That daily routine faced a moment of uncertainty on Sept. 24 when Starbucks (TSX: SBUX) announced plans to close approximately 250 company-operated coffeeshops across North America. The announcement appears to be part of an ongoing effort to optimize Starbuck’s network and focus on long-term growth.

To put it in perspective, the closures represent about 1% of the coffee giant’s roughly 18,000 North American company-operated and licensed locations. Whether any Canadian stores are among those shutting down remains unknown, as the company has not publicly disclosed a regional breakdown by country.

What Starbucks is saying about the closures

Mary Franssen, senior manager of Canada Corporate Communications at Starbucks Coffee Company, told Money.ca that the decision came after taking a close look at how individual stores are serving their communities.

“As ‘Back to Starbucks’ has strengthened the business and improved the customer experience, Starbucks has gained greater clarity about which coffeehouses are positioned for long-term success and where it does not see a viable path forward,” Franssen said. “The approximately 1% of coffeehouses affected by this announcement reflect locations where we do not see a path to delivering the customer experience or long-term performance Starbucks expects.”

Franssen noted that affected stores will post signs over the weekend to let locals know. Coffee lovers can use Starbucks.ca or the company app to find nearby alternatives.

Franssen emphasized that supporting store team members is the top priority, stating that transfer opportunities will be offered “wherever possible” based on local availability and business needs, with severance and transition support provided to partners who cannot be relocated.

Strategic restructuring and financial impact

The latest closures follow a broader effort over the past year to reshape the brand’s footprint, during which Starbucks shut down underperforming locations in North America, including its flagship Seattle roastery.

In its regulatory filing Thursday, the company stated that the new round of closures will generate approximately US$300 million in restructuring charges — money that can be reinvested into profitable business lines.

Even with these closures, Starbucks continues to invest in new and refreshed spaces, reporting 60 net store openings year-to-date in Q3 and plans to complete at least 1,500 coffeehouse redesigns by fiscal year-end 2026. However, ongoing global growth has been re-forecast with overall net new global store targets for 2026 scaled back to roughly 440, down from an earlier projection of 600 to 650.

“This is a sensible but costly step in Starbucks’ turnaround,” Lale Akoner, global market strategist at eToro, told Reuters, noting the balance between short-term costs and long-term improvements.

Turnaround efforts under Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol

The shifts come as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Niccol leads the ”Back to Starbucks” initiative, focused on bringing back the welcoming feel of a classic coffeehouse while streamlining menus and shortening wait times.

In a letter to partners published Thursday, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mike Grams framed the decision around creating spaces that feel right for both guests and staff.

“We’re making this decision for a simple reason: We want every Starbucks coffeehouse to be a place customers love and partners are proud to work,” Grams wrote.

Part of that strategy involves creating warmer, more comfortable spaces, with over 1,000 location redesigns already completed across Canada and the U.S. under its coffeehouse uplift program.

Despite broader economic pressures, Starbucks recorded four consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth as of July 2026, driven by consistent customer visits across various income brackets, according to Reuters.

Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management, told the newswire that Niccol has demonstrated initial progress with customer momentum, noting that “the next proof point is converting that momentum into stronger margins.”

While Canadian coffee lovers wait to see if their local spot is affected, the core of the morning routine isn’t going anywhere. In the meantime, coffee lovers can rest easy knowing their daily ritual remains intact for now, though company-wide efforts to trim wait times and simplify menus could mean a slightly faster, refreshed experience the next time they reach for their favourite brew.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) alien registration requirement has applied to visa-exempt Canadians entering by land without a Form I-94 since April 2025. What changed on June 29, when DHS finalized the rule, is confirmation that entering through a Trusted Traveler lane — including NEXUS — now counts as registration on its own.

Here’s who the rule actually applies to, what the NEXUS exemption does and doesn’t cover, and what to do if you don’t qualify for it.

What is the 30-day registration rule?

Longstanding U.S. law requires most foreign nationals to register with the federal government, usually automatically when they get a visa or an I-94 entry document. Three groups have to register separately, through an online form called the G-325R: Canadians who enter for business or tourism at a land border, aren’t issued an I-94, and stay 30 days or more; foreign children who turn 14 while in the U.S.; and people who entered without inspection. For long-stay Canadian snowbirds who drive across at a land crossing, it’s that first group that matters.

What changed on June 29 — and why it matters if you have NEXUS

DHS’s Final Rule didn’t create a new requirement, but it clarified that Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST entries all count as evidence a traveller is already registered. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed the same thing in guidance updated August 30: Travellers last admitted to the U.S. through NEXUS are considered already registered and don’t need to file a G-325R just because they’re staying 30 days or longer.

The catch: It’s about how you entered, not just what card you carry

The exemption is narrower than simply holding a NEXUS card. It applies specifically to travellers who were last admitted through a NEXUS lane or kiosk. A NEXUS member who crosses through a regular vehicle lane, or is processed through a standard line instead of a Trusted Traveler one, doesn’t automatically get the same exemption — a distinction the Canadian Snowbird Association is flagging directly to its members.

What if you don’t qualify for the NEXUS exemption?

Canadians who don’t enter through a Trusted Traveler lane have two options if they’ll be in the U.S. for 30 days or more without an I-94. They can request a Form I-94 in advance of travel through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) online portal, which satisfies the registration requirement on its own. Or they can complete the G-325R registration process after arriving, which includes biometrics collection and a background check.

What to do before you head south this winter

If you cross by land using the NEXUS pass lane, and plan to stay more than a month, you’re likely already covered — but keep some record of how you entered, since the exemption depends on your entry method, not just your membership. If you’re not sure whether your usual crossing counts, or you sometimes use a regular lane instead, requesting an I-94 online before you leave removes any doubt. And if you’ve already been in the U.S. for 30 days without registering and don’t qualify for either exemption, DHS’s own guidance points toward speaking with an immigration professional before it becomes a bigger problem than a form.

This is a paperwork question with real consequences attached, not a border-crossing inconvenience. Confirm how your usual crossing is classified before you head south this season, rather than finding out at the border.

Following Parton’s death on Aug. 25 at age 80, a legal dispute erupted between the late star’s corporate entity, She’s Alive, LLC, and her nephew Bryan Seaver, who previously managed her security detail.

Court documents filed Sept. 22 in Nashville allege that Seaver engaged in a campaign of threats and intimidation against estate representatives, threatening to destroy the music legend’s brand partnerships and business empire. Seaver has denied wronging the estate, maintaining in a public statement that he remains committed to fulfilling his aunt’s wishes.

The high-profile rift highlights a sobering truth for families everywhere: Substantial wealth and a beloved public image do not automatically shield an estate from conflict.

When a public figure dies, the dispute plays out under global media scrutiny. For everyday Canadians, however, similar family friction occurs quietly behind closed doors, often resulting in costly court battles, delayed inheritances and broken relationships.

Estate litigation on the rise in Canada

Estate disputes are becoming increasingly common across Canada. Legal experts point to rising real estate values, longer lifespans and more complex modern family structures as key drivers.

According to a 2023 survey conducted by Angus Reid for LawPro, roughly 50% of Canadian adults do not have a signed, legally valid will. Among those who do have estate documents, many fail to update them following major life changes such as marriage, divorce or the birth of children.

In Canada, provincial laws govern what happens when someone dies without a valid will. In Ontario, for example, the Succession Law Reform Act establishes a rigid hierarchy for distributing assets, which may not align with an individual’s personal wishes or family dynamic.

Beyond dying intestate, common catalysts for Canadian estate litigation include:

• Ambiguous language: Poorly drafted or DIY wills that leave room for conflicting legal interpretations.
• Claims of undue influence: Allegations that a vulnerable family member was pressured into altering a will prior to death.
• Unequal distributions: Decisions to leave disproportionate shares to certain children or relatives without clear context.
• Blended family friction: Conflicts between a surviving second spouse and children from a previous relationship over asset distribution.

Key steps to safeguard your estate

While nobody can guarantee complete harmony after they pass away, proper planning drastically reduces the risk of legal battles among surviving family members.

Estate planning specialists recommend several essential steps for Canadians looking to protect their legacy:

1. Draft a clear, professionally executed will

Avoid using generic online templates or home-brewed solutions for significant assets. Working with a qualified estate lawyer ensures that your intentions are expressed clearly, meet provincial legal standards and minimize ambiguity.

2. Choose neutral, capable executors

Naming a family member as an executor can sometimes spark accusations of bias or mismanagement. Appointing a professional trust company or an independent, neutral party can help ensure objective administration of the estate.

3. Consider trust structures

Setting up discretionary or living trusts can help transfer assets outside of the public probate process. Trusts offer greater privacy, specified payout conditions and increased protection against potential legal challenges.

4. Communicate openly with heirs

Unmet expectations are a primary driver of estate litigation. Holding open, transparent family discussions about your plans and the reasoning behind them can prevent sudden surprises and resentment after you are gone.

5. Review and update regularly

An outdated will can be just as problematic as no will at all. Estate plans should be reviewed every three to five years, or immediately following significant milestones like marriages, divorces, births or major financial changes.

Preserving your memory over the money

Dolly Parton built her career on generosity, authenticity and an unshakeable connection to family and fans alike. Yet, the current court proceedings demonstrate how quickly a lifetime of goodwill can be overshadowed when proper safeguards and clear boundaries are challenged after death.

For everyday Canadians, proactive estate planning is ultimately about far more than distributing financial assets or real estate. Taking the time to structure a clear, airtight estate plan ensures that your final wishes are honoured smoothly, sparing your loved ones the distress of courtroom battles and ensuring your memory remains unblemished by avoidable drama.

The new rate first shows up in the October 28 deposit. What’s less obvious is how much of that 1.4% actually reaches your account, since that depends on which benefit you receive, whether it’s taxable and whether part of your pension is already being clawed back.

Here’s what the new maximum payments are, why the increase lands differently depending on your situation and what’s worth checking before payday.

What’s changing on October 28?

Every benefit in the OAS family moves by the same 1.4%, applied to the current quarter’s maximums. The OAS pension rises from $751.97 to about $762.50 a month for ages 65 to 74, and from $827.17 to about $838.75 for ages 75 and over. The GIS maximum for a single senior rises from $1,123.17 to about $1,138.89, the Allowance rises from $1,428.06 to about $1,448.05, and the Allowance for the Survivor rises from $1,702.34 to about $1,726.17.

Service Canada had not yet published the finalized October rate card at the time of writing, so treat these as close estimates rather than the official figure.

Why does the raise land differently for different seniors?

The OAS pension counts as taxable income, but the GIS, the Allowance and the Allowance for the Survivor do not. That difference changes what a senior actually keeps. Take an Ontario pensioner in the lowest tax bracket, paying a combined federal and provincial rate of about 19%: a $10.53 monthly OAS increase is worth roughly $8.52 after tax. A single GIS recipient’s $15.72 increase, by comparison, is not taxed at all — the lower a senior’s income, the more of the raise they keep.

Does the clawback threshold move in October?

No. OAS is reduced by 15 cents for every dollar of net world income above the recovery tax threshold, and that threshold — $93,454 for the period running July 2026 to June 2027, based on 2025 income — stays fixed through the full period regardless of the October increase. A senior already in partial clawback territory has 15% of the new increase withheld before it reaches their bank account, on top of the tax owed on what’s left.

Who benefits most from this increase?

Lower-income seniors on GIS come out ahead twice over: their dollar increase is larger than the OAS pension increase, and none of it is taxed or subject to clawback.

Seniors aged 75 and over are also further ahead, since the OAS pension for that group has carried a permanent 10% boost since July 2022 — this quarter’s 1.4% applies on top of that higher base.

What should you do before October 28?

Nothing is required to receive the increase; it’s applied automatically to every payment starting October 28, along with the November 26 and December 22 deposits in the same quarter. If you’re unsure what you’ll actually receive, Service Canada’s Old Age Security Benefits Estimator can calculate your specific payment based on your age, residency and income. GIS, Allowance and Allowance for the Survivor amounts are reassessed every July based on the prior year’s net income, so a change in your income this year could shift your payment again regardless of the quarterly CPI adjustment.

A 1.4% headline doesn’t mean every senior gets 1.4% more in hand. Check which benefits you receive, whether they’re taxable, and whether your income sits near the clawback threshold before deciding what the October increase is actually worth to your budget.

Dubbed the “hillbilly house boat” by amused locals on social media, the quirky vessel consists of a travel trailer bolted on top of a makeshift barge built out of wood, steel and empty plastic barrels. It popped up out of nowhere on the Nicomekl River, instantly becoming the talk of the town.

Retired shipbuilder behind the project

The brains behind the floating camper is Emilio Gilpo, a retired shipbuilder who spent about six months building his floating dream home.

Gilpo credited his decades of shipyard work for giving him the know-how to pull off the unconventional setup.

“I used to work on shipyards at one time, so I understand the mechanics of boats and ships,” Gilpo told CTV News. “You can use it as a recreational boat or as a houseboat, something like that.”

He sees his project as a bold new frontier in coastal living.

“This is a kind of thing you never see here in Vancouver, right? So it’s something new. It’s an innovation,” Gilpo told Global News.

Getting the beast into the river was no small task. Gilpo had to hire a full-sized crane to drop his creation into the water. The build hit a minor speed bump on land too, as Gilpo picked up a local parking ticket while putting the final touches on the craft in a nearby parking lot before launch.

Regulators and community react

While plenty of folks online cheered on the backyard engineering, not everyone was thrilled. Paddlers and rowers gearing up for an upcoming regatta worried the bulky houseboat might get in the way of their race course.

Despite rumours circulating that someone had already moved in, Gilpo clarified he is not living on board just yet. That said, he is not ruling out turning it into a permanent floating cottage down the road.

The craft also caught the eye of federal officials. Transport Canada confirmed to CTV News that it is taking a close look at the floating RV to figure out if it actually meets marine safety standards and environmental rules.

While Canadians are allowed to build their own backyard boats for personal fun, federal law says every vessel still has to follow the Canada Shipping Act. Transport Canada pointed out that a craft does not even need an engine to count as a vessel under official rules.

Gilpo, who happens to be a member of Engineers and Geoscientists BC, said he plans to send his blueprints to the association to study. However, the organization told CTV News that while Gilpo is registered with them, they had zero involvement in building the floating camper.

Gilpo insists he has not broken any rules, but he knows the clock is ticking. To keep the peace after a flood of local complaints, he plans to attach a motor to the rig and cruise it down to a quieter spot on the river.

That timing matters more than it might seem. A common instinct is to spend now and sort out the balance once the new year arrives. “January isn’t a reset button,” Peta Wales, president and CEO of the Credit Counselling Society, said in a statement. If a balance is already being carried in September, adding holiday spending on top of it, then pushing repayment further out, mostly just adds more interest.

The national picture is actually improving — yours might not be

Household debt as a share of disposable income fell from 178.6% to 176.4% in the second quarter, the largest drop since the third quarter of 2024, while the household saving rate edged up to 3.7%, Statistics Canada reported. But that improvement sits alongside rising credit card balances and delinquencies, and wage growth that’s cooling: Average hourly wages grew 2.0% year over year in August, the slowest pace since November 2017 outside of 2021. Debt is easing in aggregate while getting more expensive to carry for households already behind, and the two trends can be true at once.

What’s already stacking up before the holidays start

Back-to-school costs alone were estimated at $600 to $750 per child once electronics are included, contributing to a $4.5-billion season nationally, according to the Retail Council of Canada. Layer in summer travel, repairs or general cost-of-living increases, and it’s no surprise the Credit Counselling Society says inquiries were up almost 20% between August 2025 and August 2026, with debt loads among those clients up nearly 4%.

“People calling us in September are not necessarily in crisis,” Ali Harris-Saunders, the organization’s community relations manager said in a statement. “They’re looking at a statement and realizing the balance isn’t going to disappear on its own.”

Why “I’ll deal with it in January” is riskier this year

Equifax found 1 in 4 consumers now expect to make only minimum payments in the months ahead, compared with 4% who currently do — a jump that suggests more households are bracing for a tighter stretch, not a lighter one. Minimum payments barely touch principal once interest is factored in, so a balance carried from September through a full holiday season, then further into January, can grow substantially before it starts shrinking.

How to use the paydays you have left

• Total up what’s still owed from summer and back-to-school spending before adding anything new — a full number is easier to plan around than a vague sense of “some debt”
• Set a holiday spending ceiling now, before sales events start making that decision instead
• Direct extra payments at the highest-interest balance first, not necessarily the largest one
• If a big purchase must happen before a price increase, paying cash preserves any savings; putting it on credit typically cancels them out
• Set aside whatever January bills you can already predict, rather than absorbing them cold

The bottom line

The national debt story and your household’s debt story aren’t always the same story. With five paydays standing between now and Black Friday, the more useful question isn’t whether to worry about the aggregate numbers — it’s whether this year’s balance gets a plan before the holidays add to it, or after.

No charges have been approved against the landlord, and the Surrey Police Service says the videos capture what has, so far, been an ongoing civil dispute between a landlord and tenants. But the case raises a bigger question for Canadian renters watching it unfold: what actually happens, legally and financially, when a landlord cuts off the power or another essential service?

The short answer is that it tends to get expensive — for the landlord. Every province gives tenants formal protection against having essential services like electricity, heat or water used as leverage in a dispute. Here’s what that protection actually covers, what it has cost other BC landlords who crossed the line, and what a tenant in this position can do to get the service restored and get paid for the disruption.

When is cutting a service actually illegal?

British Columbia’s Residential Tenancy Act treats a handful of services as essential — meaning a landlord can never terminate or restrict them, no matter how heated a dispute gets. Electricity, heat, water and, in a multi-storey building, the elevator all fall into that category. A landlord can eliminate a non-essential extra, such as cable, parking or storage, but only with 30 days’ written notice and a matching reduction in rent.

That distinction removes any grey area. A landlord frustrated with a tenant — even one who owes rent — cannot legally respond by cutting the power. The Act treats that as a serious contravention, not a normal part of a landlord-tenant disagreement.

What it has actually cost other landlords

The dollar figures involved aren’t small. In one case, a Nanaimo, BC landlord was ordered to pay $17,600 in penalties after he cut off a terminally ill tenant’s heat and power and changed her locks during an eviction dispute. The fines ranged from $2,700 to $6,000 across four separate violations of the Act, including interference with the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment of her home.

BC’s Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) has issued similar penalties, from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, against landlords who deliberately restricted power or heat during a dispute. For a landlord, the math rarely works: a short power struggle can turn into a five-figure bill.

What can a tenant actually claim?

A tenant whose essential service is cut off doesn’t have to wait out the dispute or hire a lawyer to get relief. The RTB’s dispute resolution process lets a tenant apply for an order restoring the service, a rent reduction for the time it was off and monetary compensation for losses caused by the interruption. The application fee is $100, and tenants who can’t afford it can request a fee waiver.

Timing matters, too. If the situation meets the Act’s definition of an emergency repair, a tenant can move through much faster instead of waiting for a standard hearing.

What to do first

• Put the problem in writing to the landlord right away, and keep a copy
• Take dated photos, videos and notes as the dispute unfolds
• Keep paying rent — withholding it on your own can undermine your claim
• Apply to the RTB for a dispute resolution or an emergency order
• Keep receipts for extra costs, such as a hotel stay or spoiled groceries, to add to a compensation claim

Outside BC, the details differ, but the principle carries across the country. Every province gives tenants a formal path — through bodies such as Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board or Alberta’s Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service — to force a landlord to restore an essential service and be paid for the disruption. The mistake is treating a cut-off service as something to fight out directly with a landlord. Filing the paperwork is what actually turns a bad situation into an order — and, often, a cheque.

According to a disciplinary decision, a hearing panel with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization ordered the penalties against Josephine Sudario following a virtual hearing.

Former mutual fund rep targeted three clients

Sudario, who was previously a dealing representative with PFSL Investments Canada Ltd., admitted to violating industry rules by misappropriating more than $260,000 from three clients between December 2022 and October 2025.

Regulatory enforcement staff revealed that she convinced victims to hand over funds by fabricating stories about needing money to release a $6-million overseas inheritance. To support her claims, she presented clients with falsified documentation, including a fake will.

Extravagant promises used to secure loans

Alongside the fraudulent documentation, Sudario made extravagant promises to convince her clients to lend her money, telling one that he would receive $200,000 in a matter of weeks if he provided $80,000 up front to help secure the purported fortune.

She convinced another that $200,000 was required by the International Monetary Fund to free up the inheritance funds.

To raise the funds they lent her, clients liquidated their existing investments, incurring an additional $57,204 in deferred sales charges and withholding taxes.

Financial penalties and dealer compensation

Sudario repaid only $1,000 of the borrowed funds. PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. has since fully compensated the impacted clients for their losses.

In an agreed statement of facts, she admitted to the allegations as well as failing to cooperate with the regulator’s investigation. Sudario is no longer registered in the securities industry.

The hearing panel ordered her to pay a total monetary sanction of $600,000, which includes $260,972 in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and a fine of $339,028. She was also ordered to pay $15,000 in costs.

In its written decision, the hearing panel stated that her misconduct involved deception, fraud, abuse of client trust and significant misappropriation of funds.

How investors can protect themselves from advisor fraud

While the victims in this case were ultimately compensated by the dealer, regulatory enforcement cases like this highlight critical warning signs that every investor should know. Spotting them early can help individuals safeguard their life savings:

• Never lend money to a financial representative. Licensed advisors are strictly prohibited from borrowing money from clients or conducting personal financial transactions outside their firm.
• Watch for off-book investment requests. Requests to transfer funds to personal bank accounts, pay upfront fees to unlock large payouts or invest in deals not reflected on official statements are major red flags.
• Verify credentials independently. Always check a representative’s registration status, background history and disciplinary record through public regulatory databases before agreeing to major financial moves.
• Report suspicious activity quickly. If an advisor asks for a personal loan or pressures you to liquidate assets for unconventional reasons, contact the compliance department at the advisor’s firm immediately.

A viral story on Reddit’s r/Scams forum revealed this dark trend after a distraught Redditor discovered their mother had fallen for an online fraudster claiming to be the actor himself.

The original poster shared the nightmare of realizing how far the deception had progressed:

“EDIT: ITS WORSE THAN I THOUGHT. SHES ALREADY SENT HIM MONEY AND CELLPHONES UNDER THE GUISE OF “SOPHIA’S DONATION.” I went through her phone when she was in another room. I can’t believe this is my life right now. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.”

The victim, a Boomer mother, fell into the trap with encouragement from her Gen X sister, who isn’t tech-savvy and actively enabled the fantasy. The scam followed a classic playbook: a Facebook message quickly moved to private WhatsApp chats. Scammers frequently weaponize Keanu’s famously generous persona to convince victims that a genuine, intimate connection is brewing. Despite clear red flags, the mother brushed off warnings and evidence:

“I tried to tell them both it’s a scam. As far as previewing the audiobook “Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You” and getting the response “Don’t be so negative!“ I even read out articles that a woman was scammed $160k and they called her dumb because mom “doesn’t even have $160k to give” and she wouldn’t give out money like this,” the Reddit poster shared.

“And I’m like but you gave him your home address for him to send you flowers! She’s so convinced because the first thing he sent was his passport info. This is the same woman who had to retake her passport photo because it was rejected for using AI and who also falls for AI videos and photos on a daily basis.”

The poster added that the family is now waiting for the scammer to “donate” to a newly formed blind foundation set up by the sister. The victim had previously lost money to a relative claiming to await a medical settlement, highlighting a broader pattern of vulnerability:

“I’m so worried. Last year, she was scammed by a distant relative experiencing homelessness who was “waiting for a huge medical settlement” but she didn’t believe that was a scam either. But in my mom’s eyes, I’m just her kid who doesn’t know anything. She’s like “you’re freaking me out!” And I’m like “I’m not trying to but I just don’t want anything to happen to you!””

Spotting and stopping romance fraud in Canada

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), romance scams drain tens of millions of dollars from Canadians each year. Impersonators exploit loneliness by leveraging the beloved reputation of stars like Reeves, backing their claims with fake passports, AI-generated media and pressure to switch to private apps like WhatsApp.

If financial loss has occurred, report the incident immediately to your local police force, the CAFC and your parent’s bank to freeze compromised accounts. Setting up joint account monitoring or daily transaction limits can also shield life savings while your family navigates the situation.

How to talk to a parent caught in a fake relationship

Breaking through the illusion when a parent believes a celebrity loves them is exhausting, but experts emphasize leading with empathy. Victims cling to these interactions to fulfill a deep need for connection, so direct hostility usually backfires.

Avoid heated arguments about whether the celebrity is real. Instead, ask gentle, open-ended questions about how the interaction started and remind them that verified public figures never solicit money, gift cards or electronics from fans. If they remain defensive, bring in a neutral third party — such as a bank manager, family doctor or legal professional — to explain the financial risks without triggering the parent-child authority dynamic that causes victims to shut down.

Protecting the legacy of Canada’s favourite ‘nice guy’

At the end of the day, Canadians’ affection for Keanu Reeves stems from the genuine warmth and decency he represents — a reputation no fraudster should be allowed to exploit. By staying vigilant, leading with empathy, and putting guardrails in place, families can help their aging parents see through the illusion and dodge these financial bullets long before the real damage is done.

The case, filed in Ontario, argues Apple could have done more to stop this specific type of fraud, in which fraudsters trick victims (via government, bank or imposter scams) into paying them with Apple, App Store, or iTunes gift cards, and then have those funds almost immediately redeemed on Apple's ecosystem.

Apple denies any wrongdoing, and the allegations have not been proven in court. Still, if a judge signs off on the deal, thousands of Canadians who assumed their loss was permanent could be in line for at least a partial payout.

Here is who might qualify, what a payout could look like and what to do while the case works its way through the courts.

What is this Apple gift card lawsuit about?

The class action, Michael Ferracci v. Apple Inc., Apple Value Services and Apple Canada Inc., was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of Canadians who lost money in gift card scams involving iTunes, App Store or Apple Music gift cards. The claim argues that because those cards are redeemed on Apple’s own platforms, the company had the ability to flag suspicious activity and reverse fraudulent transfers, but did not do so consistently for victims.

While Apple denies responsibility, the company has agreed to a global settlement of $1.25 million to resolve the case, inclusive of legal fees — which still need court sign-off — and the cost of administering the settlement. The class has already been certified for settlement purposes, meaning the deal now just needs a judge’s final approval.

Who could qualify for a payout?

You may be eligible if you bought one or more iTunes, App Store or Apple Music gift cards any time from January 1, 2016 onward, gave the redemption code to someone you didn’t know after they asked for it under false pretences and never got a full refund or other compensation for the loss, from Apple or anyone else.

That description covers a familiar scam pattern: A caller posing as the Canada Revenue Agency, a utility company or tech support demands immediate payment and insists it has to be in the form of a gift card code read out over the phone. Because the eligibility window stretches back nearly a decade, Canadians who assumed too much time had passed, or that their case was too small to matter, could still be part of the class.

How much money could you actually get back?

This is the part the settlement doesn’t answer yet. The $1.25-million fund covers legal fees, administration costs and payouts together, and the amount each eligible person receives will be set later under a “Distribution Protocol” the court has not yet released.

In practice, that likely means partial compensation, not a full refund. If several thousand Canadians file valid claims, the fund split among them — after fees and administration costs — could work out to a modest amount per person. For those with larger losses, a proportional split may still fall short of what was taken, so this is worth treating as possible partial relief, not a guaranteed windfall.

What should you do right now?

For the moment, Canadians who want to remain part of the class action don’t need to file anything to keep their eligibility. Key procedural deadlines have already passed: The cutoff to opt out of the class was Aug. 28, 2026, followed by the Aug. 31 deadline to submit written comments or objections. The case reached a critical milestone on Sept. 15, 2026, when the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held its scheduled approval hearing in Toronto to decide whether to approve the settlement, payout distribution, and legal fees. With the court process moving forward, the official claims window and distribution timeline will be published once the court issues its final approval.

