Should we be worried about mpox?; Ultra-discount grocery stores: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet

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Loblaw is piloting ultra-discount No Name grocery stores in Ontario

Loblaw is piloting a new ultra-discount grocery store in Ontario that promises to deliver even lower prices by stripping away even more frills.

The first three No Name stores will open in September in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, capitalizing on Loblaw's existing discount brand known for its simplified, bright-yellow packaging and marketing.

"The No Name store is a completely different shopping experience," Loblaw president and CEO Per Bank said in an interview.

The No Name stores will be less complicated to run, the company says — in part because they will have less variety with about 1,300 individual products, compared with up to 7,000 products at the smaller-format No Frills locations.

"We are trying to make it as simple as possible," Bank said.

The stores will have shorter operating hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., limited marketing and no flyers. Shoppers will find a small range of frozen items, packaged bakery items, produce and pantry staples, but no refrigerated foods like dairy or fresh meat.

The company says it is relying on reused fixtures such as shelves and cash lanes to reduce costs. It will have no self-checkouts, at least to begin with, said Bank. The streamlined product selection also means less waste, he said.

Building these stores will take about 10 to 20 per cent of the cost of a new regular-sized No Frills store, said Bank, giving the company more room to cut costs for customers.

Prices at the store will be up to 20 per cent cheaper than comparable products at nearby discount stores, including its own No Frills stores, with more than three-quarters of the products more than 10 per cent cheaper, said Bank. Read more

Mpox is now a global public health emergency. Do we need to worry?

With the COVID-19 pandemic barely in our rearview mirrors, there's some international concern about mpox being declared a public health emergency. 

For governments around the world, the declaration represents a rallying cry to better monitor and respond to the threat by preventing, diagnosing and treating the infection.

Mpox typically causes painful rashes, but people could also experience fever, enlarged lymph nodes, muscle aches, headaches, and respiratory symptoms.

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases physician at the University of Alberta, said so far a lot of the spread of mpox has been through close physical contact, skin to skin, including through sexual activities. 

"This wouldn't be something like walking past someone on the subway," Saxinger said.

When an infected person has a lot of skin lesions, enough of the virus can get on bed sheets and pillows that someone changing the linens could be at risk.

"In some of the sexual cases, there might be a lag even up to three weeks before the symptoms become apparent," Saxinger said.

Experts advise avoiding close physical contact with someone who has lesions resembling mpox, not sharing their utensils, clothing or bedsheets and maintaining good hygiene like regular hand-washing. Read more

There's confusion about how schools will enforce cellphone bans as September nears

Backpack? Check. Water bottle? Check. Cellphone? It's complicated.

The start of school will look a little different for some students as several Canadian provinces have introduced cellphone bans for the 2024-25 school year. The bans vary by jurisdiction but they all have a similar aim: to restrict cellphone use in classrooms to cut down on distractions and encourage safe social media use.

But as September nears, there's some confusion about the bans themselves, let alone how they will actually be enforced — and by whom.

"A lot of teachers welcome that there will be fewer distractions in the classroom, but many teachers are worried about the policing of it falling on them," Joel Westheimer, a professor of democracy and education at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News.

Meanwhile, education experts and teachers have noted there are inconsistencies in how cellphone bans are enforced, and some teachers have said they're even concerned for their personal safety when they take a phone away. 

Rachel Inch, a Grade 8 teacher at Broadview Public School in Ottawa, recently told CBC Radio's All in a Day that cellphones are so pervasive that it's not effective or fair to simply put the onus on teachers. Students get crafty, she added, and try to cheat by handing over fake phones and keeping their real ones in a backpack or hidden in a calculator case.

They may also get angry when teachers try to enforce the rules, Inch said.

"I've had my nose broken because I've taken a phone. I've been threatened with death because I took a phone. I've had a parent come back at night banging on the window demanding his property back because his son forgot to pick up his phone," Inch told All in a Day in April right after Ontario announced its new ban to replace one already in place since 2019.

"When you get in the way of the phone, things happen. It's an addiction for a lot of people." Read more

What else is going on?

This doctor told his patient the choice to get her tubes tied should be up to her future husband, according to her testimony. 
The gynecologist is accused of professional misconduct and incompetence. 

These scientists are developing more nutritious vegetables to help mitigate diabetes
The University of Manitoba is partnering with Opaskwayajk Cree Nation and experimenting with growing conditions to change the nutritional content.

Manitoba is offering free prescription birth control starting on October 1.
The program will cover the full cost of about 60 commonly used birth-control methods, including the pill, intrauterine devices, hormone injections and others.

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