For Canadians counting on CPP to support their retirement, that sounds like a warning sign. But the shift comes from a rate cut that leaves a little more money on your paycheque. The plan was also designed to lean on its investments for exactly this kind of moment.

What’s important is understanding what the projection means for your benefits, your take-home pay and your retirement timing — and what it doesn’t.

Why will CPP pay out more than it collects in 2027?

Bill C-30, which received royal assent in June 2026, lowers the combined base CPP contribution rate from 9.9% to 9.5%. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, both employees and employers will pay 4.75% instead of 4.95% on earnings between $3,500 and the annual earnings ceiling, known as the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE).

With less money coming in, the plan’s annual surplus disappears sooner. The Office of the Chief Actuary (OCA) is an independent office within the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions that reports on the CPP’s finances. It reviewed the change in its 33rd Actuarial Report on the CPP and projects that base CPP contributions will fall below expenditures starting in 2027, four years sooner than previously forecast.

That first-year gap isn’t a big one. The OCA projects roughly $75.4 billion in contributions against $75.5 billion in expenditures in 2027. Before rounding, that’s a shortfall of about $82 million.

Does this mean your CPP pension is in trouble?

According to the actuaries’ projections, no. The base CPP isn’t funded by contributions alone. Investment income is projected to reach about $47.6 billion in 2027, enough to cover an $82-million gap many times over.

However, the gap will widen over time. By 2050, the actuaries expect the plan to dip into about 18% of its investment earnings each year to help pay pensions, up from 12% before the rate cut. Most of what the fund earns will still stay invested and keep growing.

The bigger question is whether the new rate is high enough to keep CPP going long-term. The actuaries calculate a minimum safe rate, which is the lowest contribution level the plan needs to pay promised pensions for decades to come. That floor is 9.22% from 2028 to 2033 and 9.20% after that. The new 9.5% rate comfortably clears it.

The cut also doesn’t touch your pension. The report assumes the same benefit payments as before, so lower contributions mean less money going into the plan, not smaller cheques coming out.

One more distinction matters. The cut applies only to the base CPP. The enhanced CPP that was introduced in 2019, including the second-tier CPP2 contribution on higher earnings, is unchanged.

What’s the trade-off for paying less?

The cost is a smaller cushion. Base CPP assets are still projected to increase from $651 billion at the end of 2024 to $2.7 trillion by 2050. But that’s $239 billion, or 8%, less than the actuaries projected before the cut, and the difference grows to 30% by 2100.

The report also flags heightened uncertainty from trade tensions, geopolitical conflicts and environmental risks, none of which were built into its numbers. Federal and provincial finance ministers review the plan’s finances every three years. Laurence Frappier, who became chief actuary on Oct. 1, leads the office that prepares those reviews. She succeeds Assia Billig, who signed the 33rd report before retiring.

How much will the rate cut actually save you?

An employee earning $70,000 will save about $133 a year, according to the Department of Finance Canada, and their employer will save the same. Self-employed Canadians, on the other hand, pay both halves, so at that income, their savings double to about $266.

Higher earners should temper their expectations. The earnings ceiling rises with average wages and, under the CPP Act, can’t fall below the prior year’s level. If the 2027 YMPE climbs above 2026’s $74,600, your total contribution could still go up, even at a lower rate. The CRA typically announces the new ceiling in late October or early November.

What to do now

• Don’t rush your CPP start date out of fear, since starting early permanently reduces your monthly payment
• Review your CPP Statement of Contributions in your My Service Canada Account
• Automate the savings: $133 a year works out to about $11 a month toward a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)
• If you are self-employed, factor the lower rate into your 2027 tax planning
• Watch for the CRA’s 2027 YMPE to see your real maximum contribution

The headline figure is accurate, but it stems from a deliberate policy choice, not a crisis. The actuaries’ own verdict is that the new 9.5% rate is “sufficient to finance the base CPP over the long term.”

Investors who chose to take a stake in Montage Gold (TSX:MAU) three years ago were boasting this type of return at the end of June 2026.

And the gains are hard to ignore. If an investor bought $1,000 of stock in Montage Gold roughly three years ago, by June 2026 that investment would’ve been worth roughly $26,000.

Turns out Montage Gold is one of a few mining companies sitting at the top of a crowded list — with these publicly traded companies posting triple- and quadruple-digit returns.

It would be easy to assume that mining — and in particular Montage Gold along with other leaders, such as Avino (TSX:ASM) and Discovery (TSX:DSV) — are now a solid investment bet. But the astronomical returns of the last few years only tells part of the tale — where these stocks have been, not where they’re headed. More recently, precious metals that were in demand, and powered much of this mining rally, have been sliding.

The question investors need to ask: Is it worth it to chase the returns of mining companies?

Why investors are paying attention to the mining sector

Every year, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) ranks its 30 best-performing companies by three-year, dividend-adjusted share price gains, ending June 30. The report, known as the TSX30 is released in early September. This year the 2026 TSX30 was released Sept. 9 by TMX Group, the operator of the TSX and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV).

This year’s report was clear: Mining dominated. Miners took 18 of 30 spots, or 60%, which is the most in the ranking’s history. Montage Gold, a Vancouver-based company developing a gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, placed second with a 2,502% gain. Only AI data-centre supplier Celestica did better, at 2,590%. Avino Silver & Gold Mines, Discovery Mining and AbraSilver Resource (TSX:ABRA) each topped 900%.

Turns out 7 of the 30 companies listed in the 2026 TSX30 are headquartered in British Columbia, according to Business in Vancouver — second only to Ontario’s 15. Eleven of the 18 miners started out on the TSXV, the junior exchange where early-stage explorers raise money.

On average, this year’s list returned 785% over three years, nearly double the 431% posted by last year’s group.

Why is a winners list a risky shopping list for investors?

To be clear, this TSX30 report is a backwards looking snapshot. Anyone buying now pays today’s price, not the price from three years ago — which means replicating the success is impossibly difficult.

To illustrate this point, it’s important to recognize that gold, the main engine behind many of these returns, has already turned. Spot gold fell to about US$4,095 an ounce on Oct. 14. That’s roughly 27% below its late-January record.

Investors also need to consider the volatility and risk associated with the mining and resource sector — where gains and losses are amplified.

For instance, a mining company’s profit margins will move with the metal price, so a drop in gold can reduce profits by an even bigger percentage. That’s why gold-stock shares have historically been more volatile than gold itself.

Then there’s the way these businesses raise funds. Junior miners often fund exploration and construction by issuing new shares, which dilutes each existing shareholder’s slice of the company — and the earnings. Through July 2026, mining companies raised CA$10.1 billion of the CA$20.5 billion in equity raised across both exchanges, according to The Northern Miner.

Then there are risks associated with concentration and diversification. Some of the top performers listed on the 2026 TSX30 are still developers, not producers. That means the value of their stock depends on a single project being built on time, on budget and in a stable jurisdiction.

Do past winners keep winning?

For some investors, a key consideration is the ongoing trend, where past winners consistently make it to the list as ‘winners.’ But that’s also not a reliable measure. This year, only half of the TSX30 companies were repeats from the year before. The other half dropped off, and nothing in the ranking tells you which group a stock will land in next year.

So, picking next year’s winners — and investing today — is a tough task even for professional stock pickers. In 2025, 93.4% of Canadian equity funds trailed the S&P/TSX Composite Index, according to the SPIVA Canada Year-End 2025 Scorecard from S&P Dow Jones Indices, a global benchmark provider. Over three years, that figure rose to 96.3%.

What to do now

Remember, recovering from a loss is also harder than it looks. A stock that falls 50% needs a 100% gain just to get back to where it started. But that doesn’t mean buying into a hot sector is automatically wrong. For the best chance at significant earnings, each investment should be a deliberate choice, sized to what you can afford to lose.

To help, here are some steps to take before you buy:

• Check what you already own — two-thirds of this year’s TSX30 companies are already in the S&P/TSX Composite Index or S&P/TSX 60 Index, so a broad Canadian exchange-traded fund (ETF) may give you exposure
• Keep speculation small — treat individual miners, especially developers, as a satellite holding rather than the core of your portfolio
• Think twice before using your TFSA — losses inside a TFSA can’t be claimed as capital losses, and lost value doesn’t come back as contribution room
• Read the filings on SEDAR+, the official filing system for Canadian public companies, and look for production timelines, cash on hand and share counts
• Decide in advance what would make you sell, so a falling gold price doesn’t make the decision for you

The TSX30 is a useful scoreboard of Canadian company-building. It isn’t a stock tip, and the exchange is clear, stating that the information is “not an invitation to purchase securities.”

Now there’s another variable that could have a seismic impact on the future of Vandervalk’s operation. On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether the province should stay in Canada or start the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation. For farm families whose crops ride the rails to Vancouver and onto ships for transport elsewhere, that question isn’t abstract. It touches the route to market and the trade deals that shape every sale and keep local businesses viable.

The vote isn’t a definitive decision on Alberta’s sovereignty. But knowing what’s at stake can help farmers and rural households make sturdier money decisions while the debate plays out.

Is Alberta really voting to leave Canada?

Not directly. Instead, the vote asks whether Alberta’s government should begin the legal process toward a future binding referendum. All 10 questions on the ballot are non-binding.

Still, uncertainty alone can shift lending, investment and land decisions long before any border would appear.

How much of Alberta’s farm income depends on exports?

A great deal; in fact, Alberta shipped $17.1 billion in primary agricultural commodities and value-added farm products internationally in 2025, according to Government of Alberta data. Beef, wheat and canola seed are the top three exports.

However, trade inside Canada also matters. Billions of dollars in farm products move between Alberta and other provinces annually, Manuel Juárez Davila, director of the Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy at the University of Calgary, told CTV News. That means separation would require new agreements covering both crops and livestock.

Additionally, an estimated 34,000 Albertans in the agriculture sector hold jobs supported by exports to other provinces, according to a recent report commissioned by the Calgary Chamber and authored by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.

Why are ports and trade deals the biggest worry?

For farmers, geography is an existential concern. “Alberta is landlocked, so we do need access to ports,” Vandervalk told CTV News. He questions whether neighbouring British Columbia would co-operate with an independent Alberta, and whether U.S. routes could handle the volume.

Tombe’s report also notes that the rest of Canada depends on the same Vancouver corridor, so an arrangement would likely emerge to manage its operations. Access that farmers now take for granted would become a matter of negotiation.

Trade deals are the bigger unknown, as agreements with the European Union, Latin America and Asia would all need to be negotiated, essentially from scratch, according to Juárez Davila. Joining existing deals would depend on current members, sometimes with unanimous approval required, Tombe notes. Outside those deals, standard most-favoured-nation tariffs would apply.

The Alberta Transition Council, a pro-independence volunteer group, has created an independence plan that proposes negotiating rail, port and trade agreements with Canada. However, even that plan concedes that the province’s access to Canada’s internal market wouldn’t automatically persist in its current form.

What could this mean for a farm’s bottom line?

In his report, Tombe models economy-wide trade costs rising either 5% or 8%, a range that uses Brexit as a framework. In those scenarios, Alberta’s economy would be $41 billion to $62 billion smaller each year, and exports could fall by as much as a quarter, or about $66 billion. Tombe stresses that these figures are not forecasts but mere illustrative scenarios.

For individual farms, higher trade costs would likely mean thinner margins between world prices and what buyers pay at home.

The federal safety nets would also come into question. AgriStability and AgriInvest are programs that help producers manage income drops. Both are cost-shared 60/40 between Ottawa and the provinces. In an independent Alberta, it’s unclear who or what would cover Ottawa’s 60%.

What to do now

Little will change on Oct. 20 if the referendum passes, but a few moves make sense whatever the result:

• Stress-test your farm budget against a 5% or 8% squeeze on export prices or freight
• Keep your AgriStability enrolment and AgriInvest deposits current
• Review your grain and cattle contracts for any delivery-point and disruption clauses
• Avoid land or equipment decisions driven by headlines, since nothing is set in stone
• Ask your lender or a licensed adviser about building a liquidity cushion in case of a business disruption

Vandervalk doesn’t support separation, though he understands the frustration with Ottawa that is influencing it. For producers, the practical question is how long the operation could absorb higher costs while trade terms get rewritten as a new normal takes hold. As Tombe’s report concludes, whether those costs are worth paying is “a judgment for Albertans to make.”

According to the latest Statistics Canada jobs data, average hourly wages rose 2.3% year over year in September. But consumer prices climbed 3% over the 12 months to August — the most recent inflation reading available. Even with a raise, the typical paycheque now buys a little less than it did a year ago.

The timing stings. The job market just posted its second straight month of losses, which makes it harder to push for more money just as everyday costs keep creeping higher.

How big is the gap between pay and prices?

Statistics Canada reported in its Labour Force Survey released Oct. 9 that average hourly wages rose $0.86 — to $37.64 in September — a 2.3% increase, up from 2% in August.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3% year over year in August, matching July’s pace.

Roll back a month — so timelines match — and it looks worse. The gap between wage and cost of living is a full percentage point with wages up 2% in August and prices up 3%. When you adjust for inflation, this means the average worker’s purchasing power slipped by roughly 0.7%.

Just to keep up with the cost of living, that average hourly wage needs to be closer to $37.88 — roughly 24 cents an hour more than the average hourly pay, even with the most recent raise.

So, what does a 2.3% raise actually buy you?

To illustrate, consider a worker earning $60,000 a year. A 2.3% raise adds $1,380 before tax. Simply keeping up with 3% inflation would take $1,800, leaving that worker about $420 short in buying power — and that’s before income tax and payroll deductions take a bite out of that slightly higher income.

Based on your own earnings and living costs, that gap could be bigger or smaller.

The impact of fuel costs on this equation

Gasoline did a lot of the heavy lifting in the headline number, which means if gas were excluded from the inflation data then prices only rose 2.4% in August — dropping that extra cost to daily living costs. For Canadians who drive less, that average raise of 2.3% may be closer to breaking even. On the flip side, if you spend a large share of your budget on transportation fuel costs, then you may be falling further behind.

Why is it harder to negotiate a bigger raise right now?

Leverage matters when you ask for more money, and right now workers have less of it.

In September, the economy shed 68,000 jobs — and that was after losing 42,000 in August. As a result, Canada’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.5%, according to Statistics Canada. The job-finding rate — the share of unemployed people who landed work within a month — fell to 30.6%, down from 32.8% a year earlier and well below the 36.5% average from 2017 to 2019.

And job losses weren’t spread evenly. Youth aged 15 to 24 lost 48,000 jobs, core-working-age women lost 28,000 and public sector employment fell by 70,000, led by educational services. Quebec alone shed 49,000 jobs.

“There’s no way to sugar coat it,” Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, told The Canadian Press, though he noted the job market looks steadier when you smooth out month-to-month swings.

How jobs data impacts interest rates

Weak employment data also shifted the interest rate outlook.

The Bank of Canada has held its target policy rate at 2.25% for nearly a year. Given the weak job data, the market odds of a hike at the BoC’s next rate decision, on Oct. 28, fell to about 25% from roughly 40%, according to LSEG Data & Analytics, a financial data provider.

What Canadian can do now

You can’t control inflation, but you can control how much of your raise is eaten by higher costs. Here are seven strategies to help:

• Find your personal inflation rate with StatCan’s calculator before your next pay review
• Bring data to the conversation: if your raise trails 3%, you’re asking to stand still, not to get ahead
• If a bigger raise isn’t on the table, negotiate for training, flexible hours or a title change that sets up a stronger ask later
• Target the spending categories rising fastest for you, not the national averages
• Top up your emergency fund — a lower job-finding rate means a job search could take longer
• Check that your savings outpace inflation — a high-interest savings account (HISA) or tax-free savings account (TFSA) paying less than 3% is losing ground in real terms
• Watch the Oct. 28 rate decision if you carry variable-rate debt

A 2.3% raise isn’t nothing. But it only counts as real progress once it beats your own cost of living — and the next test comes later this month, when Statistics Canada releases September’s inflation numbers, a week before the BoC rate announcement on Oct. 28.

That’s what’s happening in Niagara wine country right now. Canadians have embraced local wine since provincial liquor boards pulled American bottles from store shelves in March 2025. Grape growers who couldn’t sell their whole crop three years ago now can’t grow enough, and yet some small wineries are still facing hardships.

The difference comes down to where a winery sells its product — and where your dollars land.

Why is the local wine boom missing small wineries?

Put simply, it’s because the boom is concentrated in one sales channel.

Sales of Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) wine — which is made from 100% Ontario-grown grapes — topped $264 million at the LCBO, Ontario’s Crown-owned liquor retailer and wholesaler, in the 12 months ending March 31, 2026. That’s up 43.7%, according to an LCBO scorecard shared by Wine Growers Ontario, a trade association representing the province’s wineries. Over the same period, VQA sales at winery retail stores fell 11.5% to about $139 million.

The LCBO added 291 VQA wines over that year.

Kevin Watson, chair of the Grape Growers of Ontario, told CityNews that a grape surplus of about 5,000 tonnes three years ago has turned into a shortage. “That’s how much the Canadian consumer has helped our industry,” he said.

That’s good news for wineries with LCBO listings. It does little to help an operation like Kocsis’s, which, he told CHCH News, sells only to visitors — not to the LCBO or restaurants.

How did the U.S. ban add to the pressure?

On Sept. 29, 2026, a U.S. ban on imports of packaged Canadian alcohol, including bottled wine, took effect.

Rob Taylor of Wine Growers Canada, a national industry association, said the ban is especially severe because it closes the U.S. market outright instead of simply making Canadian wine more expensive. Some bulk wine shipped in containers larger than 4 litres is exempt.

Exporters are feeling the hit most directly. Pillitteri Estates Winery, a family-owned producer in Niagara-on-the-Lake known for its Icewine, does about 17% of its business in the U.S., director of viticulture Jamie Slingerland told CKTB News. As a result, Slingerland wants the province to help expand the winery’s presence from 30 LCBO stores to 130.

For wineries that rely on tourists, the damage started earlier. Kocsis says business dropped sharply once tariffs and cross-border tensions took hold. Tara Vinodrai, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Management and Innovation, told CHCH that the Niagara region’s ties to U.S. tourism and export markets leave its businesses among the most exposed in Canada to the trade dispute.

Where do your wine dollars do the most good?

If you want to support small wine producers, does it matter where you buy? Yes. Buying VQA at the LCBO supports Ontario grape growers and the wineries big enough to land listings. To reach the smallest operations, you usually have to go directly to them.

That can mean:

• Buying at the cellar door during a winery visit
• Ordering directly from a winery’s website for delivery or pickup
• Joining a winery’s club, if you’re confident the business is on solid footing

Supporting small Canadian wineries doesn’t have to be costly or difficult. And you get the added benefit of exploring wines and businesses you may never have encountered.

What to do now

If you want your money to keep small Canadian wineries pouring, here’s a practical checklist:

• Avoid prepaying large amounts to a winery that has signalled financial trouble
• Use any gift cards you already have
• Pay for prepaid purchases by credit card, which may give you chargeback options if the business can’t deliver
• Buy direct when you want your money to reach a specific small wine producer
• Keep buying VQA at the LCBO to support growers and larger wineries
• If you own a small business, check how much of your revenue depends on one channel and diversify if necessary

The sales boom proves Canadian shoppers can move a market fast. Where those dollars end up may decide which small wineries are still open for next year’s harvest. As Kocsis put it, “If you’re gonna support anybody right now, it should be your own.”

The findings revive a question many Canadians asked when accounts linked to convoy protesters were frozen back in 2022: What actually stops a bank from cutting you off?

Canada has clear rules that work in your favour, but there are caveats worth knowing.

What did the U.S. regulator find?

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the U.S. federal agency that supervises national banks, reviewed 100,000 complaints tied to the nine largest banks it oversees, following an August 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump. According to Comptroller Jonathan Gould, the banks allegedly “denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses.”

The OCC found that between 2020 and September 2025, the financial institutions maintained policies that restricted access to banking services or required customers to go through heightened reviews and approvals. Most, but not all, of the cases involved individuals identified as conservatives.

TD has not publicly responded to the investigation’s findings. When asked for comment, BMO referred The Canadian Press to a statement from the Bank Policy Institute — a U.S. industry group representing major banks — which focused on regulatory priorities:

“We support efforts to establish clear and consistent standards that promote access while maintaining sound risk management, including the administration’s recent efforts to prioritize supervisory attention on material financial risk rather than reputational risk,” the statement reads in part.

No fines have been announced.

Does this finding have any impact on your Canadian account with either bank? Not directly. It matters most if you hold accounts with TD’s or BMO’s U.S. operations, as many snowbirds and cross-border workers do.

Can a Canadian bank refuse you an account because of your views?

In most cases, no. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), under the Bank Act, a financial institution that’s a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) must open a retail deposit account for you if you meet basic conditions.

The exceptions are quite narrow. According to financial empowerment charity Prosper Canada, a bank can refuse if you cannot show the right identification, if it believes you’ll use the account to break the law, if you knowingly gave false information or if you committed a crime against a bank in the past seven years. Political or religious beliefs aren’t included on the list.

If a bank does deny you access to an account, it must provide you, in writing, with a Notice of Refusal that explains how to contact FCAC.

There is a catch. These protections only apply to opening an account. Closing an existing one is largely dictated by your account agreement, so it’s worth reading the termination and notice terms in yours.

What happened when Canadian accounts were frozen in 2022?

The 2022 freezes were a result of government emergency powers, not banks’ own policies, and that’s an important distinction.

In January 2026, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a 2024 ruling that the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act was unwarranted. The court found that freezing accounts without an objective standard breached the Charter prohibition against unreasonable search or seizure.

The federal government is appealing: In March, it asked the Supreme Court of Canada to review the decision.

What to do now

While you can’t control a bank’s policies, you can limit how much one decision disrupts your life and finances:

• Keep a second account at an unrelated institution, such as a credit union
• List every automatic payment and payroll deposit tied to your main chequing account
• Download recent statements regularly
• Keep the Notice of Refusal your bank is required to give you
• File any complaint about a closure or account freeze in writing with your bank

If the bank doesn’t fix things, you have the option to escalate. You can ask the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) to review your complaint if it has not been resolved to your satisfaction through a bank’s internal complaints process, or if 56 days have passed after a complaint was filed. OBSI is a free, independent service and has been Canada’s single external complaints body for banks since Nov. 1, 2024.

If you bank with TD or BMO in the U.S. and believe your account was restricted, you can report it through the OCC’s online complaint portal, which has been updated to handle debanking reports.

The feud between Kelly Clarkson and Art of Play isn’t just fodder for TMZ. But for Canadian small business owners who rely on a Google star rating to bring in foot traffic, it’s a clear example of how quickly a reputation — and the revenue tied to it — can be hijacked by people who were never customers.

You have no control who decides to review you. What you can control is how prepared you are, what you say back and which mistakes to avoid when a one-star review pops up.

What happened between Kelly Clarkson and Art of Play?

On Oct. 10, Clarkson shared on X that she visited the Brooklyn small business with a few things in mind to buy and was offered something similar after being treated as though she couldn’t afford what she wanted. Her message to the employee: “You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale.” Incredulous fans of the beloved talk show host and singer took to Google and piled on with negative online reviews.

The store responded in an Instagram post, saying the item Clarkson asked about, a singing bird automaton named Molly, was a fixture used in its magic shows and not for sale. According to Forbes, the store said the bird’s creator owned a nearly identical piece priced at US$15,000, and staff had offered to show her a German-made alternative at about US$2,000 before she left. Clarkson says that’s not how the scene went down, sharing a photo that appeared to show a price tag beside the bird. Her original post drew more than 39 million views, and the store said it had been “attacked by 8 million people who have never visited our store.”

The online back-and-forth continues across social media. Some argue Clarkson is merely seeking attention, while others point out that someone known for being kind and unproblematic wouldn’t post publicly without good reason. While the debate remains unresolved, the outcome for the shop is clear: its online reputation took a heavy hit.

Why should Canadian small businesses care about a review pile-on?

Most Canadian small businesses heavily rely on being found online. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), a non-profit that advocates for small and medium-sized businesses, surveyed owners in September 2025 and found 84% use digital channels to promote their business, with 52% actively using Google Business Profile or Maps.

That kind of visibility cuts both ways. A survey by consumer review platform Sitejabber found fewer than half of consumers (44%) are aware of review bombing, and only a third say a sudden influx of negative reviews would not sway their purchasing decisions. The negative impact is worse when shoppers take a star rating at face value. As Sitejabber CEO Michael Lai pointed out to CX Drive, failing to read the actual context can leave a business vulnerable: “Any act of review bombing can be devastating.”

Few small business owners have a crisis plan ready. The CFIB also found two-thirds (66%) of business owners say lack of time is their greatest obstacle when it comes to managing digital tools.

Can you get weaponized reviews removed — or sue?

There might sometimes be recourse, but you need realistic expectations.

Google says you can report any review, but only those that violate Google policies are eligible for removal. Owners can flag reviews through their Business Profile or the Reviews Management Tool, and Google uses automated spam detection to remove reviews that are identified as spam. A harsh or unfair review isn’t automatically removable.

Legal action is possible, but it isn’t quick and it isn’t cheap. We have a precedent right here at home. In Houseman v Harrison, a Saskatchewan court awarded a dentist $240,000 after two former employees posted nine fabricated reviews in a campaign to harm his reputation and business. The court noted in its decision that with defamatory comments online, the truth rarely catches up with a lie.

That case involved identifiable people and reviews that were proven to be false. A crowd of anonymous strangers reacting to a celebrity’s post is a much harder case to build.

What mistakes can make a review attack worse?

The biggest temptation is fighting back with your own, positive reviews. The Competition Bureau, an independent federal law enforcement agency, warns that employees must disclose all connections they have with a business when reviewing it, even if they’re giving an honest opinion. In 2021, the Bureau secured a $5 million penalty against online travel agency FlightHub after finding the company posted fake positive reviews.

Escalating publicly is risky in its own right. Art of Play’s statement acknowledged that the experience Clarkson described would resonate with anyone who has ever felt judged in a shop, and said all visitors are equally welcome — validating the complaint without conceding the facts.

What to do now

If you find yourself on the wrong end of bad Google reviews, it’s not a death knell on your business, but you definitely can’t and shouldn’t ignore it.

• Claim and verify your Google Business Profile so you are able to reply to and report reviews
• Screenshot reviews, timestamps and reviewer profiles as soon as a spike begins
• Only report reviews that break platform policies and track them in the Reviews Management Tool
• Post one calm, factual public response that acknowledges feelings and skips the name-calling
• Ask real customers for honest reviews and never post, buy or ghost-write fake reviews
• Speak with a lawyer before threatening legal action

The Kelly Clarkson feud started with a few words over a mechanical bird, which is a reminder that the best defence often begins before anyone posts. The stakes are high because, as Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell put it: “Online reviews often strike at the heart of a consumer’s buying decision.”

That’s what happened to Jonathan Deschâtelets, and to nearly half a million other Canadians in April 2024. Deschâtelets took the iconic coffee chain to court, arguing the company should be held to its word. More than two years later, Quebec’s highest court delivered its answer: no boat.

The ruling draws a clear line between being told you won and actually winning — a distinction worth knowing whether the next prize notice comes from a brand you trust or a stranger fishing for your banking details.

What happened with the Tim Hortons boat email?

Deschâtelets played Tim Hortons’ Roll Up To Win contest in spring 2024 and collected a handful of instant prizes, including three coffees, a three-month subscription to The Athletic and 160 Tims points, according to CTV News.

On April 17, 2024, he received a recap email from the company saying he had also won a Tracker Targa 18 WT boat and trailer. While he was on hold with Tim Hortons to claim his prize, a second email arrived saying the first contained errors and should be ignored. The list of recipients of this faux-pas was so long that they eventually formed a Facebook group.

At the time, a Tim Hortons spokesperson told Global News the recap email was meant to give players a “fun overview of their 2024 play history.” The company added that real prizes were revealed instantly during play, and that large prizes would have gone through further verification.

Why did Quebec’s top court side with Tim Hortons?

Deschâtelets launched a class action against Tim Hortons arguing that, under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act, the cafe chain was bound by what its email said. He sought compensatory damages equal to the boat’s value for the excitement, stress and disappointment resulting from Tim Hortons’ carelessness, plus $10,000 in punitive damages.

In June 2025, Superior Court Justice Donald Bisson authorized the class action for Quebec residents only, finding that under the province’s consumer law, a company’s error or system glitch doesn’t automatically release it from liability.

The Quebec Court of Appeal disagreed. In its Oct. 9 ruling, the court set aside that judgment and denied authorization. The deciding factor: Deschâtelets never uncovered a winning boat tab in the course of playing Roll Up To Win.

Deschâtelets’ lawyer, Joey Zukran of LPC Avocats, told CTV that he is still reviewing the ruling, adding that Tim Hortons “once again erroneously announced to their customers that they won prizes.”

Is a ‘you’ve won’ email legally binding?

Not automatically. The appeal court focused on what happened under the contest itself — what players actually uncovered while playing — rather than on what a follow-up marketing message said.

That said, this was a Quebec decision about whether a class action could proceed. It doesn’t settle every scenario in every province. In some cases, particularly where a company’s statement forms part of an actual offer, the outcome could be different. Specific facts and provincial consumer law come into play.

How can you tell a real prize from a mistake — or a scam?

Mistaken emails from real brands are rare. Fake prize notices, however, are not. The Competition Bureau warns that you can’t win a sweepstake you never entered, and that legitimate contests don’t require a fee to collect a prize.

Taxes are another tell. In Canada, lottery winnings generally aren’t taxed unless they count as income from employment, a business or property, or a prize for achievement. A message claiming you owe “prize tax” before your winnings can be released is a red flag.

What to do now

Before you celebrate — or call a lawyer — follow these steps:

• Save any prize notice along with screenshots of your in-app game history
• Read the official contest rules for how winners will be notified and verified
• Contact the company through its official app or website, not through links or numbers in the message
• Never pay a fee, share banking information or buy gift cards in order to claim a prize
• Report suspicious prize messages to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501
• If you feel you’ve been misled by a legitimate business, file a complaint with your provincial consumer protection office

A prize only counts once it’s confirmed under the contest’s own rules. Until then, treat any message saying you’ve won something as good news pending verification — not money in the bank, or, in this case, a boat on the water.

Nearly four months later, insurers have tallied $442 million in losses, but that figure only counts insured damage.

Hundreds of residents have turned to the legal system, while others are hoping for some form of government relief. Neither route pays quickly, and both are conditional. However, for most homeowners, the fastest cheque is the one already written into their insurance policy.

How much did the Montreal flood cost — and is the tally still rising?

The number has not yet been finalized. Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), a Toronto-based organization that tracks insured catastrophe losses in Canada, raised its estimate to $442 million in September. That figure rose 7.5% from August, mostly due to residential and commercial property claims. Another update is scheduled for Dec. 22.

And Montreal isn’t an outlier. Between June and August, CatIQ recorded six catastrophic events in Ontario and Quebec. Each was driven mainly by flash flooding and sewer backup as opposed to overflowing rivers. Together they generated more than 30,000 personal property claims; meanwhile, the same stretch in 2025 produced just one such event.

Caroline Floyd, a director at CatIQ, said that “in many ways, pluvial flash flooding events were the story of the summer.”

Why can’t flooded homeowners just wait for the class actions?

Because a payout could be years away. A judge must first authorize the cases before they can proceed, according to attorney Jeff Orenstein. Consumer Law Group, a Montreal firm specializing in class actions, filed two applications in the Quebec Superior Court that seek authorization to sue the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro, the City of Dollard-des-Ormeaux and the City of Montreal. The applications allege the municipalities failed to upgrade aging drainage or add infrastructure such as retention ponds and sponge parks to prevent mass flooding events. None of these claims has been tested in court, and the municipalities declined to comment.

There’s also the bureaucratic concern of tight deadlines. Under Quebec municipal rules, notices of claim generally must be filed within 15 days of an incident in order to proceed.

Will Quebec’s disaster aid cover a backed-up sewer?

In the West Island case, no. Quebec’s General Financial Assistance Program Regarding Disasters is last-resort assistance for residents looking to receive some form of financial recompense that standard insurance doesn’t usually cover. Sewer backup qualifies only if a nearby watercourse overflowed first. A backup caused solely by heavy rain isn’t eligible. Also, if you have coverage for the disaster, you can’t apply at all.

Federal help isn’t any closer. A national flood insurance program targeted for April 2026 still has no launch date.

Which add-ons actually cover a flooded basement?

A standard home policy doesn’t cover water rising through a floor drain or flowing in from outside. Sewer backup is covered only if you added that optional coverage to your policy, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the national association representing private home, auto and business insurers. Overland flood protection is a separate add-on — however, it may be limited or unavailable in certain high-risk zones.

Limits matter too: the amount you choose may not cover all the damage. Mike Silverman, a Dollard-des-Ormeaux resident whose home has flooded twice since 2024, put his damage at $100,000.

Prevention is certainly helpful, but it’s not a guarantee. The lead plaintiff in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro case had backwater valves installed in 2022 and again in May 2026. Just a month later, on June 20, the basement still took in 30 centimetres of water.

What to do now

Before the next storm:

• Check whether your policy includes “sewer backup” and “overland water” coverage
• Compare each limit against what it would cost to gut and rebuild your basement in the aftermath of a flood
• Ask your broker whether a backwater valve or sump pump affects your premium or limits — sometimes it can qualify for a discount
• Check whether your municipality subsidizes backwater valve installation

If water gets in, the IBC says to photograph the resulting damage and any belongings you have to throw out, and keep every cleanup receipt. Be sure to call your insurer before applying for government aid, as you may not qualify for it. In Quebec, it’s also important to file a notice of claim with your municipality within 15 days of the incident.

The lawsuits, if successful, may eventually push cities to rebuild their drainage. Until then, the gap is yours to close. As Liam McGuinty, IBC’s vice-president of federal affairs, stated: “Flooding is Canada’s costliest and most pervasive climate risk.”

This is exactly what happened to six borrowers from British Columbia.

According to the B.C. consumer protection regulator, a Surrey, B.C. lender used pressure tactics that threatened borrowers in an attempt to force people into paying debts. As a result of the investigation, the company must now pay $34,000 in penalties.

The investigation highlights that Canadian borrowers continue to have rights, even if they are in default of loan payments. And those rights apply whether you’re dealing with a collection agency or the lender itself.

Why did Consumer Protection BC fine a lender $34,000?

Consumer Protection BC (CPBC) is a not-for-profit regulator that enforces B.C.’s consumer protection and debt collection laws. Prior to its Sept. 24 decision, the CPBC inspected Toledo Credit after receiving complaints from six borrowers. The CPBC found that Toledo Credit, a Surrey, B.C. consumer lender, had engaged in harassment tactics and used false or misleading information to pressure borrowers to repay outstanding debts in all six cases.

In one case, messages warned a borrower that their file would go to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and provincial crime units and the borrower was threatened with “financial exile” and “reputational destruction.” While Toledo Credit never acted on these threats, the CPBC investigation found the firm violated the province’s Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act. According to the CPBC decision, the messages were “calculated to create fear of criminal, financial, professional and reputational consequences.”

Based on the CPBC decision, Toledo Credit must pay $34,000 in administrative penalties, reimburse $3,000 in inspection costs and change its collection practices.

In response, the company has denied harassing borrowers. The company has 30 days to ask CPBC to reconsider the decision.

Do collection rules apply when a lender chases its own debt?

While borrowers may already be aware of the rules and regulations that govern collection agencies — businesses that recover unpaid money on behalf of a creditor or buys the debt directly, collecting a fee for recovered funds — they may not be familiar with the rules that govern borrowers collecting money directly.

In the case of Toledo Credit, the only money being collected was the money the lender provided directly to borrowing customers. As a result, Toledo Credit did not need a collection agency licence. But according to CPBC, B.C. debt collection laws still apply — and apply to any business trying to collect a debt from a B.C. consumer.

These laws even apply to big banks. In November 2025, Scotiabank paid $33,900 into a consumer education fund after a CPBC investigation found that a customer was called over 100 times in an effort to recover funds owed.

What can a debt collector legally do in B.C. — and what crosses the line?

Being contacted about a debt you owe isn’t harassment on its own, but cross the line and you have the law to protect you. So where’s that line?

To be clear, B.C. doesn’t cap how often a collector can reach out each week. However, CPBC guidance says contact from a collector must be between 7am and 9pm Monday to Saturday and 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. Plus, collectors can never contact you on statutory holidays.

In addition to these time constraints, collector cannot:

• Use threatening, profane or intimidating language
• Put excessive pressure on you to pay
• Threaten legal action unless they’re actually taking it
• Discuss your debt with someone else without your permission
• Publish or threaten to publish details of your debt, except to a credit reporting agency
• Add interest or fees your original agreement doesn’t allow

Red flags to look out for

For borrowers struggling to keep up with debts, there are a few red flags worth watching for when it comes to debt collector conduct. For instance, a message that involves threats about calling the police or notifying tax authorities is not allowed — if this happens, keep a record and contact your provincial regulator immediately.

The CPBC also suggests asking for the collector’s name and company before you share personal information or make a payment. And it’s good practice to confirm the details of the collector and the debt prior to making a payment.

What about debt collector conduct in the rest of Canada?

Debt collection rules are set provincially, so the details differ on what is allowed. One good option is to confirm that the business you are dealing with is legitimate. Confirm these details with the federal Office of Consumer Affairs, which keeps a directory of provincial debt collection regulators. It also links to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada for debts tied to federally regulated banks.

What to do now

If a lender or collector contacts you — or crosses the line — the CPBC recommends a few steps:

• Keep copies of texts, emails, voicemails and account records
• Ask for written details of the debt, including the amount owing and who owns it
• Request contact in writing only, or through your lawyer, using CPBC’s self-help forms, and allow three to five business days for the request to take effect
• If you don’t believe you owe the money, or you’ve already paid, send a dispute form to both the collector and the original creditor
• If the conduct continues, file a complaint with CPBC or your provincial regulator

Pushing back on illegal tactics doesn’t erase a legitimate debt, but flagging collectors who are operating outside of regulatory rules does help reduce the stress of unpaid debts.

For borrowers who owe but are unable to pay, consider talking to a non-profit credit counsellor; these professionals can help you work out a repayment plan before the problem grows.

Remember, your obligation to repay and a collector’s obligation to treat you lawfully exist side by side. As Louise Hartland, CPBC’s director of public relations, said in a statement: “Collectors can ask people to repay a debt, but they can’t harass them.”

Speaking to business leaders and financial analysts in early October, Bank of Canada (BoC) Senior Deputy Governor, Carolyn Rogers, argued that interest rates — the primary monetary policy tool used by the BoC — are too crude to solve housing affordability. Raise rates and fewer buyers qualify for mortgages and loans; cut rates and, with supply still tight, prices can climb again.

Her message lands even with the Bank’s next rate decision scheduled for the end of October — and at a time when the last of the pandemic-era five-year mortgages come up for renewal.

For buyers and borrowers alike, the smarter move is to plan around the rate you can get today, not the one you’re hoping for.

What did the Bank of Canada’s No. 2 actually say about rates and housing?

Rogers is second-in-command at the BoC, so when she focused on Canada’s housing affordability dilemma, people took notice, particularly because she was admitting that Canada’s central bank wouldn’t be delivering a solution to housing affordability any time soon.

Her core point is that monetary policy can’t target housing on its own. “We set one interest rate for the whole economy,” she said.

She also emphasized the limit interest rates have on the housing market cycle. As she explained in a BoC article, rates “can’t build homes, rezone land or speed up permits.”

Rogers also pushed back on the idea that low rates alone caused the run-up. Population growth, limited supply, zoning constraints and speculative buying all played a role. To illustrate her point, Rogers referred to data that shows that during the pandemic boom — when rates sunk to all-time lows — Canada’s average house price rose about 50% in two years.

Why would falling home prices hurt, not help?

Rogers also explained in the BoC article how falling home prices could hurt Canadians: “Rising prices made housing less affordable, but they also supported household wealth and economic growth.” While she acknowledged that falling home prices would help housing affordability, she pointed out that it would “also reduce household wealth, slow economic activity and can put stress on borrowers and lenders.”

Turns out home equity underpins much of Canadians’ net worth.

“Mortgage debt makes up the largest share of household borrowing, and home equity underpins much of household net worth and access to credit. This shapes how Canadians spend, save and borrow,” she wrote.

Current state of Canada’s housing market

The national average sale price of a home in Canada was $668,219 in August, up just 0.6% from a year earlier — during the same time frame, housing sales fell 6.9%. According to Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) Senior Economist Shaun Cathcart, rising inflation risks and possible rate hikes are strong headwinds across the Canadian real estate markets.

The impact on buyers and homeowners

For buyers, a rate drop would mean only modest relief at best.

For current homeowners who bought near the peak with a small down payment, a rate drop could prompt softer sale prices and property values, and that can mean thinner equity and fewer options if money gets tight.

Could the Oct. 28 decision lower your mortgage costs?

For Canadians — homeowners, borrowers and businesses — waiting on the next rate announcement will probably be a disappointment. Why? Probably because it won’t bring immediate relief.

On Sept. 2, the BoC held its policy rate at 2.25%, for the seventh straight hold. At that time, the BoC warned risks due to inflation had increased amid high oil prices and new tariffs — and could strengthen the argument for a rate hike, even if it’s a blunt tool.

Going into the October rate decision, Desjardins, the Quebec-based financial co-operative, expects the rate to hold in October and through to year end. However, that hold will end in 2027, with rates rising half a percentage point in the first half of next year.

Renewing a pandemic-era mortgage? Here’s what to expect

Over the next year, the last of the five-year fixed-payment mortgages signed during the pandemic will renew. That’s about 12% of all outstanding mortgages in Canada. According to the BoC’s 2026 Financial Stability Report, those borrowers can expect payments to rise about 15% on average. In this example, a $2,000 monthly payment would climb to roughly $2,300.

The mortgage stress test offers one bright spot. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s federal banking regulator, sets the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages. It’s the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. But OSFI doesn’t expect lenders to apply it to uninsured borrowers who simply switch lenders at renewal without borrowing more. That gives renewers real room to shop around.

Here’s what to do if you’re buying a home or shopping a mortgage renewal

If you’re buying

• Get pre-approved so you know what you qualify for at today’s stress-test rate
• Budget for payments at the qualifying rate, not just the contract rate
• Don’t time your purchase around a rate cut or further price drop

If you’re renewing

• Contact your lender early and get competing quotes from other lenders
• Run your budget assuming a 15% payment increase
• Weigh term length carefully: a shorter term offers flexibility if rates fall, while a longer one locks in certainty if they rise
• Build a cash cushion before your renewal date

Senior Deputy Governor Rogers was clear: Real progress on housing affordability will take more than rate change; it will require more supply, better planning and time. Until then, the most reliable lever is your own budget. As Rogers put it in her article, affordability won’t come back by “asking any one policy to do more than it can,” and that includes the BoC’s next rate call.

There were 946 court-ordered property listings across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley between January and September 2026, according to CBC News. Meanwhile, Equifax Canada’s first-quarter report found that Ontario’s mortgage balance delinquency rate rose 52% year over year.

While these figures are distinct measurements, both point to mounting financial pressure in some of Canada’s most expensive housing markets.

B.C. court-ordered listings reach a decade high

The 946 listings recorded in the Lower Mainland during the first nine months of 2026 exceeded the annual totals for each of the previous 10 years, CBC reported.

The listings include more than foreclosures. Some stem from estate disputes, family-law cases or bankruptcies, rather than homeowners falling behind on their mortgage payments.

Still, the increase comes as Canadians renew mortgages originally taken out when interest rates were near historic lows during the pandemic. For homeowners renewing five-year fixed-rate mortgages, monthly payments can rise substantially, depending on their original rate, outstanding balance and remaining amortization.

CBC spoke to one B.C. homeowner whose mortgage renewal is expected to increase his monthly costs by between $600 and $1,200.

Ontario mortgage delinquencies jump 52%

Equifax Canada reported that Ontario’s mortgage balance delinquency rate rose from 0.24% in the first quarter of 2025 to 0.36% in the first quarter of 2026. That’s a 52% relative increase.

The measure tracks the share of outstanding mortgage balances that are at least 90 days past due. It doesn’t mean 52% more homeowners have defaulted, or that 52% of Ontario mortgages are delinquent.

The rate remains below 1%, but the increase suggests more mortgage debt is falling seriously behind. B.C. also saw a rise: its mortgage balance delinquency rate increased 36% year over year to 0.25%.

Rebecca Oakes, vice-president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada, told Global News that mortgage delinquency trends offer “a really good indication of the severity of financial stress that’s happening in a region.”

Oakes also noted that homeowners often prioritize mortgage payments while falling behind on other debts, meaning rising mortgage delinquencies can be a lagging indicator of broader household financial stress.

Equifax Canada was contacted for further comment but did not respond before publication.

What homeowners can do if payments are becoming difficult

Homeowners worried about their ability to manage a renewal should review their budget before the new payment takes effect and contact their lender early if they anticipate trouble.

Depending on the circumstances, options may include extending the amortization or discussing alternative payment arrangements. These measures can reduce immediate pressure, but may increase total interest costs or extend the time it takes to repay the mortgage.

Anyone already falling behind should seek advice promptly rather than wait for the situation to escalate. A credit counsellor or qualified mortgage professional can help assess the available options.

Rising court-ordered listings and mortgage delinquencies are warning signs, but neither figure tells the whole story on its own. For homeowners, the priority is to understand how renewal costs will affect their finances and address potential shortfalls before missed payments accumulate.

For many Metro Vancouver buyers who signed a presale contract near the market peak, this gamble ended in an unpleasant surprise. The units they committed to buy are now worth less than their contract prices. Buyers who refuse to close on their presale commitment can’t just walk away — and, increasingly, are ending up in court as developers try to get their funds.

A recent British Columbia Supreme Court decision shows the legal fight doesn’t only run one way.

In August, a judge ruled that 39 buyers of a Burnaby, B.C. condo tower can’t be forced to complete their pre-sale purchases. The reason: The developer failed to tell them about serious trouble with the project.

While buyers can’t walk away just because property prices fall, it is possible to walk away if a developer broke disclosure law.

Why are developers suing presale buyers?

Metro Vancouver developers have filed dozens of lawsuits in recent months against individual presale purchasers, according to a review of court filings by The Globe and Mail. And the pattern is consistent: A buyer signed a few years ago, paid a deposit and didn’t close. The developer resold the unit for less and is now suing the original buyer for the difference.

As a buyer, you need to know that your deposit — typically 10% to 20% of the purchase price — isn’t a cap on your losses. If you breach the contract, a developer can pursue you for the resale shortfall plus additional expenses including carrying costs and remarketing expenses.

What went wrong at Burnaby’s Lumina Eclipse tower?

Lumina Eclipse is a 329-unit tower in Burnaby, B.C. Between 2021 and 2023, buyers signed presale agreements with deposits ranging from about $35,000 to $205,000. If these buyers chose to walk away, due to lower property values, they’d still be on the hook for their contracted purchase price. However, according to the Aug. 25, 2026 court ruling, the developer didn’t notify the buyers about three problems:

• A $12 million Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) judgment against the developer in June 2023
• A suspension of new-home warranty coverage in October 2024
• A building permit suspension the November 2024 that halted construction

In January 2025, the project’s senior lender, KingSett Mortgage Corporation, pushed the developer debt into creditor protection. KingSett was owed more than $225 million at the time.

According to court documents, none of these problems appeared in an amended disclosure statement until November 2025. Justice D.M. Masuhara found the omissions were material. As a result, he declared the 39 contracts, worth about $30.5 million combined, unenforceable against the buyers.

Can a developer’s silence after you sign get you out of a contract?

In the Burnaby condo case, the developer’s silence did provide buyers an opportunity to walk away from the presale purchase contracts. Under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA) a provincial law governing presale marketing, a developer must file an amendment to its disclosure statement when a material fact has been omitted, changed or misrepresented. The developer must also give a copy to every buyer who hasn’t closed, according to the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), the Crown agency that regulates real estate developers in B.C. And the duty to comply to these regulations doesn’t end when a contract is signed.

As the court determined, the developer’s subsequent failure to disclose can make a contract unenforceable under section 23 of REDMA. Legal analysis by Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), a national law firm, notes the court also found that finishing the building, or entering creditor protection, doesn’t erase an earlier disclosure breach.

Does this mean any buyer can walk away from an underwater presale?

Can buyers back out of an underwater presale contract? No.

The Lumina Eclipse buyers in B.C. won because of what the developer kept from them, not because prices dropped.

In a separate case, earlier this year, the same court found that buyers couldn’t refuse to close over unfinished extras and a leak discovered shortly before completion — as these did not constitute a breach of contract by the developer.

Plus, a ruling of ‘unenforceable’ isn’t the same as cancelled. The court hasn’t decided whether the roughly $3.6 million in deposits must be returned, and much of that money was already released to fund construction. That question goes to a separate hearing. BLG also notes the decision may be appealed.

What can presale buyers and home shoppers do now?

If you’re worried about closing on a presale:

• Get your paperwork in order: Gather every disclosure statement and amendment you’ve received and compare them with what you know about the project
• Watch for red flags: Examine construction stoppages, permit or warranty problems, major delays and tax judgments against the developer
• Get legal guidance: Talk to a real estate lawyer before your completion date — not after you’ve missed it
• Sort out your funds: Ask your lender early whether the unit is likely to appraise at your contract price
• Keep the conversation going: Respond to any claim a developer files, since ignoring it can lead to a default judgment

If you’re still shopping, use REDMA’s seven-day rescission period to have a lawyer review the disclosure statement before you’re locked in.

The Lumina Eclipse ruling doesn’t give buyers an escape hatch from a soft market. It does put developers on notice that disclosure rules still apply when a project runs into trouble. As Masuhara wrote, the provision “is a statutory shield, not a sword.”