If the settlement is approved, claim filing dates and instructions will be published on the settlement website. Until then, it’s worth pulling together anything that documents the loss, such as the original gift card receipt, screenshots of the request for a code and any record of contacting Apple about the fraud, since those details will likely support a claim once the filing window opens.

Whatever the settlement ultimately pays out, the underlying lesson holds regardless of the court date: No legitimate government agency, utility or business will ever ask to be paid in gift card codes read over the phone. Treating that request as an automatic red flag remains the cheapest form of protection available, settlement or not.

Traffic on the Confederation Bridge and ferry service is up, and many accommodation operators are reporting results on par with or slightly above last year, with some seeing higher overnight stays or room rates. At the Holman Grand Hotel in Charlottetown, manager Luke Thompson told The Guardian that the property is having its best season on record, with steady demand from leisure travellers, business groups, conferences and golf groups.

Dig into where that demand is coming from, though, and a shift shows up. Clemence said early indications point to increased visitation from Ontario and Quebec, alongside American travellers. Nearby Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, by contrast, tend to swing more with the weather, since those visitors are more likely to book or cancel, at the last minute. In other words, this year’s strength is leaning more on Canadians travelling within Canada than on a single reliable feeder market.

Here’s what that growth and the money habits behind it actually mean if a fall trip to P.E.I. is on your radar.

A strong season, even with rough weather

Clemence said the industry isn’t treating September as the finish line anymore. Golf bookings were strong before the season even started, and the association is already fielding inquiries for 2027. Events like the P.E.I. International Shellfish Festival are helping stretch demand into what used to be considered the shoulder season, and Thompson said the Holman Grand is already sold out for the P.E.I. Marathon in October.

More visitors, but tighter wallets

Not every business is feeling a straightforward boom. At Nellie’s and Reggie’s P.E.I. Gifts and Souvenirs in downtown Charlottetown, store manager Stephanie McKinnon told The Guardian that “there’s more people, they’re just not buying as much”. Owner Vaunda Murray told The Guardian that shoppers who once bought a $20 or $30 gift are now more likely to spend $5 or $10, and the store needed fewer staff this summer, partly because fewer cruise ships called in July and August.

Why souvenirs could cost more next year

There’s a tariff angle behind the counter, too. Murray said some of the store’s products move through the United States, and suppliers are now looking for ways to buy directly from other countries to avoid tariffs. She expects some items to get more expensive next year, which means this year’s prices on imported souvenirs and gifts may be the cheapest they’ll be for a while.

What this means if you’re planning a fall trip

If P.E.I. is on your list this year, a few things are worth building into your plans:

• Book accommodations early, especially around major events, since hotels are already selling out for October fixtures like the P.E.I. Marathon
• Treat September and October as peak season for pricing and availability, not the discount window shoulder months used to be
• Budget more for experiences, like golf, festivals and tours, and less for souvenirs if you want room to spend, since even locals are pulling back there

P.E.I.’s tourism numbers are trending well, but two different money stories are playing out at once: businesses filling rooms, greens and festival calendars and visitors keeping a tighter grip on what they spend once they arrive. For Canadians treating a Maritime trip as their own version of staying closer to home this year, the smart move is to book early and budget for experiences over extras, because this season isn’t winding down — it’s just shifting into its next stretch.

Speaking at the Scotiabank Financials Summit in Toronto on September 9, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) President and CEO Dave McKay said he’s “a little cautious because of the escalation of the trade war,” but that the credit picture across the bank’s consumer and commercial lending, including in the U.S., is actually improving.

Scotiabank President and CEO Scott Thomson went further, stating that he doesn’t expect tariffs to meaningfully hurt the bank’s credit performance, since only a relatively small share of Canadian trade is currently tariffed.

For investors, that’s reassuring given the financial sector’s outsized role in Canada’s economy.

But what about borrowers? Here’s what a bank’s credit outlook actually means for your mortgage, where the real risk is concentrated and what’s worth watching instead of worrying broadly about trade threats and volatile interest rates.

What bank CEOs are actually watching

Bank CEOs refer to a bank’s credit outlook because this snapshot gives them a good overview on whether borrowers — consumers and businesses alike — are likely to keep paying what they owe.

So when McKay describes RBC’s credit outlook as ‘improving’ he’s saying the bank isn’t seeing a broad wave of missed payments.

However, the devil is in the details. McKay also pointed out that sectors directly hit by tariffs are facing a significant degree of uncertainty, and the bank is holding a robust capital buffer specifically to absorb losses if that uncertainty turns into defaults.

Why ‘positive’ doesn’t mean risk-free

McKay’s assertion that banks or holding capital buffers is key. Banks don’t build up rainy-day funds for borrowers — but they do increase cash reserves when markets are volatile.

McKay didn’t name specific industries, but did confirm that the concerns were for customers regions and sectors most impacted by tariffs. Confirmation that workers in harder hit sectors, like manufacturing, auto parts, steel, aluminium and forestry carry more risk of default than the average mortgaged homeowner working in unrelated industries.

The real question for your mortgage

Thomson highlighted why banks aren’t worried: A relatively small share of Canadian trade is currently tariffed, so the credit shock isn’t hitting every borrower at once.

For most Canadians, a trade war threatens a mortgage indirectly — through job security in an exposed sector or industry — not through a sudden, economy-wide credit crunch or a bank pulling back on lending across the board.

Keep calm and watch wisely

If you want a genuine read on your own exposure, a few questions matter more than the national headlines:

• How exposed is my industry or employer to U.S. tariffs, and has my workplace signalled any hiring freezes or layoffs?
• When does my mortgage come up for renewal, and is it fixed or variable?
• Do I have savings that could cover a few months of payments if my income was interrupted?
• Have I talked to my lender about options before missing a payment?

Bank CEOs aren’t sounding an alarm on Canadian credit right now, but they are preparing for pockets of stress rather than promising none exists.

For most homeowners, the more useful question isn’t whether the banking system is safe in the abstract — it’s how exposed your own paycheque is to this trade war. That’s the one question worth answering.

The allegations from BCSC include personal spending by company officials that included:

• $69,245 on a Rolex
• $31,750 on paying rent
• $9,345 on personal training and yoga
• $3,000 on a tattoo

All of this allegedly personal spending were charged to credit cards paid off with investor money.

For Canadians considering an investment opportunity, there’s a lesson in these current allegations: Understand the money trail. If the funding and money paper trail shows that new investors are paid from funds of earlier investors — and disguised as profit — then this is a textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme.

What the BCSC alleges happened

According to the regulator’s notice of hearing, the company, For the People FX Inc., and its sole owner, George Henry Tyrer, allegedly raised the $2.6 million between January 2022 and May 2024.

The BCSC concedes that some foreign exchange trading did take place, but communications to investors allegedly “grossly overstated” its scale and success, including guarantees and claims of returns of up to 100%.

Of the total raised, the BCSC alleges $1.9 million went to purposes unrelated to trading: investor repayments (where new investors were paid from earlier investor funds), plus more than $175,000 in personal credit card charges. Separately, the BCSC alleges $1.6 million of that money came from 48 investors who were sold securities without a prospectus — investors who did not have an exemption from that requirement.

Pay attention when funds are used for ‘paying other investors’

A steady stream of payouts can feel like the strongest possible evidence that an investment is legitimate. But it can be the opposite.

If the money you’re getting as an investor isn’t coming from the underlying business or trading activity, it’s coming from someone else’s deposit, and the arrangement only survives as long as new money keeps arriving. Once new investors slow down, the payouts stop — which is exactly how Ponzi structures eventually collapse.

Other warning signs

Beyond the alleged repayment structure, the BCSC’s notice identifies a pattern of behaviour that all investors need to consider before committing funds:

• Guaranteed or unusually high promised returns
• No prospectus (for some or all investors)
• Shifting explanations when money was slow to move.

The regulator alleges Tyrer and the company gave investors false or misleading reasons for delayed withdrawals, including claiming a bank had frozen the company’s account and, separately, that the BCSC itself had frozen funds — BCSC confirms that neither statement was true.

How to check before you invest

• Verify registration first — the Canadian Securities Administrators’ national registration search and provincial regulators like the BCSC let you confirm whether a person or firm is actually registered to trade or advise
• Ask whether the investment was sold under a prospectus or a specific exemption, and get the answer in writing rather than taking it on faith
• Treat guaranteed returns, especially anything in double digits, as a reason for caution rather than confidence
• If a withdrawal gets delayed and the explanation keeps changing, stop sending more money and start asking harder questions
• Insist on account statements you can verify independently, not ones generated only by the person you’re investing with

Bottom line

Regular payouts and a friendly explanation for every delay are exactly what a scheme built on new investor money needs to keep going. The BCSC’s allegations here are unproven, but the pattern they describe is a known one: verify registration and paperwork before money changes hands, not after a payout stops arriving.

A 35-cent hourly raise in Ontario looks like $728 more a year. Run it through payroll deductions and roughly $501 of that survives. The rest goes to federal tax, provincial tax, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI) — the same as every other dollar you earn.

Here’s what workers in each of the five provinces will actually keep, why the gap between the raise and the take-home pay is wider in some provinces than others, and what to do with the extra money once it lands.

What’s changing on October 1?

Ontario’s general minimum wage rises from $17.60 to $17.95 an hour, Saskatchewan’s from $15.35 to $15.70, Nova Scotia’s from $16.75 to $17, Prince Edward Island’s from $17 to $17.30 and Manitoba’s from $16 to $16.40. Each increase comes from a provincial indexing formula tied to inflation rather than a one-time political decision, which is why the raises land within a few cents of each other. Ontario’s change alone affects more than 700,000 workers, and Nova Scotia’s is its second increase this year, after an April 1 raise.

Why isn’t the raise on paper the raise in your bank account?

Extra gross pay is taxed like the rest of your income. It’s added to your earnings for federal and provincial tax, and it’s subject to CPP (5.95%) and EI (1.63%) up to their annual limits. That’s why Ontario’s 35-cent raise, worth $728 a year before deductions, works out closer to $501 after them. Manitoba keeps the largest share of its raise, at about 69.5 cents of every extra dollar, while Nova Scotia keeps the smallest, at about 65 cents, because it already has the highest deduction rate on minimum-wage income in the country.

How much will each province’s workers actually keep?

For a full-time worker — 2,080 hours a year, one job, no other credits — the after-tax gain works out to roughly $578 a year (about $48 a month) in Manitoba, $508 a year ($42 a month) in Saskatchewan, $501 a year ($42 a month) in Ontario, $417 a year ($35 a month) in Prince Edward Island and $339 a year ($28 a month) in Nova Scotia. Workers with fewer hours, a second job or other income will see a smaller, and differently taxed, bump, since these figures assume a single employer and the basic personal amount only.

Who feels this the most — and who doesn’t?

The other eight provinces and territories aren’t changing their minimum wage on October 1; most move on a different date, commonly April 1. Even after the increase, Ontario’s $17.95 and PEI’s $17.30 still trail British Columbia’s $18.25, Yukon’s $18.51 and Nunavut’s $20.17, the highest in the country. For the part-time and seasonal workers common in retail, hospitality and tourism — where minimum-wage jobs are concentrated — the extra income can also shift how benefits tied to net income, like the GST/HST credit, get recalculated next tax season. That effect is usually small at these income levels, but it’s worth a second look if you’re close to a threshold.

What should you do with the extra money?

Check your first October pay stub against your last one instead of assuming the sticker increase — small differences in hours or deductions can shift the real number. If your hours or income changed this year, ask your employer whether your TD1 withholding form still reflects your situation, since under-withholding now becomes a tax bill next spring. And treat the extra $28 to $48 a month as a small, real gain worth directing somewhere on purpose — toward high-interest debt or an emergency fund — rather than letting it disappear into day-to-day spending.

The number on a minimum wage announcement is never the number that shows up in your bank account, and this October is no different. Budget the after-tax figure, not the hourly one. And if you want your own exact number rather than a provincial average, run your actual hours and province through a take-home pay calculator before payday, not after.

While many Canadians assume the scan is a quick digital check to confirm age or identity, that routine step may have exposed your personal details in one of North America’s largest data security incidents.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada launched a formal investigation into Louisiana-based technology company IDScan.net following reports that an unauthorized third party breached its cloud database, federal officials announced Sept. 21, 2026.

The breach has reportedly exposed more than 153 million driver’s licence records across Canada and the United States, along with millions of other identity documents.

How ID scanning works at bars and businesses

Many patrons are unaware that when a door host or security staff member scans a driver’s licence, the device often does far more than read a date of birth.

IDScan.net provides digital verification software and hardware to thousands of client businesses, including hospitality venues, nightlife establishments, car rental agencies and cannabis retailers.

Instead of visually inspecting a physical card, these ID scanners capture high-resolution images of the front and back of government-issued IDs. They extract precise barcode details, including full legal names, home addresses, dates of birth, licence numbers and physical descriptions. In many instances, the system uploads this information directly to external cloud databases for recordkeeping and verification.

Cybersecurity experts point out that many Canadians have undergone this collection process without realizing their sensitive personal data was being stored on third-party servers outside the country.

The scope of the IDScan.net breach

The data security incident came to light after cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported on Sept. 1, 2026, that a listing on the dark web forum Exploit offered searchable access to a massive trove of identity files under the name “Nexus.”

The leaked data reportedly includes:

• More than 153 million Canadian and U.S. driver’s licences
• 10 million government identity cards
• 3 million travel documents and passports
• Over 579,000 medical cards

According to cybersecurity researcher Zach Edwards, who spoke with Reuters, the breach is unprecedented in size and scope for government-issued driver’s licences. Edwards noted the stolen files contain full digital document scans rather than basic text records alone.

In a public security advisory published earlier in September 2026, IDScan.net acknowledged that an unauthorized third party “may have accessed and/or copied certain customer information” stored within account spaces on its cloud platform.

The company stated it took immediate steps to secure its systems, launched an internal review and engaged third-party cybersecurity specialists to assist with an ongoing investigation alongside federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI.

How Canadian privacy and constitutional laws apply to ID scanning

For many Canadians, having an ID scanned raises basic questions about what private businesses are legally allowed to do.

It is easy to confuse constitutional rights with everyday privacy rules. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects fundamental liberties, such as protection against unreasonable search under Section 8 and freedom of thought, belief and expression under Section 2(b). However, the Charter only binds the government and police. It does not control private businesses like bars, clubs or stores.

Instead, commercial businesses must follow strict statutory privacy rules, as outlined by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), alongside similar provincial laws in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, governs private sector data collection.

Under PIPEDA and corresponding provincial statutes:

• Businesses must get your clear consent before collecting your information
• Data collection must be limited to what is truly necessary for that interaction
• Businesses must secure any data they collect against leaks or theft
• Individuals have the right to ask what information a business holds about them and where it is being sent

While a venue can check your age to ensure safety, privacy regulators have consistently ruled that businesses cannot force you to let them digitally scan and store your card when a simple glance at your ID is enough. Even if a business uses foreign software or stores data on server farms outside Canada, Canadian privacy laws still apply to how your data is collected and protected.

Federal privacy commissioner steps in

Under PIPEDA, organizations collecting personal data from Canadians must maintain reasonable security safeguards and properly notify affected individuals in the event of a breach.

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne announced his office opened a regulatory investigation to examine IDScan.net’s security protocols and determine whether its public notification efforts complied with Canadian privacy standards.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) confirmed it is actively engaging with IDScan.net to mitigate potential risks to Canadians.

Because the investigation remains active, the privacy commissioner’s office declined in their statement to release further specific details regarding affected Canadian populations, though preliminary reports suggest hundreds of thousands of provincial driver’s licences may be involved.

What Canadians should do now

Because scanned driver’s licences contain sensitive personal identifiers and high-resolution document images, privacy experts warn the breach elevates the risk of targeted phishing, identity theft and synthetic identity fraud.

Canadians who suspect their ID may have been scanned at participating businesses can take immediate steps to safeguard their identity:

Monitor financial accounts and credit reports

Request free copies of your credit reports from Canada’s main credit bureaus, Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada. Check for any unknown credit inquiries, new credit cards or accounts opened without your knowledge.

Enable fraud alerts

Consider placing a fraud alert on your credit file with Equifax and TransUnion. A fraud alert instructs lenders to contact you directly to verify your identity before approving any new credit applications.

Watch for targeted phishing scams

Be cautious of unsolicited text messages, emails or phone calls claiming to be from government agencies, law enforcement, banks or identity protection services. Fraudsters who hold full names, addresses and driver’s licence numbers can craft convincing scams designed to trick victims into revealing social insurance numbers or financial credentials.

Ask before letting businesses scan your ID

Under Canadian privacy guidelines, individuals have the right to ask how their personal information is being handled. The next time a bar, club or retail store requests to scan your card, ask if they can visually inspect the card instead or inquire whether they store scanned card data on external servers.

Know your rights

As Canadians navigate an increasingly digital landscape, understanding what happens to your personal information at the door of a nightspot or retail store is the first step toward self-protection.

Under Canadian privacy standards, individuals maintain rights regarding how their personal details are handled:

• Right to opt for visual inspection: In most casual commercial settings, door staff only require verification of age or identity. You have the right to ask if a staff member can visually inspect your card rather than run it through an electronic scanner.
• Right to inquire about data storage: You can ask a business where scanned card data is stored, how long it is retained and whether it is uploaded to third-party databases outside Canada.
• Right to file a regulatory complaint: If a private business refuses entry solely because you decline an electronic ID scan when visual verification is sufficient, or if they fail to explain their data practices, you can file an official complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or your provincial privacy authority.

The routine tap or scan of a driver’s licence at a bar entrance may seem like a minor inconvenience on a night out, but as the IDScan.net incident demonstrates, the downstream risks to your personal identity can last long after the night is over. By exercising your privacy rights at the door, you can take control of your sensitive information before it reaches an unsecured database.

Wanting a smaller, cheaper home is one thing. Finding one to buy is another. The same report shows builders are struggling to deliver the alternative housing Canadians say they want, and a big part of the holdup happens before a single wall goes up — at the municipal planning desk, where zoning rules decide what can be built and where.

Here’s what the new data shows, why municipal zoning is such a persistent bottleneck and what to check before you count on a tiny or modular home being an option where you live.

What Canadians actually say they want

Meridian’s Housing Attainability Report, based on national surveys of 1,500 Canadians and 250 construction-industry decision-makers, found that homeownership expectations are shifting. Beyond the 62% open to modular, prefabricated or tiny homes, Canadians are also warming to co-ownership arrangements and rent-to-own programs as paths into the market. “Canadians are showing us that homeownership is no longer one-size-fits-all,” said Jay-Ann Gilfoy, President and CEO of Meridian Credit Union, in a statement.

Why municipal zoning is a bigger obstacle than demand

The gap isn’t really about interest. It’s about what municipalities allow. Research by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) published in February 2026 found that stricter local land-use rules increase home prices and reduce new construction, with the effect most severe in high-demand markets where rezoning approval rates are lowest. Municipalities control zoning and land-use planning directly, and unless a local bylaw conflicts with provincial legislation, that decision-making power over what gets built — and whether a modular or tiny home is even a permitted use on a given lot — sits almost entirely at the local level.

Programs like the federal Housing Accelerator Fund are meant to push municipalities toward reform, but the pace and rules still vary widely from one city or town to the next.

Builders are stuck too — financing and labour are just as big a problem

Zoning isn’t the only barrier. Among builders surveyed for the Meridian report, 79% say there’s a mismatch between what the industry is building and what Canadians actually need and 63% report difficulty securing project financing. Skilled-trades shortages affect 78% of builders overall, rising to 94% among larger construction firms, and 6 in 10 builders say rising construction costs have made affordable starter homes financially unviable to build.

“Builders are seeing demand for alternative housing options and new forms of homeownership, but bringing those projects to market isn’t always straightforward,” said Jason Teal, Vice President, Business Banking at Meridian Credit Union, in a statement. Construction costs, financing access and labour all have to line up before a lender’s appetite for alternative housing translates into homes a buyer can actually purchase.

What to research before buying an alternative home

Before you start planning a modular or tiny home purchase, run through these key steps:

• Call your local planning department before you budget for a tiny or modular home — zoning that permits one a few streets over may not apply to your lot
• Ask your lender directly whether it finances modular or prefabricated builds; not every mortgage product treats them the same as a stick-built home
• Watch for local bylaw updates on accessory dwelling units and secondary suites — they’re often the first sign a municipality is opening the door to smaller housing
• If a modular or tiny home isn’t available where you want to live yet, ask about co-ownership or rent-to-own programs as a nearer-term path to ownership
• Build extra time into your plans; approvals for alternative housing are improving but still move slower than for a standard detached home

Canadians’ appetite for smaller, cheaper housing isn’t the problem — the system that has to approve, finance and build it is still catching up. B

efore you count on a tiny or modular home as your path to ownership, do the homework on your local zoning rules first. The type of home you want matters less right now than whether your municipality will actually let you build it.

In a publicly released memo, Lütke explained that Shopify staff would need to prove that artificial intelligence (AI) couldn’t complete a job before a human would get hired.

Seventeen months after this announcement, the results are hard to ignore: The Ottawa-based e-commerce platform ended 2025 with roughly 7,600 employees, down from roughly 8,100 a year earlier. This 6% reduction in staff came at the same time as the firm’s revenue grew roughly 30% — to US$11.6 billion.

And Lütke doesn’t plan to stop. In the latest SEC annual filing, Shopify said it intends to expand “without significant additional hiring in the near term.”

For Canadians, this isn’t about one tech company — it’s about the threat AI imposes on future employment growth.

Which Canadian jobs are most exposed to AI?

Statistics Canada estimates that 31% of employees aged 18 to 64 work in jobs that may be highly exposed to AI, based on 2021 census data.

“The majority of workers in Canada are in jobs that may be highly exposed to job transformation related to artificial intelligence, but about half of them could benefit from it,” wrote Tahsin Mehdi and Marc Frenette, the authors of a Statistics Canada report on the exposure of AI on Canadian jobs.

According to their analysis, 31% of employees aged 18 to 64 work in jobs that may be more susceptible to AI-driven displacement and less likely to benefit from AI; another 29% were in jobs that may be highly exposed to AI but with opportunities to benefit, while the remaining 40% of Canadian workers were in jobs that probably aren’t highly exposed to AI.

For the at-risk group, the jobs exposed cut across all pay grades — ranging from retail salespeople, data entry clerks and office support workers to software engineers, economists, accountants and financial auditors. According to the report, jobs more likely to be highly exposed generally require higher education — so a post-secondary degree isn’t automatic protection and doesn’t translate into job security.

Is AI already costing Canadians their jobs?

The answer isn’t quite clear. The Statistics Canada report found no clear evidence of a persistent decline in high-exposure, low-complementarity jobs between November 2022 and December 2025 — and employment in these professions grew at rates similar to other jobs.

But Shopify’s current results highlight a potential trend that isn’t, yet, showing up in the data. The key is that the risk of AI on employment may not show up in declining job numbers. Instead, a company can hold headcount flat — negating the need for lay offs. But posting fewer openings impacts new graduates, squeezes current job growth and slows professional transitions.

As such, the results of AI impact may be showing up in younger demographics. In August 2026, Canada’s unemployment rate was 6.4%; at the same time youth aged 15 to 24 faced an unemployment rate of 12.9%, according to Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey. While the data doesn’t pin that gap on AI, it shows how tough entry-level hiring already is in this transitioning economy.

Meanwhile, AI is already part of many workdays. Just over 1 in 3 Canadian workers (35.9%) used generative AI tools in their main job in the 12 months leading up to March 2026, according to the Statistics Canada: The Weekly Review, published July 31, 2026. Report authors Mehdi and Frenette found that in high-exposure, low-complementarity occupations, the share was 45.9%.

What would losing your job cost you?

Employment Insurance (EI), the federal program that replaces part of your income if you lose your job through no fault of your own, pays most people 55% of their average insurable weekly earnings — up to $729 a week in 2026. That cap is based on maximum insurable earnings of $68,900.

In this hypothetical example, an office worker earning $90,000 a year would hit that cap. At $729 a week, EI works out to about $3,160 a month before tax — well under half the roughly $7,500 a month this worker earned on the job. That’s a monthly shortfall of more than $4,300 — a shortfall that savings or significant cost-cutting would need to cover.

How can you make yourself harder to replace?

So, how can Canadian employees get ahead of the AI-disruptor? Learn how employers will use these generative models — and learn how you can use them, as well.

For instance, in the same memo, Lütke declared that Shopify would factor AI use into performance reviews. If other employers follow, workers who can show what they’ve accomplished using AI — not just that they’ve tried it — may be better positioned at review time and during restructuring.

And remember, upskilling doesn’t have to come entirely out of pocket. The Canada training credit (CTC), a refundable federal tax credit, lets eligible workers build up $250 a year toward a lifetime limit of $5,000, which can cover up to half of eligible tuition and fees. Then claim the expense on line 45350 of your income tax and benefit return.

What to do now

The practical question isn’t whether AI could touch your job; it’s whether the parts that remain untouched by AI are the parts you’re best at. If most of your week is drafting, sorting or summarizing, the next year may be the time to shift toward work that relies on judgment, relationships or accountability — and to build a cash cushion while you do. To help, here are five tasks to help AI-proof your employment:

1. List the tasks you do each week and flag the ones AI could handle — then build skills around the rest.
2. Keep a record of results you’ve produced with AI tools so you can point to them at review time.
3. Size your emergency fund to the gap between your take-home pay and EI’s $729 weekly maximum.
4. Check your Canada training credit limit in your CRA My Account before paying for a course.
5. Update your résumé if your employer freezes hiring or starts tying budgets to AI use.

On September 22, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is examining whether a full or partial ban on diesel exports is feasible. Speaking to reporters, President Trump said he supports a ban, and that a decision would come quickly “one way or another.”

No decision has been made or details released, so it’s unclear if any restriction would apply to shipments to Canada — but with Canadian diesel prices already at record highs, the threat of even higher fuel costs, due to trade restrictions, is very real.

How high are diesel prices in Canada right now?

Diesel prices across Canada hit a record $2.75 per litre on September 17, according to Kalibrate, a fuel-price analytics firm. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) data show diesel is more than $1 per litre higher than a year ago and above the 2022 peak weekly average of $2.30.

In the U.S., diesel has climbed to a record US$6.53 per gallon, almost US$3 above last year’s level, according to AAA data. Wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have cut global refining capacity, and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained.

A ban would aim to keep more diesel in the U.S. with the intention of pulling American fuel prices down.

But not everyone agrees — and this matters for the consumer. In a statement released September 22, the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. oil industry’s main lobby group, warned that restricting exports could worsen refining problems and ultimately hurt consumers.

For Canada, the bigger worry is fewer barrels crossing the border into an already tight market.

Which Canadians are most exposed to a U.S. diesel ban?

In 2025, Canada imported 485,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products — such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel — and 79.6% came from the U.S., according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), the federal agency that oversees energy infrastructure and trade.

Most of what Quebec and Ontario import is transportation fuel. Quebec alone brought in 103,000 barrels per day, Ontario 36,000 and British Columbia 34,000.

Atlantic Canada faces a second pressure point: home heating oil, a distillate fuel closely related to diesel. Fuel oil made up 28% of residential heating energy in both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in 2023, compared with just 2% nationally, according to the Government of Nova Scotia’s analysis of data from Statistics Canada. And the heaviest heating season is only weeks away.

Will higher diesel costs show up in your grocery bill?

Even if you don’t live in an Eastern Canada province, you could still pay the price for Trump’s diesel restrictions.

While grocery inflation started to cool during the summer months. According to Statistics Canada, grocery prices rose 2.8% year over year in August, down from 3.1% in July. It was the first time since July 2024 that grocery prices rose more slowly than overall inflation. With Trump’s latest threats, this relief may not last.

