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thesparkjournal · 5 years
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FORD TORIES TAKE ONTARIO: TIME TO FIGHT BACK!
By Dave McKee
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Ontario PC leader Doug Ford stands on stage in Toronto with his family as confetti falls after winning a majority government in the Ontario Provincial election. [The Canadian Press/Mark Blinch]
The victory of Doug Ford’s Conservatives in Ontario is one example among several in Canada, of hard-right parties making electoral gains that immediately threaten the incomes, working and living conditions, and social and economic rights of millions of working people. Ford joins with governments in New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and, perhaps soon, Alberta, in implementing policies that aggressively clear a social, economic and political path for increased corporate profit and power.
Add to this the resurgence of far-right and reactionary parties globally, plus the real possibility of a Conservative victory in next year’s federal election, and we have the makings of a perfect storm in which the working class, people and environment will face a brutal onslaught with devastating consequences. On the other hand, we also have a wide-open terrain for building a strong fightback that can confront and defeat these forces of neoliberalism and austerity. Within this resistance, we find the fertile ground for growing the struggle against capitalism itself and for socialism.
One of the challenges we face is in identifying and organizing around the key tasks that are necessary to build this fightback. Without question, the working class and progressive forces in each area and sector face particular conditions that shape how their struggle develops locally. Gathering our insights together and analyzing them from a scientific point of view can be useful for formulating a generalized approach across Canada.
In Ontario, the government and capital have moved quickly to implement a hard-right agenda but the resistance has been slow to develop. There continue to be impressive moments of spontaneous struggle, evidence of a high degree of opposition and capacity to mobilize around that. However, there have been very few steps taken to develop the unity, organization and militancy necessary to confront and defeat Ford’s government and the neoliberal austerity agenda behind it.
Communists have been working with the non-sectarian left to identify some of the key tasks for building an escalating resistance to the Ford government. In part, this work is the product of analyzing the balance of forces involved in the provincial election campaign, the fightback as it has emerged to date, and an evaluation of the provincial struggles against the Mike Harris Tories in Ontario in the late 1990s, and against the Bill Bennett Social Credit government in British Columbia in 1983.
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Premier Doug Ford posing for a photo with white supremacist Faith Goldy (2018) [Twitter]
1. We need to expose the class nature of these governments
The dominant message in the Ontario election campaign was that it was a referendum on the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals, who had been in government for 15 years. This narrative focused on voter fatigue and leadership personalities, and projected the conclusion that there simply needed to be a change in ruling party – the politics, or the shape and content of that change, was unimportant. Both the NDP and, in particular, the Conservatives parroted this narrative of de-politicized change, which had been promoted for months ahead of the campaign by the corporate media. In the process, the Conservatives’ hard-right message was often treated as mainstream – Doug Ford’s public admiration of Donald Trump or his organizational connections with far-right and reactionary forces were ignored in the media. Virtually all mainstream discourse overlooked the fact that the Conservatives’ policies (they only released a platform in the dying days of the campaign) were copied nearly verbatim from the election document of Ontario Chamber of Commerce. The result was an election debate that was almost devoid of any reference to the class nature of the issues at stake.
This is a problem that has now been projected into the post-election discourse.
There has been plenty of criticism of Ford’s rapid-fire attacks on public services and public sector workers, education, health, Indigenous and racialized people, the poor, women and LGBTQ persons, the environment, and local democracy. But overwhelmingly, the depth of that critique has been utterly insufficient, with most of it focusing on Ford as a mean-spirited buffoon who is guided by his personal scores to settle. Building an effective fight against the Conservative government involves recognizing and understanding corporate interests that are driving most of their hard-right policies. One of our first tasks is exposing these interests.
Generally, people understand the link between lower wages or privatization and corporate profit. However, many of Ford’s attacks have come in the form of administrative changes, and here the link is less obvious but just as real.
One example of how this works is the changes to local democracy that were introduced just prior to the municipal elections in October. The legislation canceled elections for the heads of council in the regional municipalities of Muskoka, Peel, York and Niagara, and replaced them with appointees from the council. The heads of council are the Chief Executive Officers of huge and strategically important areas within the “Greater Golden Horseshoe” region (GGH), which generates two-thirds of Ontario’s and one-fifth of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product. The Muskoka Region is especially noteworthy, as it is a gateway for infrastructure relating to the enormous mineral wealth in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire. By replacing the elected heads for these regional municipalities by appointees, Ford is accelerating corporate access and influence over the bulk of the province’s infrastructure, services, industry, and resources.
The same legislation cut Toronto’s elected council in half. One immediate and dramatic result is that councillors have no time or energy to properly monitor, let alone expose or challenge, a staff-driven city government that is enormously vulnerable to the pressures of both corporate lobbyists and provincial political pressure.
The response from people in Toronto to the cuts in councillors was swift and dramatic – protesters filled Nathan Phillips Square and the gallery at Queen’s Park, where several people were arrested for disrupting the legislature. Unfortunately, though, virtually none of the political discourse noted the way in which the legislation served the interests of corporate developers and other sections of capital. Instead, the message that emerged from the protests was that Ford was settling scores with his political enemies at Toronto City Hall. Such a narrative is not only incorrect, it actively extinguishes the development of a broad resistance, by obscuring the broad nature of Ford’s assault and guiding people into individual “fightback silos” that are only active for a brief moment, around highly localized issues.
