What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
WW International appears set to close dozens of its roughly 118 WeightWatchers locations across Canada on March 26.
While the company has not formally announced the wave of closures, profiles for the affected locations on the WeightWatchers website note that the locations will close on Sunday while inviting members to register for virtual workshops. There are notices for 37 locations.
WeightWatchers is a fee-based weight loss program that employs meal plans, in-person and virtual workshops, a meal tracking app and a dietary "points budget" system to help clients lose weight. WW International also sells branded home goods, books and grocery items.
The company has operated since 1963 and has locations in each of Canada's 10 provinces, though none in the territories. Locations are apparently set to close in every province except Quebec.
The news came as a surprise to some long-time clients, like Liliane Guertin, who first saw it circulating in a private Facebook group last Wednesday.
During her usual weight loss workshop the following night, staff confirmed her location's final in-person session would take place March 23.
"Our meeting was on Thursday night and we were told this Thursday is the last day," Guertin told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Wednesday. "Apparently at the end of this week, these so-called studios will no longer exist."
She said staff at the location also told her they would be laid off as a result of the closure.
Guertin attends weekly workshops at a WeightWatchers location in Welland, Ont., and has been a WeightWatchers member on and off for 50 years. When she learned that many of the company's Canadian locations could close this month, she opted to cancel her membership rather than register for virtual workshops.
"I work every day online, I'm not interested in doing any more online," she said. "And as far as I was concerned, they had broken the contract, so I just wanted to cancel my membership."
Dow Jones Newswires reported in February that the company planned to reduce costs across its global business operations by laying off staff, centralizing global management and terminating leases in 2023.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported WeightWatchers is moving into the prescription drug weight loss business with the acquisition of Sequence, a telehealth provider that offers users access to diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity.
WW International did not respond to a request for comment from CTVNews.ca by publishing time.
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”