It’s not just consumers watching the cash register: the Bank of Canada (BoC) is watching the same risk. It held its policy rate at 2.25% on September 2, but Governing Council members agreed the risk of inflation spreading to other goods and services had risen, and noted that refinery margins were unusually high.

What relief is already in place?

To help ease ongoing cost of living increases, Ottawa has extended the suspension of the federal fuel excise tax until January 31, 2027. The pause saves 4 cents per litre on diesel and 10 cents per litre on gasoline, with half the regular rate returning February 1 and the full rate on April 1, 2027. While this certainly helps, it’s hard to ignore that 4 cents is a small offset against a yearly jump of more than a dollar per litre.

How should Canadians prepare for a possible diesel shock?

Your exposure depends mostly on where you live and how you heat your home.

If you’re in Ontario, Quebec or Atlantic Canada, heat with oil, drive a diesel vehicle or run a business with delivery costs, it may pay to act before winter demand peaks. In Western Canada, where refineries run largely on domestic crude, you may feel it mainly through grocery prices and any ripple effect on interest rates.

Remember, the ban isn’t a done deal. But the supply chain it could disrupt runs through Canada’s largest population centres, and planning now leaves you more options than scrambling in January.

What to do now

• Call your heating oil supplier: Ask about budget billing or fixed-price plans before winter demand peaks, but read the terms — locking in near a record high can backfire if prices ease
• Stock up on staples you already use: Buying shelf-stable groceries while store prices are rising more slowly may soften a later jump
• Review variable-rate debt: If a rate hike would strain your budget, talk to your lender about fixed-rate options before your next payment reset or renewal
• Check for provincial heating help: Several provinces offer heating assistance for lower-income households, but eligibility rules and deadlines vary
• Small business owners: Review fuel surcharges and carrier contracts now so a diesel spike doesn’t erase your margins

Cash feels safe. But “safe” isn’t automatic — it depends on where that cash sits and whether the institution holding it is actually insured.

It’s worth sorting out now, before a market shock forces a rushed decision. Here’s how to confirm your cash is protected, and which of the three most common cash options — a high-interest savings account, a money market fund or a GIC — fits your timeline and risk tolerance.

Is your cash actually insured?

Before moving a dollar, confirm the institution is a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), a federal Crown corporation that insures eligible deposits at its member banks, federally regulated credit unions and trust companies. CDIC coverage protects eligible deposits up to $100,000 per coverage category, per member institution — so spreading savings across different categories or institutions can multiply your protection. A full list of member institutions is available on the CDIC website.

Coverage applies to chequing and savings accounts, GICs and other term deposits of any length, whether the money sits in a registered plan such as an RRSP or TFSA, or outside one. If a member institution fails, CDIC contacts eligible account holders and reimburses principal and interest within days.

None of that protects you from inflation, though. Canada’s annual inflation rate was 3% in July, meaning cash earning less than that is quietly losing purchasing power.

Where’s the best place to park it?

Three mainstream, CDIC-eligible options can help cash keep pace with inflation, each with a different tradeoff between yield and liquidity.

High-interest savings accounts

The most liquid option: Transfer cash in when you need it, transfer it back out just as fast. Annualized yields on high-interest savings accounts currently range from 2% to 2.8%, though rates are variable and can change daily, and the top rates are often reserved for large balances or short-term promotions.

Money market funds

These mutual funds hold highly liquid, short-term debt and can usually be cashed out within a day. Yields currently sit between 1.5% and 2.3% annually — but the funds also charge a management expense ratio (MER) that can top 1%, which eats into the return. A well-managed fund can still beat a savings account; a poorly managed one won’t.

GICs

For a higher rate, guaranteed investment certificates require locking cash away for a set term. The best one-to-five-year GIC yields currently range from 3.7% to 4.25%. Laddering GICs — staggering maturities across different terms — keeps some cash coming free on a regular basis while still capturing the higher rate.

What CDIC won’t cover

CDIC insurance doesn’t extend to stocks, dividends, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate investment trusts (REITs) or bonds. Foreign currency deposits are insured, but only in Canadian dollars, and cryptocurrency holdings aren’t covered at all.

In other words, moving out of equities and into a fund that holds bonds doesn’t get you CDIC protection just because it feels defensive. The insurance is specific to deposit-type products at member institutions.

What to do first

Before assuming a trade-war cash cushion is protected, check three things:

• Confirm your institution is a CDIC member
• Check whether your balances fall within the $100,000 coverage limit per category, and split funds across institutions or categories if not
• Match the product to your timeline — a savings account for cash you may need soon, a GIC for cash you can lock away, a money market fund for something in between

The trade war may keep rattling markets for a while yet. A cash allocation that’s actually insured, and matched to when you’ll need the money, is a more useful hedge than cash sitting in the wrong place, earning the wrong rate.

A new provision added to National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds bars a fund manager from charging a securityholder a fee to redeem mutual fund units. The change, published in the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) Bulletin on August 20, 2026, is mirrored by securities regulators across every Canadian province and territory, with a slightly different timing rule in Saskatchewan. For years, this kind of charge — commonly tied to a deferred sales charge (DSC) purchase — locked investors into a fund for years at a time or forced them to pay a penalty to leave early.

The catch: The ban does not erase every existing fee. If you bought a fund under a DSC-style arrangement that was already in place before June 1, 2022, and it’s still running, your fund manager can keep charging you when you cash out. Here’s what’s changing, who’s still exposed and how to check your own account.

What’s actually changing on October 1

The new provision, section 10.2.1, stops fund managers from charging a redemption fee tied to the sales-charge option an investor picked when they bought in. It doesn’t add new disclosure requirements or touch any other part of the rule — it’s a narrow, targeted ban.

Why your fund might still charge an exit fee

This isn’t the industry’s first run at DSC fees. Canadian securities regulators barred fund companies from selling new DSC funds starting June 1, 2022, cutting off the upfront commissions that gave advisors a financial incentive to sell them in the first place. Existing DSC schedules were allowed to run their course rather than being cancelled outright.

That’s the gap the October 1 rule closes only partway. Section 10.2.1 exempts any fee arrangement that existed before June 1, 2022 and remains in effect. In plain terms: if you bought a DSC fund before June 2022 and your redemption schedule — typically 5 to 7 years — hasn’t expired, you can likely still be charged to sell before it does.

What the ban doesn’t cover

The new rule targets sales-charge redemption fees specifically. It does not affect fees a fund charges for short-term trading or unusually large redemption orders, which fund companies can continue to apply regardless of the October 1 change. Advisors, meanwhile, are being told to review client holdings fund by fund, since the ban applies at the fund level rather than the account level — meaning two people who each hold mutual funds through the same advisor could face very different answers.

How to check if you’re affected

• Pull your account statement or fund fact sheet and look for “DSC,” “deferred sales charge” or “redemption fee”
• Check the purchase date — if it’s before June 1, 2022, you may still be inside a legacy redemption schedule
• Ask your advisor or fund company directly when your specific schedule ends — don’t assume October 1 zeroes it out
• Budget for short-term trading fees separately if you plan to buy and sell within a short window, since those remain legal
• Get the answer in writing before you redeem, especially on larger accounts where a percentage-based fee adds up fast

The bottom line

The mutual fund industry has been shedding DSC-style fees since 2022, and October 1 removes most of what’s left. But for Canadians who bought in before that cutoff, the redemption clock hasn’t necessarily reset.

Before assuming the new rule wipes your exit fee clean, find your fund’s purchase date and ask your advisor plainly: Is my redemption schedule still running, and when does it end? That answer, not the date on a new regulation, is what determines what selling will actually cost you.

The catalyst behind the renewed debate is a U.S. bill. The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, reintroduced this month by U.S. Rep. Mark Takano and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, would require employers to pay for a 32-hour week, then time-and-a-half for anything worked beyond that, with no cut to pay or benefits. Sanders has framed it as a way to make sure gains from artificial intelligence (AI) and automation reach workers, not just executives and shareholders.

There’s no Canadian equivalent on the table right now, so this is a hypothetical for Canadian workers, not a policy shift. But the conversation is worth having here too: A four-day workweek is already gaining traction among some Canadian employers, and it’s easy to lump that trend in with the U.S. bill. They are not the same thing — and the difference matters for your paycheque.

What’s actually being proposed?

The U.S. bill pays workers for 32 hours, then requires authorized, paid overtime for anything more. Nita Chhinzer, an associate professor of management at the University of Guelph, told CTV News that structure is being sold as a guarantee of no lost pay or benefits, but in practice would likely depend on employers authorizing that extra paid time.

Reduced hours versus a compressed schedule

Chhinzer draws a distinction that’s easy to miss in the headlines. A four-day compressed workweek — the kind gaining ground in Canadian workplaces — typically packs the same total hours into fewer days, so pay doesn’t change. A genuine reduced workweek, like the U.S. bill, cuts total scheduled hours, which only avoids a pay cut if extra hours are consistently authorized and paid.

Why the promise gets complicated for hourly workers

A salaried employee’s paycheque doesn’t move with the clock, so a shorter week may cost them little. An hourly worker is paid for hours actually worked, so fewer scheduled hours without guaranteed overtime is a direct hit to take-home pay. According to Chhinzer, “the average person cannot withstand a 20% income decline” if extra hours aren’t guaranteed, pointing to how little room current affordability pressures leave for that kind of drop.

Let’s assume an hourly worker earning $25 an hour for a 40-hour week takes home $1,000 before deductions. Move to a 32-hour week with no guaranteed overtime, and that weekly pay drops to $800 — a 20% cut, even though the hourly rate never changed.

What it would take to work here

Sarah McVanel, chief recognition officer at HR firm Greatness Magnified, told CTV News that a reduced workweek only works if employers rethink role expectations, cut down on unnecessary meetings and use technology, including AI, to hold onto efficiency rather than pile the same workload onto fewer hours. She also said many workers stay skeptical that a shorter week is truly on the table, even after employers raise it.

What to ask before you count on a shorter week

Before assuming a shorter week means the same paycheque, it helps to get specific answers:

• Is this a compressed schedule — same hours packed into fewer days — or an actual reduction in total hours
• If hours drop, is overtime pre-authorized and guaranteed, or left to a manager’s discretion
• Is pay structured hourly or salaried, and does that change under the new schedule
• What happens to benefits, vacation accrual or pension contributions that are tied to hours worked

For now, the 32-hour workweek is an American proposal with no Canadian equivilent in front of any legislature. But as the four-day workweek conversation keeps building here, the label matters as much as the hours. Shorter and same paycheque aren’t automatically the same promise — before getting excited about either one, find out which one is actually being offered.

The Canadian dollar slid against its American counterpart as a widening interest rate gap between the central banks in Ottawa and Washington put downward pressure on the currency.

According to dynamic foreign exchange market reports, a policy rate differential reaching 175 basis points between the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve has pushed the exchange rate toward 1.40 Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar, or roughly 71.4 U.S. cents.

While a weaker loonie can boost Canadian exporters, it poses an immediate financial burden for thousands of Canadians heading to popular sunbelt destinations such as Florida, Arizona and California.

Trade disputes and tariffs compound currency pressure

In addition to central bank policy divergence, trade friction between Canada and the United States continues to cast a shadow over the currency outlook.

The implementation of steep U.S. tariffs on key Canadian goods, including steel, aluminum and automotive products, alongside Canadian retaliatory measures, has injected considerable risk into Canada’s export-dependent economy. Market strategists at National Bank Financial note that persistent trade war uncertainty limits economic growth momentum and weakens foreign demand for the Canadian currency, preventing a sustained rebound in the exchange rate.

Combined with fluctuations in global crude oil prices, tariff-related uncertainty reinforces expectations that the loonie will remain suppressed through the peak winter travel season.

The true cost of exchanging currency

At an exchange rate near 71 U.S. cents, a Canadian traveller purchasing $10,000 U.S. to cover rent, utilities and daily expenses will need roughly $14,000 Canadian before conversion fees are applied.

Snowbirds relying on traditional Canadian retail banks face additional conversion markups. Historical exchange data from the Canadian Snowbird Association demonstrates that major domestic financial institutions frequently apply markups, pushing effective exchange rates higher for retail consumers.

FX market data from transfer provider MTFX indicates that transaction markups and credit card conversion surcharges can add hundreds of dollars to a traveller’s overall seasonal bill.

Financial advisors recommend comparing transfer provider conversion margins rather than relying solely on base rate benchmarks when converting larger sums for property deposits or extended rent.

Diverging central bank policies drag down currency

The fundamental downward pressure on the loonie stems from diverging monetary policy paths between the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve.

While the Federal Reserve has maintained a higher benchmark rate to tackle persistent inflation, the Bank of Canada has kept its policy rate lower at 2.25% to support sluggish domestic growth. The resulting yield spread makes holding U.S. dollar assets significantly more attractive to global investors, which weakens demand for the Canadian currency.

Bond market yields follow U.S. Treasuries closely, meaning Canadian yields remain constrained while American borrowing rates stay elevated, further widening the gap between the two dollars.

Snowbirds adapt to rising expenses

The combined squeeze of currency depreciation and cross-border economic friction is reshaping how Canadian retirees approach their winter getaways.

Recent reporting from Money.ca highlights that rising travel costs and tariff pressures are forcing many long-term travellers to rethink their plans. Rather than canceling trips entirely, many Canadians are shortening their stays down south, trimming discretionary spending or choosing to drive instead of fly to keep travel expenses manageable.

Financial advisors emphasize that forward planning — such as utilizing specialized foreign exchange services, locking in conversion rates early and setting up dedicated U.S.-dollar accounts — can help travellers mitigate unnecessary conversion fees if they still plan to head south.

According to the The Toronto Star, sales of new single-family homes in the Greater Toronto Area surged in August compared to historic lows set during the same period last year. Industry experts point to Ontario’s tax policy adjustments as the primary force keeping buyers active despite global trade volatility.

Tax relief shields buyers from cross-border price pressure

The federal and provincial tax policy framework, anchored by the Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate, eliminates or substantially reduces the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on newly constructed home purchases. The enhanced structure provides upfront tax savings of up to $130,000 for buyers purchasing newly built residential properties valued up to $1.5 million.

Market analysts note that the scale of the tax incentive creates a financial cushion large enough to absorb potential price shocks caused by trade friction and material tariffs.

While imported building materials like steel, aluminum and specialized lumber face duties, experts say the $130,000 top-end tax relief comfortably offsets those incremental construction expenses. In most transactions, the upfront tax savings far exceed the cost inflation passed down by developers.

Single-family sales outpace historical averages for fifth month

Industry market tracking by the Building Industry and Land Development Association shows that GTA single-family sales — which include detached homes, semi-detached properties and townhouses — outperformed their 10-year historical average for a fifth consecutive month in August.

According to data compiled by Altus Group for BILD, builders recorded 692 new single-family home sales in August, marking a significant year-over-year increase and placing activity 47% above the decade-long norm. Total new home sales across all categories reached 907 units during the month.

The benchmark price for a new single-family home in the region stood at $1,248,866 in August, down 14.6% over the last 12 months. Analysts note these baseline figures do not factor in the tax rebate, meaning net costs for qualified buyers are lower.

High-rise condominium sector faces ongoing structural delays

While low-rise housing has experienced rapid momentum under the policy, multi-family high-rise developments continue to trail behind. Condominium apartment sales totaled 215 units in August, remaining 78% below the 10-year average despite a 50% year-over-year improvement.

Industry leaders attribute the disparity to strict timeline requirements tied to the tax incentive. Under rules monitored by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, the full benefits of the tax program require specific construction start and completion windows. Because high-rise projects require longer planning and building schedules, many prospective condo developments are unable to qualify before policy deadlines expire.

Domestic supply chain reinforces broader economic stability

Beyond consumer affordability, industry representatives stress that shielding the homebuilding sector helps protect the broader domestic economy from external trade disruptions.

The residential construction sector relies heavily on local labour and Canadian suppliers, meaning sustained homebuilding activity directly supports domestic employment. According to figures from BILD, the GTA homebuilding and renovation industry supports roughly 256,000 jobs and generates $39.3 billion in investment value.

With single-family sales holding steady, economists expect ongoing trade employment and steady material demand to help stabilize overall housing starts across Ontario through the end of the year.

That would be a sharp reversal. For nearly a year, the BoC has stuck to the same script: hold the policy rate at 2.25% and wait it out.

Before the central bank’s Sept. 2 decision, markets had priced in a 94% chance of another hold. Heading into the next decision on Oct. 28, that near-certainty has evaporated — traders now see the meeting as close to a coin flip, tilted slightly toward a hike as of Thursday, according to BNN Bloomberg. The shift follows the U.S. Federal Reserve’s own move Wednesday, delivering its first rate hike in more than three years to fight inflation south of the border.

Even if the BoC holds again in October, the math for borrowers is already shifting. Bond yields — the benchmark lenders use to price mortgages — have been climbing, and that’s pushing up borrowing costs whether or not the bank moves. Here’s what’s driving the shift, who it hits first and what to do about it now.

What changed in the rate-hike odds this week?

Oil prices tied to the war in Iran are the biggest factor behind the shift, Claire Fan, senior economist at RBC, told BNN Bloomberg. Bond market pricing works as a kind of consensus forecast for what the central bank will do, and right now it’s reflecting worry that high fuel costs will feed into broader inflation the longer they last.

That concern isn’t new. In its own summary of the deliberations behind the September decision, BoC’s governing council said the longer high oil prices persist, the more likely they are to spread into the price of other goods and services. Inflation has been hovering near 3% for several months, though inflation excluding gasoline has stayed closer to 2% — a gap policymakers are watching closely.

Why would a rate hike hit variable-rate borrowers first?

Variable-rate mortgages and lines of credit, including HELOCs, are tied to the prime rate, which moves in step with the Bank of Canada’s policy rate. A hike lands in those payments almost immediately.

In this hypothetical example, a homeowner with a $400,000 variable-rate mortgage amortized over 25 years could see payments rise by roughly $50 to $60 a month for every quarter-point increase in the policy rate. That’s manageable for some household budgets and a real strain for others — especially for anyone who took on a variable mortgage when rates were near the bottom of the cycle.

Why could your fixed mortgage rate rise even without a hike?

Fixed mortgage rates don’t track the Bank of Canada’s policy rate directly — they track bond yields. And the Bank’s own account of its September deliberations confirms financial conditions had already tightened since July, with long-term bond yields moving up globally on concerns about sovereign debt levels and expectations that central banks would need to raise rates to restrain inflation — Canadian yields following suit.

That’s a double-edged sword. Randall Bartlett, deputy chief economist at Desjardins, told BNN that rising yields are effectively doing some of the central bank’s tightening work for it, which gives the Bank ‘a bit of wiggle room’ to stay patient. But that doesn’t mean a break for borrowers — rather, it can be the opposite: fixed rates edging higher at renewal time even if the policy rate never moves.

What are economists actually expecting?

Both Fan and Bartlett expect the BoC to hold for the rest of 2026 and hike in the first quarter of 2027. Bartlett said a re-escalating tariff dispute with the U.S. is working against inflation pressure, since weaker growth prospects give the bank more room to be patient.

Stephen Brown, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, told BNN the bank will “inevitably upgrade its inflation forecasts” for elevated oil prices when it publishes its next outlook in late October. It will also have fresh inflation, labour market and GDP data — plus its own consumer and business surveys, which Brown expects will show weaker confidence and rising short-term inflation expectations — before the Oct. 28 decision. “Our base case is that the bank will not hike in October, though it will likely be a close call,” he said.

What should Canadians do now?

The right move depends on where you sit:

• Renewing in the next six months: Ask your lender for a rate hold now. Most Canadian lenders will guarantee a fixed rate for 90 to 120 days, insuring you against further increases while you shop around.
• Carrying a variable-rate mortgage or HELOC: Stress-test your budget for a quarter- to half-point increase before it happens, not after. If a small move would strain your finances, talk to your lender about locking in part or all of the balance.
• Choosing fixed vs. variable on a new mortgage: Remember that fixed rates can move with bond yields well before the Bank of Canada acts, so waiting for a rate decision to shop for a mortgage isn’t a guaranteed win.
• Building savings: Rising yields are also flowing through to GICs and high-interest savings accounts. For savers, this is the upside of the same trend that’s squeezing borrowers, so it’s worth comparing current rates before renewing a GIC.

The safest assumption right now isn’t whether the BoC will or won’t hike on Oct. 28 — it’s that borrowing costs are already moving regardless. If your mortgage renews soon, lock in a hold this week. If you’re carrying variable debt, run the numbers on a small increase before it lands. And if your renewal is still years away, there’s no need to panic — but it’s worth knowing which way your rate moves, and why, before you’re forced to find out.

It’s not pocket change. Parents who helped gave an average of $6,151, and 24% handed over more than $10,000. And it isn’t just kids in their early 20s leaning on mom and dad — RBC found 21% of parents are still supporting children aged 30 to 34, and 19% are supporting kids as old as 35 to 40.

None of that support is free, though. Every dollar a parent sends an adult child is a dollar not going toward their own retirement, debt or emergency fund. Here’s what the survey found, and how to help without quietly wrecking your own finances.

What the money is actually going toward

Among parents who help their adult children, 56% put money toward groceries, 43% covered an unexpected or emergency expense, and 24% helped with rent. Another 21% chipped in for utilities, and 12% helped pay down credit card or other debt.

Why parents keep saying yes

The reasons go beyond money. Just over half of parents, 51%, say helping out is simply “what parents do,” while 35% point to the cost of living outpacing what their kids can manage alone. A quarter say they want their children to have opportunities they didn’t have growing up.

The cost to your own plan

It’s easy to treat this kind of help as a one-off. RBC’s own guidance suggests otherwise: the bank tells parents to put on their own “financial oxygen mask” first — covering essential expenses, an emergency fund, high-interest debt and retirement — before deciding what they can sustainably give their kids. The bank also recommends parents “diagnose before they fix”: figuring out whether an adult child’s struggle comes from overspending, low income or a genuine affordability problem, since each calls for a different response.

How to help without derailing your own retirement

• Set a dollar amount and an end date before agreeing to help, rather than leaving it open-ended
• Fund your own emergency savings and retirement contributions first, then decide what’s left over for your kids
• Ask what’s actually driving the request — a budgeting conversation solves an overspending problem, a bigger cheque doesn’t
• For larger amounts, put the terms in writing, even informally, so both sides know if it’s a gift or a loan
• Revisit the arrangement every few months instead of letting “just this once” quietly become permanent

The bottom line

The Bank of Mom and Dad isn’t charging interest, but it isn’t free either. Before your next transfer, ask the harder question: is this a bridge to your child’s independence, or a habit that’s replaced their own budget? The answer should decide how much you give, and for how long.

Not this year.

In a surprising twist, Downtown St. Catharines snatched the crown — landing at an astonishing No. 9 in the world. Outranking heavyweights like New York City’s Financial District and Chicago’s West Town, Ontario’s “Garden City” proved that true cool isn’t about sky-high rent or long lines for over-hyped pop-ups. It’s about soul, character and an independent spirit that has been quietly building momentum just an hour down the Queen Elizabeth Way.

The Brooklyn of Niagara

For locals, the global recognition was a long time coming. What outsiders used to dismiss as a sleepy rust-belt town has transformed into a vibrant cultural pocket. Time Out praised the neighbourhood’s “Brooklyn-esque” main drag — St. Paul Street — which curves gently through downtown, framed by over 100 preserved heritage buildings dating back to the early 19th century.

Instead of corporate glass towers and chain stores, St. Paul Street is lined with character:

• Mindbomb Records, where music lovers crate-dig for rare vinyl
• Vintage treasure troves like Auds N Ends Boutique and Nac Studio Shop
• A culinary landscape driven by creative passion, featuring smashburger hot-spots like Super! Burger & Fries, authentic Mexican joints like Johan’s, and elevated dining at Twenty Kitchen & Bar.
• Late-night watering holes like Trust Beer Bar and Merchant Ale House, where the local craft brews flow until late.

Just off the main strip lies Montebello Park, a lush downtown sanctuary designed by Frederick Law Olmsted — the legendary visionary behind New York’s Central Park.

Where history, art and youthful energy collide

St. Catharines’ sudden rise on the international stage wasn’t an accident. It is the product of a decade-long transformation driven by a few key ingredients:

• A world-class cultural anchor: The downtown core’s creative pulse beats fastest at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and The Filmhouse — a state-of-the-art arts complex that hosts everything from international theatre to indie film screenings. Alongside the nearby Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, the core is constantly energized by artists, actors and musicians.
• University town dynamics: Home to Brock University, the city benefits from a constant influx of thousands of students. Their presence brings an undeniable edge to the downtown area — fueling indie coffee shops, cheap eats, active nightlife and pop-up galleries.
• A powerful, grounded history: St. Catharines has deep historic roots as a key terminus on the Underground Railroad. American abolitionist Harriet Tubman lived and operated there for nearly a decade in the 1850s, attending the historic BME Church downtown. That legacy of resilience and community building still shapes the city’s identity.
• The border advantage and wine country: Positioned just 20 minutes from the U.S. border at Niagara Falls/Buffalo, St. Catharines bridges cross-border travel with Niagara’s famous wine country. Visitors can spend a morning hiking the Bruce Trail or touring award-winning vineyards, and be back downtown by sunset for craft beer and live music.

Sorry, Toronto — the cool kids have moved on

While Torontonians might shake their heads in disbelief at losing out to a city in Niagara, Mayor Mat Siscoe had this to say to CTV News: “It speaks to the fact that a lot of really fantastic entrepreneurs have poured a lot of their heart and soul into the downtown...”

So, the next time you’re looking for a weekend escape with great food, rich history, live music and authentic community culture, leave the 401 behind, keep driving down the QEW and see for yourself why St. Catharines is officially one of the coolest places on Earth.

But this isn’t a one-item impulse buy. The collection has nine different pieces, and if a shopper falls for the whole aesthetic, the tab adds up fast — close to $580 before tax. The rollout is also built to create urgency: Tims Rewards members get first access before the general public, a tactic that nudges shoppers to decide quickly rather than think it over.

Here’s what’s in the collection, when it launches, what it would cost to buy the full look and how to shop the drop without letting a fun collab wreck your monthly budget.

What’s actually in the Tims Run Club collection

The collection blends adidas performance gear with Tim Hortons’ coffee-and-cream colour palette and Tims Run Club branding. According to the companies’ announcement (1), the lineup includes:

• Supernova Ease running shoe (men’s & women’s): $129.99
• Track jacket (men’s & women’s): $84.99
• Track pants (men’s & women’s): $79.99
• Feel Cozy hoodie (unisex): $79.99
• ADI365 Climacool running T-shirt (unisex): $54.99
• Adilette Aqua slides (unisex): $44.99
• adidas graphic T-shirt (unisex): $39.99
• Superlite trainer hat (unisex): $39.99
• Crew socks, set of 3 (men’s & women’s): $24.99

The collection builds on a 2022 Tims Run Club capsule and is being supported by a marketing campaign, “GOATRs: Greatest Of All Tims Runners,” that leans into the idea of the Tims run as a shared Canadian ritual.

Why the rollout is built to make you decide fast

Tims Rewards members can shop the collection on TimShop.ca starting September 24, two full days before it opens to everyone else on September 26 on TimShop.ca and adidas.ca. It then expands to select adidas stores and wholesale partners, including Sport Chek and Sports Experts, on National Coffee Day, September 29.

That staggered release is common in limited-edition retail drops, and it works on the same logic as a flash sale: Early, exclusive access creates pressure to buy now rather than compare prices, check a budget or wait for a similar item to go on sale later. For shoppers who are already loyalty-program members, the early-access window can feel like a reward — but it’s also a nudge that shortens the time between seeing something and paying for it.

What would the full look actually cost?