Exposing the class nature of the government’s attacks brings their full scope into focus and helps build strong solidarity between different local or sectoral struggles.  
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Days of Action demonstration at Queen's Park, Toronto. (October 1996) [Public Domain]
2. We need to call for a united, "all-labour" resistance
In British Columbia in 1983, Communists and progressives insisted that the coalition against Bennett’s SoCreds include all trade unions, whether or not they were affiliated with the BC Federation of Labour. Operation Solidarity, as the movement became known, was an historic moment in which BC Fed affiliates and unaffiliated independent unions set aside their bitter rivalry and mobilized alongside one another against a common enemy.
The current effort to build resistance to the Ford government is complicated by the division within the labour movement, in which Unifor has departed from the Canadian Labour Congress and its provincial affiliates, who have in turn demanded that local labour councils exclude Unifor members. So, at precisely the moment when labour unity is most needed, it is undermined by the actions of the leadership on both sides of this split. Trade unions in Ontario need to take a lesson from 1983, to set aside this rivalry and work in solidarity against the provincial government.
But the working class is more than just the trade union movement, so an “all-in” struggle against Ford needs to engage the full range of labour allies. This includes anti-poverty coalitions, housing and tenants organizations, health care activists, Indigenous and racialized groups, youth and students movements, women’s and LGBTQ groups, and others. Many of these sectors of the working class will face the brunt of Ford’s immediate assault. Actively and genuinely engaging them in a structured resistance ensures an organized reflection of the full breadth of the working class, and the scope of the issues that the working class faces under capitalism.
An “all-labour” resistance does not, in and of itself, guarantee a successful struggle, but excluding sections of the working class from the struggle will undoubtedly guarantee its failure.
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Hundreds protest against Ford’s plan to cut the size of Toronto City Council down to 25 seats before the fall municipal election. (July 2018) [Toronto Star/Steve Russell]
3. We need to build a local base of vibrant fightback committees
Well before the election, there was ample evidence of an increasing mood to fight against austerity and neoliberalism. Among union members and local labour leaders, this militancy was present in both the public sector – the Ontario Public Service Employees Union college faculty strike, the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ fights at public libraries and Children’s Aid Societies across the province, and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ refusal to distribute fascist material through the postal service – and the private sector – the United Steel Workers’ ongoing struggle against the liquidation of Canada’s steel industry, UNITE-HERE’s strikes for a $15 minimum wage at campus food services, and Unifor’s strike at CAMI Automotive to protect jobs and wages in the face of NAFTA. This sharpened sense of struggle has continued this year with the CUPE strikes at Carleton and York Universities, the latter being the longest university strike in Canadian history, the defiance of teachers’ union who refuse to stop teaching a progressive sex education curriculum, the Unifor workers who blockaded the Goderich salt mine against scabs during their 11-week strike at Compass Minerals, and two strikes by workers in the health care sector in Thunder Bay.
Outside of trade union disputes, this rising militancy is on display in the Women's March in January, the September 21 walkout by 40,000 high school students from 160 schools across Ontario against Ford’s attack on sex education, the October 15 Day of Action in defence of Bill 148 (the 2017 Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act), which included rallies in 50 communities across the province, and the October 23 provincial rally for health care.
Despite the lack of a lead from the OFL and many provincial labour affiliates, the working class is moving into action – increasingly, albeit unevenly, defensive struggles are shifting to the offensive and local disputes are connecting with political struggles. Where this is happening is at the local level – within workplaces, communities and schools. In some instances, these grassroots efforts have pulled the provincial leadership into action, demonstrating the capacity of class struggle positions to win over the majority.
One of the pillars of the 1990s fightback against then Premier Mike Harris was the provincial network of local social justice coalitions. These groups worked with local labour organizations to broaden the reach of anti-Harris mobilizing. Very few of these coalitions exist now, but the elements of vibrant, grassroots anti-Ford committees exist in the spontaneous and local mobilizations that have already occurred.  
A key task is to build these local committees and connect them to one another in a provincial network that projects the militancy, audacity and tactical creativity needed to unite and engage the entire labour movement in a militant and dynamic class struggle.
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OPPOSITE: Days of Action demonstration, Toronto. (1996) [Toronto Star/Andrew Stawicki]
4. We need to project a program of working class demands
Without a clear set of political, economic and social demands, a resistance movement will not have the glue needed to hold itself together over the course of a prolonged struggle. As impressive as they were, the Days of Action mobilizations in the 1990s never articulated a clear set of political goals. There were voices from the left who promoted specific demands at the different actions, but there were also Liberal Party forces whose message was that the government’s cuts were “too much, too fast.” The NDP and organizations tied to it tended to engage with the resistance very cautiously and only insofar as it helped to raise the profile of their candidates in preparation for the next provincial election. The overall tone of the movement never moved beyond being a protest against the Harris agenda, which itself was differently defined by various groups within the coalition.
The resulting lack of political focus – or focus on program – made it that much easier for the Days of Action to be stopped – just as the movement was building to a province-wide shut-down – by an OFL leadership who wanted instead to rally union forces towards the NDP election campaign.
