Categories
Real Estate

Regional flights: Air Canada cuts fares

Some 300 elected officials and business people are meeting in Lévis today to try to improve air service to the regions and lower the exorbitant cost of tickets. Ottawa is counting on the arrival of new players to bring down prices. But already, Air Canada is revising its rates.

Criticized for years for the high price of flights in Quebec, Air Canada revises its pricing. The carrier lowers the cost of regional flights for frequent travelers and business travelers.

The company, which holds a monopoly on several routes in Quebec, has been under intense pressure from the political community for several months. Elected officials, particularly those in the regions, denounce the exorbitant cost of intra-Quebec flights.

After talks with the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM), Air Canada revised some prices down. The announcement will be confirmed today at the Regional Air Transport Summit in Lévis.

Travelers will be able to purchase 10 or 30 one-way packages to take advantage of volume savings. The formula already existed, but the cost is going down, and the number of links where the formula is offered is increasing. A Gaspé-Québec flight will cost $ 249 instead of $ 476 as it currently does.

This is Air Canada’s second rate adjustment in recent months. Last fall, the company lowered the price of tickets purchased several weeks in advance for regional connections.

The Mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Jonathan Lapierre, is also vice-president of the FQM. He welcomes Air Canada’s decision, but feels there is still work to be done to improve air service to the regions.

“It’s not because we get winnings today that the battle is definitely won. “

– Jonathan Lapierre

For many years, municipal officials have been denouncing the high cost of air transport as a brake on tourism and economic development in the regions. They point to taxes and fees imposed by airports on airlines, which are passed on to consumers in ticket prices.

They urge governments to reduce sales taxes on regional flights, as some provinces do, and to improve airport infrastructure support programs.

The Mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté, is responsible for the file at the Union des municipalités du Québec. He expects government announcements at today’s summit.

“I expect that we will put the main solutions on the table and identify the main solutions,” said Mr. Côté.

OTTAWA BETS ON COMPETITION

New air carriers could soon serve the regions of Quebec, says Federal Minister Marc Garneau, who believes that the measures put in place by his government will stimulate competition and lower the price of flights. In interview at La PresseOn the eve of the Regional Air Summit, Mr. Garneau warned that he does not intend to adopt specific measures to lower the cost of domestic flights in Quebec. So there is no question of capping the price of tickets or imposing a floor price, as the opposition parties in Quebec claim. “Competition is what drives the greatest choice, the supply of destinations and lower prices,” said the minister. I will try to do that because it is something that I can control at the federal level. Last year, the Trudeau government introduced a bill that will increase the share of a Canadian air carrier that can be held by foreign investors from 25% to 49%. This measure should allow the

AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM

The elected officials denounce the high cost of air transport to the regions, no government measure has been able to address the problem so far, agrees Jacques Roy, professor at HEC Montreal. The problem is simple, he says: travelers are too few to travel to Sept-Îles, Gaspé or Rouyn-Noranda. “The cost to fly a plane is very high and this cost decreases with the number of seats that can be put in an airplane,” he says. When we talk about regional transportation, we use smaller planes. And a smaller plane, it costs more per seat than a bigger one. In his view, there are two options available to decision makers: subsidizing domestic flights or stimulating competition.

COST OF A FLIGHT FROM MONTREAL *

(Departure on February 5th, return on February 9th *)

In Quebec

Montreal – Gaspe $ 900.54

Montreal – Rouyn-Noranda $ 907.44

Montreal – Sept-Îles $ 770.62

Montreal – Îles-de-la-Madeleine $ 861.45

Abroad

Montreal-Beijing $ 682.65

Montreal-Paris $ 659.98

Montreal-New York $ 374.62

* Search from the Google Flight search engine yesterday

Categories
Economy Tech

Ketto closes up shop will continue to operate online

Despite a successful year, Ketto decided to close its shop on Cartier Street in Quebec City to focus on online commerce and distribution.

After 15 years of existence, the store will close its doors on February 18th.

Co-owner Catherine Farfard explains this decision by reducing shop sales, which in 2017 accounted for less than 5% of Ketto’s sales.

“We found that the energy that had to go to the store for performance in the end was no longer worth it,” she says.

In its other business segments, online sales and distribution, the past year has been a very profitable year for the company.

“Online sales are growing steadily, but they are also distributed across Canada. We have more than a thousand points of sale […] This is really where we are going, “says Catherine Farfard.

Ketto also installs kiosks in shopping centers during the holidays and the company has been working for several months on the export of its creations.

It takes a lot of energy and that’s really where we want to put our resources.

Catherine Farfard, co-owner of Ketto

Ketto plans to set up ephemeral shops in some high-traffic areas, notably in Old Quebec during the summer.

Hard time

In December, children’s clothing company Souris Mini also announced the closure of several stores across the province to restructure and focus on online sales.

“I think the storefront has been ripping off for a while. And for this to work, you have to put so much energy to attract the customer to the door, “said the co-owner.

Categories
Real Estate

WestJet’s low-cost carrier, Swoop, will launch June 20th

WestJet Airlines announced Thursday that its very low cost carrier, Swoop, will make its first flights on June 20th.

