 | | | | This is your Marketplace Watchdog for Friday, May. 02, 2025.
By: Dexter McMillan
| | |  | | | Canadian Tire is bidding on Hudson's Bay assets, according to sources
| Beleaguered retailer Hudson's Bay has attracted a bid from Canadian Tire, two sources familiar with the sales process say.
The sources, who are not being named because they were not authorized to speak about the matter, say the household goods chain has made a bid for some of the faltering department store's intellectual property.
Asked whether the company is making a bid, Canadian Tire did not provide a comment.
Anyone interested in owning Hudson's Bay assets had until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to make a formal bid as part of the retailer's creditor protection court case.
Toronto investment manager Urbana Corp. has made a bid for the company's intellectual property, while billionaire B.C. mall owner Weihong Liu has said she would make a pitch to run some Bay stores. Liu told the Toronto Star Wednesday she had bid on 25 locations.
The 355-year-old department store's assets hit the sales block after Hudson's Bay filed for creditor protection earlier this year. It began liquidating its 80 Bay stores and 16 it ran under the Saks brands while it hunted for buyers or investors who would keep the company alive.
The company has a wealth of intellectual property including rights to its famed Stripes brand, discount chain Zellers, housewares brand Gluckstein, apparel line Hudson North and its Distinctly Home bed and bath products.
Hudson's Bay spokesperson Tiffany Bourré declined to comment on any potential bidders.
Adam Zalev, managing director at Bay financial adviser Reflect Advisors, said multiple bids have been made for the company's assets and are now being evaluated. Read more.
| | |  | | | Faster isn't always better. Slow-charging EVs could have big benefits
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When Julia McNally decided to buy an EV and started her research, she came across a lot of articles and ads pushing an apparent must-have accessory — a speedy home charger designed specifically for EVs.
"Everything was pointing me to Level 2," recalled McNally, director of climate action at Toronto Hydro.
She knew that all EVs can do Level 1 slow charging, or "trickle charging," from a regular 120-volt wall outlet, adding about six kilometres of range per hour (except in very cold winter temperatures, which can slow charging speeds). And she already had an outlet of those in her backyard, near the alleyway where she planned to park her new Mini EV.
But more than four out of five U.S. EV owners used Level 2 for home-charging in 2023, according to market research firm J.D. Power. Using a higher 240 voltage, often needed for a stove or dryer, Level 2 chargers can add about 30 to 50 kilometres of range per hour and refill a typical EV's entire 400-kilometre range overnight.
Meanwhile, Level 3, or DC fast chargers, often installed along major highways, can add 250 kilometres of range per hour (some are even faster) and charge a battery to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.
Some experts, such as Daniel Breton, CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, have argued people "really need" Level 2 chargers at home, as it can take days to charge an empty battery to full at Level 1.
But most people don't drive the hundreds of kilometres needed to empty their battery each day — and there's a downside to faster charging.
"You're adding cost," McNally said — potentially thousands of dollars.
Read more from CBC's Emily Chung.
| | |  | | | Ontario is scaling back species at risk protections, worrying advocates and inviting federal intervention
| Ontario's government wants to "unleash" its resources with sweeping changes to its laws on protecting species at risk aimed at speeding up environmental approvals.
"With President Trump taking direct aim at our economy, it cannot be business as usual," said Ontario Premier Doug Ford while announcing the government's proposed Bill 5, also known as the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, at the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 17.
The government has portrayed the current system as slow and cumbersome, driving away resource and development companies from Ontario. But the new bill is raising alarms from environmental groups, who say it could force the federal government to intervene to enforce its own overlapping protections. Here's a look at some of the changes in the bill, which is currently being debated at second reading in the provincial legislature.
The new law would remove provincial protections for certain aquatic species and migratory birds that are also protected under the federal Species at Risk Act.
"Currently, proponents must get approval under both federal and provincial species legislation, causing unnecessary duplication," said Gary Wheeler, spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
"Under the new legislation, proponents will not need separate provincial approval for activities affecting aquatic species and migratory birds already protected by federal legislation."
David Browne, senior vice-president for conservation and policy at Birds Canada, is worried about this move, because he says the federal law was never designed to completely replace the provincial law.
The federal government has the power to order the province to protect the critical habitat of an endangered species, according to Brown, but he says it's something Ottawa rarely does, and the preferred approach is to work with Ontario to protect birds and other wildlife.
"That tool is there as a backstop, not as, like, the way we want to do this. It's there as a last resort," he said.
Read more of CBC's Inayat Singh's story here.
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