The Ontario Superior Court ruling offers a potential avenue for buyers facing financial pressure, but it isn’t a blanket escape route for anyone who can no longer afford their condo.

The outcome in this case turned on the builder’s failure to prove it had delivered Ontario’s Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide.

“The purchase agreement does not become firm and binding on the buyer until both the Guide and current disclosure statement have been delivered and the 10-day cooling period has passed,” the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) told Money.ca.

Why the court ordered the deposit returned

In the case of DiCenzo (Linden Park) Holdings Inc. v. Sadeghyar, the facts show the buyer agreed to purchase a pre-construction condominium in Hamilton for just over $1 million in March 2022. He paid a $121,098 deposit but couldn’t obtain financing when the unit was ready to close in February 2024.

The builder resold the property for $699,900 and sought to keep the deposit and recover additional damages for its resale loss and carrying costs. The buyer argued that the agreement wasn’t binding because the builder had failed to provide the required guide under Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998.

The builder pointed to an electronic acknowledgment signed by the buyer confirming receipt of the document. However, it couldn’t produce evidence that the guide had actually been delivered.

In its March 2026 decision, the court found the builder had not established that the guide was provided. The agreement was therefore not binding on the buyer, and the court ordered the return of his deposit with interest. The builder’s claim was dismissed, and the buyer was awarded $31,000 in legal costs.

What does this mean for other pre-construction buyers?

Ontario law requires developers to provide buyers with the Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide and the most recent disclosure statement. The guide explains the pre-construction buying process, including purchasers’ rights and potential risks.

Buyers have 10 days to cancel a purchase agreement for any reason, without penalty.

According to the CAO, that period begins when the buyer receives the last of three documents: the guide, the most recent disclosure statement and the purchase agreement signed by both the buyer and developer. If the buyer cancels within the period, the developer must promptly refund the deposit, plus any applicable interest.

The Sadeghyar decision addressed what happens when the builder cannot establish that the required guide was delivered, even if the buyer signed an acknowledgment of receipt.

That detail is crucial as more pre-construction buyers face financing shortfalls and falling condo values. In a CBC News report on the wider market pressures, mortgage broker Ron Butler warned that “the developer will chase you through the courts” when buyers fail to honour a valid contract.

The ruling doesn’t mean buyers can automatically recover deposits because financing falls through or property values decline. Its application depends on the circumstances, including whether the developer met its statutory disclosure obligations.

What should buyers do if they can’t close?

The CAO recommends keeping a written record of the documents received, including the guide, disclosure statement and signed purchase agreement. Buyers should save emails, attachments, portal notifications and delivery records, and check that any acknowledgment of receipt is accurate before signing it.

Anyone who believes a required document was never provided, despite having signed an acknowledgment, should seek independent legal advice.

The CAO told Money.ca that buyers may also raise the concern in writing with the developer, requesting the missing document and records showing when and how it was delivered.

Buyers who are struggling to close should explore their options as soon as possible. For example, assigning a pre-construction purchase may be possible but it isn’t always straightforward. “You also need the builder’s permission when you’re assigning,” real estate lawyer Gathya Manoharan told CBC News.

The key takeaway from the court ruling is that developers must comply with Ontario’s disclosure requirements. Keeping copies of documents and records of when they were delivered can help buyers establish whether those obligations were met if a dispute arises.

Speaking on CNN during a stop in Detroit, the Conservative leader — who lost his Ottawa-area seat in the 2025 federal election before returning to the House of Commons through an Alberta by-election — argued the trade war is hurting both countries while overseas rivals get stronger.

The timing isn’t an accident. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to double the tariff on Canadian-built vehicles on Jan. 1. That would ripple through paycheques in Ontario’s auto belt and through the broader economy.

Whether you see the trip as savvy diplomacy or political theatre, the bigger question for your budget is what happens over the next 11 weeks. It also matters how you prepare and manage, whichever way it goes.

What did Poilievre actually tell Americans?

On CNN, Poilievre acknowledged that both Canada and the U.S. have long-standing complaints, and he said he would rather focus on “what we can do together”. He also blamed the trade war for falling auto production on both sides of the border. He has planned meetings with representatives of a General Motors plant in Detroit, Ford officials in nearby Dearborn, Mich., and members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

So is it fair to say he’s going rogue by advocating for Canada on American TV? Poilievre leads the Official Opposition and has no role in formal talks. Prime Minister Mark Carney called off negotiations in August, accusing the U.S. government of unreasonable demands. White House trade advisor Peter Navarro recently warned that Canada would pay a price for meddling in the Nov. 3 U.S. midterms. Poilievre rejected that characterization, saying the trip is about tariff-free trade in both directions.

On an earlier swing in September through New York, he told U.S. media he would not attack Carney on foreign soil.

Why would a 50% auto tariff hit Canadians so hard?

The auto sector leans heavily on a single customer. According to the Government of Canada, more than 90% of Canadian-made vehicles and 60% of parts are exported to the U.S. That puts 125,000 direct jobs at stake, and the wider auto sector supports more than 500,000 workers.

Canadian autos already face a 25% U.S. tariff, and Trump has threatened to raise it to 50% on Jan. 1 in response to Canada’s counter-tariffs. The Canadian economy is already shaky. According to StatCan, Canada lost a net 68,300 jobs in September, including 12,700 in manufacturing.

Will a 50% U.S. tariff raise car prices here?

Not directly. The U.S. tariff applies to Canadian vehicles heading south, not to what you will pay at a Canadian dealership. What matters most at home is that Ottawa has said it will keep its own counter-tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles.

So far, sticker prices aren’t the pain point. In July, vehicle purchases were among the items pulling inflation down. The bigger strain is fuel. In August, transportation costs were up 7.5% and gasoline was up 22.8% from a year earlier, against overall inflation of 3.0%.

For most households, the risk sits in jobs and the broader economy, not the price of a new SUV.

Would Poilievre’s auto plan save you money?

Possibly, but the plan is a proposal, not law. His Tariff-Free Auto Pact would remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Canadian-made vehicles. The plan would also let automakers sell one vehicle in Canada, duty-free, from a CUSMA partner for every one they build here. The goal is to restore production to 2 million vehicles a year within a decade, up from 1.2 million in 2025.

On a $45,000 Canadian-built vehicle, removing the 5% GST would save about $2,250. That saving will exist only if the plan is ever adopted. Unifor, the union representing more than 40,000 auto workers, has raised concerns and questions about the plan.

What to do now

If your income depends on the auto sector

The auto sector includes assembly, parts suppliers, trucking and the businesses that serve them. If your paycheque comes from any of those industries, treat Jan. 1 as a planning date:

• Build a cash cushion that covers several months of essential costs
• Pause any big discretionary purchases until the tariff picture is clearer
• Confirm your Employment Insurance (EI) eligibility and your employer’s layoff policies now, not later

If you’re shopping for a vehicle

• Don’t rush a purchase based on the headlines, since prices have recently eased
• Check where a vehicle was assembled, because U.S.-built models may carry counter-tariff costs (a VIN starting with “2” means it was built in Canada)
• Don’t delay needed purchases waiting for a GST cut that isn’t on the books

Can Poilievre speak for Canada in the U.S.?

The pitch that sounded prime ministerial on CNN comes from a leader Canadian voters passed on in the last election. For some Canadians, that recent history makes him an awkward stand-in for the country on U.S. airwaves. For others, he’s an opposition leader doing what he can from the sidelines.

So how far can or should an opposition leader’s voice carry south of the border? Going rogue has its limits. Poilievre can’t negotiate or sign a trade agreement. That power rests with the federal government. What he can do is make the case that the trade war is hurting workers on both sides of the border, and he’s not the only one making it in Michigan.

The dispute has become a flashpoint in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, where Republican candidate Mike Rogers, once a supporter of Trump’s tariffs, is now calling for the fight with Canada to end.

None of that guarantees relief before the higher tariff is set to take effect on Jan. 1, so build your budget around it for now. Poilievre is betting Americans will eventually accept the case he made in New York: that both countries can be “safer, richer and more affordable if we trade freely.”

On the night of Oct. 13, provincial crews were set to begin removing protected bike lanes along a 1.2-kilometre stretch of Bloor Street West in Etobicoke, Ontario. Instead, hundreds of cyclists packed the lanes near Islington Avenue. The construction trucks left without starting work.

The province says the delay is temporary, but between a pending court appeal, a municipal election and nightly protests, the timeline is now anything but certain. For anyone who pays Ontario taxes or commutes along this corridor, that uncertainty matters.

What happened on Bloor Street West Tuesday night?

Removal work was tentatively scheduled to start around 8 pm. By 9 pm, crews had left without beginning, according to the Toronto Sun. Protesters had gathered at Tom Riley Park, then occupied the bike lanes on both sides of Bloor Street and looped toward Royal York Station.

Organizers say they’ll be back every night. David Shellnutt, a Toronto lawyer and cycling advocate, told reporters the group plans to keep showing up where removals are expected to begin.

The province is unmoved. Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria posted on X that night: “Make no mistake: these bike lanes are coming out.”

Who pays when the removal stalls?

Ontario taxpayers will be footing the bill, though nobody yet knows how much. In November 2024, City of Toronto staff estimated that removing lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue would cost at least $48 million combined. The province has said it will reimburse the city, which spreads that bill across all of Ontario’s taxpayers.

The province’s request for proposals for the bike lane removal work isn’t public. That means there’s no way to know what a scrubbed night of work, or a weeks-long standoff, adds to the tab.

Ford’s government argues the spending is worth it. The province says traffic costs the provincial economy $56 billion a year. Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford, who supports removal, points to city counts on part of this stretch showing 38,490 cars a day versus 197 bikes.

Critics, however, see it differently. A government-commissioned report found removal could raise collisions by 54% among all road users without reducing congestion.

Could the Supreme Court of Canada delay this further?

The Supreme Court could cause further delays. Cycle Toronto, a local cycling advocacy group, said it will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada after losing at the Court of Appeal for Ontario in August.

Ecojustice lawyer Bronwyn Roe told Canadian Cycling Magazine that a court-ordered stay could hold up removals planned for spring. Without one, she explained, the work can continue while the top court decides whether to hear the case. Ecojustice is a Canadian environmental law charity.

Politics adds another wildcard to the pile. Toronto votes on Oct. 26, and Bradford has pledged to take out the Etobicoke lanes in his first year as mayor. Incumbent Mayor Olivia Chow opposes the removals, and the province declined her compromise to restore car lanes while keeping bike lanes.

What does the standoff mean for your commute costs?

For some households in the affected areas, losing the lanes changes the math entirely. Shellnutt, who bikes his child to daycare along Bloor, put it bluntly: “When that lane is removed, I will take her in my SUV.”

That switch is not cheap. According to Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), even the most fuel-efficient gas car costs about $4,550 a year to run in Ontario. That figure covers fuel, maintenance and depreciation only; insurance and loan payments are additional

Drivers face a cost too. Once the bike lane removal starts, the province expects lane reductions on this stretch for weeks.

What to do now

The outcome is still unresolved, so plan for either scenario:

• Check Ontario Ministry of Transportation construction notices before driving Bloor Street West this fall
• Run your personal numbers with CAA’s Driving Costs Calculator before trading a bike for a car
• Tell your insurer if your annual kilometres or commute change
• Confirm if your home or tenant policy covers bike theft and personal liability
• Ask your MPP to disclose final removal contract costs once they’re awarded

Whether the bike lanes come out next week or next spring, the bill keeps building in the meantime. Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, believes the province intends to remove as many lanes as possible: “No matter what the cost.”

Then the caller rings back. It’s the wrong model. They email you a prepaid label so you can send it back.

That label is the scam. The phone was real, and it was ordered using your actual account. Which means the bill that shows up later is real, too. Only the “return” is fake. From Northern Ontario to Vancouver Island, Canadians are finding out the hard way that falling for a scam doesn’t mean the bill just goes away.

How does the phone-return scam actually work?

Scammers pretend to be employees from a major phone company, offering free phones, upgrades or exclusive loyalty deals. The scheme works in a few steps, according to a warning from West Shore RCMP, an RCMP detachment on Vancouver Island:

1. The caller gets you to order a device
2. The phone is delivered to your home
3. The scammers call again to say the wrong phone was sent
4. They email a prepaid shipping label addressed to a PO box outside the province

The scam works because almost every part of it is real — except the return address. The phone actually ships from the carrier, with real tracking numbers and official packaging.

Why are victims still on the hook for the phones?

Sudbury, Ontario resident Joanne Landry was thinking about switching carriers when a caller claiming to represent Rogers offered her a deal, according to CTV News. They told her to ship back the “wrong” phone and order a replacement while waiting for her refund. Then, the whole cycle repeated itself. In the end, she had no new phone and nearly $17,000 in charges for six devices Rogers says it never received.

Rogers wiped out Landry’s lines and dropped about $300 in service fees, but they’re still holding her responsible for the cost of the phones and warned her account could head to collections. While Rogers insists they alert customers through website warnings, shipping emails and box inserts, Sudbury police say they’ve already logged around 20 similar scam reports in recent weeks.

The scam has hit British Columbia, too. According to Sidney/North Saanich RCMP, local victims’ combined losses have topped $33,000 in recent weeks.

So why do victims end up paying? From the carrier’s point of view, a real order was placed under a real account and the expensive hardware was never returned to them. That’s why the device financing stays on your bill.

What could an unpaid scam bill cost you beyond the phone?

Device financing is really just a loan. If an unpaid balance gets sent to collections, it can wreck your credit score long after that phone is out of the picture.

To make matters worse, victims often hand over sensitive personal or financial info during that fake ordering call without realizing it. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the federal agency that protects financial consumers, advises fraud victims to ask Equifax and TransUnion to put a fraud alert on their credit files. A fraud alert tells lenders to confirm your identity before approving new credit.

This type of service scam is common. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), a national police service that tracks fraud across Canada, logged 3,393 service fraud reports and $19.5 million in losses in 2025.

Can you get the charges reversed?

Nothing is guaranteed, but you aren’t completely out of moves. Your first step should be contacting your carrier’s fraud department — and make sure to use the number listed on your official bill. Also file a police report and report the fraud to the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501.

Hang onto every detail: call logs, emails, return labels and tracking numbers. Proof that your phone was shipped to an out-of-province PO box can go a long way in backing up your story.

If your carrier won’t budge, you can file a complaint with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), an independent body that resolves telecom disputes. Once the CCTS takes on your complaint, your provider gets 30 days to try and sort things out with you directly. If that fails, the CCTS investigates. If you accept its decision, the provider must follow it.

What to do now

• Hang up immediately on unexpected “loyalty” or “upgrade” calls. Instead, contact your provider directly using the number listed on your bill or official website
• Confirm any return request directly with your carrier before shipping anything
• Consider any request to send a phone to an out-of-province PO box an immediate warning sign
• Never give your Social Insurance Number, passwords or card numbers to an unsolicited caller
• Keep an eye on your online account to make sure no new lines or mystery orders pop up
• If you’ve been hit: call your carrier’s fraud team, file a police report, report to the CAFC, pull both credit reports, request a fraud alert and escalate to the CCTS if needed

Scammers are counting on a real phone to make a fake return feel routine. When you receive any surprise call about an upgrade or delivery, simply hang up and independently verify the information before taking any action.

However, there is no investigation or officer. Once the gold leaves your hands, it’s likely gone for good.

Police in Nova Scotia are warning about this twist on the bank investigator scam, which has already cost some Canadians hundreds of thousands of dollars. It works because every step feels like the responsible thing to do. But knowing exactly where the script breaks down is your best chance of avoiding being swindled out of your hard-earned savings.

How does the bank investigator gold scam work?

The RCMP outlined the scheme in an Oct. 5 warning.

In the Nova Scotia case that’s currently under investigation, fraudsters claimed to be RCMP investigators. Their badges didn’t match legitimate ones, and they had no uniforms or police vehicles.

Cpl. Mitch Thompson of the RCMP’s Commercial Crime Section calls this a financial grooming scam. The fraudsters build trust over time so their victims don’t get suspicious, Thompson told CBC News. There’s only one confirmed case in Nova Scotia, but he said similar scams are turning up in Ontario.

Why doesn’t your bank stop a gold purchase?

On paper, nothing appears concerning. You’re using your own device and your own account, and you’re buying from a legitimate dealer.

NICE Actimize, a U.S.-based fraud-prevention software company, published its 2026 Fraud Insights Report, which found that banks’ digital fraud detection has long relied on two signals: risky devices and unfamiliar payees. Both are becoming less reliable at once. While the findings are based on U.S. payments data, the takeaway is equally pertinent in Canada. When you approve a purchase yourself, the bank’s systems may have little reason to flag it as suspicious.

How much is at stake with these crimes?

The losses can be catastrophic. A woman in her 70s from Guelph, Ont., lost an estimated $800,000, draining her accounts and cashing in her life insurance to buy gold bars after a fake bank fraud alert appeared on her computer, Money.ca previously reported.

In Alberta, a victim lost more than $700,000 in a similar gold-bar scheme that also began with a pop-up warning.

Kingston, Ont. Police also note that they keep receiving reports of people posing as bank investigators, where victims are pushed to buy gold, gift cards or crypto, or to mail cash.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is the federal agency that collects fraud reports, and according to its data, Canadians lost more than $704 million to fraud in 2025. However, only 5% to 10% of frauds are ever reported, which means the real toll is likely far higher.

How to avoid falling victim

The biggest red flag is relatively simple to recognize if you know what to look for. Any “bank” caller who wants your money moved out of your account and into something else is never legitimate. The RCMP’s advice is direct: “If you receive a call from your bank and aren’t sure about what they’re telling you, hang up before you follow any directions.” They recommend you “reach out to your local bank branch, call the number on the back of your debit or credit card, or talk to someone that you trust about what you should do next.”

A few more steps can help protect you:

• Never call a number from an internet pop-up, text or email
• Don’t completely trust caller ID, since phone numbers can be spoofed to appear as a legitimate bank or police line
• Never hand over cash, gold, gift cards or crypto to anyone for “safekeeping”
• Ask a real officer for ID and verify it with the local detachment
• Talk to aging parents about this scam before they get the call so they can act promptly and correctly
• Report fraud to local police and to the CAFC online or at 1-888-495-8501, even if you didn’t lose money

If a call from a bank ever makes you feel you have to act right now, treat that urgency as your cue to stop. Real banks will never penalize you for hanging up and calling back. And as Thompson put it, police officers “will not take financial instruments from people for safekeeping.”

Stelco is now in a public standoff with Ottawa over up to 500 jobs at its plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario. The federal government is threatening legal action. Stelco calls the government’s accusations false.

The fight also tests something many Canadians assume but rarely question: that a government-backed job promise can protect individual paycheques. With U.S. tariffs squeezing manufacturers across the country, the answer matters well beyond Hamilton.

What is Stelco accused of — and why does it say it’s in the clear?

Ottawa says it’s Stelco who broke its job promises. Stelco says they never promised that they could avoid layoffs.

Cleveland-Cliffs, an Ohio-based steelmaker, bought Stelco in 2024. The federal government approved the deal under the Investment Canada Act (ICA), which regulates foreign takeovers, on the condition that the company accept five years of legally binding commitments.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says those undertakings include keeping at least the same number of unionized employees. She argues in a statement to CBC News that the commitments “do not cease to apply because of changing business strategy or market conditions.” CBC also reports that Ottawa sued Stelco’s previous owner, U.S. Steel, over similar commitments in 2009.

Paul Simon, Stelco’s president and general counsel, disagrees. In a letter reported by the Globe and Mail, he wrote that the undertakings “do not stipulate a commitment to avoid layoffs.” The company blames 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel for sales collapsing south of the border.

Why doesn’t a federal job promise protect individual workers?

The ICA undertakings are an agreement between Cleveland-Cliffs and the federal government. Workers aren’t a party to it.

Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005, told Global News in an interview that the union never saw the signed agreement. He said both the company and Ottawa had assured workers that employment levels would hold for five years. “In other words no layoffs,” he said.

Even if the federal government wins in court, any penalty or settlement would be negotiated between the government and the company. That process won’t put money in workers’ bank accounts while the layoffs, which CBC reports are rolling out over three weeks, take effect.

How are EI rules different for Canadians who lose their jobs right now?

Recent federal tariff-relief measures make Employment Insurance (EI) more generous than usual.

In a statement released Aug. 25, 2026, the Department of Finance said it would:

• extend by one year the waiver of the one-week EI waiting period
• extend by one year the rule that allows claimants to collect EI before using up severance or vacation pay
• extend by eight months the extra 20 weeks of benefits for long-tenured workers

That means a worker who loses their job and receives a severance payment may be able to collect EI at the same time, rather than waiting until the severance is used up.

Is a layoff temporary or a termination?

The distinction between layoff and termination shapes what workers are owed. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told Global News the company isn’t shutting down Hamilton and needs access to the U.S. market to restore production.

Layoff rules vary by province. Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, a temporary layoff generally can’t exceed 13 weeks in any 20 consecutive weeks. Unionized workers, on the other hand, can be laid off longer, but only if they’re recalled within the time set by their collective agreement. Once a layoff exceeds the legal limit, it may count as a termination, which can trigger termination pay and, in some cases, severance.

What to do now

For Canadians working in tariff-exposed industries such as steel, aluminum, autos or forestry, the Stelco fight is a reminder to prepare before a layoff notice arrives:

• Check whether your employment contract or collective agreement allows for temporary layoffs
• Learn how EI works now, including the temporary tariff measures and when they expire
• Build an emergency fund that could cover a stretch on EI-level income
• Treat a Tax-Free Savings Account as your backup cushion before a Registered Retirement Savings Plan, since RRSP withdrawals are taxable and the contribution room doesn’t come back
• Know your lender’s options for deferring or restructuring payments in case your income drops

Ottawa and Stelco can spend months arguing over what a promise really meant. For everyone else, the takeaway is simpler: a commitment made to the government is not the same as a commitment made to you. The best protection is knowing your rights and having savings in place before you need them.

Speaking to CNBC on Oct. 8, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said that he expects the global bond selloff to continue as governments and companies compete for investors’ money. According to Dalio, “We are in a bond bear market.”

Governments need money to cover their budget shortfalls, and companies are borrowing to fund major projects, such as artificial intelligence. Dalio’s concern is that, with so many borrowers looking for money, they’ll have to offer investors higher interest rates to get it.

Dalio was discussing global bond markets, but Canadian investors and homeowners could also feel the effects if Canadian bond yields rise.

Why falling bond prices mean rising yields

A bond is a loan you make to a government or company. With a typical fixed-rate bond, you receive regular interest payments and the bond’s face value at maturity, assuming the issuer meets its obligations. You can also buy and sell bonds before maturity, which is where changing interest rates come in.

Imagine you own a $1,000 bond paying 3% annually, or $30. If comparable new bonds offer 4%, buyers generally won’t pay the full $1,000 for yours when they could earn $40 elsewhere.

You would usually have to accept a lower price. Your bond still pays $30 annually, but someone buying it at a discount earns a higher return relative to what they paid. That’s why bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. A bond bear market means prices are falling, while yields are rising.

Canadian bond investments could lose value

Canada’s bond market doesn’t operate in isolation. Canadian inflation, economic growth and interest-rate expectations influence government bond yields. However, Bank of Canada research shows that U.S. economic news can influence them, too.

If Canadian yields rise, existing fixed-rate bonds could lose market value. Longer-term bonds are generally more sensitive to these changes because investors have to wait longer to get their principal back and reinvest at higher rates.

If you own a bond ETF or mutual fund, its value can fall even while it continues paying distributions. Most bond funds have no maturity date, and you aren’t guaranteed to get your original investment back.

With an individual bond, the issuer promises to pay interest and repay the bond’s face value at maturity. If it meets those obligations, changes in the bond’s resale price won’t affect those payments.

If you’re buying bonds today, higher yields mean you can earn more on your money than you could from comparable bonds when yields were lower. And if you buy a bond ETF or mutual fund, it can gradually earn more interest as it reinvests in higher-yielding bonds. Its value could still fall, though, if yields keep rising.

Your existing fixed-rate GIC won’t change

If you already own a fixed-rate GIC, a bond selloff won’t change your interest rate or the principal you’ll get back at maturity. Higher market rates could mean better offers on your next GIC. But banks decide how much to offer, taking Bank of Canada policy and broader market conditions into account.

Fixed and variable mortgages respond differently

Canadian fixed mortgage rates are influenced by government bond yields. If yields rise, you could face higher rates when buying a home, refinancing or renewing. Your existing fixed mortgage rate stays the same until your term ends.

Variable mortgage rates generally follow your lender’s prime rate, which responds to Bank of Canada decisions. A bond selloff alone won’t change your variable rate.

Review your options before making a change

Dalio’s warning doesn’t mean you need to rush to sell investments or lock in a mortgage. It’s his view of where markets are heading, not a guarantee of what will happen. Still, it’s a useful reminder to review your finances.

If you own a bond ETF or mutual fund, check how sensitive it is to changes in bond yields. Some fluctuate more than others, particularly those holding longer-term bonds. If you’re buying a GIC, compare rates and choose a term that lets you access your money when you need it.

And if your mortgage renewal is approaching, compare lenders’ offers and ask about rate holds. Knowing your options can help you make a decision that fits your budget, without trying to predict the market.

The substitute route through the Netherlands and Belgium wasn’t the trip they’d chosen. “It was not what I had paid for,” Lobaskie told CTV News. When the couple opted out, they didn’t get their $22,000 back. Instead, they got a travel credit.

It’s an expensive lesson in the difference between a trip that’s been changed and one that’s actually been cancelled. That difference can determine whether your money comes back as cash or as a voucher.

Why didn’t the couple get a refund?

So why wasn’t the trip refunded in cash? Because the ship sailed. AmaWaterways, a river cruise line operating across Europe, told CTV News that the cruise went ahead with adjustments for extraordinary river conditions, so a refund did not apply.

The company gave them two choices: stick with the altered route and get a 50% future credit, or back out entirely and get a 100% credit toward a future trip.

For Lobaskie, that isn’t the same as cash. He noted that prices for next year have already gone up, so booking the exact same cruise again will be more expensive. There’s also no guarantee river conditions will cooperate next time.

Why are so many river cruises changing course?

It’s all about the weather. Europe’s summer drought pushed major rivers to historic lows. The Rhine fell to a new record low of 6.1 metres on Sept. 27 at Lobith, where it enters the Netherlands. River cruises have had to cancel trips or cut itineraries short as sections of the water became totally impassable.

Travel expert Loren Christie told CTV News that this year’s heat has made itinerary changes common. He added that river cruise fine print usually includes waivers for these exact situations. Meaning, the moment you book, you’ve essentially agreed that the route can change on short notice.

What do Ontario’s travel rules cover?

The Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) is the not-for-profit regulator that administers Ontario’s travel industry law. It lays out clear refund rights for anyone booking through an agency or tour operator registered in Ontario. When a supplier fails to deliver services, TICO says customers must be offered their choice of options, including a refund or acceptable comparable services.

The catch is that as long as the travel provider is still delivering the service, you’re still locked into the original terms — penalties and all. Ontario’s regulation also lets registrants delay transportation by 24 hours or more without offering a refund when the cause is weather, among other exceptions.

This means as long as the cruise actually operates, even with a modified itinerary, it may not trigger the clearest refund protections. Other provinces set their own rules, so check with your provincial consumer protection office.

Is a future cruise credit as good as cash?

Not always. A credit locks your money into a single company, comes with an expiration date and leaves you exposed if prices go up later.

There’s also the question of what backs it. Ontario’s Travel Industry Compensation Fund reimburses consumers when a registered agency fails or when a cruise line or airline ceases operations, but only if they booked through an Ontario-registered agent. TICO has also denied a claim tied to a goodwill credit when the original services had been available.

That doesn’t mean every voucher is a bad deal. It just means taking a credit is a gamble on both the company’s future and where prices are headed.

What to do now

• Read the cancellation rules before handing over your credit card, and make sure you know how the cruise line defines a canceled trip versus a modified one
• Ask in writing whether opting out of a revised itinerary earns cash or only credit
• Book through a provincially registered travel agency so you don’t lose out on those local consumer protections
• Review trip cancellation and interruption insurance. The Government of Canada advises checking a policy’s terms, conditions and exclusions before you leave, so confirm whether it covers itinerary changes
• Hold off on non-refundable extras, like specific train passes, that are only good for your original route.
• If you accept a credit, confirm its expiry date and whether it protects you against price increases

A $22,000 trip deserves the same scrutiny as any major purchase. Before you book, make sure to ask what their policy is if the cruise gets cancelled. Also ask what happens if it sails on a route you didn’t choose, and get that answer in writing.

The former congressman is locked in a tight race for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat against Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed and is now pushing to end the tariff war. Rogers previously served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as a congressman.

It’s the clearest sign yet that the trade fight between the two neighbouring nations is pinching voters on both sides of the Gordie Howe Bridge. It could also matter in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

While it’s tempting to read that as relief on the way, a campaign ad isn’t a trade deal. U.S. tariffs and Canada’s retaliatory levies are still shaping what Canadians pay at the store, how secure their jobs feel and what their next mortgage renewal could look like.

What did Mike Rogers say — and does it change anything?

In an ad released last week, Rogers told Michiganders that “Canada is not our enemy” while also calling for an immediate end to the trade war.

That’s a sharp turn from where Rogers stood just weeks earlier. In an Aug. 29 statement, about a week after Trump’s 50% tariffs took effect, Rogers said “tariffs are necessary” — he also noted that tariffs weren’t a comprehensive solution. El-Sayed has since accused him of flip-flopping on the topic, and Rogers now concedes the tariffs will negatively impact Michigan consumers.

Even now, Rogers isn’t rejecting tariffs outright. At a debate on Oct. 8, he noted that Canada also taxes U.S. goods, but argued that American levies on Canadian goods have climbed too high and should be scrapped. It’s important to note that neither candidate has ruled out future duties.

The White House has not changed its stance since the trade war ramped up. When asked about the ad, U.S. President Donald Trump said he understood it to mean that Canada should make a deal — he added that his administration still isn’t satisfied.

Which goods are being taxed right now?

After negotiations collapsed Aug. 22, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports.

Ottawa responded in kind on Sept. 8, charging counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on about $27.6 billion of U.S. imports, according to the Department of Finance Canada.

The 50% rate was placed on steel, aluminum and iron products, as well as furniture, motorbikes, clothing and some beauty products. Dairy, household appliances, agricultural equipment and electronics are also covered, at varying rates. All surtaxes apply only to U.S.-origin goods, not items shipped through the U.S. from elsewhere.

How could the tariff war hit your wallet?

The Bank of Canada held its key rate at 2.25% on Sept. 2, its seventh straight hold. BoC Governor Tiff Macklem later warned that these new tariffs and counter-tariffs will raise costs for some businesses and could feed into consumer prices over time.

A Reuters poll of 35 economists found that 47% of those who gave an opinion expect at least one rate increase in the first half of 2027. That is particularly pertinent for variable-rate borrowers and anyone renewing a mortgage in the coming months, as any rate increase would directly influence lending rates.

Jobs are softening, too. Employment fell by 68,000 in September, the second straight monthly decline. That pushed unemployment to 6.5%, with manufacturing having lost 13,000 jobs — nearly one-fifth of that total. Ontario’s unemployment rate is at 7%, which is relatively unchanged from the previous month but down 0.9 percentage points year-over-year. Additionally, the job-finding rate (the share of people unemployed in August who found work in September) fell to 30.6%. This figure is well below the 2017 to 2019 average of 36.5%.

While not all of that is tariff-driven — education and health care also shed jobs — workers in trade-exposed industries have the most at stake. Stellantis, which operates an assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., linked recent layoffs partly to tariffs. Stelco is in a similar position: it’s currently embroiled in controversy over a decision to axe up to 500 employees across its Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont., facilities.

Could the U.S. midterms end the trade war?

Possibly, but not overnight. Tariff decisions are driven largely by the executive branch, while the new senators, who will include either Rogers or El-Sayed, won’t be sworn in until January.

The midterms are a potential turning point, not a concrete solution.

What to do now

• Check labels on big-ticket items: Counter-tariffs target U.S.-origin goods, so Canadian-made or non-U.S. alternatives may cost less
• Stress-test your mortgage: If you have a variable rate or a renewal within the next year, ask your lender or broker what a higher rate would mean for your monthly payment
• Build your cash buffer: Workers in auto, steel and other manufacturing should prioritize emergency savings over discretionary spending since their industries are directly exposed
• Know your Employment Insurance (EI) options: If you’re laid off, apply for EI as soon as you stop working and check recent changes to the program
• Don’t bet your portfolio on an election: Keep your RRSP and TFSA investments matched to your specific financial timeline, not the headlines
• Mark your calendar: The BoC decides on rates Oct. 28, Americans vote Nov. 3 and StatCan’s next jobs report lands Nov. 6

Rogers’s ad shows pressure is building south of the border, and that’s worth keeping an eye on. But the smartest moves right now are the ones that pay off whether a deal arrives in January or not. Referring to both the trade dispute and high energy prices, the Bank of Canada put it plainly in September: “Both situations remain fluid.”

A new TD Insurance survey found that 48% of Canadians intend to leave their primary residence unattended for more than a day this winter or fall. However, roughly two in five (39%) don’t know what their insurance policy requires during an absence, and just 15% say they would check their policy before leaving.

That knowledge gap could become costly if a problem develops in an empty home. A burst pipe, power outage or break-in can cause significant damage, and some insurance policies have conditions you must meet while your property is unattended.

Does home insurance cover damage while you’re away?

Home insurance doesn’t automatically stop covering a property when the owner travels. However, policies may include conditions that apply when a home is left unattended for an extended period.

In his guidance on insurance coverage during extreme cold, Rob de Pruis of the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) explains that standard home insurance policies typically cover damage caused by freezing and burst pipes when the pipes are in the heated portion of the home and reasonable steps have been taken to maintain heat.

However, most policies also specify how frequently a home must be checked by a competent person during an absence to ensure heat is maintained. De Pruis warns that many policies exclude frozen-pipe and water damage when a home is considered vacant for insurance purposes.

That makes it important to understand your policy’s requirements before leaving, rather than assuming that leaving the heat on is enough.

What to check before leaving home this winter

1. Find out how often someone must check the property

Check your policy for any requirements around inspections during an extended absence. If regular visits are required, arrange for a trusted person to monitor the home at the specified intervals.

Make sure they know what to look for, including signs of leaks, heating problems or damage. Leave them your contact details and instructions for reaching you if something needs immediate attention.

2. Keep the home warm enough to protect pipes

Frozen and burst pipes are a major winter concern. IBC recommends maintaining heat in the home and taking reasonable precautions to prevent pipes from freezing.

Before leaving, confirm that your heating system is working properly and check your policy’s heating requirements. Pay particular attention to pipes near exterior walls, in basements and in crawl spaces, which are most prone to damage.

IBC also recommends insulating vulnerable pipes, sealing drafts and knowing where the main water shut-off is located.

3. Have a plan for power outages and heating failures

A power outage or broken furnace can leave a home vulnerable to freezing temperatures while nobody is there to notice.

Consider how you’ll learn about an outage and who can check the property if the heating stops working. If your furnace or heat pump fails, IBC recommends taking immediate steps to prevent pipes from freezing, including shutting off the water supply and draining pipes where appropriate.

IBC notes that a standard home policy typically covers water damage from frozen pipes under the conditions described above, but not the cost of repairing the furnace or heat pump itself.

4. Do a final walkthrough

Check for leaks, running taps, open windows and unlocked doors. Arrange for mail or deliveries to be collected; a pile-up can signal to burglars that nobody is home.

Do you need to notify your insurer before leaving?

It depends on your policy. Some include conditions tied to how long a home is left unattended, so review yours and ask your insurer or broker whether your plans affect your coverage.

The TD survey found that only 7% of Canadians would notify their insurance company before leaving their property unattended. Just 33% consider whether failing to meet certain requirements could affect their coverage.

A little preparation can help protect your home and reduce the risk of costly damage while you’re away this winter.

On Oct. 13, 2026, Premier Doug Ford’s government began removing protected bike lanes between Clissold Road and Royal York Road. Drivers get a car lane back in each direction, cyclists lose a separated route and taxpayers pick up a bill the province hasn’t fully disclosed.

Whether you drive, ride or simply pay taxes in Ontario, it helps to know where the money goes and how to keep your own commuting costs in check.

What’s being removed on Bloor Street West, and when?

The work covers a 1.2-kilometre section of the road where crews are removing pavement markings and concrete curbs. That means temporary lane reductions, and the work isn’t expected to finish until some time in November.

It’s the first physical removal since the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled in August that the province could proceed. The three-judge panel found the legislature is “as free to establish bicycle lanes as it is to remove them.” That ruling reversed an earlier July 2025 lower court decision that had blocked the plan.

The province claims restoring vehicle lanes will help fight gridlock. Balance on Bloor, a local business group, has argued the area’s bike lanes sit largely empty for part of the year and hurt shops along the strip.

How much will removing Toronto’s bike lanes cost taxpayers?

The full price tag for the bike lane removal isn’t public yet. In November 2024, City of Toronto staff estimated that removing lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue would cost at least $48 million, which covered all three streets combined. That figure failed to include the cost of new lanes elsewhere.

At the time, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the province would reimburse the city for removals. That shifts the cost from Toronto property taxpayers alone, to all Ontario taxpayers. It doesn’t erase it.

Current spending is also hard to nail down. The province’s September request for proposals (RFP) covers design work on 19 kilometres of lanes and isn’t public, so contract costs aren’t available.

Then there’s the money that’s already been spent. The Etobicoke lanes, installed starting in June 2023, were part of a $12-million bike lane expansion plan.

Will drivers actually save time, and what about cyclists?

Whether there will be any actual gridlock relief is the key question, and the evidence so far points both ways. The province is betting a restored car lane will speed up trips. But city staff concluded in 2024 that removal wouldn’t deliver substantial time savings and would actually bring months of construction congestion. The cyclists who challenged the law argued in court that the government’s own advisers agreed it wouldn’t reduce congestion.

Cyclists face a different calculation entirely. City data showed cycling traffic rose at several points along the Etobicoke corridor after the lanes went in. In the 2025 lower court ruling, Justice Paul Schabas wrote that replacing the bike lanes with car lanes would make the roads less safe for cyclists and other road users.

Cyclists who switch to driving should run the numbers first. Even the most fuel-efficient gas passenger car costs about $4,550 a year to run in Ontario, according to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA). That covers fuel, maintenance and depreciation only — insurance and car payments come on top.

Could some of the bike lanes stay?

It’s possible some of the bike lanes may stay. The province says its RFP will look for ways to retain or reconfigure bike lanes where they don’t worsen gridlock. In December 2025, Ford’s government restored a car lane while keeping the bike lane on a 600-metre section between Resurrection Road and Clissold Road.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow offered a similar compromise for this stretch. According to Cycle Toronto, a local cycling advocacy group, the province rejected that offer. Lane removals that need more engineering work on other streets may wait until spring 2027.

The bike lane issue is also on the ballot. Olivia Chow opposes the removals, while her challenger, Brad Bradford, has promised to remove the Etobicoke lanes and part of the Yonge Street lanes ahead of the Oct. 26 municipal election.

What to do now

Whether you’re behind the wheel or on the handlebars, a few steps can limit the hit to your time and budget:

• Build extra travel time in for any Bloor Street West trip through November and check provincial construction notices before heading out
• Price out a switch to driving before you make it — CAA’s Driving Costs Calculator estimates fuel, maintenance and depreciation by province and vehicle, then lets you add your own insurance and loan payments
• Call your insurer if your annual kilometres or your commute change, since both can affect your auto premium
• If you keep riding your bike, check whether your home or tenant insurance covers bike theft and personal liability
• Ask your MPP for the final cost of removal once contracts are awarded

Once the curbs come out, the real test begins: whether drivers save enough time to justify what Ontario taxpayers end up spending.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) is urging investors to understand those risks before trading during extended hours. In an October 8 release, the regulator announced new educational material explaining how extended-hours trading differs from regular trading.

How trading outside regular hours works

Regular trading hours on North American markets, such as the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations stock market (NASDAQ), run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST.

Despite the regular trading hours, some Canadian brokerages, including TD Direct Investing, Questrade, and RBC Direct Investing, also let you trade eligible stocks and ETFs before the markets open or after the regular session ends.

Option trading on Canadian exchanges are fairly limited. The TSX and TSX Venture (TSXV) offer an extended session from 4:15 to 5 p.m. EST, but trades generally occur at the last sale price, and your access depends on the brokerage you use.

U.S. markets offer longer extended-hours sessions, including trading before the regular market opens and for several hours after it closes. If you’re an investor trading U.S.-listed shares, the longer hours can offer more flexibility. For example, if a company releases its earnings after the market closes, you may be able to buy or sell in response instead of waiting until the next morning.

The drawback is that far fewer people usually trade during these sessions. In its educational guide, CIRO explains that this can make it harder to find a buyer or seller. With less trading activity, prices can also swing more sharply.

A wider spread can affect what you pay

CIRO also warns about wider bid-ask spreads. The bid is the price a buyer is offering, while the ask is the price a seller is seeking. The difference between them is the spread.

For example, during regular hours, a stock might have a bid of $49.95 and an ask of $50.05, a spread of 10 cents. After hours, suppose the bid falls to $49.50, and the ask rises to $50.50.

Assuming enough shares are available at those prices, buying 100 shares at the later ask would cost $5,050, compared with $5,005 at the earlier ask. Selling 100 shares at the after-hours bid would bring in $4,950, compared with $4,995.

That’s a $45 difference in either case, before commissions or other charges. While this is just an illustration, it shows how a wider spread can mean paying more for shares or receiving less when you sell.

Use a limit order to set your price

When you buy or sell shares through your brokerage, you choose an order type. Two common options are market orders and limit orders, though your broker may restrict which ones you can use during extended hours.

A market order tells your broker to buy or sell at the best available price. You don’t specify how much you’re willing to pay or accept. With fewer buyers and sellers after hours, CIRO warns that the price could differ significantly from what you expected.

A limit order lets you set that boundary. You choose the maximum you’ll pay when buying or the minimum you’ll accept when selling.

Using the example above, you could set a buy limit of $50.05 instead of paying the after-hours ask of $50.50. This means that your order can only be filled at $50.05 or less.

However, with less after-hours trading activity, there’s no guarantee that your order will be filled. If no seller is willing to sell at your price while the order is active, you may not get the shares. In other words, a limit order protects your price, but it can mean missing a trade.

Check what your broker allows after hours

Before you trade outside regular hours, check your brokerage’s policies. Access can vary, including trading hours, the stocks and ETFs available, and the order types you can use. CIRO recommends understanding these restrictions before placing an order.

You should also know what happens if your order isn’t filled. Does it expire when the extended-hours session ends, or stay active for the next regular session? Check with your broker so you aren’t left guessing whether you still have an open order.

Finally, consider whether you need to trade right away. If you’re investing for a goal that’s years away, ask yourself whether reacting to tonight’s earnings announcement makes sense. After-hours trading gives you more flexibility, but you can still choose to wait.

But a growing number are also withdrawing those contributions, and doing it more often than older generations did.

High rent and grocery bills aren’t the only catalyst prompting this behaviour. When the next 10 years feel dizzying and erratic, saving for a retirement four decades away can feel abstract. In fact, a locked-up retirement account can begin to look like an emergency fund to cover more urgent expenses in the present. Knowing what an early withdrawal really costs and where short-term savings belong instead can help young Canadians stay flexible without giving up long-term growth.

Why are young Canadians pulling money out of their RRSPs?

Gen Z workers, born between 1997 and 2012, are withdrawing from their Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) 12% more often than millennials did at the same age and 42% more than Gen X, according to new research from Canada Life.

This trend is not driven by weakening financial principles. In fact, in 2023, the median RRSP contribution among Canadians under 25 was $1,880. That’s more than 20% higher than millennials contributed in 2009, after adjusting for inflation, according to Statistics Canada data reported by The Globe and Mail.

So why tap the account early? The research highlights increased feelings of uncertainty and unease amongst this cohort. According to a Canada Life news release, Gen Z is twice as likely as the rest of the population to consume dystopian content several times a week. That habit, also known as doomscrolling, is linked to workers being less likely to own or enrol in long-term savings, as they view the future as bleak. Young workers are also significantly more likely to talk about existential concerns.

Planning for the decades to come “can be difficult when the next 10 years feel uncertain,” said Kate Nazar, senior vice-president, workplace retirement and savings at Canada Life.

What does an early RRSP withdrawal actually cost?

It’s important to note that taking money out of an RRSP before retirement triggers an immediate tax hit. Your financial institution withholds 10% on amounts up to $5,000, 20% on amounts over $5,000 up to $15,000 and 30% on amounts over $15,000, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). However, rates are lower in Quebec, where provincial tax is also withheld.

For example, withdrawing $6,000 to cover a gap in rent would have $1,200 withheld and receive just $4,800. Come next tax season, the full $6,000 is then added to their taxable income for the year, and the amount withheld may not cover all the tax owed.

The bigger cost is long-term, though. Once you withdraw from an RRSP, you lose that contribution room permanently while also giving up decades of potential tax-sheltered growth.

There are some exceptions to the rule. The Home Buyers’ Plan and the Lifelong Learning Plan let you withdraw for a first home or full-time education without withholding tax, as long as you repay the funds on a set schedule.

Is a TFSA a better home for short-term savings?

To meet financial goals in the near term, such as a move, a car or an emergency cushion, a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is often the better fit. Withdrawals are tax-free and any amount you take out is added back to your contribution room on Jan. 1 of the following year.

That doesn’t make the RRSP the wrong choice. For money that will be explicitly used in retirement, the upfront tax deduction can make an RRSP the stronger option, especially as your income rises.

What to do now

Canada Life’s research found Gen Z best responds to messages about perseverance and agency rather than fear. With that in mind, here’s what’s within your control:

• Build an emergency fund in a TFSA or high-interest savings account (HISA) so your RRSP doesn’t become your backup plan
• Give each savings goal its own account: a HISA for more immediate matters, a TFSA for the next few years and an RRSP for retirement
• Contribute enough to get your full employer match if you’re offered one
• Check your withholding tax bracket before any RRSP withdrawal, and ask whether the Home Buyers’ Plan or Lifelong Learning Plan applies if you’re looking to purchase a home or return to school
• Automate small, regular contributions so saving happens without a monthly decision

The goal isn’t to lock every dollar away until you turn 65; it’s to build robust savings that can bend without breaking. As one 26-year-old participant in the Canada Life research stated: “I want to know what is within my control.”

A national survey commissioned by ClearEstate Technologies, a Montréal-based estate planning and settlement company, found 3 out of 4 Canadians (76%) would accept the role for a family member or close friend even without fully understanding the duties. Yet almost 9 in 10 people (89%) agree that taking on the job gets complicated and eats up tons of time — and most folks aren’t prepared for what’s coming.

“People feel honoured or obligated to say yes,” Will Daley, senior vice-president of research and analytics at Canada Pulse Insights, said in a statement. The catch? What comes after that “yes” can drag on for months, cost thousands and sometimes even leave you personally on the hook if things go sideways.

Here’s what the job involves and what both sides can line up now.

How much time does being an executor take?

About 20% of respondents have taken on the executor role. The average time commitment was 35 hours, but nearly 4 in 10 logged 50-plus hours, and 17% lost track of the time entirely.

That workload gets dragged out over a long haul. According to ClearEstate data, even when there’s zero family drama, settling an estate typically takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months.

Being left in the dark only makes the job harder. Among Canadians who haven’t hired a professional executor, 44% have no idea how their designated person would actually find their assets and debts, including key accounts, deeds or basic passwords.

What does probate cost in Ontario?

In Ontario, probate fees are formally called the Estate Administration Tax (EAT). According to the Ontario government, there’s no tax on the first $50,000 of an estate’s value, and the rest is taxed at $15 per $1,000, which works out to 1.5%.

Here’s how that plays out: an estate in Ontario worth $500,000 would owe $6,750 in tax (which is 1.5% on everything over $50,000). You pay this upfront as a deposit when applying for the estate certificate, and it officially becomes the tax once the certificate is granted.

Not everything counts. Blaney McMurtry, a Toronto law firm, notes that jointly held assets that pass to the survivor are excluded from the calculation, as are registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs), registered retirement income funds (RRIFs), tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) and life insurance with a named beneficiary. One caveat: without a surviving spouse, RRSP and RRIF balances are still fully taxable at death, and the estate pays that tax.

What’s the tax risk executors don’t see coming?

Here’s the trap many first-time executors fall into: you can’t just hand out inheritance funds right away. The CRA requires you to get a formal clearance certificate before distributing a single asset under your control. If they distribute without one, they’re liable for any unpaid amounts, according to CRA guidance.

In real life, an overly eager executor who pays out the inheritance too soon could get stuck footing the deceased’s tax bill out of their own pocket — up to whatever amount they handed out.

Should you name family, a professional or both?

Trust still comes out on top. When asked who they’d pick today, 48% chose a family member or friend who could hire pros whenever help is needed. Another 30% expect that loved one to handle everything solo, while 22% would skip the DIY route and go with a professional from the start.

There’s also a fairness question. Nearly two-thirds (63%) say it’s unfair to expect a family member to handle all the bureaucratic work alone.

For smaller, straightforward estates, a family member who knows the ropes can usually manage just fine. But if there’s real estate, investments or family friction involved, paying for legal or tax help is well worth it to save time and avoid costly mistakes.

