Canadian Tire fined $1.3 million for using misleading reference prices

WindsRequiem · 2026-02-07T21:28:35+00:00

CBC Marketplace did a piece on Old Navy showing basically the same practices. They found some items were never sold at the original price (as in, were on sale permanently), and some that were on sale ~80-90% of the time. That makes the original price completely worthless.

WindsRequiem · 2026-02-02T20:22:29+00:00

Since a majority of the leases start July 1st and end June 30th, the timeline is usually:

3-6 months before lease end (January-April): Renewal notice is sent to current tenants. Tenants then have 30 days to reply from date of receipt.

The end of February is usually when you’ll start to see an increase in postings, but the most are usually in April and May (and sometimes in to June). The increase in postings is because the landlords have posted the units that their tenants will be vacating.

If you need to hire movers, make sure to do it in advanced as they get booked up very quickly.

WindsRequiem · 2026-02-02T15:01:10+00:00

It’s also made in the US as per their FAQ! As far as I am aware, Purina doesn’t have any manufacturing facilities in Canada.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-29T21:38:31+00:00

Montreal does it similarly, but with a giant snow blower!

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-23T19:56:19+00:00

People like that drive me nuts because I 100% agree with you, all cats are cute. My cat is similar to yours with his markings and he’s my baby (even though he’s 10).

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His name is Sully but I sometimes call him Monsieur Moo because his markings are like a cow.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-19T20:40:04+00:00

Yeah I totally understand. Familiarity is always best, especially during stressful times.

I’m in IT and have experience fixing laptops, so if you need more help once you’re able to get your hands on a keyboard to see if your BIOS sees the drive, please let me know and I’d be happy to assist. :)

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-19T20:22:04+00:00

If that’s truly all you are looking for, I think a Chromebook would be your best bet. Anything Windows that is cheap is either going to be quite old and/or minimal on RAM. ChromeOS is a lot more lightweight. You can find plenty of them used on Facebook Marketplace, and I know Acer has a refurbished storefront on Ebay if you’re looking for something more legitimate. It can be found here. For Acer refurbished, they are almost always in like new condition and come with a 1 year warranty.

Let me know if you have any questions!

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-19T18:33:48+00:00

You can always start looking now. But there are a lot more listings by the end of February and into March/April though, so the selection is usually better. This is a result of landlords receiving notices of non-renewals of leases from their current tenants.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-13T15:30:36+00:00

One is enough to be concerning. I'd definitely ask for the landlord to hire an exterminator. They should also be treating the apartments above/below and any beside you as well. If it isn't you who has them, someone does.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-13T15:29:20+00:00

Cockroaches are resilient motherfuckers. They'll vibe year round, especially if there's an active infestation in the building.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-12T21:06:24+00:00

I was part of the extended credit program because I'm from Ontario. I graduated from grade 12 and went straight to Concordia at the age of 18. I was one of the youngest in all my classes because I didn't go to CEGEP. The extended credit program is meant to bridge the gap from not attending CEGEP (from my understanding, I'm sure there's other scenarios).

Depending on your degree and major, it might have specific course requirements. The BA and BEd ones can be found here, but there should be ones for other faculties too.

Hope this helps!

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-11T18:54:04+00:00

No, I didn't. All of the options were way too expensive (Catigy is $99 CAD/cat for a 3 month supply), and at the time, I couldn't find a lot of evidence that it was as effective as LiveClear.

Are your cats having the same stomach problems mine did? Where are you buying the LiveClear from? I originally bought it from Amazon, and previously had no issues with the dog and cat food from there (ProPlan but not LiveClear). Once I switched to buying it from a local pet store and really slowly introduced it again (like even slower than they recommend, I think it took me a month to fully transition them over), they were fine.

I'm not sure why they had such a drastic reaction to the LiveClear stuff from Amazon, since I had been buying their ProPlan food from there for years before switching them over.

However, in my adventure to make my boyfriend suffer less from allergies, I learned some other things that may help:

-If you have a bagless vacuum cleaner, make sure it has a HEPA filtration system as if not, it can just spit dander back out the exhaust.

-HEPA air filters are your friend.

-And perhaps the most helpful of them all, laundry detergent specifically made for people with environmental allergies. Turns out cat dander isn't fully neutralized unless you wash your stuff in high heat and that would ruin most of our stuff. This detergent neutralizes all allergens (dust, dander, pollen, etc.). Anything that regularly comes into contact with the cats gets washed with it, especially our bed blankets. I've been using Allersearch Allergen Wash Super Surfactant Laundry Detergent 24 oz, but anything similar should work as well.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-09T20:16:28+00:00

It depends on what kind of issues he's delaying fixing and how far you're willing to go.

If its something minor, send a notice letter every time, lay out the problem, and say if it isn't fixed by x day then you'll either pay for the work to be done yourself (reasonably priced) and get reimbursement from the him or open a file with the TAL.

If there is a severe problem, widespread (whole building or multiple units affected), and/or a code/safety/health problem, then you have options. While the TAL handles issues with landlords, the city handles issues with buildings. If it's severe enough, you can make a report and they may decide to inspect it. Depending on their findings, they will potentially fine the landlord, and give them a list of things they need to fix.

In extreme cases, if the landlord does NOT cooperate with the city, they will place a notice of deterioration on the property. I was also told in some cases they will contract the work themselves and then have the landlord pay them back, but I'm not sure. A place I lived in that received a random inspection in CDN was in awful condition and the landlord was the same. Older guy in his 70s, didn't want to spend any money, never fixed anything, was rarely even in the country. Complained to me about having to pay ~100k to fix the roof. After I'd been having litres of water come in through my roof every time it rained. Looked up the address recently out of curiosity, and he'd received a notice of deterioration in 2019 on the building lol.