A similar situation exists now. At its convention in November 2017, the OFL adopted a tactic of uncritical and unconditional support for the NDP in the provincial election. While that party’s platform was an improvement on their disastrous 2014 version, it remained tepid and business-friendly. The majority of the trade union movement leadership, however, continually presented it as the pinnacle of working class demands, and some actively characterized as unrealistic and irresponsible genuinely progressive polices that emerged from voices beyond the NDP. A significant minority of the trade union leadership, including Unifor and some teachers’ unions, advocated strategic voting – supporting the individual Liberal or NDP candidate who stood the best chance of defeating the Conservative in a specific riding.
Both of these strategies – blanket support for the NDP and strategic voting – compel the labour movement generally to fail in its responsibility to project an independent working class voice in the election campaign. The practice of directing all of labour's political work outside of itself is a weakness that contributed to the pervasiveness of a de-politicized call for change, and that finds its echo in the weakness and tentativeness of the post-election fightback.
The Communist campaign during the 2018 Ontario provincial election included two slogans: “Demand a People's Alternative” and “Ignite the Movement for Socialism.” The two messages are related, and provide a path to one another, so long as they are projected in way that is scientific, materialist, and non-sectarian. To demand alternative policies and programs that truly reflect people's needs is to counter-pose such policies to existing ones, exposing the class character of the latter and drawing people's consciousness increasingly toward the need to change the existing capitalist system. Similarly, building a movement for revolutionary change involves engaging in the immediate struggles of the working class to win and defend gains, and working to weld socialist consciousness on to that concrete experience.
Communists have a longstanding theoretical grasp of the relationship between reform and revolution. How we put this understanding into action has a huge impact on our ability to build the forces for socialism.  As the CPC's Ontario election slogans suggest, meeting this challenge requires a unified approach based on two complementary tasks: (1) we must cut through and isolate political policies and movements that are opportunist or reformist and replace them with an analysis that understands the class nature and role of the state and the necessity of mass action (and, ultimately, revolution), and (2) we need to reject sectarianism and forge the broadest possible unity in action to win, defend and extend immediate reforms that benefit the working class and the people generally.
A comprehensive program based on working class demands, which combines action on immediate issues with more far-reaching change, is a crucial element in uniting and sustaining a strong resistance to neoliberal austerity.
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A scene from the Hamilton Days of Action. A crowd marches through downtown to Copps Coliseum. (February, 1996) ["Celebration of Resistance"/Vincenzo Pietropaolo]
5. We need to built it
It should go without saying, but in an age of “clicktivism” and self-selecting social media circles we need to be reminded that movements have to be built and organized in the concrete world. Wishing something into existence by setting up a Facebook event page does not make it so. Even if the trade union leadership were to sign on to an action plan that included advancing labour’s independent political voice, with the goal of bringing down the Ford government, nothing of substance would be accomplished without the daily door-to-door and face-to-face work of pulling together and mobilizing a base.
In the late 1990s, the speed and breadth of the Conservative government’s attacks led to spontaneous and mass mobilization. This spontaneity was a key factor in rapidly building up fightback structures that organized the single-day general strikes and protests of the Days of Action. The important lesson here is that spontaneous resistance and opposition needs to become organized if it is to be sustained and developed.
Clearly, the actions of the Ford government are also provoking a spontaneous mass response. What is needed now is still the same – organization and leadership. Writing in 1901, in a moment of very sharp and widespread spontaneous struggle leading up to the revolution of 1905, Lenin observed: 
 “This struggle must be organised, according to ‘all the rules of the art’, by people who are professionally engaged in revolutionary activity. The fact that the masses are spontaneously being drawn into the movement does not make the organisation of this struggle less necessary. On the contrary, it makes it more necessary.”
What was true in 1901 remains true today.
Dave McKee is the Ontario leader of the Communist Party.
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todaynewsstories · 5 years
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Politics, race, music dominate diverse Golden Globe film nominations
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Movies about race, politics and music dominated nominations for the Golden Globe awards on Thursday, setting the stage for a lively Hollywood awards season leading up to the Oscars in February.
Dark comedy “Vice,” a scathing look at the rise to power of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, led all comers with six nods. It was followed by the Lady Gaga musical remake of “A Star is Born,” British historical comedy “The Favourite” and road trip movie through 1960s segregated America “Green Book” with five nods apiece.
Several expected contenders, including female-led heist thriller “Widows,” were left out in the cold, while moon landing movie “First Man” was snubbed in the best drama race and had to settle for just two nominations.
“Vice” director Adam McKay described his film, which will be released on Dec. 25, as “an amazing portrayal of power.”
“What we tried to do was reflect the times that we are living in, which can be pretty absurd and pretty dramatic and tragic at the same time,” McKay told Reuters on Thursday.
“Vice” also won nods for actors Christian Bale, as Dick Cheney, Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Sam Rockwell as former U.S. President George W. Bush. The film is distributed by independent Annapurna Pictures, which led studios with 10 nominations overall.
Actor Christian Bale arrives on the red carpet during the 41st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), in Toronto, Canada, September 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
The Golden Globes, chosen by the small Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), will be handed out at in Beverly Hills on Jan 6 in the season’s first major show business awards ceremony.
The movie line-up includes two films about racial injustice – “If Beale Street Could Talk,” director Barry Jenkins’ follow-up to his 2017 Oscar best picture “Moonlight,” and director Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) black empowerment superhero movie “Black Panther” also got a best drama nomination.
