MEDIA: CBC News Network Weekend Business Panel (May, 2019)

My long weekend involved time in studio for the CBC News Network Weekend Business Panel, alongside Elmer Kim and Natasha Fatah.

It was such a busy week, beginning with Westjet’s news of potential acquisition by Onex, soon followed by Air Canada entering talks to acquire Air Transat. We didn’t even get around to chatting about that, and instead, focused on these stories:

• Breaking News: Canada, US Eliminate Steel Tariffs.  As rumors of resolution swirled, tariffs on steel and aluminum that had been in place for almost a year are set to be lifted within 48 hours. What are the implications for business and the marketplace?
• What’s Up with the WhatsApp Hack?  With 1.5 billion users, what’s the story behind the hack and should WhatsApp subscribers be concerned?
• Cattle Producers’ Beef with Beyond Meat.  As popularity of this protein-based option grows, cattle producers aren’t too pleased about Beyond Meat’s choice of terminology.  Do they have a point?

Here’s a quick take.  There’s no doubt that tariffs on steel and aluminum that were imposed on Canada by the US for so called “national security” reasons have been harmful.  Once faced with these tariffs, Canada imposed its own retaliatory levies soon after, and this challenging environment was in place for almost one year.  Although the White House has taken the position that tariffs are helpful, not harmful (albeit through a series of tweets), the bottom line is that companies that utilize steel or aluminum are left with higher input costs, which decreases margins and typically results in higher prices.  This situation can create a domino effect, where products become less competitive, sales decline, jobs are lost, investment activity declines, and consumer spending, in time, is negatively impacted.  Going forward, removal of the tariffs will hopefully refuel business investment that was delayed or lost, and provisions to combat steel imports from other countries with unreasonably low prices (aka “dumping”) should set the stage for a return to a more favourable marketplace.  Regardless, it’s good news for business, employees, and consumers.

It’s concerning when a communication app that is supposed to be secure gets hacked, and that’s what happened with WhatsApp.  As the speculation around who was responsible and why this occurred continues, it’s a good reminder that device security starts with users and we need to pay timely attention to updates and notification of security breaches.  It seems that hackers are always a step or two ahead of technology security, and it makes me wonder just what these hackers were seeking.  As a Facebook company, this is yet another security/privacy related story, and although hacking isn’t something that can be blamed on anyone other that the hacker, there are undoubtedly implications for the provider.  As has been noted numerous times, Facebook needs to ensure that users are protected through a better regime of fundamental business practices and systems across a range of areas, as the threat of hacking and security breaches are a given in the tech industry.

And finally, cattle producers sought protection of the definition of “meat”, as the popular Beyond Meat referred to its product as “plant-based meat” (which leaves me wondering “are they or aren’t they?”).  As Beyond Meat continues to experience rapid growth, producers should be looking carefully at their own business, as it’s yet another to experience significant change, as has been the case with so many others.  It’s interesting how what is essentially a technology development is poised to take such a big bite out of a traditional industry.

That’s a wrap!  See you next time, CBC.