Probe ends into drug makers accused of stifling competition by generics The Competition Bureau has ended its two-year investigation that pitted the generic drug industry against three big pharmaceutical companies with no charges against Celgene, Pfizer Canada, or Sanofi-Aventis Canada, despite finding some evidence of anti-competitive tactics. The complaint brought to the Competition Bureau in 2016 stems from delays generic drug makers said they faced when they prepared to get cheaper … Read More
Mnuchin Forgot to Check His Figures on Stock Volatility By Nir Kaissar | Bloomberg December 21 at 9:13 AM U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is concerned about market volatility. So concerned, in fact, that he said in a roundtable interview at Bloomberg’s Washington office on Tuesday that he plans to ask the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which he oversees, to look into what’s causing the turbulence. His working hypothesis … Read More
Canadian wireless prices down, still higher than most G7 countries An annual snapshot of telecom services taken last summer for the federal government shows a year-over-year decline in Canadian wireless prices but, as usual, most other G7 countries had less expensive packages. For example, Canadian plans with two gigabytes per month of data cost an average of $75.44 per month when the 2018 survey was conducted in June and July, … Read More
Trump Rocked Energy in 2018, But Next Year Could Be Wilder By Liam Denning | Bloomberg December 21 at 10:00 AM President Donald Trump’s love of coal, rejection of climate science and disdain for things like fuel efficiency hark back to a smokier, smudgier era. Yet if this year has shown anything, he is one of the biggest disruptors in energy. He just does a different kind of disruption. In a prescient essay published late last … Read More
Year of change for Canadian sports fans in 2018 as media rivals stepped up to compete The way the NHL regular season is shaping up, it’s a good bet that five of the seven Canadian teams could reach the playoffs this spring. That’s the kind of playoff CanCon that Rogers was hoping for when it signed a massive $5.2-billion US, 12-year deal to land the league’s broadcasting rights in 2013, a move that gave Sportsnet an … Read More
The absurd allure of the Sharper Image, the uncle-gift emporium for uncles you barely know Forty years later, the “poor man’s James Bond catalogue” is still selling us stuff we really don’t need. Clockwise from top left: the Hover Helmet; the Fantasy Jellyfish Aquarium; the Nostalgic Christmas Tree; the Bacon Express Toaster. (Courtesy of The Sharper Image) Ho Ho Hover Helmet! ’Tis the season of the Hover Helmet, or so declares the Sharper Image, which … Read More
Finance Department predicts federal budget will be balanced by 2040 A balanced federal budget won’t land until at least 2040 — five years earlier than the government predicted last year — if there aren’t any major economic shocks or new government spending the federal Finance Department says in a new report. Long-term budgetary projections released Friday morning estimate that by the end of fiscal year 2040-2041, federal books will be … Read More
Why U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Talks Are Stalled By David Tweed | Bloomberg December 21 at 11:01 AM The bellicose rhetoric between the U.S. and North Korea has certainly cooled, with no more threats of nuclear annihilation or personal insults. But months after Donald Trump shared an historic handshake with Kim Jong Un in June, nuclear talks have gone nowhere. The U.S. president cites the more than year-long … Read More
2018 was the year of 5G hype. The 5G reality is yet to come. A mobile phone mast with 5G technology rises at the 5G Mobility Lab of telecommunications company Vodafone in Aldenhoven, Germany. (Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters) Brian Fung Policy reporter focusing on telecommunications, media, cryptocurrencies and competition December 21 at 12:10 PM When T-Mobile’s chief executive went before Senate lawmakers this year to make the case for his company’s merger with Sprint, he argued … Read More
AG lawsuit: Comcast misled customers about prices, fees Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is suing a major cable and internet provider for allegedly misleading thousands of residents about the actual cost of their TV packages. The lawsuit against Comcast, released Friday, alleges that the telecommunications giant quietly hiked prices and fees after promising certain rates, tacked unwanted equipment orders onto customer bills and failed to send Visa gift … Read More