“Green Book” star Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated along with Mahershala Ali, said in a statement that the Universal Pictures (CMCSA.O) film asks audiences to “think profoundly about our society’s past and present.”
“Crazy Rich Asians,” the first big Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, further diversified the Globes contenders with nods for best comedy and best actress for Constance Wu.
Slideshow (11 Images)
“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think our movie would be embraced to this magnitude by the audience and now the HFPA,” “Crazy Rich Asians” director John Chu said in a statement.
SINGING A NEW SONG
Music featured strongly with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” starring Rami Malek as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Malek gave a “heartfelt and humbled thank you to the man this is for and because of, Freddie.”
“A Star is Born,” the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper remake of the show business romance, solidified its status as a major contender for Oscars, while “Mary Poppins Returns,” a sequel to Disney’s beloved 1964 film, won nominations for stars Emily Blunt and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s much admired semi-autobiographical black-and-white film “Roma,” for streaming service Netflix (NFLX.O), was nominated in the foreign language category.
Cuaron, who also won a directing nod, said the film celebrated families “and encourages my belief that the human experience is one and the same for all.”
Briton Olivia Colman won a best actress nod for her turn as a petulant Queen Anne in the Fox Searchlight (FOXA.O) historical romp “The Favourite,” along with supporting stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
In television, limited FX (FOXA.O) series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” about the murder of the Italian fashion designer, was ahead with four nods and helped the FX network take a leading 10 nominations.
But favorites like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “This is Us” were shut out of the biggest races in favor of newcomers including podcast-adaptation “Homecoming,” starring Julia Roberts, and comedies “The Kominsky Method” and “Kidding.”
Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Nick Zieminski
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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newsintodays-blog · 6 years
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Female-led 'Widows' reinvents the heist film
New Post has been published on http://newsintoday.info/2018/09/09/female-led-widows-reinvents-the-heist-film/
Female-led 'Widows' reinvents the heist film
TORONTO (Reuters) – “Widows” is billed as a heist movie, but its showcase of female strength and initiative seems to speak directly to the reinvigorated movement for female empowerment.
Actor Viola Davis arrives for the world premiere of Widows at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
The film, set in Chicago and starring Oscar winner Viola Davis, follows four women left in debt by their criminal husbands who decide to turn to robbery to get back on their feet.
It chronicles their journey from wives who were primarily supported by their husbands but who overcome the trauma from past abuse and neglect to develop creative ways to survive.
Actor Michelle Rodriguez arrives for the world premiere of Widows at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
“It wasn’t any gimmickry heist movie. It was women empowering themselves in their lives and confronting each other and having to work together,” Davis said at the Toronto Film Festival where “Widows” had its world premiere this weekend.
“What better metaphor is there for women today?” she added.
The women are also played by Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo and Elizabeth Debicki in a multi-ethnic cast directed by Briton Steve McQueen, whose powerful historical race drama “12 Years a Slave” won best picture at the 2014 Oscars.
“It’s a film about women, about women learning who they are and becoming independent. It’s about empowerment, it’s a film about corruption and racism and violence, and it’s a heist film,” Debicki said.
Slideshow (4 Images)
McQueen said he was inspired to make the film after watching the 1980’s British television series of the same name when he was a teenager. The movie’s arrival at a time when women are demanding more representation and respect in Hollywood and beyond is mere coincidence, he said.
“It just sort of spoke to me as a 13-year-old black boy in London,” McQueen said. There were “these four women who were being sort of judged in the way that they can achieve, and judged by their appearance rather than their character.”
“Widows,” which also stars Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya and Robert Duvall, won strong reviews and is already creating Oscar buzz as Hollywood’s long awards season gets under way.
“The men are fighting for scraps. The women are fighting for their souls,” said Farrell, who plays the deeply flawed and conflicted politician Tom Mulligan.
“Widows” will be released in North American movie theaters on Nov. 16.
Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Andrea Ricci
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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awesomeblockchain · 6 years
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TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's central bank, Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), and non-profit organization Payments Canada said on Friday that tests had shown blockchain technology can be used for automating instantaneous securities settlements.
FILE PHOTO: A TMX Group sign, the company that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), is seen in Toronto, June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
The three organizations said that they had developed an integrated securities and payment settlement platform using a distributed ledger, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and found that cash and assets can be tokenized to complete an instant settlement.
-This shows that it is possible to deliver payments in a way that has never been done before - by directly swapping cash from buyers to sellers, resulting in instant settlements," said Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, the body which ensures financial transactions in Canada are carried out securely.
However, Bank of Canada Senior Special Director Scott Hendry told a payments conference in Toronto on Thursday it was not yet clear if the use of blockchain technologies to settle securities transactions would lead to cost savings.
-We're still uncertain after doing this work that there are significant savings possible for participants," he said. -It's not clear that all the participant dealers and banks are going to get a significant benefit out of this settlement system."
The tests were the latest phase of an initiative called -Project Jasper" that the Bank of Canada launched last year in conjunction with TMX and Payments Canada.
Jasper is among dozens of fledgling efforts by financial institutions around the globe to find ways to use distributed ledger technology to boost the efficiency, transparency and security of financial transactions.
Other technologies are also being explored to enable instantaneous settlements. The European Central Bank is planning to launch a new settlement system in November which it says will allow transactions to be conducted in real-time, but does not use distributive ledger technology.
