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Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Daily Update: July 22 2024

In this edition:

  • Bank of Canada’s July interest rate announcement to happen Wednesday
  • Competition Bureau seeks feedback on Competition Act’s new greenwashing provisions
  • Tentative agreement between LCBO and its striking OPSEU workers back on, stores slated to open Tuesday
  • Ontario invests $260M in new funding to train workers
  • Federal government to provide $1.2M to establish grocery code of conduct
  • Governments expanding mental health supports for farm workers
  • Brock ranked Canada’s top university for sport management research
  • Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Photo credit: Bank of Canada

Bank of Canada’s July interest rate announcement to happen Wednesday

The Bank of Canada will make its next interest rate announcement Wednesday.

The BoC has eight scheduled dates per year on which it announces its decision on the target for the overnight rate, also called the policy interest rate.

The overnight rate is the starting point for setting many of the interest rates in the economy, the BoC says.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: cristianstorto / Adobe Stock

Competition Bureau seeks feedback on Competition Act’s new greenwashing provisions

Today, the Competition Bureau is launching a public consultation to gather input from Canadians on specific questions related to the new greenwashing provisions of the Competition Act.

This consultation will inform the Bureau’s development of enforcement guidance about environmental claims, including related to the new provisions.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Iryna / Adobe Stock

Tentative agreement between LCBO and its striking OPSEU workers back on, stores slated to open Tuesday

A dispute that threatened a tentative agreement between the LCBO and its striking workers was resolved Saturday morning, and stores are once again set to open for business Tuesday, according to the LCBO.

The LCBO, in a Saturday morning news release, stated that the company and its unionized OPSEU workers have now “both signed off on a return-to-work protocol.”

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: David Piccini, M.P.P.

Ontario invests $260M in new funding to train workers

The Ontario government is investing up to an additional $260 million through the Skills Development Fund (SDF) Training Stream to tackle the province’s labour shortage and connect Ontario workers with high-paying jobs in their communities. This will be the largest round of funding since the SDF Training Stream was launched in 2021 and brings Ontario’s total investment through the Fund to up to $1.4 billion.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture / Public Domain

Federal government to provide $1.2M to establish grocery code of conduct

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay says the government, along with its provincial and territorial counterparts, will provide $1.2 million in one-time funding to support the creation of the office that will oversee the grocery code of conduct.

MacAulay made the announcement one day after news that all of Canada’s major grocers had agreed to sign on to the voluntary code.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Rob Flack M.P.P.

Governments expanding mental health supports for farm workers

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $538,000 through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP) to expand the Farmer Wellness Initiative to Ontario farm workers. Of that total, nearly $178,000 will be dedicated to supporting the delivery of services in Spanish.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Brock University

Brock ranked Canada’s top university for sport management research

Brock has ranked first in Canada for university sport management research contributions around the world for the second consecutive year.

The annual assessment by the University of North Texas’ Sports Innovation Project ranked Brock No. 1 in Canada and 10th worldwide out of the 67 universities included.

Click here to read more.


Did you know?

The first recorded name in history belonged to an accountant.


Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

DEI is a trillion dollar blind spot. Sephora gets it – you should too.

Earlier this year, LVMH, Europe’s largest company, shared in its 2023 year-end earnings report that selective retailing, the business unit that houses Sephora, posted a year-over-year revenue increase of 25%, to $19.4 billion, ahead of the luxury conglomerate’s four other units.

Sephora itself took in $10 billion in revenue.

Instead of abandoning DEI efforts like so many in recent weeks (John Deere, Tractor Supply, and within Microsoft) Sephora doubled down on difference, and empowered their VP of DEI George-Axelle Broussillon Matschinga to strengthen their business model. From widening their interview pools to achieve parity among leadership, to signing on to the 15% pledge to ensure their shelf space had diverse brands in stock, to commissioning the Racial Bias In Retail Study they have shown, quite publicly, how DEI can transform a company culture – and bottom line – for the best.

Click here to read more.

HR world in uproar over DEI after industry group drops ‘equity’

The world’s biggest human resources association dropped “equity” from its main diversity program, drawing anger from hundreds of talent managers online with comments such as “backwards,” “shameful” and “cowardly.”

The Society for Human Resources Management said it will be adopting the acronym “I&D” — or inclusion and diversity — and removing the “E” from its previous “IE&D” strategy.

“By emphasizing inclusion-first, we aim to address the current shortcoming of DE&I programs, which have led to societal backlash and increasing polarization,” it announced on LinkedIn. It said it remained committed to advancing equity under its “inclusion” strategy.

Click here to read more.


Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.


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