What to do now

If you’re writing or updating your will:

• Ask permission before naming anyone as your executor, and be sure to designate an alternate in case they’re unable to step up
• Keep an up-to-date list of accounts, property, debts, insurance and digital logins, and tell your executor where it is
• Review the beneficiary designations on your RRSPs, TFSAs and life insurance
• Think about how probate and final taxes will be paid without forcing a rushed sale

If you’ve been named executor:

• Find out where the original will and key documents are kept
• Track your hours and expenses from day one
• Get a CRA clearance certificate before distributing assets
• Line up an accountant or estate lawyer for the tasks you can’t handle

Being named an executor is a huge vote of confidence. The kindest thing you can do when writing a will is keep that workload as light as possible — and if you’re the one being asked, the smartest move is to ask plenty of questions before saying yes.

The Bureau is investigating minimum advertised pricing (MAP) policies that can prevent retailers from advertising a product below a certain price. A retailer may still be able to sell a product for less in-store, but shoppers may not know about the lower price until they get there.

The investigation comes as Canadians continue to rely on flyers, websites and apps to compare grocery prices and decide where to shop.

“The bottom line is: Minimum advertised pricing policies can make it harder for consumers to find deals and compare prices,” Anna Maiorino, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau, told Money.ca.

Why don’t stores advertise the lowest price?

A minimum advertised price is the lowest price a retailer is permitted to show when advertising a supplier’s product. The restriction can apply to flyers, websites, apps, social media and other advertising.

The policy can be imposed by a supplier or negotiated between a supplier and retailer.

The important distinction is that MAP applies to the advertised price, not necessarily the price at which a product can be sold.

The Competition Bureau gives the example of a pasta product with a minimum advertised price of $2.99. A discount grocer might be prepared to sell it for $1.99, but if it cannot advertise that lower price, shoppers won’t know about the deal before deciding where to shop.

“That means consumers can’t shop around and won’t know that there might be a better price until they go in-store,” Jeanne Pratt, interim commissioner of competition, told CP24.

The Bureau says flyers, websites, apps and other promotions are important ways consumers compare grocery prices before deciding where to shop. They’re also an important way retailers compete for customers.

So what can shoppers do?

The Competition Bureau says a retailer may be able to sell below the advertised minimum, but consumers may have no way of knowing that price without entering the store.

That means shoppers should treat advertised prices as a starting point rather than assuming they’ve found the lowest price available.

If you’re already in the store, check the shelf price before putting an item in your cart. A product that wasn’t featured as a sale item in a flyer or app could still be priced lower than expected.

It’s also worth comparing similar products rather than focusing only on the headline price. Unit pricing — such as the cost per 100 grams or per litre — can make it easier to compare different package sizes and find better value.

How to find the best prices

• Check the shelf price. Don’t assume the flyer or app price tells you everything about what the store is charging.
• Compare unit prices. Price per 100 grams, litre or another standard unit can make different package sizes easier to compare.
• Compare similar products. A lower sticker price doesn’t necessarily mean lower cost for the amount you’re getting.
• Use flyers and apps as a starting point. They can help you decide where to shop, but an advertised price may not reveal every discount available in-store.

The Competition Bureau’s investigation is still underway, so it’s too early to know how widespread minimum advertised pricing is across Canadian grocery stores or how much it affects the prices consumers actually pay.

For now, if you’re looking for the lowest price, check what’s actually on the shelf in-store.

The Bureau is currently seeking information from Canadian consumers, retailers and suppliers about their experience with minimum advertised pricing as part of its ongoing investigation into the practice.

Retail diesel now costs roughly 59% more than it did before the war in Iran began. Truckers, railways and independent grocers are all scrambling to cover the jump.

The catch is that even if supply eased tomorrow, shelf prices likely wouldn’t respond immediately. Knowing how these costs travel, and who they hit hardest, can help you get ahead of them.

Why are diesel prices so high right now?

The average retail price of diesel topped $2.64 per litre for the week ended Sept. 29, according to Natural Resources Canada, the federal department that tracks fuel prices. That’s 15% above the previous record set in November 2022. On a daily basis, the national average hit $2.751 on Sept. 17, according to data from Kalibrate, a fuel-pricing analytics firm.

Several shocks are simultaneously converging on supply. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed for seven months, many refineries have cut production, Ukrainian strikes have damaged Russian energy infrastructure and the threat of Houthi attacks is keeping tankers away from the Red Sea. The International Energy Agency warned that refineries are already stretched, leaving little room to stop prices from climbing even more.

How does diesel end up on your grocery bill?

Diesel moves almost everything you buy by truck and rail, and it powers farming, mining and manufacturing.

Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, which represents about 200 companies with in-house fleets including Loblaw and Home Hardware, says a round-trip semi haul between Montreal and Toronto cost roughly $850 on Jan. 1 and now costs $1,400. “A fleet’s No. 1 expense outside of wages was always fuel. Now it’s probably fuel,” Millian told The Canadian Press (CP).

Rail is following the same path. October fuel surcharges at Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) sit up to 73% above early-August levels.

Those surcharges then land on retailers, and ultimately, consumers. Gary Sands of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, which represents about 6,900 stores, told CP that grocers working on margins of about 2% find it very hard not to pass the charges along. Gas analyst Dan McTeague, head of Canadians for Affordable Energy, told CP24 he expects higher fees to start showing up within 30 to 60 days.

Why won’t prices drop as soon as the crisis ends?

Prices at the pump can move multiple times in a day, but supply chains can’t. Reopening wells, shipping crude and restarting refinery output all take time, so shoppers would likely wait months for relief even if the strait reopened. Diesel demand also typically increases as winter approaches.

There’s a timing wrinkle in the data, too. Grocery inflation actually cooled to 2.8% in August, according to StatCan. That data predates September’s spike, though, so the full effect hasn’t shown up in official numbers yet.

Who will feel the diesel squeeze the most?

Northern and rural residents are among the hardest hit, especially northern communities that rely on diesel generators for power. Prices also vary widely by region. For the week ended Sept. 29, NRCan’s average retail price ranged from $2.94 per litre in Gaspé, Quebec, to $2.47 per litre in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Farmers are also feeling the pinch because harvest is one of the most fuel-intensive times of year, and Grain Growers of Canada has asked Ottawa for a targeted, temporary per-litre rebate. Households that heat with oil, a diesel-type fuel, should watch closely as cold weather sets in.

What to do now

Some relief is already available. Ottawa extended its fuel excise tax suspension through Jan. 31, which saves four cents per litre on diesel and 10 cents per litre on gasoline. That’s about $5 off a 50-litre fill-up of gas, and it’s money your budget will need to absorb once the suspension ends.

To soften the impact:

• Stock up on shelf-stable staples you already use when they go on sale, before new surcharges filter through, but skip perishables
• Switch to store brands and use coupons and flyer and price-matching apps
• Bundle online orders to cut down on delivery and shipping fees
• If you heat with oil, ask your supplier about fixed-price or equal-payment plans before winter demand spikes
• Build a small buffer into your grocery budget for the coming months

The disruption won’t last forever, but the cost of moving goods is already climbing, and it reaches consumers faster than they expect. As McTeague puts it, “it’s real and it’s almost immediate.”

Christine Buechler, of St. Thomas, Ont., had submitted a claim for about $18,000 after a sewer backup flooded her basement. Her insurer paid the claim, but later notified her that it would not renew her policy because of her claims history.

Her experience shows why the cost of a home insurance claim can extend beyond the deductible. Even when a loss is covered, making a claim could affect what you pay for insurance later, or whether your insurer keeps you as a customer.

Two claims left her searching for another insurer

Buechler told CTV News that the basement flooding was serious enough to warrant a claim. After receiving payment, she thought the matter was settled.

Then, in August, she received a letter saying her insurer would not renew her coverage because of the frequency of her claims.

Three years earlier, she had claimed $4,000 for a lost hearing aid. Buechler said she was told that making the two claims within three years made her a “high-risk” customer.

Finding another insurer proved difficult. She told CTV that she contacted roughly 10 to 15 insurance companies, some of which would not cover her. Her premiums have since doubled.

Buechler said she would’ve just paid for the hearing aid out of pocket if she knew filing a claim would bump up her future rates. She even asked beforehand if her premium would go up and was told it shouldn’t be an issue.

Why you need to be mindful of your claims history

Insurers consider several factors when pricing home insurance, including your home’s location, condition and replacement cost. Your claim history is also a consideration.

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, past claims are “often an insurer’s best predictor of future claims activity”. Each insurer weighs risk differently, so the same history may lead to different prices or coverage options.

Fleur Dsouza, an insurance expert with LowestRates.ca, told CTV News that some insurers may drop customers after two claims within five years, regardless of the amounts involved. It’s not a universal rule, but it shows that even smaller claims can impact you negatively.

CTV also pointed to figures from LowestRates.ca, which show that a single claim within five years can jack up your rates by 20% to 22% — and a second one could push them up 30%. Increases aren’t set in stone, but they highlight how much a single claim can cost you long-term.

Replacement coverage comes amid rising insurance costs

Paying more for insurance after multiple claims is challenging, especially when home insurance costs are already climbing. More frequent and severe weather events, along with higher rebuilding costs, are putting pressure on home insurance premiums across Canada.

According to Statistics Canada, catastrophic weather claims reached $8.6 billion in 2024, the costliest year on record. Across the broader property and casualty insurance industry, total claims and expenses reached $74.9 billion in 2025, up 50.1% from 2020.

Unsurprisingly, insurers have raised premiums to offset higher claims and operating costs. Between December 2019 and December 2025, homeowners’ home and mortgage insurance premiums rose 45%, compared with overall inflation of 21%.

For homeowners like Buechler who have made multiple claims, finding another insurer willing to cover them can mean facing higher prices with fewer options.

Weigh the costs before making a smaller claim

Home insurance is designed to help cover losses that may be too costly to pay out of pocket. And Buechler’s experience doesn’t mean homeowners should avoid claiming for major damage.

However, for a smaller loss, you may want to compare the likely payout after your deductible with what you could reasonably afford to pay yourself. Ask your broker or insurer how a claim could affect your claims-free discount, future premiums and renewal eligibility. You should also check your policy’s reporting requirements. Even if you choose not to make a claim, you still may have an obligation to report an incident.

Should your current insurer decline to renew your policy, start looking for replacement coverage immediately so you don’t face a gap in protection. Compare deductibles, limits and exclusions alongside the premium, and do everything you can to ensure the new policy is in place before your existing coverage ends.

A new survey found 67% of tipped Canadian hospitality workers said the amount they receive in tips has fallen over the past two years, up from 39% in 2024. In Ontario, that figure was 72%.

The survey, conducted by Angus Reid on behalf of tip-management company Actual, polled 506 Canadian hospitality workers in August, including workers who receive tips as part of their compensation.

The findings come as Canadians continue to cut back on discretionary spending, including restaurant visits.

Why are Canadians tipping less?

Restaurants Canada reported in September that 80% of Canadians were eating out less often because of the rising cost of living. Fewer restaurant visits mean fewer opportunities for those workers to earn tips.

But the way Canadians think about tipping may also be changing.

Bonnie Simpson, a professor of consumer behaviour at Western University, said her research suggests much of the shift is about where consumers are being asked to tip.

Restaurant servers, delivery drivers, hair salons and barbers were generally viewed as normal places to tip, she said, while retail stores, fast-food businesses and trades, such as mechanics and plumbers, were viewed as much less appropriate.

“When a request feels abnormal, people feel their freedom of choice is being threatened, and they push back,” Simpson told Money.ca.

That reaction can have consequences for businesses. In Simpson’s research, a tip prompt at a drive-through lowered customer satisfaction and intentions to return, while a prompt after table service did not have the same effect.

What does the tipping shift mean for your wallet?

For consumers, understanding what the payment screen is actually asking of you can help keep tipping costs in check.

A 20% tip on a $100 bill is $20. On a larger bill, the difference between suggested percentages can add up quickly.

But a percentage appearing on a payment terminal doesn’t necessarily mean that amount is expected. When a tip is voluntary, consumers can generally choose another amount or decline to tip.

“A prompt on a screen is a choice that the business made about its payment system,” Simpson said. “It should not be interpreted as a signal of what is expected of you as a consumer.”

Her advice is to decide how you want to approach tipping before reaching the payment screen, rather than allowing the prompt to make the decision for you.

It’s also important to distinguish between a voluntary tip and a mandatory service charge.

The Canada Revenue Agency says a freely given tip is not subject to GST/HST, while a mandatory or suggested amount added to a customer’s bill as a service charge is subject to GST/HST. The CRA also notes that whether a voluntary tip is calculated before or after tax depends on the customer’s practice.

So before paying, check what has already been included and whether you’re looking at a voluntary gratuity or a charge imposed by the business.

How to tip smart

• Check the bill first. Make sure a gratuity or service charge hasn’t already been added.
• Look at the dollar amount. A 15%, 20% or 25% prompt can mean a significant difference on a large bill.
• Check the calculation. If you’re tipping a percentage, know whether it’s being calculated before or after tax.
• Make your decision before the prompt. Decide how you want to approach tipping before the payment screen presents its suggested amounts.

The goal is simple: know what’s already on the bill, understand what the tip prompt is asking and choose the amount that works for you.

Are Canadians turning against tipping?

The Actual survey found 43% of tipped workers rely on tips to cover essentials such as rent, groceries and bills. It also found 85% believe tip-division policies should be clearly and transparently communicated.

That doesn’t mean consumers are obligated to tip every time a payment terminal asks them to. But it does show why changes in tipping can have real consequences for workers who depend on tip income.

“I think it’s a misconception that Canadians are turning against tipping in general,” Simpson said. “Our results suggest that consumers are discerning and that they react to tip requests in places where they feel wrong.”

There’s no single tipping percentage that applies to every situation, and consumers are under no obligation to blindly follow terminal suggestions.

As automated prompts expand into non-traditional settings, taking a moment to make an intentional choice keeps you in control of your budget — ensuring you support workers where it counts without overspending where it doesn't.

This winter, the list is a tad longer. If you stay in the U.S. for 30 days or more, Washington expects you to be registered. Moreover, if you spend too many days south of the border, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may treat you like a U.S. taxpayer. And if you stay outside Canada too long, your provincial health plan could lapse.

Each rule runs on its own clock and carries a separate penalty. Knowing which forms apply to you and when can be the difference between a winter respite and a pile of headache-inducing paperwork when you return home.

Additionally, the Government of Canada’s travel advice for the United States cautions that individual U.S. border agents often have significant discretion over who gets in, authorities strictly enforce entry requirements and travellers who are denied entry could be detained while awaiting deportation.

Do you need to register with the U.S. government?

Most likely, if your stay lasts 30 days or more. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency responsible for border security and immigration, finalized its alien registration rule effective June 29, 2026, building on an interim version that took effect in April 2025.

There is a large swath of snowbirds who are already registered and may not know it. Most Canadians who fly in are automatically issued an electronic Form I-94 arrival record, which counts as registration. However, those who drive across a land border generally aren’t issued one. After you arrive, you can check the I-94 website run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

If no record appears for your most recent entry, you’ll need to file Form G-325R online via U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You must file after you enter the country and before the 30-day mark. Thankfully, there’s no fee, and Canadians who register this way don’t need to be fingerprinted.

For trusted travellers, the U.S. has added admission through NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST or Global Entry processing to the list of documents that count as evidence of registration. However, owning a NEXUS card isn’t enough on its own — you must have used it at a NEXUS lane or kiosk during your most recent entry.

Skipping this step can be risky. Under the federal rule, willfully failing to register can bring a fine of up to US$5,000, up to six months in jail or both. Separately, registered visitors 18 and older must carry proof at all times; failing to do so can bring a fine of up to US$5,000, 30 days in jail or both.

Could a long winter stay trigger a U.S. tax bill?

Registration is an immigration rule. Taxes are a separate matter.

The IRS uses a substantial presence test to determine whether someone is treated as a U.S. tax resident. You meet the test if you were in the country at least 31 days this year, and at least 183 days over three years, which counts all of this year’s days, one-third of last year’s and one-sixth of the year before that.

That math catches more people than you might expect. In the IRS’s own example, someone who spends 120 days a year in the U.S. for three straight years totals 180 days, which is just three days shy of the threshold.

Meeting the test doesn’t settle the matter, though. You can claim the ”closer connection” exception by filing Form 8840 if you meet all of the following conditions: you were in the U.S. fewer than 183 days this year, your tax home was in Canada for the entire year, you had a closer connection to Canada than to the U.S. and you haven’t applied for a green card or taken other steps toward U.S. permanent residence. You must file the form on time, or you lose the ability to claim the exception.

Snowbirds should also stay current on their U.S. filings, Kim Moody, CEO of Moodys Tax in Calgary, told BNN Bloomberg.

Overstaying is a separate risk. “If you spend too much time in the States without proper immigration status, you’re considered to be an illegal alien,” Moody said.

The penalties are steep: a three-year bar on re-entry after more than 180 days of unlawful presence, or a 10-year bar after a year or more. Both take effect once you leave the U.S.

What does the IRS already know about you?

Form 8840 keeps you out of the U.S. tax net, but it comes at a cost to your privacy. To prove your ties to Canada, the form asks about your permanent home, family, which country issued your driver’s licence, where you’re registered to vote and which organizations you belong to.

Your banking data could cross the border, too. Under a 2014 agreement tied to the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Canadian banks report accounts held by “U.S. persons” to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which shares that information with the IRS once a year. According to BMO, that label isn’t limited to U.S. citizens but includes people who spend considerable time in America, with banks analyzing details such as your address to decide. Snowbirds with a U.S. mailing address may be asked to confirm they aren’t U.S. tax residents.

Daniel Therrien, then Canada’s privacy commissioner, told a parliamentary committee in 2016 the reporting rules shouldn’t be applied too broadly. As recently as 2021, his office said it had consistently recommended that the CRA notify people when their data goes to the IRS. To know whether your account information was shared, you can ask the CRA in writing.

How long can you be away before losing provincial health coverage?

Your health plan runs on a third clock, set by your province. For example, Ontario residents who have lived in the province for more than six months can be away up to 212 days in any 12-month period and keep their Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage. Each province sets its own limits, so check which one applies to you.

Even with valid coverage, OHIP pays only very limited amounts for hospital and physician services outside Canada, which makes private travel medical insurance essential when leaving the country, regardless of the duration.

What to do now

• Cross using NEXUS if you have it, since it now counts as registration
• Check your I-94 within a few days of arriving. If there’s no record, file Form G-325R, print your proof and carry it with you
• Track your days in the U.S. (for the IRS) and outside Canada (for your health plan)
• File Form 8840 if your weighted day count reaches 183 or more and you meet the closer connection conditions. The deadline is generally June 15 for those without U.S. wages.
• Confirm your province’s absence limit and purchase travel medical insurance that covers your entire stay
• Travel with less personal data on your phone and laptop in case border agents check them
• Talk to a cross-border tax professional if you own U.S. property or aren’t sure where you stand

None of these steps requires much beyond your time — the bigger cost comes from skipping them.

All six of Canada’s major banks have nudged fixed mortgage rates higher over the past month or so. Depending on the term, some rates have climbed by up to half a percentage point. The increases kept coming this week, even though the Bank of Canada hasn’t moved its policy rate in almost a year.

That disconnect catches a lot of homeowners completely off guard. If your mortgage is up for renewal in the next few months, the next rate hike might actually be the least of your worries. It’s waiting for the renewal letter and signing whatever it offers.

Why are fixed rates rising when the Bank of Canada hasn’t hiked?

Fixed mortgage rates follow bond yields, not what the central bank does with its overnight rate. Lenders keep a laser focus on the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield when setting fixed rates. It sat around 3.62% shortly after noon on Oct. 7, according to Canadian Mortgage Trends (CMT), a mortgage industry news site. Rising oil prices and renewed inflation fears sparked another wave of bond sell-offs across global markets.

The Bank of Canada (BoC) held its policy rate at 2.25% on Sept. 2. But it also pointed out that long-term bond yields have been climbing everywhere, including Canada, and that the threat of higher inflation is creeping back up. We’ll see what happens next when they make their next rate decision on October 28.

Which big banks have raised rates — and by how much?

On Oct. 7, BMO raised its special 3-year fixed rate by 20 basis points (0.20 percentage points) to 4.94%, CMT reports. Its standard 5-year fixed rate rose by that same amount to 5.14%, and its insured 5-year high-ratio rate moved up 15 basis points to 4.99%. Scotiabank also pushed its 2-year fixed rate up to 5.14%.

Earlier in the week, RBC raised fixed rates by 10 to 20 basis points across its 1- to 5-year terms. It also trimmed its discount on new 5-year variable mortgages.

TD and RBC have been setting the pace since early September, bumping up several terms by as much as 40 to 50 basis points. CIBC isn’t far behind, raising most of its terms by about 20 basis points. BMO, National Bank and Scotiabank have mostly moved 10 to 30 basis points.

Keep in mind that these figures only cover the banks’ own advertised rates. Mortgage brokers work separately, so their rates might look a bit different.

What could a half-point jump cost at renewal?

In this hypothetical example, a homeowner has $400,000 left on their mortgage and 22 years remaining on their amortization. At 4.64%, monthly payments would be about $2,411. At 5.14%, they’d rise to roughly $2,521. That’s about $110 more a month, or roughly $6,600 more over a 5-year term.

Not everyone will get hit with the full increase, since the size and timing of these hikes depend on the bank and the mortgage term you choose. But the numbers prove just how much difference a few weeks can make.

Do you have to renew with your current lender?

No, and switching may be easier than you think. The FCAC is Canada’s federal regulator focused on protecting consumers and keeping financial institutions in line. Its renewal guidance says you’re free to take your mortgage elsewhere if another lender offers a better fit. Federally regulated lenders have to send you a renewal notice at least 21 days before your term is up. If you don’t take action, your mortgage might automatically renew — whether you like the rate or not.

Uninsured borrowers also face one less hurdle. In late 2024, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s federal banking regulator, dropped the stress test for straight switches. A straight switch just means moving your mortgage to a new lender without changing your loan amount or your payoff schedule.

That said, the FCAC points out that a new lender still has to approve your file — and they might look at things differently than your current bank. Any hits to your income or credit score since you first got the loan could limit your choices.

What to do now

• Find your maturity date and start talking to lenders now if it’s within the next four months
• Check with your existing lender and at least one competitor to see if they’ll lock in a rate while you consider your options, and clarify how long that rate hold stands
• Get a quote from a mortgage broker to compare against bank-advertised rates
• Give your renewal notice a close read so you don’t accidentally get rolled over into a rate you didn’t pick
• Compare term lengths, not just rates — RBC’s smaller variable discounts show pricing is shifting across products

Christopher Liew, a CFP and CFA charterholder, argues the 21-day notice requirement shouldn’t set your timeline. As he puts it in a column on mortgage renewal traps, “it’s the legal minimum, not a helpful timeline.”

The audience that tuned in was tiny. An estimated 27,000 viewers watched the men’s Canada Super60 match in overnight ratings, and the women’s final drew about 19,000. Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s NHL game in the same window drew roughly 1.45 million.

On a ratings sheet, that’s a flop. But the decision behind it says a lot about who CBC wants to reach, why the biggest sports are moving behind paywalls and what Canadians will shell out in order to keep watching.

Why did CBC put cricket in hockey’s old time slot?

CBC lost access to the NHL after Rogers Communications, which owns Sportsnet and holds national rights under a 12-year, $11-billion deal, didn’t renew the sub-license that let CBC air NHL games on Hockey Night in Canada. That deal is more than double Rogers’ previous $5.2-billion agreement.

As a result, the network filled the slot with CBC Sports Primetime, a weekly show that will rotate through sports including hockey, cricket, figure skating and curling. The show opened Saturday night with the Canada Super60, a professional T10 cricket league, live from BC Place in Vancouver.

CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson told Juno News that the league was “a unique and rare opportunity for us to offer live, world-class cricket.”

“As a new Olympic sport, with a major event being held in Canada, the Super60 was a strong option for us to consider in our schedule as we bridge from summer to winter sports,” he added.

Why would a network accept ratings that low?

Part of the answer is money. Veteran TV critic Bill Brioux says that CBC can now sell advertising in its Saturday primetime slot, since the network had been shut out of that revenue stream for more than a decade under its hockey arrangement with Rogers.

Then there are the Olympic Games. Cricket returns to the Games at LA28 after a 128-year hiatus, and CBC is Canada’s Olympic broadcaster. The network’s coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games reached 30.5 million viewers in Canada, so building audiences for Olympic sports is central to its strategy.

Demographics play a role, too. Many South Asian Canadians have roots in countries where cricket is the top sport. In 2021, they were the country’s largest racialized group, at nearly 2.6 million people or 7.1% of the population, according to Statistics Canada. The federal agency projects that group could reach 4.7 million to 6.5 million people by 2041.

What does this shift mean for your wallet?

The pattern is becoming clear: as major leagues command ever-bigger rights fees and viewers cover those costs through subscriptions, free TV will go to the sports broadcasters can still afford.

Watching every national NHL game now means paying two companies. Alongside Sportsnet, Prime Video holds exclusive Wednesday-night national games, which are available to Prime members at no extra cost.

CBC’s free lineup, on the other hand, is growing. Hockey Night in Canada returns Dec. 5 with the first of eight primetime Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) games, when the Montreal Victoire face PWHL Hamilton.

What to do now

Before you renew or add a sports subscription now that NHL games have left CBC’s ice:

• List the leagues and games you actually watched last season
• Check the live sports schedule on CBC Gem before paying for a new service
• Confirm whether someone in your household already pays for Amazon Prime
• If you only follow the regular season, opt for monthly billing and set a reminder to cancel

One quiet Saturday won’t decide whether cricket belongs in primetime. But it reveals the trade-off Canadians now face: pay up for the biggest leagues or follow the sports broadcasters can still offer for free. CBC is betting that if it airs these sports, viewers will come. As Chris Wilson, CBC’s executive director of sports and Olympics, points out, the PWHL partnership offers “free access to world-class hockey.”

That budget-friendly, close-to-home autumn trip isn’t as cheap as it was last year. Gas prices have bumped up, free national park days are done for the season and some popular photo destinations are now charging for parking.

The upside? With some planning, Canada’s fall scenery remains one of the best travel bargains around, and a few of the prettiest spots cost nothing at all.

Fall travel is all the rage — and costly

Interest in domestic trips is surging. Searches for Canadian fall stays have increased 25% year over year, according to fall travel trend data from Airbnb, with rural stays up by almost 30%. Searches from Gen Z travellers and families have surged by nearly 40%.

Getting there, however, is going to be more expensive. Gasoline prices were up 22.8% year over year in August, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) from Statistics Canada, which highlighted the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as a main driver. Prices for travel tours also climbed 26.1% over the same period, according to an inflation analysis by TD Economics.

Parks Canada’s free-admission Canada Strong Pass ended Sept. 7, with regular fees resuming the next day.

If you’re looking for a picturesque and cozy getaway that fits your budget, look no further than these seven destinations.

Assiniboine Forest, Manitoba: free to explore

This municipal nature park in Winnipeg has its own herd of white-tailed deer. There’s no admission fee to hit the aspen-oak trails here, which keeps it among the most budget-friendly fall spots on the list.

Main Street, Unionville, Ontario: a scenic stroll

The historic thoroughfare in Markham, Ont., is the closest thing to a Gilmore Girls set in Canada, with tree-lined street that glow red and orange in the fall. The stroll itself won’t cost you a thing. The real test is the cozy cafes and boutique shops along the way, so set a spending limit before you head out.

Smoky Lake, Alberta: a small-town day trip

Located a little over an hour northeast of Edmonton, Alberta’s official “Pumpkin Capital” offers Pumpkin Park, a golf course and scenic waterways perfect for autumn paddling. For Edmontonians, it’s a short enough drive to keep fuel costs in check, even with higher prices at the pump.

Kananaskis Country, Alberta: $15 a day to park

Situated about an hour west of Calgary, this spot features stunning golden larches, though you’ll need a Kananaskis Conservation Pass to park. It costs $15 a day or $90 a year for each personal vehicle; parking without one can trigger a $150 fine, CBC News reported.

If you think you’ll be back, the math is straightforward: the annual pass pays for itself by your sixth visit.

Jacques-Cartier National Park, Quebec: book access in advance

Driving about 30 minutes outside Quebec City will bring you to this glacial valley run by Sépaq, the provincial agency that looks after Quebec’s national parks.

Sépaq caps daily visitor numbers, so secure your access authorization before you go. You can book up to 30 days ahead. Frequent visitors can buy an annual card for $51.50 per adult for one park or $93 per adult for the full network. Kids 17 and under get in free.

Meat Cove, Nova Scotia: budget for the national park

Tucked away at the northern tip of Cape Breton Island, this remote community serves up unbelievable views of cliffs, forests and the ocean. Most people get there along the Cabot Trail, with about a third of the drive winding right through Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Daily admission is $10 per adult or $19.50 per family, and youth 17 and under get in free. A family Discovery Pass costs $167.50 and covers Parks Canada places nationwide. For a family, it beats daily fees by the ninth day.

Dempster Highway, Yukon and Northwest Territories: the splurge

For an unforgettable road trip, consider the Dempster Highway, which runs 734 kilometres from the Klondike Highway near Dawson City all the way up to Inuvik. The surrounding tundra shows off its brilliant fall colours earlier than almost anywhere else.

It’s also the most expensive trip on this list to do safely. The first gas station northbound is at Eagle Plains, 369 kilometres in, according to The Milepost, a long-running guide to northern highways. Travel Yukon, the territory’s tourism agency, describes Eagle Plains as a small but necessary stop on a route with few services.

Make sure to budget for pricier gas and remote lodging, pack a full-size spare tire and leave yourself plenty of extra time in case road conditions slow you down.

What to do now

• Price the drive first. Use current pump prices to estimate the fuel cost of a road trip.
• Do the math for a pass. If you plan on visiting a park half a dozen or more times this year, grabbing an annual pass will usually save you money over daily entry fees.
• Take advantage of youth perks. Kids 17 and under get into Parks Canada places free.
• Consider a weekday trip. Fall is the top season for weekend getaways, so midweek visits may mean thinner crowds.

The cheapest fall trip is often the one closest to home, and the most expensive is the one you didn’t price out.

“Investor confidence is fundamental to the integrity of Ontario’s capital markets,” OSC spokesperson Curtis Lindsay told Money.ca.

“Illegal insider trading and other forms of market misconduct undermine confidence in the market by giving some participants an unfair advantage, which can discourage investor participation and weaken trust in our capital markets.”

The cases highlight a risk for anyone who encounters confidential market information through their job: using it for trading or passing it along to others can lead to serious consequences.

What exactly happened?

John Natividad and Harpreet Saini worked as software developers at Intrado Corp., a newswire distribution service that operates GlobeNewswire. Their jobs gave them access to corporate press release information before it was publicly released.

Between May 2018 and July 2021, the pair repeatedly traded ahead of corporate announcements, according to the OSC. Both later pleaded guilty.

Natividad was sentenced this September to 90 days in jail, a $450,000 fine and two years of probation. The fine includes a mandatory 25% surcharge on the original $360,000 fine.

Saini was sentenced in September 2025 to six months less a day in jail and ordered to pay $1,149,114.93, covering disgorgement of his trading profits and an additional $100,000. With the mandatory 25% surcharge, his total comes to just over $1.4 million. Saini is also subject to various trading bans for 10 years pursuant to the Securities Act.

Natividad’s case involved trading on 234 unpublished press releases, while Saini traded based on 497 unpublished releases, according to OSC enforcement announcements.

Do you have to be an executive to face insider-trading rules?

No. The OSC says insider-trading rules apply to all insiders, not just executives or those required to file formal insider reports.

Insider reporting is a disclosure requirement that applies to certain people with access to material undisclosed information. Insider-trading rules, however, prohibit improperly trading while in possession of certain undisclosed information.

The Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal has also addressed the risks employees face when they encounter confidential market information through their work. In a March 2025 settlement with Thomas John Finch, the Tribunal said Finch had access, through his employment, to confidential information, which he used to trade in the securities of Liberty Health Sciences.

What if you see confidential information at work?

If you come across market-sensitive information at work, the basic rule is straightforward: don’t trade on it or pass it along to others.

The OSC told Money.ca that illegal insider trading and tipping can result in monetary penalties, disgorgement of profits, trading bans and director and officer bans, among other regulatory and quasi-criminal consequences. As the Natividad and Saini cases show, those consequences can include jail time.

If you become aware of a potential violation of Ontario securities law, including suspected insider trading or tipping, you can report it to the OSC through its Whistleblower Program. The program offers confidentiality protections and awards of up to $5 million for eligible tips that lead to successful enforcement outcomes.

Now car insurance rate stability is an election issue.

A letter from Conservative Party of BC Leader, Lorne Doerkson, addressed openly to lawyers and insurance industry groups, says his party would replace the no-fault model run by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), the Crown corporation that sells mandatory basic auto coverage in the province.

Opponents of the idea warn that drivers’ auto insurance premiums could double — potentially overnight. The Conservatives say that figure is unsupported.

With B.C. residents heading to the polls Oct. 24, here’s what to know about the proposal and the claims.

What are the BC Conservatives actually proposing for ICBC?

In a Sept. 29 letter to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the Law Society of British Columbia, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia and the Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. branch, Doerkson committed to legislation in a Conservative government’s first year that would overhaul auto insurance across the province. He explained that this proposed legislation would restore the ability of seriously injured crash victims to sue.

According to Doerkson, this plan is a “hybrid” model, which combines no-fault benefits with some right to sue opportunities.

As Doerkson explains: “It will keep rates affordable for drivers and protect people seriously hurt by reckless drivers. Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador all run hybrid models. We can learn from them and do better.”

He continues, writing that “everything’s on the table, including opening auto insurance to private competition.” He also argued that people seriously hurt by reckless drivers deserve “their day in an independent court.”

What Doerkson’s open letter didn’t offer is an estimate of how much premiums will increase — and he didn’t commit to private competition, but framed it as an option.

When questioned, further, by reporters, Doerkson responded saying there are ”no promises” about the plan.

Where does the ‘rates could double’ warning come from?

The warning of possible spiking insurance premiums comes from MoveUP, a union representing about 5,000 ICBC workers, in an open letter released on Oct. 6, 2026. B.C. Premier David Eby has made the same claim.

MoveUP points to a 2022 Ernst & Young (EY) study, commissioned by ICBC, that compared 30 driver profiles across nine provinces. For an 18-year-old male novice driving a 2012 Honda Civic, average premiums were $2,551 in B.C. versus $5,936 in Alberta. For a 37-year-old driving a 2021 Tesla Model 3, average premiums were $1,855 in B.C. versus $4,200 in Alberta. Keep in mind, those weren’t theoretical gaps — but real people and real dollar differences, depending on the province of residence.

Despite this real-world data, there’s no certainty that a B.C. hybrid system would cost twice as much.

Why did B.C. switch to no-fault insurance in the first place?

Before 2021, ICBC was losing billions, which Eby once called a “financial dumpster fire.” The changes meant that Enhanced Care, ICBC’s no-fault model, removed the option for most injury lawsuits — legal suits often awarded to pay for care and recovery benefits regardless of who caused the crash. According to the B.C. government, the switch saved the average customer $496 — about 28%, on average. Since the switch, eligible customers have also received $640 in five rebates, worth roughly $2.7 billion in total.

The tradeoff is that in most cases, you can’t sue an at-fault driver for pain and suffering.

This is the part of the system that isn’t working, says Doerkson — making it “very challenging” for some injured B.C. residents.

But B.C. Transportation Minister, Mike Farnworth, counters Doerkson’s claim that legal action is the best option. Under the old system — when legal claims were allowed — claimants could wait years for a court ruling and lose roughly a third of a settlement to legal fees.

Is Alberta really the cautionary tale?

The Conservatives’ letter names Alberta and Ontario among the hybrid models B.C. could learn from, but Alberta, a private-insurance province, is actually moving in the opposite direction.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, Alberta switches to a Care-First system that pays benefits regardless of fault. It sharply limits lawsuits, mainly to catastrophic injuries and drivers convicted of criminal offences.

In other words, the province held up as proof that private insurance works are actually trying to take most litigation out of its system.

What to do now

Nothing changes before your next renewal. ICBC’s basic rates are frozen through the 2026-27 fiscal year, and any overhaul would require new legislation.

In the meantime:

• Shop your optional coverage. Private insurers already compete with ICBC on optional coverage, so get quotes at renewal.
• Review your Enhanced Care benefits. Check how ICBC’s basic coverage handles income replacement. If others depend on your paycheque, consider whether disability or life insurance would fill any gaps and then find policies that are cost effective.
• Plan ahead for young drivers. The EY comparison found the widest premium gaps for novice drivers, so families adding a teen should factor in possible changes (and, more than likely, increases to their annual auto insurance premiums).
• Question the ‘facts’ laid out by campaigning candidates. Any party proposing a new system should be able to estimate what it would cost drivers — and who these changes will actually benefit.

The question at the root of this political debate is whether expanded court access is worth a potentially higher premium, and how much higher. Neither side has answered that with current or realistic projected numbers. Even the insurance industry concedes the math hinges on litigation. As the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Aaron Sutherland said of Alberta’s reforms, the more lawyers are involved, “the less likely that drivers will save.”

“I was shocked because the whole line of credit was used,” Singh told CTV News. Someone was able to open the Scotiabank credit line, request a physical client card and pick it up at a branch in Milton, ON. Singh said he has never visited that location.

After four months of trying to resolve it himself to no avail, Singh eventually contacted CTV News for help. Once the news outlet reached out to the bank, the $35,000 was fully refunded.

Singh’s case isn’t an isolated event, as fraud tied to new credit applications is climbing in Canada. Here’s how it happens, how you can avoid it and what to do if you fall victim.

How can a scammer open credit in your name?

Equifax Canada, one of the country’s two major credit bureaus, regularly tracks this kind of fraud, since such fraud can negatively impact your credit score. It reports that credit card application fraud reached a rate of 0.91% in the second quarter of 2026, an 8% increase year-over-year, and was driven primarily by third-party identity theft. Put another way, that works out to roughly nine in every 1,000 applications submitted.

“It’s primarily driven by identity theft,” Carl Davies, head of fraud and identity at Equifax Canada, told CTV News. He notes that Canadians are handing over personal details by clicking links, scanning QR codes and responding to texts they shouldn’t; bad actors then use that information to fraudulently apply for credit in someone else’s name.

While this can happen to anyone, some Canadians are affected more than others. According to Equifax’s findings, scammers disproportionately target Canadians aged 56 to 65.

Why might you miss it?

Most fraud alerts are built around unusual spending on cards you already carry. A brand-new account is a little different — there’s no spending history for anything to look unusual against, and it may not prompt any notifications from your financial institution. Singh caught the fraud only because he had checked his balances personally.

When you finally notice, the credit may already be maxed out, and it can then take months of calls and paperwork to prove the debt isn’t yours.

Should you freeze your credit?

Ontarians have a powerful new tool at their disposal as of July 1 — they can place a free Credit Lock, also called a credit freeze, on their Equifax report. While it’s in place, the company is legally barred from sharing their credit information with lenders considering any new credit product. The lock also doesn’t affect their credit score. Equifax previously activated the same option for Quebec residents in 2023.

Under Ontario’s regulation, credit bureaus must place a freeze within two business days of an online request or five business days of a phone request. The nation’s other major credit bureau, TransUnion, has until July 1, 2027, to roll out the credit freeze.

There are some trade-offs to be mindful of. You’ll need to lift the freeze before applying for new credit, or your application may be declined. Additionally, a freeze may not stop every scenario, such as credit products you already have being used fraudulently — e.g., someone obtaining your credit card information to buy a plane ticket.

If you live outside Ontario and Quebec, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has relevant and useful guidance. It recommends asking both Equifax and TransUnion to place a fraud alert on your file, which alerts lenders to contact you to confirm your identity before approving any credit application.

What if your bank says you owe the money?

Start by filing a formal complaint through your financial institution’s internal process, keeping a detailed written record of every call. Banks must deal with customer complaints within 56 days.

If your issue isn’t resolved by then, or you’re unhappy with the outcome, you can ask the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) to review it. It’s an independent organization and has been the sole external complaints body for all federally regulated banks since Nov. 1, 2024.

Community Legal Education Ontario advises the public to file a police report and keep a record to share with your bank and the credit bureaus. It also recommends reporting the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) online or at 1-888-495-8501.

What to do now

• Check your online banking regularly for accounts or products you didn’t open
• Pull your Equifax and TransUnion reports periodically to look for unfamiliar accounts or credit inquiries
• If you live in Ontario or Quebec, place a free freeze with both bureaus (in Ontario, TransUnion has until July 2027 to offer it)
• If you live elsewhere, ask both bureaus to add a fraud alert to your file
• Don’t click links or scan QR codes that come from unsolicited texts

The pressure point is diesel, the fuel that moves food by truck and ship from farms and ports to store shelves. A global energy shock is driving diesel prices sky-high, and food experts warn we could see those extra costs hit grocery bills right as Canada’s harvest season wraps up.

For stretched households, there may be a short window to rethink how — and what — you buy before winter prices catch up.

Why are grocery prices still climbing if inflation is cooling?

Grocery inflation eased to 2.8% in August, according to Statistics Canada. That’s the first time in more than two years it came in below the overall inflation rate.

Remember that slowing inflation doesn’t mean prices are dropping; it simply means they aren’t rising as fast. In August, grocery prices were 29% higher than five years earlier, according to StatCan, with beef and coffee among the biggest jumps.

“We’ve seen this cumulative effect of price increases over time that has built this sustained pressure on Canadian households,” Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, told The Canadian Press.

How does a 75% jump in diesel end up in your grocery cart?

StatCan data shows diesel prices were up a massive 75% year-over-year in August. The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have choked off oil shipments and disrupted global fertilizer supplies.

In summer, more staples come from Canadian farms, which keeps shipping costs down. That buffer disappears as the weather gets colder and we start relying more on imported food from the U.S. and overseas. Fresh veggies travelling long distances in refrigerated trucks will probably take the hardest hit.

“Thanksgiving is all about celebrating what we’re producing in Canada,” von Massow said. “So it is the price increases we’ll see beyond Thanksgiving that I think we need to pay attention to.”

What else could push food prices higher this winter?

Randall Bartlett, deputy chief economist at Desjardins, told Canadian Press that a strong loonie earlier this year and Ottawa’s removal of counter-tariffs in September 2025 helped ease grocery prices.

But the Canadian dollar has taken a hit against the U.S. dollar recently, which only makes bringing goods across the border even more expensive. A renewed trade dispute has also brought Canadian retaliatory tariffs on some agricultural parts and machinery — a new cost for farmers heading into harvest.

“We think there is a confluence of forces that’s likely to lead food inflation higher going forward,” Bartlett said.

Grocers try to hold prices steady, and many transportation contracts are set months in advance, Michael Mulvey, a marketing professor at the University of Ottawa, told CP. Because of that lag, higher costs take a while to hit store shelves — and take even longer to disappear.

Who will feel the squeeze first?

Lower-income households are bearing the brunt, according to Amar Singh, head of Canadian retail insights at Kantar, a global market research firm, told Canadian Press. “Their wages haven’t kept up with the increase in prices. That erodes their disposable income,” he said.

A turkey dinner with all the fixings for four is expected to cost $35.72 this Thanksgiving, up 10% from $32.48 last year, according to Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, a research group that tracks food prices.

What to do now

The goal isn’t to panic-buy but to use the next few weeks wisely.

• Use StatCan’s Personal Inflation Calculator to see how fast your own household costs are rising
• Stock up on non-perishables and freezer staples you know you’ll eat, but don’t bother buying things that will just sit around and spoil
• Buy Canadian-grown produce while it’s in season, and lean on frozen or canned vegetables this winter
• Compare flyers and look for in-store markdowns
• Trade down where it won’t hurt, such as store brands on pantry basics or cheaper cuts of meat
• Adjust your grocery budget today so a higher bill in January doesn’t end up sitting on your credit card

Price increases aren’t guaranteed, especially if oil prices soften or the Canadian dollar recovers. However, the underlying risks are growing, and taking small preventive steps now will save you from a major headache later.

Clients of Questrade recently learned that the Toronto-based online brokerage would allow them to connect their trading accounts to AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT. This allows the AI models to analyze a client’s portfolio holdings, research market data and initiate orders.

The ability to transact on your behalf is part of Questrade’s Flows program — a tool that turns a strategy described in plain language into an automation that can run and transact on behalf of the client.

For investors, Questrade’s introduction of AI-led order execution is a big leap away from an individual investor asking a chatbot for a list of the best assets to hold in a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). But before you give any artificial learning model or algorithm access to your savings, it’s critical to understand how Questrade’s recent launch builds upon the current use of AI in the personal finance industry.

How are Canadians already using AI to manage money?

In a 2024 survey by the Bank of Montreal (BMO), 33% of Canadians said they use AI to help manage their finances, rising to 55% among Gen Z. Among those users, 42% said they use it to identify new investment strategies, even though 68% confessed that AI missed the emotional triggers and lifestyle decisions that can influence financial planning.

While a significant portion of Canadians are adopting AI as a planning tool, financial institutions are moving even faster. A joint report from Canada’s federal banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) found that 70% of federally regulated financial institutions expected to be using AI by 2026.

Which Canadian firms use AI for analysis, planning and trading?

Most AI in Canadian finance works behind the scenes or with a professional in the loop.

That means AI is already integrated into many of the finance brands Canadians currently use and trust. To appreciate the proliferation of AI among Canadian financial firms, here’s a few examples:

Trading: RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada (TSXL RY), runs Aiden, an electronic trading platform for institutional clients that uses deep reinforcement learning to adapt to changing market conditions in real time.

Analysis: Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD) launched TD AI Prism in June 2025, an in-house foundation model designed to predict customer needs and personalize banking. TD says the model runs on its secure cloud platform, so customer data doesn’t leave the bank.

Planning: d1g1t, a Toronto-based wealth technology provider, launched a connector on July 20, 2026 that lets financial advisors ask Claude, ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to pull a household’s holdings, summarize year-to-date performance or flag mandate breaches.

Retail investing: Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based online investment platform, says it uses AI in chat assistants, voice agents and analysis tools. But its own disclosure notes these tools can’t consider your individual financial situation, goals or risk tolerance.

What sets Questrade’s move apart is that it places a general-purpose AI assistant — one you choose — directly between you and the market. Not only is the AI tool not proprietary to Questrade — so investing analysis isn’t the sole function — but there’s no professional vetting or checking what the AI chat advises.

What safeguards exist when AI touches your trades?

Questrade says its AI connection can’t skip an order preview and can’t place, change or cancel an order without your approval on its mobile app. Plus, any sign-in to your account is through Questrade’s own login page, so the AI tool never sees your password.

Still, the fine print included with this launch is something you need to pay attention to. Questrade states that an AI agent’s responses, analysis and orders come from that agent, not Questrade, and aren’t Questrade’s advice or recommendation. It also says it doesn’t control, monitor or take responsibility for how your AI agent uses your data.

What safeguards exist within the industry?

To be clear, using or not using AI doesn’t exempt a firm from following financial rules and regulations. Guidance from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella group of provincial and territorial securities regulators, says responsibility for trade execution doesn’t change when AI is used, and that recommendations must suit the client based on know-your-client information. That framework governs registered firms — not the chatbot you connect to your account.

But that doesn’t mean AI-initiated trades aren’t valid. Canadian investors need to know: If an AI-assisted trade goes badly, there’s no backstop. The Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), which protects client property if a member firm fails, doesn’t cover losses due to poor advice or drops in an asset’s value (for any reason).

So, should Canadians trust AI with their financial future?

At the crux of the AI debate is how easy these tools are to use: Making it easier than it should be to set up and execute.

In an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) experiment, Canadians decided how to invest a hypothetical $20,000. They followed a suggestion from an AI tool about as closely as one from a human provider. OSC interpreted this as Canadians showing how receptive they are to AI advice.

Fraudsters know this. The CSA has warned that scammers use AI to make fake investment ads look legitimate, and that images, voice calls and video meetings can all be AI-manipulated.

So, should you let AI near your portfolio?

For many investors, AI works best as a fast research assistant, not as a ‘free’ advisor. It can summarize your holdings, compare exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or poke holes in an idea in seconds. Used in this way, the decisions about where and when to invest — and the risks — remain in your domain.

But what about letting AI review current market data and then transact and trade based on your strategy?

Questrade: Two models, two levels of risk

Questrade’s ability to connect your account to Claude or ChatGPT is the simple, straightforward use of AI as a tool — AI suggests and the customer approves. Once connected, the chatbot can read your account and market data and draft an order, but nothing reaches the market until you tap approve.

However, the real innovation — and potential risk — is in Questrade’s secondary offering. According to Questrade’s release, its ‘Flows’ program allows you to describe a strategy in plain language, and it will build the automation and place the trades on your behalf.

Before you connect AI to your investment account

Regardless of how much you choose to rely on AI to help you execute your investing strategy, there are a few smart steps to take to protect your privacy and your finances:

• Start with read-only access. Questrade, for example, separates read permissions from trade permissions
• Never paste a password or account number into a chat window
• Check every figure the AI gives you against your actual account statement
• Track your TFSA and RRSP room yourself, since an AI linked to one account may miss contributions made elsewhere
• Verify any platform or person offering investments at AreTheyRegistered.ca

Survey methodology

The BMO Real Financial Progress Index survey was conducted by Ipsos from June 3 to June 20, 2024, among a sample of 2,500 Canadian adults aged 18 and older drawn from the Ipsos panel. Quotas and weighting were used so the sample reflects the Canadian population according to census parameters. The survey has a credibility interval of +/- 2.4%, 19 times out of 20.

The answer was no. He was too young.

Two years later, after symptoms started to surface, the Vancouver man was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was 35. To add to the challenges Dhalla faced with his own diagnosis, his mother passed away from ovarian cancer around the same time.

Dhalla has since turned his frustrating experience into an at-home screening test. His story also raises a question most people in their 30s never ask: if a serious diagnosis shows up decades early, can your finances absorb it?

