The Globe and Mail - 24.10.2019

HOCKEY

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SOCCER

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FOOTBALL

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OTTAWA/QUEBEC EDITION ■ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019 ■ GLOBEANDMAIL.COM

S&P/TSX

16,335.93

-55.59

DOW

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S&P500

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NASDAQ

8,119.79

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DOLLAR

76.42/1.3086

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GCAN10-YR

1.51%

no change

OIL(WTI)

US$55.97

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GOLD(oz.)

US$1,495.70

+8.20

Spooked by rising anti-immigra-

tion sentiment in Canada, partic-

ularly in Quebec, a business group

that includes Canada’s ambassa-

dor to China, Dominic Barton, has

published a blueprint for preserv-

ing the country’s economic pros-

perity by welcoming newcomers

and tripling the population over

the next 80 years.

The Century Initiative tabled a

detailed plan on Thursday for en-

suring Canada’s next generation

enjoys the same standard of living

as the one that preceded it, cen-

tred on boosting the population

to 100 million by the year 2100.

The bulk of this growth would

come through increased immi-

gration, as the Century Initiative’s

research shows that current de-

mographic trends, including fer-

tility and new arrivals, will trans-

late into a population of just 49.7

million in 2100, with a high pro-

portion of aging, unproductive ci-

tizens.

“We realize that active mea-

sures to increase Canada’s scale

will run into the headwinds of

current countervailing political

forces that reflect a more skeptical

public mood,” said the report,

which comes on the heels of an

election campaign that saw Peo-

ple’s Party Leader Maxime Ber-

nier put his face on billboards that

read “Say NO to mass immigra-

tion.”

A collection of executives with

strong ties togovernments of all

political stripes founded Century

Initiative in 2013.

POPULACE,B6

Canada’s

Chinaenvoy

partofgroup

urginghigher

immigration

foreconomy

ANDREWWILLIS

Rogers Communications Inc.’s

stock had its worst day in more

than six years on Wednesday, af-

ter the company’s strategic shift

to unlimited data plans led to a

sharp drop in lucrative overage

charges.

The company’s third-quarter

results emphasized the pressures

facing the entire telecom sector,

including intense competition on

fees, the shift to unlimited data

pricing and the potential for gov-

ernment intervention in cutting

cellphone bills.

Other Canadian telecom pro-

viders BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and

Shaw Communications Inc., all of

which have introduced unlimited

data plans, each saw their stocks

drop by more than 4 per cent in

reaction to Rogers’s disappoint-

ing results.

The financial impact of Ro-

gers’s unlimited data wireless

plans was much higher than an-

ticipated, with more than one

million Canadians signing up un-

der the new pricing model – three

times what Rogers expected by

this point.

As a result, its third-quarter fi-

nancial results were hit with a

$50-million reduction in overage

fees, causing the quarter’s profits

to miss analysts’ forecasts, and

forcing Rogers to reduce its full-

year revenue and earnings guid-

ance.

The company’s stock fell by 8.1

per cent, closing at $61 a share.

ROGERS,B6

Rogerscuts

earnings

forecastamid

dropindata

overagefees

TIMSHUFELT

INVESTMENTREPORTER

Three of the Alberta Energy Regulator’s
top executives have left the agency as it
deals with the fallout from damaging reve-
lations about its previous chief executive
officer’s role in a pricey side project.
The departures come after the AER sus-
pended a long-planned reorganization
while the provincialgovernment’s new
hand-picked board dissects the body’s in-
ner workings after three public investiga-
tions into the diversion of the regulator’s

resources into the project. The details of

the reports have shaken the confidence of

the industry, the public and staff.

In an e-mail to staff on Wednesday, in-

terim chief executive officer Gord Lambert

said the AER had parted ways with Mark

Taylor, executive vice-president of the op-

erations division; Carol Crowfoot, execu-

tive vice-president of the strategy and reg-

ulatory division; and Stacey Schorr, exec-

utive vice-president of the stakeholder and

government engagement division.

“The board was clear last week that our

culture needs to evolve,” Mr. Lambert said

in the e-mail, which was obtained by The

Globe and Mail. “The board and I will work

with leaders in the organization to bring

about these changes. We want to move effi-

ciently and thoughtfully as we chart the fu-

ture path for the AER.”

The cuts to the senior executive ranks,

and suspension of the internal reorganiza-

tion, show how the United Conservative

Party government of Premier Jason Ken-

ney is exerting more control over the

watchdog, which is responsible for ensur-

ing that the province’s dominant industry

operates safely and within environmental

regulations.

AER,B6

SeniorstaffexitAlberta

EnergyRegulatoramidscandal

AgencyputsreorganizationonholdtodealwithprobeofformerCEO’sroleincostlysideproject

JEFFREYJONES
CARRIETAIT

Facebook Inc.chief executive Mark Zucker-

berg confronted a hostile U.S. Congress on

Wednesday as he defended plans for a global

cryptocurrency project against an intensifying

backlash by regulators who say they have lost

trust in the social-media giant.

In his first appearance on Capitol Hill in

more than a year, Mr. Zuckerberg said Libra, a

proposed global cryptocurrency and pay-

ments system Facebook announced earlier

this year, would provide low-cost financial ser-

vices to marginalized populations, modernize

outdated banking institutions and reinforce

the place of the United States at the centre of

the global finance and innovation.

Libra is being planned as a “stablecoin,” a

cryptocurrency built onblockchain technol-

ogy and backed by a reserve of global cur-

rencies, with access to coins controlled by an

organization called the Libra Association that

is independent from Facebook and based in

Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Zuckerberg described the project as a

“safe and secure and regulated alternative” to

more speculative cryptocurrencies such as bit-

coin that would include “world-class” systems

to prevent it being used for money laundering,

terrorist financing and other regulatory con-

cerns.

Acknowledging his company has been un-

der fire from lawmakers across the globe for a

string of controversies, Mr. Zuckerberg por-

trayed Facebook as just one of dozens of part-

ners in Libra.

He pledged his company would pull out if

the project did not get the support of U.S. reg-

ulators.

“I’m sure people wish it was anyone but

Facebook putting this idea forward,” he told

the House financial services committee. “But

if healthy skepticism becomes all-out hostility,

we’ll put a lot of progress at risk.”

ZUCKERBERG, B6

FacebookCEOMarkZuckerbergtestifiesinfrontofa‘ZuckBuck’imagethatwasputondisplayby

thecommitteeexaminingthecompany'splantolaunchadigitalcurrency.ERIN SCOTT/REUTERS

DEFENDINGDIGITALDOLLARS

ZuckerbergchampionsFacebook’splansfor

globalcryptocurrencyinremarkstoskepticalU.S.Congress

TAMSINMCMAHONU.S.CORRESPONDENT

[TECHNOLOGY]

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cap-and-tradedealwithQuebec B2

OPINION

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