Free rapid COVID-19 testing kits are now available to businesses

Visit gncc.ca/workplace-self-screening-kits/ to learn more and reserve kits for your organization.

COVID-19 vaccine booking expanding to youth 12+ ahead of schedule

As of 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 23, 2021, youth aged 12 and over across Ontario are eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment through the provincial booking system and call centre, as well as at select pharmacies administering the Pfizer vaccine. To book an appointment online, these individuals must already be 12 years old as of the date of their booking.

Individuals who are not 12 years old on Sunday, May 23, 2021 can book an appointment for a later date through the provincial call centre or directly through public health units that use their own booking system.

Canadian corporations report 18.1% increase in net income in Q1 2021

In the first quarter of 2021, Canadian corporations reported an increase of 18.1% (+$15.4 billion) in net income before taxes, Statistics Canada has reported, to $100.7 billion. Operating revenue edged up 0.6% (+$6.7 billion) to $1,103.7 billion during the quarter.

In the first quarter, the financial sector in Canada recorded an increase in net income before taxes of 11.0% (+$3.9 billion).

Net income before taxes in the non-financial sector increased by 23.1% (+$11.5 billion) to $61.2 billion in the first quarter. Net income before taxes in the mining and quarrying and support activities industry recorded a $4.5 billion increase, reaching $3.3 billion. The increase was attributable in part to higher commodity prices. Net income before taxes in the manufacturing sector increased by $2.5 billion (+19.5%), reaching $15.3 billion in the first quarter, bolstered by growth in several industries. Net income before taxes in the retail trade sector increased 7.3% (+$488 million) to $7.2 billion.

Young women enrolling in postsecondary education at increased rate since pandemic

A new study released today shows that, at the start of the 2020/2021 school year, when faced with unprecedented youth unemployment and postsecondary education moving online, young women aged 17 to 24 responded by enrolling in postsecondary institutions at a higher rate than a year earlier. There was no increase among young men. The participation of young women aged 15 to 29 in postsecondary school increased to 32% at the start of the 2020/2021 academic year, compared with 29% at the start of the 2019/2020 school year. By comparison, young men’s participation stayed constant at 23%.

Reading Recommendations

U.S. seeks trade-pact dispute panel to probe Canada dairy quotas

Bloomberg News

The U.S. moved to set up a dispute-settlement panel to review Canada’s dairy quotas, which Washington alleges undermine the ability of American dairy exporters to sell a wide range of products to Canadian consumers.

The U.S. is challenging Canada’s tariff-rate quotas, or TRQs, which apply a preferential duty rate to a certain quantity of imports and a different rate to imports above that quantity. Specifically, the U.S. is questioning the set-aside of a percentage of each dairy quota exclusively for Canadian processors, and the U.S. has requested a panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to review the measures, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement Tuesday.

Global uncertainty is on the wane

The Economist

Unsurprisingly, the covid-19 pandemic created a wave of economic uncertainty around the world in 2020. But at the start of this year, even as infections mounted globally, a sense of confidence appeared to be returning. Such is the signal recorded by the World Uncertainty Index, a quarterly measure of global economic and political turmoil. It hit a record high in the first quarter of 2020, but fell sharply in the three months to the end of March this year, touching a 14-year low.