Why are younger Canadians being told they’re too young to screen?

Dhalla’s experience with accessing screening comes down to age cutoffs. “I asked for a colonoscopy and I asked for screening,” he told CTV News.

Screening rules are set by provincial governments. Ontario and Prince Edward Island have lowered their colorectal screening age to 45, but thresholds vary across the country.

The risk picture is also shifting. Dr. Anu Ghuman, Dhalla’s surgeon, says Canadians born in 1980 or later face 2x to 2.5x the risk of colorectal cancer before 50 that their parents faced at the same age.

Dhalla’s answer was to develop his own fecal immunochemical test (FIT), a kit that detects hidden blood in stool and can be completed at home. He says it reads much like a rapid Covid-19 test: one line is negative and two lines are positive.

What does a cancer diagnosis actually cost Canadians?

Many Canadians assume our public health care system absorbs the cost of cancer. Hospital care, surgery and chemotherapy are covered, but there’s still other costs to consider.

The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), a national charity that funds research and patient support, estimates the average person with cancer will face $32,778 in lifetime costs, after the government has covered their portion. That figure includes $16,018 in out-of-pocket expenses such as take-home drugs, travel and accommodation. It also includes $11,199 in time costs and $5,560 in indirect costs such as lost income.

For someone in their 30s, the timing is especially impactful. These are the years of mortgage payments, young kids and early RRSP and TFSA contributions. A diagnosis can interrupt all three at once.

How much income will government programs replace?

The federal safety net helps, but there are limits. Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits pay up to 26 weeks at 55% of your insurable earnings, capped at $729 a week.

For example, someone earning $90,000 a year makes about $1,730 a week. At 55%, they would qualify for about $952 a week, but the cap holds them to just $729. That replaces roughly 42% of their gross pay, and only for about six months.

The tax system offers some relief as well. The Canada Revenue Agency lets you claim the medical expense tax credit (METC) on eligible expenses above the lesser of $2,834 (for the 2025 tax year) or 3% of your net income. It’s non-refundable, so it reduces the tax you owe rather than putting cash in your pocket.

For many families, that can leave a gap that only workplace benefits, private insurance or savings can fill.

What to do now

• Confirm and write down your family’s cancer history and bring it to your doctor, because a family history can be grounds to discuss earlier screening
• Don’t wait for screening age if you have symptoms such as bleeding, bowel changes or fatigue, and see a doctor as soon as possible
• Check workplace benefits for short-term and long-term disability coverage and how much of your salary each one replaces
• Price critical illness insurance while you’re young and healthy, since it pays a lump sum on diagnosis but may exclude pre-existing conditions
• Maintain an emergency fund that can cover the gap between EI and your actual expenses
• Keep receipts for prescriptions, parking and travel to treatment so you can claim the METC

Dhalla couldn’t change his province’s screening rules, so he built a workaround. Most of us can’t invent a medical device, but we can do the financial equivalent. Know your risk, ask early and make sure your income has a backup before you need one.

Now, some of the biggest brands in the country want in on that secondhand market. Lululemon (TSX:LULU), Canada Goose (TSX:GOOS) and Ikea all run programs in Canada that buy back customers’ used items and put them up for sale again. The rationale for many of these brands is that they want to “control the image, the presentation of that product,” explains Sid Mookerjee, an assistant professor of marketing at McGill University in an interview with CP24. The other reason is these brands want to reach shoppers who can’t or won’t pay full price.

For buyers, it’s a great way to snag high-end gear at a steep discount. The upside might not be as great for sellers, who are usually stuck with store credit instead of cash.

Here’s a breakdown of how these programs work so you can see if they’re actually worth your time.

How do brand resale programs work in Canada?

Lululemon Like New

Vancouver-based Lululemon brought its Like New resale program north to Canada in August 2026. The Canadian version launched mainly as a peer-to-peer marketplace, where customers list their own used Lululemon items and buy from each other on a Lululemon-branded site, according to Chain Store Age.

Canada Goose Generations

Toronto’s Canada Goose brought its Generations resale platform home to Canada in July 2023, operating entirely through mail-in trade-ins. You look up your item by style number to see an estimated credit range, and the assessment takes about 10 days, according to the Generations trade-in page. Once your gift card is issued, you can’t get the item back.

When the program arrived here, Canada Goose said customers could expect up to 60% of the current retail price in credit, the Canadian Press reported. Over 19,000 products were given a second life through the company’s resale and repair programs in fiscal year 2026.

Ikea Buy Back and As-Is

Ikea Canada has long sold returned and floor-model pieces in its As-Is section, and they’ve been buying back used furniture since 2019. Just check your item online for a quote, then bring it to a store to trade it in for an Ikea gift card. The company says it sold 1.6 million products through its Canadian As-Is departments last year.

At launch, the buy-back program required a free IKEA Family membership, CBC reported, and offers ranged from 20% to 50% of the original price, according to Chatelaine. Check current terms before you haul a dresser across town.

Is store credit a good deal when you sell?

Store credit only saves you money if you were already going to spend those funds on that brand (or in that store). Otherwise, you’re just paying for an excuse to shop.

The good news is that cash options still exist.

Calgary’s The Peacock Boutique Consignment, for example, can pay consignors in cash rather than store credit, explained store owner Lea Wilhelm in a CP24 interview. Plus, online marketplaces, like Facebook (NASDAQ:META) Marketplace, Kijiji or Craigslist, also pay cash, but you’ll have to do the heavy lifting yourself — making the listings, arranging meet ups and dealing with hagglers.

What if you don’t mind the in-store credit? Not a problem, but don’t forget to read the fine print. Most provinces ban expiry dates on gift cards, but exceptions can apply to cards issued for promotional purposes when the consumer didn’t pay for them, according to a summary by law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt. Trade-in credits often lack the same legal protections as store-bought gift cards, so try to use up that balance as soon as you can.

Does buying used from the brand actually save money?

Quite often buyers willing to buy lightly used items off a brand will save money — but not always. A used item is only a real deal if it actually beats the price of buying it new on sale, at an outlet, or down at your local thrift shop.

Where brand-run resale really shines is peace of mind. Canada Goose inspects and verifies every Generations piece before listing it — a huge plus when you’re dropping serious money and can’t afford to end up with a knockoff.

For lower-priced basics, a thrift store may still win on price. For big-ticket pieces, paying a little more for a verified, cleaned item can be the smarter trade-off.

What to do now

• Check an item’s trade-in value before buying it new — how much you can sell it for later is a big part of what it actually costs.
• Take store credit only if you’ll spend it at that brand within your budget
• Always stack the resale price up against current sales, outlet deals and local consignment prices before you buy.
• Read shipping, return and final-sale rules before you buy or mail anything
• When buying high-value items, stick to authenticated platforms over unverified sellers
• Spend trade-in credit promptly and keep the confirmation email

The easiest way to decide is brand loyalty. If you already shop there all the time, using their resale program to both buy and trade in can save you serious cash. But if you just want to clear out your closet for actual money, a local consignment shop or online marketplace will usually put more cash in your pocket.

Unlike TikTok traders and social media influencers, Jarislowsky never chased hot tips or market timing. His approach was almost boringly simple: buy great businesses, hold them for decades and don’t let fees and trading eat away the returns.

That simplicity is what earned him the Buffett comparison — and why his investing principles still matter. Even if most Canadians aren’t managing billion-dollar pension portfolios, today’s investor still faces the same three choices Jarislowsky faced: what to own, how long to hold it and how much to pay along the way.

How did Jarislowsky turn $150 into a fortune?

Born in Berlin in 1925, Jarislowsky started out by opening a small investment firm in Montreal, Jarislowsky Fraser & Co., using $100 of his own money and $50 from a partner. By the time he stepped back decades later, it was managing roughly $40 billion for pension funds, foundations and wealthy families, making it one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, according to The Canadian Press*.*

In its early days, the firm did field research on Canadian companies, meeting executives to size up the quality and growth prospects of each business before investing. In 2018, Scotiabank bought the firm for $950 million.

His family announced his death together with the Jarislowsky Foundation, the philanthropic organization behind more than 50 endowed chairs at Canadian universities and institutions.

What were his core investing rules?

Jarislowsky laid out his philosophy in his bestselling book The Investment Zoo. A widely shared summary of his eight rules boils down to a few key ideas:

• Own large, high-quality companies with strong management and a record of doubling earnings every five to seven years
• Favour stocks over property, bonds, gold and art for long-term growth
• Start early and hold — trade only when you’ve clearly made a mistake
• Treat bubbles as a time to take profits and slumps as a chance to buy
• Read the reports of the companies you own
• Keep costs low and be wary of high-fee mutual funds

He expected stocks to earn an average real return of 5% to 6% a year. He saw that as enough for compounding to work wonders over a working life.

Why did he warn investors about fees?

Fees are where his advice lands hardest for everyday investors, and data backs him up.

The latest SPIVA Canada Scorecard from S&P Dow Jones Indices, an index provider which tracks active fund performance, found 93.4% of Canadian equity funds underperformed their benchmarks in 2025.

The cost compounds, too. Saskatchewan’s Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA), the province’s securities regulator, illustrates that on a 5% annual return over 25 years, an investor paying a 1% fee pays $57,206 less in fees than an investor paying a 2% fee.

Jarislowsky wasn’t anti-fee; his own firm was an active manager. His point was narrower: “Don’t pay high fees for pedestrian results.”

For many DIY investors, a low-cost exchange-traded fund (ETF) or a handful of quality stocks bought through a discount brokerage puts Jarislowsky’s rule about fees into practice.

Do his rules work for every Canadian investor?

Not necessarily. Jarislowsky had a research team and decades of access to executives. Most investors don’t, and a concentrated portfolio of a few stocks carries more risk than a diversified fund if one company stumbles.

His preference for stocks over bonds also reflected a long time horizon. Retirees drawing income, or anyone who needs cash within five years, may still want bonds, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) or cash. That buffer helps them avoid selling stocks during a downturn.

Younger investors and those in their peak earning years stand to gain the most from his approach because they have the most time for compounding to work.

How can investors heed Jarislowsky’s wisdom?

You don’t need a research department to borrow from Jarislowsky’s playbook. To start, consider the following:

• Find the management expense ratio (MER) on every fund you own — anything near 2% deserves a hard look
• Count last year’s trades and ask whether each one fixed a genuine mistake
• Favour companies, or funds holding companies, with long records of earnings growth
• Decide now that a market slump means buying, not selling
• Automate TFSA and RRSP contributions so the plan runs without you
• Skim annual reports or ETF fact sheets once a year

Jarislowsky’s real edge was refusing to let money sit idle or leak away. As he explained in The Investment Zoo: “You must link your capital to investments with a predictable rate of compound growth.” That’s when your money ends up working for you.

That’s why a recent report has struck a nerve in Alberta. Leaders of a separatist group allegedly floated giving the United States a cut of the province’s crude oil royalties, plus access to fresh water, in exchange for help breaking away from Canada. Others involved deny the resources were ever discussed.

With Albertans heading to the polls on Oct. 19, the bigger question for households isn’t what was or wasn’t said. It’s what sovereignty, and the uncertainty around it, could mean for mortgage payments, pension cheques and take-home pay.

What did separatists reportedly offer the U.S.?

According to a Globe and Mail investigation, Denis Modry — co-founder of the pro-independence advocacy group Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) — said the group gave U.S. State Department officials a document outlining the benefits of Alberta sovereignty. That document included possible oil royalties and fresh water access. APP met with U.S. officials three times in 2025.

Jeff Rath, a lawyer for the group, denied that the resource proposals were discussed.

During a recent news conference, Premier Danielle Smith, who has said she’ll vote to stay in Canada, said “it’s absurd that anybody would offer something like that up that’s not theirs to offer.”

She added: “It’s a decision that Albertans would make, and I don’t think Albertans would support it.”

Why do Alberta’s oil royalties matter to your household budget?

Royalties are the province’s share of the value of oil and gas pulled from public land, meaning they’re public money. Alberta now expects to collect roughly $23 billion in non-renewable resource revenue in 2026-27, or 27% of total revenue, according to the Government of Alberta’s latest revenue forecast. That’s $9.7 billion more than it projected in February, thanks to higher oil prices.

Not only do the volatile prices show how tentative these funds can be for Albertans, but committing any share of it to another country will reduce the cushion left for public services, while putting more pressure on taxes to fill the gap.

Would separation make borrowing more expensive?

The most detailed estimates come from a report by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy — a non-partisan research institute — commissioned by the Alberta government. It models both a “smooth” separation and a “difficult” one.

In the smooth scenario, the authors expect borrowing costs will increase in the short term. Canadian loan rates are anchored to Ottawa’s top credit rating, while Alberta currently pays about 45 basis points more on its debt. For example, if a current Canadian province were to borrow money at an interest rate of 3.5%, then a separated Alberta would pay 3.95%. That difference can be significant:

• On $1 billion in debt, an additional 0.45 percentage points costs $4.5 million more in interest annually
• On $10 billion in debt, that’s $45 million more annually

It’s not just government debt that is impacted. Loans in an independent Alberta would be priced off that higher rate, which would affect lines of credit, car loans and mortgages for households and businesses alike. For example, an extra 0.45 percentage points on a $500,000 mortgage balance works out to roughly $2,250 in added interest a year.

In the difficult scenario, Alberta would have neither the Government of Canada nor the Bank of Canada standing behind it. Its credit rating would drop sharply, pushing up the interest rate it pays on its debt and, in turn, the rates households and businesses pay, which would weigh on consumption and investment. The risk would be greatest if oil prices fell, since international investors would worry about Alberta’s ability to repay. Rates could stay elevated for the long term.

In both scenarios, paycheques would also take a hit. In the smooth scenario, short-term wages would dip by $1,241 per person, but would end up $1,851 higher — but only after 20 years. In the difficult scenario, a typical worker could earn almost $5,500 less in the short term and almost $12,000 less over the long run.

What happens to your CPP, OAS and EI?

Alberta would have to replace three federal programs with its own: the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS) and Employment Insurance (EI). Even in the smooth scenario, the report’s authors expect some temporary disruption. In the difficult scenario, pension and EI payments could be significantly disrupted for a long period.

There’s a possible upside, though. Because the province’s population skews younger, an Alberta replacement for the CPP could be in a healthier position, and might allow lower contributions.

What can be done?

The vote on Oct. 19 is non-binding, according to the cabinet order formalizing the question. Choosing the second option only asks the province to begin the legal process for a future binding referendum.

Even a clear future vote wouldn’t make Alberta independent overnight, as negotiations and constitutional changes would follow, which could take years to settle. Sovereignty remains a minority view. A Research Co. poll found 74% of likely voters would choose to remain in Canada, while 22% would back initiating the process.

In the meantime, here are a few practical steps:

• Avoid reactive moves, such as selling property or shifting savings, based on headlines or hearsay
• Note your mortgage renewal date, and if it falls in the next year or two, ask your lender or broker how term length and rate type could limit your exposure to rate swings
• Download your CPP Statement of Contributions through My Service Canada Account so your records are up to date
• Read the referendum question carefully before you vote

The report’s authors are clear that no single outcome is guaranteed because oil prices, Ottawa’s response and Washington’s stance would all shape the result. But they warn that Alberta’s economy could end up weaker, and for households, that uncertainty is the real cost to plan around.

The job losses in September mark the second monthly drop in a row — and it arrives weeks before the Bank of Canada’s next rate decision on Oct. 28. That makes it the last look at the job market policymakers will get before they decide on how to use monetary policy to help the nation’s economy.

If your mortgage renewal is coming up, you’re sitting on variable-rate debt, or your industry is starting to lay off staff, timing is everything right now. But weaker hiring doesn’t automatically mean cheaper borrowing — and who is losing work may matter more than how many.

How bad was September’s jobs report?

Employment fell by 68,000 (0.3%) last month, according to the latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada (StatCan), the federal agency that tracks the country’s economy and population.

September’s job losses were split pretty evenly between full-time and part-time positions, pushing the unemployment rate up to 6.5% — right back to where it was in January.

The September job loss comes right on the heels of a 42,000-job loss in August. That means that between August and September more than half of the 181,000 jobs gained from April to July were wiped out, though overall employment is still up 95,000 year-over-year.

And there’s another warning sign. The share of Canadians working or looking for work slipped to 64.8%, the lowest level outside the pandemic in 29 years, according to Canadian Mortgage Professional, a mortgage industry trade publication. StatCan largely attributes that slide to an aging population.

Who is losing work right now?

Young Canadians got hit the hardest. Workers aged 15 to 24 lost 48,000 jobs (down 1.8%) in September alone, bringing their two-month loss to 67,000. Meanwhile, women aged 25 to 54 lost another 28,000 positions.

By industry, educational services cut 35,000 jobs, health care and social assistance shed 23,000 and manufacturing lost 13,000. To put that in perspective, education employment is now down 4.2% from a year ago.

What are causing these job losses? Economists point to a couple of likely culprits. The drop in education jobs might stem from a slowdown in international student enrollment, while CIBC Senior Economist Andrew Grantham noted that manufacturing losses could mean recent U.S. tariffs are already starting to bite.

Regionally, Quebec lost 49,000 jobs, while Ontario and British Columbia each lost 20,000. Alberta was the only major province to add jobs, gaining 23,000.

Will the Bank of Canada cut rates on Oct. 28?

There’s been quite a bit of discussion and speculation about what the Bank of Canada will do at the next rate announcement, scheduled for Oct. 28. The BoC, which sets the key interest rate driving variable mortgages and lines of credit, has stuck with 2.25% across seven consecutive rate decisions this year.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada’s consumer price index showed inflation at 3.0% in August, pushed up by gasoline prices that were 22.8% higher than a year earlier.

And that’s why September’s job losses matter. Andrew Hencic, director and senior economist at TD Economics, the research arm of TD Bank, said the recent job report will “pour some more cold water on near-term rate hike expectations.” He noted markets were pricing in roughly 27% odds of an October hike, and TD expects Canada’s central bank to hold rates, yet again, in October.

What does a rate hold mean for your money?

If you have a variable-rate mortgage or a HELOC, a hold means your interest rate isn’t moving. It doesn’t offer any relief, but at least your wallet won’t take another hit.

If your mortgage is up for renewal, keep in mind that fixed rates are driven mainly by bond yields, not the BoC’s policy rate. Plus, a weak jobs report doesn’t guarantee you’ll see lower fixed mortgage rates by the time you actually sign on the dotted line.

So, if you’re counting on a cut to ease your monthly payments, a hold on Oct. 28 would push that relief further out.

What to do now

Two bad months don’t make a recession, but they’re a good prompt to shore up your finances:

• Top up your emergency fund, especially if you work in education, health care, manufacturing, or an entry-level position
• Know what Employment Insurance (EI) would actually pay: for most people, it’s 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, to a maximum of $729 a week, according to the Government of Canada
• Pay down variable-rate debt while rates are on hold
• Start shopping your mortgage renewal early, and base your numbers on today’s actual rates instead of hoping for potential cuts down the road
• Mark Oct. 28 for the rate decision and Nov. 6, when StatCan releases October’s jobs numbers

For most households, the smartest play is to build your budget around the rates you’re looking at today. As CIBC economists put it in a note on Friday, the softness supports their view that the BoC will “remain patient and keep interest rates on hold, for now.”

Hellebuyck is absent from the Jets’ ice time because the three-time Vezina Trophy winner had asked for a trade, skipped training camp and was suspended without pay. His decision may have been prompted by his intention to free up money — not paying his salary — as leverage to get him out of Winnipeg.

Plenty of Canadians stuck in a job they’ve outgrown have flirted with a version of that move — stop showing up and make the boss deal with it. But an NHL goalie with five years left on a multimillion-dollar contract is playing a very different game than someone who needs every paycheque. And the federal safety net doesn’t treat a walkout like a layoff.

How much is Hellebuyck’s standoff costing him?

What does the Hellebuyck’s holdout actually cost? According to hellebucks.com, a fan site built by data storyteller Robson Fletcher, Hellebuyck’s 2026-27 base salary is US$7.5 million. Since NHL salaries are paid out over the 194 days of the regular hockey season, that means each day Hellebuyck sits out costs him roughly US$38,660. (To be clear, NHL salaries are often reported and paid in US currency.)

For Hellebuyck, that money doesn’t come back. Under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, a suspended player isn’t paid for as long as he stays away from the team, CTV News reports.

For the fans, the sentiment is summed up on Fletcher’s hellebucks.com site: “We’d have built you a statue. Instead we built this counter.”

And, still, Hellebuyck isn’t budging. “My position has not changed,” he said in a statement released by his agent, Ray Petkau, and reported by NHL.com.

Why can’t most Canadians copy the Hellebuyck holdout playbook?

Hellebuyck can afford to wait. He has years of NHL earnings behind him and a contract that keeps his job in place while the two sides argue.

This isn’t the case for most Canadians employees. To illustrate, let’s assume a Canadian earns CA$60,000 a year, or about CA$1,150 per week, before tax. A four-week standoff would eliminate roughly CA$4,600 in gross pay — at the same time as rent, groceries and car payments still need to be paid.

But there’s a bigger risk. An employee who simply stops showing up may be treated as having quit, with no contract forcing anyone to hold the job open.

Can you collect EI if you quit your job?

For anyone who quits a job, is it possible to collect Employment Insurance (EI)? Usually not.

According to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the federal department that runs the program, workers who quit without just cause can’t receive regular benefits.

To qualify for EI due to ‘just cause’ means that leaving your job was your only reasonable option given the circumstances — for example, facing unreasonable pressure from your employer or coworkers to quit.

Service Canada will also ask what alternatives you tried first, such as raising the problem with your manager or HR.

Even when you qualify, EI isn’t a full paycheque. The program typically replaces 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a 2026 maximum of CA$729 a week. At this point in time, Hellebuyck forfeits more than 50x that — every day.

Is there a smarter way to get leverage at work?

Whether an NHL star or an employee, real leverage is not what you walk away from but what you can move towards.

For instance, an official offer from another employer gives you a credible reason to negotiate with your current employer or an excuse for a clean exit.

If the problem is the workplace itself — harassment, unsafe conditions or unpaid overtime — document it and use internal channels first. Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO), a non-profit that publishes plain-language legal information, recommends getting legal advice before you quit for any reason.

What Canadians can do, before quitting a job

Before you make a move, run through this checklist:

1. Build a cushion first — aim for several months of essential expenses in a high-interest savings account or TFSA
2. Job hunt while you’re still employed — a signed offer beats a verbal promise
3. Put problems in writing — keep emails, notes and dates, and try your manager, HR or union before resigning
4. Check the EI rules and get advice — especially if you feel you’re being pushed out

And what about Hellebuyck?

Hellebuyck’s standoff is a gamble he can afford to lose — at least, for a while. As Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told reporters: “A contract is a contract in the National Hockey League, period.”

After Elon Musk posted that Quebec should separate from Canada, and that Alberta and Saskatchewan should follow, Prime Minister Mark Carney fired back. Canada’s future, he said, will be decided by Canadians, free from interference from foreign governments “and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.”

The spat lands at a touchy moment. Quebecers just elected a sovereigntist government, and Albertans vote Oct. 19 on a question tied to separation. It’s also not the first time Canadian governments have clashed with Musk, and some of those clashes have already cost taxpayers money.

What did Musk say and how did Carney respond?

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was reacting on Oct. 7 to a post on X about Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “Quebec should separate,” Musk wrote, adding “They would be better off.” He said Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.

Carney responded the next day while speaking to reporters in Sherbrooke, Que. “The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” he said. He named those priorities as affordability, social justice and the fight against homelessness — and building “a strong Quebec within a strong Canada.”

The Prairie premiers didn’t bite either. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s reply to Musk was simple: “No.” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government, caucus and party support Alberta remaining in Canada.

Who actually decides whether a province can leave Canada?

So who gets the final say? Not a social media post and certainly not Elon Musk. Under the federal Clarity Act, the House of Commons must decide whether a provincial secession question is clear and whether a clear majority voted for it. Without both, Ottawa can’t negotiate.

Timing is also important. The Parti Québécois won a minority on Oct. 5 with about 28% of the popular vote. St-Pierre Plamondon has said he’d hold off on a referendum until 2029 or 2030, after President Donald Trump leaves office.

Alberta’s Oct. 19 vote won’t separate the province either. Elections Alberta, the province’s independent elections agency, confirms the ballot asks whether Alberta should remain a province or start the legal process towards separation to hold a binding referendum later. Carney has said this non-binding vote doesn’t trigger the Clarity Act.

Are markets reacting to the separatism talk?

So far, not much. The Canadian dollar was little changed after Quebec’s election, according to online broker VT Markets.

Bond investors are paying closer attention. On election night, Quebec’s 30-year bonds traded more than 9 basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) above comparable Ontario debt, up from about 7 two weeks earlier. Many bond funds held in registered retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts own provincial bonds, so wider spreads can nudge prices of existing bonds lower.

For what separation itself could cost households, and how markets behaved during the 1995 referendum, see our breakdown of the University of Calgary study.

What does Carney’s ‘tech firms’ jab signal for Musk’s businesses in Canada?

Carney didn’t name Musk, specifically. But his reference to “large tech firms” follows more than a year of Canadian governments pulling back from Musk’s companies, with real costs attached.

Start with Starlink, the satellite internet service run by Musk’s SpaceX. Ontario cancelled a $100 million Starlink contract in 2025 that was meant to connect rural homes and businesses, citing Musk’s stance on the trade war. The province paid SpaceX a kill fee it called “significantly less than the contract value,” but the amount is confidential. The payout also doesn’t appear in Ontario’s latest public accounts.

Ottawa may soon follow. Carney told The New York Times last month that Canada will reduce its reliance on Starlink. “Starlink, we will diversify away from, no question,” he said at the time.

Tesla has felt the chill too. In March 2025, Ottawa froze $43 million in Tesla claims under the federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles rebate program and barred Tesla vehicles from future rounds while U.S. tariffs remain. Transport Canada later found the claims legitimately represented cars sold before the program’s cutoff.

The lesson for consumers: when politics sours a company’s relationship with the government, the incentives and contracts around its products can change quickly.

What to do now

Political fights hit your wallet in specific, practical ways. A few things to keep in mind:

• Skip trades based on posts or polls, and watch the Oct. 19 results and any Quebec referendum bill instead
• If you’re holding bond funds, check how much of your portfolio rides on a single province
• Get referendum details from official sources such as Elections Alberta, not screenshots

For now, the decisions that could move your money will be made at ballot boxes and in legislatures — not on X or Elon Musk’s mind. As Carney put it on Thursday, “A strong Canada means more independent, more sovereign, more prosperous.”

Once they left the lot, however, they began to experience buyer’s remorse, according to CTV News. They weren’t sure an EV made sense given how much they drive, the cost of insurance and the expense of installing a charger in their home. When Nagi called to cancel the contract, the dealership told him it was too late and they were keeping his deposit.

“You’re not given a choice once you put your signature on it,” Nagi told the news outlet. As a retiree, he said losing $1,000 stings even worse.

His experience isn’t unusual, and it reflects a common and costly, misconception about purchasing a vehicle in Ontario. Here’s what the rules say, when you can legally back out and how to protect yourself.

Is there a cooling-off period when you buy a car in Ontario?

Put simply: no. The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC), the provincial regulator that oversees car dealers and salespeople, says once you sign a contract to buy or lease a vehicle, unless certain conditions are met, you can’t back out. In fact, every purchase agreement in Ontario must include a statement beside your signature warning that the contract is final and legally binding once signed.

That catches many buyers off guard since the province does offer a cooling-off period elsewhere. When you sign certain contracts at home, such as a home renovation agreement, you generally have 10 days to change your mind for any reason. However, a dealership showroom doesn’t qualify.

Why can a dealer keep your deposit?

If you back out without a valid legal reason, OMVIC says a dealer has four options at their disposal:

• Refund your deposit as a gesture of goodwill
• Try to save the deal with a more suitable vehicle
• Seek compensation, known as liquidated damages, for expenses such as advertising, freight and administration. These must be reasonable and justifiable, and may mean the dealer keeps part or all of your deposit
• Sue to enforce the contract

That means a lost deposit isn’t necessarily the worst-case outcome if you do change your mind.

When can you legally cancel a car contract in Ontario?

OMVIC outlines a few situations that give buyers a legal right to a refund or cancellation — they include:

• You left a deposit but never signed a contract — the dealer must return it on request
• A written condition in the contract isn’t met, such as financing approval, a mechanical inspection or a spouse’s approval
• The dealer failed to disclose key facts required under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA), such as past use as a taxi or daily rental, or the actual distance travelled — you have 90 days from delivery to cancel
• The dealer made false, misleading or deceptive representations under the Consumer Protection Act, you have up to one year from signing to request cancellation

Notice what’s missing from these four scenarios: second-guessing the cost of a vehicle. Nagi’s worries were the kind a written condition could have covered.

What should EV shoppers check before signing?

Switching from gas to electric adds costs that don’t appear on the sticker price but show up once you start driving it daily. Before committing, make sure you get answers to these three questions:

• Does how much you drive justify the price of the vehicle you’re considering?
• Will it be more expensive to insure that specific make and model?
• How much will it cost to have an electrician install a home charging system?

OMVIC suggests first-time buyers consider a condition tied to finding the most affordable insurance. EV buyers can apply the same thinking to how their electricity bill will be affected by in-home charging.

Outside Ontario, the rules vary by province, so check with your consumer protection office before assuming you can walk away from any contract scot-free.

What to do now

If you’re still shopping:

• Don’t sign until you’re absolutely certain, and remember that a deposit without a signed contract is refundable on request
• Write your conditions into the contract, such as financing, insurance, inspection or a charger estimate; a dealer has the right to refuse, but then you know where you stand
• Get every promise in writing
• If the vehicle is being factory-ordered, confirm delivery timing in the contract

If you’ve already signed:

• Contact the dealer right away and be honest about why you want to opt out of the purchase
• Ask whether your deposit can be applied to a different vehicle of your choice
• Put your request in writing and send it via registered mail or courier, or hand-deliver it and ask for a receipt
• If you can’t resolve it, contact OMVIC’s complaints department, which can help with disputes. However, only the courts can order a dealer to return all or part of a deposit

It may be worth a second look, though. Recently, Ontario’s financial services regulator has revoked the licences of 24 mortgage brokerages. The reason had nothing to do with fraud or misconduct: the brokerages repeatedly failed to file a mandatory annual report.

For most homeowners, a revoked brokerage licence won’t make an existing mortgage void. It can, however, affect deals still in progress, fees you’ve paid and the protection you have if something goes wrong.

Why did Ontario revoke the licences?

In September, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) — the provincial agency that licenses and oversees mortgage brokerages, brokers and agents — published a list of 24 brokerages whose licences it had revoked.

Every licensed brokerage must file, by March 31, an Annual Information Return, which covers business practices, internal controls and market conditions. FSRA uses it to assess risk in the sector. According to the regulator, these brokerages ignored repeated warnings and follow-ups.

FSRA revoked 30 brokerage licences in a similar sweep in March 2024.

The brokerages that lost their licences

• 2380376 Ontario Limited
• 2523767 Ontario Inc.
• 8135045 Canada Inc.
• 9323414 Canada Inc.
• Abacus Mortgages Inc.
• Arthurs Royal Mortgages Inc.
• Bruce Rene Kotis
• Centum First Richmond Capital Inc.
• Centum Lending & Mortgages Corp.
• Excel-Mortgage Option Inc.
• Federal Mortgages Inc.
• Harry Raymond Debi
• Hill Real Estate Ltd.
• Inspiria Financial Group Ltd.
• JCI Consultants Limited
• Libertyplus Mortgage Services Inc.
• Michael John Preston
• Mr. Cash 1 Mortgage Inc
• Nationwide Mortgage Inc
• North East Mortgages Inc
• Obsidian Mortgage Corporation
• Profunding Financial Services Inc
• Public Choice Mortgage Brokerage Inc
• Rockstar Mortgage Services Inc

Is your existing mortgage at risk?

If your mortgage has already closed, the impact is likely limited. According to FSRA, a broker is only an intermediary. Your contract is with the lender, and it’s legally binding once signed.

A revocation matters more if any of these apply:

• Your application or renewal is still in progress
• You paid an up-front fee or deposit to the brokerage
• The brokerage arranged a private or alternative mortgage for you
• You invested in a mortgage, such as a syndicated mortgage, through the brokerage

In those cases, start by calling your lender directly to confirm the status of your file.

What protection do you lose with an unlicensed broker?

Licensing is what puts a regulator like FSRA in your corner; it can’t protect consumers who deal with unlicensed individuals or companies.

Even if you’re working with a licensed broker, FSRA’s reach has limits. It can’t settle contract disputes or recover money on your behalf. Instead, it will point you to independent legal advice or the Law Society of Ontario’s referral service.

Fees deserve special attention. Brokerages may charge an up-front fee or retainer on loans above $400,000, and neither should ever be paid in cash. You must ensure that the payment goes to the brokerage itself, not to an individual agent or broker.

How can you check whether your broker is licensed?

FSRA’s public registry shows the current licence status and conditions for brokerages, brokers and agents. To verify, search by legal name or licence number, both of which should appear on your paperwork.

Watch the legal name closely. Four of the revoked licences belong to numbered companies, while three are listed under individuals’ names, so the name on your documents may not match the one on the office sign.

FSRA also suggests asking any broker whether they’re licensed, how they’re paid and what risks come with the mortgage they recommend. If you require a private lender, you’ll need a Level 2 agent or a broker, not a Level 1 agent.

What to do now

• Find the brokerage’s legal name and licence number on your mortgage documents
• Search FSRA’s online registry before signing anything or paying any fee
• If your brokerage is on the list, call your lender to confirm your file
• Never pay a broker fee in cash or to an individual
• File a complaint with FSRA if you suspect unlicensed activity — contact police if you also suspect fraud

A licence check takes minutes, and it’s exactly what FSRA means when it urges borrowers to be “informed, proactive and alert when making financial decisions.”

In April, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the settlement with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and CIBC Trust Corporation to resolve claims related to trailing commissions paid to discount brokers. By agreeing to the settlement, CIBC is not admitting liability or wrongdoing.

It’s worth checking whether you qualify if you held investments in the past. You don’t have to be a current investor, and you don’t have to hold the funds through Investor’s Edge, CIBC’s proprietary brokerage.

Who qualifies for the CIBC settlement?

The settlement covers investors who held units of qualifying CIBC or Renaissance mutual fund trusts through a discount broker between Sept. 18, 2003, and Jan. 25, 2024, except for excluded persons.

While the class period extends into 2024, compensation applies only to units held on or before June 1, 2022. According to the claim form, that’s when the defendants stopped paying trailing commissions to discount brokers.

You could have held the qualifying funds through any eligible discount broker. Examples listed by the administrator include CIBC Investor’s Edge, TD Direct Investing, RBC Direct Investing, BMO InvestorLine, Questrade and Qtrade.

If a mutual fund has since changed names, merged or closed, it may also be covered. Even if you no longer hold the investment, your historical holdings could still qualify.

Keep in mind, this specific settlement doesn’t cover money held with an investment advisor. If your holdings are outside discount brokerages, the administrator points you toward a separate settlement altogether.

Why trailing commissions became an issue for DIY investors

A trailing commission is an ongoing payment a mutual fund company makes to the dealer holding an investor’s units. It’s generally paid from the fund’s management fee and compensates the dealer for ongoing services and advice.

Discount brokers carry out your trades, but they don’t provide investment advice. According to Siskinds, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, the lawsuit alleged that investors received no value for the trailing commissions paid to those brokers, even though the payments reduced the value of their investments.

Canadian securities regulators banned these payments to discount brokers effective June 1, 2022. The CIBC settlement concerns commissions paid before the ban. Whether you can claim compensation depends on which funds you held, when you held them and how you invested.

The CIBC settlement addresses historical payments. It doesn’t mean every CIBC mutual fund investor is entitled to a refund.

How much could investors receive?

There isn’t a fixed payout for each investor. According to the claim form, the net settlement amount will be divided among approved claimants in proportion to their calculated trailing commissions.

In other words, your payment depends on your qualifying holdings and the total calculated commissions of everyone whose claim is approved. You shouldn’t assume you’ll receive a full reimbursement of those commissions.

To calculate claims, the administrator requires the aggregate market value of qualifying holdings at least annually. Claimants must upload supporting records, such as brokerage statements, holdings summaries or similar documentation, and submit them with their claim. The administrator may request additional information.

The online claim form displays an example showing $3,469.13 in calculated trailing commissions for a hypothetical investor holding between $50,000 and $68,000 over a period of eight years. That figure illustrates the calculation used to determine the investor’s share of the settlement, and isn’t a promised payout.

Even if you file a claim, there’s no guarantee that you will receive compensation, as incomplete information or missing supporting records could result in rejection.

Submit your claim before Oct. 21

You can visit the official settlement website to review eligibility and access the claim portal. Make sure you gather your supporting brokerage records before you complete the form, and contact Verita Global at 1-888-808-8943 if you need help.

If you received multiple notices with different Claim IDs and PINs, the administrator says to submit each separately. Complete the final submission step and save the confirmation page and claim number as proof that you filed before the Oct. 21 deadline.

Aiden Pleterski, 27, is currently on trial before a Toronto jury, defending himself against charges of fraud over $5,000 and laundering the proceeds of the crime. He has pleaded not guilty and the allegations have not been proven in court.

While his case is extreme, his predicament isn’t unusual. A growing number of Canadians head into court without legal representation — and the reason usually has more to do with money than confidence.

Read more: 'I knew his parents': Investor scammed by 'Crypto King' testifies during trial after handing over $150K+

How did the ‘Crypto King’ end up defending himself?

Pleterski was charged in May 2024 following a joint investigation by Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the province’s securities regulator. Authorities have referred to it as their largest fraud investigation.

Initially, investors handed over about $40 million, although subsequent bankruptcy proceedings only recovered roughly $3 million. Grant Thornton, the bankruptcy trustee, found that less than 2% of the money was invested while close to $16 million went to Pleterski’s own spending, including luxury cars and a rental property in Burlington, Ont. costing $45,000 a month — an allegation he denies.

Late last month, Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru, the judge who is presiding over the case, refused his request to delay the trial so he could hire counsel, CBC News reported.

Pleterski previously hired lawyer Marco Sciarra to help bring the motion of an adjournment — a legal request to temporarily suspend a trial — early last month. At that time, Sciarra revealed that Pleterski’s extended family was willing to sell assets to pay for a defence, but their names and the asset details weren’t given to the court.

The Crown questioned whether Pleterski’s efforts had been genuine.

After denying the request, Nakatsuru said he would take an “enhanced role” in the case, including objecting on Pleterski’s behalf, telling the accused, “even though this isn’t your first choice, obviously — you will receive a fair trial.”

Why do Canadians choose to represent themselves?

For most, it’s purely a financial decision.

A week-long trial can cost between $50,000 and $80,000, according to Jennifer Leith, the executive director of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) — a research and advocacy group at the University of Windsor — during a 2023 interview with CBC News.

“When we have large legal firms at the top charging $1,000 per hour, people can’t afford that,” Leith explained.

The alternative — legal aid — doesn’t work for many middle-income households. For instance, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), the provincial agency that funds legal help for low-income residents, provides criminal certificates to eligible low-income individuals. A certificate allows someone facing criminal charges to hire a private lawyer, with Legal Aid Ontario covering approved legal fees. As of 2026, LAO limits criminal certificates to a family of one with an annual income of $18,795 or less and assets of no more than $15,000. These income limits remain in effect until spring 2028.

Given the gap — between legal aid help and paying for court out-of-pocket — many Canadians find themselves in a position to self-represent; however, many don’t start out that way.

Research by NSRLP founder Julie Macfarlane notes that 53% of participants begin legal proceedings with a lawyer but run out of money or willingness to pay. As one participant put it: “I don’t have $350 an hour to pay a lawyer.”

Other reasons, according to Justice Canada, include not being able to find a suitable lawyer, negative prior experiences, a lack of trust and, for a few, believing they can do it themselves.

What are the pros and cons of going it alone?

For ‘Crypto King’ Pleterski and others, there are pros and cons to electing to self-represent in court.

The potential upside of self-representing

Self-representation can save someone thousands or even tens of thousands in fees, especially for simpler disputes. By not using a lawyer, a person can keep full control of their case and speak for themselves. Courts also typically give unrepresented people some flexibility, such as a judge raising objections to certain evidence, as Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru pledged to do on Pleterski’s behalf.

The real risks of legal self-representation

“The data shows, big surprise, that self-reps usually lose,” Macfarlane told Law Times. NSRLP research also found that summary judgment applications against self-represented litigants succeed 98% of the time.

Procedure is another trap, as the rules of evidence, deadlines and cross-examination take lawyers years to hone. Prolonging a case unnecessarily can expose a self-represented individual to a costs award, such as having to pay part of the other side’s legal bills.

The emotional cost is real, too. Self-represented litigants generally describe the experience as anxiety-inducing and shrouded in uncertainty.

In criminal court, the stakes are even higher, given that a loss can result in prison time; the fraud charge alone Pleterski is facing carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

What you can do, if you’re facing a legal case

Regardless of what you may be accused of, the goal is to get some legal help early, before costly mistakes can occur.

• Check legal aid first: Even if you assume you earn too much, check the income threshold and any assistance programs available in your province or territory
• Book a free consultation: For example, the Law Society of Ontario’s Referral Service offers up to 30 minutes free with a licensed lawyer or paralegal
• Pay for pieces, not the whole case: Limited-scope services cover specific tasks like coaching, drafting documents or attending certain court events, and one litigant profiled by CBC paid less than a quarter of what full representation would have cost
• Review your coverage: Some group benefits and insurance policies include legal expense coverage

What this means for the case against the ‘Crypto King’

For Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed “Crypto King,” representing himself could be both a strategic opportunity and a costly gamble.

On one hand, it gives him direct control over how he presents his defence, questions witnesses and tells his side of the story.

On the other hand, navigating complex financial evidence, courtroom procedures and legal arguments without professional representation could put him at a serious disadvantage against experienced Crown prosecutors.

While Justice Nakatsuru has pledged to provide additional procedural safeguards, including raising objections when necessary, those accommodations are no substitute for an experienced defence lawyer.

Ultimately, Pleterski’s decision to represent himself could give him greater control over his defence — but it could also increase the risk of undermining his case at a time when the stakes are highest.

That calm may be ending. While the Bank of Canada (BoC) has held its policy rate at 2.25% through seven straight rate decisions — so payments tied to the prime rate haven’t budged — pressure from inflation, pervasive rising fuel prices and increased costs due to a trade war are taking a toll. Now, less than a week before the next BoC rate decision, a growing number of economists and bond traders are predicting a rate hike.

A 25 basis points hike won’t break most household budgets, but the decision to tackle inflationary pressures is key. For Canadians with debt on their balance sheet, here’s what to consider before the Oct. 28 BoC rate announcement.

Why are rate hikes suddenly back in play?

For most of 2026, everyone watched inflation numbers — breathing a collective sigh of relief when inflationary pressures began to ease and job numbers came in stronger than expected.

So, why are rate hikes suddenly back as a possibility? The short answer: Because Canada doesn’t live in a vacuum — so global events impact our domestic economy.

Consumer prices rose 3.0% year-over-year in August, matching July, according to Statistics Canada. For Canada’s central bank, that puts inflation right at the ceiling of their target — the 1% to 3% range the BoC wants when it comes to inflation. But the item that did most of the heavy lifting — when it came to price increases — was gasoline. Exclude gas from consumer pricing and the year-over-year increase is closer to 2.4% — and well within the BoC’s comfort range.

And BoC analysts warned this might happen. In their Sept. 2 rate announcement, the BoC warned that “upside risks to inflation have increased” and confirmed that the central bank is “prepared to adjust monetary policy as needed.”

As a result, rate hikes are now back in play; however, forecasters are split on timing.

According to Canadian Mortgage Professional, Scotiabank and Oxford Economics now expect an October hike, while Manulife Financial Economist, Dominique Lapointe, expects two hikes before the end of 2026. RBC sees a gradual hiking cycle starting in early 2027, and TD Economics still expects the BoC to hold for the rest of the year.

The next piece of the puzzle will be the September inflation numbers, released by Statistics Canada on Oct. 19, with the BoC’s decision to follow on Oct. 28.

What would a 1-point increase do to a variable-rate mortgage?

Variable-rate mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are priced off prime, which moves in step with the BoC’s policy rate. As of mid-October 2026, prime at the big banks is currently 4.45%.

So what would a 1% hike — equivalent to four quarter-point hikes from the BoC — cost Canadians? While an increase in prime of 1% is much greater than the tightening than most forecasters expect over the next 12 months, it does provide Canadians with an excellent stress test — and an opportunity to identify what needs to be done should rates rise rapidly.

To perform this stress test, compare the average, June 2026 variable rate mortgage — at 3.9%, according to BoC data — and calculate your mortgage payment. Then redo this calculation using a variable rate of 4.9%.

In this hypothetical example, a borrower with a $500,000 balance and 25 years left on the amortization pays about $2,612 a month. At 4.90%, that payment rises to roughly $2,894 — approximately $280 more each month, or nearly $3,400 a year.

Given that 45% of new mortgage originations in December 2025 were variable-rate loans, this means a large number of Canadians will be impacted by rising rates.

What if your payment doesn’t change?

If your payment is fixed, the cost of a hike shows up somewhere else. Some lenders offer fixed-payment variable mortgages, where your payment stays the same when rates rise but more of it goes to interest.

Using the same hypothetical $500,000 mortgage, a 1% rate increase would cut the principal portion of each payment from about $987 to $570. If that borrower did nothing else, the remaining amortization on that mortgage — the length of time before the debt is repaid — will stretch from 25 to about 31 years.

If rates climb even higher than a 1% increase, borrowers could hit their trigger rate — the point at which payments no longer cover interest. At that stage, lenders may require an increase in your monthly mortgage payment amount, or a repayment lump sum or a product change.

Homeowners with HELOCs

Keep in mind, revolving lines of credit, such as homeowner equity loans, will feel these rate hikes faster — particularly, if the borrower is only making interest-only payments.

On a hypothetical $50,000 balance at prime plus 0.5%, monthly interest would rise from about $206 to $248 — meaning the borrower is now spending an extra $500 each year on interest charges.

What to do now

A rate hike isn’t guaranteed, but given global uncertainty, now is a good time to get ahead of rising borrowing costs. To do this, here are five steps to take:

• Find out whether your mortgage is adjustable-payment or fixed-payment variable, and look up your trigger rate on your annual statement
• Calculate the impact on your budget of a 1% increase in rates
• Use prepayment privileges or bump up your regular payment now to protect your amortization
• Pay down HELOC balances but only if you don’t carry high-rate debt
• Ask your lender whether you can convert to a fixed term without penalty, and compare the rate carefully

While locking in to a fixed-rate isn’t automatically the safer bet, it can offer more security and stability for your household budget. The key is to consider whether locking in — after fixed rates have already begun to edge upwards — is a better strategy than waiting to determine the impact of a few, smaller rate increases in 2026 and 2027.

Remember, the BoC isn’t eager to tighten. As Governor Tiff Macklem put it in a Sept. 21 speech, “We don’t want to raise our policy rate and restrain growth if inflationary pressures are contained.” But if required, the BoC will act.

The timing wasn’t random. Just two days earlier, the Parti Québécois won a minority government in Quebec on a promise of a third independence referendum. And on Oct. 19, Albertans vote on whether their province should start the legal process toward separation.

For anyone with a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or tax-free savings account (TFSA) built heavily on Canadian stocks, Musk’s opinion isn’t the real question. What matters is whether political noise, from a trillionaire or a ballot box, is about to show up in the loonie, in provincial bonds or in your portfolio.

What exactly did Musk say, and how did the premiers respond?

Musk, the controversial Tesla and SpaceX CEO who holds Canadian citizenship, was replying to a post by prediction-market app Polymarket about Quebec premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “They would be better off. Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too,” Musk wrote on X,

The Prairie premiers pushed back, and quickly. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe replied with a single word: “No.” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had a few more words, saying her government, caucus and party support Alberta remaining in Canada. In Quebec, St-Pierre Plamondon has said he won’t call a referendum before President Donald Trump leaves office.

Have Canadian markets reacted to the separatism talk?

So far, the markets have barely moved. The Canadian dollar was little changed against the U.S. dollar after Quebec’s election, according to commentary from online broker VT Markets. The broker’s analysts did flag Alberta’s vote as a key threat to investor confidence in the loonie.

Bond markets look similarly calm. All four major credit rating agencies, Fitch, Moody’s, S&P Global and DBRS Morningstar, give Alberta a stable outlook.

It’s an important distinction for investors. A celebrity’s opinion doesn’t change individual votes. Polls, results and what governments do next are what move the odds that markets price.

Why does Alberta’s Oct. 19 vote matter more than a social media post?

Albertans won’t actually vote to separate on Oct. 19. They’ll be choosing between staying in Canada or holding a second, binding referendum on separation.

Even so, history shows that campaigns can move markets before any results are in. During the 1995 Quebec campaign, currency traders knocked 2.4% off the loonie’s value in just three days.

Research in the Canadian Journal of Economics found that the uncertainty hurt stock returns of Quebec-based companies. After the No side won, the dollar moved sharply higher and rates fell.

An actual separation would carry far bigger stakes. A study by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, commissioned by the Alberta government, estimates that building a new country would cost $50 billion to $170 billion in the first five years alone.

Which Canadians are most exposed to a political risk premium?

Investors with heavy exposure to Canadian stocks would be the first to feel any risk premium. That’s especially true for holdings in energy and in companies that earn most of their revenue in Alberta or Quebec.

Workers and homeowners in those provinces carry double the exposure, because their paycheques and property values depend on the same regional economy as their portfolios. Retirees who need to sell investments sooner rather than later have less time to wait out a dip. Anyone renewing a mortgage in the next year could also face choppier rates if the loonie swings.