Reporting by Matt Scuffham, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
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dragnews · 6 years
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Ford could reopen two U.S. truck plants next Friday: source
(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) could resume production of its best-selling F-150 pickups as early as Friday, May 18 in Dearborn and Kansas City, according to a source familiar with the automaker’s plans.
FILE PHOTO: A 2018 Ford F-150 “King Ranch” pickup truck is displayed during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
Ford shut truck plants in Michigan, Missouri and Kentucky earlier this week because of parts shortages caused by a supplier fire in Michigan.
Also on Friday, Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE) said SUV production at its Alabama plant stopped on Thursday because of parts shortages caused by the same May 2 fire at a Meridian Magnesium Products plant in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
Mercedes said it had exhausted its supply of cockpit cross-members on May 9 and did not have enough parts to resume full production. It said the Alabama plant will reopen next week on a “modified production schedule” while the automaker works with Meridian to restore parts production.
Ford’s Louisville truck plant, which builds F-series Super Duty pickups, remains closed indefinitely.
Ford executives earlier this week said the company’s quarterly earnings could be affected by shutdowns at the three truck plants, but affirmed its full-year earnings estimate.
Ford said it was working with Chinese-owned Meridian to shift production of the affected parts to other suppliers until the fire-damaged plant can be repaired and production resumed.
Ford shares were down slightly in after-hours trade, at $11.19.
Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Dan Grebler
The post Ford could reopen two U.S. truck plants next Friday: source appeared first on World The News.
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cleopatrarps · 6 years
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Ford could reopen two U.S. truck plants next Friday: source
(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) could resume production of its best-selling F-150 pickups as early as Friday, May 18 in Dearborn and Kansas City, according to a source familiar with the automaker’s plans.
FILE PHOTO: A 2018 Ford F-150 “King Ranch” pickup truck is displayed during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
Ford shut truck plants in Michigan, Missouri and Kentucky earlier this week because of parts shortages caused by a supplier fire in Michigan.
Also on Friday, Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE) said SUV production at its Alabama plant stopped on Thursday because of parts shortages caused by the same May 2 fire at a Meridian Magnesium Products plant in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
Mercedes said it had exhausted its supply of cockpit cross-members on May 9 and did not have enough parts to resume full production. It said the Alabama plant will reopen next week on a “modified production schedule” while the automaker works with Meridian to restore parts production.
Ford’s Louisville truck plant, which builds F-series Super Duty pickups, remains closed indefinitely.
Ford executives earlier this week said the company’s quarterly earnings could be affected by shutdowns at the three truck plants, but affirmed its full-year earnings estimate.
Ford said it was working with Chinese-owned Meridian to shift production of the affected parts to other suppliers until the fire-damaged plant can be repaired and production resumed.
Ford shares were down slightly in after-hours trade, at $11.19.
Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Dan Grebler
The post Ford could reopen two U.S. truck plants next Friday: source appeared first on World The News.
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party-hard-or-die · 6 years
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Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s central bank, Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), and non-profit organization Payments Canada said on Friday that tests had shown blockchain technology can be used for automating instantaneous securities settlements.
FILE PHOTO: A TMX Group sign, the company that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), is seen in Toronto, June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
The three organizations said that they had developed an integrated securities and payment settlement platform using a distributed ledger, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and found that cash and assets can be tokenized to complete an instant settlement.
“This shows that it is possible to deliver payments in a way that has never been done before – by directly swapping cash from buyers to sellers, resulting in instant settlements,” said Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, the body which ensures financial transactions in Canada are carried out securely.
However, Bank of Canada Senior Special Director Scott Hendry told a payments conference in Toronto on Thursday it was not yet clear if the use of blockchain technologies to settle securities transactions would lead to cost savings.
“We’re still uncertain after doing this work that there are significant savings possible for participants,” he said. “It’s not clear that all the participant dealers and banks are going to get a significant benefit out of this settlement system.”
The tests were the latest phase of an initiative called “Project Jasper” that the Bank of Canada launched last year in conjunction with TMX and Payments Canada.
Jasper is among dozens of fledgling efforts by financial institutions around the globe to find ways to use distributed ledger technology to boost the efficiency, transparency and security of financial transactions.
Other technologies are also being explored to enable instantaneous settlements. The European Central Bank is planning to launch a new settlement system in November which it says will allow transactions to be conducted in real-time, but does not use distributive ledger technology.
Reporting by Matt Scuffham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
The post Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement appeared first on World The News.
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newestbalance · 6 years
Text
Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s central bank, Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), and non-profit organization Payments Canada said on Friday that tests had shown blockchain technology can be used for automating instantaneous securities settlements.
FILE PHOTO: A TMX Group sign, the company that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), is seen in Toronto, June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
The three organizations said that they had developed an integrated securities and payment settlement platform using a distributed ledger, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and found that cash and assets can be tokenized to complete an instant settlement.
“This shows that it is possible to deliver payments in a way that has never been done before – by directly swapping cash from buyers to sellers, resulting in instant settlements,” said Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, the body which ensures financial transactions in Canada are carried out securely.
However, Bank of Canada Senior Special Director Scott Hendry told a payments conference in Toronto on Thursday it was not yet clear if the use of blockchain technologies to settle securities transactions would lead to cost savings.