A single graphic T-shirt or a pair of socks is a low-stakes purchase. But collection drops are designed to be shopped as a look, not a single item. Add one of each of the nine pieces listed above to a cart and the pre-tax total comes to roughly $580 — before shipping or sales tax, which pushes it higher still in every province.

For context, that’s close to the cost of a used-car repair or several weeks of a family’s grocery budget. In some cases, a splurge on one piece you’ll genuinely wear on your morning run is a reasonable treat. For a full head-to-toe outfit bought in the moment, the math is harder to justify unless it was already part of a clothing budget.

A quick checklist before you buy

• Pick one hero piece you’d wear even without the branding, rather than the full set
• Set a dollar cap before browsing, and treat early access as a preview, not a deadline
• Check your discretionary or “fun money” budget first — don’t let a collab become an unplanned expense
• Remember tax and shipping add to every price listed above
• If you’re not sure, wait for the September 26 public launch or the September 29 in-store date; a two-day head start rarely changes availability

In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that the United States is negotiating a “massive deal” to import potash from Belarus, claiming the Eastern European nation could offer the critical agricultural input at a substantially lower price than Canadian producers.

Moe quickly condemned the proposal, warning that buying Belarusian fertilizer means supporting international aggression.

“More than 40 countries, Canada and its allies, have sanctions against Belarus for supporting war criminal Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Moe wrote in a response on X. “Buying blood potash from Belarus is supporting Russian aggression. It’s wrong and it doesn’t make sense.”

The dispute strikes at the heart of one of Canada’s most lucrative trade relationships, raising questions about whether a supply shift to Eastern Europe is realistically feasible or simply trade war posturing.

What is potash and why is it vital

Potash is a naturally occurring potassium-rich salt mined deep underground, and it serves as one of the three primary nutrients in commercial fertilizers alongside nitrogen and phosphorus.

It plays a crucial role in agriculture by improving plant water retention, increasing crop yields, boosting disease resistance and strengthening plant stems. For major agricultural producers in North America, steady access to potash is essential for growing staples such as corn, soybeans and wheat.

Canada is the world’s largest exporter of potash, with Saskatchewan producing the nation’s entire supply from 10 active mines. According to Natural Resources Canada, the province shipped $4.2 billion worth of potash to American buyers in 2025, with the U.S. relying on Canada for roughly 85% of its total imports.

Can Belarus actually supply the American market

While Trump touts Belarus as a cheaper alternative for U.S. farmers, energy and trade analysts express deep skepticism about the country’s ability to replace Canadian production.

In 2024, Canada accounted for nearly 33% of global potash production. Belarus ranked third globally, producing 12.1 million tonnes, roughly half of Canada’s output.

Capacity constraints present an immediate hurdle. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko acknowledged in state media reports that his country currently lacks surplus supply to sell to Western markets, noting that their annual production is already fully bound by existing contracts.

Beyond supply limits, shipping logistics create massive financial and practical challenges.

Canadian potash moves seamlessly across the border into the American Midwest via an integrated rail network. By contrast, potash from landlocked Belarus must travel through Russia by rail, navigate port facilities subject to Western sanctions, cross the Atlantic Ocean by ship and then be offloaded and transported across the U.S. mainland.

“All of that potash has to be shipped first through Russia, then across the ocean, then across the U.S. to mid-western farmers,” Moe pointed out on X, questioning whether those transport costs could ever undercut Canadian pricing.

Impact on Saskatchewan’s economy

Despite the logistical barriers, market observers note that even the threat of Belarusian entry could weigh on Canadian producers.

According to University of Regina economics professor Jason Childs, while a full replacement of Canadian potash is unlikely, any significant influx of sanctioned supply into North America could drag down global spot prices, he told CBC. Lower market prices would directly hit revenue for Saskatchewan’s mining sector, even if overall trade volumes remain relatively stable.

For now, industry groups and provincial leadership maintain that Saskatchewan’s proximity, supply reliability and political stability make Canadian potash irreplaceable for American agriculture over the long term.

Macklem pointed out that trade talks with Washington have broken down again — putting pressure on supply and imposing restrictions on demand. At the same time, the Middle East conflict is dragging on, damaging refineries and pushing fuel prices well beyond predictable price expectations. The result is trade uncertainty weighing on demand, while higher energy prices keep inflation up.

As Macklem pointed out: One creates downside risks to growth, while the other creates upside risks to inflation.

While none of these observations are new, it was a rare public admission by the head of Canada’s central bank that the Bank’s usual playbook doesn’t have a clean answer, at this time.

For Canadians adjusting to tariffs, gas-pump sticker shock and a still-elevated cost of living, it’s a signal the recovery many were counting on this fall may be more fragile than it looked in the spring.

What changed in the last 6 months?

Six months ago, Macklem described Canada’s economy as being reshaped by structural forces — trade tension, artificial intelligence and an aging workforce.

Since then, there’s been real progress: Non-energy exports jumped 14.5% in the second quarter to their highest level since early 2025, business investment rose at an annualized 8.8%, and more than two-thirds of Canadian exporters say they now plan to expand into markets beyond the United States.

But two new developments are complicating this recovery. First, negotiations with the U.S. broke down again, extending steep tariffs to businesses beyond the auto, steel and aluminum sectors that were already hit hard. Second, the Middle East conflict has damaged global refining capacity, so gasoline and diesel prices have climbed even faster than crude oil itself. As Macklem pointed out, oil is now trading nearly US$40 higher than it should, given current economic conditions.

The result is that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is running around 3%, well above the Bank’s 2% target — and largely because of fuel costs. And if oil prices hold near $100 a barrel, Macklem expects inflation to edge higher still in the months ahead.

“Trade uncertainty will weigh on demand,” he explained to the Halifax, NS audience. “Higher energy prices will keep inflation up. One creates downside risks to growth, while the other creates upside risks to inflation.”

What this means for your wallet

But these economic pressures aren’t just a macroeconomic story — it hits household finances, as well.

If the new U.S. tariffs stay in place, Macklem said growth in the fourth quarter could be roughly halved, to below 1% — a slowdown that would likely show up first in hiring and hours worked, particularly in trade-exposed sectors and regions.

At the same time, households are paying more at the pump and, indirectly, more for anything trucked or shipped, as businesses pass along higher transportation costs.

Bond yields have also risen — partly because governments and businesses are borrowing more, and partly because markets expect other central banks to raise rates. That combination can push up the cost of new mortgages and corporate borrowing, even before the Bank of Canada moves its own rate.

“Even though inflation was around the 2% target for more than a year before the war drove up energy prices, the prices of most goods and services did not come down. That has left many feeling an affordability squeeze,” explained Macklem.

In other words, even if inflation cools again, price levels likely aren’t going back down. That’s worth remembering when planning a household budget or a retirement drawdown.

Keep in mind, the BoC held its policy rate unchanged in the September rate announcement, but Macklem was clear it’s not a settled position. As these risks evolve, the BoC is prepared to adjust monetary policy as needed — which leaves both a hike and a cut plausible, depending on how trade talks and the Middle East conflict unfold over the next few months.

The tactical solution: How to position yourself

None of this calls for panic. Macklem and the BoC analysts have crunched the numbers and the data shows a Canadian economy that’s proven more adaptable than expected.

But Macklem’s most recent speech is a good moment for a strategic gut-check — an opportunity to assess where you are and what you need to do. Here are six considerations to help mitigate near-future risks:

1. If you’re early in your career: Job-finding rates have already softened in occupations most exposed to AI, and trade-sensitive sectors may see slower hiring if tariffs bite. Shore up an emergency fund and avoid concentrating savings in a single trade-exposed employer or sector.
2. If you’re mid-career with a mortgage: Rising bond yields are already filtering into borrowing costs. If your renewal is coming up in the next year, it’s worth running the numbers on locking in a rate now versus waiting for a Bank of Canada move that could go either way.
3. If you’re in the sandwich generation or nearing retirement: Stress-test your budget against a cost of living that stays elevated even if the inflation rate itself comes down — the Bank’s own comments suggest price levels, not just the pace of increases, are the real affordability issue.
4. If you’re retired or rely on fixed income: Rising yields are painful for bonds you already hold, but they’re an opportunity for new purchases. Consider laddering new fixed-income buys to capture today’s higher rates while limiting how much of your portfolio is exposed if yields keep climbing.
5. If you’re an experienced or high-net-worth investor: Watch where Canadian exporters are redirecting their business — industrials, materials and manufacturers pivoting toward Europe and the Asia-Pacific region may be worth a closer look as that diversification plays out over the next two years.
6. If you’re an ESG-minded investor: The current inflation spike is being driven substantially by oil, which creates a real tension between energy-sector exposure as an inflation hedge and sustainability mandates. It’s worth revisiting whether transition-focused or clean-energy names can serve the same defensive role in your portfolio.

What to watch next

The Bank of Canada will use a new forecasting tool called Prima for the first time in its October Monetary Policy Report, which should offer a clearer read on how persistent these pressures are expected to be. Until then, Macklem’s message is less “batten down the hatches” and more “know where you stand” — a strategic correction, not a five-alarm fire.

The woman, who goes by Nancy to protect her identity, says she was already at her lowest when she saw the ad two years ago — grieving the recent deaths of her father and brother, and in severe pain from a hip injury. “I cry everyday,” she told CTV News.

Nancy’s story isn’t rare, and it isn’t harmless. Fraud that plays on fear and grief cost Canadians more than $704 million in 2025, with reported losses since 2022 topping $2.4 billion. The Competition Bureau warns that figure represents only a fraction of the real damage, since only 5% to 10% of frauds are ever reported.

For Canadians who see psychics, or who have a parent or friend who does, Nancy’s experience is a clear illustration of how a low-cost service can turn into a financial trap — and what to watch for before it does.

How did a $30 session become a $96,000 loss?

Nancy’s first reading was cheap and casual. But once she was in the chair, she says the psychic told her she had “very bad black magic” working against her — a curse he said would leave her in a wheelchair, then kill her. Removing just one spirit, he told her, would cost $25,000; he claimed he would seal it in a container and bury it in a lake. Then he told her there were seven more spirits left to remove.

By the time it was over, Nancy had paid $96,000, and she said nothing about her health or her circumstances had actually changed. When the psychic’s business later moved locations, calls went unanswered and messages went unreturned.

Why do scams like this work on people who are grieving or unwell?

Psychic fraud tends to follow the same playbook as many of the scams tracked by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), the federal body that collects fraud reports from across the country: fear, urgency and emotional manipulation, rather than a straightforward ask for money. A major warning sign, according to the CAFC, is any suggestion that a loved one will get sick, die, lose money or leave unless the target keeps paying. Grief, illness and isolation — all of which Nancy describes — are exactly the conditions fraud experts point to as raising someone’s risk.

Relationship-style frauds built on emotional manipulation cost Canadians more than $63 million in 2025 alone, and investment fraud remains the single costliest category, at $351 million. Psychic scams aren’t tracked as their own category, which means cases like Nancy’s likely aren’t fully reflected in the official numbers at all.

Why won’t police always step in?

One of the more frustrating realities in cases like Nancy’s is that psychic fraud can sit in a legal grey zone. Because clients agree to pay for a service, and intent to defraud can be difficult to prove, police don’t always investigate. That leaves victims with few practical options for recovering money once it’s gone, which makes prevention, not recovery, the most reliable protection Canadians have.

What should Canadians watch for and do?

A few practical steps can limit the damage before it starts:

• Treat a session fee that keeps growing as a red flag, not a normal part of the service
• Be skeptical of any claim that a curse, spirit or debt requires an escalating series of payments to resolve
• Set a hard dollar limit before a reading begins, and walk away if the psychic pushes past it
• Check in on older relatives or friends who are grieving, isolated or unwell, since fraudsters specifically target people going through those experiences
• Report suspected fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501, even if police decline to investigate, since that data helps flag patterns and warn other Canadians

Nancy’s loss can’t be undone. But her decision to speak out, even anonymously, adds one more data point to a growing picture: fraud in Canada is rising, and it increasingly hides inside services people think of as harmless entertainment. The clearest defence isn’t a bigger bank account or a sharper eye for con artists — it’s recognizing that any request tied to fear, secrecy or an ever-growing bill is reason enough to stop paying and start asking questions.

Premier Wab Kinew confirmed the decision during an interview with 680 CJOB, putting an end to the biannual custom of adjusting clocks.

“Those days are over. The days of time change are done,” Kinew told CJOB, ending months of speculation over whether the province would align with its regional neighbours or maintain the status quo.

The shift follows a provincial consultation carried out by Prairie Research Associates, which revealed that 92% of respondents wanted an end to seasonal time changes. Given the choice between standard and daylight time, 58% favoured permanent Daylight Saving Time, while 34% voted for permanent Standard Time.

Economic upside of lighter evenings

While public fatigue with time shifts drove much of the support, business groups and economists point to potential commercial advantages. Extra daylight during peak post-work hours historically encourages consumer spending, particularly in the retail, hospitality and recreation sectors.

In Winnipeg, winter afternoons under permanent Daylight Saving Time will see the sun set at 5:30 p.m. on the shortest day of the year instead of 4:30 p.m. That additional hour of evening light encourages commuters to run errands, dine out or participate in outdoor activities after work rather than heading straight home in total darkness.

Retail analyst groups have long noted that daylight directly influences foot traffic. Lighter early evenings tend to drive spontaneous shopping trips and boost patio dining during shoulder seasons, providing a reliable lift for local storefronts.

Health experts weigh in on trade-offs

While businesses may welcome the change, health professionals highlight both benefits and drawbacks.

Eliminating the twice-yearly clock shift avoids the immediate spikes in fatigue, workplace injuries and cardiovascular issues often documented in the days following a time change. However, permanent daylight time comes at the expense of morning light during the winter months.

On Dec. 21, Winnipeg residents will not see the sunrise until 9:24 a.m.

Diana McMillan, a registered nurse and professor at the University of Manitoba’s College of Nursing, notes that while avoiding seasonal clock shifts is a win, the loss of morning light requires monitoring.

“The morning sun is what helps to set our circadian rhythm,” McMillan told Global News, adding that sunlight affects sleep patterns, blood pressure regulation and overall alertness.

“We need to follow up and see, how are we doing as a province? Is it having the positive effects on our economy, on our health, on our mental wellbeing that we anticipated, or not?” McMillan said.

A changing time zone landscape

The decision places Manitoba alongside Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon in abandoning seasonal time adjustments.

It also reshapes the region’s operational alignment. Manitoba will remain one hour ahead of Saskatchewan and Alberta year round, and two hours ahead of B.C.

For eastern markets, Manitoba will share the same time as Ontario and Quebec during the winter months, before falling one hour behind when those provinces shift to Daylight Saving Time in the spring.

“The reality is you either buy the fuel or you don’t,” said Keith Currie, who leads the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. “And if you don’t buy it, you don’t have a crop.” When to harvest isn’t an option for most farmers — neither is waiting for cheaper energy.

And those extra diesel costs don’t stop at the farm gate. Higher diesel costs impact the delivery of ingredients to food processors and refrigerated loads to distribution centres, restaurants and grocery stores. It’s also why a spike in diesel (or any farm production cost) during harvest time doesn’t stay a farm story for long.

Why is diesel spiking right now?

Conflict in the Middle East has disrupted global crude shipments, and Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have further squeezed supply, pushing up the cost of diesel and other oil-derived products. The timing couldn’t be worse for agriculture: Harvest is one of the most fuel-intensive periods of the year, said Bruce Burrows, executive director at Grain Growers of Canada.

How does a diesel spike at the farm reach your grocery cart?

Diesel touches nearly every step of the food chain, said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and longtime lead author of Canada’s Food Price Report: It fuels tractors and combines, moves ingredients to processors and carries refrigerated freight to distributors and grocers. But the cost doesn’t show up on shelves overnight. Contracts and fuel surcharges reset on their own schedules, so inventories and existing agreements absorb the shock first, delaying — not cancelling — the impact. Looking at historical data, his lab found diesel price increases tend to show up in grocery inflation with roughly a nine-month lag.

How much could this actually add to your bill?

The lab modelled a range, not a certainty: if elevated diesel prices persist through winter, grocery inflation could run 0.5 to 0.7 percentage points above where it would otherwise land, with a central estimate near 0.6 points; a shorter-lived spike would trim that to roughly 0.3 to 0.4 points. Charlebois is careful to call these scenarios rather than forecasts — a meaningful but modest addition on top of whatever grocery inflation was already doing, not a guaranteed shock.

What’s being done to soften the blow?

Ottawa extended its four-cent-per-litre diesel excise tax suspension through January 31, 2027, with the rate returning at two cents in February and March before reaching four cents again on April 1. Burrows says he’d like to see the federal government go further with a targeted, temporary per-litre rebate specifically for farmers during harvest. Relief softens the increase, Charlebois notes, but it doesn’t erase the higher fuel bills already moving through contracts, inventories and prices.

What should your household do now?

• Don’t expect an immediate jump — the lag in contracts and inventories means any effect builds gradually over months, not days
• Budget a small buffer for categories that travel farthest or need refrigeration, such as produce, meat and dairy, where transport costs weigh most heavily
• Watch specific categories rather than assuming a blanket increase — fuel-linked pressure tends to concentrate in a handful of items, not the whole cart
• Keep an eye on energy markets and federal relief measures; if diesel prices ease before winter, the modelled hit shrinks toward the low end

Steady response

Today’s fuel bill is becoming tomorrow’s grocery bill, but how big a bill depends on how long diesel stays this expensive. Nothing here calls for panic-buying or upending your budget this week. It does mean building in a modest cushion for winter groceries — particularly produce, meat and dairy — and treating the next few months of price tags as data, not surprise.

This confusion is a reality for a growing number of Canadians who’ve downloaded apps such as Buy Beaver, O SCANada and Maple Scan since U.S. tariffs reignited interest in buying local. The apps are free, fast and satisfying to use in the grocery aisle. What they aren’t is standardized, audited or regulated the same way an actual “Made in Canada” label should be on store shelves.

For a household redirecting grocery spending toward Canadian companies without overpaying for the privilege this gap matters. Before trusting any single score, it helps to know why the apps disagree, who’s actually checking their work, and what that means for your bottom line.

Why do these apps disagree on the same product?

Each app built its own formula for what is Canadian and the formulas weigh different inputs in non-standard ways.

For instance, Buy Beaver scores products from zero to 100 based on manufacturing location, where the parent company is headquartered and where ingredients are sourced. As a result, Heinz Ketchup scores a 70 as the app correctly flags Quebec as the product’s manufacturing hub and the use of domestic ingredients, while noting its American parent, Kraft Heinz Co.

Yet, on the O SCANad app the factor with the heaviest weighting is ownership — making that same bottle of Heinz Ketchup “not Canadian-owned” because of that U.S. parent firm. The third app, Maple Sca, correctly labelled the product as “prepared in Canada,” — a term the app took directly from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that uses the term for food entirely prepared domestically, regardless of parent company location.

“There’s a million different ways for someone to decide if something is Canadian or not,” explained Bonnie Simpson, a consumer behaviour researcher at Western University, during a North Shore News interview. Michael Mulvey, a marketing professor at the University of Ottawa, makes a related point: Shoppers who want to support Canadian workers should look for domestic manufacturing and local ingredient sourcing, while shoppers focused on keeping money in Canada need to know who owns the company and where its shareholders are based — two different questions with two different outcomes and both 100% legitimate.

Is anyone actually regulating these apps?

Then there’s the oversight. No one authority regulates these apps — directly. The apps aren’t food, financial or advertising products, so there is no dedicated regulator for oversight. Instead these apps are closer to independent research tools. As the makers of the O SCANada app explain, their goal is to hand over the underlying information and let consumers decide.

What is regulated?

What is regulated is the “Made in Canada” and “Product of Canada” language companies put on packaging.

The CFIA labels a food “product of Canada” when nearly all of the processing and labour that went into it happened in Canada, and “made in Canada” when only the item’s last substantial transformation occurred here. For non-food goods, the Competition Bureau’s enforcement guidelines set harder numbers: A “product of Canada” claim requires at least 98% of total direct production costs to have been incurred domestically, while “made in Canada” requires at least 51%, plus a qualifying statement such as “Made in Canada with imported parts.” To be clear, those thresholds govern what’s printed on the package — not the score an app assigns.

What could the wrong app cost your household?

Why does this matter? Because the output can sway a consumer’s decision — but not help where a consumer feels it’s most critical.

To illustrate, consider the case for Ms. Vickie’s chips: A shopper focused on ownership might skip Miss Vickie’s because Maple Scan surfaces its U.S. owner first, missing that Buy Beaver rates it 70% Canadian for domestic production and mostly domestic ingredients.

So, depending on which app you trust, you could skip a product that ends up supporting Canadian producers and employers or pay more for a product that ends up benefitting a non-Canadian firm.

How to use these apps without overpaying or being misled

Simpson suggests picking one app and learning its methodology before you shop. This helps you make more educated decisions without the burden of additional vetting and lets you get on with your everyday purchasing decisions.

To help, here’s how these three apps classify Canadian:

• Buy Beaver uses a numeric 0–100 score based on manufacturing location, where the parent company is headquartered, and the source of ingredients — so a product can land anywhere on that scale (e.g., 70% “Canadian”) rather than getting a binary yes/no.
• O SCANada gives a binary ownership label — “Canadian-owned” or “not Canadian-owned” — based on whether the manufacturer is Canadian-owned, alongside noting manufacturing location where available.
• Maple Scan uses AI on product photos and sorts items into the official Canadian government categories “Product of Canada” (virtually all production happened in Canada) or “Made in Canada” (the last substantial transformation happened here), rather than a proprietary score.

To pick the best app, first decide what “Canadian” means — to you. Does it mean protecting manufacturing jobs? Or is it about where the money eventually flows (ie: company ownership) or does ingredient sourcing matter? Then choose the app built around that priority.

Then look for an app with a strong, transparent dataset behind its results, which Mulvey says matters more than any single score.

Finally, get out of the app and choose in-real-life (IRL) options, as well. For packaged goods, check the label itself: “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” mean different things under CFIA rules, and non-food claims carry Competition Bureau cost thresholds.

Bottom line

No regulator is checking whether Buy Beaver, O SCANada, Maple Scan or any other app is getting it right, and Simpson is blunt about the ceiling here: Perfect information isn’t realistic given how little is available and how complex food supply chains are in this global economy. The goal isn’t a perfect score — it’s shopping with a clear idea of what you’re actually trying to support: A job kept in Canada, a dollar that stays here, or a product genuinely made on Canadian soil. Once you know which one matters most, the right app — and the right price to pay for it — gets a lot easier to spot.

Some buyers who agreed to a purchase price years ago are now facing units worth less than what they signed up to pay. Many assume the worst case is losing their deposit. It isn’t.

Here’s what’s actually happening in B.C.’s presale market, why walking away can cost far more than a deposit and what to check before you consider missing your closing date.

Why developers are suing presale buyers

Metro Vancouver developers have filed dozens of lawsuits in recent months against individual presale purchasers in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Named developers include Zenterra Developments, Dawson + Sawyer, Marcon, Mosaic Homes and Westbank, with two dozen separate lawsuits identified across just five projects.

In each case, a buyer signed a presale agreement, paid a deposit, then didn’t close. The developer resold the unit, in most cases at a lower price than the original contract due to today’s weaker market, and is now suing the original buyer for breach of contract, along with the price difference and, in some cases, carrying costs, remarketing costs and strata fees.

Why walking away can cost more than your deposit

A deposit on a presale contract is typically 10% to 20% of the purchase price, paid well before the building is complete. Losing that deposit feels like the downside case. But under a standard presale purchase agreement, failing to close isn’t just a forfeited deposit — it’s a breach of contract, and the developer can pursue the buyer for the resulting financial loss.

In a hypothetical example, a buyer agrees to pay $900,000 for a presale unit and puts down a $100,000 deposit. By the time the building is finished, the unit appraises at $750,000. If the developer resells at that lower price after the buyer fails to close, the buyer could be sued for the $150,000 shortfall on top of losing the deposit, plus any carrying and resale costs the developer claims.

Why some buyers end up underwater at closing

Presale volumes have collapsed since the market peaked. According to data from MLA Canada, Metro Vancouver had 1,426 presold homes released in July 2021, compared with 572 in July 2025 and just 42 this July. That drop reflects the same price pressure showing up in these lawsuits: Units that made sense to buy years ago may no longer appraise for what buyers agreed to pay.

A mortgage lender finances based on the appraised value of a unit at closing, not the price in the original presale contract. If the appraisal comes in below that contract price, the buyer needs to cover the gap in cash or find another form of financing to close at all.

A bridge loan can help when your closing dates on a sale and purchase don’t line up, but it isn’t a fix for an appraisal shortfall — it only bridges timing, and the amount you can borrow is tied to your existing equity, not the presale price you agreed to.

What to do before you consider missing your closing date

Talk to a real estate lawyer as soon as you suspect you won’t be able to close, not after you’ve already missed the date. Ask your lender early whether the unit will appraise for the contracted price, so you aren’t caught off guard close to completion. Find out if your contract allows for an assignment, an extension or another option short of default. And if a developer does file a claim against you, respond to it — don’t ignore it, since a default judgment can leave you on the hook for the full amount claimed.

Forfeiting a deposit isn’t the end of the story if a presale contract falls through — it can be the opening chapter of a lawsuit. Before you assume you can simply walk away from an underwater presale, get legal and financial advice on what you actually owe, not just what you’ve already paid.

The Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based public policy think-tank, estimates that setting up an independent Alberta would cost more than $200 billion up front, with ongoing costs of more than $50 billion a year after that. The report doesn’t argue Albertans’ grievances with Ottawa aren’t real. It argues the economic risks of leaving are bigger than most people realize.

Here’s what the report actually says, what it could mean for an average Albertan’s finances and why the number itself is already being disputed.

What the report says it would cost to leave

In the report, titled Alberta in Confederation, former Treasury Board senior manager Lennie Kaplan estimates that an independent Alberta would need to cover its share of the federal net debt, the debt-servicing costs that come with it, new international trade agreements, and federal transfers currently funding health care, child care and other programs. Altogether, Kaplan puts the setup cost at more than $200 billion, with ongoing annual costs above $50 billion.

“This is not fearmongering,” Canada West Foundation president and CEO Gary Mar said to CBC News. “This is about laying out the cold hard facts and saying, here’s what you need to know before you cast your vote.”

What it could mean for the average Albertan’s debt load

The report also estimates what a separate Alberta’s debt load could mean per person. Alberta’s per capita share of debt currently sits at about $27,000. Under separation, assuming a share of the federal debt could push that to somewhere between $80,000 and $95,000 per Albertan. That’s the kind of debt load governments typically manage through some combination of higher taxes, reduced services or both — the report doesn’t specify which, since Alberta’s actual fiscal choices as an independent country would depend on negotiations that haven’t happened.

Not everyone agrees on the number

The report was released just ahead of a competing document from the Alberta Transition Council, a separatist group, and drew criticism from the group’s spokesperson, Keith Wilson. “Identifying a risk is not the same as demonstrating that it cannot be planned for, negotiated or managed,” Wilson wrote.

Notably, the two sides aren’t as far apart on the headline number as the disagreement might suggest — Mar has also put the setup cost at “$200 billion just at a minimum” in public comments, with per capita debt rising into a similar $80,000-to-$90,000 range. Where the two sides differ is less about the size of the bill than about whether those costs are manageable outside Confederation, and other estimates in circulation, including figures well above $200 billion, show just how unsettled the underlying math still is.

What this means for your finances before the vote

None of these figures are set in stone. They’re estimates of a scenario that hasn’t happened, built on assumptions about negotiations that would only take place if Albertans vote to separate. That uncertainty is itself worth noting if you’re an Albertan making long-horizon financial decisions, such as a mortgage renewal, a business investment or a retirement plan, since the range of credible estimates is wide and the actual terms of any split would be negotiated, not dictated by any single report.

