Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
Google's Russian subsidiary plans to file for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account, making it impossible to pay staff and vendors, but free services including search and YouTube will keep operating, a Google spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The Alphabet Inc unit has been under pressure in Russia for months for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media on YouTube, but the Kremlin has so far stopped short of blocking access to the company's services.
"The Russian authorities seizure of Google Russia's bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations," a Google spokesperson said.
"Google Russia has published a notice of its intention to file for bankruptcy."
A TV channel owned by a sanctioned Russian businessman said in April that bailiffs had seized 1 billion rubles (US$15 million) from Google over its failure to restore access to its YouTube account, but this is the first time the U.S. tech giant has said its bank account as whole has been seized. Read full story
Google did not immediately confirm whether it was the seizure of those funds that led to its intention to file for bankruptcy, or whether other seizures had occurred.
The database of Russia's Federal Bailiffs Service listed two seizures since mid-March, without specifying the amounts, as well as other fines and enforcement fees.
The service confirmed that it had seized Google assets and property.
Google had moved many of its employees out of Russia since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. But some had remained.
A note posted on Russia's official registry Fedresurs on Wednesday said the Google subsidiary was intending to declare bankruptcy and since March 22 had foreseen an "inability to fulfill its monetary obligations," including severance pay, remuneration for current and former staff and timely mandatory payments.
Google, which has paused ad sales and most other commercial operations in Russia, said its free services, including Gmail, Maps, Android and Play, would remain available for Russian users.
Russia said on Tuesday it was not planning to block Google's YouTube, in spite of repeated threats and fines, acknowledging that such a move would likely see Russian users suffer and should therefore be avoided. Read full story
Rostelecom Chief Executive Mikhail Oseevskiy said on Wednesday that Google was operating as normal in the country, including all its servers, the TASS news agency reported.
In December, Russia handed Google a 7.2 billion ruble charge for what Moscow said was a repeated failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the first revenue-based penalty of that kind of case in Russia.
That fine increased by 506 million rubles due to an enforcement fee, bailiffs data showed.
Google's Russian subsidiary's 2021 revenue was 134.3 billion rubles, Interfax news agency's Spark database of Russian companies showed.
Alphabet said last month that Russia accounted for one per cent of its revenue last year, or about US$2.6 billion.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Guy Faulconbridge, David Clarke and Barbara Lewis)
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
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The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
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Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
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Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
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The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
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The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
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A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.