What to do now

• Check how much of your RRSP and TFSA sits in Canadian stocks, since global diversification can soften a domestic shock
• Avoid trading on headlines or polls, because in 1995 panic sellers missed the rebound
• Keep three to six months of expenses available in an emergency fund if your income depends on the Alberta, Saskatchewan or Quebec economy
• Talk to your lender early if your mortgage renews within 12 months
• Speak with a licensed financial advisor before making large portfolio changes

Musk’s post may generate headlines, but markets tend to price probabilities, not personalities. Watch Alberta’s election results on Oct. 19 and Quebec’s next steps, and make sure your plan can handle a stretch of uncertainty.

The museum has been raising concerns about activity around its downtown property for years, including trespassing, littering, loitering and other problems. It says it has repeatedly sought police assistance and asked municipal and regional officials for additional support as the problems have continued.

“We don’t have the means” to provide 24-hour private security or fencing and gates around the parking lot, executive director and curator Alexandra Miller-Gerrard told CityNews.

Why is the museum being fined?

The City of Oshawa has issued the museum more than $1,800 in fines in recent weeks over nuisance activity on the property, CityNews reported.

Oshawa’s Nuisance By-law prohibits activities including loitering, littering, defacing or damaging property and conduct that interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of property. The bylaw also applies to private property exposed to public view.

The museum says it has invested in security cameras and exterior lighting, but Miller-Gerrard told CityNews it cannot afford 24-hour private security or fencing and gates around the parking lot.

CityNews also reported that the museum’s front window was smashed Tuesday.

What happens when an encampment is on private property?

For a private property owner, Durham Region’s role is largely about outreach and support — not removing people from the property.

“Outreach services are voluntary,” Durham Region told Money.ca in an email. Staff work to build relationships with people who may be reluctant to engage and, when someone consents, can connect them with shelter, housing, health care, income supports and other services.

Property owners can contact the Region to request outreach support. Staff can attend an encampment, speak with people staying there and coordinate with municipal partners. If a removal is planned, Durham says its outreach teams can work with those partners “to help ensure individuals are connected with supports before relocation occurs.”

That division of responsibility is also set out in Durham Region’s encampment strategy. Property owners are responsible for identifying and reporting encampments, providing notice when they plan to remove one and leading the cleanup and removal of abandoned encampments.

Municipalities handle bylaw concerns and can coordinate inspections and relocation efforts, while Durham Social Services leads the housing-focused outreach.

The Region also tracks encampment locations and works with municipal bylaw, fire services, police, paramedics and health outreach providers on health and safety concerns.

The museum wants a broader response

In an Oct. 2 statement, the museum said it had raised concerns with municipal and regional representatives for years and had requested additional support and a meeting to discuss the situation. It said a meeting had not yet been confirmed.

The museum said it had received $1,500 in municipal bylaw fines during the previous two weeks and that staff were dealing with daily vandalism and damage to the exterior of the building, leading to multiple non-emergency calls to Durham Regional Police each week.

It also said its parking revenue had fallen more than 34% since 2023, which it attributed to people being uncomfortable parking in the area. That figure and the reason for the decline are the museum’s own assessment.

The museum has called for a coordinated response involving the City of Oshawa, Durham Region, social-service providers and downtown businesses. Its proposed measures include additional security cameras, changes to the parking lot and other security and infrastructure improvements.

“We want our visitors, staff, volunteers and neighbours to feel safe downtown, and we want businesses and cultural organizations to succeed here,” Miller-Gerrard said in the statement.

The museum says it plans to appeal the fines while continuing to seek support from the city and region.

Exports south of the border jumped 8.1% in a single month, pushing Canada’s trade surplus with its biggest customer to $11.2 billion — nearly double the previous month’s figure, according to Statistics Canada. At first glance, that looks like resilience. But economists say much of it was a last-minute rush to beat a new round of 50% U.S. tariffs imposed on Canada that took effect Aug. 22.

This is particularly important for Canadian households because the bill for that rush comes due this fall. It will show up in paycheques tied to export industries and in the price of U.S.-made goods now facing Canadian counter-tariffs. Knowing which side of that bill you’re on can help you prepare before it lands.

Why did exports spike right before the tariffs hit?

The jump in Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. was the largest monthly increase ever recorded — on the other hand, imports from the U.S. fell 2.5%.

This is a result of what economists call front-running, where U.S. buyers order early to avoid paying more later. Product categories directly targeted by the new tariffs, including industrial machinery and electrical equipment, posted some of the biggest export gains of the month.

Katherine Judge, senior economist at the CIBC, told Global News that the spike is temporary and should ease in September.

Is a record trade surplus good news for Canadian households?

Not necessarily. TD Economics, the research arm of its namesake bank, cautioned that “some of August’s strength borrows from future activity” in its August trade analysis. In fact, it expects a payback in September and the months ahead as tariffs and countermeasures take hold without a firm resolution in sight.

In other words, orders that landed in August may simply be missing from the months ahead. For workers in targeted industries, fewer orders can mean reduced shifts, layoffs or hiring freezes — companies like Stelco have already started to cut jobs ahead of an anticipated financial hit. The U.S. measures focused on sectors including autos, alcohol and dairy.

Canada is also leaning harder on its southern neighbour. Exports to countries other than the U.S. made up 30.2% of the total in August, a decrease from 33.9% in July.

Which everyday purchases could cost more after Sept. 8?

Canada’s dollar-for-dollar response, totalling roughly $27.6 billion, took effect Sept. 8. The Department of Finance Canada’s list of U.S. products subject to counter-tariffs applies rates of 15%, 25% or 50% on U.S. imports.

Much of the list is industrial, covering steel, aluminum, pulp and paper — but several household items also appear, including:

• Many types of cheese, at 25%
• Toilet paper and facial tissues, at 25%
• Lip and eye makeup and perfume, at 50%
• Certain cotton T-shirts and sweaters and men’s wool suits, at 50%
• Plywood, carpets and some flooring, at 25% to 50%

Appliances are also on the list, The levy applies only to goods of U.S. origin, and shipments already in transit before Sept. 8 are exempt. That means any price hikes may trickle in as retailers restock their inventory rather than appear overnight.

What help is available if your job depends on exports?

Ottawa paired its countermeasures with a $7.5 billion support package for workers and businesses, which builds on the $25 billion in support the federal government has introduced over the past year and a half. There have also been some notable changes to Employment Insurance (EI):

• The one-week EI waiting period stays waived for another year
• Workers can collect EI without first using up severance or vacation pay, a measure also extended by one year
• Long-tenured workers remain eligible for up to 20 extra weeks of regular benefits, a measure extended by eight months

The package also boosts job matching on the federal Job Bank website and funds training delivered in the workplace.

What to do now

Whether you’re worried about your career or your grocery bill, a few steps can soften any future impact:

• Know your exposure: if your employer sells to the U.S., especially in a targeted sector, treat the next few months as a window to shore up as much savings as you can
• Top up your emergency fund: a high-interest savings account held inside a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) keeps the cash accessible while interest grows tax-free
• Apply for EI right away if laid off: under the current rules, severance or vacation pay doesn’t delay your benefits — take advantage of that if necessary
• Check labels before big purchases: for appliances, furniture, flooring or fall wardrobe items, Canadian-made or non-U.S. alternatives may help you avoid the surtax
• Skip the panic-buying: retail prices depend on inventory and margins, so stockpiling everyday items may not save much

August’s numbers tell you where Canada’s trade stood, not where it’s headed. The more useful signal is how exposed your income and regular purchases are to the new tariffs, and how to absorb the added costs in your budget without overhauling your finances.

“I was assured by him that my initial investment would be protected because I knew his parents, was working with his parents — I’d be treated like family,” Valerio testified Tuesday, during the first day of Pleterski’s fraud and money laundering trial in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto.

Instead, Valerio never got any of his money back, telling the court that “it impacted the relationship with my wife,” adding “it hasn’t been easy.”

Pleterski, 27, has pleaded not guilty to fraud over $5,000 and money laundering, and none of the allegations have been proven in court. Regardless of the jury’s eventual decision, the case already carries a crucial lesson for Canadian investors: sometimes the biggest risk isn’t the investment — it’s the person who’s holding your money.

What is the ‘Crypto King’ accused of?

Pleterski was charged as part of Project Swan, a joint investigation by Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the regulator that oversees Ontario’s investment markets. Durham police called it the region’s largest-ever fraud investigation.

In the Crown’s opening statement, prosecutor Scott Patterson alleged Pleterski guaranteed the money investors gave him for cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading between July 2020 and July 2022. However, he never actually invested the funds on their behalf.

The Crown is expected to call more than a dozen witnesses to testify during the roughly month-long trial. Pleterski previously chose to represent himself, but as of October 8, has decided to seek legal counsel for the remainder of the trial.

Where did investors’ money go?

Collectively, investors handed Pleterski more than $40 million to invest on their behalf. After some of them forced him into bankruptcy in 2022, the proceedings recovered roughly $3 million for about 160 victims. That works out to about 7.5 cents back for every dollar invested.

Bankruptcy trustee Grant Thornton found Pleterski invested less than 2% of the money while spending nearly $16 million on himself — a finding he contests. An earlier trustee report detailed how he purchased 11 high-end cars while also spending about $45,000 a month on a waterfront rental in Burlington, Ont.

Many of the people waiting for repayment weren’t wealthy speculators who could write off the loss as a single bad investment. Trustee Rob Stelzer told CTV News Toronto back in 2022 that many were ordinary investors who had put in amounts like $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000.

Why do careful people fall for promises like this?

Schemes like this rarely look like fraud at first glance. They tend to arrive through friends, family or social media, with a veneer of success — cars, travel, screenshots of gains. That proof can feel more convincing than any paperwork ever could.

However, it’s the paperwork that truly matters. According to OSC senior investigator Stephen Henkel, neither Pleterski nor his co-accused associate held any OSC registration. When Pleterski told the bankruptcy trustee he’d lost most of the money to margin calls and bad trades, he was asked to provide trade records and bank statements to back that up — as of late August 2022, the trustee hadn’t received anything.

The case isn’t an outlier. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says investment fraud remains the costliest type of scam, with about $139.6 million in reported losses during the first six months of 2026 alone.

Which red flags should you look for before investing?

Before you hand over any money to someone to invest on your behalf, be mindful of these warning signs:

• A promise of high returns with no risk to your principal
• A person or firm that isn’t registered with a provincial securities regulator, such as the OSC
• “Proof” of success that’s visible only through a perceived lifestyle, not an independent account statement
• Statements that come from the person, not a bank or custodian
• Delays, excuses or new fees when you ask to withdraw your funds
• Pressure to reinvest your gains or recruit friends

No single flag proves fraud on its own. But a guarantee of zero losses paired with an unregistered manager is a combination worth walking away from.

What to do now

When deliberating whether to invest with a person, search their name and firm on the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) National Registration Search, a free tool from the council of provincial and territorial securities regulators. If they’re not listed, regulators warn that’s usually a red flag. The CSA’s investor alerts list is also worth checking.

Ask the person where your money will be held and who issues your statements, as they should come directly from a financial institution — not from a spreadsheet or screenshot.

If you think you’ve already been defrauded, contact your bank right away, then report it to local police and the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501. Furthermore, be wary of anyone offering to recover your losses for a fee. The CAFC also notes that Canadians reported about $13.7 million in losses to recovery fraud in the first half of 2026.

The verdict in Pleterski’s case is still weeks away, but exercising your own due diligence takes minutes, and it could keep your retirement out of a convincing fraudster’s hands.

But some Canadians are willing to make a much bigger trade. According to a new national survey, nearly one-in-five people say they would delay retirement or other long-term savings to afford a home.

That’s a costly lever to pull — and often an unnecessary one. You don’t have to sacrifice your retirement to save for a down payment. Canada’s registered accounts are designed to do both, provided you stack them in the right order.

What did the REMAX survey find?

The finding comes from the REMAX Canada 2026 Fall Housing Market Outlook, which includes a Leger survey of 1,532 Canadian adults.

Pausing retirement savings wasn’t exactly the most popular trade-off. Respondents were more likely to cut discretionary spending, such as travel and dining out (41%), stretch their mortgage amortization (24%) or accept financial help from family (20%). Another 17% would pick up a side hustle or second job.

Market conditions are shifting, too. REMAX brokers and agents expect 32.0% of markets analyzed to sit firmly in buyers’ territory this fall, up from 15.2% a year ago. In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), average residential prices are down 5.1% year over year.

Why does pausing your RRSP cost more than it looks?

Pausing retirement contributions gives you more cash now, but you’ll pay for it later. Skipping contributions in your 30s or 40s means losing years of compound growth, which is nearly impossible to make up.

There are short-term costs, too: pause your RRSP contributions and your tax bill goes up because you lose the deduction. Even worse, if you get a company match on a group plan, walking away means turning down part of your paycheque.

For example, a buyer who pauses $500 a month in RRSP contributions for three years gives up $18,000 in savings before counting the growth those dollars would have earned.

Can you save for a home without raiding retirement?

For first-time buyers, often yes. Two federal programs are designed to help Canadians, and you can use both for the same home, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

First Home Savings Account (FHSA)

The FHSA lets you contribute $8,000 a year, up to a lifetime limit of $40,000. Contributions cut your tax bill, and taking money out for a first home is tax-free. You get to build your down payment while leaving your retirement savings alone.

Any room you don’t use carries forward to the next year, up to $8,000, so the most you can contribute in a single year is $16,000. Your room starts accruing the year you open an account, so it pays to open one early, even if it sits empty for now.

Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP)

Through the HBP, first-time buyers can withdraw up to $60,000 from an RRSP without taking a tax hit. You’re given a 15-year window to pay that money back into your account. For first withdrawals made between Jan. 1, 2026, and Dec. 31, 2028, repayments don’t start until the fifth year after the year of withdrawal

Here’s the catch: that money isn’t growing for your retirement while it’s out of your RRSP. And if you miss a required annual repayment, the CRA adds the shortfall to your taxable income for that year.

What if you’re close to retirement?

While the survey places retirement and long-term savings in the same bucket, the math changes for older buyers, where the trade-off isn’t lost contributions, it’s working longer.

Staying a few extra years in the workforce allows you to contribute more to savings and push back when you start drawing on them. It can also boost government benefits. Your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement pension rises 0.7% for each month you delay past 65, up to 42% at age 70, according to the Government of Canada. Start before 65, and it shrinks 0.6% a month.

Keep in mind that you could be carrying a mortgage well into your 60s or 70s on a fixed income. Before you decide to work longer just to buy a place, compare your final mortgage payment date with your planned retirement date.

What to do now

If you’re weighing whether to put retirement savings on hold to buy a home, work through these steps first:

• If you’re a first-time buyer, set up an FHSA now to start accumulating your contribution room, even if you aren’t ready to fund the account today
• Direct new savings to the FHSA before you pause RRSP contributions
• At a minimum, contribute enough to capture your full employer match on a group RRSP so you don’t leave money on the table
• If you plan to use the HBP, build the future annual repayment into your housing budget today
• Cut back on everyday spending or expand your home search to different neighbourhoods
• In buyer-friendly markets, use the extra time to negotiate rather than stretching your budget

Buying a house and saving for retirement don’t have to be mutually exclusive for first-time buyers. What matters is the order you tackle them in. As Don Kottick, president of REMAX Canada, put it, “There’s a difference between compromising and settling.”

If you’re a Toronto renter, you don’t have to layer up and wait it out. Under city bylaw, landlords must keep rental units at a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius from Oct. 1 to May 15. And a complaint about a lack of heat counts as an urgent request, which means your landlord must respond within 24 hours.

Those rules are now a part of the Indoor Temperature Standards Bylaw — the city’s old Heating Bylaw, which was renamed on June 1, 2026. Here’s what it requires, what happens when a landlord ignores it and how to protect your wallet while you wait for a fix.

What does a Toronto landlord owe you when it gets cold?

When heating is included in rent, the City of Toronto says units must stay at or above 21 degrees Celsius from Oct. 1 to May 15. That includes rented condo units. If you’re a landlord renting out your unit, it’s incumbent on you to follow the bylaw.

The city treats heat as a vital service, alongside hot water, which is required to come out of the tap at 45 to 49 degrees Celsius. Landlords can’t cut off a vital service under any circumstances, the city says — even if a tenant is behind on rent or has damaged the unit.

The rules aren’t totally black and white — there is one grey area. From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, landlords can use their judgment: if it’s warm enough outside that the building stays at 21 degrees without heat, the heat can be turned down or even off completely. Once the unit drops below that mark, the obligation kicks in.

What happens if your landlord doesn’t respond within 24 hours?

Step one is to reach out directly to your landlord or property manager and put the request in writing. Landlords are required to keep copies of their responses and track no-heat requests as part of their record-keeping, according to the city.

If your request goes unanswered or the problem isn’t resolved within 24 hours, call 311 or submit a service request online. For urgent vital-service requests such as no heat, the city says it aims to contact you within 24 hours.

At that point, a bylaw enforcement officer may investigate. Many cases are resolved through education or mediation. Landlords who don’t comply can be ticketed and the set fine for failing to maintain 21 degrees is $500. If a landlord is summoned to court and convicted, the city says fines can reach $100,000, or up to $10,000 for each day the violation continues.

Can you get money back for a cold apartment?

Toronto city enforcement will get the heat back on, but not money back in your pocket. For that, the route runs through the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), Ontario’s tribunal for rental disputes.

Tenants can file a Tenant Application about Maintenance (Form T6) when a landlord hasn’t met health, safety, housing or maintenance standards. Possible remedies that are available include a rent abatement — where the board orders the landlord to return part of the rent you paid while the problem went unfixed — or an order that blocks rent increases until serious repairs are completed.

According to the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), a legal clinic that specializes in tenant rights, applications must be submitted within one year of when the maintenance problem happened.

That’s why a paper trail is vital. A dated written request, a 311 reference number and your own temperature log can all help show how long you went without adequate heat. Keep receipts for any extra costs you’ve incurred to stay warm, like the purchase of a space heater, and ask a legal clinic whether they can be included in your claim.

One serious caution though: you can’t just stop paying rent. The LTB process is the way to recover money, and unpaid rent can put your tenancy at risk.

What to do now

If your unit is cold, act early and quickly — the 24-hour clock only starts once your landlord knows there’s a problem.

• Check the thermostat reading and note the date, time and temperature — maybe even take a picture
• Send your landlord or property manager a written request and keep a copy
• Check your building’s tenant notification board for a posted service disruptions
• After 24 hours with no repair, call 311 or file online and save your reference number
• Keep receipts for out-of-pocket costs
• If the problem persists, consider a Form T6

You can access free help through the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA) tenant hotline at 416-921-9494 or your local legal clinic, which you can find through Legal Aid Ontario at 1-800-668-8258.

The bylaw gives you a clear standard and a clear deadline to follow. Your job is to make sure there’s a record showing when you asked and how long you waited.

So the next time a cold snap hits and the heat fails to kick in, don’t treat an extra sweater as the fix. Send the message, start the clock and let the bylaw do its job. In a Toronto rental, heat isn’t a favour from your landlord — it’s a requirement.

The games didn’t vanish. They moved to Sportsnet, and behind a paywall. Fans who want to catch every national broadcast this season now have to pay two companies — Rogers and Amazon.

A Saturday night ritual that used to cost nothing beyond owning a TV now comes with a subscription bill. How big that bill gets depends on what and where you sign up.

Why did CBC air cricket instead of NHL hockey?

The short version of the story is that a contract ran out. Rogers Communications, which owns Sportsnet, holds national NHL rights in Canada. Its sublicensing agreement allowed the CBC to carry Hockey Night in Canada. That agreement expired at the end of last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs. The two sides didn’t extend it into 2026-27, the first season of Rogers’ 12-year, $11-billion broadcast deal with the league.

CBC filled the slot with CBC Sports Primetime, a new Saturday show that launched Oct. 3 with the Canada Super 60 cricket league, a professional T10 tournament held at BC Place in Vancouver. Matches aired at 7 pm and 9:30 pm ET, the window that once belonged to Hockey Night’s primetime game.

For many hockey fans, cricket in that slot felt like a symbolic stick to the knees. “It’s Saturday night in Canada and the first weekend of the NHL season, and the CBC is showing the Super60 cricket league. Imagine,” one fan posted on X.

Viewers voted with their remotes. The men’s cricket match drew an overnight estimated audience of 27,000 and the women’s match about 19,000, according to veteran TV critic Bill Brioux. Sportsnet’s 7:15 pm ET national NHL game, in contrast, drew an estimated 1.45 million viewers.

CBC stands by the choice. Spokesperson Chuck Thompson told Juno News, an independent Canadian online outlet, that cricket was a strong fit for the timeslot. It’s a new Olympic sport, the event was held in Canada and it helped the network bridge from summer to winter sports.

Hockey Night in Canada isn’t gone, though. On Dec. 5, CBC will revive the brand with eight primetime Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) games, all free to watch.

Where does Amazon fit into the NHL deal?

Rogers carved off one night of the week. In July, Rogers and Prime Video announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement. It gives Prime exclusive Canadian rights to Wednesday night national games. That’s at least 26 regular-season games, plus two first-round and one second-round playoff series each year, only available to watch on Prime Video.

Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri pitched the arrangement as delivering “more national games with fewer blackouts.” Sportsnet will keep Saturday and Monday nights and the rest of the playoffs.

The catch is that a fan who wants every national game will need to pay for both services.

How much does it cost to watch the NHL in Canada now?

Sportsnet+ raised its prices in late September. The standard plan now costs $34.99 a month or $269.99 for the year. The premium plan adds more than 1,100 out-of-market games and runs $44.99 a month or $344.99 a year. Cable and satellite customers who already pay for Sportsnet must pay a $12.99 monthly add-on to stream Monday Night Hockey, unless their provider waives the fee.

If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you already have access to Prime Video, which costs $9.99 a month or $99 a year.

Streaming every national game on Sportsnet+ standard plus Prime adds up to $368.99 a year before tax. With Sportsnet+ premium, the total is $443.99.

Is a monthly or annual subscription cheaper?

The answer depends on how far into spring and post-season you plan to watch. The regular hockey season runs about seven months, from late September into April.

• Regular season games only: seven months of Sportsnet+ standard costs $244.93, about $25 less than the annual plan
• Through the whole playoff season: nine months, into June, costs $314.91, about $45 more than paying annually

Prime follows similar math — Seven months at $9.99 costs $69.93, versus $99 for a full year. If your household already pays for Prime for shipping, the Wednesday games cost you nothing extra.

What to do now

Before you figure out where and how you’ll catch hockey this season:

• Check which of your team’s games are regional, which are national on Sportsnet and which fall on Prime Wednesdays
• Choose monthly billing if you’ll tune out after the regular season, and annual billing if you will watch the playoffs (no matter who’s playing)
• Confirm whether someone in your household already pays for Prime before you subscribe
• Call your TV provider and ask it to waive the $12.99 Monday add-on
• Set a calendar reminder to make sure you cancel monthly plans when your season ends

Fans who flipped to CBC for the Saturday opener expecting hockey and finding cricket instead will get Saturday night hockey back on the public broadcaster on Dec. 5, when the Montréal Victoire host PWHL Hamilton. It won’t be the NHL. But it will be free, and that’s now the real and only choice on Saturday nights: pay roughly $369 a year to follow the NHL, or tune in to a game CBC says offers “free access to world-class hockey.”

In fact, roughly two-thirds of Canadians (66%) made at least one financial sacrifice in the past year to afford housing, according to Home at What Cost?, new research from Habitat for Humanity International, a global non-profit housing organization working in more than 60 countries. Worldwide, 3 in 4 of the more than 30,000 people surveyed across 22 countries cut back on at least one expense.

The real problem is what people are having to cut back on. For a lot of Canadians, it’s the exact two things keeping their finances floating: their grocery budget and emergency savings.

What are Canadians giving up to stay housed?

Over the past year, 36% of Canadians spent less on food or groceries, 25% used savings or emergency funds and 40% cut back on social activities to keep up with housing costs.

Most households are stretched to the limit right now. While 91% of Canadians feel safe in their current homes, nearly half (44%) worry that just one major surprise, like losing a job, getting sick or facing an unexpected bill, could put their housing at risk.

“Canada’s housing crisis has become an opportunity crisis,” Pedro Barata, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Canada, the national charity affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement.

Younger adults are feeling this pressure the most. Nearly half of young Canadians (46%) say housing is one of their absolute biggest sources of stress, well above the global average of 35%.

Why is cutting food and savings a risky fix?

Trimming groceries or dipping into savings can feel like the least painful way to absorb a rent increase. But both moves weaken your ability to handle the next hit.

An emergency fund is built for the exact nightmare almost half of Canadians are worried about. Once that safety net is gone, the next broken car or missed paycheque usually lands straight on a credit card — adding high interest payments to a budget that’s already stretched to the limit.

Groceries are one of the few flexible expenses in a monthly budget, making them an easy target to cut. But when trimming your food bill becomes a monthly necessity, that’s usually a sign that skyrocketing housing costs, not your grocery habits, are the real issue.

Have Canadian renters given up on owning?

Many have. More than half of non-homeowners in Canada (56%) don’t expect to ever own a home. That’s the highest rate of any country surveyed, blowing right past the 23% global average. Among Canadians who don’t own a home, 54% say prices are completely out of reach, while 41% simply don’t have enough saved for a down payment.

That kind of pessimism can mess with your budgeting. When owning a home feels impossible, it’s easy to throw in the towel on saving altogether — which only leaves you more vulnerable when life throws a curveball.

How do you know if housing is eating too much of your budget?

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers a simple benchmark: housing costs should be less than 30% of before-tax household income.

On an $80,000 household income, that comes out to roughly $2,000 a month. Creeping over that threshold doesn’t mean you’re instantly broke, but the higher you go, the more likely you’re quietly draining your grocery and savings budgets to make up the gap.

What to do now

Run your own 30% check

Add up your rent or mortgage, property taxes, condo fees and utilities, then divide that total by your monthly income before taxes. Knowing your number tells you whether you’re facing a temporary squeeze or a structural problem.

Protect a starter emergency fund

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the federal agency that oversees financial consumer protection, recommends working toward 3 to 6 months of regular expenses. Don’t let a big target scare you off. The FCAC recommends starting small with an interest-earning account you can withdraw from fee-free, like a high-interest savings account or a TFSA.

Give groceries a fixed budget line

Protect your grocery line item first. If you need to make cuts, look to trim fixed recurring expenses instead, like subscriptions, phone bills or insurance premiums.

Check for rent help

The Canada Housing Benefit is co-funded and delivered by the provinces and territories, so eligibility and how to apply depend on where you live.

Talk to your landlord or lender early

If an upcoming mortgage renewal or rent hike is going to push your budget over the edge, talk to your lender or landlord before you miss a payment, not after.

Cutting back isn’t the problem — cutting the wrong things is. If you need to trim your budget, start with the non-essentials and protect your food and emergency cash until last. And if housing keeps gobbling up more than 30% of your income month after month, that’s a clear sign to address housing head-on, whether that means finding a roommate, moving to a cheaper spot when your lease is up, or restructuring your mortgage renewal.

“I understand Ben Felix’s 5% rule but the 5% includes the interest payments on the mortgage,” the user wrote. “But what happens when you finish paying off the mortgage and no longer need to pay interest? Doesn’t the 5% rule become the 2% rule and eventually beat out renting since you no longer have to make similar payments after you own the home?”

The replies to the post were split into two camps. Some of the most popular answers were also the shakiest, and the math behind both sides says a lot about how to judge what your home really costs you.

What does the 5% rule actually measure?

Benjamin Felix is a portfolio manager with PWL Capital, an Ottawa-based wealth management firm. He laid out the 5% rule in a 2019 PWL Capital post as a quick way to compare renting with owning. Instead of likening rent to a mortgage payment, he compares it to an owner’s unrecoverable costs, meaning money spent that never comes back.

Felix pegs property taxes at about 1% of a home’s value each year and maintenance at another 1% — the remaining 3% is the cost of capital. That covers interest on the borrowed portion plus the investment returns you give up on the money tied to the house.

To use the rule, multiply a home’s value by 5% and then divide by 12. On a $600,000 home, that’s $2,500 a month. If a comparable rental costs less, renting might be the better financial bet.

Does a paid-off home really drop to 2%?

Not quite, and that’s the catch in the Redditor’s question. The other 3% isn’t only interest. Felix notes that the cost of capital applies whether a home is financed through a mortgage or a down payment.

Once the mortgage is paid off, the whole house is equity, and that equity could otherwise be invested. Based on long-term return data, Felix estimates stocks have an edge of roughly 3% a year over real estate. Paying off a mortgage swaps an interest bill for an opportunity cost. It doesn’t erase it.

The number can drift lower, though. Felix suggests conservative investors, or those investing mostly in taxable accounts, might use something closer to 4% as a benchmark. Owners also get a tax perk. Under the principal residence exemption, the CRA generally doesn’t tax the gain when you sell your home.

Is a $2,500 mortgage really cheaper than $3,000 rent?

One of the most upvoted replies on the Reddit thread made the gut-level case for owning. “For me this was one of the biggest fallacies,” the user wrote. “I was paying 3000 cad per month as rent. I am paying 2500 as mortgage. I don’t see renting cheaper than owning.”

The commenter’s conclusion may well be right, but the comparison behind it is exactly the one Felix warns against. A mortgage payment includes principal, which is a form of savings. The commenter’s comparison also leaves out property taxes, maintenance, insurance and the returns the down payment could have earned elsewhere.

The missing piece of the equation is the home’s value. By Felix’s math, $3,000 a month in rent is roughly equivalent to owning a $720,000 home. If this Redditor’s home is worth less than that, owning it likely does beat their old rent. If it’s worth more, the $2,500 payment understates what they’re really spending.

That mortgage payment isn’t locked in for life, either. Canadian mortgage rates are typically only fixed for a limited term, often five years or less, before resetting at renewal. The Bank of Canada estimates that holders of fixed-payment mortgages with terms of five years or more who renew between mid-2026 and mid-2027 face average payment increases of about 15%.

The rest of the comment isn’t a math error, though. The user said owning feels “liberating” and brings peace of mind, knowing “my kids can grow up here calling this house a home for as long as we want.” Stability is a genuine benefit that a spreadsheet can’t price. As another commenter put it, “not everything needs to make money.”

Why do so many owners still say buying wins?

For many commenters, the strongest argument is that rent keeps climbing every year, while a mortgage payment stays steadier. One user described a mortgage as “locking in a fixed price for a long term rent.”

Statistics Canada shows that pressure is real. The rent component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.5% year over year in June 2026.

One homeowner in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, shared their own numbers. They bought their home in 2019 for $350,000, when comparable four-bedroom rentals went for about $1,800. Those rents now average roughly $2,800, while their $1,800 mortgage payment hasn’t changed.

They also report $230,000 in equity and say the purchase passed the 5% test from day one: 5% of $350,000 works out to about $1,458 a month, which is less than the going rent.

The same owner admitted, however, that maintenance, taxes and insurance keep rising. When another user described property tax changes as small, a Calgary resident replied: “Cries in Calgary.”

They have a point. According to the City of Calgary, the owner of a typical single-family home assessed at $706,000 will pay $387 more in property tax in 2026. Most of that increase comes from the provincial portion of the bill, which funds education and rose 21% for that typical homeowner. Even so, the total bill of roughly $4,695 works out to about 0.66% of the home’s value, below the 1% Felix assumes in his rule. The lesson for owners is that property tax can rise quickly even where it starts out low.

Another commenter made the case for leverage. Put 15% down on a $1 million home, they argued, and 4% annual growth would lift its value to about $1.22 million in five years. The arithmetic checks out, but leverage cuts both ways: borrowed money can magnify losses just as fast if prices stall or fall. The example also doesn’t deduct five years of interest, closing costs or land transfer tax. Felix’s rule assumes long-run real estate returns closer to 3% a year.

Even some renters conceded that owning has a built-in advantage, because it acts as forced saving. “If you are not a great saver and investor, you are definitely better off owning,” one Redditor wrote.

When does renting and investing come out ahead?

Renting tends to win when it sits well below the 5% benchmark. One commenter said they rent a $1.4 million home for $4,000 a month. They estimate owning the house would cost about $6,000 monthly with $300,000 down, including mortgage, taxes, insurance and maintenance. The 5% rule lands close to that, at roughly $5,833.

One reply argued the opportunity cost of that $300,000 down payment alone is “close to $2k a month.” That figure assumes about 8% in annual returns. At the 6.57% expected stock return PWL used in 2019, it’s closer to $1,640, which is still significant.

The catch is discipline, because the advantage exists only if the difference actually gets invested. The same renter who praised ownership as forced saving put it this way: “If you are a good saver, renting can make sense.”

Tenants face their own risks. Ontario caps 2026 increases at 2.1%, but units first occupied after Nov. 15, 2018, are exempt. New-lease rents have softened, though: the average two-bedroom asking rent dipped 0.9% to $2,150 in the first quarter of 2026, according to StatCan. Owners aren’t guaranteed gains, either. A Nova Scotia commenter said similar homes nearby dropped $100,000 to $200,000 in value over the last two years.

What to do now

Whether you’re house hunting or living mortgage-free, the question doesn’t change: what does it cost you to live there each year?

• Multiply your home’s value (or a target home’s price) by 5%, divide by 12 and compare the result with local rent, not with your mortgage payment
• Adjust toward 4% if your investments are conservative or held mostly outside an RRSP or TFSA
• Stress-test your mortgage payment at renewal rather than assuming it stays fixed
• Budget at least 1% a year for maintenance, and more if it’s an older home
• Check whether your rental falls under provincial rent control
• If you rent your home, automate investing the difference

For a mortgage-free owner, the real question isn’t whether housing is now free. It’s whether that equity works harder in your walls than it would elsewhere, and if stability is worth the gap. As Felix notes, focusing on unrecoverable costs makes it “easier to arrive at meaningful numbers.”

Ottawa has given the American owner of Stelco a short deadline to explain how it will keep the job commitments it made when it bought the Hamilton steelmaker. If it doesn’t pay up, a courtroom battle is almost guaranteed. The company claims the trade war completely changed the playing field, but Ottawa’s stance is simple: a deal is a deal.

That standoff could drag on for months, possibly years. If you’re affected, or working in an industry exposed to Trump’s tariffs, play it safe: budget as though you won’t be returning to this job, but take the necessary steps to keep your recall rights active.

What is Ottawa demanding from Stelco’s owner?

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly sent a letter on Monday, Oct. 5, to Cleveland-Cliffs, an Ohio-based steelmaker. She gave the company five business days to share a plan to maintain jobs at Stelco or face potential legal action. Cleveland-Cliffs bought Stelco for $3.4 billion back in 2024. To get federal approval under the Investment Canada Act, they promised to keep all unionized jobs intact and hang on to the vast majority of non-union staff.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves says the cuts are justified by the Canada-U.S. trade war. Joly disagrees. She wrote that the commitments “do not cease to apply simply because business strategy or market conditions have changed.”

If Ottawa doesn’t like what the company has to say, things head straight to court. As Joly’s letter points out, a superior court judge could force the company to stick to its promises, slap them with heavy fines or even order them to sell off the business entirely.

A court fight wouldn’t be a quick fix. Sandy Walker, co-chair of the competition and foreign investment review group at the global law firm Dentons, told CBC News the company could argue that circumstances beyond its control, such as U.S. tariffs, prevented it from meeting its undertakings. There’s plenty of precedent for a drawn-out legal battle, too. When Industry Canada dragged Stelco’s former owner, U.S. Steel, to court over job cuts back in 2009, that fight dragged on for two years before settling.

How many Stelco jobs are at risk, and for how long?

The company said up to 500 workers across its Hamilton and Nanticoke, ON, facilities could be affected, with production concentrated at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke. According to union leaders, about 350 of those affected workers are based in Hamilton.

Stelco said it expects a significant number of affected Hamilton employees to be absorbed at Lake Erie Works. The union’s count is much lower. Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005, said only about 40 laid-off Hamilton workers have been offered a position in Nanticoke.

Wells told CBC News he expects Stelco to push forward with the layoffs anyway, despite Ottawa leaning on them. As for how long people will be out of work? That’s anyone’s guess. “Christmas ain’t that far away, and we have no idea the duration of these layoffs,” Wells told CBC News.

Is a temporary layoff the same as losing your job?

Legally speaking, no, a layoff isn’t the same thing as being fired. Under Ontario law, a temporary layoff can run up to 13 weeks in a 20-week window. It can be stretched to 35 weeks out of 52, but only if the employer meets specific conditions. If a layoff runs longer than the law allows, the employer is considered to have terminated the worker’s employment. That can trigger termination pay and severance pay.

For unionized workers, there’s one more big fork in the road. If a unionized worker’s layoff lasts 35 weeks or more, and the collective agreement provides a recall period of at least 35 weeks, the worker may choose to take ESA termination and severance pay or keep their recall rights, but not both, according to employment law firm Emond Harnden.

How much income will EI actually replace?

For most claimants, Employment Insurance (EI) pays 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum of $729 a week in 2026, which are taxable.

Here’s an example: a worker earning $90,000 a year makes about $1,730 a week before tax. EI would replace $729, or roughly 42% of that gross pay.

Tariff relief helps soften the blow a bit. Back on Aug. 25, Ottawa announced it was waiving the standard one-week EI waiting period for another year. It also extended for a year the measure that lets workers collect EI without first using up severance or vacation pay. The 20 extra weeks of benefits for long-tenured workers were extended by eight months.

What to do now

• Apply for EI right after your last day of work, even if you expect to be recalled
• Reach out to your local union rep in writing. Make sure you get full clarity on your recall rights, how your benefits work during the layoff, and what’s happening with any Lake Erie Works offers
• Don’t sign anything that affects your recall or severance rights before getting advice from your union or an employment lawyer
• Look into retraining programs funded by the Canada-Ontario Workforce Tariff Response. Ontario says the initiative will help 75 Hamilton-area workers and jobseekers pivot into growing, in-demand careers
• Rebuild your monthly budget around EI income, not your old paycheque
• Stash your severance or unused vacation pay in a dedicated account — it’ll act as a crucial cushion until your next income stream kicks in.
• Treat a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) withdrawal as a last resort, because withdrawals are taxed as income

Whatever Cleveland-Cliffs tells Ottawa this week, a court battle won’t pay this month’s bills. The workers who come through this best will likely be the ones who file early, know their rights and stretch every dollar.

However, for one treatment centre, that promise was too good to be true.

A “luxury” Muskoka addiction clinic staffed with fake nurses and no doctor has been forced into bankruptcy by its creditors, nearly two years after a Toronto Star investigation exposed problems at the facility. Muskoka Recovery, two hours north of Toronto in Gravenhurst, Ont., charged people seeking treatment for serious addictions $30,000 to $150,000 for a six-week stay. It’s been closed since the summer and still faces lawsuits that include allegations of sexual misconduct and a wrongful death.

For families paying out of pocket for treatment, Muskoka Recovery’s collapse is a very expensive lesson — that a premium price doesn’t necessarily equal qualified care. Here’s what went wrong, what it means for people who already paid and how to vet a rehab facility before you hand over a deposit.

How did a ‘luxury’ rehab end up in bankruptcy?

Muskoka Recovery’s money troubles began after the Star published its investigation in late 2024. This summer, two creditors — the clinic’s bank, Bank of Montreal (BMO), and one of the clinic’s part-owners — successfully petitioned the court to push it into bankruptcy.

Business at the Muskoka rehab clinic was strong at first. So strong, in fact, that BMO lent the clinic $5.5 million to expand. The loan was secured by the Muskoka property and three smaller properties in Gravenhurst. Court documents don’t describe what due diligence the bank did before lending, but the Star found that the owners had no experience running this type of business.

According to court filings, BMO noted that the Star’s initial investigation raised serious concerns about both patient well-being and the loan. The bank asked for a quarterly profit and loss statement, and when the clinic failed to provide one, it demanded repayment.

Around the same time, Corradina (Cora) Canonaco also went to court. She is a 50% silent partner in the clinic and the wife of co-manager Ralph Canonaco, according to the Star. In her court pleadings, she said the clinic owed her money and that co-owner Ewa Ricci had shut her out of decisions. She tried to get Ricci to sell the assets, but when that failed, she asked the court to appoint a receiver, and the bank filed documents supporting her. The Star contacted Ralph Canonaco, Ricci and the receiver, but received no response.

In late summer, Justice Jana Steele of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed Albert Gelman Inc. as receiver, according to court records. The firm now has full authority over the business, including the power to sell assets to pay creditors.

What did clients actually get for their money?

The rehab clinic operated out of a 10-bedroom cottage on 25 acres near Lake Muskoka. It promised trained therapists, round-the-clock medical care, counselling, massages and yoga. The 2024 Star investigation found that none of the staff had the credentials the clinic advertised.

Former clients told the Star that the only “therapy” they received came from PowerPoint slides and YouTube videos. They said they were left unmonitored during detox, the stage when withdrawal symptoms can be most severe. The Star also found that the clinical director had recently been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers.

Frank, a former client identified in the Star by first name only to protect his privacy, said he was pleased to hear the clinic had closed. He called it a “house of horrors.”

“People with zero credentials in addiction treatment should not be allowed to run a clinic,” he said.

What does this mean for clients who already paid?

Clients who have already paid Muskoka Recovery shouldn’t count on a quick refund. In a receivership, secured lenders like BMO are generally paid first from any assets sold. The process only began a couple of months ago, so public court files don’t yet show what steps the receiver has taken. The company’s insurer has said coverage is subject to further review and hasn’t decided whether it will include certain claims.

At least three lawsuits involving the rehab centre are moving through the courts:

• A $40-million suit from former clients, alleging they were misled, financially exploited and put at risk
• A wrongful death suit from the family of Dawn Susanne Rose, a client who suffered a seizure and died after going to the clinic for treatment
• A suit from a woman alleging sexualized misconduct by a senior staff member during her time in treatment

None of the allegations has been tested in court, and a lawyer for the defendants told the Star his clients would vehemently defend the former clients’ action.

Why can’t you rely on a clinic’s marketing?

After the Star published its 2024 investigation, legitimate clinics called on the province to regulate private rehabs. At the time, the province said regulation wasn’t needed because nurses, doctors and therapists already answer to their own regulatory colleges. That approach leaves responsibility for background checks with the people searching for the best place to help themselves or someone they love.

Keep an eye out for rebranding, too. Earlier this year, the owners of Muskoka Recovery tried to relaunch the clinic as The Northern Lights, and its website is still live. It is more carefully worded than Muskoka Recovery’s was, saying clients have “access” to professional care rather than promising qualified staff on site.

What to do now

Before you sign anything or send a deposit for your loved one to enter a recovery program, take these steps:

• Verify every licence. Look up staff on the College of Nurses of Ontario’s public register and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s doctor search. Ask who supervises detox, and get that person’s name
• Read the fine print. “Access to” medical care is not the same as having medical staff on site
• Check publicly funded options first. ConnexOntario, a free provincial referral service, can point you to OHIP-funded programs, which don’t charge fees
• Don’t pay the full fee upfront. Ask for a written contract with a refund policy. Pay in increments, and use a credit card where possible so you can dispute charges for services you never received
• Search the owners as well as the clinic. A business can change its name, but court records and news coverage follow the people involved
• Keep every receipt. The Canada Revenue Agency counts the cost of an addiction treatment centre as an eligible medical expense if a medical practitioner certifies that the treatment is needed

A cottage, a hot tub and a five-figure invoice tell you nothing about who will be watching over and supporting someone in withdrawal, but licence numbers will. Muskoka Recovery’s former clients now have to wait on a receiver and the courts to learn whether they will get any of their money back. Check before you pay, and if a clinic can’t produce those licence numbers, keep looking.

On Oct. 5, a reporter outside the White House asked whether he’d restart trade talks between the two nations before the U.S. midterm elections. Trump answered that Canada “behaves very badly with the United States, and I don’t know. Uh, we’ve caught them in the act. They charged us a lot of tariffs that nobody knew about — except me.”

He didn’t mention any specific levies. Canada’s own counter-tariffs are hardly clandestine, since the Department of Finance has published the full product list online.

More important for your finances was Trump’s remark during the same impromptu presser that he’s “in no rush” to try and solve the situation. As a result, tariffs on both sides of the border may be around for the foreseeable future, and that will shape how you spend, budget and borrow.

What’s being taxed right now?

On Aug. 22, after deliberations between the two neighbouring nations fell by the wayside, the U.S. placed a 50% tariff on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods. Canada retaliated on Sept. 8, matching it dollar for dollar. Instead of a sweeping 50%, It imposed levies of 15%, 25% or 50% on a large swath of U.S.-origin products, depending on the item.

The list leans heavily industrial, but it also reaches everyday items including:

• Cheese
• Honey
• Makeup and perfume
• Plastic kitchenware
• Toilet paper
• Cotton T-shirts
• Synthetic winter coats
• Carpets
• Drywall

One key detail: the surtax doesn’t apply to goods that have only shipped through the U.S.

How much could this add to your bills?

Ali Jaffery, chief economist at KPMG Canada, told The Globe and Mail that 80% of the tariffs target industrial inputs, while the remainder centre on consumer goods, a split that should keep the inflation impact muted. Even so, Jaffery expects directly targeted consumer products to rise 1% to 1.5% in price over the next six months if the tariffs stay in place.

Those increases land on top of inflation that’s already running hot. Statistics Canada reported that consumer prices rose 3% year over year in August, which is directly tied to rising fuel costs due to the Iran war.

There is some welcome news from the last round of counter-tariffs. McMaster University economist Colin Mang told CTV News that the previous set of 25% tariffs Canada imposed on U.S. goods contributed only 0.3 percentage points to the consumer price index. “Most of the cost was absorbed by retailers, so they didn’t really impact Canadian families that much,” he said.

Mang also noted that because the previous tariffs, like today’s, were targeted, it was harder to raise prices on affected goods when prices for non-U.S. competitors’ products stayed the same.

Why does ‘no rush’ matter for your money?

Tariff costs build incrementally. The Bank of Canada has estimated that about three-quarters of tariff costs will typically increase consumer prices within 18 months. The longer the dispute lasts, the greater the chance that cost will reach shelves.

Borrowing costs are also important. The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on Sept. 2, with the central bank noting that the new tariffs and counter-tariffs could feed into consumer prices over time. The upside risks to inflation are increasing, which makes rate cuts less likely — so don’t count on cheaper borrowing to cushion the blow.

What to do now

While you don’t need to panic-buy most essential items, you do need to plan as if tariffs will last months rather than weeks.

• Be more vigilant at the store. When shopping for appliances, furniture, winter gear and renovation materials, check the country of origin on the label.
• Swap rather than stockpile. Mang notes that Canadian and international alternatives already exist for most targeted products on the tariff list, so shortages aren’t expected. Stock up only on the favourite brands you’d buy anyway, such as specific cosmetics or clothing.
• Pad your budget for increased spending. A 1.5% increase on a $2,000 U.S.-made fridge works out to about a $30 surcharge. While that’s marginal, it will add up across several purchases.
• Stress-test your mortgage renewal. If you’re renewing in the next year, budget at today’s rates rather than hoping for future cuts.
• Build a cushion if your job is exposed. The Bank of Canada doesn’t expect a large direct hit to the overall economy, but targeted sectors could be hit harder than others. If you work in industries such as steel, aluminum, autos or dairy, build up your emergency fund now.

Whatever Trump meant by ‘secret’ tariffs, the ones that are actually affecting your budget are public and open-ended. In the near term, make sure to shop around, and treat these levies as a cost of living you’ll carry into 2027 unless a deal says otherwise.

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners came to an agreement to sell Boots to the Canadian branch of the Weston family for about CA$12.7 billion, through the private equity firm Wittington. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, according to The Guardian.

Boots operates roughly 1,800 stores and the deal includes U.K. and Ireland retail stores, Thailand operations, franchised businesses, the optical division and No7 Beauty Co. Sycamore and Stefano Pessina’s family will keep Farmacias Benavides and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland.

Here’s why investors in Loblaw Companies shares probably won’t own a piece of Boots — and what to check before you buy or sell shares of the great Canadian grocery store.

Who would actually own Boots?

Wittington Investments, a private investment company, is the confirmed buyer, according to Private Equity Wire, a trade publication covering private capital. Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSX:FFH) will contribute up to US$2.3 billion and hold a 50% stake after closing.

According to a Fairfax announcement, Wittington will keep operational control, Galen Weston will become Chairman for Boots, with Fairfax assuming 50% equity ownership.

These details matter.

Can investors benefit from this acquisition?

Wittington isn’t listed on any stock exchange, so you can’t buy its shares. It sits at the top of the Weston family’s Canadian holdings and controlled by Galen G. Weston, who also holds approximately 59.2% of publicly-traded George Weston Limited (GWL) as of August 2025. GWL (TSX:WN), in turn, held 613.8 million Loblaw shares as of Mar. 28, 2026, a controlling stake, according to its first-quarter report.

What does all this mean for investors? It means the acquisition of Boots puts the asset alongside Loblaws and GWL, co-owned by private equity firm Wittington and publicly-traded Fairfax Financial Holdings. That means the Boots acquisition should have no material impact on Loblaw (TSX:L) and GWL (TSX:WN) shares. While, owning Loblaw or GWL will still give investors a slice of the Weston business, it won’t give investors a slice of the family’s overall asset mix. (Yes, pun intended.) To get access to this latest acquisition, investors would need to consider adding Fairfax Financial Holdings to their portfolio.

Could Loblaw shareholders benefit anyway?

Boots’ sales and profits will flow to Wittington and Fairfax, not into Loblaw’s or GWL’s financial results.

As a result, investors looking to cash-in on the U.K. pharmacy deal need to consider where and how these international earnings will be realized. According to a note from RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel, released on Sept. 30, the impact of this Wittington deal is expected to have little impact on Loblaw or George Weston financial results.

