What to do in a data breach; another interest rate hike: CBC’s Marketplace cheat sheet | CBC News

Miss something this week? Don’t panic. CBC’s Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need.

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Ontario long-term care homes with poor care records are getting tax dollars to expand

While the Ontario government says it’s on track to hit its target of 30,000 new long-term care beds by 2028, a CBC News analysis of government records found several of the homes that plan to expand with taxpayer support are run by operators that had repeated violations or poor outcomes through the pandemic.

Minister of Long-Term Care Paul Calandra says he is confident that homes will be compliant with new accountability and oversight tools introduced in their legislation, the Fixing Long Term Care Act, which came into effect in April 2022.

However, some measures designed to fix problems in Ontario’s long-term care system since the pandemic appear to fall far short of what the province promised, with fines applied inconsistently and proactive inspections only happening in a fraction of the homes.

CBC News looked at the monetary penalties issued from April 2022 to the beginning of May 2023, and examined each home’s inspection reports, which detail the specifics of the violations. Those reports were then compared to some homes with similar repeated violations that haven’t received fines.

The CBC also compared proactive inspection counts before and after the pandemic, and found that where homes used to get a proactive inspection once a year, before they were cancelled in 2018, only a fraction have had proactive inspections since they were reinstated in 2022. Read more

Marketplace has covered the challenges in long-term care homes extensively. Watch Crisis in Home Care, which exposes the secrecy around for-profit companies’ use of public funds, on CBC Gem.

The Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate again

Interest rates are up again: What’s the Bank of Canada saying?

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says ‘monetary policy is working — but underlying inflationary pressures are proving more stubborn.’

For the first time since April 2001, the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate to five per cent.

The move was expected by economists after Statistics Canada released its June labour force survey last week showing that Canada added 60,000 jobs last month — further contributing to an overheated economy.

Some of the country’s biggest lenders, including Royal Bank, CIBC, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank, have already announced that they will match their increase to align with that of the central bank’s.

Following the decision, experts diverged on whether Canadians could expect another increase after the summer. Trading in investments known as swaps — which bet on future central bank moves — imply there is a better than 75 per cent chance of another small hike at the bank’s next meeting on Sept. 6.

The effects of interest rate hikes can sometimes take a year or a year-and-a-half to play out in the economy. Read more

Corporate watchdog probing claims Nike Canada, gold company are benefiting from forced Uyghur labour

Canada’s watchdog for corporate wrongdoing says she has enough to launch an investigation into allegations that Nike Canada and mining company Dynasty Gold Corp. are benefiting from the forced labour of Uyghurs in China.

It’s the first time the office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) has launched an investigation since the federal government appointed Sheri Meyerhoffer to the role in April 2019.

“These are very serious issues that have been brought to our attention,” Meyerhoffer said Tuesday.

“Canadian companies are expected to respect Canadian standards for human rights and environmental protection when they work outside of Canada.”

A coalition of 28 civil society organizations, including the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, launched more than two dozen complaints with her office regarding forced labour practices.

In the first complaint, they alleged that Nike Canada Corp. has supply relationships with six Chinese companies that have been identified as using or benefiting from Uyghur forced labour.

Earlier this year, Nike Inc., the parent company, turned down CORE’s request for a meeting, but sent a statement saying it is “committed to ethical and responsible manufacturing and we uphold international labour standards,” said the ombudsman report.

In a separate complaint, the group alleges that Dynasty Gold Corp. allows for forced labour at its gold mine in China’s Hatu district, close to what has been called “detention” centres or “re-education” camps.

The mining company eventually sent a comment, denying it has operational control over the Hatu mine. Meyerhoffer said that might not be true given statements it has made in corporate documents and press releases. Read more

Marketplace has previously identified tomato products connected to Chinese forced labour, and Canadian clothing companies using a factory suspected of using North Korean forced labour. You can watch those full investigations any time on CBC Gem.

So you gave personal info to a company caught in a data breach. Now what?

This week, it was Petro-Canada. In February, it was Indigo. Even the province of Ontario has had security breaches that may have led to compromised data.

Experts say it’s not a matter of if your security is going to be breached, but when.

Here’s what they suggest you can do to protect yourself when it happens. 

• Try entering your email address at HaveIBeenPwned.com, a free service that checks to see if your information has been breached, and exactly what has been put at risk. You can also sign up for notifications about future breaches involving your email.
• If you’ve been affected, check your credit card. Call your credit card company directly and let them know. They’ll tell you if you should change your card number, or get a new one.
• You should also call credit-reporting agencies TransUnion and Equifax, alert them to the problem and check for any suspicious activity that might be affecting your credit score. You can also request a fraud alert be placed on your account. 
• Of course, you are going to have to change the passwords of any affected accounts. We know it’s tough, but make sure all your passwords are different for each account. 
• Experts suggest updating all applications and programs on your devices, and ensuring your operating systems are up to date since software companies often release security fixes. 
• Wherever you can turn on two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication, do it. 
• Lastly, when you’re paying for stuff online, use services like PayPal whenever possible rather than punching in your credit card information, experts say. It prevents your credit card number from getting spread around widely. Read more

What else is going on?

Experts know that BMI is an ‘imperfect’ way to measure health, but replacing it is complicated

BMI is still integral for researchers, clinical trials and as screening tools, but many doctors say measuring waist circumference is a better tool for measuring health.

Here’s what you need to know if your flight got cancelled

How long does a flight need to be delayed before you get a food voucher? What do you do if you can’t get home? We’ve got your back.

Highly caffeinated version of Prime Energy drink being recalled by the federal government

Cans with 200 milligrams of caffeine have been found in stores in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. That’s 20 mg more than what Health Canada allows.

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