“We’re still uncertain after doing this work that there are significant savings possible for participants,” he said. “It’s not clear that all the participant dealers and banks are going to get a significant benefit out of this settlement system.”
The tests were the latest phase of an initiative called “Project Jasper” that the Bank of Canada launched last year in conjunction with TMX and Payments Canada.
Jasper is among dozens of fledgling efforts by financial institutions around the globe to find ways to use distributed ledger technology to boost the efficiency, transparency and security of financial transactions.
Other technologies are also being explored to enable instantaneous settlements. The European Central Bank is planning to launch a new settlement system in November which it says will allow transactions to be conducted in real-time, but does not use distributive ledger technology.
Reporting by Matt Scuffham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
The post Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement appeared first on World The News.
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tortuga-aak · 7 years
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A legendary auto exec says Tesla is doomed — and he could be right (TSLA)
REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Former GM exec Bob Lutz has been skeptical about Tesla's future for years.
He had a front-row seat for GM's 2009 bankruptcy.
Tesla's cash position means that it could struggle to stay afloat amid a US sales downturn.
  Former GM executive Bob Lutz returned to Tesla-skeptic mode last week and said that the company is doomed. 
This isn't the first time Lutz — who retired from General Motors after also working for Ford, Chrysler, and BMW — has foretold Tesla's demise.
For the record (and I've asked him about this), he doesn't think Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a poor leader; quite the contrary, he admires what Musk and Tesla have done. It's just that he doesn't think Tesla has any meaningful technological advantages over the rest of the auto industry.
And he's right: GM brought a long-range, affordable EV, the Chevy Bolt, to market a year ahead of the Tesla's own Model 3. Tesla had thus far struggled to deliver it's cars, while GM could finish the year selling 5,000 Bolts a month.
Tesla brand is formidable, but relative to the major companies in the traditional auto industry, Tesla is cash-compromised. GM and Ford, for example, are sitting on strong balance sheets. Tesla, meanwhile, has enough cash on had to operate for about a year.
Tesla is also spending about $1 billion per quarter, in-line with what GM spends — but GM is selling dozens of vehicles and raking in profits. Tesla is selling, effectively, two cars and hemorrhaging funds. 
Prepare for the sales downturn
Plus, Tesla is subject to the same market dynamics as everybody else. At the moment, the US market is riding an extended sales boom. By the time the numbers are added up, 2017 should see around 17 million in new-vehicle sales. Tesla's little slice of that translates into a near-monopoly on luxury electric cars. 
When the downturn in sales arrives, it's not outlandish to predict that Tesla's sales will fall alongside the rest of the industry's. The revenue drop-off wouldn't be arriving at a good time, as the company has to (1) build the Model 3 in mass quantities; (2) develop its just unveiled Semi Truck and new Roadster; (3) expand it manufacturing footprint beyond a single factory. 
That's all going to cost billions, and lacking profits, Tesla can ill-afford to backpedal on revenue, which has been climbing year-over-year.
The problem with companies that don't make money in the car business is that eventually the lack of profits always catches up with them. GM hadn't made money for a few years prior to its 2009 bankruptcy. The financial crisis pushed the company over the edge, but even a prolonged downturn in sales would have punished the carmaker's overleveraged balance sheet.
Lutz had a front-row seat for this, by the way. That doesn't mean Tesla will go bankrupt. But the risk that it might is significant and its financial condition points in that direction, so investors have to take it into account.
NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk show off Tesla’s first electric semi — which can go from 0-60 mph in five seconds
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todaynewsstories · 5 years
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Politics, race, music dominate Golden Globe film nominations
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Movies about race, politics and music dominated nominations for the Golden Globe awards on Thursday, setting the stage for the long Hollywood awards season leading up to the Oscars in February.
Actor Christian Bale arrives on the red carpet during the 41st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), in Toronto, Canada, September 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Dark comedy “Vice,” a scathing look at the career of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, led all comers with six nods, followed by the Lady Gaga musical remake of “A Star is Born,” British historical comedy “The Favourite” and road trip movie through 1960s segregated America “Green Book” with five nods apiece.
“Vice” director Adam McKay, who was also nominated, described the film as “an amazing portrayal of power.”
“What we tried to do was reflect the times that we are living in, which can be pretty absurd and pretty dramatic and tragic at the same time,” McKay told Reuters on Thursday.
The Golden Globes, chosen by the small Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the first major ceremony in Hollywood’s long awards season, will be handed out at a ceremony in Beverly Hills on Jan 6.
The movie line-up includes several other films about racial injustice – “If Beale Street Could Talk” from Barry Jenkins and director Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” – along with black empowerment superhero movie “Black Panther,” which gave Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) the second-highest-grossing movie worldwide of 2018 with a $1.3 billion box office.
“Green Book” star Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated along with Mahershala Ali, said in a statement that the Universal Pictures (CMCSA.O) film combines hope and compassion and asks audiences to “think profoundly about our society’s past and present.”
“Crazy Rich Asians,” the first major Hollywood movie in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, further diversified the Globes contenders with nods for best comedy and best actress for Constance Wu.
“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think our movie would be embraced to this magnitude by the audience and now the HFPA,” director John Chu said in a statement.
Music featured strongly in picks like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” featuring Rami Malek as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, “A Star is Born” – the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper remake of the classic show business romance – and “Mary Poppins Returns,” a sequel to Disney’s beloved 1964 film.