But what about the connection? The fact that U.K.-based Boots and Canada-based Shopper’s Drug Mart both sell prescriptions, beauty products and health services means there could be a partnership — and this could have knock-on effects for investors.

As Amar Singh, senior director at consultancy firm Kantar, suggested in a recent Bloomberg article, both pharmaceutical businesses should benefit as they can share infrastructure and best practices.

In a statement released by Wittingon, Galen Weston praised the acquisition, stating “We have great respect for Boots' legacy and leading market position. We see a meaningful opportunity to make a great business even better through stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come.

As of Oct. 8, 2026, the deal is signed but not closed. Closing is expected in Q1 2027.

What actually moves your Loblaw (TSX:L) shares?

For investors, the only move that matters is Loblaw’s own results.

In the first quarter of 2026 (12 weeks ended Mar. 28, 2026), Loblaw revenue rose 4.2% to CA$4.5 billion, and drug retails reached CA$4.2 billion, with beauty products driving front-store growth, according to GWL’s first-quarter report. The same report says Loblaw expects adjusted earnings per share to grow in the high single digits in 2026.

For investors holding GWL shares, its value is tied mostly to its Loblaw and Choice Properties stakes. GWL was trading at just over CA$100 per share as of Oct. 5, 2026 — down from CA$117.93 per share at the end of March.

In other words, grocery traffic, prescription volumes and beauty sales in Canada matter far more to your portfolio than a pharmacy deal overseas.

What investors should do

Before you act on headlines regarding a potential U.K pharmacy acquisition, investors would be wise to run through a checks and balances list:

• Don’t buy based on an announcement. The deal is signed but won’t close until early 2027, and Loblaw isn’t a party to it.
• Check official filings. Search Loblaw (TSX:L), George Weston (TSX:WN), as well as Fairfax Financial (TSX:FFH) news releases on the System for Electronic Data Analysis and Retrieval+ (SEDAR+), Canada’s public filing database. Look for details about the deal and then position your investing decision according to your plan and risk tolerance.
• Know which account holds the stock. Selling inside a tax-free savings account (TFSA) or registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) doesn’t trigger capital gains tax. Selling in a non-registered account can.
• Check your concentration. Owning both Loblaw and GWL isn’t diversification — both depend heavily on the same grocery and pharmacy business.
• Back door into Boots. Boots isn’t publicly traded, and a private sale would end the London stock listing Sycamore had considered. Perhaps the only legitimate backdoor into the Boots deal is to invest in Fairfax Financial — where shareholders will get indirect exposure once the deal closes. Just keep in mind that Fairfax is a diversified insurance and investment holding company, so Boots would be a small slice of it.

The Boots deal is a story about the Westons’ (and Fairfax’s) wealth, not your Loblaw portfolio. For Canadian investors that means judging your Loblaw or GWL position the way you would any other stock: on its earnings, its valuation and how much of your money is riding on it. If those still fit your plan, a headline from London, U.K. doesn’t need to change it.

Editorial Note: This article was updated on Oct. 8, 2026, to reflect definitive agreement where Wittington Investments, Limited ("Wittington"), the holding company of the Weston family based in Canada, would acquire Boots and its associated businesses, which are majority owned by Sycamore Partners, in partnership with Stefano Pessina and his family. The total purchase consideration is US$8.9 billion, including assumed debt.

That’s less than half the 3% annual inflation rate Statistics Canada eported for August 2026.

That modest average masks a growing divide: employers are blowing past their budgets for specialized talent, handing out hefty premiums to candidates proficient in AI. Here’s who’s getting the premium, what it’s worth and how to position yourself for it.

Who is getting paid more in 2027?

Bidding wars are back for top performers: 54% of finance hiring managers are blowing past their salary budgets, with 82% of them citing specialized skill sets as the main driver.

Four roles are projected to outpace the 1.4% average by a wide margin:

• Controller: +4.1%
• Assistant controller: +3.9%
• Senior accountant: +3.6%
• Mutual fund accountant: +3.6%

What does that look like in real dollars? Midpoint starting pay lands at $147,250 for controllers, $113,000 for assistant controllers, and $93,750 for senior accountants. Robert Half also projects above-average growth for financial analysts (+3.2%) and data analysis managers (+2.9%).

Which skills are commanding a premium?

Companies are shelling out top dollar for high-impact expertise. For accountants, that means big rewards for controllership, regulatory reporting, technical accounting and hands-on ERP software mastery. In finance, it’s data analytics, financial modelling and forecasting. For accounting operations, the list includes AI agent building, workflow automation and platforms such as Oracle NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI.

AI skills are drawing the biggest pay bumps: six in 10 hiring managers pay extra for AI expertise, and 29% report those bonuses beat out any other tech skill. Robert Half says demand is high for talent who can “interpret data, maintain compliance and apply sound judgment to validate AI-driven processes.”

In other words, it’s no longer just about prompting AI — employers want professionals who have the sharp eye required to audit its output.

Designations help, as well. The guide says certifications such as Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) can justify higher pay when they validate specialized expertise.

Why does a 1.4% average fall short?

Run the numbers on Robert Half’s midpoints: a 1.4% bump on a $70,250 accountant’s salary adds just $984 a year. Against 3% inflation, keeping pace requires $2,108 — leaving a pre-tax purchasing power gap of over $1,100.

Compare that with a controller. A 4.1% gain on a $147,250 midpoint is about $6,037 a year.

Keep in mind: these figures reflect starting salaries for new hires, not guaranteed pay raises for current employees. Your pay will depend on your employer, industry, city and experience. According to the guide, demand is strongest in construction, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, mining and resources, and professional services.

Base pay isn’t the whole picture either. When salaries are similar, finance professionals weigh bonuses, profit sharing, paid time off and remote work heavily when deciding whether to switch jobs.

What to do now

• Benchmark your pay. Robert Half’s salary calculator lets you adjust ranges by city. See whether you sit at the low, mid or high end for your role.
• Audit your skills. Compare what you do against the premium list and pick one skill — such as ERP systems or data analytics — to build over the next six months.
• Quantify your AI and automation wins. If you’ve cut reporting time or automated a manual process, put a number on it before your next review.
• Ask your employer to pay for training. If you pay for eligible courses yourself, you may qualify for training reimbursement through your employer.
• Negotiate total compensation. If base pay is capped, push for a bonus, profit sharing or more flexibility.
• Put any raise to work. Your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room grows with your income — 18% of the previous year’s earned income, up to the annual limit, per the CRA.

A 1.4% average is a starting point, not a ceiling. Holding high-demand skills gives you real negotiation leverage for 2027. If you don’t, that pay gap will only widen — making your smartest first move checking where your current salary stands today.

The finding comes from BlackRock’s first Canada Read on Retirement report, released on Oct. 6, 2026. Among workplace retirement plan participants, 72% say they may need to reduce their contributions in the coming year, while 61% believe they’re on track to afford the retirement lifestyle they expect.

The concern is that almost 3 out of 4 respondents were considering a reduction in contributions; while this certainly frees up money to cover current daily expenses it comes at a cost.

Depending on your workplace plan and how long the decision to reduce contributions lasts, you could be sacrificing valuable employer contributions, not to mention years of investment growth — putting your retirement and your retirement lifestyle at risk.

Rising expenses put pressure on retirement savings

BlackRock found that 62% of respondents expect rising living expenses to create financial challenges. Meanwhile, 68% worry about outliving their retirement savings.

This pressure extends into the working lives of all Canadians. Among mid-career participants, nearly 77% say they may need to reduce their retirement contributions in the year ahead. Only 51% of Gen X participants feel as though they are on track for retirement, compared with 70% of Gen Z participants.

What’s worse is that the BlackRock survey findings only reflect workplace savers, not all Canadians.

How cutting contributions could affect your retirement savings

Reducing your retirement contributions means less money invested for the future, whether you save through an RRSP, a TFSA, or a workplace plan. You also miss out on the growth those contributions could have earned.

If you save through a workplace plan that includes employer matching, reducing your contributions could mean receiving less from your employer, too.

For example, let’s say your plan matches contributions dollar for dollar up to a certain limit. Cutting your contribution by $100 a month within that matched range could reduce the total going into your account by $200 a month, or $2,400 per year.

Matching arrangements vary, so check your plan’s rules. While some pension plan contributions are mandatory, others are more flexible and allow you to save voluntarily; a decision to reduce your contribution means missing out on free money (from your employer) and reduced long term investment growth on those savings.

So, what about that long-term growth? For instance, if you invested that $2,400 as a lump sum and left it for 25 years, it would grow to roughly $8,127, assuming a 5% annual return. That assumes annual compounding, with no fees or taxes deducted, and isn’t a forecast. But what if you reduced that same contribution for two or three years? Suddenly you’re missing out on $20K or $30K, or more, as part of your retirement nest egg.

Remember, a brief reduction in contributions won’t necessarily derail your retirement, but the longer you wait on the sidelines, the more you may need to save later in life in order to close that retirement savings gap.

Include CPP in your retirement plan

If you’re like most Canadians, your investment accounts only make up part of your retirement income. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) provides eligible recipients with monthly payments for life, adjusted annually for inflation. Your payment depends on your contribution history, earnings, and the age you start collecting.

A separate 2025 CPP Investments survey found that 59% of respondents worried about outliving their savings. More than half of non-retirees (55%) said they had no retirement plan. The survey covered over 5,000 adults outside Quebec (since workers in this province generally contribute to the Quebec Pension Plan).

Knowing how much you can expect from CPP makes it easier to work out how much you’ll need to cover from your savings. But don’t assume you’ll receive the maximum. For 2026, the maximum monthly CPP benefit at age 65 is $1,507.65. However, the average payment was only $858.34, at that same age.

You can check your CPP estimate by signing into your My Service Canada Account (MSCA).

Check your workplace plan before you cut your contributions

If you need to reduce your retirement savings temporarily to cover essentials or repay high-interest debt, start by working out what you can still afford to contribute. If your workplace plan offers an employer match, try to contribute enough to keep the full match, if your budget allows. Ask your plan administrator how a reduction would affect your employer’s contributions and any other benefits.

From there, set a date to review the change, and update your retirement projections if you need to keep saving less for longer. This can help you manage current expenses without losing sight of your retirement goals.

Survey methodology

The survey was conducted by Escalent, an independent research firm, and reflects the experiences of Canadians across different parts of the retirement journey. A total of 1,009 Canadian workplace plan participants and 305 Canadian retirees were surveyed between May 25 and June 25, 2026.

The Fed voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to raise its federal funds rate from 3.75% to 4%, despite President Donald Trump’s calls for rates of 1% or lower.

The Fed decision wasn’t unexpected — with Canadian rates moving around the same time. On Sept. 14, the five-year Government of Canada bond yield increased to 3.711% (up from 3.448% on Sept. 8) — a 52-week high. This prompted Canada’s Big Six Banks (and other major lenders) to increase selected fixed mortgage rates, generally by 10 to 20 basis points — with the lowest five-year fixed mortgage rate increasing to 4.24%, up from 4.09%, over September; rates below 4% disappeared from the market.

But there is good news. According to Tracy Valko, founder and principal broker at Valko Financial, the Fed’s most recent decision is unlikely to drive another significant move in Canadian fixed rates.

“Much of the Fed’s move was anticipated and already reflected in bond yields, so I wouldn’t expect this hike alone to trigger another significant move in Canadian fixed rates,” she told Money.ca.

Will Canadian fixed mortgage rates keep rising?

Fixed mortgage rates are influenced by bond yields rather than moving directly with a central bank’s overnight policy rate. That means the Fed can affect Canadian mortgage pricing without the Bank of Canada necessarily following its lead.

If U.S. yields remain elevated, that pressure can spill into Canadian bond yields and, in turn, fixed-rate pricing.

An Axios analysis of the Fed and financial markets noted that uncertainty around the central bank’s policy direction can contribute to volatility in bond markets as investors try to anticipate where rates are headed.

For Canadian borrowers, that means the Fed’s influence is less about the rate it sets directly and more about how investors respond to its decisions. A shift in expectations around inflation or the future path of U.S. rates can move bond yields, which can then affect the pricing of fixed mortgages in Canada.

But the latest Fed hike was already largely anticipated by markets, and Valko said it is too early to call this latest move the start of another sustained rise in Canadian fixed mortgage rates.

“I expect volatility more than a straight line higher,” she said. “The important shift is that borrowers can no longer assume waiting automatically means a better rate.”

What should Canadian borrowers do?

For someone buying a home, renewing a mortgage or refinancing, that makes trying to time the market particularly difficult.

The Fed’s decision could contribute to further movement in bond yields, but what happens next will depend on more than one rate decision. Inflation, employment and economic growth will all influence how markets view the path for interest rates in the weeks ahead.

That leaves borrowers weighing the potential benefit of waiting for a lower rate against the risk that fixed rates move in the other direction.

For borrowers, Valko said the focus should be on building a mortgage that can withstand changes in the rate environment.

“The smartest mortgage strategy isn’t built around guessing the next rate move. It’s built around protecting cash flow, creating flexibility and making sure the mortgage still works if the market moves against you.”

That can mean looking beyond the headline rate when comparing mortgage options, including how much room there is in the household budget if borrowing costs move higher or if circumstances change.

For now, the Fed’s decision is another factor for Canadian mortgage borrowers to watch, rather than a clear signal that fixed mortgage rates are about to move sharply higher. The bigger question is where bond yields go from here as markets digest the Fed’s policy and incoming economic data.

Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will become Quebec’s next premier with a promise to hold a third referendum on independence. For the rest of Canada, the obvious question is whether this changes anything about their money.

The short answer: nothing will change overnight. But a few signals are worth watching — especially if you hold bonds in your RRSP or TFSA.

Is a referendum actually coming?

A referendum isn’t coming anytime soon. St-Pierre Plamondon has said he would delay a vote until 2029 or 2030, after President Donald Trump leaves office. According to CBC News, minority governments in Quebec rarely last more than two years.

The PQ won with less than 30% of the popular vote, and Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard, whose party jumped to a projected 40 seats, said his caucus will not collaborate on a referendum.

Public appetite is limited, too. A recent poll by Léger found 27% of Quebecers would vote Yes on sovereignty, while 62% would vote No.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University told The Associated Press the Quebec election was less about independence and more about ousting the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the party that had governed since 2018. The CAQ was shut out entirely.

In his victory speech, St-Pierre Plamondon reminded Canadians that “Quebec will never change its geographical position,” saying that gives both sides a reason to co-operate.

Why are bond markets paying attention?

Markets don’t wait for referendums. As results came in on Monday evening, Quebec’s 30-year bonds were trading more than 9 basis points above comparable Ontario debt, up from about seven basis points two weeks earlier, according to Bloomberg. Quebec’s 10-year spreads over Government of Canada bonds were also the widest among the four largest provinces.

That gap is still small, but Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at the Bank of Nova Scotia, cautioned that could change. “Clearly spreads would widen and perhaps rather sharply in a true referendum campaign,” Holt wrote in a report cited by Bloomberg.

Canadians should take note. Many Canadian bond funds and ETFs held in RRSPs and TFSAs include provincial bonds. When investors demand higher premiums to lend to Quebec, the prices of existing Quebec bonds tend to slip, while new buyers lock in slightly higher yields.

There is a precedent for calm. During the 2014 Quebec campaign, when a PQ majority looked possible, the province’s longer-term bond yields rose to about 17 basis points above Ontario’s, from about 10. The PQ lost that election.

Could this affect federal transfers — and your taxes?

Quebec is set to receive $30.3 billion of the $108.4 billion in major federal transfers flowing to provinces and territories in 2026-27. That’s the largest share of any province.

A government committed to independence is likely to make negotiations with Ottawa more combative. Still, a minority Parti Québécois government needs opposition votes to pass its budgets, which limits how far it can push.

Timing adds pressure to the equation. The Quebec result comes two weeks before Albertans vote on Oct. 19 on whether to hold a referendum on separation from Canada. Béland suggested the back-to-back votes could signal to the Trump administration that national unity remains a real issue for Canada.

What to do now

Political headlines can tempt investors into reactive moves. Take a steadier approach:

• Check your bond exposure: Look up the top holdings of any Canadian bond fund or ETF in your RRSP or TFSA to see how much of it is in provincial — and specifically Quebec — debt
• Don’t sell based on headlines: So far, spread moves are measured in a few basis points
• Watch three signals: The Oct. 19 Alberta vote, any PQ move to table referendum legislation and the Quebec-Ontario bond spread
• If you live in Quebec, review concentration: Make sure your savings aren’t overly linked to Quebec-based companies or provincial bonds
• Get advice before big changes: A licensed financial adviser can help you weigh any rebalancing

For now, the Parti Québécois has power but not a free hand. The most useful move is knowing what’s in your portfolio — so you can tell a long-term political risk apart from short-term noise.

But shoppers aren’t viewing things through rose-colored glasses — 75% expect the next two years to be a rough ride for local small businesses.

That puts a lot of families in a tough spot: you love having the local bakery, hardware store, or bookshop down the street, but your own wallet is feeling the squeeze. Here’s a look at what’s driving that pressure — and how you can stretch your dollars to still support local.

Why are local shops bracing for a rough 2 years?

The trade fight has escalated. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods in August, and Ottawa replied with retaliatory tariffs on American products.

Small business owners are feeling the pinch. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses, says its long-term optimism index fell nearly 10 points to 47.9 in September. Anything below 50 means more business owners are bracing for a slump than expecting growth. In fact, nearly half of small businesses (49%) said weak demand was their biggest obstacle to growing.

Meridian’s respondents see a longer-term strain too: 72% agree it’s harder for small businesses to grow than it was 10 years ago. Out of the 1 in 3 people who’ve thought about starting a business, 56% say the economy has forced them to put those dreams on ice.

Is a ‘buy local’ burst enough to keep them open?

Probably not on its own. When low demand is the main problem, a quick shopping boost after a news spike helps, but what business owners really need is steady, reliable sales to pay for rent, payroll and inventory every month.

There’s also a cost to you. Small firms plan to raise prices by an average of 3.3%, up from 2.6% in August, according to the CFIB. If buying local costs a bit extra, that support has to actually fit into your monthly budget — good intentions alone won’t cover it.

Shoppers remain hopeful, though. Of those surveyed, 58% believe local small businesses “will ultimately emerge stronger than ever.” Paul Casey, Meridian’s director of small business, said in a statement, that the credit union sees “a tremendous amount of creativity and resilience” among its small business members.

How can you support local without blowing your budget?

Give local spending its own line

Instead of buying extra stuff, just shift the spending you’re already doing — like groceries, coffee, haircuts, or gifts — over to local spots. Pick a monthly amount you can comfortably stick with, and track it just like the rest of your budget.

Read the label before you pay a premium

Not every maple leaf means what you think. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the federal regulator for food labelling, “Product of Canada” on food means all or virtually all ingredients, processing and labour are Canadian. “Made in Canada” means the last substantial transformation happened here, even if ingredients were imported.

For non-food goods, the Retail Council of Canada, an industry association for retailers, notes “Product of Canada” requires at least 98% of production costs to be Canadian, versus 51% for “Made in Canada.”

Keep in mind that even if a local shop sells imported stuff, it still hires your neighbours and pays rent in your community. “Buying local” and “buying Canadian” often go hand in hand, but they aren’t quite the same thing.

Buy, but don’t stock up on gift cards

Buying gift cards gives a small business immediate cash, which is a big help. Just keep in mind that if they go out of business, you could lose that money — so stick to amounts you know you’ll use right away

Offer support that costs nothing

Online reviews, referrals and sharing a shop’s social posts can bring in new customers without touching your wallet.

What to do now

• Pick three local businesses you’d miss most and make them your first stop
• Set a monthly local spending amount and track it
• Check “Product of Canada” versus “Made in Canada” before paying more
• Ask your favourite shops how you can best support them, including how they prefer to be paid
• Keep gift card purchases small
• Leave a review after a good experience
• Ontario business owners: nominations for Meridian’s 2026 Small Business Big Impact Awards, worth $250,000 across 20 businesses, close Nov. 30, 2026

Buying local won’t suddenly solve a trade war, but steady support for the places you rely on can help them survive it. Start with the neighbourhood spots you couldn’t live without, and give them a spot in your budget — not just a place in your heart.

There is some relief in the latest numbers. Rents on new listings have cooled in many cities, and in a few they’ve even dropped. But anyone who moves still pays today’s market rate — which is often hundreds of dollars a month more than the tenants who stay put.

Here’s what drove the jump, who’s paying the most and how to decide your next move.

Why did asking rents jump so fast?

The analysis found that asking rents surged between 2021 and 2024 mostly because demand for rental housing grew faster than supply. Strong population growth — particularly among newcomers, a demographic more likely to rent — added renter households faster than new units came on the market.

Interest rates piled on to the problem. Landlords with mortgages typically pass higher borrowing costs on to tenants, and pricier mortgages kept more would-be buyers renting. Rising rates were a key driver in 2022 and 2023.

The picture has shifted since mid-2024. The number of newcomers to Canada has dropped sharply, and interest rates have come down from their peak in 2023 and early 2024.

Are rents finally coming down?

In many places, yes, rents are decreasing — but from a much higher starting point. The average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment across Canada’s major urban areas was $2,130 a month in the second quarter of 2026, down 3.6% from a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada.

At the same time, over the past year asking rents fell 6.4% in Calgary, 5.2% in Montreal and 4.1% in Vancouver. Asking rents increased in other cities, climbing 6.5% in Thunder Bay, while Halifax and Saskatoon each rose more than 5%.

Vancouver is still the priciest market, where a two-bedroom lists for an average of $3,030 a month. Toronto follows at $2,650, with Victoria not far behind at $2,640 and Halifax at $2,400.

StatCan describes these figures as experimental. They’re drawn from rental listing platforms and don’t take unit quality into account, so treat them as a guide rather than an exact price tag.

Why does moving cost so much more than staying?

Rent controls in many provinces limit annual increases for existing tenants, but landlords can increase rents more substantially when a new tenant moves in. That’s why people entering the rental market, who are primarily young Canadians and newcomers, pay close to asking rents and face the greatest affordability pressures.

The affordability gap shows up in StatCan’s numbers. Asking rents for two-bedroom apartments were higher than paid rents in almost every metro area where both are tracked. In Vancouver, the average paid rent was $2,470, which is about $560 a month or $6,720 a year, below asking.

In Toronto, paid rent averaged $2,160, roughly $490 a month, or $5,880 a year, below asking.

The exceptions were Calgary, Regina and Edmonton, where asking rents were either at or below what existing tenants pay. StatCan notes that part of the gap also reflects differences between vacant and occupied units, such as building age and location.

Turnover is also a part of the equation. Only about 13% of rental units nationally get a new tenant each year — ranging from 9% in Toronto to 29% in Edmonton. In low-turnover cities, many tenants pay rents that were set years ago, so the gap between staying and moving can stay wide for a long time.

How much do you need to earn to rent today?

From CMHC’s vantage point, housing is considered affordable when it costs less than 30% of a household’s before-tax income. Using that benchmark and StatCan’s latest asking rents, here’s roughly what a household would need to earn to afford a typical two-bedroom (rent only, before utilities):

• Major-city average ($2,130): about $85,200
• Halifax ($2,400): about $96,000
• Toronto ($2,650): about $106,000
• Vancouver ($3,030): about $121,200

For a single earner, newcomer or a young family, those thresholds help explain why so many renters still feel priced out — even as rents ease.

Considering a move?

Whether you have to move or want to, there are a few simple things you can do to make the most informed decision before you decide on your next step.

Compare before you move

Check current listings against what you’re currently paying. If you’re in a rent-controlled unit, leaving could cost you thousands of dollars a year.

Negotiate in softer markets

Where asking rents are falling, such as Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver, landlords may have less leverage, which in turn means, you have some power to negotiate. Ask about incentives like a free month, including parking or a longer lease at a locked-in rate.

Know your province’s rules

Rules around rent-increase limits vary by province, and some units may be exempt. Check with your provincial landlord and tenant board before you sign.

Run the 30% test

If a new place pushes your rent well above 30% of gross income, consider a roommate, a smaller unit or a different neighbourhood.

So, are Canadians priced out of the rental market? Not across the board, no, but the squeeze lands hardest on whoever signs the next lease. Asking rents climbed more than 20% after 2021 as population growth and higher interest rates collided with tight supply. They may have eased in many cities since, but they haven’t returned to where they were. Tenants who don’t move are often shielded by provincial rent controls, while young Canadians, newcomers and anyone forced to move pay the going rate. If a move is your near future, compare what you pay now with local listings, weigh the gap and use any softening in your city to negotiate.

That’s about to get easier, at least for some Canadians. Beginning March 2027, 1 million eligible individuals will receive an invitation to file their 2026 taxes using a pre-filled return. By 2029, that number is set to grow to 5.5 million.

But there’s a catch, and a deadline. To be eligible for that invitation, you need to have a few things in place by Oct. 31, 2026, which is less than four weeks away. Here’s who could qualify, what’s at stake and what to do now.

What is a CRA pre-filled tax return?

The free service offered by the CRA uses information that is already on file to fill in a return for you. Then you review it, fix or add anything that’s missing, and submit

That sets it apart from a track announced in the 2025 federal budget, where the CRA would file returns on behalf of a small group of eligible low-income non-filers. The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), an independent fiscal watchdog, reports that the CRA is targeting just 3,000 of non-filers for the 2025 tax year, rising to 50,000 for the 2027 tax year and thereafter. The pre-filled return is the larger, second step — aimed at people who already have a filing history and a simple tax situation.

Who could get an invitation?

According to the CRA, you may be invited if you have:

• filed your 2025 tax return by Oct. 31, 2026
• a lower income and a simple, non-taxable situation
• a CRA account
• your correspondence preference set to ‘electronic mail’

Pay close attention to the wording: meeting the criteria means you may be invited, not that you will be. The CRA’s campaign page also doesn’t list a specific income cutoff. If your income is modest and your return is straightforward — no self-employment income, rental properties or complex investments — it’s worth getting ready anyway.

What if you owe nothing?

You still need to file, because the CRA uses your tax return to determine your eligibility for any benefit and credit payments. Skip the return and miss out on those.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney previewed the plan in October 2025, he said that millions of lower-income Canadians don’t file their taxes and that “too often” those who need benefits the most don’t get them. According to the Canadian Press at the time, he cited programs such as the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and the disability benefit.

The money at stake here isn’t trivial. The PBO estimates that non-filers who owe nothing and have their taxes filed automatically would receive an average of $2,212 in benefits for the 2025 tax year, and amounts will rise with inflation after that. That figure applies to the automatic-filing group, not to people who use a pre-filled return, but it shows how much money can go unclaimed when a return doesn’t get filed.

What if you don’t get invited?

You’ll still need to file your 2026 return by the usual April 30, 2027, deadline. For lower-income Canadians with simple taxes, the CRA offers other free options to file:

• SimpleFile, which lets eligible individuals file digitally, by phone or on paper
• Free tax clinics, where a volunteer completes your return
• The Indigenous credit and benefit short return, a simplified paper option

Those same options are available now to help you file a late 2025 return before Oct. 31.

What to do now

If you think you might qualify to get the pre-filled tax return from the CRA, use this checklist:

• File your 2025 tax return if you haven’t already
• Sign in to your CRA account, or register for one — leave extra time in case the CRA needs to mail you a security code
• Update your personal information, including your address, if anything has changed
• Change your correspondence preference to electronic mail if it’s not already set
• Starting March 2027, check your CRA account for an invitation

A pre-filled return won’t change how much you’re owed — what it will affect is how easily you claim it. If setting a few minutes aside this month gets your account and settings in order, you could spare yourself a stack of paperwork next spring — and make sure your benefit payments keep arriving.

On Nov. 3, Florida voters will take to the polls to decide on Amendment 3, a constitutional measure that would substantially increase property tax breaks for qualifying permanent residents. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been clear about who will keep paying, telling Fox News in May, “we are focusing on homestead. Obviously they tax property that are non-homestead: Residential, Airbnb, Canadian snowbirds, commercial.”

The stakes are big. Canadians own an estimated US$60 billion in Floridian property while paying more than US$600 million a year in property taxes, according to a 2023 statement from Canada’s former consul general in Miami, Sylvia Cesaratto.

Here’s what the vote does and doesn’t do, as well as how to prepare before your 2027 tax bill arrives.

What would Amendment 3 change?

The amendment would raise Florida’s non-school homestead exemption, which is the portion of a home’s value shielded from tax, from about US$50,000 to US$150,000 in 2027 and then US$250,000 in 2028.

The catch: a homestead is a permanent Florida resident’s primary dwelling. Secondary homes, rentals and commercial property aren’t eligible for the bigger exemption, according to Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan non-profit taxpayer research institute. Meanwhile, school property taxes, which constitute roughly 40% of the average bill, aren’t affected.

For full-time residents, the savings are considerable. Florida TaxWatch estimates a homesteader paying the statewide average non-school rate would save US$1,035 in 2027 and US$2,085 in 2028.

The measure needs at least 60% voter approval. If passed, it would come into effect Jan. 1, 2027. Only those who establish permanent Florida residency by Dec. 31, 2026, qualify for the larger exemption in 2027; later arrivals phase in over five years.

Will Canadian snowbirds pay more?

Not directly — but that nuance is important to clarify. The measure doesn’t create a tax aimed specifically at Canadians. Rather, owners whose Florida property isn’t their primary residence simply don’t get the main break.

There is a modest upside, as Amendment 3 would lower the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties, including vacation homes, from 10% to 5%. But that’s a ceiling on how fast your taxable value can climb, not a guaranteed tax cut.

Still, the gap between you and your full-time neighbours would widen. Furthermore, it’s not yet clear how counties and cities will manage lower homestead revenue over time, but DeSantis has made no secret of wanting non-residents to shoulder more of the state’s tax burden. Arguing against a proposed sales-tax cut in March 2025, he said, “I want Canadian tourists and Brazilian tourists subsidizing the state and making it so Florida residents pay less taxes.”

How does this fit into the rising cost of owning in Florida?

Property tax is one thing to keep an eye on. In 2025, snowbird Cesidia Cedrone told CBC News she paid nearly US$4,000, compared to US$1,500 15 years earlier. Higher insurance premiums and condo fees, along with a weaker Canadian dollar have also pushed many owners to sell their homes to thwart the financial bleed.

If Amendment 3 were to pass, relief would flow to permanent residents while snowbirds’ bills would hinge on how local governments set future rates. That makes the keep-or-sell decision less about lifestyle and more about math.

What should you know before selling?

Selling U.S. property as a Canadian means dealing with two disparate tax systems.

On the U.S. side, the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) generally requires the buyer to withhold 15% of the amount realized, which is usually the sale price, not your profit. For example, on a US$400,000 sale, the buyer would withhold US$60,000 and send it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) within 20 days of closing. You can also apply for a withholding certificate, ideally before closing, to reduce or even eliminate the amount withheld.

Lower rates apply if the buyer is an individual who plans to use the home as a residence and intends to live there at least half the time it’s in use during each of the first two years. In that case, if the price is over US$300,000 and up to US$1 million, the rate drops to 10%, or US$40,000 in this example. If the price is US$300,000 or less, no withholding is required.

In Canada, residents report worldwide capital gains to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and can generally claim a foreign tax credit for any U.S. taxes paid. Because your gain is calculated in Canadian dollars, exchange-rate swings since you purchased the property can shrink or grow that sum.

There is a bit of relief for Canadians: personal-use property — such as a vacation home used mainly by you and your family — is excluded from Form T1135 foreign property reporting. If you rent the unit out, check whether that reporting will apply.

What to do now

• Pull your latest Florida tax bill and note your assessed value and millage rates
• Watch the Nov. 3 result — the 60% threshold is significant
• Build a 2027 budget that takes into account insurance and condo fees, as well as exchange rate
• Talk to a cross-border tax professional before you list, not after
• Gather any purchase, renovation and exchange-rate records for your CRA filing
• If you’re renting out the unit, check your T1135 obligations

While Amendment 3 won’t hike your bill overnight, it does change who Florida’s tax system is engineered to serve. Treat today’s carrying costs as the floor, not the ceiling — then decide whether your winter home still earns its place in your retirement plan or whether it’s time to sell.

Feenstra received a three-year temporary residence permit in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region in early 2025, according to Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet based in Latvia. His wife and eight of their nine children joined him in their new home country, and he started farming. But to swap that permit for permanent residence, he says he must sign a contract with Russia’s Defence Ministry.

In a video posted to YouTube, Feenstra states: “I didn’t come here to sign a contract. I’d rather take my chances in Canada, though I think living there is risky too.”

Feenstra wasn’t the only Canadian to take Russia’s offer. Russia issued 1,112 “traditional values” visas worldwide in 2025 — 54 of them to Canadians — according to Alexei Klimov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s consular department, as reported by The Moscow Times.

Here’s what Feenstra and other Canadians face after ‘fleeing’ Canada and emigrating to Russia.

Why ‘traditional values’ visa holders chose to move to Russia

Russia launched their ‘values’ recruitment program in August 2024 — aimed at citizens of Western countries, including Canada, who share what the Kremlin calls ‘traditional Russian values.’

Under Russian Presidential Decree No. 702, the ”traditional” values attached to Russia’s humanitarian emigration visa — often called the “shared values” or “anti-woke” visa — focus on a rejection of “destructive neoliberal” and Western ideological policies, including “LGBTQ rights to mixed-gender bathrooms.”

What’s the catch?

These were the terms — and promises — that prompted Feenstra to move his family to Russia. Selling his Saskatchewan farm in 2024 and moving everyone to Russia in early 2025.

The contract requirement with the Russian Defence Ministry came later. In November 2025, Russia passed a requirement that all foreign men aged 18 to 65, who are deemed fit for service must sign a Defence Ministry contract to get permanent residence — and traditional values visa holders aren’t exempt, Meduza reports.

This doesn’t mean Feenstra or other foreign permanent residents must sign the contract. According to Feenstra, he can apply for another temporary permit when his current one expires, but he also says the rules keep changing. The uncertainty is now prompting Feenstra and his family to change their stance about the ‘values’ move — and they are no longer recommending the move.

To be clear, Global Affairs Canada advises Canadians to avoid all travel to Russia.

What do Canadians give up when they leave Canada, permanently?

Anyone who leaves Canada permanently — regardless of where they move, or why — will face automatic updates and changes to their tax and residency status.

It’s important to understand that Canadian residents pay taxes on their worldwide income, as outlined in the Income Tax Act (ITA); a non-resident of Canada is taxed only on certain Canadian-sourced income.

You need to meet certain conditions to be considered a non-resident, in particular:

• disposing of or renting their home in Canada and establishing a permanent home in another country
• when family, including spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave Canada
• disposing of personal property in Canada and breaking social ties, such as church or recreational memberships

If any or all these conditions are met, then you can expect the following:

Departure tax

When you become a non-resident, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which administers federal taxes and benefits, will consider your assets as ‘sold’ at fair market value. This deemed disposition, often called the departure tax, is reported on Form T1243, and you can elect to defer payment using Form T1244. Canadian real estate is excluded, since Canada can tax it when it’s eventually sold.

Child benefits

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is paid only to Canadian tax residents. From July 2026 to June 2027, it’s worth up to $8,157 per child under 6 and $6,883 per child aged 6 to 17, shrinking as family income rises. At the maximum, eight children aged 6 to 17 would bring in more than $55,000 a year — but only if you remain a Canadian tax resident.

Retirement benefits

To collect Old Age Security (OAS) while living abroad, you need at least 20 years of Canadian residence after age 18. With fewer than 40 years, the pension is prorated — so a mid-career move can permanently shrink this benefit.

What if you want to come back to Canada?

Canadian citizens can always return to their home country, but it isn’t a clean reset.

If you still hold the same assets when you re-establish residency, the CRA lets you elect to “unwind” the deemed disposition, which may reduce or eliminate the departure tax; however, assets you actually sold — a farm, a home or a business — will not be returned.

For those eligible for CCB, this benefit only restarts once you’re a resident again — and reapply. Health coverage rules for returning residents also vary by province, so check yours before you book a flight.

What to do now

If you’re weighing a permanent move — anywhere — work through this list before you decide or do anything:

• Read the rules for permanent residence, not just the visa, and ask what happens if they change
• Check the Global Affairs Canada travel advisory for your destination and register with the Registration of Canadians Abroad service
• Model your departure tax with a cross-border tax professional, including whether a Form T1244 deferral makes sense
• Add up the benefits you’ll forfeit, starting with the CCB
• Count your OAS residence years before you leave
• Keep enough cash to fly your whole household home and cover several months while benefits restart
• Consider renting out, rather than selling, key assets until your new status is secure

A visa answers whether a country will let you in. The bigger question is whether its rules will still work for you in five years — and whether you can afford to come home if they don’t.

For Feenstra and his family, the door remains open to return to Canada. The real dilemma is whether their “traditional” values are more important to them than living in a country where their children won’t potentially face mandatory military service. As he states in his TikTok post: “I didn’t come here to sign a contract,” that requires him to be away from his farm for years. “I might as well take my risks in Canada, which I also think is a risky place to live.”

She’s not alone. This summer, StubHub cancelled thousands of World Cup tickets for matches in Vancouver, Toronto and other host cities — some just hours before kickoff.

Customers still seeking refunds now face a new hurdle: the arbitration body designated in StubHub’s user agreement disclosed, in a Sept. 28 letter, that the company has repeatedly failed to pay its fees on time.

Here’s what that means if you’re owed money — and how to push for it.

Why does StubHub send refund fights to arbitration?

When you buy or sell tickets on StubHub, you usually have to agree to their user terms. According to The Globe and Mail, those terms state that if an issue comes up that you can’t resolve directly with StubHub, it gets sent to the American Arbitration Association — a U.S. non-profit that acts as an outside referee for private disputes.

In theory, that’s a decent deal for consumers: a neutral arbitrator hears your case, often virtually, and StubHub’s agreement doesn’t require customers to pay arbitration fees on claims of $10,000 or less.

The catch is that this clause makes it much harder to sue StubHub or join a class-action lawsuit. Adil Abdulla, a Toronto lawyer with Sotos Class Actions, explained to the Globe that while arbitration rules usually shut down class actions, a few provinces do make exceptions.

What’s going wrong with the arbitration process?

Brad Clements, a lawyer based in Texas and California who represents more than 350 StubHub customers in Canada and the U.S., shared letters with the Globe & Mail showing the AAA asked StubHub as early as May 2025 to remove the association’s name from its user agreement after a customer’s fees weren’t paid on time. The AAA also warned it may stop handling consumer cases involving StubHub.

Clements says he’s personally seen around six cases where StubHub skipped out on its fees. In some instances, he ended up covering the costs himself. In others, StubHub only shelled out the cash after the AAA threw the case out — which meant starting the process all over again, paying refiling fees and waiting even longer.

“It’s really about inconsistent behaviour,” Clements told the Globe.

StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne told the Globe that the company always pays its required arbitration fees, suggesting that rapid-fire claims can sometimes cause a temporary delay in processing the payments. Clements previously told CBC News that StubHub changed the mailing address for formal dispute notices seven times in 14 months, and that StubHub.ca doesn’t explain how to file one.

Arbitration can still work out — Clements notes that when StubHub actually pays on time, cases move forward. You just shouldn’t expect a quick turnaround. Legal pressure can help, though: CBC News reported that StubHub refunded Denis Radetic of Georgetown, ON, within days of his lawyer sending a demand letter.

What can Canadians do instead of waiting?

Start with your credit card

If you used a credit card to purchase the tickets, reach out to your provider and request a chargeback to get your money refunded. In fact, some provinces actually have laws on the books that protect your right to do this.

In British Columbia, Consumer Protection BC, the province’s consumer protection regulator, says that if you cancel an eligible online purchase and aren’t refunded within 15 days, you can ask your card provider to reverse the charges using its request form.

In Quebec, Éducaloi, a non-profit legal information organization, says that for undelivered online purchases, you have 60 days after a merchant refuses a refund to request a chargeback, and the card company must reimburse you within 90 days.

Check your province’s rules

Abdulla told the Globe that mandatory arbitration clauses aren’t enforceable in Ontario, which means buyers there might be able to head straight to small claims court. B.C. pushed for a similar shift in March 2025, though recent court decisions have still upheld certain clauses depending on when the dispute happened.

Courts and regulators are also involved. Mark Gallagher, a Vancouver resident whose $11,407 pair of seats was cancelled hours before kickoff, filed the first proposed class action in Canada against StubHub over the cancellations. And B.C.’s attorney general launched an investigation into StubHub’s handling of World Cup tickets.

Don’t count on extras

StubHub’s user agreement includes a waiver aimed at stopping Canadian and U.S. buyers from suing for anything beyond the cost of the ticket — like travel expenses or legal fees. Whether that actually holds up in court depends on your province, so definitely hang onto your receipts.

What to do now

• Ask StubHub for your refund in writing and save every email, chat transcript and call log
• Note the date your order was cancelled — card dispute windows can be short
• If you used a credit card, file a chargeback with your bank and mention your province’s consumer protection laws if they apply
• File a complaint with your provincial consumer protection office if both StubHub and your card issuer refuse
• Before mailing a formal dispute, confirm StubHub’s current notice-of-dispute address
• Hang onto your flight, hotel, and transit receipts just in case a class-action lawsuit or government ruling ends up covering more than just the price of the ticket

Next time you drop big money on event tickets, just keep in mind that a resale guarantee is only as good as the company backing it up. Clements has advised World Cup fans to buy directly from FIFA, rather than resale sites. If there’s an official resale option, stick with that — and always pay with a credit card so you’ve got a safety net if your tickets don’t show up.

It has been a top concern throughout the campaign, and the numbers show why. Consumer prices in Quebec rose 3.1% in the 12 months to August, slightly above the 3.0% national rate, according to data from Statistics Canada. Across Canada, grocery prices are up 29% since August 2021.

Every major party has answered the call for help with some form of relief. But those pledges sit inside a provincial budget of $171 billion for the 2026-27 fiscal year. How each party plans to pay for its promises — and whose relief gets priority over others — could matter as much to your household as the promises themselves.

What are the parties actually offering?

Most of the relief is targeted rather than sweeping. Cost-of-living highlights include:

• Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ): a $1,000 deposit into the registered education savings plan (RESP) of every child born in Quebec starting in fall 2027, but no tax cuts until the budget is balanced
• Parti Québécois (PQ): halve the Quebec Sales Tax (QST) on petrol for at least a year, remove QST from used goods and vehicles and send a $125 gas rebate to Quebecers earning under $40,000
• Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ): reimburse 36% of the QST paid on a new home or condominium, up to $10,000, for properties valued at up to $500,000
• Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ): abolish the carbon tax, suspend the provincial fuel tax and scrap QST on used goods
• Québec solidaire (QS): increase minimum wage to $20 an hour

Voters seem to prefer these pocketbook pledges. In a survey by Léger, 77% of Quebecers rated eliminating QST on used goods a good measure, the top promise tested.

Why could one party’s relief be another’s clawback?

Not every promise adds money to your pocket. On July 15, Premier Christine Fréchette’s CAQ government permanently removed the QST from a list of household items including pre-cut fruit and vegetables, salted nuts, individually sold baked goods, toilet paper and tissues. Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard estimated the change would save an average family of four about $50 a year.

The Liberals and the PQ, in contrast, would both bring that tax back. The Liberals would also end the welcome tax refund, recouping $980 million over five years from the two changes combined.

So the real question isn’t who’s offering the most to Quebec residents. It’s which measures match how you spend. For a regular commuter, a lower tax on gas would likely outweigh tax-free muffins. For a buyer of a new-build condo, a rebate of up to $10,000 would dwarf both.

Can Quebec afford what’s being promised?

A CBC News analysis of the five main parties’ financial frameworks found a crowded middle.

The CAQ and Liberals propose relatively modest spending increases, while the PQ calls its plan net-neutral. QS sits at one end, with major new spending funded by higher taxes, including a tax on fortunes over $25 million. The Conservatives sit at the other end, proposing deep spending cuts to fund major tax cuts.

All five parties project a balanced budget by 2029-30, as provincial law requires. But the economic assumptions behind those projections are far from certain, Philippe Goulet Coulombe, an associate professor at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), told CBC News. “All the parties have their own specific uncertainties,” he said.

The PQ, CAQ and Liberals each count on more than $4 billion in additional federal transfers that aren’t guaranteed to fund their plans. QS projects its wealth tax would raise $5 billion, a figure Goulet Coulombe called risky because asset values fluctuate. And the PQ’s plan to balance the books a year early is predicated on finding more than $6 billion in bureaucratic savings.

Any changes that come as a result of today’s election won’t hit Quebec households overnight. In some cases, when revenue falls short, governments delay promises, scale them back or lean on fees — so the relief you vote for may arrive later, or smaller, than advertised.

What to do now

Whatever tonight’s result, a few moves can protect your bank account:

• Match promises to your spending — note the costs that hit you hardest, such as gas, used purchases, a home purchase or kids, and track the measures that touch them
• Don’t budget around relief that isn’t law yet — pledges need approval, budget and legislation, and some, like the CAQ’s RESP deposit, wouldn’t start until fall 2027
• Watch the new government’s first budget or fiscal update — that’s when you’ll learn which promises survive and when they take effect
• Don’t wait to make a necessary purchase on a hunch — holding off on a used car in hopes of a QST exemption is a gamble with no confirmed start date
• Use the relief already available — RESP contributions already earn the federal Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) of 20% on the first $2,500 a year, or up to $500, plus a basic 10% top-up of up to $250 through the Quebec Education Savings Incentive (QESI)

The price tags attached to party platforms run into the billions. The amounts that land in your household budget will more likely be measured in tens or hundreds of dollars. So when ballots are marked at the polls today, the more useful question may be less about which party promised the most and more about whose plan is most likely to still be standing two budgets from now.

On Oct. 5, Quebecers vote in a provincial election where the Parti Québécois (PQ), the province’s main sovereigntist party, is leading in the polls and promising a referendum. It’s the third time the province will cast such a vote.Two weeks later, on Oct. 19, Albertans vote in a referendum that asks whether the province should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding vote to leave.

Neither province’s vote would split the country on its own. But a new study on Alberta separation offers a sobering price tag — and its lead author says Quebec’s would likely look similar.

What did the University of Calgary study find?

The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, commissioned by the Alberta government, modelled two hypothetical paths for the study: A “smooth” separation with a quick, favourable deal with Canada and a “difficult” one with hostile, drawn-out negotiations.

Either way, setting up a whole new country would cost $50 billion to $170 billion in the first five years, including new IT systems and roughly 70,000 additional public servants.

Within five years, the report finds:

• Smooth: gross domestic product (GDP) is predicted to be about 2.2% lower, take-home pay down more than $1,200 a year and about $800 more in tax per taxpayer
• Difficult: GDP 10.1% lower, employment dips 10%, a typical worker earning almost $5,500 less and taxes up to $5,500 higher per person

The long-term view splits sharply. After 20 years, the smooth path shows GDP 3.4% higher and take-home pay up more than $1,800 a year. The difficult path, however, shows GDP 16.2% lower and wages almost $12,000 below where they’d otherwise be.

“There’s also a very big risk that things could not go well and Alberta could pay a very big price,” Tim Sargent, the report’s lead economist, told Global News.

Not everyone agrees with those numbers. Independence supporter Keith Wilson argues the report leans on worst-case assumptions.

Why does an Alberta study matter for Quebec?

Sargent, director of economic growth and prosperity at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and a longtime federal civil servant, told CBC the cost to Quebec’s economy and finances would likely be similar.

“It’s hard to see the economic upside from Quebec independence,” he said, noting that unlike Alberta, Quebec doesn’t have an oil and gas sector it could leverage for potential gain.

The report cites studies done before the 1995 referendum that projected Quebec’s real GDP would shrink by 1.2% to 7.7%. Independent analysis has been limited since, Sargent said.

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has budgeted at least $130 million for a referendum in 2029 or 2030 and argues independence would bring savings in the long run.

How could referendum uncertainty hit your savings?

A yes vote is not the only way you’ll feel the effects of the referendums. Markets react to the odds.

During the 1995 Quebec campaign, currency traders knocked 2.4% off the loonie’s value in just three days on fears the yes side was building momentum. A study in the Canadian Journal of Economics found uncertainty around the vote hit stock returns of Quebec-based companies, especially those most exposed to political risk.

After the no side won, the Canadian dollar moved sharply higher and Canadian interest rates fell. Investors who sold in a panic would have missed that rebound.

Canadians who are most exposed today include:

• Workers and homeowners in Alberta and Quebec, whose jobs and home values are dependant on the local economy
• Investors heavily concentrated in Canadian or regional stocks
• People nearing retirement and retirees who may need to sell investments soon
• Borrowers renewing a mortgage while rates and the loonie are volatile

What to do now

You can prepare without overreacting. Here are a few steps that can help you:

• Check your concentration. If most of your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or tax-free savings account (TFSA) sits in Canadian stocks — or in companies tied to one province — consider spreading more across global markets
• Don’t trade based on polls. Short-term swings can reverse quickly, as 1995 showed
• Shore up your cash buffer. If your income depends on the Alberta or Quebec economy, an emergency fund covering three to six months of expenses gives you room to wait out turbulence
• Watch your renewal date. If you have to renew your mortgage in the next year, talk to your lender early about your options
• Get advice before big moves. A licensed financial advisor can weigh changes against your timeline

The smarter question isn’t how to bet on the outcome of the votes — it’s whether your finances could withstand a few years of political uncertainty.

As the G20 trade ministers’ meeting wrapped up in Milwaukee on Oct. 1, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters there are still ”a handful of outstanding issues that are quite difficult to resolve.” He also noted that the Trump administration isn’t prepared to wipe the slate clean and drop any existing or proposed tariffs.

