In the mid-1990s, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided not to regulate the nascent cellular phone industry, which now generates $43 billion annually for the Canadian economy. It would be left to the marketplace to provide services that consumers wanted, the CRTC and federal government decided. The problem, say critics of Canada s wireless industry, is that with the huge success of three companies under this system, there s little room for competition in Canada. Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI), Telus (TSX:T) and BCE Inc. (Bell) (TSX:BCE) and their subsidiaries – Fido, Koodo and Virgin Mobile Canada, respectively – own about 92% of all wireless subscriptions in Canada, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.
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BOGOTA/RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As U.S. President Joe Biden develops his climate change agenda for the global stage, foreign and trade policies could also be used to tackle the thorny issue of rising deforestation in the Amazon, researchers and former officials said.
A U.S. executive order issued by Biden in January to address the “profound climate crisis” requested officials to develop a “plan for promoting the protection of the Amazon rainforest and other critical ecosystems that serve as global carbon sinks”.
During his election campaign, Biden also raised the prospect of mobilizing $20 billion toward safeguarding the Amazon.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stressed the importance of cooperation with the European Union in a call with the European Commission's vice president for the economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stressed the importance of cooperation with the European Union in a call with the European Commission's vice president for the economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
(Corrects name of organization in paragraph 26)
TOKYO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Ayumi lost her part-time job at a restaurant last summer, she ended up relying on rice and pre-packaged fare delivered once a month by a food bank to her college campus in Tokyo.
“I cut my meals to once a day, in mid-afternoon,” the 22-year-old said. “Many friends were in the same boat – they worked at eateries that were hit because of the coronavirus.”
As job losses surge due to the pandemic, demand for food handouts has skyrocketed in Japan, prompting the government to release stockpiled rice to charities for the first time last May. Another expanded programme started this month.