Read past the headline number on any report on this topic, including this one, and check who produced it and what it assumes before deciding what weight to give it. With the referendum weeks away, more estimates, from more directions, are likely to follow.

Over-mortgaged, underwater mortgage, negative-equity: These are terms that most homeowners never want to hear, let alone face. But what surprises most Canadians is that even if this does happen — say, a homeowner owes $950,000 on a home now worth $850,000 — that shortfall is the homeowner’s responsibility. And in most cases, walking away — either by selling or default — doesn’t erase what is owed; It just changes what kind of debt it is and how it’s treated.

Quick take

• Most of Canada has full recourse mortgages — if your home sells for less than you owe, the mortgage lender (or its insurer) can pursue you for the difference
• Alberta and Saskatchewan protect borrowers with conventional, uninsured purchase mortgages from that pursuit; however, insured, refinanced and home equity line of credit debt isn’t covered
• A shortfall becomes unsecured debt, which stays with the borrower until it’s paid or the borrower pursues a consumer proposal or bankruptcy

What ‘full recourse’ actually means

Canada, unlike much of the U.S., runs on full recourse mortgage law in most provinces. That means if your home is sold for less than what you owe, your lender can pursue you personally for the difference. If a lender chooses this action and wins the court action, then this judgment stays with you indefinitely, since this kind of judgment doesn’t have an expiry date.

The indefinite due date is an issue, but the real problem is the way this debt can now be handled. According to J. Douglas Hoyes, a partner at Hoyes, Michalos & Associates, by selling or disposing of the asset, the debt moves from being a secured mortgage loan to an unsecured loan — meaning loan collectors can pursue wage garnishment or, if the mortgage was insured, seizure of a tax refund.

Why Canadians with less than 20% down need to pay attention

This is a particular issue for the 60% of new homeowners who bought a home with a down payment of less than 20% of the purchase price. Because if defaulted and couldn’t pay back the full sum of the loan, then the mortgage default insurer can come after you direct to recover the money.

So, how does this work? In Canada, if you put down less than 20% of the home’s purchase price then mortgage default insurance is mandatory. This insurance doesn’t protect you, it protects the lender — in case you stop paying. (The main providers of mortgage default insurance are the Crown corporation Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Sagen (formerly Genworth Canada), and Canada Guaranty.)

If you default and the bank forecloses or forces a sale of your home, but the home sells for less than what you still owe, then the bank will file a claim with the insurer (CMHC, Sagen, or Canada Guaranty) and get repaid what is contractually owed.

Once the insurer pays the bank’s claim, the insurer now has the right to come after you directly to recover that money. So, the debt doesn’t disappear just because the bank debt was repaid; the debt is effectively transferred to a different creditor (the insurer), who can pursue you for the remaining balance, garnish wages, or take other collection action depending on the province.

2 provinces where walking away can actually work

While most Canadian mortgages are full recourse loans, there are two provinces where walking away from a default mortgage debt can work — but the exception is narrower than it sounds.

In Alberta, a lender cannot get a deficiency judgment against an individual with a conventional (aka: uninsured) mortgage, only against high-ratio insured mortgages or loans under the National Housing Act. However, if a deficiency judgment is issued, it stays enforceable for 10 years and can be renewed by the lender or insurer before it expires.

In Saskatchewan, the Limitation of Civil Rights Act works to limit what the lender can pursue. According to an article authored by Kelly Canham, a partner at Mcdougall Gauley LLP, if a mortgage was used to buy property, the lender’s remedy is limited to the land itself, with no right to sue on the shortfall. But there’s a catch: If a Saskatchewan homeowner refinances that mortgage, pulls equity through a HELOC, or puts less than 20% down, then this protection can disappear.

What really happens if you stop paying

Aside from Alberta and Saskatchewan’s narrow carve-out, missing mortgage payments can set off a fairly predictable sequence of events for virtually all property owners in Canada. First, you’ll get a notice from the lender, then power of sale (the common route in Ontario) or judicial foreclosure. If there’s a shortfall, there’s a pursuit for the difference.

Keep in mind, a mortgage default or power of sale typically stays on a Canadian credit report for several years, making it harder to qualify for any type financing.

Underwater mortgage or struggling to make payments? What to do instead

For anyone underwater and struggling to keep up, the options are simple and straightforward:

1. Talk to the lender. While it might feel intimidating, the first and best call in this situation is to your lender. Almost every lender in Canada has a process for helping homeowners to work out a manageable repayment plan when things get tough. Make this call, first, before any missed payments for the best possible options.
2. Try selling the home directly rather than letting the lender do it. A sale prompted by the homeowner will usually result in a higher sale price.
3. If a shortfall remains, keep in mind that a consumer proposal or personal bankruptcy can write off that debt as unsecured — Ontario licensed insolvency trustees call this one of the most misunderstood parts of Canadian mortgage law (8). A consumer proposal covers up to $250,000 in unsecured debt; larger shortfalls need a Division I proposal or bankruptcy instead (8). But there are serious implications for taking this route, so get informed, first.

It might be tempting to walk away once you’re underwater and facing a power of sale or foreclosure, but before you give up, find out what the law in your province actually says — the rules on deficiency claims and your rights vary significantly from one province to another.

If you’re struggling to keep up with mortgage payments, don’t wait for the situation to escalate. Reach out to your lender or a credit counsellor now — the earlier you ask for help, the more options you have.

British Columbia sits at the forefront of the movement. Data highlights that B.C. maintains the highest proportion of independent school enrollment in the country, with between 13.2% and 13.7% of all K-12 students enrolled in non-public institutions. Roughly one in every seven students in the province now attends an independent school.

The trends in Vancouver and surrounding communities reflect a decades-long nationwide movement rather than a temporary spike.

A national shift toward independent education

Across Canada, independent school enrollment has expanded considerably over the last two decades. According to education enrollment data published by the Fraser Institute, overall enrollment in non-public schools grew by approximately 45% since 2000.

During that same timeframe, public school enrollment across the country experienced a slight decline of about 3.7%.

Nationally, between 7.7% and 8.5% of all Canadian K-12 students are educated outside the public system, with B.C. consistently leading all provinces in adoption rates.

Factors driving B.C. parents to choose alternative options

According to a report by the Vancouver Sun, local parents cite several factors when making the jump to independent education.

Key considerations include smaller class sizes, specialized academic programs, religious or alternative teaching philosophies and perceived stability within non-public systems.

Additionally, B.C.’s provincial funding model for independent schools provides non-public schools with 35% to 50% of the per-student operating grant allocated to local public districts, which helps lower tuition barriers for many families compared to private tuition costs in other provinces.

Classroom conditions and funding strain feed public school attrition

The movement toward independent education comes as public school boards across B.C. battle persistent operating shortfalls and inflationary pressures. Despite increases in provincial per-student operational funding, school districts have faced millions of dollars in budget deficits.

Advocacy groups and parent advisory councils warn that chronic funding gaps are worsening classroom conditions across the province. School boards have been forced to roll back support services, scale down elementary music programs, reduce teaching staff and education assistant positions and pull back specialized help for students with complex learning needs.

The B.C. Teachers’ Federation has repeatedly voiced concern that public grants fail to meet the true cost of inclusive education, pushing districts to trim services or leave high-needs students without adequate support.

Because public funding relies directly on per-student headcount, every departure to an independent school extracts additional funding from local public boards, aggravating the fiscal squeeze and prompting more families to seek alternative options.

While public education remains the standard for the vast majority of Canadian youth, the steadily growing numbers in B.C. and across Canada point to a changing educational landscape where more families actively seek alternatives.

Turns out Bray got caught in a phishing scam dressed up as a routine transaction — an “e-transfer fraud” that can be hard spot, and it’s one of the fastest-growing ways Canadians are getting scammed.

“It doesn’t make a difference what age you are, what your job is, how smart you think you are,” Bray told CTV News. “These scammers — they have a process that they’ve gone through to check all the boxes. And once they feel like they have you, they are going to take advantage, and you will be victimized.”

What is e-transfer fraud?

According to the federal government, e-transfer fraud occurs when a scammer acts as either a sender or recipient in a fraudulent e-transfer transaction. Scammers typically use phishing techniques — sending links that trick users into revealing their personal information on a fake website or form — to initiate these e-transfers.

In Bray’s case, she was prompted to log into her bank from a phishing link, which gave her banking login details to the scammer — and use the banking details to e-transfer funds from Bray’s account.

How do scammers use information about you to trap you?

To entice users to click on these malicious links, scammers use an emotionally exploitative technique known as social engineering. They research potential targets’ backgrounds, such as their search history or social media usage, to learn more about them and how they act. Then they send a message from a company or person the victim likely trusts based on the information collected — this could be from an employer, co-worker, familiar company or another trusted source.

In Bray’s case, the scammer used social engineering to pretend to be a Poshmark client, which was extremely convincing given she had an active listing on the marketplace.

Bray’s experience with e-transfer fraud isn’t unique, either. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s (CAFC) 2024 Annual Report, phishing was one of the fastest-growing frauds it tracked that year, with victimization up 6.8%, and the dollar loss tied to e-transfer payments specifically rose 26.1% year-over-year, with over $36 million paid to scammers. In the last few years, this trend hasn’t reversed: Canadians lost more than $704 million to fraud overall in 2025 — the highest annual total on record — according to CAFC data cited by the federal Competition Bureau.

How you can spot e-transfer scams

E-transfer scams that use sophisticated social engineering can be hard to spot, but there are some common ways to tell if an e-transfer request is malicious. Here are some tips to help you catch the common tactics.

• Double check the URL. While a scammer can make a link in an email look legitimate, as in Bray’s scam, it’s much harder to create a legitimate-looking website address. If you receive an e-transfer request link that looks real, hover over it with your cursor (or press and hold if you’re on a smartphone) to reveal where it leads
• Watch for manipulation tactics. If someone is pressuring you to send an e-transfer with threats, a reward that seems too good to be true, or emotional manipulation, don’t go any further in the conversation — it’s likely a scam
• Look for odd spelling or grammatical errors. Scammers often use email addresses or links that are similar but not identical to legitimate ones (e.g. interac-transfers.ca instead of interac.ca). Inconsistent spelling or an odd web address usually means you’re dealing with a scammer

What to do if you fall victim

Falling prey to an e-transfer scam isn’t something to be ashamed of — fraudsters have developed sophisticated tactics aimed at anyone who banks online. If you do get scammed via e-transfer fraud, follow these steps:

• Contact your financial institutions. Notify the bank the e-transfer was sent from so they can flag your accounts, and report the fraud to both credit bureaus (TransUnion and Equifax) so they can monitor your accounts too
• Change your passwords. Immediately change all passwords for any accounts with login information similar or identical to what the scammer used to defraud you
• Report the fraud. Let your local police service know so they can track the suspicious activity, and report it to the CAFC through its online portal or by phone at 1-888-495-8501
• Keep organized records. Gather everything you can about the fraudulent transaction, including emails, text messages and receipts

Getting your money back after an e-transfer scam can be difficult. Because you willingly gave your personal information to a third party, banks can decide that you didn’t meet your security responsibilities and shouldn’t be reimbursed for the loss. For best results, be sure to act quickly and present your case clearly.

Bottom line

E-transfers move money in seconds, which is exactly why scammers favour them — there’s no undo button once a transfer is accepted. Before you click any payment link, confirm the request through a second channel, like a phone call or text to a number you already have on file, not one in the message itself. A few extra seconds of doubt is a lot cheaper than watching hundreds or thousands leave your account.

For Ontario drivers this is a real shift after years of steady auto insurance premium increases. According to the FSRA the average annual premium for private passenger automobile insurance climbed from $1,927 in June 2024 to $2,164 by October 2025 — a 13.3% increase in just over a year.

While the news of a rate reduction for Ontario drivers is welcome news, it doesn’t mean this approved rate cut automatically shows up on every policy. Whether your premium goes down depends on which insurer holds your policy and when your renewal falls.

Which insurers got a rate cut, and how much?

According to filings in FSRA’s public rate approval database, the following average decreases are approved for this renewal season:

1. Heartland Farm Mutual — 4.62% average cut, effective August 15
2. Aviva General — 1.64% average cut, effective September 1
3. Definity — 1.31% average cut, effective September 1
4. Wawanesa — 0.23% average cut, effective September 1
5. Allstate — 1.64% average cut, effective September 15
6. Pembridge (Allstate) — 1.45% average cut, effective September 15
7. Certas Direct and Certas Home & Auto (Desjardins) — 2% average cut each, effective November 28
8. The Personal Insurance Company — 5.3% average cut, the largest of the group, effective November 28
9. Co-operators — 3.73% average cut, effective September 11

Why are rates coming down now?

Ontario premiums rose steadily for years as inflation and higher claims costs pushed insurers to file for increases. That pressure appears to be easing for some carriers.

The cuts also follow a July 1, 2026 accident benefits reform that made most coverage beyond medical, rehabilitation and attendant care optional by default, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). Some observers have speculated that this move may be giving insurers room to lower projected payouts.

FSRA has not attributed any specific rate filing to the reform, however, and each insurer’s filing is assessed on its own actuarial basis.

Will your auto insurance premium go down?

Even customers of the insurers with approved rate cuts are not guaranteed lower rates.

Your next renewal premium still depends on your vehicle, driving record, location and any changes to your coverage, according to The Canadian Financial.

And some insurers were approved for a rate hike. For instance, S&Y Insurance Company, which has the same parent company as Aviva General and Definity, actually got approval to raise its premiums on September 1 by 1.19%.

How do you check if you’re one of the winners?

FSRA keeps a searchable Auto Rate Approvals database of every approved rate change, by insurer and including the effective date. It’s advisable to look up your own insurer using this list rather than relying on a general list as rate increase or cuts are approved and added to the FSRA database on a rolling basis.

FSRA’s Regulator Rate Ranger tool can also give you a rough cost range for your vehicle and driving profile, useful for judging whether your renewal quote reflects the cut you expected.

Before you renew, take these 4 steps

If your auto insurance policy is up for renewal soon, take these four steps:

1. Search your insurer in FSRA’s Auto Rate Approvals database and note the effective date.
2. Check whether your renewal date falls after your insurer’s effective date.
3. Compare your renewal quote against FSRA’s Regulator Rate Ranger estimate.
4. If your insurer isn’t on the list, ask directly whether a filing is pending.

Statistics Canada’s most recent report found prices for food bought in stores rose 3.1% in July compared with a year earlier, even as overall inflation sat at 3%, making it the 18th straight month that grocery prices climbed faster than the broader Consumer Price Index.

The frustration lines up with what Canadians are expressing online. “Grocery prices are still outstripping general inflation. What are you cutting back on?” a recent post on Reddit’s Canadian personal finance forum asked, drawing replies about switching stores, cutting meat from the weekly list and one shopper who said he’d started doing the math on tomatoes and feta by the gram just to keep a homemade salad affordable.

For many households, adjusting has become a deliberate habit: Comparing prices before every trip, switching to store brands and being pickier about what goes in the cart. A recent survey found 96% of respondents believed their grocery bills had increased over the past year, and 7 in 10 said they’d changed their shopping habits in response.

Canadians aren’t abandoning their regular grocery store, though — they’re spreading their spending across more of them.

Store-hopping, not store-switching

Among Canadians surveyed by Quebec-based rewards platform Milesopedia, 71.1% said they were comparing prices between retailers more often, 39.1% were buying more private-label products, 34% were using coupons or discount apps, and 24.4% had cut back on meat or fresh food. Yet only 9.6% said they’d switched their preferred retailer, suggesting households are keeping one main store while pulling specific purchases toward whichever retailer has the best price that week.

RedFlagDeals, the Canadian deal-hunting site, tracks the same shift under a blunter name: cross-shopping. Instead of one weekly trip to a single “home store,” shoppers are splitting their list across discount banners, dollar stores and ethnic supermarkets to grab loss-leader flyer items, then moving on rather than filling the cart with that store’s pricier products.

Why fresh food is driving the squeeze

The categories pushing grocery inflation are concentrated at the edges of the store. Statistics Canada’s July data showed fresh fruit prices up 6.1% year over year, driven largely by berries and melons, while fresh vegetable prices rose 3.9%.

Those are also the categories hardest to substitute with a cheaper private-label version, which helps explain why nearly a quarter of shoppers say they’re cutting back on fresh food purchases altogether rather than simply switching brands.

Is your loyalty program actually saving you money?

Loyalty programs remain deeply embedded in Canadian grocery shopping: 85% of Milesopedia’s respondents said they used a rewards program every trip, and 93.9% said they knew how those programs work. But when asked whether points and perks were offsetting rising prices, only 7.1% said the impact was significant, while nearly half, 49.5%, said rewards offset very little or nothing at all.

Retailers have leaned harder on app-exclusive bonus point events through programs like PC Optimum, Scene+ and Triangle Rewards, dangling a few dollars back to pull cross-shoppers into their store. Points can be worth collecting, but they’re not a substitute for comparing prices directly.

Private label is picking up the slack

Speaking on shifting industry trends in an interview with Retail Insider, grocery veteran Michael Commisso, who has held senior roles at Loblaw, Sobeys, and Longo’s, put it simply: “Private label is huge.”

Store brands have moved well past their reputation as a bare-bones substitute for national brands. Roughly twice as many Canadians buy store-brand products as five years ago, and about 40% of shoppers who tried private label say they don’t plan to go back, according to EY Canada. House brands such as President’s Choice, No Name, Selection and Compliments typically run 20% to 30% cheaper than name-brand equivalents.

How to make store-hopping actually pay off

For Canadians looking to stretch their dollars further, taking a deliberate approach at the checkout is essential.

Use a price-comparison app like Flipp to see which store has the deepest discount on weekly staples such as ground beef, coffee or cheese. Then look for a price-matching banner, such as FreshCo, No Frills or Giant Tiger, to claim a competitor’s flyer price without visiting every store. Finally, layer on personalized app coupons or points multipliers before you pay.

Treat loyalty points as a bonus, not a budgeting strategy. If you’re relying on rewards to offset rising prices, the survey data suggests you’re likely overestimating how much they help.

Grocery inflation may eventually cool the way headline CPI has, but for now, comparing prices, trying a store brand or skipping the impulse buy does more for a Canadian household’s bottom line than any single loyalty card. Cutting back doesn’t have to mean eating worse. For a lot of Canadians, it just means shopping smarter, one price comparison at a time.

“My 10-year term life insurance policy for me (56M) and my wife (54F) expires on Oct 3, 2026,” the anonymous poster shared on Reddit. “Premiums will jump from $55 a month to $450 without any medical tests. But since I have metastatic colon cancer diagnosis with a nine month to three-year life expectancy I can’t get any coverage except from work.”

The poster explained that due to undergoing chemotherapy, he is currently receiving reduced income on long-term disability, making the higher premiums “a lot to take on.” His current joint policy provides a payout of $200,000 for himself and $500,000 for his wife upon death. With two children currently attending university, the impending rate hike presents a severe financial strain during an already challenging time.

Evaluating the return on investment

Commenters on Reddit overwhelmingly encouraged the policyholder to maintain his coverage despite the budget strain, pointing to the simple mathematical reality of the situation.

One user calculated that paying $450 a month over a maximum three-year expectancy equals $16,200 in total out-of-pocket costs. “450 x 12 x 3 = 16,200 which is a lot less than 200K so you should probably just try to pay it,” the user wrote.

Others advised taking out a line of credit or restructuring cash flow to cover the short-term expense, treating the higher monthly fee as a high-return investment for his family’s protection.

Practical financial and legal options available

Beyond simply absorbing the price hike, policyholders facing a similar dilemma have several concrete avenues to explore with their insurer or financial advisor:

• Policy conversion privileges: Most term policies allow the owner to convert all or a portion of the term coverage into a permanent policy, such as whole life or universal life, prior to expiry. This conversion happens without medical underwriting or health questions, preserving coverage for life regardless of diagnosis.
• Accelerated death benefit or terminal illness rider: Many life insurance contracts contain standard provisions allowing terminally ill policyholders to receive an advance payout of 50 to 80% of the death benefit while still living. This lump sum can cover living expenses or fund the higher future premiums.
• Waiver of premium via disability riders: Since the policyholder is currently on long-term disability due to chemotherapy, he should check whether his policy contains a waiver of premium rider. If included, the insurer covers the monthly premiums while the policyholder remains disabled.
• Policy restructuring or coverage reduction: Insurance providers often allow policyholders to decrease the overall face value, such as dropping the payout from $200,000 to $100,000, which proportionally lowers the monthly premium while retaining critical protection.
• Splitting joint policies: If allowed under the contract terms, the healthy spouse can be removed or transitioned onto her own medically underwritten term policy at a far lower rate, isolating the guaranteed renewal option strictly to the spouse needing coverage.
• Group life benefits review: Employees on long-term disability often retain access to employer-sponsored group life insurance. Reviewing workplace benefits may reveal additional portable coverage or continuing death benefits paid out through the group plan.

Making the final decision under pressure

For the 56-year-old father, navigating a steep premium hike on a reduced disability income is an agonizing hurdle during an already difficult time. However, as the responses on Reddit illustrate, an expiring term policy after a terminal diagnosis is far from a lost cause. By weighing the guaranteed $200,000 payout against short-term financing or tapping into policy riders and conversion options, families can turn a sudden financial burden into lasting security for the surviving spouse and university-aged children.

The founder of Toronto-based EMJ Capital has built his career seeking out “100-baggers” — equities with the potential to skyrocket 100 times in value relative to his initial purchase price.

According to a report by Jon Erlichman published on BNN Bloomberg’s Ticker Take, Jackson sets a minimum threshold of a 50-fold return over a five-year horizon for any new stock position, with his ultimate sight fixed on a 100-fold gain.

Jackson explained that the thrill of finding massive multi-baggers drives his investment process, attracting retail investors who are seeking life-changing wealth creation rather than modest incremental gains.

High concentration and heavy drawdowns

To execute his strategy, Jackson maintains a highly concentrated portfolio — holding only 10 to 12 equities rather than spreading capital thinly across broad indexes.

“I’d rather have some diversification through those names,” Jackson told BNN Bloomberg, “rather than only plowing my money into one Carvana and having the rest of the portfolio in a bunch of indexes.”

But to achieve his outsized returns, Jackson admits that the portfolio has to endure severe volatility. Highlighting online auto retailer Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) as an example, Jackson pointed out that the stock suffered five or six drops ranging between 30% and 40%, along with a single plunge of 62%.

“You feel really stupid,” Jackson remarked regarding watching unrealized wealth evaporate during pullbacks, adding that significant drawdowns are simply the necessary price of entry for outsized long-term upside.

The screening mechanism and pattern recognition

Jackson uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to scan the broader market for potential investment targets, likening AI screening to a watering hole where key investment ideas naturally gather. However, he emphasizes that algorithmic filters only serve as an initial starting point, with final decisions hinging entirely on human judgment and corporate pattern recognition.

Instead of searching for conventional value metrics, Jackson looks for companies the market has fundamentally mischaracterized. His framework focuses on identifying specific operational triggers before mainstream Wall Street analysts react, such as:

• Executive leadership turnarounds: Jackson targets underperforming companies undergoing major management changes, such as real estate platform Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: OPEN) hiring former Shopify Inc. executive Kaz Nejatian to overhaul operations, or social network Nextdoor Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NXDR) bringing back founder Nirav Tolia.

• Corporate insider buying: Tracking executive behaviour provides critical timing cues, such as watching Carvana leadership aggressively purchase company shares a full year before the online auto retailer began its major market rebound.

• Underappreciated infrastructure assets: Jackson seeks out companies whose physical or technological assets are mispriced by the market. This includes digital asset miners like IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ: IREN), Cipher Mining Inc. (STU: 3A9.SG) and Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ: NMS) that possess land and power infrastructure suitable for high-demand AI data centres, as well as post-quantum cybersecurity developers like BTQ Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: BTQ)

• Catalysts in unloved or polarizing sectors: He actively hunts in out-of-favour corners of the market, targeting heavily discounted turnaround stories like fitness firm Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON), mortgage lender Better Home & Finance Holding Co. (NASDAQ: BETR), or fintech lender Dave Inc. (NASDAQ: DAVE)

Navigating the high-stakes trade-off

Ultimately, Jackson’s strategy highlights the calculated trade-off required when attempting to generate better-than-market investment returns. None of his portfolio entries represent safe, predictable holdings; each relies on taking positions before public sentiment catches up — positions that require taking on risk. While substantial losses on wrong calls is an inevitable part of operating on the market’s fringes, Jackson maintains that for investors willing to endure sharp paper losses, the ability to capture even a single 100x winner can swing the strategy in the investor’s favour — and redefine long-term financial outcomes.

As one of Bay Street’s most-quoted voices, Thorne has been critical of the national preoccupation with interest rates — and points out that we need to be looking at systemic issues, first, to help economic growth.

Need to know

• Strategist Jim Thorne says Canada’s slow project-approval process, not interest rates, is the bigger drag on wealth.
• He publicly expressed his concern after the Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at 2.25% for the seventh straight decision.
• The focus on interest rates occurs south of the border, as well, with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh pushing for lower U.S. rates.
• Lower U.S. rates could ripple into Canadian borrowing costs.
• Thorne’s warning means Canadians shouldn’t count on a near-term interest rate cut.

Why is Thorne critical of the focus on interest rates?

Thorne made these comments the same morning as the September Bank of Canada (BoC) interest rate announcement — when the BoC held its benchmark rate at 2.25% for a seventh straight decision — a decision that economists had almost unanimously expected.

Thorne addressed the current lack of interest rate relief, clearly stating that Canadians shouldn’t expect the wait to end any time soon. He expects the same wait-and-see message from BoC Governor Tiff Macklem at the Bank’s next rate announcement on October 28.

“I think the governor is going to be on hold and … in a wait and see mode,” he said, adding Macklem will want to “evaluate the data” tied to the trade war with the U.S. before moving again.

And Thorne doesn’t agree with this wait-and-see approach. Instead, Thorne argues that Canada needs to lower interest rates in order to offset an economy that is less diversified than the U.S. — but he doesn’t expect that relief soon.

For most analysts, including Thorne, rate relief is not expected to come until well into 2027.

The ‘off track’ diagnosis: Red tape, not resources

For Thorne, the biggest issue isn’t rate relief but structural delays. According to Thorne, the bigger problem facing Canada is how slowly Ottawa lets the country’s real advantage, its natural resources, actually pay off.

He points to Canada’s parliamentary system as creating “inertia in Ottawa that slows down the approval process,” layering on “too much regulation” just as global capital looks for a home.

Thorne’s observations appear to be backed up with Ottawa’s own response to the current tumultuous nature of trade relations with the U.S. In 2025, the federal government launched the Major Projects Office, which is meant to compress approval timelines for the mines, ports and energy corridors that once took a decade or longer to clear.

While Thorne says this is a step in the right direction, he is skeptical that the new Office (and focus) will alleviate the sluggish pace of approvals.

“Mines just don’t come overnight,” he said. “Pipelines aren’t built overnight. And we’re still in the planning and presentation phase.”

For Canadians, Thorne’s observations aren’t abstract concerns. Slower project approvals mean slower job creation in resource regions, less business investment showing up in economic growth, and — in Thorne’s view — a Bank of Canada with less room to cut rates because growth still leans too heavily on public-sector spending rather than private investment.

Thorne is still bullish, but with a cautionary tale

In general, though, Thorne remains bullish on Canada’s economic growth. He points to AI-driven data-centre spending and a structural shift in energy markets — including a reported multibillion-dollar Chevron deal in Venezuela — as evidence of real profit, not just hype, showing up.

But this positive momentum comes with a few red flags. Thorne points out that debt tied to AI investment is increasingly being securitized — a situation that is similar to the 2008-2009 U.S. housing market correction. He points out that securitization was the mechanism that turned a housing correction into a systemic crisis, and that mechanism is now fuelling AI financing. As a result, the debt that is helping finance AI is now spreading it to a broader pool of investors, just like mortgage debt — and all the risks involved with this type of debt — were spread across investors in the years before 2008.