For most Canadians, this isn’t a far-off diplomatic spat between two erstwhile allied nations. It has practical consequences that will affect paycheques, shopping bills and the rate on your next mortgage renewal. Here’s what’s at stake — and what you can do before the deadline.

What’s actually on the table before Jan. 1?

The threat targeting Canadian-made autos would double the current 25% U.S. tariff on vehicles and parts, a rate officials had discussed cutting to 15% before talks collapsed in August. President Donald Trump also didn’t specify whether vehicles that comply with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) would stay exempt.

That deadline lands on top of a trade war already underway: the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods on Aug. 22. Ottawa retaliated on Sept. 8 with counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on $27.6 billion of U.S. imports. Escalating matters, a U.S. ban on certain Canadian alcohol, motorcycles, molasses and dairy byproducts took effect on Sept. 29.

Whose paycheque is most exposed?

Workers in the auto assembly, parts and steel industries, as well as the municipalities that depend on them, face the most direct risk. Even before any additional auto tariffs take effect, the 50% duties now in place could cost about 87,000 jobs across Canada, including 36,100 in Ontario, according to estimates by University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe.

Meanwhile, the broader job market is already cooling. Employment fell by 42,000 in August, and the unemployment rate held at 6.4%, according to recent Statistics Canada data. Of those looking for work, 24% had been actively searching for at least 27 weeks.

Will the trade war hit your wallet even if your job is safe?

Most likely, through prices on everyday goods. Canada’s counter-tariffs include 50% on U.S.-made furniture, clothing, apparel and milk, alongside 25% on American appliances and other dairy products such as cheese.

In September, the Bank of Canada (BoC) held its key rate at 2.25% but warned that U.S. tariffs and Canadian counter-measures will raise costs for some businesses and could feed into consumer prices over time. According to StatCan’s August CPI, headline inflation is already running at 3.0%, though that’s largely driven by elevated gas prices; core measures remain near the BoC’s 2% target. The next move is widely expected to be a hike, but economists are split on when that will materialize. Some, including TD, see it arriving in early 2027, while others say a hike in October or in December is now in play.

This matters for borrowers, especially those with variable-rate mortgages, which track the BoC’s policy rate.

What to do now

• Rebuild your emergency fund. If you work in the auto, steel or supplier industries, a three-month cushion may fall short when nearly one in four job seekers have been searching for a new job for a minimum of six months. Keep it in a high-interest savings account, ideally one held within a tax-free savings account (TFSA).
• Know your Employment Insurance (EI) options early. Ottawa’s August support package includes $3.5 billion for workers, with extended temporary EI flexibilities and a new Worker Retention and Retraining Program. If you lose your job in the near future, apply right away.
• Check the label on big purchases. Canada’s counter-tariffs apply to U.S.-made goods on the government’s list only. Sofas, fridges or winter coats that are either made in Canada or anywhere else outside the U.S. won’t carry that levy.
• Get ahead of a mortgage renewal. If you renew in the next year, ask your lender about a rate hold now and budget for a higher payment if a rate hike occurs.
• Don’t panic-sell investments. Review how much of your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or TFSA is concentrated in trade-sensitive sectors, and rebalance gradually.
• Business owners: tap the support. The Business Development Bank of Canada has a new $500–million liquidity stream and has lowered the minimum revenue for its tariff programs to $1 million.

The current economic relationship between Canada and the U.S. is erratic and reactive. A deal could still land before Jan. 1, or the deadline could shift. Either way, these steps would cost little if trade tensions ease — and could protect you a great deal if things escalate.

Despite September’s losses, the TSX still managed to post its ninth straight quarterly gain — the longest streak on record.

Now, investors are wondering whether the October curse — a month historically known for market volatility and potentially dangerous dips — should be a factor in present-day investing decisions.

Where does October’s scary reputation come from?

October earned its reputation as a “cursed” month for investors because some of the biggest crashes in stock-market history happened during this month.

In October 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 13% in a single day, followed by another drop of almost 12% the next day. Then came Black Monday in 1987, when the Dow tumbled 22.6% — still its biggest one-day percentage decline on record. Canadian investors have their own painful example: the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 16.7% in October 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis.

However, not all investors are convinced. Analyzing market drops in a Bloomberg article, portfolio manager Stan Wong writes that these specific market drops are “hardly representative of the typical October.”

What do the numbers actually say about October?

Wong’s analysis of Bloomberg data from 2001 through 2025 found the TSX rose in 17 of 25 Octobers — 68% of the time — with an average gain of 0.4%. The S&P 500 did better on average, gaining 1.6% and finishing higher in 16 of those years.

While the average returns for October don’t support the notion of a cursed month, the volatility experienced during this month does — as illustrated by the CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX), which tracks expected swings in U.S. stocks — and is often called Wall Street’s fear gauge.

The VIX is calculated from S&P 500 option prices and represents the market’s expectation of how much the S&P 500 could move over the next 30 days — and expressed as an annualized percentage.

That means a VIX around 20 is often associated with relatively normal/moderate uncertainty, while readings above 30 indicate much greater expected volatility.

For the month of October, the VIX averaged about 21.8 — higher than any other month.

In other words, October tends to be bumpy, not necessarily bad. Bigger daily swings can feel alarming, but in most years the month still ended higher than it started.

As Wong stresses: interest rates, inflation, corporate earnings and valuations matter far more than the page on the calendar.

So, why do market crashes stick with us?

Behavioural finance has a name for it: availability bias. People give more weight to vivid, easy-to-recall events, then to stable, non-eventful periods in time. In practical terms that means a quiet October when stocks inch up 1% is quickly forgotten, while a 1987-style crash shapes perceptions for decades.

How will this bias hurt an investor?

Turns out this availability bias can cut the other way.

After nine straight quarters of gains, it’s tempting to assume the run will simply continue. But in truth, neither the record streak nor the calendar can tell an investor what happens next — and the forces that made September rocky, from bond yields to trade tensions, haven’t gone away.

So, what’s the real danger? How investors will react.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the province’s securities regulator, warns on its investor education site that investors may panic and sell as prices drop, which can push prices down further. Remember, selling in a slump turns a temporary paper loss into a permanent one.

What should investors do, right now?

Rather than reacting to the month, use this moment to make sure your plan can handle a rough patch — whenever it shows up.

• Match money to timelines. Cash you’ll need in the next few years — a down payment, tuition or a retirement withdrawal — generally shouldn’t depend on where stocks close next week
• Rebalance after the run. Nine quarters of gains may have pushed your stock allocation above your target. Trimming back is a disciplined way to take some profit without trying to call a market top
• Keep contributions automatic. The OSC notes that investing a set amount regularly averages out your costs and avoids dropping a lump sum in just before a slide. Scheduled RRSP and TFSA contributions do exactly that
• Diversify beyond one sector. On Sept. 30 alone, TSX materials stocks sank 1.3% while energy rose 1%, according to Baystreet.ca. The OSC says a diversified mix helps because investments rarely rise and fall at the same time or by the same amount
• Stress-test your nerves. If a 10% drop would have you reaching for the sell button, adjust your mix now, while you can think clearly, not in the middle of a sell-off

October may walk in with baggage, but the more useful question isn’t whether this month will be rough. It’s whether your portfolio is built to ride out a rough month at any time of year. If the answer is yes, the calendar shouldn’t prompt a change to your investment plan or strategy.

The 2026 Global Retirement Report and Index from Global Citizen Solutions (GCS), a residency and citizenship advisory firm, ranks 46 retirement and passive-income visa programs based on five factors: quality of life, mobility and citizenship, tax, procedure and cost of entry.

Fewer than four points separate first place from 10th, and GCS notes its scores are a comparative benchmark — not a measure of whether a destination suits you.

For Canadians, the visa is only half the math. The other half is what happens to your pensions and investments once you leave. Here are the top 10 picks, followed by what to check before you pack.

1. Uruguay: Income-based residency

Uruguay wins on consistency, not any single category. If you can prove a reliable income of US$1,700 a month, you qualify for immediate permanent residency. Better yet, you can apply for citizenship after three years if you’re married, or five if you’re single. New residents can also opt into a foreign-income tax holiday.

2. Mauritius: Residence permit for retired non-citizens

Mauritius leads the top 10 on tax: foreign pensions and income go untaxed, and there’s no wealth or inheritance tax. The income test is US$2,000 a month, with processing in four to six months.

3. Spain: Non-Lucrative Visa

Spain hits the top tier for lifestyle and mobility — but ranks last out of all 46 programs when it comes to taxes. The visa requires €2,400 a month in passive income, and residents pay 19% to 47% on worldwide income, plus wealth taxes.

4. Costa Rica: Pensionado visa

Costa Rica sets the lowest entry bar in the top 10: US$1,000 a month, with zero extra income required for a spouse or kids under 25. However, that income must be a lifetime pension, and approval typically takes 12 to 18 months.

5. Portugal: D7 visa

Portugal boasts the lowest threshold in Europe at just €920 a month — and accepts diverse passive streams like pensions, rental income and dividends. But reaching residency can take 18 to 24 months, worldwide income is taxed between 12.5% and 48%, and the wait for citizenship doubled to 10 years in May 2026.

6. Paraguay: Permanent residency via solvency

Paraguay qualifies applicants with US$1,200 a month in pension or dividend income, processes files in three to six months and charges about US$370 in fees. Foreign-source income is taxed at 0%. The trade-off is the lowest quality-of-life score in the top 10.

7. Latvia: Passive income residence permit

Latvia is the speed champion: approvals take just two months and the fee is a low €160. The catch? It’s strictly for pension-backed applicants aged 65+ from visa-free countries like Canada. The income threshold rose to €1,231 a month in April 2026.

8. Andorra: Passive residency

Andorra caps income tax at a low 10% with zero wealth or inheritance tax. Since February 2026, though, getting in requires a local investment of €1 million alongside roughly €55,000 in annual foreign income. Citizenship takes 20 years, and dual nationality isn’t recognized.

9. Italy: Elective Residency Visa

Italy requires €31,000 a year in passive income. Worldwide income is taxed at 23% to 43%, but pensioners who move to eligible small southern towns can pay a 7% flat tax on foreign income for up to 10 years.

10. Greece: Financially Independent Person Visa

Greece receives top marks for travel freedom and citizenship, allowing dual nationality and naturalization in seven years. The €3,500 monthly income bar is steep, but retirees lock in a sweet 7% flat tax on foreign income for up to 15 years.

What should Canadians check before they move?

Before you compare locations, check what follows you out of Canada. Old Age Security (OAS) can be paid abroad indefinitely only if you’ve lived in Canada for at least 20 years since age 18, according to Steps to Justice. Otherwise, payments stop after six months away.

Your OAS and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payments also face a 25% non-resident tax unless a tax treaty with your new country lowers it, according to the Government of Canada.

And don’t forget about the departure tax. When you become a non-resident, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats certain property as sold — a deemed disposition — which can trigger a capital gain even if you don’t sell anything. The CRA lets you elect to defer the payment.

What to do now

Before applying anywhere, here are some things to be mindful of:

• Count your years in Canada since age 18 to confirm your OAS can follow you
• Look up your destination’s treaty rate on the government’s non-resident tax table
• Get a departure-tax estimate on non-registered investments before setting a move date
• Make sure your income type fits the visa — Costa Rica, for one, accepts only lifetime pensions
• Check how long your province lets you be away before you lose health coverage

The key takeaway? Start with your goal, not the leaderboard. Figure out if you are chasing tax savings, a second passport or a better lifestyle — then pick the spot with trade-offs you can actually handle.

A new survey from Nanos Research, a Canadian public opinion and research firm, conducted for CTV News, found 47% of Canadians oppose or somewhat oppose letting private investors operate the country’s four largest airports. Just 38% support or somewhat support the idea, while 15% say they are unsure.

“There’s going to need to be a lot of explaining from the government in terms of protecting the public good,” Nik Nanos, founder and chief data scientist at Nanos Research, told CTV News. “So this could be a very tricky political issue for the Carney government to navigate.”

For travellers, the real question is simple: Will it cost more to fly? Here’s what’s actually on the table, what happened in other countries that privatized airports and what you can do now.

What is Ottawa actually proposing?

In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the federal government will seek private investment to run Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver international airports.

This isn’t an outright sale. Under the proposal, private operators would run the airports under long-term leases, while the federal government maintains ownership of the land and assets. Transport Canada, the federal department that oversees transportation, would continue to regulate all four airports.

The catch: The specific rules governing airport fees and charges haven’t been announced. That gap is a big part of why Canadians are cautious.

Why are so many Canadians wary?

In a word, affordability.

“All Canadians are thinking about right now is the cost of living,” Nanos said. “And if there’s any initiative that is seen as increasing the cost of travel, this will make it even more difficult politically for the Carney government.”

Still, opposition to privatization appears to be softening. In a June survey Nanos conducted for Bloomberg, 53% of Canadians opposed or somewhat opposed the government’s airport privatization proposal, while 32% supported or somewhat supported it. The two polls asked slightly different questions, so the 6-percentage-point drop in opposition should be read with caution.

What happened when other countries privatized airports?

Australia is the example most often raised in the debate over privatizing airports. The country privatized several major airports throughout the country in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Rod Sims, former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s competition regulator, told CBC News that airport fees rose “massively” after privatization.

“What happened in Australia is yes, the taxpayer wins because you get more money, but the travelling public loses big time, over time,” Sims said.

His reasoning is that, in large countries that rely on air travel, like Canada and Australia, major airports operate as near monopolies when there’s no reasonable alternative nearby. Sims suggested a price cap on airport fees, indexed to inflation, as one safeguard.

Critics point to other numbers, as well. A report from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), a national federation of labour unions, found the revenue Perth Airport collected from airlines per passenger rose more than 60% over 10 years. But supporters of privatization counter that private operators can bring fewer cancellations and more international routes.

How much are you paying in airport fees now?

At Pearson, the AIF is $40 per departing passenger, according to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), the non-profit that runs the airport. The GTAA says the fee has risen by an average of about $1 a year for two decades and is still below London Heathrow’s improvement fee of roughly $52.

For a family of four flying out of Pearson, that’s $160 in AIFs alone, before taxes and before the separate fees airlines pay airports, which are typically built into fares when you book your ticket.

The GTAA argues the better measure is total cost per enplaned passenger, which it says fell to $29.98 in 2025 from $32.16 in 2022.

What to do now

Nothing changes at the gate yet. But the next few months will shape what you pay for years into the future. Here’s how to get ahead of it.

Know your baseline

AIFs are collected when you buy your ticket and appear in the taxes, fees and charges section of your fare. Check that line on your next booking to keep on eye on changes.

Compare total fares across airports

If you live close to a smaller airport, compare the full price, not just the base fare. Air Canada publishes a list of AIFs by Canadian airport.

Budget fees as a separate line

For families and frequent flyers, mandatory fees add up fast. Treat them each as their own item in your travel budget.

Watch the fee rules

Whether the final framework includes enforceable caps on airport charges will matter more to your budget than who operates the terminal.

Make your view known

If you have an opinion, contact your Member of Parliament (MP) while the rules are still being drafted.

The bottom line

Privatization isn’t automatically good or bad for travellers. What matters most is the guardrails put in place and, until Ottawa spells those out, it pays to know exactly what you’re paying today.

Searches by Canadians for domestic fall stays are up 25% year over year, and searches for rural destinations have climbed nearly 30%, according to new data from Airbnb. And among Gen Z travellers, domestic fall searches are up nearly 40%.

Swapping a high-rise hotel for a lakeside cottage sounds budget-friendly, but it doesn’t automatically mean a smaller price tag. Ongoing cost of living pressures and higher gas prices — up 22.8% over the summer months — are significant factors to consider when planning a road trip.

To help, here’s what four of this fall’s top-trending small towns actually cost — and how to calculate the real price tag before you book.

Why are Canadians skipping big cities this fall?

Airbnb says fall remains the top season for weekend getaways. According to the data, people are favouring shorter, hassle-free trips — eliminating passports, border crossings and airport terminals. As Hannah Parish, Airbnb’s country manager for Canada, explains, “[Canadians] are becoming explorers closer to home this season.”

Keep in mind, however, that the Airbnb data is for searches made in Q2 2026 for fall travel dates — tracking what people are curious about, not trips that were actually booked.

Still, search trends appear to mirror federal data. According to Statistics Canada, higher fuel costs in July and August have prompted a price bump for tour packages. The extra jet fuel costs being passed down to Canadian travellers may be positioning drive-to destinations as more appealing, as long as the drive itself is in the budget.

Based on Airbnb data, the four top small-town roadtrip destinations included:

• Goderich, Ontario
• Haida Gwaii, British Columbia
• Montebello, Quebec
• Cochrane, Alberta

To help, here’s a sample trip budget for each location.

Goderich, Ontario: Is ‘Canada’s prettiest town’ worth the drive?

Goderich sits on Lake Huron, just over 200 kilometres from Toronto, according to Destination Ontario, the province’s tourism marketing agency. According to Airbnb, Goderich’s claim as Canada’s “prettiest town” dates all the way back to Victorian times — a title backed up by three sandy beaches and a scenic lakefront boardwalk.

The money catch is that bus service to the area is limited, so most visitors will need a car. A round trip from Toronto logs about 400 kilometers. Run that distance through your car’s fuel economy and today’s gas prices before deciding if it’s actually cheaper than a city staycation.

For example, if you drive a mid-sized SUV, the 800 km round trip would cost between $110 and $155 in fuel, depending on your SUV and how you drive.

Haida Gwaii, British Columbia: Can you do it on a weekend budget?

Tucked off B.C.’s north coast, this archipelago has become one of Airbnb’s hottest rural searches — thanks to its lush rainforests, rugged coastlines and the rich history at the Haida Heritage Centre.

BC Ferries sails from Prince Rupert to Skidegate, and reservations are required for both passengers and vehicles. Depending on the season, sailings run three to six round trips per week. But pay attention to ferry service changes: the summer schedule ends in mid-September. More infrequent departures means zero wiggle room if bad weather or delay hits. Always review the fare cancellation fine print first.

As a result, this weekend getaway may require a bit more planning — and funds.

For instance, the roundtrip drive between Vancouver and Prince Rupert is approximately 3,000 kilometres. That means setting a fuel budget between $400 and $520, depending on what you’re driving and how much gear you packed.

Assuming an SUV with two adults, the ferry costs will add another $565, if booked before Oct. 13 (or book the ferry in the off-season, after Oct. 14, and pay just over $460) for the return trip.

Keep in mind, this trip is more than a weekend getaway with the driving portion, alone, taking at least 17 hours.

Montebello, Quebec: What should you know before booking the château?

Montebello is roughly one hour from Ottawa and 90 minutes from Montreal, according to Colliers, a real estate services firm that operates in the area and was the broker for the most well-known property in the area, the Fairmont Le Château Montebell. Renowned as the largest log structure on the planet, the Fairmont Le Château Montebello blends historic luxury with a serious sense of scale.

The historic resort was placed in receivership after its owner, real estate firm Evergrande, racked up tens of millions of dollars in debt. The resort now stays open under Fairmont management. A Quebec court has since approved its sale to Westmont Hospitality Group.

To be clear, the rationale for this trip is to stay at the Fairmont Le Château Montebello — and rates for rooms in this historic cabin vary widely. According to Bonjour Québec the resort’s most expensive unit costs up to $2,599 per night, but savvy trip planners may find better deals.

While you may be more for accommodation, the fuel costs to get to the location shouldn’t break the bank. A roundtrip excursion from Ottawa should cost no more than $25 or $30, while a roundtrip from Montreal will be less than $50.

For Canadians planning to book a stay at the Fairmont Le Château Montebello, be sure to get your booking and terms in writing. When any property changes hands, it’s a good idea to keep a paper trail and to pay by credit card — in case you need to lodge a dispute regarding charges.

Cochrane, Alberta: Why is Gen Z searching for it?

Cochrane snagged the top spot on Airbnb’s Gen Z wish list, driven by sweeping Rockies views from Cochrane Hill and miles of riverside trails in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

It’s 20 minutes west of Calgary, according to Visit Calgary, the city’s tourism organization and about 600 kilometres from Edmonton, Alta.

For a roundtrip from Calgary, expect to pay no more than $15 in fuel charges; a roundtrip from Edmonton should cost less than $90.

But the real budget win is the cost of accommodation. As a smart, affordable launchpad for exploring the foothills, Cochrane’s average hotel stay ranges between $120 and $200 per night in the months of October through to December. Compare this with Banff, Alta. where nightly hotel rates range from $180 to $700 or more for the same time period.

What Canadians can do when booking any fall getaway

Before booking any small-town fall trip, run through this checklist:

• Price the whole trip, not just the nightly rate: fuel, ferry fares, parking and platform fees
• Estimate fuel costs using your vehicle’s rated consumption from Natural Resources Canada
• Choose refundable bookings where possible, especially for remote spots with limited sailings
• Read cancellation terms before paying and use a credit card
• Compare weekday and weekend rates if your dates are flexible

Small-town getaways can be a budget dream or an expensive luxury disguised in a cozy sweater. Doing the math is the key: always tally up your transit costs alongside your lodging before you buy into the ‘gram hype.

The bad news is it’s probably more than you think. A working example from PaycheckGuru prices a single weekly office day for a Greater Toronto Area parent at $2,898 a year. In its example, the person in the equation has a 25-kilometre drive and two school-age kids. On a $90,000 salary, it means they would need $4,120 just to break even.

The gap comes from a simple tax quirk. Remember, a dollar saved on commuting is worth more than a dollar earned in salary. Savings come out of your net, after-tax income, while a raise has to run the tax gauntlet before making it to your paycheque. Here’s how the math works and how to run your own number.

What does one office day a week really cost?

The example above assumes about 46 office days a year, once vacation and statutory holidays are accounted for. Each day costs about $12 in fuel and vehicle wear for a 50-kilometre round trip drive, $15 for parking and $12 for a bought lunch and coffee. Factor in after-school care for two young kids for another $24 (with the tax deduction). That’s about $63 per office day, or roughly $2,898 a year: $552 for driving, $690 for parking, $552 for food and $1,104 for care.

The driving amount only accounts for fuel and wear, not the insurance and depreciation. The care line is reduced because before- and after-school programs qualify for the child care expense deduction on Form T778 (up to $5,000 per child aged 7 to 16, usually claimed by the lower-earning spouse). When you drop the care, you also lose the deduction, so $30 a day in fees saves closer to $24.

This is just an example used; your totals will differ. Transit riders, people with free parking and workers without kids may land well below $2,898, while long-distance commuters could land well above.

Why does the raise need to be bigger than the savings?

Let’s talk about that raise — every dollar of a raise is taxed at your marginal rate. At $90,000 in Ontario, that’s 20.5% federal plus 9.15% provincial, or about 29.65% combined. CPP and EI contributions have already stopped at that income. The 2026 CPP ceilings are $74,600 and $85,000, and EI premiums stop at $68,900.

That makes the math $2,898 ÷ (1 − 0.2965), or about $4,120.

Here’s the counterintuitive part. If you’re making $60,000, the income tax rates are the same, but CPP (5.95%) and EI (1.63%) still come off each new dollar. The combined bite rises to about 37%, and the break-even raise climbs to roughly $4,617. Lower earners need a bigger raise to cover the same costs. CPP contributions aren’t money down the drain since they build up your future pension, but you won’t see any of that benefit landing on your current pay stub.

Will the CRA offset any of this?

Mostly, no. As far as the CRA is concerned, your daily commute from home to your usual workplace is strictly a personal expense — so you can’t write it off. Gas, parking and transit passes aren’t deductible.

The temporary $2-a-day flat-rate home office method only covered 2020 to 2022. Employees now must use the detailed method, which requires a signed Form T2200 and working from home more than half the time for at least four consecutive weeks.

Having a formal telework agreement means you’re officially required to work from home. So if you’re working remotely 3 or 4 days a week, you might qualify for home-office tax write-offs. But flip that schedule to three or more days in the office, and that tax claim usually vanishes, adding yet another hidden cost to your commute.

What is the time worth?

The money you save is only half the story — time is the real kicker. StatCan data shows commuters spend an average of 63 minutes on the road every single day. For parents working from home, that reclaimed time translated into roughly 71 extra minutes spent hanging out with or taking care of their kids.

Most people aren’t eager to rush back to the office. Angus Reid found that 59% of workers prefer working mostly from home—a number that leaps to 76% for those who’ve actually experienced it. In fact, research from the National Bureau of Economic Research across 27 countries revealed that employees view working remotely two or three days a week as being equivalent to a 5% pay raise. Parents and long-distance commuters valued it even more.

What to do now

Before you accept a new schedule or negotiate pay, calculate your own break-even raise:

1. Multiply your office days per week by 46
2. Price driving at fuel plus wear, or use your actual transit fare
3. Add parking, plus any food you buy only because you’re out
4. Add care you need only because you commute. Then subtract the value of the T778 deduction at the lower earner’s marginal rate
5. Divide the annual total by (1 − your marginal rate). Include CPP and EI if you’re under the ceilings
6. Check whether your home office claim survives the new schedule

Any pay bump below that baseline actually leaves you with less spending money in your pocket — and that’s before factoring in a single stressful minute in rush-hour traffic. If an offer tops that number, it comes down to whether the extra cash is worth the lost time. And if a salary bump is totally off the table, use that exact figure to negotiate for what really matters, like fewer mandated office days or flexible hours.

The case is especially concerning not only because of the amount stolen, but because the scam ran for several months, prompting concerns about who’s to blame for the brazen theft: the customer or the banks.

How a BC senior lost almost $1.7 million to scammers

An 89-year-old senior living in Victoria, British Columbia at the time, received a call in June 2024 from a scammer posing as a CIBC (TSX: CM) bank employee. The scammer convinced him his money and identity were at risk of being stolen and asked him to help with an investigation involving money laundering.

As CBC News reported, the scammers instructed the man to withdraw money from his accounts and provide it to couriers that would arrive to pick it up at his apartment. He complied, and the scammers assured him the money would be kept safe during the investigation and eventually returned.

To convince the Victoria resident, the scammers used spoofed phone calls and fraudulent letters connected to government officials — and for about six months, the 89-year-old received a barrage of calls and letters that, over that time, almost completely drained his life savings from his CIBC and RBC (TSX: RY) bank accounts. When his family eventually discovered what was happening, he had lost nearly $1.7 million.

How the ‘bank investigator’ fraud works

Sadly, this was a case of ‘bank investigator fraud’, a scheme in which a scammer impersonates a bank employee and claims the customer’s account has been compromised. The scammer urges the customer to send money to a new ‘secure account’ or deliver it elsewhere for safekeeping. Not surprisingly, the money won’t be returned (unless the thieves get caught and there are funds to recover).

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the federal agency that collects data and reports on fraud and identity theft, more than 2,100 cases of this type of con were reported in 2025. While rare — bank investigator fraud accounts for less than 2% of fraud-related cases in 2025 — these schemes can result in devastating losses, as on B.C. resident and his family learned.

When a bank customer is scammed, who is responsible?

When a bank customer loses money to a scammer, it’s not always clear who’s liable. While banks take measures to protect customers’ accounts through internal policies, user agreements and voluntary Codes of Conduct, no laws compel them to take responsibility 100% of the time.

In general, a bank won’t reimburse you for money lost to a scammer if you failed to take reasonable efforts to safeguard your account. Examples of a when a bank can deny a reimbursement include:

• Sharing your personal identification number (PIN) or online password with someone else
• Writing down your banking information where others can see it
• Ignoring warnings from your bank about suspicious activity

What if you were tricked into willingly sending money to a scammer?

When a person is tricked into willingly sending money to a scammer, the banks may deny any responsibility — treating the transaction(s) as legitimate. The rationale is that a bank employee can’t realistically prevent customers from accessing their accounts simply because one or more transactions appear unusual or out of character. As a result, from the bank’s perspective, the client authorized the payment, so the client is responsible for the loss.

Canada’s banking regulator supports this approach. According to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), compensation to the consumer is not recommended unless “it is reasonable for the firm to be held responsible for the consumer’s losses.”

Unauthorized transactions, however, are a different matter. Federally regulated financial institutions must investigate unauthorized transactions when reported before holding the account holder accountable for the loss.

A bank can be held liable when it fails to act on clear red flags, such as an unusual spike in transactions on an account or when it doesn’t follow its own terms or consumer protection laws. For example, banks must report transactions over $10,000 to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), which investigates financial crimes in the country.

This case is complicated and illustrates why determining culpability is challenging. The B.C. man initiated the cash withdrawals voluntarily, which he had the right to do, despite not knowing he had fallen prey to scammers. A CIBC branch manager noticed questionable activity, froze the man’s bank account, and even wrote him a letter warning him about the unusual transactions. However, the bank employees never escalated the suspicious withdrawals to the bank’s fraud specialists, according to a CBC News article, leaving unresolved questions about whether enough was done to protect the client’s money.

Protecting yourself from fraud: Slow down before sending a single dollar

A combination of sophisticated technology and social engineering is making financial scams harder to spot, but vigilance can reduce your risk of becoming a victim.

In general, a bank employee will never ask you to:

• Disclose sensitive bank account details, such as your debit PIN or online banking password
• Urge you to do something in haste, such as withdraw money or transfer funds to an account that you’re not familiar with
• Warn you that your money will be frozen or potentially stolen if you don’t take action by a specific time
• Transfer your money to a “secure account” for safety
• Click a link in an email or text message to unlock a frozen account.
• Encourages you to help with an internal investigation
• Provide them with access to your computer or smartphone
• Ask you to download software to your computer or other device
• Send a courier to your home to collect funds

In general, all banking customers should treat unexpected requests for money as suspicious, even when they appear to come from your bank. Instead of authorizing the transaction, hang up and contact the bank using the number on the back of your card or the official website to verify the request — do not use a number provided by a representative that contacted you. Another option is to visit a bank branch in person and ask to review the concerns and your accounts.

Editorial Note: This story was updated on Oct. 7, 2026. We chose to remove the name and photograph of a fraud victim. The individual and his family contacted us to explain that they are still dealing with the devastating financial and emotional impact of the fraud, and that renewed publicity has added to that distress.

While the information included in the original article was already publicly available, we have chosen to remove identifying details out of respect for the victim and his family, and to avoid adding to the harm they have already experienced. We apologize for any unintended distress caused by our coverage.

However, this wasn’t the only head-scratching closure. Among the shuttered locations are a store in the Financial District at 350 Bay St., which had been open for only 15 months, a King West café that opened in November 2025 and was still hiring baristas in August, and a location at 885 Dunsmuir St. in downtown Vancouver.

Starbucks said the cuts targeted underperforming coffeehouses. So what gives? What does “underperforming” mean when the list includes a café that opened less than a year ago and a legacy location that had been around since the turn of the millennium in a bustling area? And if you worked at — or relied on — one of these stores, what should you do now?

How many Starbucks stores are closing in Canada?

Starbucks Corporation, the Seattle-based chain with more than 18,000 coffeehouses in the U.S. and Canada, told investors on Sept. 24 that it would close roughly 250 North American stores, or about 1% of its footprint, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It has not provided a list of Canadian closures, which led 6ix Retail to build its own. 6ix Retail flagged stores whose listings on the Starbucks online store locator showed regular hours through Sept. 26 and “Closed” every day after. The publication then confirmed the downtown Toronto closures in person.

Because a listing can also go dark for a temporary closure, treat the tally as a working count: 12 closures in Ontario, 10 in Quebec, 10 in British Columbia, four in Alberta and one in New Brunswick. The full list of closures stretches from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to Merritt, B.C., and Miramichi, N.B. Toronto alone has lost 46 Starbucks locations since 2021.

Why would Starbucks close a busy store?

In its filing, Starbucks said the stores being cut were chosen because they don’t deliver the coffeehouse experience and financial performance it expects. In a letter to employees, chief operating officer Mike Grams wrote that while most locations are benefiting from the company’s turnaround, ”some coffeehouses continue to underperform.”

Foot traffic is only one part of the equation. Of the roughly US$300 million (C$427 million) in restructuring charges Starbucks expects, about US$200 million is cash tied primarily to lease exits and employee separation benefits. That suggests occupancy costs are part of the math, though the company hasn’t said how it weighed any single store. Starbucks is also banking on some customers simply moving to nearby locations.

Money.ca asked Starbucks how it defines an underperforming store, why it closed busy downtown locations such as 350 Bay St., 485 Church St. and 885 Dunsmuir St., and whether affected employees are being offered transfers. In an emailed statement, Mary Franssen, senior manager of Canada corporate communications at Starbucks, said the company reviews each coffeehouse individually "using a range of factors, including customer experience and long-term performance."

"These decisions concern individual coffeehouse locations, not a withdrawal from communities or markets," Franssen said, adding that in many cases customers "will continue to have access to another nearby Starbucks coffeehouse." The statement did not address the specific locations Money.ca asked about.

What are laid-off Starbucks workers owed?

Starbucks said in a letter to employees that it would move staff to other stores where possible and offer severance support where it couldn't. Franssen told Money.ca that transfer opportunities are "reviewed based on local availability and business needs." For staff who can't be placed, she said, the company's severance package includes a minimum of three weeks' pay, six months of access to its Employee Assistance Program and extended health or dental coverage for those enrolled in benefits, including up to CA$5,000 in mental health benefits. During last year's closures, many Toronto staff got just two days' notice.

If you aren’t placed, provincial law sets the minimum amount you can expect to receive. In Ontario, workers with at least three months on the job are generally entitled to written notice or pay in lieu: one week for under a year, two weeks for 1 to 3 years, up to eight weeks for eight years or more, according to Steps to Justice, a legal-information site from the non-profit Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO).

Long-tenured staff may be owed more. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) requires severance pay of up to 26 weeks for employees with five or more years of service when the employer’s global payroll is at least $2.5 million — on top of termination pay. These are floors, not ceilings, and rules differ depending on what province you live in.

On the federal level, apply for Employment Insurance (EI) as soon as your job ends. You don’t need your Record of Employment (ROE) first, and waiting more than four weeks after your last day could cost you benefits.

What happens to your Starbucks card and rewards?

For regulars, the biggest loss is convenience. Starbucks says closed stores have signage posted for customers, and nearby locations can be found on Starbucks.ca or in the Starbucks app. Any money you’ve loaded onto a Starbucks Card or the app stays with you no matter what your preferred location is and can be used at most Starbucks locations in Canada. According to the company’s card terms, some airport, grocery and bookstore locations may not accept it.

If you’ve set your card to top up automatically and your new closest café is farther away, it’s worth checking whether that reload amount still matches how often you’ll actually go.

What to do now

If you worked at a closing store:

• Get any transfer offer or termination notice in writing, and confirm your official start and end dates
• Ask how declining a transfer might affect what you’re owed
• Check your notice and severance entitlements with your provincial employment standards office
• Apply for EI right after your last shift, even without your ROE, to get your benefits as quickly as possible
• Have an employment lawyer or legal clinic review any agreement before you sign

If you were a regular:

• Register your card so the balance is protected
• Review auto-reload amounts and frequency

A busy store can still close, and the company has already done its math. Yours is simpler: Whether you’ve lost your job or your favourite place to grab a Venti, figure out what’s still yours — your pay, your card balance, your morning routine — and decide where it goes next.

The average retail price of diesel topped $2.64 per litre at the end of September, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the federal department that tracks fuel prices. That’s up 59% from just before the Iran war and 15% above the previous record set in November 2022.

Relatively few Canadians drive diesel vehicles — just 2.7% of light-duty vehicles on Canadian roads were diesel-powered in 2024, according to Statistics Canada. But diesel powers most of the medium- and heavy-duty trucks that move food and goods, so its price shows up in almost everyone’s budget.

According to Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, a round-trip semi haul between Montreal and Toronto that cost roughly $850 on Jan. 1 now runs about $1,400 — a 65% increase in just nine months.

Persistent fuel costs are now prompting the duelling federal parties — the Liberals and the Conservatives — to offer Canadians plans that promised relief. Here’s what each plan would actually knock off a litre of diesel, and how Canadians can capture these promised savings.

What does Carney’s fuel tax plan save you?

On Sept. 2, the Department of Finance extended the suspension of the federal fuel excise tax until Jan. 31, 2027. The pause, which started April 20, removes $0.04 per litre from diesel and $0.10 per litre from gasoline.

Between Feb. 1 to March 31, 2027, the relief starts to phase out by bringing the diesel excise tax back to $0.02 per litre. Then, on April 1, 2027, the full $0.04 per litre is back.

What does this mean for savings? For every 100 litres of diesel, that’s $4 in savings until the end of January 2027 and $2 in February and March.

This excise tax relief means real savings, but the amount back is small compared to fuel prices surges. According to CBC News, diesel is now more than a dollar per litre higher than a year ago — making a $0.04 tax break seem paltry in comparison.

What would Poilievre’s plan save you?

On Sept. 27, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre proposed eliminating all federal tax on diesel sales until July 1, 2027, at least.

Poilievre would do this by extending the full excise tax suspension to Canada Day 2027, and removing the goods and services tax (GST) from fuel purchases.

While the excise tax suspension is similar — albeit bigger — than what the Liberals propose, the real savings is the temporary removal of the GST.

At $2.64 per litre, the 5% GST accounts for roughly $0.13 of the pump price. Compared with Ottawa’s plan, that means additional savings per 100 litres of about:

• $13 now until Jan. 31
• $15 in February and March
• $17 from April 1 to July 1

Poilievre is also calling to permanently scrap the federal industrial carbon tax and the Clean Fuel Standard, and to exempt refineries from the federal impact assessment process.

His goal, according to The Globe and Mail, is to close the roughly 32-cent-per-litre gap between Canadian and U.S. diesel prices within five years.

But before Canadians go the pump — or cash register — expecting savings, there are three factors to keep in mind:

1. This is an Official Opposition proposal, not law
2. It doesn’t touch provincial fuel taxes
3. It’s not yet clear how removing the GST would work in provinces that charge the blended harmonized sales tax (HST), including Ontario and the Atlantic provinces

Will you actually see the savings at the pump?

Could these temporary tax breaks help? Yes. Based on recent history, tax cuts can flow quickly through the supply chain with a positive impact on consumers. For instance, when the excise pause began in April 2026, gas prices fell $0.11 per litre on the first day, according to Finance Canada.

But even tax relief can’t outrun global supply. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut energy output for seven months, and experts expect diesel demand to climb further as winter approaches.

And the Canadians that benefit the most depends on how you file taxes. Businesses registered for the GST, including many truckers, farmers and contractors, generally already recover the GST they pay on fuel through input tax credits (ITCs) from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). For them, a GST cut mostly helps cash flow — so no new money, but it is money they can reallocate immediately. The excise tax pause, by contrast, lowers their costs directly. For households and small unregistered operators, the most meaningful relief would come from the GST cut proposed by Poilievre.

What to do now and going into 2027

• Budget for April 1, 2027: Under the current law, diesel excise tax climbs back to $0.04 a litre by spring. Build that into your fuel budget now.
• Track weekly prices: NRCan publishes average retail fuel prices by city, so you can see whether relief is showing up where you live.
• Watch your grocery bill: Freight railway fuel surcharges for October are up to 73% above early-August levels. Those costs will eventually reach store shelves.
• Keep every fuel receipt if you’re self-employed: You’ll need them to claim ITCs and business vehicle expenses.
• Don’t plan around a proposal: The Conservative plan would need the government to adopt it.

For most Canadians, either plan trims pennies off a price that has jumped by dollars — for reasons far behind the control of Canadian political parties. The more useful move is treating today’s relief as a temporary buffer and setting a fuel and grocery budget that still works when it ends.

On Sept. 29, both CIBC and TD raised select fixed mortgage rates by 20 basis points (0.20 percentage points), mostly on 3- and 5-year terms. This move follows similar rate hikes in recent weeks by the other Big Six banks in Canada: BMO, National Bank, RBC and Scotiabank. Other lenders have also raised their rates by anywhere from 5 to 40 basis points.

Here’s what’s prompting this decision, how it will impact you and ways to get ahead of it.

Why are fixed rates rising if the Bank of Canada hasn’t moved?

Fixed mortgage rates don’t follow the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) policy rate — instead, they track Government of Canada bond yields, which reflect what investors expect from inflation.

The 5-year Government of Canada bond yield, a key benchmark for fixed mortgage pricing, hit a 52-week high of 3.729% on Sept. 28, eventually easing to 3.677% the next morning. Even with the favourable decrease, that number is still roughly 23 basis points above where it sat on Sept. 8, at 3.448%. The jump is part of a global bond selloff driven by fears that high energy prices will push inflation higher.

BoC held its policy rate at 2.25% on Sept. 2, its seventh straight hold. However, in a Sept. 21 speech, Governor Tiff Macklem warned that another rate hike might be possible if these current economic factors continue. “We don’t want to raise our policy rate and restrain growth if inflationary pressures are contained,” he said. “But nor do we want to be too slow to respond if inflationary pressures are becoming more persistent.”

The next rate decision is Oct. 28.

What could a 20-basis-point increase cost you?

While it may seem small on paper, an increase adds up in practice. Consider this hypothetical example: a homeowner renews a $500,000 mortgage with a 25-year amortization. If their 5-year fixed rate jumps from 4.29% to 4.49%, their monthly payment will increase by roughly $55. Over a 5-year term, that’s nearly $3,300 more.

However, some lenders have raised their rates by double that amount, with rates having moved up more than once this year. Borrowers who waited could face an even bigger gap than before.

Who feels this most?

Those who are renewing are the most exposed group. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projects about 1.15 million mortgages will renew in 2026 and another 940,000 in 2027.

Many of those borrowers locked in when rates were near record lows in 2020 and 2021. In a July 2025 analysis, BoC staff predicted that borrowers with a 5-year fixed mortgage renewing in 2025 or 2026 could see their payments rise an average of 15% to 20% compared with December 2024. That projection was based on the rate outlook from a year ago — before this fall’s jump in bond yields that widened the gap.

Additionally, any first-time buyers shopping for a preapproval will also feel the sting, since a higher rate reduces how much they can borrow.

Should you go fixed or variable?

There’s no one right answer to this question. Variable rates are tied to the prime rate, which moves with whatever decision is made by the BoC. Since the Bank has held steady, the prime rate hasn’t changed.

However, variable rates come with their own risk. Desjardins Economics expects the policy rate to be held at 2.25% for the remainder of 2026, then rise 50 basis points in the first half of 2027.

On the other hand, a fixed rate offers payment certainty, which may be better suited for households with tight budgets. Borrowers who can absorb some payment swings may reach a different conclusion. And bond yields can plummet as quickly as they ascend, making it difficult to determine that today’s fixed rate is the peak.

What to do now

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada advises borrowers to start shopping a few months before their term ends in order to find the best deal suited for their budget. Don’t wait for your lender’s renewal statement, as federally regulated banks are only legally required to send 21 days before your term ends. If you don’t act, your mortgage may renew automatically at a rate you may not be satisfied with — or worse yet, can’t afford.

Your renewal checklist:

• Ask your lender and at least one other financial institution or a mortgage broker for a rate hold
• Find out how long each rate hold will last and whether you’ll get a lower rate if they were to drop before closing
• Tell your current lender you’re shopping around and see if they can beat any other quotes you receive in your renewal letter
• If you switch lenders, ask for them to cover appraisal, discharge or legal fees
• Check whether you qualify for a straight switch without the stress test, which the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) allowed for uninsured mortgages back in November 2024
• If you have any savings set aside, consider a lump-sum prepayment before renewal to shrink the balance you’re renewing

If your renewal is within the next four months, a rate hold costs you nothing and protects you from the next increase — get one in place before you decide to shop around or do anything else.

KD has been a staple in Canadian households for generations. Now it comes in a can — and at $2.95, the can sticker price costs more than the traditional box of KD noodles.

On Sept. 23, Kraft Heinz, the U.S.-based packaged food giant behind KD and Heinz ketchup (NYSE:KHC), teamed up with Toronto’s Solly’s Craft Soda to launch a limited-edition, Canada-only cream soda with a hint of KD’s cheesy flavour.

On the one hand, it’s a bit of a gag option on the shelves — yes, pun intended — but it’s also a branded launch at a time when grocery bills remain stubbornly high.

Still interested? Here’s where to find it, why food brands keep betting on novelty and how to try a food fad without letting it chew through your budget.

What exactly is KD soda?

KD x Solly’s Craft Soda is a sweet-and-savoury carbonated drink that pairs classic cream soda with KD’s signature cheese flavour — and it’s officially the first soda sold under the KD name.

“A soda might be the last place you would expect to find KD,” Daniel Lundberg, head of marketing and strategy at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement, but it’s a “...whole new way for fans to experience their KD obsession; it’s something to crack open with friends, debate what it could possibly taste like, and then satisfy your curiosity with that first sip.”

Lundberg explains that the decision to partner with Solly’s wasn’t an accident. “They have the entrepreneurial energy, creativity and willingness to challenge conventions that made them the perfect partner for this idea.”

While Solly’s Craft Soda offers more traditional flavours, like black cherry and lime and strawberry vanilla, it’s also got unique flavour profiles, such as ‘kosher dill and lime’ as well as pineapple and yuzu.

For those worried about the possibility of drinking liquid cheese: early reviews suggest the cheese flavour is more whisper than shout. A taste test by Toronto Life found the drink leans heavily on cream soda, with only a faint cheesy note.

Where can you buy KD soda?

The soda launched online through Amazon.ca, with Walmart and other retailers expected to stock it some time in early October.

And demand appears to be strong. According to Solly’s the drink is selling faster than it can be canned, with new online orders shipping the week of Oct. 12.

How much does KD soda cost compared with a box of KD?

According to Solly’s online store, KD Cream Soda costs:

• $2.95 for a single can
• $21.80 for an eight-pack (about $2.73 a can)
• $64.95 for a 24-can case (about $2.71 a can)

Compare that with the cost of the meal that inspired the fizzy drink. A 200-gram box of KD Original lists for $2.39 at Voilà, Sobeys’ online grocery service, while a 12-box pack lists for $20.99. In other words, an eight-pack of KD soda costs about as much as 12 boxes of original KD. (Prices vary by retailer and don’t include taxes or shipping.)

Why are food brands betting on stunts like this?

So why are food brands launching these unique flavour profiles and collaborations? Because novelty buys attention — and big brands need it.

In its second-quarter 2026 filing, Kraft Heinz reported organic net sales fell 1.3%, as dropping sales volume erased price gains. Translation: shoppers are buying fewer of Kraft Heinz products.

To drum up interest and attention, KD has leaned on limited-edition drops — it’s a way to stay in focus in a very cluttered consumer marketplace. This summer alone, the brand showed up in cheesecake, ramen and a Booster Juice smoothie, the last of which was sold at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) — because, of course, it belongs at the CNE food pavilion.

For Solly’s, the deal puts a small Toronto brand on store shelves across the country. In the news release announcing the launch, founder Adin Wener called the partnership “a genuinely big deal” for an independent company like Solly’s Craft Soda.

And don’t forget the Canada-first component. The timing of this partnership may also reflect a shift in how Canadians shop. A survey by Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) found that 67% of Canadians planned to cut back on spending in 2026, up from 51% the year before. Yet Julia Kelly, vice president, small business banking at TD, noted in the survey results that support for Canadian-owned businesses is moving from trend to habit.

Can a $3 can of pop really hurt your budget?

The biggest question for shoppers is whether a $3 can of soda will break the budget. On its own, the answer is obviously: no. But it lands at a time when food costs remain high. Grocery prices rose 2.8% year over year in August, according to Statistics Canada, and they’re up 29% since August 2021.

The bigger risk isn’t trying one can of KD soda; it’s the pattern of trying out every trend, every time. Limited-edition products run on urgency: sell-out warnings, restock dates and social media buzz all nudge you to buy now and think later. At $2.95 a can, it’s a pricey pop to stick in your fridge — and just one of many as we wait for the next viral snack to come along.

For Canadian shoppers, it’s the whittling down of the budget, dollar by dollar. Those small extras add up fastest for households already watching every dollar at the checkout — making the purchase of a few novelty items that pushes a weekly grocery bill over budget.

What to do now

For those struggling with the responsibility of smart spending and the novelty of new, keep in mind: there’s nothing wrong with a little fun in your food budget. Just make it a choice, not a reflex.

• Buy a single can before committing to a case
• Check delivery costs before ordering online and compare with in-store prices once it hits shelves
• Set a small “fun food” line in your monthly grocery budget and pay for fads from that
• Split a pack with friends or coworkers to try it for less
• Ignore the “limited edition” pressure — restocks are already scheduled
• Just keep walking on by like you never saw it

A can of KD soda can be a quirky splurge or the start of a pricey habit. The difference is whether you decided to try it — or the hype decided for you. No one says you have to buy into the fad, even if your grocery budget has plenty of room.

However, you continue tuning in to CBC on Saturday nights to watch the burgeoning Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in action.

What changed: Which leagues can you watch and where?

On Sept. 28, CBC/Radio-Canada, the country’s national public broadcaster, announced that its Hockey Night in Canada program will return for its 90th season — but without the NHL. Replacing it will be the PWHL, with the first game scheduled to air on Dec. 5, when the reigning Walter Cup champion, the Montréal Victoire, will face expansion team PWHL Hamilton.

Canadians who still want to watch NHL games will have to pay — as almost all NHL games are now behind paywalls. That’s because CBC and Rogers Sportsnet didn’t extend their partnership into the 2026-27 season after the two broadcasters couldn’t agree on a new sublicensing deal.

While free-to-watch NHL games are gone, Rogers Sportsnet will still air games — with the 2026-27 season marking the first of a 12-year, $11-billion broadcast deal the broadcaster has with the league.

To watch NHL games, check out:

• Saturday Night Hockey on Sportsnet, which takes over the old Hockey Night in Canada time slot
• Monday Night Hockey, streaming exclusively on Sportsnet+
• Wednesday games on Amazon Prime Video, with at least 26 regular-season games plus select playoff series

For households already juggling rising subscription costs, the question isn’t just where to watch, it’s how much you’re willing to pay.