“Vice,” won nominations in major categories, including for actors Christian Bale, as Dick Cheney, Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Sam Rockwell as former U.S. President George W. Bush. The film is distributed by independent Annapurna Pictures, which also led studios with 10 nominations overall.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s much admired semi-autobiographical black-and-white film “Roma,” for streaming service Netflix (NFLX.O), was nominated in the foreign language category. Cuaron also won a directing nod.
British actress Olivia Colman won a best actress nod for her turn as a petulant Queen Anne in the Fox Searchlight (FOXA.O) historical romp “The Favourite,” along with supporting stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
In television, limited FX (FOXA.O) series “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” won the most nominations in the television category with four nods and helped the FX network take a leading 10 nominations.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Nick Zieminski
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newsintodays-blog · 6 years
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Police brutality gets spotlight at Toronto film festival
New Post has been published on http://newsintoday.info/2018/09/08/police-brutality-gets-spotlight-at-toronto-film-festival/
Police brutality gets spotlight at Toronto film festival
TORONTO (Reuters) – “The Hate U Give” held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, shedding a light on how police brutality affects the lives of black communities.
Actor Amandla Stenberg (L) and Algee Smith pose at the world premiere of The Hate U Give at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 7, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Based on the 2017 young adult novel of the same name, the movie tells the story of Starr, a black teenager, whose life is changed when she witnesses the killing of her childhood best friend by a white police officer.
The film follows scores of police shootings in the United States in recent years that have given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Actress Amandla Stenberg, who plays Starr, said she hoped the film would change the perspective of Americans.
“My hope and dream is that those who have not previously empathized with these events have instilled in them a sense of empathy for black lives, for black communities, for the tribulations of black people in America when it comes to police brutality,” Stenberg told Reuters Television.
The cast includes Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie, Issa Rae and Disney actress Sabrina Carpenter, who said the film packs a powerful punch.
“I think that’s what art is meant to do – make you feel a little uncomfortable, question your life, question everything around you and make you rethink your choices,” said Carpenter, the star of television series “Girl Meets World.”
“The Hate U Give” goes on release in North America on Oct. 19.
Reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Jill Serjeant
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todaynewsstories · 6 years
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Michael Moore compares Trump to Hitler in new documentary
TORONTO (Reuters) – Filmmaker Michael Moore compares U.S. President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler in his provocative new documentary, “Fahrenheit 11/9” that got its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday to a sold-out audience.
Director Michael Moore arrives for the world premiere of Fahrenheit 11/9 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
The documentary examines the forces Moore believes contributed to Trump’s election victory in November 2016, drawing parallels with the rise of Hitler in 1930s Germany.
The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
At one point, the film superimposes Trump’s words over videos of Hitler’s rallies, as a historian talks about the rise of strong men to positions of power.
“We explore the question of how the hell we got in this mess and how do we get out of it,” the liberal activist told reporters ahead of the film’s screening.
“He’s (Trump) been around for a long time and we’ve behaved in a certain way for a long time and when you look back now you can see how the road was paved for him,” Moore said.
The new film was a call to action for Americans, said Moore, who won an Oscar in 2003 for his gun violence documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”
FILE PHOTO: Michael Moore speaks during the “People’s State of the Union” event one day ahead of President Trump’s State of The Union Speech to Congress, in Manhattan, New York, U.S. January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz
“We are in a war to get our country back,” he said. “Anyone who doesn’t understand that is going to be sorely disappointed in the results of what’s about to happen in the next few years with Donald Trump.”
“Fahrenheit 11/9” takes its title from the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016, when Republican candidate Trump was officially declared the victor over Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton.
In the film, Moore assigns blame for Trump’s victory to widespread assumptions that Clinton would win, vested interests, and U.S. media that prioritized the big audiences Trump drew to television programming.
The documentary premiered the same week the New York Times printed an anonymous opinion column whose writer described “a quiet resistance” to Trump within his own administration, and advance excerpts of a new book by journalist Bob Woodward portrayed Trump as prone to impulsive decision-making.
It follows Moore’s one-man show on Broadway last year in which he used his satirical blend of humor to target Trump and encourage liberals to turn resentment at the Republican political agenda into resistance.
The film also touched on topics ranging from mass shootings in American schools to the contamination of water in Moore’s Flint, Michigan hometown.
At the end of the Toronto premiere, Moore emerged on stage, accompanied by some of the Florida school students who led nationwide protests demanding stricter gun laws.
“Fahrenheit 11/9” will open in movie theaters across the U.S. on Sept. 21.
Reporting by Nichola Saminather and Rollo Ross; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Clarence Fernandez
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todaynewsstories · 6 years
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Michael Moore hopes his film is ‘beginning of the end’ for Trump
(Reuters) – Provocative filmmaker Michael Moore said on Thursday he hoped his new documentary would mark “the beginning of the end” for the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump.
Director Michael Moore arrives for the world premiere of Fahrenheit 11/9 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
The liberal activist said “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which will get its world premiere at the Toronto film festival later on Thursday, was “a siren call” to what he called a “despairing, dispirited public.”
“This film is the moment of truth we’ve all needed for some time, and I believe its release in theaters nationwide on Sept. 21 may well be the real beginning of the end for Donald J. Trump,” Moore wrote on his website.
