CSI Blog & Newsroom

Photographer: Negative Space

“Moody’s says high debt levels and soaring house prices could be bad news for Canada’s big banks, and has downgraded their credit rating as a result,” wrote Pete Evans for CBC News on May 11, 2017.

Evans continued, “Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada all saw their credit ratings cut by one notch late Wednesday.

Moody’s cited a “more challenging operating environment for banks in Canada for the remainder of 2017 and beyond.”

“Today’s downgrade of the Canadian banks reflects our ongoing concerns that expanding levels of private-sector debt could weaken asset quality in the future,” Moody’s vice-president David Beattie said. 

High consumer debt a concern

“Continued growth in Canadian consumer debt and elevated housing prices leaves consumers, and Canadian banks, more vulnerable to downside risks facing the Canadian economy than in the past.”

Moody’s noted Canada’s record-high debt-to-income ratio of 167 per cent as cause for concern, and said debt levels are now beyond the usual risk models in place to determine whether businesses could withstand a crisis.”

Read the full article here.  

Photographer: Ivars Krutainis

“The discovery of $2 million sent to Canadians from a suspected money-laundering network designed to hide dirty Russian money highlights the weaknesses of a financial intelligence system with too many loopholes and not enough teeth, say experts,” wrote Jennifer Fowler and Diana Swain for CBC News on May 11, 2017.

Fowler and Swain continued, “International banking documents provided to CBC News reveal 30 Canadian companies and individuals received dozens of payments between 2008 and 2013 from accounts in Cyprus and Lithuania.

The accounts are suspected to belong to an international web of companies created to obscure the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars connected to elaborate Russian tax frauds.

The revelation is no surprise to Denis Meunier, former deputy director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Ottawa’s financial intelligence watchdog, who says Canada is the ideal place to wash illicit funds.”

Read the full article here.  

“One might assume that the Ontario Liberal government’s pilot project to provide a guaranteed basic income would be roundly dismissed by those on the political and economic right as yet another government-led social welfare scheme doomed to failure,” wrote Mark Gollom for CBC News on April 25, 2017.

Gollom continued, “But the policy has adherents among some free-market economists and libertarian thinkers who believe this type of program is the most efficient way to provide assistance to the poor.

“If you accept the idea that there’s going to be some sort of redistribution taking place in our system, then you want to do it in the most transparent and efficient way possible,” said Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “And you want it to actually benefit people. And our current welfare system does neither.”

In the U.S., all levels of government combined spend over $1 trillion a year on at least 126 anti-poverty programs, Tanner wrote in a piece for the Cato Institute in 2015. Yet these programs, he said, are doing little “to help the poor get out of poverty or become self-sufficient.”

“We spend a lot of money and get very little bang for the buck,” he said.

On Monday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the province is launching a three-year pilot project to provide up to $17,000 to 4,000 low-income residents of Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay. The current welfare system in Ontario is designed to provide financial relief to low-income individuals, provided they are attempting to look for work or will take part in activities to help them find a job.”

Read the full article here.  

Photographer: Alona Kraft

“The belief that saturated fat in foods such as butter, cheese and meat clogs arteries is “just plain wrong,” a group of cardiologists say in a new editorial. 

Instead, the focus should be on eating a Mediterranean-style diet, taking a brisk walk daily and minimizing stress, they say,” wrote CBC News on April 25, 2017.

CBC News continued, “After decades of thinking that cutting saturated fat in the diet was associated with lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and death, doctors and researchers now realize there is no association in healthy adults.

Even in people with established heart disease, reducing saturated fat alone doesn’t reduce heart attacks, says British cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, of Lister Hospital, and an adviser to the U.K. national obesity forum.”

Read the full article here.  

Photographer: Sylwia Bartyzel

Photographer: Yousef Espanioly

“In a sign of marijuana’s growing normalization in Canada, two major life insurance companies have decided to treat cannabis users as non-smokers, reversing a long-standing policy and offering many of them far cheaper premiums.

Like their competitors, Sun Life and BMO Insurance have for years classified anyone who disclosed using marijuana – either recreationally or for medical purposes – as a smoker, saddling them with charges that could be triple those of non-smokers,” wrote Tom Blackwell for The National Post on May 29, 2016.

Blackwell continued, “But in memos released over the last week, the companies say the latest research on the drug’s health impacts convinced them to change that approach.

Sun Life’s new policy applies to all marijuana consumers who do not also smoke tobacco; BMO’s is more limited, benefiting recreational dabblers who smoke up to two “marijuana cigarettes” per week.