How much does it cost to watch the NHL in Canada now?

Rogers raised the annual price of its standard plan for Sportsnet+ from $249.99 to $269.99, and its premium plan, which includes out-of-market NHL games, is now $344.99, up from $324.99. Coming on top of price increases in 2025, that means standard plans now cost $70 more per year than they did two years ago, and premium plans cost $95 more.

Keeping cable doesn’t fully protect you either. Fans who subscribe to Sportsnet through their TV provider must now pay $12.99 a month to log into Sportsnet+ to watch Monday games, unless their provider waives the fee. Rogers TV Plus and Ultimate customers get those games at no extra cost.

Prime Video is simpler: its Wednesday games come at no additional cost to Prime members. A membership costs $9.99 a month or $99 a year and also includes other perks, such as Amazon Music Prime and Prime Reading.

Calculating the cost of NHL games this season

So, what will it cost you to watch the NHL this 2026-27 season?

If you want every national broadcast game, you’ll pay $269.99 for Sportsnet+ Standard, which now includes the Monday games, plus $99 for Prime to watch Wednesday nights. That’s about $369 a year before tax.

If you’d rather keep cable, Monday games cost an extra $12.99 a month through Sportsnet+. From late September through the end of the regular season in April, that’s about $104, or about $130 if you keep it through the June playoffs. Add $99 for Prime and you’re paying roughly $200 to $230 on top of your TV bill.

Is it worth the cost for your household?

Paying between $200 and $444 to get NHL is a large commitment — especially when factoring in things like recurring bills, competing economic priorities and how much watching at home matters to you. But for many Canadians already cutting back because of higher living costs, paying to watch the NHL may be out of reach.

According to the Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit research foundation, one in three Canadians cancelled at least one streaming service in a six-month span, while more than three-quarters (77%) describe their cable bill as already too expensive.

And prices probably won’t come down anytime soon. The 10 leading streaming providers raised their fees by an average of 7% last year, according to Convergence Research’s annual Couch Potato Report.

For a fan who watches several games a week, $369 a year can be a good value. For someone who mostly catches Saturday games, paying for every platform probably isn’t worth it.

Is the PWHL a better-value way to watch hockey?

For those willing to look beyond the NHL, the PWHL may offer more hockey for less money.

CBC will air eight primetime PWHL games under the Hockey Night in Canada banner, starting Dec. 5, with pre- and post-game analysis on CBC TV and the free CBC Gem streaming app. Radio-Canada also holds exclusive radio rights to every Montréal Victoire game played in Canada. The goal, according to Chris Wilson, CBC’s executive director of sports and Olympics, is to give Canadians “free access to world-class hockey.”

The full PWHL broadcast schedule was released on Friday, Oct. 2.

PWHL broadcasts are only now catching up to the demand for tickets. By March of last season, the average attendance at a PWHL game was up 25% over the previous season, and the league reported higher ticket sales after the Winter Olympics break.

This season, there’s even more access to live games. PWHL Hamilton is now one of 12 teams in the league — their home opener is scheduled for Dec. 13 at TD Coliseum. They join existing Canadian teams in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

Tickets for PWHL are also reasonable, with regular tickets to a Toronto game ranging from $20 to $50. Compare this to an average Toronto NHL ticket of $150 or more.

Season tickets and flex packs

For Canadians fortunate enough to live in a city with a PWHL team, there are still ways to save. For instance, PWHL Hamilton season ticket members save up to 40% per game compared with single-game tickets, although the $50 deposit is non-refundable.

You can also check out flex packs — packs of three or more games that let you save 10% or more.

What to do now

Before you pay for anything, run through this checklist:

• Map your team’s schedule. Find out which games air nationally and which air regionally, then pay only for the platforms that carry most of them.
• Call your TV provider before paying the Monday add-on. Sportsnet says the extra fee could be waived by your provider.
• Check what you already have. If you’re a Prime member, Wednesday games are already included.
• Compare annual and monthly pricing. Paying annually can cost less, but paying monthly lets you cancel once your team’s season ends.
• Swap rather than stack. If you add Sportsnet+, drop a service you rarely use to offset the cost.
• Add the free option. PWHL games on CBC Gem cost nothing.
• Price a PWHL game before renewing NHL subscriptions. A PWHL flex pack may cost less than a year of Sportsnet+.
• Read the deposit fine print. Know what’s refundable before you lock in.

The Saturday night ritual hasn’t disappeared, but to keep it as-is, you’ll have to pay. That means you’ll need to treat your hockey subscriptions like any other recurring bill: know what you’re paying for, use what you pay for and cut what you don’t.

Rebranded as Pacific Link, this project is the first to earn “national interest” status under the federal Building Canada Act. Its main goal? Shipping an extra 1 million barrels of crude daily to Asian markets.

But a designation isn’t an approval, and it isn’t a pipeline. For most Canadians, the real story comes down to three things: Who foots the bill, when the payout hits, and what it actually means for your taxes, paycheque and investments.

What does a ‘national interest’ designation actually mean?

The label moves Pacific Link under the Major Projects Office (MPO), a federal branch created to speed up approvals for large economic projects. Instead of juggling separate permits across multiple ministries, the project gets one streamlined federal review — complete with public hearings run by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).

The MPO aims to finalize the project’s conditions by Sept. 1, 2027. The roughly 1,250-kilometre line would run from Bruderheim, Alta. to a deepwater port near Delta, British Columbia.

Even in a best-case scenario, construction wouldn’t start until late 2027. A July 2026 report from TD Economics projects a final investment decision between 2028 and 2029, with first oil not flowing until 2032 to 2034. TD also notes the line would have no near-term effect on Canadian oil price discounts.

Who’s paying for Pacific Link?

Mostly, the public. TD estimates the pipeline will cost $35 billion to $44 billion. Canada and Alberta will split ownership 50/50 under the federal plan. Indigenous communities are set to receive at least a 10% stake, backed by government loan guarantees. Pembina Pipeline Corporation, a publicly traded pipeline company, is a private investor with a 10% stake through construction, TD says. The final ownership structure still needs clarity.

Canadians have seen this film before. The Trans Mountain expansion ballooned to $34.2 billion — a massive leap from its 2017 estimate of $7.4 billion, according to CBC reporting on figures from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The PBO also estimated that pipeline was worth less than it cost to build.

Political opinion remains sharply divided over the financial risk. According to Global News, NDP Leader Avi Lewis slammed putting tax dollars into a legally vulnerable pipeline, while Conservative critic Carole Anstey demanded fast-tracking the build.

What could Canadians gain?

The federal government says Pacific Link will create 140,000 jobs, generate more than $20 billion in GDP a year and bring in $100 billion in government revenue by 2060. According to TD’s analysis of Alberta government figures, peak employment could hit roughly 45,000 jobs in Alberta and 70,000 in B.C.

TD urges a reality check here, warning that government figures might be overly optimistic. Its own calculations project a national GDP boost closer to 0.3% — roughly half of official estimates. Even so, TD calls that “a meaningful contribution to growth.”

The bigger prize may be price. Carney said 90% of Alberta’s oil currently goes to the U.S. Broader access to Asian markets could shrink the discount on Canadian heavy oil over time. Per TD, that means higher prices for energy producers and bigger royalty paycheques for Alberta.

The catch: TD expects Asian oil demand to flatten as China’s consumption peaks over the next decade, driven by electric vehicle adoption.

What to do now

Pacific Link won’t change your finances this year. Here’s how to keep it in perspective:

• Investors: Don’t trade on the headline, since a designation isn’t a final investment decision and most of the project is publicly owned
• RRSP and TFSA holders: If you own a Canadian equity index fund, you likely already have energy exposure, so check your weighting before adding more
• Trades workers in Alberta and B.C.: Hiring isn’t likely before late 2027, which gives you time to update certifications and watch for workforce plans
• Taxpayers: Watch for updated cost estimates and the Sept. 1, 2027 conditions document, and use the CER public hearings to weigh in

Think of Pacific Link as a possibilities project, not a guaranteed paycheque. The real moment of truth arrives in September 2027, when Canadians — as majority owners — finally get to see the hard conditions and the real price tag.

Wealthsimple is a Toronto-based financial technology (fintech) company that offers investing, tax and chequing accounts, as well as a prepaid credit card. It just announced that all of its prepaid Mastercards will be moved to the Wealthsimple Visa Platinum Prepaid card. The company describes it as mainly a behind-the-scenes change, and for most purchases, this will cause no issues.

But there’s one notable exception. Because Costco Canada accepts only Mastercard in-warehouse, the new Visa will not work there, and there’s no way to fix this issue at the till.

The switch will be rolled out in phases, and it comes with a hard cutoff date. Here’s what’s changing, who will be impacted and how to keep your grocery budget — and your subscriptions — on track.

What’s actually changing with your Wealthsimple card?

For day-to-day spending, there is little disruption. According to Wealthsimple’s help centre, the Visa keeps two features you already have: ATM fee reimbursements and no foreign exchange (FX) fees. It will also include a few upgrades that are worth highlighting:

• ATM fee refunds arrive almost instantly, instead of the previous two business day turnaround
• The $250 tap limit will disappear — although merchants can still set their own
• New spend controls allow you to limit spending by dollar amount, merchant and more
• You can request a separate card for each chequing account you hold with the company

The switch is completely free — but your card number, expiry date and CVV will all change when you receive the new card. This is important if you have any recurring fees, such as monthly or yearly subscriptions, tied to your old card.

Why is Costco the catch?

Most retailers accept both Visa and Mastercard, but Costco’s Canadian warehouses are a notable outlier. Wealthsimple confirms its prepaid Visa will be declined in-warehouse, though it still works on Costco.ca.

For many cardholders with a membership to the retail giant, this will be a minor inconvenience. The people who will feel it the most are those who have closed their account at one of the Big Six banks in favour of Wealthsimple.

What happens if you ignore the switch?

You’ll receive an email or push notification before your switch date — until then, no action is required.

However, waiting it out isn’t an option, as your Mastercard will be locked on the set date whether or not you’ve completed the necessary switch.

A few other details worth noting about how the transition will pan out:

• Physical card: If you’ve made purchases in the last six months, a physical Visa will be mailed to you automatically.
• Virtual card only: If you opted for a virtual card instead, your Mastercard will be deactivated as soon as you accept the new agreement.
• Pending transactions and refunds: These will still go through, with refunds being credited to your linked chequing account.
• Saved payment details: Any subscription, online store or digital wallet with your old card on file will need the information provided on your new Visa card, or else those payments could fail.
• Web-only clients: If you’ve opted not to use the app, you can’t migrate just yet.

How can you still pay at Costco?

Wealthsimple suggests three workarounds:

• Buy a Costco Shop Card online: You can use your new Visa to buy a Costco Shop Card online, which can be used at physical retail locations. However, this does add a step, so be sure to plan ahead of your trip.

• Use ATM cash: You can withdraw cash with your card, which Wealthsimple will reimburse. Keep in mind that ATM withdrawals are capped at $3,000 a day.

• Carry a backup Mastercard: For those who frequent Costco, it may be worth it to keep a Mastercard from another financial institution in your wallet.

For most Wealthsimple users, the Visa is a modest upgrade with some appealing new perks. The real question is whether one fintech card will be able to cover all of your spending needs.

If you only visit Costco now and then, an online Shop Card or a fee-free ATM stop is a minor inconvenience. If a trip to the warehouse is a weekly habit, keeping a second way to pay may save you more hassle than it costs.

Trump continued, stating: “[Canadians] are going to come in and they’re going to say, ‘sir we are sorry’.”

Apparently, Ottawa isn’t playing along.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc responded a day later, saying in Parliament that he didn’t expect the government to “apologize for standing up for Canadian workers.”

For Canadian households, the real question isn’t who blinks first. It’s how long tariffs — and the prices attached to them — stick around. For Canadians, here’s how to plan.

Where does the trade war stand right now?

Since trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down, the jabs — and rhetoric — have escalated quickly.

• Aug. 21, 2026: Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled his trade negotiators out of Washington, D.C.
• Aug. 22: Trump launched a first round of 50% tariffs
• Sept. 8: Canada answered with “dollar-for-dollar” counter-tariffs
• Sept. 15: A wave of updated 50% U.S. tariffs followed
• Sept. 29: U.S. import ban, blocking many Canadian alcoholic beverages as well as some dairy products, and motorcycles (as well as a smattering of other goods)

On this side of the border, Canada’s counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% cover CA$27.6 billion of U.S. imports, according to a summary of the Finance Canada measures by KPMG, a global accounting and advisory firm. The 50% rate applies to some steel and aluminum products, furniture and clothing, while appliances, dairy products, fish and seafood face 25%.

But at this point in time, formal negotiations between the two countries have stalled.

Why might the trade war last longer than a month?

Trade watchers, politicians, business owners and consumers on both sides of the border are skeptical of Trump’s timeline.

Alfredo Carrillo Obregon is a trade policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said a deal would likely require both sides to make concessions they’ve publicly signalled they won’t make, meaning “the current status quo might persist for a while.”

Wolfgang Alschner, a professor of business and trade law at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News it’s “more likely than not” the situation stays unchanged until year-end. His view is that the status quo is painful, but not painful enough to force either side to change position.

Capital Economics, an independent economic research firm, released a report arguing that the renewed escalation will likely delay any lasting renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Why does the length of the trade war matter to your wallet?

The real question for most Canadians is whether a prolonged trade war will lead to increased prices and a higher cost of living. In this respect, Canada’s last round of counter-tariffs, in 2025, offers a useful comparison.

Research from the Bank of Canada found that about one-quarter of those counter-tariffs reached consumer prices, adding roughly 0.3 percentage points to inflation. If inflation moved from 2% to 2.3% — a 0.3 percentage point increase — the inflation rate increased by 15% relative to its previous level. Meaning, the rate at which prices rise increased by 15%.

In addition, the cost of tariffed goods also increased — roughly 6% higher, on average, than non-tariffed goods.

There was one other important lesson: the effect of tariff-related costs wasn’t permanent. The bulk of those higher prices fell back in line three months after Ottawa removed most counter-tariffs.

For consumers, what’s key is how retailers perceive these current trade headwinds; if retailers perceive a longer trade dispute, this could prompt faster or steeper price increases. This would be unwelcome, given that these price pressures land at a time when the nation’s economy already feels stretched.

What Canadians can do

While you can’t control the negotiations, you can control how exposed your budget and life is to trade-war difficulties. Here are five ways to build a moat around your life and finances:

1. Check where big-ticket items are made. Counter-tariffs apply to U.S.-origin goods, so a familiar brand built elsewhere may not carry the surtax. This matters most for appliances, furniture and clothing.
2. Skip the panic-buying. In 2025 only a fraction of the tariff reached shelves and prices fell back once tariffs were lifted. Since stockpiling cheese won’t save you much, consider better ways to put your money to work.
3. Pad your emergency fund if your job is exposed. Workers in steel, aluminum, dairy, alcohol or autos may want extra cash in a high-interest savings account or a tax-free savings account (TFSA). This buffer will create peace-of-mind and help you ride out the rhetoric attached to this trade war.
4. Don’t bank on cheap borrowing. The Bank of Canada has held its key rate at 2.25% since last October, and Capital Economics expects core inflation to pick up early next year. Variable-rate borrowers should budget for today’s rates, not hoped-for cuts.
5. Keep your RRSP and TFSA investments on plan. A presidential deadline is a prediction, not a market signal. Invest and rebalance on your schedule, not the news cycle.

Trump’s deadline lands in late October. If a deal arrives, Canada’s 2025 experience suggests prices could ease within months. If it doesn’t, plan as though today’s prices are your baseline through year-end, and treat any breakthrough as a bonus.

New Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows that 2.23% of indebted households were 60 or more days behind on a payment in at least one credit category in the second quarter of 2026. That’s the highest share in data since 2015. It tops the previous peak of 2.18% in mid-2019 and is well above the 1.41% recorded in 2021, when layoffs and furloughs were abundant due to the pandemic.

The number may seem small, but the BoC’s own research suggests the trouble often starts somewhere commonplace: your credit card statement. Here’s what the data reveals, why it’s important to track card debt and what to do if your balance keeps inflating.

What is the Bank of Canada seeing?

BoC tracks household financial stress every quarter, using TransUnion data and its own calculations.

Credit card arrears are the share of accounts that are at least 90 days past due, which has reached 0.80% in Q2 2026, nearly double the 0.44% seen in early 2021.

Other types of debt that are also hitting series highs include:

• Auto loans at 0.87%
• Instalment loans at 2.95%

Mortgage arrears are still low at 0.23% — however, that figure has nearly doubled since 2023.

Why are credit cards the early warning sign?

Mortgages are usually the last bill people stop paying, and because of this, BoC notes that missed payments on other types of debt can be an initial sign of financial distress.

A BoC staff paper from February, Consumers’ Path to Mortgage Delinquency, investigated how this unfolds. Using TransUnion data from 2015 to 2024, researchers found that mortgage holders begin using more of their available credit roughly two years before they make their first late mortgage payment. This manifests in missing payments on consumer credit, especially credit cards, before the pattern accelerates in the final six months.

In other words, a maxed-out card isn’t just a sign of a tight month. It can be the first link in a chain of increasingly fraught personal finances.

Who is most at risk?

According to the BoC data, more than 1 in 8 borrowers (13.16%) are using more than 80% of their credit card limit. The share differs by group:

• Borrowers without a mortgage at 14.36%
• Mortgage holders at 9.89%

Late payments show a similar split. Among borrowers without a mortgage, 3.12% were at least 30 days late on a card, compared to 1.84% of mortgage holders.

Age and income are important factors as well. BoC research published in September found that between 2020 and 2025, spending outpaced income gains for younger and lower-income households, while older and higher-income households fared markedly better.

However, this isn’t an existential crisis impacting the majority of Canadian households. The Bank’s 2026 Financial Stability Report says households overall remain in stable financial condition. Instead, the pressure is concentrated, which is why individual warning signs matter.

What does carrying a balance actually cost?

While making the minimum payment keeps your account in good standing, it doesn’t free you from the shackles of debt.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) illustrates this with its Credit Card Payment Calculator. In this example, a $1,000 balance paid at the minimum takes 10 years to clear and costs a staggering $798.89 in interest. Meanwhile, paying a fixed monthly amount clears the same balance in 11 months, with only $91.62 in interest.

Your statement already shows part of this math. Since September 2010, federally regulated lenders have been required to display an estimate of how long it will take to pay off a balance through minimum payments only.

What to do now

• Check your usage rate on every card: Divide your balance by your limit and pay down any card above an 80% usage rate first, since that’s the level the BoC tracks
• Pay a fixed amount above the minimum: Input your own credit usage into the FCAC calculator to see the time and interest you can potentially save
• Stop adding to the balance while you pay it down: Use debit or cash for day-to-day spending to thwart any extra spending on your credit products
• Tackle your highest-interest debt first: Do this while making minimum payments on everything else
• Call your lender before you miss a payment: Ask if they offer a lower rate or a payment plan to avoid a credit hit
• Get help early if balances keep climbing: Talk to a non-profit credit counsellor or a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) before the pressure reaches your rent or mortgage payments

Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has long warned tenants not to withhold rent over maintenance problems. But new rules that took effect Sept. 21 make the consequences potentially more significant — and can make it harder for tenants in arrears to raise those repair problems during an eviction hearing.

As of Sept. 21, 2026, the termination date on an N4 notice for unpaid rent can be as little as seven days after the notice is given, down from 14 days for most tenants. If the arrears aren’t resolved, the landlord can apply to the LTB for eviction after that termination date. Plus, any tenant who wishes to bring up maintenance or repair issues during a tribunal hearing regarding unpaid rent must first pay at least 50% of the owed rent, according to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), the provincial tribunal that settles residential rental disputes.

Here’s a breakdown of the new rules and how to protect your home.

What changed on Sept. 21, 2026?

The LTB is updating its processes and forms because of amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) made through Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, and an earlier 2023 housing bill.

If you’re behind on rent, the changes that matter most are:

• Shorter N4 notice: The N4 is the notice landlords serve to tenants for unpaid rent. Prior to the Sept. 21 change, tenants had 14 days to comply. Now tenants only have seven days to comply for notices given on or after Sept. 21
• The 50% rule: For any landlord applications filed on or after Sept. 21, a tenant has a right to raise repair issues at the hearing but only if the tenant pays at least 50% of the owed rent as claimed by the landlord, and this must be paid directly to the landlord at least seven days before the hearing. The payment cannot be made to the LTB in trust
• Persistent late payment: The new regulation says persistent late payment includes circumstances where rent is received more than seven days after its due date at least three times within six months. But landlords seeking eviction on that basis use Form N8 — Notice to End your Tenancy at the End of the Term, followed by an L2 application. Keep in mind, that owing rent is not a prerequisite for a landlord to seek eviction due to late payments
• Delaying an eviction: If the landlord objects, the board must be satisfied that a delay wouldn’t be unfair and that compelling reasons exist

According to the government, the changes are intended to reduce delays and help the LTB resolve disputes faster.

Housing Minister Rob Flack told The Globe and Mail the changes are meant to speed up adjudication after years of delays at the board. “We are creating balance in the landlord and tenant system,” Flack told CTV News.

As the LTB explained to Money.ca: “The LTB has been actively preparing for the implementation of these updates to ensure a smooth transition, with no impact anticipated on caseload or application processing times. Adjudicators and staff have received training on the new legislative framework, and the LTB has updated its operational processes to support implementation.”

Does a 7-day N4 mean you’ll be evicted in a week?

For tenants, the reduced time to repay rent arrears is significant but the N4 is still a notice; it’s not an eviction order.

Under the RTA, paying off your full balance before the notice deadline will officially cancel the eviction notice. This is also explained in the LTB guide: If a Tenant Does Not Pay Rent.

If you don’t pay the arrears, the landlord can apply to the LTB after the N4 termination date has passed. The landlord must then obtain an eviction order from the board before the tenant can be legally evicted.

The biggest change is time. For tenants struggling with cash flow, seven days is a tiny window to secure funds, land emergency aid, or consult a legal clinic.

Why does the 50% rule matter for repair complaints?

Historically, tenants could raise issues like neglected repairs or landlord harassment directly during non-payment hearings. In fact, some intentionally held back rent just to force those problems to the forefront — frustrated with the landlords lack of action.

Now, tenants can continue to bring up neglect, repair or harassment issues but only if they pay at least 50% of the rent arrears claimed in the landlord’s application — directly to the landlord and seven days before the scheduled hearing.

To illustrate, let’s assume a tenant pays $2,000 a month in rent but withholds two months’ rent over neglected repairs. The landlord would apply and serve the N4, citing $4,000 in owed rent as the claim. In order for the tenant to raise the neglected repairs at the hearing, the tenant would have to pay the landlord $2,000 at least seven days before the hearing.

What changed is the 50% payment of owed rent. What didn’t change is the requirement by the tenant to show receipt of funds paid to the landlord (amount, payment type and date) and for the tenant to provide a written description of the problem to both the landlord and the board seven days before the hearing.

What critics are saying

Critics argue the updated rules now tilt the playing field. The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), a non-profit legal clinic focused on tenant rights, says the requirement “assumes that tenants actually owe these arrears before the matter is even heard.”

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), the provincial agency that promotes human rights, warned the changes increase eviction risk for vulnerable tenants. As a result, the OHRC recommended repealing the pre-payment requirement.

Analysis by a University of British Columbia housing research group cites Tribunals Ontario data showing tenants waited an average of 197 days for maintenance applications to be heard. The new restrictions could add to the backlog of separate tenant applications because tenants who can’t raise maintenance issues during arrears hearings may instead have to file their own applications.

What to do now

• Check the date on any N4 right away. Pay in full before the termination date if you can, and get a receipt.
• Ask for emergency help early. The Toronto Rent Bank offers grants of up to $5,000. People receiving Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) may qualify for the Housing Stabilization Fund instead. Outside Toronto, check whether your municipality runs a rent bank.
• Call a community legal clinic or Legal Aid Ontario before your hearing, not the day of it.
• Put repair requests in writing and keep photos. Consider filing your own application rather than withholding rent.
• If the new 50% rule applies to your case and you intend to raise other tenant issues at the rent-arrears hearing, the LTB says you must pay half of the arrears claimed in the landlord’s application directly to the landlord at least seven days before the hearing and keep proof of payment. Consider getting legal advice about your specific case.
• Set up automatic rent payments so you stay clear of the persistent late-payment threshold.

If you’re falling behind, speed is everything. Use the first 48 hours to figure out three things: can you pay, where can you get help and should you file a separate repair claim? Under these new rules, moving fast is the only way to protect your rights.

And Ontario isn’t alone — joining it is Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with bumps ranging between 25 to 40 cents an hour.

During these trying economic times, any raise is welcome. But for a full-time worker, this legislated raise works out to roughly $10 to $16 more per week pre-tax.

To help, here’s what the legally-mandated pay raise means for your budget — and how to get more mileage out of your pay on a small increase.

How much is the minimum wage going up on Oct. 1?

The minimum hourly wage increase in five provinces across Canada isn’t uniform. To help, here’s a snapshot of these legal changes:

• 1.99% increase in Ontario from $17.60 to $17.95
• 1.76% increase in Prince Edward Island from $17.00 to $17.30
• 1.49% increase in Nova Scotia from $16.75 to $17.00
• 2.50% increase in Manitoba from $16.00 to $16.40
• 2.28% increase in Saskatchewan from $15.35 to $15.70

Nova Scotia’s increase is its second this year, following a hike to $16.75 on April 1. Meanwhile, P.E.I. is slated to bump its minimum wage up to $17.60 on April 1, 2027.

With these changes, every province and territory, with the exception of Alberta, will have raised its minimum hourly rate this year. Alberta’s minimum wage has been stuck at $15 an hour since 2018 — the lowest in the country. The province did introduce a lower student minimum wage of $13 in June 2019. Nunavut leads with the highest minimum wage rate at just over $20 per hour.

What does the raise mean for your paycheque?

The Ontario government estimates that with the provincial increase in the minimum hourly rate, a worker putting in 40 hours and earning $17.95 per hour will earn about $728 more over a year.

Using that same 40-hour week template, here’s the increase minimum wage workers can expect:

• Manitoba (40 cents): roughly $832 a year
• Saskatchewan (35 cents): roughly $728 a year
• P.E.I. (30 cents): roughly $624 a year
• Nova Scotia (25 cents): roughly $520 a year

Don’t forget taxes

These calculations are based on gross earnings. Your actual increase in take-home pay may be smaller after applicable income tax, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions and Employment Insurance (EI) premiums.

Why won’t the raise close the affordability gap?

Every Oct. 1, Ontario adjusts its minimum wage based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a measure of inflation. This means the increase is designed to help wages keep pace with rising costs throughout the province, from groceries to services. But theory and practice don’t always sync — and the biggest gap is in larger, more expensive cities, according to Ontario Living Wage Network. In 2025, the Network argued that a liveable wage for someone living in the GTA should be closer to $27.20 an hour — a $9.25 increase in hourly pay compared to the new minimum hourly rate. For a full-time minimum wage employee this proposed increase would mean roughly $19,000 more per year (assuming the individual worked 40 hours per week for all 52 weeks of the year).

“There is still no place in the province where you can work a minimum wage job full-time and still pay all your bills,” Craig Pickthorne of the Ontario Living Wage Network told CTV News.

There’s also a potential trade-off as businesses acclimate to this new rate. In some cases, small employers absorb higher payroll costs by delaying hires, cutting shifts or raising the prices of its goods and services. As a smoothie shop owner from Barrie, Ont. explained in an interview with CTV News, he may hold off on hiring four more staff, for now, to allow the pricing pressure to settle.

Here are 5 tasks to take in conjunction with the minimum wage increase

A raise, regardless of how large or how little, works best when you give the extra cash a job. To help, here are five tasks to drill down where each dollar should go:

• Check your first pay stub after Oct. 1. Hours worked on or after that date should be paid at the new rate. If they aren’t, immediately flag it with your employer first, then contact your provincial employment standards office if the problem hasn’t been rectified.
• Confirm which rate applies to you. In Ontario, students under 18 working 28 hours a week or less during the school year or during school break or summer holidays earn $16.90, while homeworkers earn $19.70. Conversely, if you work in a federally regulated industry such as banking, airlines or telecommunications, the federal minimum wage is $18.15 an hour — although employers must pay the provincial or territorial rate when it is higher.
• Automate the difference. In Ontario, the raise is about $14 a week for full-time, 40-hour work weeks. On payday, set up an automatic transfer of that amount to a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or high-interest savings account (HISA) — you can also put it toward your highest-interest debt.
• File your taxes, even if your income is low. The Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) is a refundable tax credit for people working and earning a low income. In order to determine eligibility, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) assesses your tax return and automatically pays eligible recipients up to 50% of their entitlement in advance payments.
• Have your say in P.E.I. The province’s Employment Standards Board is accepting written public submissions on future rates until Oct. 30, 2026.

On its own, 35 cents an hour won’t make any seismic changes to your budget. But if you treat it as found money — pointed at savings or debt the day you receive it — and pair it with any benefits you’re entitled to, it can do more work than its miniscule size suggests. And if you’re directing it to a TFSA, RRSP or a First Home Savings Account, the power of compound growth can turn a small deposit into a meaningful sum over an extended period of time.

In a report released Oct. 1, the Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBOT), a business advocacy group for employers across the Toronto region, said the 2031 deadline is unachievable even if construction picks up. Provincial budget forecasts show Ontario falling more than 550,000 homes short of the pace needed by 2029. “It was called the housing crisis for a reason,” TRBOT president and CEO Giles Gherson told The Canadian Press. He also said that the next generation is increasingly seeing the idea of homeownership as a “pipe dream.”

Whether you are buying or renting, the important question is what this shortage will mean for your own plans, and what you can expect to happen to today’s softer housing market.

How far behind is Ontario, really?

Ontario is further behind than the headline numbers suggest. The province set a target of 150,000 new homes for 2025 but recorded 86,760, or about 58%, Global News reported. That total included basement units, laneway suites, long-term care beds, retirement homes and student housing.

Strip those out and the picture is starker. According to the 2026 Ontario Budget, the province recorded just 65,400 traditional housing starts in 2025, down from 74,600 in 2024. Toronto reached 49% of its target and neighbouring Mississauga just 24%. Meanwhile, the annual goal climbs to 175,000 homes in 2026 and beyond.

What’s actually slowing construction down?

TRBOT’s simple answer: rules. Gherson described zoning and building code requirements across Ontario as fragmented and out of date, noting that builders face dozens of different requirements within Toronto alone. Being compliant makes designs harder to standardize and adds cost and delay.

The report recommends:

• A provincial zoning code giving all municipalities the same framework and terminology
• A baseline of housing types, starting with townhouses and multiplexes, that can proceed without special approval
• Provincewide limits on rules that most often stall projects, such as parking, setbacks, height and density
• A cost review of every building code requirement
• Single-stair buildings up to six storeys, with smaller elevators, as long as safety and accessibility requirements are met

More permissive zoning in Edmonton, Gherson pointed out, have made multiplexes common across a wider range of neighbourhoods.

There’s a catch, though. Even if Ontario adopts every reform tomorrow, the board says municipalities would need years to update plans, amend bylaws, line up infrastructure and process applications. And not everyone agrees regulation is the main barrier to hitting targets. Halton Hills Mayor Ann Lawlor told Global News that cities don’t build homes — builders do, and they respond to market conditions.

What does a missed target mean for your wallet?

In the short term, buyers have some breathing room. The average Greater Toronto Area (GTA) selling price was $993,410 in August of this year, down 2.7% from this time last year, while the benchmark price for a typical home fell 4.5%, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB).

The long-term view is less forgiving. TRBOT’s analysis found GTA composite home prices increased roughly 187% between 2006 and 2025, compared with about 51% cumulative inflation. Without steady construction, the board warns, recent affordability gains will likely be temporary. TRREB has also flagged that tighter inventory could bring renewed price growth in the months ahead.

There is one time-limited opportunity. Ontario and Ottawa temporarily expanded HST relief on new homes to all eligible buyers, not just first-timers. Homes valued up to $1.5 million qualify for up to $130,000 in relief, with a reduced rebate between $1.5 million and $1.85 million. The window covers agreements signed from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, and the home has to be a primary residence or residential rental property.

Still, a rebate doesn’t turn a bad purchase into a good one. Preconstruction buyers can still face delays, price changes or cancelled projects, so a builder’s track record matters as much as the tax break.

What to do now

If you’re counting on a construction boom to rescue affordability, plan for a longer wait. In the meantime, here are a few practical steps:

• Base your budget on today’s prices and rates, not on a future supply wave
• Get pre-approval on your mortgage so you know your real purchasing power
• First-time buyers can use a First Home Savings Account (FHSA): Contribute up to $8,000 a year, to a $40,000 lifetime limit, with tax-deductible contributions and tax-free qualifying withdrawals
• If you’re considering a new build, confirm HST rebate eligibility with your lawyer and builder before signing — and before the March 31, 2027 cutoff
• Renters weighing a purchase should compare the full cost of renting versus owning over a 5-year horizon, including closing costs

The board’s message is about timing: new homes are coming, but likely not fast enough to change the math for most households before 2031. That puts the focus back on what you control, such as your timeline, your savings and how much risk you can carry.

Nearly 25% of homes in the region rely on oil, compared with roughly 6% across the rest of Canada, according to CTV News. To help offset rising costs, applications open Oct. 1 for Nova Scotia’s Heating Assistance Rebate Program (HARP), offering eligible low-income households a $400 boost through Service Nova Scotia.

But that $400 may not be the only money on the table. Nova Scotia seniors can tap into a second, much larger grant — and its deadline arrives months sooner. Nearby provinces offer their own perks, like P.E.I.’s program that pays out up to $1,200 annually. Here’s who qualifies and what to apply for first.

Who qualifies for Nova Scotia’s $400 heating rebate?

To receive the rebate, you must pay for your own heat and meet one of the following four criteria:

• A 2025 net income of $30,000 or less if you live alone with no kids or dependents
• A combined 2025 net household income of $45,000 or less if you live with kids, dependents or other adults
• Income Assistance from the Department of Opportunities and Social Development
• The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) or the Allowance from Service Canada

(Note: Net income is calculated using line 23600 of your 2025 Notice of Assessment from the CRA).

What counts as home heat?

Oil, electric, natural gas, wood, pellets and coal all qualify.

Who is not eligible?

You can not claim the rebate if heat is included in your rent, your electricity use is under 5,000 kWh a year and heat for seasonal, rental or business properties.

How and when to apply

Applications run to Mar. 31, 2027, and payment should arrive in about eight weeks. First-time applicants, recent movers and apartment dwellers, make sure to attach a recent heating bill right from the start avoid processing delays.

Could Nova Scotia seniors get $1,150 instead of $400?

Nova Scotians who are 65 or older by Mar. 31, 2027, with household net income of $45,100 or less, can also apply for the Seniors Care Grant, worth $750 per household. Your name must be on the title or lease of your home.

This grant goes far beyond oil and gas: It covers everything from snow clearing and home repairs to phone bills, rides, and furnace tune-ups. Plus, you don’t even need to submit receipts unless requested. The catch is timing. This year’s deadline is Dec. 1, 2026 — last year, seniors had until Mar. 31.

When combined, the savings add up quickly. For instance, a senior living alone on $28,000 who pays for their own heating oil could stack both grants for $1,150 in total relief.

For severe financial pinches, Nova Scotians can also look to the HEAT Fund—backed by the province, Nova Scotia Power, and operated by The Salvation Army. The program offers up to $400 in emergency assistance for households that haven't received help in the past two years. However, intake for this year’s funding closed in May after money ran out; the next round of applications is expected to open in mid-January 2027.

What help is available in the rest of Atlantic Canada?

Prince Edward Island

The Home Heating Program, delivered by The Salvation Army in partnership with the provincial government, offers up to $1,200 per calendar year. Single Islanders with a gross income of $45,000 or less and families earning $60,000 or less can apply, provided they are not receiving P.E.I. Social Assistance. Because the funding cap resets each calendar year, eligible residents who haven't yet applied in 2026 can still submit before Dec. 31.

Newfoundland and Labrador

The province’s Home Heating Supplement pays $200 to $500 to households that buy furnace or stove oil and had a 2025 adjusted family income of $150,000 or less. You’ll need invoices for at least 250 litres, and the deadline is Jan. 15, 2027.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick prioritizes upgrades over direct payouts. Through NB Power’s Enhanced Energy Savings Program, households earning under $70,000 can get free insulation and heating improvements.

What to do now

• Pull all 2025 Notices of Assessment for every adult in your home, and check line 23600
• Nova Scotia seniors: Apply for the Seniors Care Grant before Dec. 1, then HARP
• Keep a recent heating bill showing your name, address, date and cost
• Sign up for CRA direct deposit — the rebate follows your tax refund
• Ignore any text or email asking for banking details to “release” a rebate — the province says it never asks
• In P.E.I. or N.L., check your income against the limits and save every fuel invoice

Treat these programs as layers, not a single cheque. Tackling the earliest deadlines first is the smartest play. If you’re helping an aging parent, just one afternoon of paperwork can put $1,000+ back in their pocket before winter hits.

As of 12:01am EST on Sept. 29, 2026, a new U.S. import ban on most Canadian-made alcohol took effect. In response, the Canadian Snowbird Association (CSA), an advocacy group for Canadian travellers, is telling members — and, in particular Canadian snowbirds — to ditch the wine, liquor and booze before crossing the border. And it’s not just beer, wine and spirits. The CSA is suggesting that anyone crossing into America should avoid taking any Canadian-origin product that is currently banned.

In economic terms, the move is modest. The ban covers roughly US$967 million in Canadian imports, with alcohol making up 87% of that, according to analysis by the American Action Forum, a centre-right U.S. think tank. For individual travellers, though, the impact is personal.

Here’s what to know before crossing the border.

What’s banned — and why now?

The ban stems from a Sept. 8 proclamation signed by U.S. President Donald Trump that excludes certain Canadian alcoholic beverages from entering the country. The White House says it escalated from tariffs to a ban for two reasons. Canadian provinces kept American alcohol off government store shelves, and Saskatchewan announced a new 50% levy on U.S. alcohol.

According to the CSA, the current banned list of adult beverages includes all Canadian-origin:

• Packaged beer
• Sparkling wine
• Many table wines
• Cider
• Sake
• Rum
• Vodka
• Gin
• Certain whiskies and other spirits

But there are additional bans that cover items travellers may not expect, including:

• Whey protein products
• Molasses
• Non-alcoholic beer
• Motorcycles
• Fishing rods

Protein-maxxers: Beware of your whey powder origins

The ban on Canada’s dairy products was in retaliation for Canada’s 50% tariffs on U.S.-produced dairy products. That ban extends to 52 dairy products, including liquid, powdered and most other forms of whey, the liquid component of milk that provides about 20% of its protein.

For Canadian travellers accustomed to taking their routine health supplements, these latest trade-war restrictions means reading labels before setting off for down south. It could also mean paying a little more for similar products south of the border.

Does the ban apply to items for personal use?

Can you get stopped at the border for bringing in Canadian-origin items? This is a grey area. Trump’s proclamation doesn’t carve out an exception for small, personal quantities. Instead, it authorizes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency that polices U.S. ports of entry, to issue rules and guidance to administer the ban.

Under standard rules, the CBP lets Canadians aged 21 and older to bring in 1 litre of alcohol duty-free for personal use. Keep in mind, these are CBP rules, as there’s no federal cap on larger personal amounts; however, big quantities can be flagged as commercial.

But those are the standard rules — rules written for goods allowed in, not for goods that are banned. It doesn’t mean that personal consumption quantities could raise flags — and prevent crossings.

To err on the side of caution, the CSA is advising not to bring in Canadian-origin products that are subject to the new bans.

What could it cost you at the border?

So, what if you pack your favourite protein powder or fishing rod? The most likely outcome is the product gets confiscated. Losing a bottle of icewine or premium whisky stings, but it’s manageable, while losing your favourite fishing rod may sting a bit more.

The potentially bigger risk is failing to declare what you are bringing while crossing the border.

All food, agricultural products and alcohol must be declared to CBP; undeclared goods can be seized and penalized. For frequent crossers, a violation can also put trusted-traveller status at risk.

In 2021, CBC News reported that U.S. officials had revoked more than 12,000 NEXUS cards over a five-year period. In one case, a retired lawyer lost her card after a travel companion carried an undeclared apple and avocado. For snowbirds who cross several times a season, losing NEXUS means longer lines and more scrutiny on every trip.

What to do before you cross the border

• Empty the vehicle before you leave, including the trunk, RV cupboards and coolers
• Read labels on pantry items, since Canadian whey protein and molasses are covered by the dairy-related ban
• Declare everything and let the officer decide if you’re unsure — surrendering a bottle beats a penalty
• Budget to buy wine, beer and spirits at your destination instead of hauling them from home
• Remember the return trip, when Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) personal exemption limits apply
• Watch for updates from the CSA and CBP, since further guidance is possible

What to remember on the way back into Canada

On the way home, the usual Canadian limits haven’t changed. After 48 hours or more outside Canada, you can bring back 1.5 litres of wine, 1.14 litres of spirits or 8.5 litres of beer free of duty and taxes, according to the CBSA.

For Canadians travellers and snowbirds heading to warmer American states, the takeaway is clear: leave Canadian-produced liquor, beer, protein powder and various other banned goods at home — and set aside a little room in your travel budget to restock once you arrive at your U.S. destination.

In dollar terms, the ban is just a sliver of the roughly US$880 billion in annual two-way trade between the two nations. But for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with direct or indirect ties to U.S. buyers, the bigger risk may be loss of income due to exposure they haven’t been able to remap.

Here’s what changed, why a ban hits differently than standard tariffs and what Canadian business owners can do to better safeguard their operations.

What did the U.S. ban — and who feels it first?

The ban follows an escalation of economic disruption between the two nations.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on about US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods at the end of August as trade talks fell apart, prompting Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to respond with counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50%. This latest response from Trump — the outright ban of goods — is retaliation to Canada’s retaliation.

Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the American Action Forum, a centre-right U.S. think tank, calculates the ban covers US$967 million of Canadian imports based on 2025 figures — with 87% of that sum coming from alcohol alone. Such products include beer, wine and spirits such as whisky, vodka and gin — as well as some molasses and non-alcoholic beer.

The list also includes some dairy products, such as whey, alongside three-wheel Can-Am Spyder and Canyon motorcycles made by Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), a division of Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD-A).

According to BRP, most of this season’s production and shipments are already completed, so the hit likely won’t land until next year. Restrictions on other products, however, could be devastating for the targeted industries, according to The Canadian Press, via BNN Bloomberg, but are unlikely to significantly dent Canada’s overall economic growth in the near term.

Why is a ban harder to plan for than a tariff?

So, why did Trump escalate the trade war and opt to impose a ban on certain Canadian products? In theory, it should hurt more.

A tariff squeezes margins, but allows a business to absorb these costs, including passing on the cost to consumers. A ban removes that option entirely.

“Unlike previous tariffs’ impact, a ban takes demand to zero overnight if there’s no scalability of strategy to redirect the inventory volume quickly,” Tasos Angelopoulos, CEO of StockIQ, a supply chain planning software company, told Money.ca. “Therefore, the planning problem changes from ‘how will this affect us?’ to ‘can we sell this at all?’”

That means inventory, contracts and cash flow all have to be rethought in order to stay afloat.

Are you exposed even if you don’t export?

Will businesses not directly exporting to America also feel the heat? Possibly.

Angelopoulos says the fallout from a move like this will also impact transportation costs, lead times and finding new markets to sell products.

“Even companies that do not directly export to the U.S. will feel the effects if their suppliers or customers rely heavily on cross-border trades,” he says. “Thus, it’s important for Canadian companies to consider their total exposure to U.S. customers.”

And that exposure runs deep: last year, the U.S. accounted for more than 70% of Canadian exports. And the ripple effects can show up in unexpected places. According to New Brunswick MP John Williamson, a supply truck bound for Campobello Island, N.B. — an island that can only be reached by bridge from the U.S. state of Maine — was stopped at the border crossing between St. Stephen, N.B. and Calais, Maine on Sept. 29. He noted how the truck carried the community’s Canada Post mail along with items on the U.S. banned list, including spirits and milk.

How long could this last?

So, how long will the ban, the trade war and the uncertainty last? Probably longer than Canadian business owners would like.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says detailed trade talks aren’t currently happening, though officials from both countries remain in contact.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has also stated that Canada has no plans to escalate but “stands ready to negotiate in good faith.”

And the trade war isn’t over. Jensen warned the recent ban “may result in further retaliation on the Canadian side,” with this dispute also clouding the chances of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) being renewed.

Ottawa, meanwhile, is setting its sights on diversification. Carney wants to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade over the next decade while also stating that talks with India aim to wrap up by the G20 summit in mid-December.

What federal help is available?

To help ease the impact of the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade war, Ottawa introduced a number of measures. In August 2026, Ottawa announced a CA$7.5 billion support package, in addition to CA$25 billion in previously announced tariff-related measures, according to Export Development Canada (EDC), the federal export credit agency. Key support for SMEs include:

• A second CA$500 million liquidity stream through the Pivot to Grow program at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), with the revenue threshold lowered to CA$1 million
• A six-month principal payment deferral for eligible BDC exporting clients exposed to the latest round of tariffs
• An extra CA$1.5 billion for the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, which will be delivered by regional development agencies
• CA$2 billion for the new Canada Strong Diversification Fund, aimed at shovel-ready capital projects
• A strengthened EDC Trade Impact Program, with the agency taking on more risk to reach more SMEs

Ottawa confirms it will keep assessing its aid efforts, including expanding existing measures to newly impacted sectors.

What to do now as a business owner

• Map your total U.S. exposure, including suppliers and customers who sell south of the border
• Build at least three scenarios into your overall plan: the ban lifts, remains in place or expands to include more products
• Check how long your cash can last if U.S. revenue stops for at least six months
• Contact BDC, EDC or your regional development agency before cash gets tight
• Use Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service to locate potential buyers outside the U.S.
• Track inventory, lead times and shipping costs on a weekly basis so you’re prepared to respond quickly

Angelopoulos’s advice is to stop trying to guess the outcome.

“SMEs can’t and shouldn’t plan around a single outcome or try to predict the outcome of a particular tariff policy,” he says.

Instead, the businesses best placed to ride this out will be the ones that know exactly where their U.S. revenue comes from — and have already priced out a plan B to replace it.

“They weren’t interested is my understanding,” Bethlenfalvy told CHCH News, pointing out that the province had already provided financial support to Algoma Steel. Mark Carney’s government says Stelco turned down federal help, too. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly told CBC News the company’s “decision to reject these practical proposals and continue with layoffs is extremely disappointing.”

Stelco, a Hamilton-based steelmaker owned since November 2024 by Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., announced the cuts Sept. 28 at its Hamilton and Lake Erie facilities. It cited the trade crisis, weak demand and continued import pressure.

For affected workers, the aid that Stelco passed up is no longer available. What’s left is the support designed for workers themselves, and some of it has deadlines, too.

Who is affected by the Stelco layoffs?

The layoffs take effect Oct. 9 in Hamilton and Oct. 24 at the Nanticoke, ON facility. Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005, estimates that 350 Hamilton steelworkers will lose work, with no indication for how long.

The cuts sting partly because of past promises. When the federal government approved the sale, Cleveland-Cliffs was required to keep at least the same number of unionized employees for five years, according to an October 2024 ministerial statement. The cuts to Stelco come in the wake of planned cuts of more than 1,000 jobs at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, ON.

Why does skipping tariff aid matter?

Most tariff aid flows to employers so they can keep people on payroll and avoid layoffs. Ottawa’s $7.5 billion package, announced Aug. 25, loosened terms on the $10 billion Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility for big employers. It also created a Workforce Retention and Retraining Program that incorporates Work-Sharing.

Workers are not able to apply for those programs themselves. Bethlenfalvy called the shutdown “a business decision.” What workers can do, however, is control is the income-side support meant for them.

How much Employment Insurance can laid-off workers get?

Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits generally replace 55% of average insurable weekly earnings. The maximum insurable earnings for the 2026 tax year is $68,900, which works out to a maximum of about $729 a week before tax.

Three temporary rules are significant here:

• The one-week waiting period is waived
• Severance and other separation payments are not deducted first
• Long-tenured workers get up to 20 extra weeks of benefits

These ‘temporary’ measures were due to end Oct. 10, 2026, one day after the Hamilton layoffs. In an Aug. 25 statement, the Department of Finance Canada said it would extend the waiting-period and severance measures by one year and the extra weeks by eight months. The exact timeline is set by regulation, so confirm with Service Canada if you are looking into applying.

For example, a long-serving steelworker earning $80,000 a year would hit the insurable cap and could collect about $729 a week. Under the rules as they currently exist, severance wouldn’t delay that first payment. The waived waiting week alone is worth up to $729.

Is it a temporary layoff or a termination?

Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act (ESA), a layoff of up to 13 weeks in any 20 consecutive weeks is considered temporary. This timeline can stretch to less than 35 weeks in 52 under conditions such as continued benefit or pension contributions. After that it becomes a deemed termination, which can trigger termination pay. At large employers, this transition can trigger severance pay as well. For unionized workers with recall rights, the 35-week limit likely applies.

Either way, once it runs out, a temporary layoff can become a payout.

Stelco and Cleveland-Cliffs made their choice when they turned down government tariff support and opted for layoffs instead. For up to 500 affected steelworkers, that corporate decision shifts the burden from the company directly onto the household budgets of their workers. With aid meant for employers off the table, workers’ focus must shift to the safety nets built for them — filing early, monitoring their layoff timeline and maximizing every week of available benefit support.