Moore, who won an Oscar in 2003 for his gun violence documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” said the new film looks at the reasons why the United States elected the businessman and former reality TV star to the White House in November 2016 and “also (to) help show us the way out.”
FILE PHOTO: Michael Moore speaks during the “People’s State of the Union” event one day ahead of President Trump’s State of The Union Speech to Congress, in Manhattan, New York, U.S. January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz
He also called the documentary a “story of hope,” and urged voters to turn out for the November midterm congressional elections.
A trailer for the provocative, comedic documentary shows television and film clips of school shootings, white nationalist demonstrations, footage of Trump’s public speeches, and interviews with ordinary Americans. It has the tagline, “This is the movie that will end the insanity.”
It follows Moore’s one-man show on Broadway last year in which he used his satirical blend of humor to target Trump and encourage liberals to turn resentment at the Republican political agenda into resistance.
“Fahrenheit 11/9” takes its title from the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016, when Republican candidate Trump was officially declared the victor over Democrat Hillary Clinton. It is also a play on Moore’s scathing 2004 “Fahrenheit 9/11” about the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on New York and Washington D.C. and the subsequent U.S. led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The documentary will premiere in Toronto the same week that the New York Times printed an anonymous opinion column in which the writer described “a quiet resistance” to Trump within his own administration, and advance excerpts of a new book by journalist Bob Woodward portraying Trump as prone to impulsive decision-making.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio
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newsintodays-blog · 6 years
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Michael Moore hopes his film is 'beginning of the end' for Trump
New Post has been published on http://newsintoday.info/2018/09/07/michael-moore-hopes-his-film-is-beginning-of-the-end-for-trump/
Michael Moore hopes his film is 'beginning of the end' for Trump
(Reuters) – Provocative filmmaker Michael Moore said on Thursday he hoped his new documentary would mark “the beginning of the end” for the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump.
Director Michael Moore arrives for the world premiere of Fahrenheit 11/9 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 6, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
The liberal activist said “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which will get its world premiere at the Toronto film festival later on Thursday, was “a siren call” to what he called a “despairing, dispirited public.”
“This film is the moment of truth we’ve all needed for some time, and I believe its release in theaters nationwide on Sept. 21 may well be the real beginning of the end for Donald J. Trump,” Moore wrote on his website.
Moore, who won an Oscar in 2003 for his gun violence documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” said the new film looks at the reasons why the United States elected the businessman and former reality TV star to the White House in November 2016 and “also (to) help show us the way out.”
FILE PHOTO: Michael Moore speaks during the “People’s State of the Union” event one day ahead of President Trump’s State of The Union Speech to Congress, in Manhattan, New York, U.S. January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz
He also called the documentary a “story of hope,” and urged voters to turn out for the November midterm congressional elections.
A trailer for the provocative, comedic documentary shows television and film clips of school shootings, white nationalist demonstrations, footage of Trump’s public speeches, and interviews with ordinary Americans. It has the tagline, “This is the movie that will end the insanity.”
It follows Moore’s one-man show on Broadway last year in which he used his satirical blend of humor to target Trump and encourage liberals to turn resentment at the Republican political agenda into resistance.
“Fahrenheit 11/9” takes its title from the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016, when Republican candidate Trump was officially declared the victor over Democrat Hillary Clinton. It is also a play on Moore’s scathing 2004 “Fahrenheit 9/11” about the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on New York and Washington D.C. and the subsequent U.S. led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The documentary will premiere in Toronto the same week that the New York Times printed an anonymous opinion column in which the writer described “a quiet resistance” to Trump within his own administration, and advance excerpts of a new book by journalist Bob Woodward portraying Trump as prone to impulsive decision-making.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio
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cleopatrarps · 6 years
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Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s central bank, Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), and non-profit organization Payments Canada said on Friday that tests had shown blockchain technology can be used for automating instantaneous securities settlements.
FILE PHOTO: A TMX Group sign, the company that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), is seen in Toronto, June 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo
The three organizations said that they had developed an integrated securities and payment settlement platform using a distributed ledger, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and found that cash and assets can be tokenized to complete an instant settlement.
“This shows that it is possible to deliver payments in a way that has never been done before – by directly swapping cash from buyers to sellers, resulting in instant settlements,” said Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, the body which ensures financial transactions in Canada are carried out securely.
However, Bank of Canada Senior Special Director Scott Hendry told a payments conference in Toronto on Thursday it was not yet clear if the use of blockchain technologies to settle securities transactions would lead to cost savings.
“We’re still uncertain after doing this work that there are significant savings possible for participants,” he said. “It’s not clear that all the participant dealers and banks are going to get a significant benefit out of this settlement system.”
The tests were the latest phase of an initiative called “Project Jasper” that the Bank of Canada launched last year in conjunction with TMX and Payments Canada.
Jasper is among dozens of fledgling efforts by financial institutions around the globe to find ways to use distributed ledger technology to boost the efficiency, transparency and security of financial transactions.
Other technologies are also being explored to enable instantaneous settlements. The European Central Bank is planning to launch a new settlement system in November which it says will allow transactions to be conducted in real-time, but does not use distributive ledger technology.
Reporting by Matt Scuffham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
The post Bank of Canada, TMX say blockchain feasible for securities settlement appeared first on World The News.
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