training and leadership. On October 4, 2021, Air Miles introduced a series of revisions to the program. On January 31, 2021, Lowe's and its subsidiaries Rona, Inc and Réno-Dépôt officially ended their partnership with Air Miles. As of February 1, 2021; all of their retail and online stores stopped accepting Air Miles. On March 31, 2021, Liquor Control Board of Ontario ended their partnership with Air Miles and stopped accepting Air Miles at all of their retail and online store. In 2022, Staples Canada and the parent of Sobeys and Safeway stores ended their partnerships with Air Miles. Staples stopped accepting Air Miles cards in July of that year, and Sobeys and Safeway stores will begin phasing out acceptance of Air Miles after August 10, 2022. 2016 points cancellation In 2011, Air Miles Canada announced that points earned by Canadian collectors would expire after five years. All points collected from inception to the end of 2011 would expire at midnight on 1 January 2017. The announcement generally went unnoticed at the time. In 2016, as the deadline for redeeming points came closer, the media began to report on Canadian collectors struggling to redeem their points, frustrations with customer service, accusations that reward offers were being manipulated to discourage redemption and that merchandise was being hidden from some customers. On 1 December 30 days before the expiry deadline, Loyalty One reversed the policy, citing an impending Private Members Bill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that would ban the expiration of points in the Province of Ontario. It is estimated Air Miles intended to gain an estimated $180 to 250 million, due to the expiration of points (CAD), for the balance sheet of its parent company, US-based Alliance Data. The cancellation resulted in a US$242 million charge against fourth quarter 2016 earnings. Air Miles Middle East In the Middle East region, Air Miles is operated by Rewards Management Middle East. It is owned by Aimia (formerly Groupe Aeroplan). It operates a single program across the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Air Miles offers all of its members a wealth of rewards and unique offers and experiences. Since the launch in 2001, over 1.4 million members have enrolled from across the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. Members collect Air Miles on everyday shopping from a huge range of partners including HSBC, Spinneys, Sharaf DG, Damas, Chilli's, African & Eastern and many more.