Are we done with senior discounts?: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet

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Canadian seniors are wealthier than ever. Do seniors' discounts still make sense?

Whether she's attending a chamber performance or playing in one, cellist and teacher Laura Backstrom says one thing is pretty consistent — the audience "looks like a sea of white hair." 

In contemplating why that is, Backstrom, 60, said she initially thought it was because seniors have "a need for music in their life and they have the time for it and they have the resources." 

But lately, her thinking has changed, she told CBC News. Now she wonders if audience demographics could have something to do with who gets a discount and who pays full freight.

While seniors enjoy healthy discounts on many events and entertainment tickets, those deals aren't extended to all potential attendees, she said. "There are people who maybe have a couple of kids and they find that getting a babysitter and paying for that just puts it over the top and out of reach for them." 

While few would suggest any older person should struggle financially, the higher incidence of poverty in younger groups has some Canadians wondering whether seniors should be the group to enjoy the most discounts on everything from bus fare to entertainment.

There are valid concerns about seniors living in poverty but statistics show that cohort is not the hardest up in Canada. Six per cent of Canadians aged 65 and older are classed as low-income, compared to 11.1 per cent of all other adults, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data.

The data, from 2022, also shows that single people in their senior years are four times more likely to experience poverty than seniors who live with a partner or family.

But even among that more vulnerable group of single seniors, of which many are women, only about 14 per cent live in poverty compared to 31 per cent of single people in every other age group, Statistics Canada says.

Backstrom qualifies for a discount at her local recreation centre in Victoria, and she thinks that may be misguided, too. "For a three-month pass, a senior is $95, an adult is $120. That's quite a big difference. With mortgage payments being super high for a lot of young families, that might just really put it out of reach." Read more

The Competition Bureau is studying Canadian airlines amid 'relatively high' airfares

Canada's Competition Bureau has launched a market study into the country's domestic air passenger service, noting that fares remain pricier than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the study's terms of reference published earlier this week, the bureau says there are signs "domestic airfares in Canada may be relatively high," and that "average airfares remain above pre-pandemic level."

Those terms also highlight the relative duopoly of Air Canada and WestJet, which the bureau says accounts for 80 per cent of Canada's domestic air capacity — measured by the number seats available multiplied by kilometres travelled.

"I think part of the reasons that fed into our decision to launch this market study include the fact that this is a concentrated sector," said Anthony Durocher, deputy commissioner of the bureau's competition promotion branch.

"Recent incidents such as the bankruptcy of Lynx Air [have] clearly indicated it may be more difficult for smaller airlines to operate in the Canadian marketplace." ​​​​​​

The bureau's study is trying to answer three key questions: what's the state of competition, how can policymakers further support airline entry and expansion, and how can they also help consumers shopping for airfares?

WestJet has already taken aim at the study's terms of reference.

In a letter from Andrew Gibbons, the airline's vice-president of external affairs, WestJet argued the bureau's scope "fundamentally ignores many of the key barriers that are unique to our country and are truly driving up cost for Canada's air travelers and reducing competition in Canada's air travel market."

For its part, Air Canada urged the Competition Bureau to look at all relevant factors, "not merely those that would enable a narrow market share-based narrative," the airline wrote to the bureau in June.

"Failing to do so will result in an incomplete study and ineffective or misguided recommendations," Air Canada said. Read more

StubHub is being sued for allegedly inflating ticket prices with extra fees

One of the world's largest ticket resale platforms has just been handed a lawsuit.

The attorney general for Washington sued StubHub, accusing it of advertising deceptively low prices and then ramping up costs with extra fees.

The practice known as "drip pricing" violates consumer protection laws in the U.S. capital, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said.

"StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers' expense," he said in a statement.

The company said it is disappointed to be targeted, maintaining its practices are consistent with the law and competing companies as well as broader industry norms.

"We strongly support federal and state solutions that enhance existing laws to empower consumers, such as requiring all-in pricing uniformly across platforms," the company said in a statement.

The lawsuit says StubHub hides mandatory "fulfilment and service" fees until the end of a lengthy online purchasing process that often requires more than a dozen pages to complete as a countdown timer creates a sense of urgency.

That makes it "nearly impossible" for buyers to know the true cost of a ticket and compare to find the best price, he said. Fees vary widely and can total more than 40 per cent of the advertised ticket price, the lawsuit alleges. Read more

What else is going on?

Loblaw is paying up for that bread price-fixing scheme.
Loblaw and its parent company George Weston Ltd. have agreed to pay $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit. 

Recall alert! Check your cabinet for these multivitamins
Supplements from brands Equate, Kirkland, Life, Natural Factors, Webber Natural and more could contain metal fibres.

Why are Melona frozen dessert bars suddenly so hard to find in Canada?
Export of the icy treats was halted after a dispute over milk content between Canadian importer and border services

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