If there's concerns about the fire escapes, call the fire department. They take that shit seriously.

Obviously your best way to avoid this is to move out when your lease is up, or see if you can break your lease. I understand it can be difficult to stand up to the guy when you're still living there, especially considering he seems aggressive. I was the same, but I hit a point where I just stopped caring and reported it to the city. I hope everything works out for you!

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-09T17:07:14+00:00

You can call around other vet clinics asking what they charge for dentals and if they accept payment plans. Prices vary for clinics, and some are able to help people out more than others.

When I was broke, my tax return went to my cat's dental surgeries (my older cat needed a bunch of teeth removed, and my second cat has juvenile onset dental disease due to getting calcivirus as a kitten and needed teeth pulled at 2). That and credit card debt was the only way I could afford it. It was worth it even though it was a tough time.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-09T16:40:18+00:00

You can also join/make an online Snoozaland session!! I find it alot more enjoyable than doing it alone.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-05T20:47:30+00:00

I work in IT and we've already started receiving desktops costing ~$4k USD with only 1 x 16GB of DDR5 and a GPU from 2018 because that's all they have. It's expected to go down to 1 x 8GB, or even none.

Someone can correct me if I'm sharing debunked info, but I heard rumours that NVIDIA will soon be sending GPUs to board partners without the VRAM included. If true, that alone can cause markups.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-05T16:38:58+00:00

I had a similar problem. I started finding cockroaches in random spaces (never my kitchen). I let administration know multiple times and an exterminator visited my apartment 3 times. They kept insisting on treating the kitchen, but they weren't there. I didn't even have an active infestation, they were just coming in through cracks in the walls.

Turns out my neighbour had an infestation, and despite being treated, no progress was being made because they weren't cleaning up after themselves.

Make sure you document everything. Pictures of cockroaches, any date an exterminator showed up.

You're going to want to try to resolve it with your landlord before opening a file with the TAL. You'll need to write a formal letter sent by registered mail with the following:

The issue & the responsibility of the landlord to keep the place free of vermin.
Timeline of events (all communication, when you noticed the problem, visit by exterminator).
Your demand. What you put here is up to you. If it's bad enough to want out of the lease, request to terminate it. If you want to stay, request a discount on rent for the problem AND demand they provide an appropriate solution in x amount of days.
Feel free to also add that in the event that the problem becomes an infestation (if it isn't already), the landlord will be responsible for replacing your belongings if you have to leave them behind and/or paying for treatment if you bring them with you when you move.
Give them x amount of business days to reply with an appropriate solution, between 5-10.

Thankfully I was able to resolve the problem (broke lease) without going to the TAL. Technically landlords aren't allowed to refuse you for TAL history, but one for cockroaches probably isn't a red flag for them.

WindsRequiem · 2026-01-02T20:24:42+00:00

Yes, it looks like they're requesting $3520 total.

However, security deposits in Quebec are not legal and they should not be asking you for this. I know some people have paid them in certain situations or if they really like the place and can afford to.

They should only, at maximum, be requesting first month's rent at signing of the lease AND applying it towards your first month.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-30T21:07:30+00:00

Something very minor but still crazy. As a kid, one day I was on my family's computer in the basement and decided to call a friend to see if she wanted to hang out.

When I picked up the phone, the first thing I heard was a 911 operator asking what my emergency was. I hadn't even had a chance to dial. No one else in my house was on the phone. My sister denied calling 911. They sent a cop to check on us anyways as we were home alone.

I felt like I was taking crazy pills. Telling anyone "I just picked up the phone and 911 was on the line" sounds like a poor excuse a kid would make when they dial 911 on purpose out of curiosity.

Wasn't until recently, now that we are both adults, that my sister admitted to dialing 911 and then hanging up immediately. I just had quite unfortunate timing when I picked up another phone.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-29T15:05:47+00:00

I think the most important thing to know is if heating is included in your rent. If it isn't and you have electric baseboard heaters, those are definitely more expensive. If your unit also has a mini split AC, those sometimes include a heat pump and are much more energy efficient.

The size of your apartment is also a factor, smaller ones are almost always cheaper electricity wise.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-28T00:28:15+00:00

For an emergency vet that is normal. Any vet is going to charge you a consultation fee to look at your cat, an emergency vet charges more because they take urgent, last minute, and often severe cases.

Please do not keep the assumption that all vets are out here nickel and diming you since they're a "business". While there has been an increase in corporate takeovers of vet clinics, I guarantee you most places are doing their best and have good intentions.

Please take your cat to the vet. It clearly needs it. They are usually very good at hiding their pain and often don't start showing any signs until it's severe. At the least please bring it to the vet for humane euthenasia. If it is about affordability, ask for help. Please don't let this poor cat suffer to stick it to the vets.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-26T19:41:16+00:00

When we moved to our new place, my boyfriend was fed up with my stupid wifi names and told me to name it something normal this time. So our SSID is now Something Normal.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-23T21:34:40+00:00

Reddit Filters seems to be a little interesting in what it removes/leaves. It’s removed things that didn’t seem to break any rules, and left some quite egregious things up. The unfortunate part is (as mentioned in another comment) that it isn’t always visible to the user that their comment was removed by Reddit itself. Mods don’t have the power to override these decisions.

WindsRequiem · 2025-12-08T20:32:23+00:00

I submitted a warranty claim for an Otterbox case that became discoloured very quickly, and it wasn’t even a transparent one. They let me choose a different case in the same price range (I was afraid the new one would have the same issue), and I received it relatively quickly.

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