This isn’t a reason to abandon debt financing or AI investments, but, as Thorne points out, it’s a reminder for analysts and investors to keep track of how much of this AI financing debt is being distributed this way.

Canada still can’t ignore U.S. influence

South of the border, new U.S. Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh, confirmed in May, has pushed for a “regime change” toward lower rates and a smaller Fed balance sheet. Since taking over as Fed chair, Warsh has signalled he wants two things:

1. To bring U.S. interest rates down
2. To shrink the Fed’s balance sheet

By shrinking the balance sheet, the Feds would hold fewer of the bonds and securities it built up over years of stimulus programs and, together with lower rates, Warsh is signalling a deliberate philosophical departure from how the Fed has operated in recent years.

This matters to Canadians because the two countries are economically intertwined: Capital flows, exchange rates, and bond yields move in relation to each other across the border. So, if the Fed cuts U.S. rates and shrinks its balance sheet, that can pull global interest rates and bond yields down (or push them around) in ways that affect Canadian mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, and the loonie — and it’s all independent of anything the Bank of Canada decides on its own.

This is why Thorne is reminding Canadians that we shouldn’t only watch Tiff Macklem and the Bank of Canada’s rate decisions. What Washington does under Warsh could end up moving Canadian borrowing costs just as much, because Canada’s monetary conditions don’t exist in isolation from U.S. policy.

What this means for your money

Thorne’s comments shouldn’t be a prompt for investors to do a complete portfolio overhaul — and it doesn’t mean homeowners should pause and wait for lower rates. Thorne’s concerns and optimism make it clear: patience will be a virtue for every investor and homeowner. It also means that Canadians shouldn’t assume a Bank of Canada rate cut is imminent when budgeting for a mortgage renewal. As well, we shouldn’t read short-term oil-price swings or a single rate hold as the final word on Canada’s longer-term resource and energy story.

Right now, knowledge is power. Investors should watch the next BoC rate decision on October 28 for the next real signal — and treat Ottawa’s project-approval timelines, more than this week’s headlines, as the thing that will actually move the needle on Canadian wealth.

Now a much smaller rival is forcing a rethink. GE Aerospace recently agreed to pay US$11.75 billion for Consolidated Precision Products, or CPP — a company roughly one-sixth the size of Precision Castparts. Apply a similar price tag to Berkshire’s business, and Barron’s estimates Precision Castparts could be worth close to US$100 billion today, nearly three times what Buffett paid for it.

For Canadians who hold Berkshire Hathaway shares, own a globally diversified fund or ETF that includes them or are simply building a long-term portfolio, the reversal is a useful case study. It’s a reminder that a ‘mistake’ can look very different once new information arrives — and that patience, not panic, tends to be the better long-term strategy.

What did GE’s deal reveal about Precision Castparts?

CPP makes complex metal castings used in jet engines and industrial gas turbines — parts so difficult to produce that Reuters described the process as a manufacturing “black art.” GE chief executive Larry Culp called the capability “mission-critical,” and CPP already supplies almost a quarter of GE’s castings.

GE’s purchase price values CPP at close to 26 times its estimated 2027 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) on a standalone basis — or about 18 times once GE’s expected cost synergies from bringing the supplier in-house are factored in, according to the company’s own deal disclosures. Precision Castparts is roughly six times larger than CPP by revenue and is on track for about US$12 billion in sales in 2026. Applying the higher, standalone multiple to a business of that size is where the US$100-billion estimate comes from — a choice worth noting, since it uses the more generous end of GE’s own valuation range.

Why is Buffett’s ‘mistake’ suddenly performing?

Precision Castparts’ underlying numbers have been improving. Berkshire’s second-quarter results showed the unit’s revenue rose 14% while pretax profit jumped 34%, and Barron’s estimates it could generate roughly US$3.3 billion in pretax income this year and US$3.8 billion in 2027.

Two forces are driving that growth. Commercial aerospace demand is recovering after years of supply-chain disruption, and airfoil castings used in industrial gas turbines are in higher demand as utilities and technology companies race to secure power for artificial-intelligence (AI) data centres. That makes Precision Castparts an indirect way for Berkshire — and, by extension, its shareholders — to gain exposure to the AI infrastructure boom without buying a chipmaker directly.

Is the US$100-billion figure realistic?

Not necessarily at face value. GE’s price reflects what a strategic buyer was willing to pay to secure a scarce supplier, not necessarily what an outside investor would pay for Precision Castparts as a stand-alone company. Berkshire also isn’t selling, so the figure is a comparison, not a transaction. Still, even a company like Berkshire Hathaway that’s valued at more than US$1.08 trillion (per Barron’s) could be underestimating what a US$100-billion internal asset is worth to the group as a whole — a caution investors should keep in mind before treating the number as fact.

What’s the takeaway for Canadian investors?

A few lessons apply directly to Canadians building their own portfolios:

• A written-down investment isn’t automatically a permanent loss. Before deciding a position has failed, check whether the underlying business has changed, not just whether the share price or purchase price took a hit
• Canadians who hold Berkshire Hathaway shares or a global equity fund in a TFSA or RRSP already have some exposure to bets like this one, without needing to chase single-stock speculation to access aerospace-recovery or AI-infrastructure trends
• Berkshire pays no dividend, so the usual RRSP-versus-TFSA question about U.S. dividend withholding tax doesn’t apply here — a good reminder to check that detail before assuming it’s the same for every U.S. stock
• Concentration risk cuts both ways. The same US$37-billion bet that briefly looked like Buffett’s worst deal now looks like it could be one of his best — proof that a single large position can swing dramatically in either direction

The bigger picture

Buffett has never hidden that he overpaid for Precision Castparts. What he never said was that the business itself was bad. A decade later, that distinction may be worth an extra US$60 billion or more.

For Canadian investors, the lesson isn’t to chase Berkshire Hathaway or bet on any single company’s turnaround. It’s to separate the price paid from the quality of what’s owned — and to give a well-run business enough time to prove what was the actual mistake.

Pleterski, of Whitby, Ontario, and an associate, Colin Murphy, were charged in May 2024 following a joint investigation by the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the independent Crown corporation that regulates the province’s capital markets. Pleterski faces one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of laundering the proceeds of crime, according to the OSC. A judge has scheduled his four-week jury trial to begin October 5, 2026, according to CBC News. Pleterski has denied the allegations.

For Canadians who invest — or who’ve been pitched an investment by someone flashing a moneyed lifestyle online — the real story isn’t the mansion, the sports cars or the kidnapping that later made headlines. It’s how easily an unregistered individual was able to collect tens of millions of dollars, largely by promising something no legitimate investment can promise: Secured profits with no risk of loss.

Why the pitch worked

Durham police alleged Pleterski solicited funds from investors while guaranteeing there would be no loss of their original investment, according to the OSC. That single promise is one of the clearest warning signs of investment fraud. Markets, including crypto, fluctuate. Any advisor or platform claiming otherwise is either misrepresenting the risk or isn’t investing your money the way it says it is.

Crypto adds a second layer of difficulty: It’s harder for the average investor to verify. There’s no monthly bank statement and no easy way to confirm whether trades are actually happening. That opacity is part of why the alleged scheme continued as long as it did, according to CBC News.

The one check most people skip

Before giving anyone money to invest — in crypto or anything else — the OSC recommends confirming this important piece of information. Ontario law requires anyone selling investments or giving investment advice to register with a securities regulator. You can look up this information for free through the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search or through the OSC’s own Check Before You Invest page.

This isn’t a formality. Registered advisors have met proficiency requirements, follow know-your-client rules and can be held accountable by a regulator. If a name doesn’t show up in the database, that’s a reason to stop before you send a cent.

What to watch for beyond registration

A registration check is the first step, not the only one. Other signs worth taking seriously:

• Promises of guaranteed returns or “no downside”
• Pressure to invest quickly, often through social media or a personal connection
• Difficulty withdrawing funds, or vague explanations for delays
• Lifestyle marketing — luxury cars, trips, a mansion — used as proof of investing skill instead of audited results

Consider this hypothetical example: Let’s say a friend tells you they’re earning 15% a month trading crypto and offers to get you in. Even if the friend genuinely believes it, a 15% monthly return, compounded, would outperform nearly every professional fund manager in the world. That gap between the claim and what’s realistic is often the clearest signal something is wrong.

What to do next

If you’re already invested with someone whose registration you haven’t checked, confirm it this week — not after a red flag appears. If you can’t verify registration, or a firm is registered but the products it’s describing don’t match its registration category, the OSC’s Contact Centre (1-877-785-1555) takes tips and complaints. Anyone who believes they were solicited by Pleterski or Murphy specifically has been asked by the OSC to come forward.

The Crypto King’s trial will decide his legal guilt or innocence. But for Canadian investors, the more useful takeaway arrives well before any verdict: The fastest way to avoid becoming part of the next fraud case is the one step that takes less time than reading this article — checking registration before you invest, not after.

A parent who has never missed a hydro bill in 50 years suddenly has a stack of unopened envelopes on the counter. Or the opposite happens: the same bill gets paid twice. Families tend to explain these moments away as a rough week, or just consequences of aging.

However, Christopher Liew, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder who writes for Blueprint Financial, told CTV News that money habits are often the earliest warning sign of cognitive decline — and the stakes keep rising.

Here are five money mistakes worth watching for in an aging parent, and what Canadians can do before a slipping memory turns into a financial crisis.

What actually counts as a warning sign?

The clearest tell is a break from someone’s own baseline. A Johns Hopkins-led study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people later diagnosed with dementia were more likely to have missed bill payments up to six years before diagnosis, and to develop subprime credit scores up to two and a half years earlier — well before memory symptoms were obvious.

A parent who has run the household books with precision for decades and then racks up a late fee or mails a payment to the wrong company, has changed — and change is what families should be watching for, Liew says.

The fix does not need to be complicated. Move recurring bills to automatic payment while a parent is still capable of setting up the arrangement themselves, so the system is already running if things get harder later.

Why is sudden generosity a red flag?

Loss of judgment does not always look like confusion — sometimes it looks like generosity. Large cash withdrawals with no clear purpose, a run of gift-card purchases or money flowing to someone the family has never met are common patterns, according to Liew. Declining judgment can leave older Canadians more vulnerable to romance scams, fake investment pitches and gift-card requests, which are notoriously hard to trace or recover.

In fact, investment and romance scams are two of the most common — and costliest — scams across the country. Of the $704 million that was lost to reported fraud in 2025, $351 million was via investment hoaxes and $63.3 million from relationship scams.

What does confusion with accounts look like?

Forgetting which bank holds a registered retirement income fund (RRIF), phoning the same branch three times with the same question or handing a debit card and PIN to a neighbour “to save a trip” indicates something more serious than an off day, Liew notes. These slips can expose a parent to both honest mistakes and deliberate exploitation.

Why can a joint account make things worse?

Many families add an adult child to a parent’s bank account, assuming it will make bill-paying easier if something goes wrong. But according to a guide from the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors Forum, anyone named on a joint account can withdraw money at any time without the other holder’s permission, and those funds may never be recovered.

If a parent’s decline is later confirmed, disputes can arise among siblings, since a remaining holder may need to prove withdrawn money was a gift, not part of the estate.

What should Canadians do now?

Capacity to sign a power of attorney is a legal question, and the definition of mental capacity varies by province. Without a valid, up-to-date document in place, a family may need to apply to court for the legal authority to manage someone’s finances, which can be time-consuming and expensive, according to the same seniors’ resource. A power of attorney lets a trusted person step in without going to court, though the exact rules vary by province.

The practical move: get documents signed while capacity isn’t in question, keep a copy accessible and revisit banking arrangements before a crisis, not after. For families noticing these signs, a conversation with a financial institution, lawyer or family doctor can help determine what safeguards fit.

None of these signs, on its own, mean a parent has dementia. But repeated changes from someone’s own financial baseline are worth a closer look, and the earlier a family acts — with automatic payments, a documented power of attorney and open conversations about accounts — the more choices everyone has. Waiting for a diagnosis to make these decisions usually means making them under worse conditions, with less money and time to course correct.

As reported by CTV News, the surprise bill highlights a common gap in vehicle transfers: Marking a car as “sold” does not automatically remove your name from provincial vehicle registries. Until the purchaser files official paperwork to register ownership, the previous owner can remain legally tied to the vehicle — even years later.

It’s how a 15-year-old car sale resulted in a $1,130 charge; it’s also a reminder of the simple but important steps you need to take to protect yourself when selling a vehicle privately.

How an SUV sale in 2011 resulted in a service bill in 2026

Iamundo had no contact regarding the vehicle for over a decade following the sale. Earlier this summer, Classic Towing and Storage in Etobicoke issued him an invoice for $1,130 in towing and impound fees after the CRV was towed. Despite the sale having occurred years prior, Iamundo remained listed as the vehicle’s last registered owner on government records.

Representatives from the towing company noted that buyers frequently fail to complete registration transfers. Under standard procedures, tow operators issue bills to the registered owner on record rather than the purchaser.

Why “sold” does not automatically clear ownership

In Ontario, buyers are legally required to register a used vehicle in their name within six days of purchase. After that period, sellers can visit ServiceOntario to update the vehicle’s status to “sold.”

However, according to the Ministry of Transportation, while updating the status of a vehicle will log a sale, the vehicle remains registered under the seller’s name until the buyer completes the formal transfer process.

Furthermore, under Ontario’s Repair and Storage Liens Act, tow and storage operators are legally permitted to seek payment from the registered owner on file, regardless of who currently possesses or operates the vehicle.

A cross-provincial paperwork gap

Similar incidents occur across other Canadian jurisdictions. Registry systems in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan operate under comparable frameworks where title transfers rely on the buyer submitting completed application forms. If a buyer fails to finalize the transfer, the seller’s name remains linked to the vehicle’s history.

How to protect yourself when selling your vehicle

• Verify registration before key handoff: Where possible, accompany the buyer to a provincial registry office (such as ServiceOntario) to finalize the transfer together before handing over the keys.
• Execute a complete bill of sale: Ensure both parties sign a detailed bill of sale containing the buyer’s full legal name, address, date, sale price, vehicle identification number (VIN) and exact odometer reading.
• Notify the registry immediately: Visit your local provincial registry office promptly after the sale to report the vehicle as sold.
• Retain records indefinitely: Keep signed copies of the bill of sale, transfer documents and plate cancellation receipts to serve as proof of sale if future municipal fines or impound notices arise.
• Address surprise notices in writing: If you receive a bill for a previously sold vehicle, respond immediately in writing with a copy of your signed bill of sale and request confirmation of the current registered ownership status.

Iamundo ultimately paid the storage fees to resolve the claim, noting the need for stronger consumer protections surrounding legacy vehicle records. Taking proactive steps during a private sale ensures your paperwork is complete — protecting you from unexpected bills down the road.

Both problems trace back to the same source: Internet ads that technically aren’t false, but don’t tell the whole story.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is trying to fix that. Starting in March 2027, internet providers will have to advertise the speeds Canadians can typically expect during the busiest hours of the day, not just a theoretical maximum. They’ll also have to spell out what the bill will look like once a promotional discount runs out.

For anyone shopping for, or renegotiating, an internet plan, here’s what’s changing, why it matters for your budget and what to check in the meantime.

What exactly is changing?

Under the new rules, providers must show typical speeds measured between 7 pm and 11 pm on weekdays, the hours when networks are busiest and speeds are most likely to slow down. That replaces the long-standing practice of advertising only “up to” speeds, a ceiling many households never actually hit during peak use.

Providers will also have to state, upfront, the price a customer will pay once an introductory promotion ends. The CRTC wants this information delivered through a standardized label, an idea it has compared to nutrition labels on food packaging — a consistent format that lets shoppers compare products at a glance.

Some providers pushed back during consultations, arguing the label would be costly to produce and redundant with information already available. Consumer advocates argued the opposite: That it would cut through marketing language and make comparison shopping easier.

Why the “up to” number never told the full story

For years, “up to” speeds have functioned more like a marketing ceiling than a real-world promise. A plan billed as “up to 300 Mbps” might genuinely hit that number under ideal conditions, but slow considerably once dinner-hour demand — video calls, gaming, several devices streaming at once — kicks in. Because the old ads didn’t have to reflect that reality, households had almost no way to know, before signing up, whether a plan could actually handle a full evening of use.

Part of a bigger consumer-protection push

This isn’t an isolated change. It follows the CRTC’s ban on activation, cancellation and plan-modification fees, which took effect in June 2026, along with new rules giving customers self-serve tools to adjust their plans and requiring providers to flag when a discount is about to expire. Taken together, the regulator’s message is consistent: Canadians should be able to see the true cost and performance of a service before, and after, they sign a contract.

What this means for your wallet right now

The new label doesn’t take effect until March 2027, so for now, the burden of comparison shopping still falls on the consumer. A few habits can close that gap immediately:

• Ask directly what the post-promotion price will be, in writing, before signing up
• Ask for typical evening speeds, not just the advertised maximum, especially if several people in the household use the internet at once
• Set a personal reminder a month before any known promotional period ends, since providers aren’t yet required to warn you in every case
• Compare the total 12- or 24-month cost across providers, not just the splashy first-month price

What to do before you switch or renew

If a plan is coming up for renewal, this is a good moment to call the provider and ask two questions: What will I pay once any current discount ends, and what speed can I expect between 7 pm and 11 pm on weeknights? Providers aren’t obligated to answer in a standardized format yet, but asking now can prevent a surprise later, and it puts pressure on providers to get ahead of the March 2027 deadline.

The CRTC’s new rules won’t make internet plans cheaper on their own, but they should make the numbers real. Until the rules kick in, treat every “up to” speed and promotional price the way you’d treat a teaser rate on a credit card — useful as a guide, but not the number to budget around. Ask for specifics, get them in writing and revisit your plan every time a promotion is set to expire.

It’s the final step in a handoff Buffett has been managing for years. He already gave up the CEO title at the end of 2025, passing day-to-day control to long-time deputy Greg Abel.

For Canadians who don’t own a single share of Berkshire, this might look like a story about one very rich American — it isn’t. Buffett just modelled, in public and on his own timeline, something some Canadian business owners and families never get around to doing: a planned, orderly exit.

What did Buffett actually say?

In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he’s stepping back partly because Abel has exceeded his expectations running the company. “He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead,” the Oracle of Omaha noted.

Geriatric matters also influenced Buffett’s decision, noting in the same letter that his great-grandson, who just turned one, is “moving faster than I am these days.”

What this ultimately showcases is a business owner who planned his exit years in advance, named a successor publicly and left before he was forced to. Most people don’t get that runway, and some may not even use it even when they have it.

Why does this matter if you don’t own Berkshire stock?

Buffett’s calculated retreat from his professional obligations exposes a glaring gap with how most Canadians handle their own businesses, cottages or family wealth — and it’s an expensive one.

A survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) found that roughly 72% of small and mid-size business owners plan to exit their business within the next decade, with more than $1.5 trillion in assets expected to change hands. Yet only about 9% of business owners have a formal, written succession plan, while roughly half have no plan at all.

That gap doesn’t just risk a messy handoff. CFIB research analyst Laure-Anna Bomal said in a statement that a missing succession plan can mean lost jobs, forced bankruptcies or a scramble to sell at a discount when an owner exits suddenly through illness, disability or death instead of on their own terms.

What’s the real risk in most Canadian succession plans?

The risk isn’t that people don’t have any intention to make a plan — it’s timing. Buffett named Abel as his successor back in 2021 and kept adjusting the transition for years afterward. Most Canadian owners wait until retirement is imminent, or until a health scare forces the issue, to start the conversation.

That timing gap shows up in the numbers, too. According to the CFIB survey, of business owners who do plan ahead, finding a suitable successor is the single biggest hurdle, followed by properly valuing the business. Both of those take time to solve — time that shrinks fast if the plan only starts once an owner is ready to walk out the door.

The same logic applies outside a business: a cottage without a clear inheritance plan, an investment portfolio with no named executor familiar with the holdings or a family unsure who takes over financial decisions if a parent becomes incapacitated.

What should Canadians do now?

Buffett’s exit is a useful nudge to act while there’s no crisis forcing the decision.

• Name a successor or decision-maker in writing, even informally, well before you plan to step back
• Get a professional valuation of the business, property or portfolio so heirs or buyers aren’t guessing what it’s worth
• Work with an accountant or estate lawyer — CFIB data shows most owners who plan successfully use one or both — rather than handling a transfer alone
• Revisit the plan every few years, the way Buffett adjusted his own timeline as circumstances changed

The takeaway

Buffett’s decades of build-up made this handoff look effortless. It wasn’t. It was the result of a plan made years before it was needed, revisited often and executed while he still had the choice. For Canadians managing a business, property or estate, that’s the part worth copying.

The government’s goal is to shrink that shortfall to about 5% of the workforce by next March, as the search for additional office space continues.

For workers whose building can’t fit them in yet, that gap is, for now, a bit of breathing room. But it likely won’t last — and when it ends, so does any savings from not having to endure the extra commute. Here’s what changed, who’s affected and what that fourth office day could actually cost.

Why some federal workers still can’t get a desk

Federal employees have generally been expected to work in office a minimum of four days a week since July 6, 2026, with executives on-site five days a week since May.

“Given the size and complexity of the federal real estate portfolio, space requirements will continue to evolve,” Mohammad Kamal, director of communications for the Treasury Board president, told Radio-Canada.

The shortfall isn’t evenly spread. Statistics Canada, Global Affairs Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Immigration and Refugee Board are still on a three-day-a-week schedule. Statistics Canada expects to have enough space for its National Capital Region staff to hit four days by mid-November, with no date yet set for its Montreal, Sherbrooke, Toronto and Vancouver offices. IRCC is targeting mid-October for its National Capital Region staff. PSPC, meanwhile, is aiming to have 90% of its own employees in office four days a week by January 2027.

What the extra office day could actually cost you

For transit users, the math depends on how you pay. An OC Transpo adult monthly pass costs $138.50 and covers unlimited rides, so a public servant who already holds one won’t pay extra for a fourth day in office. But for anyone paying per ride, adding a fourth commute day adds up — and OC Transpo has said it expects ridership pressure to grow as more federal employees return, while at the same time parking near government buildings gets harder to find.

For example, a driver without a monthly parking pass could face daily downtown Ottawa parking rates that push well into the hundreds of dollars a month if booked by the day rather than the month, with some monthly listings starting near $110 and climbing well past $300 depending on location and demand. Comparing the real per-day cost against a monthly pass, before being formally called in four days a week, is the difference between planning for the change and being surprised by it.

Who’s affected — and who isn’t, yet

The shortfall mostly affects unionized public servants in the National Capital Region, where the bulk of federal office space is situated. Employees in regional offices outside Ottawa-Gatineau, such as Statistics Canada’s Toronto and Vancouver locations, may be waiting even longer, since no timeline has been set for those buildings. Executives, meanwhile, have already been working on-site five days a week since May, so the desk shortage isn’t a factor for them.

That unevenness means two employees in the same department, in different cities, could be budgeting for very different commute costs this fall.

For years, it seemed obvious: Buying builds wealth, renting doesn’t. A detailed new analysis from PWL Capital, a Canadian wealth management firm, complicates that story.

Comparing 12 major cities from 2005 to 2024, portfolio manager Benjamin Felix and co-author Hamza Bin Arig measured what a homeowner’s equity actually grew to against what a renter’s portfolio would look like if they invested the difference between their rent and the cost of owning.

The results don’t crown renting the automatic winner. But they do puncture the myth that owning always wins — and they show exactly what has to go right for renting to pay off.

Why fewer Canadians are buying in the first place

Affordability is the biggest driver. Between 2016 and 2021, the average value of an owner-occupied Canadian home jumped 39.6%, more than double the 18% rise in median household income over the same period. That gap has pushed a growing share of new construction into the rental pool — 40.4% of homes built between 2016 and 2021 are now occupied by tenants rather than owners.

The shift shows up on the ground, too. Jennifer Boyd, vice-president of operations at Ottawa-based landlord InterRent, told Renx that long-term renting has become the default housing choice for a growing share of Canadians, driven by affordability pressure and a housing supply that hasn’t kept pace with demand. That’s changing what renters expect — from durable finishes to workspaces and pet-friendly amenities built for people who plan to stay years, not months.

So do renters actually come out ahead?

Nationally, PWL Capital found renters and owners finished close to even, with a geometric average renter-to-owner wealth ratio of 0.99 across the 12 cities studied — essentially a tie.

But that national number hides sharp local swings. In Montreal, where rents stayed low relative to home prices for years, disciplined renter-investors ended up with 48% more wealth than owners. Toronto told a similar story: A renter who invested the gap between rent and ownership costs from 2005 to 2024 would have finished with 37% more wealth than a buyer. Vancouver condos flipped the script — owners there came out 29% ahead, thanks to rents that ran as high as 91% of what it cost to carry the equivalent condo.

The catch that makes or breaks the strategy

The renter advantage in PWL’s model depends entirely on one habit: Actually investing the money saved by not owning, every single month. The firm also tested what happens when discipline slips. At 90% savings efficiency, owners pulled ahead in 6 of the 12 cities. Drop to 80% efficiency, and owners won in 8 of 12, with the average ratio tilting to 0.79 in owners’ favour.

That gap between theory and habit shows up in real-world numbers, too. Statistics Canada’s 2023 Survey of Financial Security found families under 35 who owned their principal residence had a median net worth of $457,100 — more than 10 times the $44,000 median for renters of the same age without an employer pension. Most renters, in other words, aren’t running PWL’s model. They’re not investing the difference at all.

Before you pick a side

The real lesson isn’t that renting wins or owning wins. It’s that the wealth game goes to whoever actually saves and invests, not whoever signs a mortgage.

Before deciding, Canadians weighing rent versus buy should:

• Check the price-to-rent ratio in their own city, not the national average
• Automate a transfer into a TFSA or RRSP for the gap between rent and estimated ownership costs
• Revisit the comparison every few years as rates, rents and home prices shift
• Be honest about whether they’ll actually invest the savings or just spend them

For Canadians who know they won’t save consistently, a mortgage still works as forced savings, which may be reason enough to buy despite the math. For those who will actually invest what they save, the data says the ownership dream is optional, not mandatory.

According to local authorities, internal red flags were first raised in April 2024 at a hospitality business in Guelph. Management suspected a staff member was fabricating client invoices and directly pocketing payments meant for corporate and private function bookings.

Though the employee was fired shortly after the discovery, the paper trail didn't end there. By late 2025, a neighboring police agency reached out to Guelph investigators after discovering a parallel pattern: The same individual was allegedly accepting venue deposits for events outside the city that were never actually booked.

For anyone who has put down a deposit on a wedding venue or a holiday party — or who runs a small business that relies on an employee’s word rather than a paper trail — this case is a reminder of how much money can move through invoices and deposits before anyone notices something is wrong.

How did the alleged scheme work?

Guelph police say the 41-year-old man was arrested on August 18 and has been charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000. He’s scheduled to appear in court on November 3.

In the first case, the alleged fraud relied on his access to invoicing for event bookings — he could generate paperwork, demand payment and collect it, all without a second person checking the numbers against what customers actually owed.

In the second, the scheme flipped: Instead of overbilling for real events, he allegedly collected deposits for events that were never going to happen. Both versions work the same way — money changes hands based on a document or a promise, and no one double-checks it until the customer or the business notices something is missing.

Why did it take so long to add up?

What makes this case notable isn’t the amount — it’s the timeline. More than a year passed between the first business catching on and a second police service making contact. That gap is common in invoice and deposit fraud: Each victim only sees their own piece of the picture, and there’s often no shared flag on a name across jurisdictions until an investigator makes the connection.

