Business

Surrey, BC/Territories of the Coast Salish (Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen First Nations), Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Westland Insurance (Westland), Canada’s fastest growing independently-owned brokerage, has partnered with SGI CANADA (SGI) to publish a comprehensive guide that aims to demystify the world of home insurance. “The ultimate guide to home insurance in Canada” provides homeowners with valuable insights and practical advice on navigating the world of home insurance in 2024. Covering a wide range of topics, the easy-to-understand guide breaks down complex concepts into user-friendly language, empowering homeowners to make informed decisions about protecting their most valuable asset. Key topics covered include: · The benefits of home insurance · The various types o...

Officials from four of the biggest tech companies in the world — Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta — largely offered polite criticism of the country’s proposed artificial intelligence law to Canadian parliamentarians for over an hour at a hearing Wednesday. Several agreed the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) legislation should be passed quickly, but with certain provisions more clearly defined, and allowing more rules to be set in regulations than in the law so it will be flexible. And then it was like a mask dropped. It came after Microsoft Canada’s Amanda Craig, the company’s senior director of public policy in the office of responsible AI, gave a lengthy explanation of things that could be improved. Then Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Platforms in Canada, was ...

The Kansas City Chiefs enter Sunday’s Super Bowl having already won — when it comes to commercials.Over the past year, the star players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, along with Coach Andy Reid, have been inescapable to TV viewers. Flipping channels, you might find Mr. Kelce baring his arm for a Pfizer Covid-19 shot, Mr. Mahomes hollering in support of a State Farm promotion or Mr. Reid coveting some chicken “nuggies.”During this National Football League season, companies featured Mr. Mahomes in 19 ad spots, Mr. Kelce in 10 and Mr. Reid in four. The estimated amount spent to air the ads on television was $178 million for Mr. Mahomes, $120 million for Mr. Kelce and $69 million for Mr. Reid, according to iSpot.tv, an ad measurement company. Those are the highest numbers for any sports fig...

During last spring’s banking crisis, when a competing lender went under, New York Community Bank pounced, acquiring a big chunk of its business. Now, it is paying dearly for that decision.The pain stems largely from a weakening commercial real estate market that impelled NYCB — which operates more than 400 branches under brands including Flagstar Bank — to admit to mounting losses. In a piece of symmetry with last year’s crisis, the bank said its newfound size after the acquisition of Signature Bank, had accelerated its troubles by forcing it to keep more money on hand, crimping its profitability and prompting it to consider selling distressed assets sooner than it might have preferred.Over the past week, fears that such pressure could be too much for the bank to bear broke into the open, ...

Bell Media is ending multiple television newscasts and making other programming cuts after its parent company announced widespread layoffs and the sale of 45 of its 103 regional radio stations.News stations such as CTV and BNN Bloomberg would be affected immediately, according to an internal memo sent to Bell Media employees on Thursday.The memo, signed by Dave Daigle, vice-president of local TV, radio and Bell Media Studios, and Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media, said weekday noon newscasts at all CTV stations except Toronto would end.It is also scrapping its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on weekends at all CTV and CTV2 stations except Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.Daigle and Gray said "multi-skilled journalists" would replace news correspondent and technician teams reporti...