The carrier will begin offering six weekly flights between Abbotsford, British Columbia, and Hamilton, Ontario, as well as six weekly flights between Hamilton and Halifax.

Swoop will add June six weekly flights between Hamilton and Edmonton and six more between Hamilton and Winnipeg.

The service between Abbotsford and Edmonton will begin July 25, and will consist of three daily flights.

In all, Swoop will offer 45 weekly flights.

WestJet announced last year its intention to launch a carrier at very low prices this year.

Categories
Personal Finance

Car transportation costs continue to rise

Car transportation is costing Quebeckers more and more: a total of $43 billion was spent in 2015, including government spending on the road network and private household spending on their car. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Trajectoire Québec and presented jointly with the David Suzuki Foundation.

This amount, which was $33 billion in 1995 (in constant dollars), would have increased by 32.6% in 20 years.

The study aims to denounce this significant increase in road expenditures, which are still geared towards owning private automobiles rather than public transit.

It stresses, however, that motorists pay most of these costs. In fact, spending by households with a car was $36.9 billion in 2015. This expense item comes in second place, after housing and before food.

Quebec households’ expenditures in this area were 28.8 billion in 1995, an increase of 27.7% in 20 years, caused in particular by the rise in the price of fuel.

Trajectoire Québec aims to promote citizens’ rights in public transportation in Quebec. The David Suzuki Foundation advocates for conservation and environmental protection.

Significant increase in government spending

Public spending on transportation at all three levels of government increased from $ 4 billion in 1995 to $ 6.6 billion in 2015, an increase of 68.9%. The province of Quebec alone spent $ 3 billion on road infrastructure in 2015.

The study says that of these billions paid in 2015, one-third was paid by the amounts paid to the state by motorists, whether it is for example through gasoline taxes, or fees for gasoline. registration or driving license. Another third of the $6.6 billion would have been assumed by freight carriers, while the rest would have been from taxes.

The significant increase in government investment in transportation, which has occurred particularly over the last 10 years, is a result of an awareness of the deterioration of public infrastructure, the report also notes .

While they have allowed for the renovation of existing roads, these expenditures have also been used to expand the road network, something the report authors deplore. This expansion of the road network would have generated average expenditures of $1.15 billion from 2007 to 2013, according to the study, compared to an average of 275 million in the six previous years.

Through its interventions and its financial model, the State encourages the growth of the car fleet and the increase in the number of kilometers traveled, which goes against its efforts to combat climate change.

Extract of the report

The “externalities”

In addition to deploring the significant financial costs generated by the use of the automobile, the study also denounces the non-direct costs associated with it.

In particular, it assesses the “social” costs of automobile transportation – such as accidents, congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and noise – at $ 7.6 billion in 2015, or close to $ 1,000. per capita, “largely attributable to accidents and congestion for local transportation”.

“In short, by focusing on the road supply, Quebec is inducing an increased demand which causes the increase in system costs,” concludes the document, which suggests rethinking governance in this area and financing the road network. , which should be subordinated to “various direct pricing measures” of motorists.

Categories
Economy

Metro Denies Involvement In Canadian Wide Bread Price Fixing Scheme

Metro grocer denies being involved in a cartel style bread price fixing scheme  in the country and strongly contradicts allegations by the Competition Bureau that it accuses other food players of inflating prices over a period of 14 years old.

“To date, there is nothing that allows us to conclude that we have violated the Competition Act,” Metro spokeswoman Marie-Claude Bacon told the “Journal de Montréal” on Wednesday.

However, in legal documents released Wednesday, the Competition Bureau claims that at least seven companies, including Loblaw (including Provigo), Sobeys (including IGA), Metro (including Super C), Wal-Mart and Giant Tiger would have committing criminal acts under the Competition Act by fixing bread prices for more than 14 years. According to the Competition Bureau, the process also involves the two largest bread producers in Canada, Canada Bread and Weston Bakeries.

In meetings between bread producers and grocers, “retailers would have agreed to raise prices, provided that their competitors do the same,” says the Competition Bureau.

According to Metro, “internal audits” did not uncover any irregularities in the sliced ​​bread pricing process in its subsidiaries and employees.

contestation

Metro intends to vigorously challenge the Competition Bureau’s charges in court. “The legal process will continue,” Bacon said.

At Canada Bread, it was argued Wednesday that “the allegations do not reflect the Canada Bread we know.”

Last December, Loblaw and Weston, who belong to the same group, caused a surprise by acknowledging that they had participated in a bread cartel for 14 years.

Loblaw and Weston got immunity in exchange for their cooperation. The other five companies indicated that they were cooperating with the survey managers.

To apologize, since the beginning of January, Loblaw has been offering customers $ 25 gift cards redeemable for grocery products.

Class Action Requests

Many class action lawsuits have since been filed against major grocery chains in court.

“It’s disappointing to see so many players possibly involved in this cartel. It’s clear that consumer confidence in these big players in food will suffer, “believes Dalhousie University professor and food policy expert Sylvain Charlebois.

Some of the brands of bread involved in the cartel

Canada Bread

– Villagio

– Good morning

– Pom

– Ben’s

– Stonemill

Weston Bakeries

– Weston

– Italiano

– Gadoua

– Country Harvest

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