Cases like this highlight how easily a former employee can remain an active risk — particularly in fluid industries such as hospitality and event planning, where individuals frequently transition to new venues or pivot into freelance work.

What should you check before paying an event deposit?

If you’re booking a wedding, corporate event or holiday party, a few habits reduce your risk:

• Pay by credit card where possible, not e-transfer to a personal account — credit cards offer chargeback protection if a service is never delivered
• Ask for a contract that spells out the total cost, deposit amount and refund policy, sent from the business’s official email domain
• Confirm the booking directly with a manager or a general inquiries line, not only the person who took your deposit
• Watch for pressure to pay quickly, in cash, or outside normal invoicing — the same conditions that made it easier for the alleged scheme in this case to go unnoticed

How can businesses guard against this kind of fraud?

Small and mid-size businesses that handle a lot of cash or deposits — hospitality, events and retail among them — are common targets for this style of internal fraud because one employee often controls both the invoice and the collection. A few controls make it harder:

• Separate the person who issues invoices from the person who reconciles payments against a booking calendar or contract
• Reconcile deposits weekly against confirmed events, not just at month-end
• Route customer payments through a company account or payment processor, never an individual employee’s card or e-transfer

The most expensive part of a scheme like this usually isn’t the theft itself — it’s the year or more it can run before anyone checks the paperwork against reality. Whether you’re paying a deposit or approving one, the fix is the same: build in one independent check before the money moves, not after.

What followed cost her an estimated $800,000 — her savings, cashed-in life insurance policies and gold bars she was convinced to purchase and hand to strangers, according to CBC News. Local police say the scam played out over several months, with the woman repeatedly told her accounts had been compromised and that she was helping the bank catch the people responsible.

It is a scenario that could happen to any Canadian who trusts a familiar-sounding voice on the phone. Here is how the scam worked, why the warning signs were easy to miss and what to do if you ever get a similar call.

What is a bank investigator scam?

The Guelph woman experienced what TD calls the bank investigator scam, where a caller claims to work for a bank’s fraud department and convinces the victim their account has been compromised. Rather than simply issuing a warning, the caller enlists the victim as an unofficial partner in a sting — directing them to move money, withdraw cash or hand over payment cards and PINs so the investigation can supposedly continue.

In this specific case, the fraudster told the woman she would get her money back once the bank’s investigation wrapped up. After months passed with no update, she contacted the police herself. By then she had withdrawn funds and deposited cash into cryptocurrency ATMs, cashed in life insurance policies and met men near her home three separate times to hand over gold bars she had purchased on the scammer’s instructions.

Why does this scam fool careful people too?

The scam works because it borrows real fear — a computer pop-up warning of a hack — and pairs it with a caller who sounds official and references real account details. Add pressure to act quickly and a request for secrecy, and even cautious people can be convinced to carry out one small ask at a time until the subsequent requests become larger, like gold bars or a life insurance payout.

How big is this problem for Canadians?

Fraud investigator scams cost Canadians $28.3 million in 2025, spread across more than 2,100 reports to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC); total fraud losses reported to the CAFC topped $704 million in 2025, the highest amount on record.

The real toll is almost certainly higher. The CAFC estimates only 5% to 10% of fraud in Canada is ever reported, a gap the federal government pointed to this year when it announced plans for a new national anti-fraud strategy. Older Canadians are disproportionately affected, in part because a lifetime of savings gives fraudsters a bigger prize to pursue.

What should you do if you get one of these calls?

Guelph police and the CAFC recommend a few concrete steps if you receive a call, text or computer pop-up like this:

• Hang up and call your bank directly, using the number on your card or statement — never the one given to you on the call
• Never send money, gold, gift cards or cryptocurrency to help with an investigation, since real banks and police do not ask for this
• Take five minutes before acting, since fraudsters rely on urgency — a pause to call a family member can break the pressure
• Ignore caller ID, as phone numbers can be spoofed to look like they are coming from a real bank or police line
• Report it to your financial institution right away and file a report with the CAFC, even if you are unsure whether you were scammed

For the Guelph woman, help came too late to save her savings, but her case is now part of a pattern police and the CAFC are trying to break. The lesson isn’t just to hang up on a suspicious call — it’s to build a habit of independently verifying anything involving your money, no matter how convincing the voice on the other end sounds. If a call urges secrecy, speed or a step your bank has never asked of you before, treat that as the legitimate warning sign, not the pop-up that started it.

The issue isn’t that this coverage is illegal or dishonest — rather, most Canadians are never shown what it costs them compared with the alternative: a personal term life policy that can offer similar or better protection, with the payout going to your family instead of your lender.

A mortgage is usually the biggest debt a Canadian household carries. How you protect it can be worth thousands of dollars in coverage and control down the road.

What is bank mortgage insurance, and why does it feel mandatory?

Mortgage life insurance, often sold as “creditor insurance,” is optional life insurance from your lender that pays off your outstanding mortgage balance if you die. It’s easy to confuse with mortgage default insurance, the coverage required when a down payment is below 20%, but the two protect different people. Default insurance protects the bank if you stop paying. Mortgage life insurance is meant to protect your family, but the payout goes straight to the lender, not to them.

Federally regulated banks must get your express consent before adding this insurance to your mortgage, and they can’t tell you it’s required for approval. If a lender implies otherwise, that’s worth raising with the bank directly.

Why does the payout shrink while the premium stays the same?

This is where bank coverage differs most from a personal policy. The payout is tied to your outstanding loan balance, so as you pay down your mortgage, the amount your family would receive goes down too, even though the premium usually doesn’t. In a hypothetical example, a homeowner who insures a $500,000 mortgage and dies several years later, when $425,000 is still owing, would see their family receive $425,000, not the $500,000 of coverage they had been paying for.

There’s a second catch: bank mortgage insurance is frequently underwritten after a claim is filed, not before, according to Taxevity Insurance. That means the insurer can dig into your health history only once your family tries to collect, and can deny the claim over an old disclosure issue. A personal policy is medically underwritten upfront, so your family knows the coverage is valid long before it’s ever needed.

Is personal term life actually the cheaper option?

Often, yes. Banks have engaged in “hyper-aggressive” selling of creditor insurance, according to Rob Carrick, a personal finance columnist for The Globe and Mail, who has described the coverage as a “junk product” sold without mentioning cheaper options. Separate reporting found that a personal 10-year term policy can run up to 50% cheaper than comparable bank coverage, and up to 70% cheaper for women, since personal insurers price on individual health rather than age bands alone.

Personal term life also travels with you. Bank coverage is tied to a specific mortgage, so refinancing, renewing with a new lender or moving can mean reapplying, and any health change since your last application could raise your cost or get you declined. A personally owned policy stays in force no matter who holds your mortgage.

What should Canadians do before their next renewal or closing?

Before assuming mortgage life insurance is the easy answer, get a quote from an independent insurer to compare with what your lender is offering. Ask what the payout would be today versus five years from now, and whether underwriting happens immediately or after a claim. Canadians who already have creditor insurance and want to switch should apply for a personal policy first, wait for approval, then cancel the bank coverage — never the other way around — so there’s no gap in protection.

For a debt this size, a few minutes of comparison shopping is a reasonable price to pay for making sure the payout goes to the people who need it, not the lender that’s already secured by your home.

However, since the sum was set above $50,000, which is the limit for the Small Claims Court to pursue, the case must be escalated to the Superior Court, which Di Gregorio described as being “a little more cumbersome.”

Her case is a reminder that a restitution order is not the same as a cheque in the mail.

In Canada, a judge can order someone convicted of fraud to repay their victims as part of a criminal sentence — but the justice system doesn’t collect that money on the victim’s behalf. If the offender has failed to make a single payment, the victim is largely on their own to chase it down — which can occur years after the crime, and oftentimes after the offender has few assets left to seize.

For victims of fraud, a court order is only half the battle. While judges frequently order dishonest contractors, movers and other bad actors to repay their victims, actual payout rates remain critically low. Here is how court-ordered restitution works, why so many victims never see their money and how consumers can protect their deposits before hiring a service provider.

A restitution order isn’t a guarantee of payment

Under the Criminal Code, restitution can be ordered for losses that are easy to calculate and document, such as a stolen deposit or damaged property. It becomes part of the offender’s sentence.

But unless restitution is tied to probation or a conditional sentence — where a supervising officer oversees payments — the money is owed directly from the offender to the victim, not through the court. If the offender misses a payment, or simply doesn’t pay outright, the Crown does not step in to collect it.

Why so many restitution orders go uncollected

If an offender defaults, the Criminal Code allows a victim to file the order with a civil court and enforce it the same way as any other civil judgment. In practice, that means pursuing wage garnishment, property liens or asset seizure — the same slow, costly process any Canadian would face collecting an unpaid personal debt.

That only works if the offender has income or assets worth seizing. Many don’t, particularly by the time a fraud case has worked its way through the courts. And it’s the victim, not the government, who covers the legal costs and legwork required to enforce the order.

Contractor deposits are a common blind spot

Home renovation fraud tends to follow a familiar pattern: A homeowner pays a large deposit upfront, the work is delayed or never starts, and the contractor disappears with the money. In one separate Windsor-area case from 2024, police say a contractor defrauded 10 homeowners out of nearly $600,000 by collecting deposits ranging from $20,000 to $115,000 for projects that were never completed. Pools, roofing, decks and major renovations — anything with a significant upfront cost — are especially attractive targets, because the deposit is usually gone long before a homeowner realizes something is wrong.

How to protect a deposit before paying it

• Never pay the full amount upfront — a 10% to 30% deposit is standard, with the rest of the balance tied to completed work
• Get a written contract that spells out a payment schedule, start and completion dates and the materials to be used
• Confirm licensing, insurance and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage before signing anything
• Pay by credit card or e-transfer, not cash, and keep every receipt, invoice and text message
• Ask for local references and check the contractor’s name against small claims and provincial court records

What to do if restitution hasn’t arrived

• File the restitution order with a civil court to convert it into an enforceable judgment
• Contact provincial victim services; some offer help tracking down offenders or navigating enforcement
• Use a civil enforcement office (sheriff or bailiff) to explore garnishment or liens once judgment is registered
• Keep every document from the original criminal case — it will be needed again in civil court

A restitution order is a court’s acknowledgment that money is owed — not proof that it will be paid. For Canadians who’ve lost a deposit to fraud, the more realistic plan is to treat restitution as the first step in a separate, often lengthy civil collection process, and to put the protective habits above in place before signing a contract, not after.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for an “Alliance for the future” aimed at expanding the existing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) into a shared framework for economic and national security.

“We see the world with the same eyes: from AI to climate change, from the Arctic to geopolitics,” von der Leyen told lawmakers. “I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU.”

Structural barriers limit practical impact

Despite the political enthusiasm in Strasbourg, Mark Manger, a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, cautions that structural realities and domestic policy constraints leave virtually no room for further integration beyond existing frameworks.

Manger argues that without both sides making significant regulatory concessions, formalizing an associate status offers no tangible path toward deeper market access. Even prior to Carney’s European tour, Manger notes that key European capitals resisted the notion of special treatment for Ottawa, pointing out that the EU is a global economic power rather than a middle-power bloc seeking new membership tiers.

“In an economically meaningful sense, there is nothing on the table,” Manger said. “I’m not expecting anything here. There will be some agreement and a photo opportunity, but no meaningful economic effect.”

Sector-by-sector breakdown: Potential gains versus trade realities

Energy and natural resources

• The potential: Formalizing ties could theoretically streamline exports of Canadian liquefied natural gas and clean hydrogen to European markets seeking alternatives to Russian fuels.
• The reality: Infrastructure bottlenecks and regulatory hurdles mean high-level political enthusiasm will not translate into practical policy shifts or new export pipelines.

Agriculture and commodities

• The potential: Expanded tariff reductions could open new European market access for Canadian pulse crops, grain and oilseeds.
• The reality: Persistent protectionism limits significant progress. Manger notes that agricultural supply management in Canada is treated as untouchable domestically, while dairy lobbyists represent one of the most powerful interest groups in the EU. Furthermore, CETA remains unratified in 10 EU member states, operating only on a provisional basis. Manger points out that even existing agricultural provisions are stalled, such as a beef quota that Canada cannot fill because domestic producers use growth hormones prohibited in Europe.

Critical minerals and manufacturing

• The potential: Joint ventures could integrate Canada’s vast reserves of lithium, cobalt and nickel directly into European battery supply chains and manufacturing.
• The reality: This sector remains the most likely candidate for formal announcements, though Manger emphasizes its limited scope. “Memorandums of Understanding on critical minerals, everything that is not trade policy or meaningful, will be signed, and that is going to be the extent,” Manger said.

Technology and digital infrastructure

• The potential: Deeper alignment on artificial intelligence, cloud computing standards and cybersecurity could allow Canadian tech firms to integrate into major EU research programs.
• The reality: Structural integration requires regulatory trade-offs that neither side is offering. Manger notes that if Ottawa were serious about deep integration, it would open protected sectors like telecommunications to European competition.

Defence and aerospace

• The potential: The pitch envisions integrating defence industrial bases to build shared military capabilities, joint Arctic surveillance platforms and coordinated procurement.
• The reality: Domestic procurement priorities create direct friction. Canada’s implementation of ‘Buy Canadian’ rules for public procurement directly contradicts the open purchasing principles required for deeper EU trade integration. “We know which agreements do something and which don’t,” Manger said. “The ones that do something are where both sides give up a bit and get something from the other side.”

Labour mobility: Brain drain threat or talent multiplier?

Diplomatic sources report that discussions between Ottawa and Brussels have included exploring visa-free work and residency rights for Canadians, sparking domestic debate regarding potential brain drain to Europe.

However, labour economists and trade immigration analysts emphasize that mobility threats are widely exaggerated. Rather than an unrestricted free-movement zone, any eventual mobility agreement is expected to target specific high-skilled sectors like AI, green technology and academic research through streamlined visa channels. Language barriers and localized professional credential requirements across EU member states also naturally limit mass workforce migration, turning targeted mobility into a talent multiplier for Canadian firms rather than a drain.

Domestic backlash and political headwinds

At home, the initiative has met immediate political resistance. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre denounced the proposal on social media, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that Canadians should be concerned about secret talks and asserting that Canada “will NEVER be the 28th EU state.”

Federal officials have pushed back, confirming that Canada is not seeking EU membership or ceding domestic sovereignty. Carney will address the European Parliament on Thursday, with further details expected at a Canada-EU summit in late October. However, Manger maintains that without major concessions on core trade rules, the proposed associate status will carry no practical economic weight.

Speaking Wednesday at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen addressed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney directly during her annual State of the European Union address, framing the offer as an essential response to growing global volatility and transactional politics.

“We see the world with the same eyes: from AI to climate change, from the Arctic to geopolitics,” von der Leyen said, drawing a standing ovation from lawmakers. “And we know that in today’s world, you do not build lasting stability with those who think power plays get things done, or who treat international politics like a transaction.”

Without naming U.S. President Donald Trump directly, von der Leyen contrastingly praised Canada as a steadfast democratic ally, pitching an upgrade of the bilateral relationship to meet rising geopolitical threats.

“I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU,” von der Leyen added.

Moving beyond traditional trade agreements

The proposal aims to expand the existing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement into an “Alliance for the Future” focused on economic security. Von der Leyen outlined plans to deepen cooperation across defence manufacturing, energy, critical minerals, cybersecurity and joint initiatives in the Arctic.

Carney, who attended the session, rose to shake von der Leyen’s hand following the announcement. The prime minister is scheduled to deliver an address to the European Parliament on Thursday as part of an official visit to France aimed at diversifying trade and security partnerships.

While the European Union maintains custom trade models with non-member nations such as Norway and Switzerland, it has never formally established an associate membership category. The initiative would require approval from all 27 EU member states.

Specific details regarding how associate status would affect access to the EU single market remain under negotiation, with further talks set for a bilateral summit in late October.

During a presentation to G20 innovation ministers, Musk boldly predicted that approximately 1 billion humanoid robots will be working in the world within the next 10 years. And it’s not the quantity of robotic workforce that’s the issue. Musk also predicted that each of these humanoid robots will be roughly five times as productive as a human employee. Based on this estimate, Musk’s 1 billion humanoid robots will be more productive than every person on Earth combined.

The Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer (CEO) voiced his prediction during his presentation at the G20 Innovation Ministerial conference, hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

An even bigger claim behind the 1 billion robots

Before Musk got into talking about robots, he laid out an even larger prediction: That digital AI alone — software, not physical robots — could grow the global economy by 20% to 30% per year, or roughly US$20 trillion to US$30 trillion in annual output.

He also predicted that AI coding tools would soon become what he called “Stockfish-level good” — a reference to the chess engine that can beat any human grandmaster. The timeline? Within 12 to 18 months. That means within a few short years, Musk predicts that AI coding tools will effectively make it impossible for a person to out-code AI.

Where robotics kicks in, according to Musk

Robotics, Musk argued, is where the multiplier really kicks in. He framed a humanoid robot’s usefulness as three exponentially improving factors multiplied together:

1. The AI software
2. Onboard AI chip
3. The robot’s physical dexterity — especially in the hands

Once robots start building other robots, he said, growth turns recursive: Slow at first, then explosive.

And that’s the math behind his 1 billion humanoid robots prediction — an estimate that he suggests is still too conservative — and a bet he’s willing to put serious money on.

What this means for investors

While Musk’s comments may generate headlines, his predictions and his assumptions on what AI can achieve are already priced in to many stocks in these sectors. That’s worth noting before getting swept up in the AI and robotics multi-trillion-dollar growth engine.

Plus, Musk has a well-documented pattern of ambitious timelines that arrive later than promised — Tesla’s full self-driving capability has been “next year” for several years running, and Mars colonization dates have slipped repeatedly. For investors, its best to remember that a prediction from the world’s richest person is a data point, not a forecast you should size a position around.

There’s also a more practical thread in Musk’s remarks that’s directly relevant to Canada: Power.

He warned that AI chip production is growing 40% to 50% a year, while electricity supply outside China is growing only 10% to 20% a year — a gap he says could produce a roughly 15-gigawatt power shortfall by 2027.

Canada’s hydro and nuclear generating capacity puts it in a position to compete for AI and data-centre investment the same way U.S. states are currently courting it — and this competitive edge matters more to Canadian economic growth and jobs than robot head counts a decade out.

What Canadians can do, right now

• Check what you already own. If your RRSP or TFSA holds broad U.S. or global index ETFs, you likely already have exposure to the companies driving — and betting on — this narrative, without needing a separate robotics fund.
• Treat single-figure predictions skeptically. A “billion robots in 10 years” is a talking point, not a valuation model. Position sizing should be based on fundamentals, not a CEO’s stage remarks.
• Watch the power and infrastructure angle. Utilities, grid infrastructure and semiconductor supply chains are a more measurable way to get exposure to AI’s physical build-out than betting on humanoid robot adoption timelines
• Keep perspective on time horizons. Even Musk’s own framing puts meaningful robot productivity a decade out — this is a long-run thesis, not a trade.

Speaking at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Tuesday that the federal government is seeking private operators for Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Montréal–Trudeau International Airport, and Calgary International Airport. The plan was framed during the summit as a way to generate tens of billions of dollars for broader infrastructure development.

The announcement comes on the heels of the certification of a major class-action lawsuit against Air Canada over allegations regarding its handling of passengers requiring mobility aids. Air Canada maintains a massive operational footprint at Toronto Pearson, where it anchors the entire Terminal 1 facility. The convergence of legal pressure on Canada’s primary carrier and the federal strategy to bring private management into Pearson and other hubs marks a transformative moment for the country’s travel ecosystem.

In a statement provided to Money.ca, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) said it “recognizes the federal government’s plan for future investment in airports” and looks forward to working on next steps that ensure stewardship of Pearson while achieving national infrastructure goals. The authority emphasized that its ongoing focus remains on safe operations, expanding its employment base and protecting Canada’s economic interests.

Overall, the policy represents a fundamental restructuring of how Canada’s primary travel gateways are managed, seeking to leverage external capital to modernize major transit hubs without adding directly to public debt.

Structure of the concession model

Under the proposed framework, Ottawa will retain full ownership of the underlying airport land and physical assets while transferring operational rights through long-term concession agreements.

The strategy aims to maintain public ownership while introducing private capital and operational expertise. Proceeds generated from these concession leases will be funneled back into national transit projects, including upgrades and funding support for smaller regional airports across Canada.

Domestic pension funds and economic goals

A central objective of opening up airport concessions is retaining and attracting large-scale institutional capital within Canada. Domestic pension fund managers — such as CPP Investments and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan — have historically deployed billions of dollars into foreign airport infrastructure, but have faced limited opportunities to hold equivalent operational stakes at home.

The policy shift aligns with broader economic targets presented at the summit, where the federal government outlined plans to attract up to $1 trillion in private infrastructure investment over the next five years.

Labour concerns and regulatory oversight

The proposal has drawn sharp resistance from labour groups and union representatives. Concerns have been raised regarding potential fee increases for travelers and potential impacts on airport workers.

Despite the shift in operational management, federal officials confirmed that regulatory oversight regarding safety, security, and air traffic control will remain strictly under federal authority, with agencies like Transport Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency maintaining their existing roles.

This class-action lawsuit comes in the wake of the precedent-setting Tim Rose decision: Where the Federal Court of Appeal upheld that Air Canada must substitute aircraft to accommodate power wheelchairs rather than treating these mobility devices as oversized luggage.

The overall message: Canada’s air travel system is failing travellers with disabilities.

Where the responsibility actually falls: Airlines vs. airports

One of the central friction points in Canadian air travel is the fragmented division of responsibility between airlines and airport infrastructure.

Under the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA)’s, Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR), airlines maintain legal responsibility for passengers and their mobility equipment, including passenger transfers and baggage retrieval.

In practice, however, ground delays are frequently driven by airport-level infrastructure gaps managed by local authorities — such as the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) at Toronto Pearson International— and regulated by Transport Canada. When airport operators fail to provide adequate gate elevators, specialized ramps or equipment offloading space, passengers are left stranded on planes for hours.

Accessibility advocate David Fleischer, whose family has faced ongoing accessibility challenges travelling with a wheelchair and has a case currently pending with regulators, says that he and his family have had many good experiences with ground and air crews. “But there are still systemic barriers and places where they cross or overlap that end up interfering with the customer experience when dealing with special needs and disabilities.”

By contrast, many major U.S. hubs benefit from privately managed or modernized infrastructure where airports invest directly in dedicated jetway wheelchair lifts, streamlining the deplaning process significantly regardless of the carrier.

“A class action against one airline does have the potential to force some larger changes, but at the end of the day, what we really need is for the federal government to be more proactive,” Fleischer told Money.ca. “They need to hold both airlines and airports to a high standard for accessibility so there is a seamless experience for travellers.”

A bureaucratic game of hot potato: Who is responsible?

Money.ca reached out to the three primary bodies overseeing Canadian aviation:

• The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which operates Canada’s largest hub at Toronto Pearson;
• The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), the independent federal regulator;
• Transport Canada, the federal ministry overseeing national aviation policy and airport land leases.

The questions probed what proactive steps are being taken to align airport infrastructure standards with airline operations

Response from GTAA

The GTAA — the entity responsible for managing Toronto Pearson, an airport Fleischer specifically highlighted as a major friction point for wheelchair delays — did not respond to the Money.ca request for comment.

Response from The Canadian Transportation Agency

In a detailed response provided to Money.ca, CTA media relations representative Martine Maltais emphasized that “comprehensive and binding regulatory requirements” are already in place across the federal travel network under the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR) and Part VII of the Air Transportation Regulations.

Maltais said that the regulatory framework “covers the entire federal travel journey of persons living with a disability and contains clear requirements for transportation service providers, terminals, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA).”

Under these regulations:

• Airports “are responsible for the equipment they own, such as lifts, ramps or stairs that are used at a terminal for the boarding or disembarkation” and for providing assistance between curbside zones, check-in, and public areas.
• Airlines are required to assist with check-in, boarding, in-flight transfers, washroom access, and baggage retrieval. “The ATPDR are clear about obligations and responsibilities,” Maltais said. “They require airlines to accept mobility aids as priority baggage; to disassemble, package and reassemble them, if required; and to return them to the person without delay upon arrival.”
• Joint Care: If a passenger using a wheelchair is waiting in a terminal to depart or transfer, “the personnel must provide the person with a place to wait that is close to members of personnel who are available to provide assistance to the person, and periodically inquire about the person’s needs.”

Maltais highlighted the regulator’s proactive monitoring efforts, pointing to its Accompanied Accessibility Inspection Program, through which Designated Enforcement Officers (DEO) accompany persons living with a disability throughout their journey.

“One of the many areas evaluated during air travel is the transition between airlines and terminal operators, and vice versa, where inspectors assess whether passengers with disabilities who rely on mobility aids receive appropriate assistance to continue their journey without delay,” Maltais said.

Maltais also pointed to the regulator’s authority to issue Administrative Monetary Penalties up to $250,000 by violation, as well as its power to award compensation for pain and suffering or willful violations when handling formal accessibility complaints.

To reduce damage to mobility devices in transit, Maltais noted the agency co-developed a specialized job aid and sticker system alongside Transport Canada and the National Research Council, featuring “a training (step by step) refresher card that supports the baggage handlers to safely secure mobility aids into the cargo hold.”

Response from Transport Canada

The initial comment from Transport Canada was simple: “Please redirect your request to the Canadian Transportation Agency if you haven’t done so already, as they are responsible for the regulations governing accessible transportation.”

After pointing out the CTA handles administrative complaints and regulatory enforcement, but Transport Canada holds ultimate oversight over federal aviation policy, the National Airports System and public airport land lease frameworks — Transport Canada issued an additional formal response that acknowledged to Money.ca that despite existing regulatory frameworks, severe breakdowns remain common.

“Improving the passenger experience for the travelling public by enhancing accessibility and reducing other barriers for passengers is a priority for Transport Canada,” said Hicham Ayoun, senior communications advisor for Transport Canada. Ayoun also acknowledged that Transport Canada oversees Canada’s accessible transportation framework, which establishes responsibilities for airport operators and air carriers.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that despite significant regulatory efforts, barriers may still exist, particularly in air travel, where challenges like mobility aid damage and inconsistent assistance are prevalent,” Ayoun stated.

The department highlighted several policy initiatives aimed at addressing these gaps, pointing to its inaugural National Air Accessibility Summit in 2024, which brought together industry stakeholders, disability advocates and Indigenous partners. Early outcomes from these talks include airlines adopting a standardized medical intake form and ongoing federal work to develop specialized tools for onboard postural support and wheelchair functionality.

Transport Canada also noted that it is working alongside the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to “strengthen and harmonize accessibility standards and practices across the entire air-travel journey,” referencing its 2026-2027 Departmental Plan for broader infrastructure modernization goals.

Here’s the real rub for disability advocates

For accessibility advocates, the initial brush-off from federal authorities to comment on these ongoing issues illustrates the systemic barrier travellers with disabilities face every day.

When a wheelchair is damaged, or when a passenger is stranded on a tarmac because a gate bridge lacks a lift or an elevator is out of service, airlines, airports and federal departments frequently point fingers at each other, leaving travellers caught in a jurisdictional vacuum.

Fighting on two fronts for accountability

For Canadians watching legal actions unfold and wondering how to hold the system accountable, experts and advocates emphasize that administrative remedies and litigation are complementary tools in a much larger struggle.

There is a growing movement recognizing that power wheelchairs and specialized mobility aids are not merely baggage — they are vital extensions of the people who use them. While CTA complaint processes and court rulings offer avenues for direct compensation and specific redress, long-term policy shifts require public and political pressure.

Canadians facing accessibility failures can consult the CTA’s guide on travelling with mobility aids to understand their rights, pursue dispute resolution through the CTA tribunal or join class-action proceedings where applicable. Simultaneously, advocates stress the importance of engaging with political representatives, including Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer — a position created in 2022 to advise the federal government on systemic barriers — and local Members of Parliament.

