These are stories Report on Business is following Monday, April 2, 2012. Get the top business stories through the day on BlackBerry or iPhone by bookmarking our mobile-friendly webpage.
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OMG I was intrigued today by the decision of a Canadian politician to give up on Twitter because, he says, it's dumbing down the conversation.
As The Globe and Mail's Carys Mills reports, Charlie Angus of the New Democratic Party decided a week ago he'd had enough of 140-character bursts after about 18 months.
I decided to poke around a bit to show Mr. Angus the error of his ways. Along the lines of what the advent of the automobile might have meant to the Sunday drive. Or wireless phones to landlines. Or automatic milking machines to how you soothe a cow.
Indeed, you can say a lot in 140 characters or less. You just have to think about it. Here, Mr. Angus, are some examples:
"My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading." Thomas Hardy (62 characters under)
"History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been." Josef Stalin (71 under)
"The Gulf War was like teenage sex. We got in too soon and out too soon." U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (70 under)
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." George Washington (63 under)
"Blessed are the young, for they will inherit the national debt." Herbert Hoover (78 under)
"Read my lips. No new taxes." George Bush (114 under)
"Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." Winston Churchill (1 under)
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." H.L. Mencken (80 under)
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." Voltaire (84 under)
"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson ( 36 under)
"Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda." Hannah Arendt (14 under)
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen Hawking (59 under)
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Bill Clinton (78 under)
"There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." Pierre Trudeau (80 under)
What OAS change means to companies There's a lot for Canadian companies to consider - starting now - given the pending changes to the Old Age Security benefit.
As Aon Hewitt notes in a look at last week's federal budget, the changes unveiled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty plays into work force and pension planning.
Canada plans to effectively reset the age of retirement by boosting the eligibility age for OAS to 67 from 65. The change to the benefit, worth more than $6,000 a year, will be phased in beginning in 2023.
According to a recent survey conducted for Bank of Montreal, 32 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 54 will be relying on OAS and Canadian Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan benefits for the major source of income in retirement, so the change will have a marked impact.
"Pension plan sponsors may wish to consider these changes in OAS benefits for several reasons," said Jerry Loterman, an associate partner at Aon Hewitt.
"Financial/retirement planning services to members should be even more important than in the past, to enable employees to properly prepare for retirement at or beyond age 65, with less public pension benefits from ages 65-67, particularly for plan sponsors with defined contribution or other money-purchase plans," Mr. Loterman said in a report released by the human resources consulting firm.
"Employers must consider their work force planning now, as there will be a disincentive for employees to retire at or near age 65, with many opting to work longer, perhaps with age 67 becoming the new 'normal retirement age.'"
That means different things to different companies, of course, and will no doubt force some to change their approach.
"On the one hand, this could be beneficial where employers wish to retain older experienced workers; however, in other cases, where it is necessary to make room for younger staff, employers may need to re-evaluate their severance and retirement benefits designs to encourage employees to retire in dignity," Mr. Loterman said.
- Read our full budget coverage
- Flaherty's budget: Pennywise or attack on our kids' pensions?
- Budget's OAS plan touted as key to long-term growth
Coty bids for Avon Shares of Avon Products Inc. climbed today after a U.S. rival launched an unsolicited bid for the door-to-door company that has been ailing of late.
Coty Inc. is bidding $23.25 (U.S.) a share, which values Avon at about $10-billion, but the target company said the offer's too low.
It's not the first time Coty has gone after Avon. Today's announcement also disclosed that it proposed a lower offer last month.
Pressure builds on CP The activist shareholder pushing for change at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. continues to ramp up the pressure on the company in its heated proxy battle.
Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, now the railway's biggest shareholder, has brought in another big name from the industry to its slate of proposed alternative directors, The Globe and Mail's Jacquie McNish and Brent Jang report.
The addition of Stephen Tobias, a former executive at Norfolk Southern Corp., brings the number of alternative directors to six in advance of CP's May 17 annual meeting.
Chalco strikes SouthGobi deal Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. is selling its majority control of to a Chinese aluminum company that's looking to diversify into coal.
Aluminum Corp. of China, known as Chalco, is launching an $8.48-a-share bid for up to 60 per cent of SouthGobi, whose main asset is a coal mine in Mongolia.
Ivanhoe owns 57.6 per cent of SouthGobi, and has agreed to sell to Chalco for up to almost $900-million. Selling just 60 per cent of the stake would net $533-million.
"Ivanhoe's board, in conjunction with our financial and legal advisors, has determined that the value offered by this transaction is an excellent opportunity for our shareholders to realize significant value through our creation of what has become one of the fastest growing coal producers on China's doorstep," said Ivanhoe chairman David Huberman.
Euro zone jobless rate climbs Life is getting progressively worse in many of the euro zone's troubled countries, notably Spain.
Unemployment in the 17-member monetary union inched up in February to 10.8 per cent as more than 17 million people search for work.
Today's numbers from Eurostat highlight again the extreme differences among the countries of the euro zone. The highest rates are in Spain, at almost 24 per cent, and Greece, at 21 per cent, while the lowest are in Austria, at 4.2 per cent, and the Netherlands, at 4.9 per cent.
Jobless levels among young people, at almost 22 per cent, are crippling. In Spain and Greece, more than half the youth are without work.
Separately today, a fresh reading of the region's manufacturing sector showed industry continuing to contract.
Teachers' eyes soccer It hasn't taken the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan long to go after soccer after giving up on hockey.
The pension fund manager, which sold its controlling stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. last year, is closing in on a deal for Britain's Goals Soccer Centres PLC, which operates dozens of pitches in the country.
Goals Soccer Centres said in a statement today it has received a "preliminary approach" from the Canadian pension fund, though it cautioned that may not lead to an actual deal.
The British company is behind what's known as five-a-side soccer, which it describes as one of the fastest growing sports in the country. One of its centres, it says, typically holds between nine and 14 pitches on at least 2.5 acres.
Shares of the company, whose market value tops $100-million, soared on its announcement today.
(It's like owning the ice rink instead of the team but still ... Just wait until the Leafs make the playoffs.)
Business ticker
- Carney urges exporters to 'refocus' on emerging markets
- Analyst sets $1,001 price target on Apple
- Barrie McKenna's Economy Lab: Moody's gives Ottawa a clean bill of health
- Air Canada union challenging back-to-work legislation
- Tavia Grant's Economy Lab: Saskatchewan's jobs engine hits high gear
- U.S. manufacturing sector gathers steam in March
- One-click payment system coming to Facebook, Twitter
- Petronas studying Canadian gas acquisition exceeding $5-billion