Screen time might be hurting you; how the PSAC strike is impacting consumers: CBC’s Marketplace cheat sheet

By admin On Apr 30, 2023

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As PSAC strike drags on, experts say Canadians should prep for more labour unrest

More than 150,000 civil servants represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) walked off the job last week, slowing many government services to a glacial pace.

About 30 departments and agencies are impacted, including immigration, citizenship, passport, licensing and tax services. The federal government has compiled a full list of impacted services here.

After meeting in the middle on hundreds of lesser issues, the two sides remain far apart on the major issue that tends to bog down most labour disputes: compensation.

It’s a major sticking point. The federal government has offered a nine per cent raise spread out over three years, a move that negotiators say would add $6,250 to the average worker’s pocket.

WATCH | Public service walkout could bring other labour disruptions in Canada:

Federal public service strike could spark other labour disruptions

Striking federal public servants are setting a precedent for other unions as some experts say job action may become more common because of inflationary pressures.

The union, meanwhile, says the majority of its members make less than $70,000 a year, and it’s requesting a 13.5 per cent raise over the same three years. PSAC members have been working without a contract since 2021, and the union says the cost of living during that time has risen by more than the pay bumps they’re asking for.

Across Canada and in various industries, more and more labour disputes are looming because of compensation disputes. From Vancouver Symphony Orchestra stagehands to nurses in Ontario, and from WestJet pilots to flight attendants at that airline and others, it’s a sentiment echoed by workers across the country right now.

Larry Savage, a professor of labour studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., says the current era of high inflation has emboldened workers to seek solutions for problems that predated the sea change to working life that COVID-19 brought about.

“The pandemic really stirred a lot of resentment and anger amongst workers who were expected to do more and to really sort of rally round,” he told CBC News in an interview. “With inflation increasing, more and more workers are willing to go out on strike in order to press their demands.” Read more

Excessive screen time is changing our eyes faster than we can blink

A young boy's eye's are examined in an eye doctor's clinic. — Marcantonio Profiti, 8, undergoes an eye exam at a Toronto clinic on April 20. Eye specialists say they are seeing excessive screen use boosting rates of myopia, dry eye and other vision problems. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Health experts are saying research now links overuse of computer and smartphone screens to several progressive, irreversible eye disorders at rates not seen before.

Over time, staring too long at screens can change the structure of the eyeball and lead to atrophy of the glands that keep it moist. Research is now pointing to excessive screen time for the rise in eye disorders such as dry eye and myopia, which are becoming more common and affect more young people.

Myopia occurs when the eyeball elongates from front to back. This affects its ability to bend light, which enables sharp vision. This elongation increases nearsightedness, making distant objects blurry.

Human eyes can also become chronically dry if the meibomian glands — a sebaceous gland that helps create protective tear film — become obstructed or atrophy. It’s different than the watery tears that flush the eye. Without a healthy tear film, eyes become dry, irritated and sensitive to light.

Statistics show that Canadians are using screens at much higher rates than pre-pandemic levels. By 2050, more than half of the world’s population is expected to be myopic, meaning one in every two people will be nearsighted, a finding backed by the World Health Organization.

So what can we do? Experts suggest the following:

Limit screen use and take breaks. While there’s no magic number to how long it’s safe to look at a screen, take a break when your eyes feel dry.
Limit screen time for children between ages five and 17 to two hours.
Children under the age of one should have no screen time.
Go outside.
Move the screen to an angle where you are not straining to look up and keeping your eyes open wider.
Use lubrication drops with no preservatives, especially adults.
Use the 20/20/20 rule: Every 20 minutes take 20 seconds to fully blink 20 times. Read more

An Ontario home developer is accused of a $37M ‘cheque kiting’ fraud scheme

Stateview Homes sign — The head office of StateView Homes is located in Woodbridge, Ont. (Paul Smith/CBC)

A major Ontario home developer is facing startling allegations from one of Canada’s Big Five banks that it orchestrated a “highly sophisticated,” year-long fraud totalling more than $37 million.

TD Bank has filed a lawsuit against StateView Homes, based in Woodbridge, Ont., north of Toronto, and headed by brothers Carlo and Dino Taurasi, alleging the company carried out a “cheque-kiting” scheme from April 2022 to last month.

TD alleges that the defendants wrote thousands of bad cheques for large sums of money from both corporate and personal accounts at other banks, according to its statement of claim, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.

The bank alleges that the defendants would cash the cheques into TD accounts, and TD would conditionally release the money before the cheque cleared. The bank says the defendants would quickly withdraw the funds and then cancel the cheque to prevent the money from actually being transferred to the TD account.

Over the course of the year, that left TD being owed $37,028,055.73, plus interest, the bank claims.

In a statement to CBC Toronto, StateView vice-president of marketing Darryl Orian, who is not named in the lawsuit, says Carlo and Dino Taurasi didn’t know about or participate in the alleged scheme and are co-operating with TD to repay the money. Read more

What else is going on?

Junk food companies are taking a bite out of your wallet.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey and Nestlé released their quarterly earnings this week and revealed that they continue to hike prices even though sales have remained largely unchanged.

More than 2.2 million sledgehammers are being recalled because they can come apart while in use.
Check your tool shed for DeWALT, Craftsman and Stanley branded sledgehammers.

How the electric vehicle sector is rapidly changing.

CBC’s Don Pittis does a deep dive into how cutthroat pricing by Tesla may be signalling a death blow to internal combustion vehicles.

Marketplace needs your help

A clothing tag with various environmental claims, such as "Care for the Earth." — (David Abrahams/CBC)

Do you consider yourself a style icon with an eye for sustainability? Do you look for recycled materials or popular retailers that have these options? We want to hear more about where you shop, what you look for and why. Write to us, marketplace@cbc.ca.