The price could be paid by the U.S. retaining buy-American provisions, [whereby government projects can favour domestic suppliers] it could be paid by the auto sector,” he said.



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Canada's annual inflation rate rises to 1.2% in July


Canada’s annualized inflation rate in July was 1.2 per cent, up from 1 per cent in June. Statistics Canada says the increase was in line with estimates.

In the 12 months leading up to July, prices were up in six of the eight major areas tracked, with the transportation and shelter indexes contributing the most to the year-over-year rise in the consumer price index.

Consumers paid 4.6 per cent more for gasoline in the 12 months to July, helping to drive transportation costs higher by 1.9 per cent, following a 0.6-per-cent increase in June.

They also paid more for passenger vehicles, which saw prices increase 0.2 per cent after declining 0.2 per cent the previous month.

The shelter index increased 1.3 per cent year over year in July, after rising 1.6 per cent in June. Homeowners’ replacement costs contributed the most to the gain in prices, rising 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to July.

Electricity index down

Prices for natural gas, up 9.7 per cent, increased at a slower year-over-year rate than they did in June. Meanwhile, the electricity index recorded its largest decrease since April 2003, down 9.1 per cent year over year in July, following a 5.3 per cent decline in June. The decline at the national level largely reflected legislated price declines in Ontario.

Consumer prices for food rose 0.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis in July, matching the gain in June.

The household operations, furnishings and equipment index, as well as the clothing and footwear index, declined on a year-over-year basis for the first time since August 2006, down 0.1 per cent.

The furniture index contributed the most to this decline, down 2.9 per cent in the 12 months to July. The telephone services index increased 0.1 per cent year over year in July, after rising 2.0 per cent in June.

On a monthly basis in July, telephone services prices fell 1.8 per cent. Prices for household appliances were down 2 per cent.



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Financial markets reflect risk aversion after Spain attacks


An aversion to risk was evident in financial markets Friday after the attacks in Spain. Stock markets around the world were under pressure while traditional safe haven assets, such as gold, were in demand.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 1 per cent at 7,316 while France’s CAC 40 fell 1.1 per cent to 5,089. Germany’s DAX was 0.5 per cent lower at 12,137. Wall Street was poised for a subdued opening with Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.1 per cent. Canada’s main stock index futures were lower on Friday. September futures on the S&P TSX index were down 0.14 per cent at 7:15 a.m. ET.

BARCELONA ATTACK: The source of the risk aversion gripping markets particularly in Europe was the attacks in Spain. On Friday, police shot and killed five people wearing fake bomb belts who staged a deadly car attack in Cambrils, a seaside resort in Spain’s Catalonia region, just hours after a van plowed into pedestrians on a busy Barcelona promenade. Spanish authorities said the back-to-back vehicle attacks — as well as an explosion earlier this week in a house elsewhere in Catalonia — were related and the work of a large terrorist group. In total, 14 people were killed in the attacks, 13 in Barcelona and one in Cambrils.

TRUMP TROUBLE: More uncertainty over developments in the White House also added to investor pessimism. U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned his plans to form an infrastructure advisory council, a day after the administration said it would close down two other advisory councils made up primarily of business leaders. The White House was also forced to issue a statement dispelling swirling rumours that Gary Cohn, head of the National Economic Council, was stepping down, saying they were “100 per cent false.”

ANALYST TAKE: “We’re seeing risk aversion in the markets again on Friday, with the possibility of a self-inflicted crisis within Donald Trump’s White House and another terror attack, this time in Barcelona, weighing on risk appetite,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

RISK: Risk aversion traditionally sees supposedly risky assets such as stocks come under pressure, while supposed safe havens, such as gold and the Swiss franc, garner support. The precious metal was up 0.7 per cent at $1,300 an ounce.

ASIAN SCORECARD: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.2 per cent to close at 19,470.41 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.1 per cent to 2,358.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.1 per cent to 27,047.57, while the Shanghai Composite index ended flat at 3,268.72. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6 per cent to 5,747.10.

CURRENCIES: The euro was up 0.2 per cent at $1.1741 while the U.S. dollar fell 0.4 per cent to 109.08 yen. The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as White House drama and the attack in Barcelona reduced investor appetite for the loonie after it hit a nearly two-week high earlier in the day. At 4 p.m. ET Thursday, the Canadian dollar was down 0.4 per cent to 78.89 US..

ENERGY: Oil prices were little changed early Friday, with the benchmark New York rate up 9 cents at $47.18 US a barrel. Brent, the international standard, was 8 cents firmer at $51.11 US a barrel.



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