“In our industry, we keep up to date with medical studies and companies update their underwriting guidelines accordingly,” Sun Life said in a statement Friday. “As a result, people who use marijuana are now assessed … at non-smoker rates, unless they also use tobacco.”

The change comes as cannabis is increasingly accepted as a medicine for various ailments, and the federal government prepares to legalize recreational possession as well.”

Read the full article here.

Photographer: Michal Jarmoluk

“When Kim Brooks opened her notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency, she was surprised to see a seemingly random factoid printed in bold letters at the top of the page.

“Only one out of 10 individuals who owe tax do not pay on time,” said the document,” wrote Blair Sanderson for CBC News on April 24, 2017.

Sanderson continued, “Brooks took keen interest because she’s a professor of tax law at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She said that simple message from the CRA is a classic example of a psychological manipulation known as “nudging.”

“They want you to feel like in order to be a good citizen, you should do what your neighbours are doing and pay your taxes on time. It’s a different kind of approach to getting greater compliance,” said Brooks.”

Read the full article here.

Photographer: Wilfred Iven

“A new poll by the country’s largest advocacy group for people over age 50 suggests that older Canadians want provincial governments to better protect their life savings,” wrote Erica Johnson for CBC News on April 20, 2017.

Johnson continued, “CARP conducted an online survey of 1,900 members last month and Go Public has obtained an advance copy of the poll’s results. Amongst the key findings:

• 89 per cent of CARP members support a best interest standard (requiring that the interests of financial consumers be put at the forefront of all investment decisions).
• 79 per cent support the elimination of embedded fees in financial products.
• 89 per cent want the titles used by people selling financial investments to be regulated.”

Read the full article here.

Photographer: Suhyeon Choi

“The video of a man being dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight set to depart Chicago to Louisville, Ky., has sparked outrage against the airline over how the incident was handled, and for what many feel was an insufficient display of remorse,” wrote CBC News on April 14, 2017.

CBC News continued, “By the end of the day, United’s CEO Oscar Munoz put out another statement, saying that he deeply apologizes “to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.” 

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings has begun an investigation, while here in Canada the federal government, prompted by the controversy, announced it will introduce legislation about bumping rules, part of a proposed air passenger bill of rights.

The United passenger’s rough ejection has clearly raised questions about overbooking and bumping, the rights of passengers and what they can do to avoid being bumped from their seat.”

Read the full article here.

Photographer: Jez Timms

“As the biggest demographic wave in Canada’s history reaches retirement age, the province of Nova Scotia believes it knows how to weather the looming economic storm: encourage baby boomers to work longer.

“Likely our workforce participation overall will go down as more people retire than are joining the workforce,” says Simon D’Entremont, deputy minister of Nova Scotia’s department of seniors. “But, we’re also looking at opportunities created by an aging demographic.”

Nova Scotia is the first government in the country to set up a department devoted entirely to seniors, a one-stop shop for all issues that relate to the province’s aging population,” wrote Duncan McCue, and Lynn Burgess for CBC News on April 11, 2017.

McCue and Burgess continued, ” “Right now in Nova Scotia, 19 per cent of our population is over 65. By 2040 that will grow to 30 per cent. More and more, all of our policies and programs will need to have a ‘seniors lens’ applied to them.”

Statistics Canada says by 2030, the year in which the youngest baby boomers will reach 65, close to one in four people in Canada will be that age or older. That compares to 15.3 per cent in 2013.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick share the honour of having the oldest populations in the country. And the dramatic greying of their citizenry could spell trouble for Maritime economies.”

Read the full article here.

Photographer: Elijah Henderson

“Terri-lynn Robison stands in the burned-out shell of her bedroom, still in disbelief that her husband set fire to the bed while she was in the room.

Last year, following a heated argument, she told her husband of 11 years their relationship was over and started packing his clothes.

“He went upstairs, and I thought he was going to leave,” she told CBC News. “He came back down with a barbecue lighter and set the whole bedskirt on fire, just from one end straight to the other.” 

Robison grabbed the dog and her cellphone and escaped unharmed. Her husband, Adam Van Es, was arrested that night and later charged with one count of arson with disregard for human life. He pleaded guilty and in March was sentenced to two years less a day.

“I’m lucky I got out,” said Robinson, who lives in Collingwood, Ont., about 150 km northwest of Toronto,” wrote Rachel Houlihan, Diana Swain, and Chelsea Gomez for CBC News on April 11, 2017.

Houlihan, Swain and Gomez continued, “What luck she had would soon run out. Despite being a victim of arson, Robison’s insurance company, Allstate, denied her claim. The company says her “VIP” homeowner policy is “null and void” because her husband, who was insured under the same policy, had intentionally set the fire.”

Read the full article here.