Tausi Insider

With rising inflation and interest rates, many home cleaning business owners are torn between raising prices enough to cover their costs and holding onto clients facing the same pressures. Hispanolistic/iStockPhoto / Getty Images The products Alicia Ogoc uses to clean homes have more than doubled in price in the past two years. Gas prices have also increased so Ms. Ogoc is spending more money driving around Calgary, and sometimes beyond its boundaries, to get to the houses she cleans. All the driving means she goes through tires faster than the average driver, sometimes a set every year. She said her most recent set cost $1,000, a $200 jump from the last time, and that she chose not to get winter tires because they were too expensive. “Everything is going up,” said Ms. Ogoc, 60, who works alongside her sister cleaning about 20 homes every two weeks or so, and another 20 less frequently. “My car is old, from 2004. I cannot afford a new car.” Despite the rising costs, Ms. Ogoc hasn’t r...

German army battle tank Leopard 2 returns after a NATO exercise in Lithuania on May 17, 2017. INTS KALNINS/Reuters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t ruling out sending Canada’s German-made battle tanks to Ukraine, saying Ottawa would consider such a request from Kyiv. Speaking to reporters in Saskatoon on Monday, Mr. Trudeau was asked if he would donate Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the event Germany dropped its objections to the re-export of military weapons it manufactured. Germany has resisted such a move so far, saying Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kyiv’s main allies, particularly the United States. “Right from the start we’ve made it clear we’re here to support Ukraine against the illegal and brutal invasion by Russia,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We’ve sent a huge slew of different types of weapons, including an air-defence system. We will look at all the requests from Ukraine but we’re not there yet for the Leopard 2 tanks,” he said. ...

Air Canada this month ended service to Calgary from Regina and Saskatoon and stopped flying to Victoria and other B.C. cities from the Alberta hub. MIKE SEGAR/Reuters Canada’s competition watchdog is being urged to look into moves by Air Canada and WestJet to end regional service in parts of the country, steps one business group alleges are anti-competitive. Air Canada AC-T this month ended service to Calgary from Regina and Saskatoon and stopped flying to Victoria and other B.C. cities from the Alberta hub. The Montreal-based carrier took the steps seven months after Calgary-based WestJet said it would end some service within Eastern Canada, including Quebec and the Maritimes. On Tuesday, the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce called on Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell to investigate the service cancellations and their impact on travellers’ choices and costs. The group urged Mr. Boswell to find out if the airlines broke the law by effectively agreeing to divide the Canadi...

Postmedia Network Canada Corp.'s changes come a week after the company posted a deep quarterly loss. Chris Young/The Canadian Press Postmedia Network Canada Corp. PNC-A-T will move 12 Alberta community newspapers to a digital-only format and lay off employees in the months ahead, according to an internal memo sent on Wednesday. “This is absolutely not a reflection on the hard work and contributions they have made to our company but rather an outcome of economic contraction that has affected so many companies globally and the inherent challenges of our industry,” wrote Postmedia president and chief executive Andrew MacLeod. In a townhall Wednesday, Mr. MacLeod said the areas affected will include editorial, sales, production and distribution. He told employees that inflation and revenue declines have combined to create a “perfect storm” for the company, which owns more than 120 media properties, including the National Post, Vancouver Sun and Montreal Gazette. Canadian companies Li...

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. PNC-B-T will lay off 11 per cent of its 650 editorial employees, the company said Tuesday, as it contends with rising costs and declining advertising and circulation revenue. The media company, which owns more than 130 brands including the National Post, announced the cuts at an employee town hall. “There’s no question that we are in an existential fight for our lives,” said acting senior vice-president of editorial Gerry Nott, according to a recording obtained by Tausi Insider. “I do think that we’re transforming … It’s clear to me that we need to hasten the speed.” The restructuring will affect all titles across the chain, except for those acquired from Brunswick News last year, Mr. Nott said. Postmedia did not immediately return a request for comment. The details follow a company memo last week stating an unspecified number of roles will be eliminated over the coming months through layoffs and by not filling job vacancies. The sales, editorial, produ...

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. PNC-B-T will lay off 11 per cent of its 650 editorial employees, the company said Tuesday, as it contends with rising costs and declining advertising and circulation revenue. The media company, which owns more than 130 brands including the National Post, announced the cuts at an employee town hall. “There’s no question that we are in an existential fight for our lives,” said acting senior vice-president of editorial Gerry Nott, according to a recording obtained by Tausi Insider. “I do think that we’re transforming … It’s clear to me that we need to hasten the speed.” The restructuring will affect all titles across the chain, except for those acquired from Brunswick News last year, Mr. Nott said. Postmedia did not immediately return a request for comment. The details follow a company memo last week stating an unspecified number of roles will be eliminated over the coming months through layoffs and by not filling job vacancies. The sales, editorial, produ...

A security guard stands by the front reception desk at Postmedia's Toronto headquarters on March 12, 2018. Chris Young/The Canadian Press A Postmedia Network Corp. PNC-B-T memo obtained by The Canadian Press shows the newspaper publisher has shuffled editors of its Prairies papers a day after it announced 11 per cent of staff would be laid off. The memo says Lorne Motley, vice-president of editorial for the west and editor-in-chief for the Calgary Herald and Sun, will become a regional editor-in-chief. The new position will put him in charge of the Calgary Herald and Sun, Edmonton Journal and Sun, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Regina Leader Post and Winnipeg Sun. Under Motley, Monica Zurowski will serve as a deputy editor in Calgary, while Dave Breakenridge in Edmonton, Ashley Trask in Saskatoon and Mark Hamm in Winnipeg will be managing editors. Colin McGarrigle, editor-in-chief of the Edmonton Journal, will move to become a managing editor in Regina under Motley. The memo also sh...