“If our government was being more proactive in ensuring travel is more accessible, ordinary Canadians wouldn’t have to become activists demanding what is right and fair,” Fleischer said. “But until we see more of that, we have to keep fighting on both fronts.”

A system changed one lawsuit at a time

While federal departments point to summits, inspection programs and international committees, critics note that meaningful progress in Canadian air travel continues to be forced from the bottom up — through exhausting court battles waged by ordinary citizens.

From Tim Rose’s eight-year legal battle to secure the right to fly with his custom power wheelchair, to Rodney Hodgins’ certified class-action lawsuit representing thousands of mobility aid users, Canadians with disabilities are increasingly taking major airlines to court to demand basic dignity.

The total silence from major airport operators like the GTAA, combined with the federal government’s initial instinct to pass the buck between ministries and regulators, sends a clear message to the travelling public: Until federal policy mandates strict, synchronized accountability for both airports and airlines at the infrastructure level, barrier-free travel in Canada remains an uphill battle.

As Fleisher confesses: “Travelling with a wheelchair, even when it works out okay, is always a stressful experience. You always have your fingers crossed and hold your breath until it’s over.”

The survey, which polled close to 4,000 Canadians in 2026, points to a driving environment shaped less by any single bad habit than by several pressures stacking up on the same drive — distraction, fatigue and aggression, often all at once.

“Road safety is about more than individual behaviour, it's shaped by the conditions drivers face every day,” said Valérie Lavoie, president and chief operating officer of Desjardins General Insurance Group, in a statement.

Increasingly dangerous behaviour behind the wheel — factors that road safety experts say can affect decision-making and reaction times — aren’t isolated to Canada’s roadways, but can also impact household budgets.

What's really distracting Canadian drivers behind the wheel

Six in 10 Canadians ranked distracted driving among the country's biggest road safety risks, but the survey suggests the biggest distractions aren't necessarily inside the vehicle.

External distractions, such as traffic, pedestrians and activity outside the vehicle, were cited more often (35%) than cellphone use (32%). In-vehicle technology (26%) and everyday habits like eating or drinking behind the wheel (22%) also ranked among the most common distractions.

The findings from Desjardins seem to align with broader road safety data. According to Transport Canada, distraction was a contributing factor in an estimated 17.8% of fatal collisions in 2023, while speeding contributed to 24.8% and impairment to 21.9%, underscoring how multiple risk factors often overlap on Canadian roads.

Separate figures from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, released in June 2026 with sponsorship from Desjardins, show speeding moving in the opposite direction of distraction. Road deaths involving at least one speeding driver climbed to 513 in 2023, up from 412 in 2019, and now account for close to a third (30.7%) of all traffic fatalities. Distraction-related deaths fell to 322 that year, a 24-year low.

Canadians see the risks — but don't always slow down

The survey also revealed an interesting contradiction.

While 85% of respondents said speeding is a major road safety risk, 26% also said it's acceptable to exceed the posted speed limit.

Impairment was another dangerous factor. About 1 in 5 (19%) drivers reported regularly witnessing alcohol-impaired driving, while 1 in 4 (24%) said they frequently see drivers they believe are impaired by cannabis.

To improve road safety, we need to look beyond any single behaviour, explains Lavoie.

“To make a real difference, we need to address this full reality, through stronger awareness, better education, and actions that help reduce risk on our roads,” she said.

What it means for your insurance bill

A speeding ticket, an at-fault collision or an impaired driving conviction doesn't just put other drivers at risk — it can also follow you straight to your next insurance policy renewal.

Insurers typically review a driver's record when calculating premiums, and a conviction can mean losing a claims-free discount on top of paying more in premiums for years after the conviction or ticket.

To help illustrate, here’s a breakdown of how infractions can cost you:

• Minor infractions: A single minor ticket, such as rolling through a stop sign or a a few kilometres over the speed limit, will erase your clean-record discount and raise your insurance premium by 10% to 20%.
• Major infractions: A single major violation — such as excessive speeding or distracted driving — can increase standard car insurance rates by 25% or more.
• Multiple violations: Accumulating two or more tickets can double your rate or label you a high-risk driver and put your in an insurance category where you are paying the highest rates.

For example, if a BC driver accumulates four or more points on their driving record, they’ll pay a driving demerit fee of $214, and get an increase to their annual car insurance premium. Accumulate six points and that same driver will pay a driving demerit fee of $300 to $367, in addition to a 25% or more increase in their car insurance costs.

Tips to help

To help avoid rate increases, here are a few habits that can help lower your risk of distracted or aggressive driving:

• Put your phone out of reach before you start driving, rather than trying to ignore it once you're on the road
• Build in extra travel time on stressful commutes so a few extra minutes in traffic don't tempt you to speed
• Skip the drive when you're overtired — a short delay costs far less than a collision, a ticket or a jump in your premium

According to data released by the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) — the industry’s independent complaints body — Canadians filed 19,157 complaints between August 1, 2025 and January 31, 2026. Despite moves to regulate costs, billing remains the number one reason for complaints involving telecommunication firms.

More than half (56%) of those complaints involved wireless service — and despite frustration with slow data or dropped calls, the primary concern were the charges Canadians found on their cell phone bill. Incorrect charges on monthly bills went up 66% compared with the same period a year earlier.

The timing matters: Just weeks before this reporting period ended, the CRTC ordered telecom and internet providers to scrap the fees that made it costly to switch, change or cancel a plan.

That rule has been in effect since June 12, 2026 — meaning Canadians frustrated by a rising bill now have one less financial barrier standing between them and a better deal.

Billing errors are the No. 1 complaint

CCTS Commissioner and CEO Josée Bidal Thibault said in a statement that the growing volume of billing complaints reflects “the frustration customers feel around unexpected charges and payment-related issues.”

As a result, the CCTS is advising Canadians to compare every bill against their service agreement and contact their provider right away if a charge looks unfamiliar or higher than expected.

What providers top the complaint list?

According to CCTS data:

• Rogers/Shaw accounted for 34% of all complaints accepted during the reporting period, the highest of any provider.
• Together, the five largest providers — Rogers/Shaw, TELUS, Bell, Fido and Koodo — made up 79% of all complaints.
• Fido saw the sharpest jump in accepted complaints, up 156% from last year’s midpoint, followed by Rogers/Shaw, up 95%, and Koodo, up 39%.

What actually changed for switching fees

The rise in wireless complaints was also fuelled by installation and activation charges, which CCTS says are increasingly catching customers off guard at the start of a new contract.

In response to prior and recent complaints, the CRTC eliminated fees for activating, changing or cancelling a plan through Telecom Decision 2026-43, a rule that has applied to all federally regulated internet and cellphone providers since June 12, 2026. In a CRTC statement, Chairperson and CEO Vicky Eatrides says the goal is to let Canadians “switch to a better deal” without paying extra just to access it.

What to do if your bill looks wrong

If you think you are overpaying here are a few simple steps to help you check and take action:

1. Compare every bill to the service agreement you signed.
2. Contact your provider right away if a charge looks unfamiliar or higher than what you were promised, and ask for a written explanation.
3. If the issue isn’t resolved directly with your provider, file a complaint with the CCTS — the commission successfully resolved 88% of concluded complaints during this reporting period
4. And remember that activation, switching and cancellation fees are no longer allowed on federally regulated plans, so a rising bill is no longer a reason to stay put.

Despite a surge in complaints, Canadian consumers still have the power to hold telecom companies accountable. Knowing your rights, checking your bill and escalating concerns could all end up saving you real money over the life of your telecom contract.

According to Reuters, Carney has been meeting European leaders for months — quietly pursuing an alternative: A push for Canada to become a “unique member” of the European Union.

Over the last few months, Carney held private conversations with almost every European leader, including France, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia. The pitch is to align Canada’s large geographic expanse and more than 40 million population with Europe’s powerful union of 27 nations.

What Carney is actually proposing

To be clear, what Carney is pursuing is a not-yet-created “unique member” nation-status of the European Union (EU) — a status that would have to be built from scratch.

Why the new status? Because Carney doesn’t want full EU membership. “We’re not looking to become a member of the European Union,” he told reporters, describing the goal instead as a “unique alliance.”

Carney’s focus isn’t about lowering prices today or tomorrow, but improving Canada’s economic position for the long-term.

Keep in mind, Canada’s existing trade agreement with the EU, signed nearly a decade ago, still hasn’t been ratified by every EU member country. A new arrangement would likely take years, not months, to materialize.

For today, your expenses will still go up

Carney’s discussion with EU leaders will not mitigate the immediate financial pressure coming from the current U.S. trade war. The most recent pressure imposed in late August and early September when the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on roughly US$20 billion of Canadian goods.

Canada responded September 8 with counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on more than 700 American products worth C$27.6 billion. The list hits sectors Canadian households buy from directly — steel and aluminum, dairy, household appliances, electronics and pulp and paper products.

For a family shopping for a new fridge, dishwasher or set of power tools built with U.S. steel or components, that can mean a meaningfully higher price tag at checkout, even before retailers pass along their own rising input costs.

What it means for your mortgage rate

The trade war is also complicating the interest rate outlook. The Bank of Canada (BoC) held its key rate at 2.25% on September 2 — the seventh straight hold — citing rising inflation risk from tariffs and elevated energy prices, with its next scheduled decision set for October 28, 2026.

BoC Governor Tiff Macklem said tariffs are now among the biggest potential drivers of higher prices for consumers and businesses. That’s a shift from the rate-cut hopes many homeowners had been banking on.

CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld said the bank is operating amid the fog of a trade war, with too much uncertainty to signal a clear direction. Until the next decision, fixed and variable mortgage rates are more likely to hold steady or drift higher than fall.

Bottom line: Canada’s long game with the EU

Carney’s EU pivot may reshape Canada’s economic alliances over the next decade. But for now, the trade war with the U.S. — not Brussels — is what’s set to cost Canadian households the most this fall.

The average CPP payment for a new retiree is roughly $925 a month, well under two-thirds of that headline figure. That gap between the number people quote and the actual payment received is the root of one of the most persistent misconceptions in Canadian retirement planning: that CPP, on its own or paired with Old Age Security (OAS), is meant to fund your retirement.

It was never designed to.

What CPP was actually built to do

When the Canada Pension Plan launched in 1965, it was designed to replace about 25% of a worker’s average lifetime earnings, not to cover their full cost of living in retirement. A CPP enhancement that began phasing in during 2019 is gradually raising that replacement rate toward 33%, but even at its fullest strength, CPP is built as one piece of a retirement income puzzle, alongside workplace pensions, RRSPs, TFSAs and other savings and investments.

What Canadians actually receive

Run the real numbers and the shortfall becomes concrete. The $1,507.65 maximum CPP payment at 65 requires close to 39 years of maximum contributions, something relatively few workers achieve once career gaps, lower-earning years or stretches of self-employment are factored in.

Most new retirees land closer to the $925 average. Add OAS, and the ceiling still falls well short of actual living costs: the maximum OAS payment for the July to September 2026 quarter is $751.97 a month for those aged 65 to 74. Combined at the maximum, that’s roughly $2,259 a month before tax. Combined with the average CPP payment, it can be far less.

What the gap looks like in real life

For Patricia and Dario Vatta, a retired couple in Huntsville, Ontario, that gap isn’t theoretical. After decades of working and running a small business, the couple now watches every dollar from CPP, OAS, and Dario’s teacher’s pension, and options other retirees take for granted, like moving into a retirement home, are simply out of reach. Patricia’s OAS alone comes to less than $800 a month, a figure she’d rather not have looked up. “That’s pretty sad, isn’t it? I shouldn’t have looked,” she told Orillia Matters. Combined, the couple’s CPP, OAS and pension income adds up to roughly $30,000 a year, comparable to what a full-time minimum-wage worker earns in Ontario.

Why this can happen to careful savers, too

The Vattas’ story isn’t a case of poor planning. Patricia’s benefit calculation reflects a career that included a business venture that didn’t work out in the 1980s, the kind of earnings gap that quietly lowers a CPP payment decades later. Because CPP amounts are based on decades of contributions and timing rather than a flat guarantee, career interruptions, business setbacks or years of lower income can leave even disciplined savers with a smaller cheque than the “average retiree” headline suggests.

How to close the gap

A few concrete steps matter more than the maximum CPP number ever will:

• Pull your real number: Log into your My Service Canada Account and check your CPP Statement of Contributions rather than planning around the maximum or the average
• Take the age-70 bump seriously: Payments increase 0.7% for every month you delay past 65, up to 42% more at 70, a meaningful, guaranteed increase for anyone who can afford to wait
• Build outside CPP and OAS deliberately: An RRSP, a TFSA or an employer pension aren’t optional extras; they’re meant to be the majority of most Canadians’ retirement income, not the minority
• Revisit the plan at 55, not 65: The earlier a shortfall is visible, the more levers such as working longer, saving more or adjusting lifestyle are still on the table

The $1,507.65 headline number isn’t a mistake, and neither is the government’s own description of CPP as a partial replacement of income. The mistake is treating either the maximum or the average as a retirement plan. The Vattas’ story is a preview of what happens when that number is the whole plan rather than one piece of it. The earlier Canadians build the rest of that strategy, the less that gap has to hurt later.

For Canadian drivers who’ve gotten used to lower prices, that’s a few more months of breathing room. But the tax isn’t gone — it comes back in stages, and the schedule matters if you’re budgeting for a household or a business around fuel costs.

Here’s what actually changed, what it’s worth and what to watch for as the relief winds down.

What changed with the fuel tax pause

The federal government first suspended the excise tax on gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels on April 20, 2026. That pause was due to wind down this year, but the government has now extended it until January 31, 2027. From February 1 to March 31, 2027, drivers will pay 50% of the regular excise tax rate.

“Canadians across the country are feeling the impact of affordability challenges every day,” said Ruby Sahota, Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, in a press release, adding that extending the pause provides additional relief to households as global economic uncertainty continues to affect costs.

What the pause is actually worth at the pump

On the day the tax was first suspended, Canadians saved 10 cents a litre on gasoline and unleaded aviation gasoline, 11 cents a litre on leaded aviation gasoline and 4 cents a litre on diesel and aviation fuel.

In this hypothetical example, a driver filling a 50-litre tank once a week would save about $5 per fill-up on gasoline alone — or roughly $200 over the nearly 40 weeks the tax stays fully suspended, before the rate starts climbing again.

Who benefits most

The government says the extension is meant to help truckers and businesses in the food, agriculture, housing, construction and delivery sectors, along with everyday households. The extension is projected to cost about $2.9 billion in additional fiscal impact, bringing total federal fuel tax relief to an estimated $5.3 billion for 2026-27.

What to watch before the relief ends

Starting February 1, 2027, the excise tax climbs to five cents a litre for gasoline and unleaded aviation gasoline, five-and-a-half cents for leaded aviation gasoline and two cents for diesel and aviation fuel. By April 1, 2027, rates will return to their full levels.

The federal excise tax is only one part of what you pay at the pump — provincial taxes and global oil prices move independently, so a lower federal tax doesn’t guarantee a lower total price.

If you’ve built the lower fuel tax into your monthly budget, treat it as temporary. Mark January 31 and April 1 on your calendar as the dates your fuel costs are scheduled to rise, and use the next several months to build a small cushion — especially if you drive for work or run a fleet. The relief is real, but it’s on a countdown.

Gasoline prices were still up 22.8% year-over-year in August, even after easing slightly from July’s 25.7% increase. Additionally, the cost of tourism and travel jumped 26.1%.

Grocery price growth, meanwhile, cooled to 2.8%, the first time in 14 months that food inflation has dropped below 3%.

The Bank of Canada has already said it won’t hesitate to raise interest rates again if inflation stays elevated and starts pushing into its closely watched core measures. So a headline number that looks frozen at 3% doesn’t mean Canadians can relax — it means the pressure has shifted to different parts of the household budget.

What’s actually pushing Canada’s inflation number?

Month-over-month, consumer prices actually fell 0.1% in August, while annual growth also matched economist forecasts of 3%. Statistics Canada’s core inflation measures, which strip out the most volatile prices, stood at 2% for CPI-median and 1.9% for CPI-trim in August, both roughly in line with the BoC’s target.

Two forces are doing most of the work behind those numbers: energy and geopolitics. Benchmark Brent crude oil crossed $100 a barrel this month, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods — along with Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, which took effect September 8 — are expected to push costs higher through the fall.

Why ‘steady’ inflation feels different depending on your budget

A 3% national average hides different realities depending on how Canadians spend. Grocery shoppers are catching a break: dairy price growth slowed sharply, from 3.1% annually in July to 0.7% in August, led by cheese and yogurt. On the other hand, renters and mortgage holders saw shelter costs edge up to 1.5% annually in August from 1.3% in July.

Travellers face the steepest increase of all. The 26.1% jump in tours and travel costs is partly a base-year effect: prices had fallen sharply a year earlier, when fewer Canadians were travelling to the United States.

Could the BoC still raise rates?

The BoC held its policy rate at 2.25% in September, the seventh consecutive hold. Governor Tiff Macklem said the economy is moving broadly in line with the bank’s forecasts, though the central bank continues to watch for signs that tariff-driven costs are spreading beyond gas and travel into the wider economy.

Economists expect the real test to show up in September’s inflation data, since it will include Carney’s retaliatory tariffs. For Canadians with a variable-rate mortgage, a HELOC or a renewal coming up, that’s the number worth watching most closely over the coming months.

What Canadians can do now

Rather than budgeting off the national 3% figure, it helps to build a personal one:

• If you drive often, your real inflation rate is likely running well above the national average because of gas prices
• If grocery costs have felt lighter lately, that lines up with the broader slowdown in food inflation, though not every item is cooling at the same pace
• If a mortgage renewal is coming up in the next few months, locking in sooner rather than later reduces exposure if the Bank of Canada raises rates again
• Watch the October release of September’s CPI data, which will show the first full month of retaliatory tariffs

Historically regarded as one of the country's smaller, slower-growing economies, the Atlantic province is turning that narrative on its head. This year, it is projected to be Canada’s fastest-growing province by a wide margin, while Ontario, long the national economic engine, is barely growing at all.

A new report from Signal49 Research, the think tank formerly known as the Conference Board of Canada, shows just how far apart the two provinces have drifted. Newfoundland and Labrador is set to lead the country’s growth for a second year in a row, while Ontario is expected to post the weakest growth of any province.

Understanding that gap offers a far clearer picture of Canada’s economic trajectory than any national average. Here’s what’s driving it, and what it signals for the country’s regional economies.

What did the report actually find?

Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy is projected to grow 3.7% in 2026, driven by higher crude prices and offshore oil projects. Most other provinces will grow by roughly 1.5%, but Ontario and Quebec are expected to fall well short of that. Ontario’s economy is forecast to expand just 0.2%, the weakest of any province, while Quebec is expected to grow 0.7%.

Richard Forbes, lead economist at Signal49 Research, says the reasons vary sharply by region. “The increased energy prices have had benefits for some provinces, while the tariffs have been hardest on Ontario and Quebec due to the exposure in the manufacturing sector,” he said in a news release.

Why is Ontario stalling?

Ontario and Quebec have been hit hardest by U.S. tariffs because of how much of their economies depend on manufacturing. Ontario’s exposure runs especially deep in the auto sector, which the report says has been targeted since early 2025 and is almost entirely concentrated in the province. Quebec faces a similar squeeze, though Signal49 Research expects some relief there as exports, employment and investment rebound later in the year.

In other words, Ontario’s slowdown isn’t spread evenly across its economy. It’s concentrated in specific industries, which means the risk to your income depends heavily on your sector, not just your postal code.

Why is Newfoundland and Labrador’s turnaround unlikely to last?

Higher oil prices and offshore production have made Newfoundland and Labrador the country’s growth leader again this year. But the report is clear that this is a near-term story.

Over the longer run, Signal49 Research expects the province to be among the weakest performers in the country, held back by an older population and difficulty attracting migrants. A strong short-term growth number, in other words, doesn’t automatically mean a strong long-term job or housing market.

A new definition of ‘have’ and ‘have-not’

The stark contrast between Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario shows how fluid Canada’s economic hierarchy has become. For decades, the ‘have-not’ designation implied a structural disadvantage, while Ontario’s industrial base guaranteed top-tier growth. Today, trade shocks and resource surges are blurring those historical roles. A government worker in Ottawa and an auto-parts employee in Windsor both live in Ontario, but they are experiencing fundamentally different economic environments.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador’s sudden rise shows how quickly commodity cycles can elevate a regional economy, even as underlying demographic challenges remain. Signal49 Research expects overall conditions to improve through the second half of the year as business confidence returns, but the widening gap between an energy-fueled Atlantic boom and a struggling manufacturing heartland proves that Canada's regional fortunes are no longer bound to old labels.

What began as a push for member-only pricing at major banners has evolved into a strategic play for first-party data. By requiring shoppers to scan a loyalty app like PC Optimum, Scene+ or Moi to access weekly sales, grocers gain precise, real-time insights into consumer buying habits.

That data is the foundation of Retail Media Networks (RMNs), one of the fastest-growing and highest-margin segments in global advertising.

The margin engine behind the shelf

Traditional grocery operations run on razor-thin net profit margins, often hovering between 2 and 4%. Retail media advertising, by contrast, commands profit margins upwards of 70 to 80% because the underlying infrastructure — the physical stores and web traffic — already exists.

By capturing verified transaction histories through loyalty programs, grocers can sell ad space to consumer packaged goods companies. Brands no longer just pay for shelf placement; they pay to serve targeted digital ads to specific demographic segments both online and on brick-and-mortar digital screens.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. has led the push in Canada through its retail media arm, expanding in-store video networks and digital advertising integration tied to purchase history. Competitors like Empire Company Ltd. (owner of Sobeys and Safeway) and Metro Inc. have similarly scaled their loyalty integration to bolster ad revenues.

Paywalling the aisle for data

Member-only pricing functions as a funnel to convert anonymous cash-and-carry shoppers into tracked digital profiles. While non-members pay regular price, loyalty cardholders receive immediate discounts at checkout.

The price gap creates a strong incentive for consumers to sign up and consistently scan their app. For grocers, the value of harvesting that continuous stream of behavioural data far outweighs the dollar amount of the discounts provided.

The global shift in retail revenue

Canada’s grocers are following a playbook established by global retail giants. Walmart Connect and Target’s Roundel in the United States have demonstrated that ad networks can generate hundreds of millions, and sometimes billions, in high-margin revenue, effectively subsidizing logistics and operating costs.

As food inflation normalizes and grocery volume growth remains modest, ad monetization offers grocers a way to expand profit margins without relying solely on food price increases.

For shoppers, member-only discounts are likely here to stay. As grocery aisles become digitized media environments, access to lower shelf prices will increasingly require consumers to trade their personal purchasing data for a discount at the checkout.

In its fall 2026 Housing Supply Report published on September 10, the federal housing agency warned that the national housing supply gap remains broadly unchanged despite a temporary cooling in market demand.

The agency estimates Canada needs between 417,000 and 469,000 new housing units per year until 2036 across both ownership and rental markets to restore pre-pandemic affordability levels. Under a business-as-usual trajectory, the country is currently on track to build roughly 231,000 homes annually over that period, leaving a shortfall of nearly half the required volume.

That pace would leave Canada nearly 2.4 million new homes short of its overall requirement over the 10-year timeframe.

“Although slower population growth has brought some improvements in affordability, new construction is slowing faster than demand. The key risk now is [that] Canada underbuilds during this softer market and finds itself further short of housing when demand strengthens again,” Aled ab Iorwerth, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC, said in a statement.

High costs and weak condo markets slow progress

While federal policies to reduce immigration and limit temporary residents have temporarily calmed housing demand, high borrowing costs, elevated construction expenses and difficult presale financing conditions are curtailing developer activity.

The slowdown is particularly pronounced in the multi-family ownership market. Weak condominium pre-construction sales across major urban centres are causing developers to delay or cancel new projects, setting up a potential supply crunch once population growth and buyer demand rebound.

According to CMHC housing start data, builders recorded 131,851 housing starts through the first seven months of the year, down four per cent compared to the same period in 2025.

Regional divergence across Canadian cities

The national figures mask sharp variations across major census metropolitan areas:

• Toronto: The local supply gap narrowed slightly as lower home prices provided temporary relief, but new construction activity dropped sharply, particularly in the condo sector. The city still needs to boost annual housing starts by at least 50% over the next decade.
• Vancouver: The supply gap held steady. While purpose-built rentals now make up nearly 60 per cent of all starts in the region, falling condominium starts pose a threat to long-term homeownership access.
• Montreal and Ottawa: The housing gap widened in both markets. Construction remains heavily skewed toward rental units while ownership starts languish near multi-year lows.
• Calgary and Edmonton: Calgary saw its housing gap narrow significantly due to near-record residential construction. Edmonton remains the only major market in Canada without a structural supply gap, as home construction has consistently kept pace with population growth.

The agency defines its affordability benchmark as returning the share of income required for housing costs to 2019 levels, or ensuring adjusted housing expenses do not exceed 30% of gross household income. CMHC noted that while government financing programs and local zoning reforms are boosting purpose-built rental developments, private sector homeownership projects require stronger market momentum to close the gap.

That’s starting to change. On June 27, 2026, Ottawa released draft regulations for Canada’s new “open banking” system, formally called consumer-driven banking. The government also opened 60 days of public comment, where the rules spelled out how banks, credit unions and fintechs will be allowed to share your financial data securely, and who’s responsible if something breaks.

For anyone who links a bank account to a money app, the fine print matters. Here’s what’s changing, what it could mean for your wallet and what to do while the rules are still being finalized.

What is open banking, and why is Ottawa stepping in?

Open banking lets you share your account data directly with an app of your choosing through a secure, bank-grade connection instead of typing in your password. Overseen by the Bank of Canada, the new framework would require any company handling your financial data — from big banks to small fintechs — to be accredited, meet baseline security standards and use multi-factor authentication before your data moves anywhere.

Screen scraping isn’t banned yet. The government says a ban needs more consultation before it can take effect, so for now, both methods will exist side by side. The full framework is expected to be phased in, starting with accreditation requirements, then common rules on consent and security, with the whole system meant to be operating within a year of final publication.

What could this be worth to you?

The Department of Finance estimates the new system would generate $13.2 billion in benefits for Canadians and businesses over 10 years, against $457.7 million in costs — most of which fall on the companies building the technology, not consumers directly.

Here is some of the projected upside, per person:

• About $213 more in credit access for Canadians who are currently underserved by traditional credit scores
• Roughly $58 a year from apps that nudge idle chequing account cash into higher-interest savings
• Close to $120 and $78 a year, respectively, from tools that flag cheaper mobile and broadband plans.

Apps that catch forgotten subscriptions could save users about $28 a year. These figures are drawn from the United Kingdom’s open banking experience and are described by the government as illustrative estimates, not guarantees.

Who stands to gain the most?

Newcomers to Canada and Canadians with limited credit history could benefit most from tools that use transaction data — like on-time rent payments — to prove creditworthiness beyond what a traditional credit score shows. Small business owners are also flagged as a key group: the government estimates open banking tools could save the average small business roughly 52 hours a year on bookkeeping and admin.

The costs, by contrast, are expected to land mainly on the roughly 680 businesses required to build and maintain the new data-sharing infrastructure, more than 80% of which are small businesses. Consumers aren’t expected to pay directly to share their data, though the government notes some businesses could pass a portion of their compliance costs on through pricing.

What should you do now?

• Take stock of which apps already have your banking password through screen scraping, and consider whether you still need all of them
• Once the Bank of Canada launches its public registry of accredited providers, check whether the apps you use are on it before sharing more data
• Watch for a visual sign or notice that a provider is accredited under the framework — companies will be required to display one
• Don’t expect screen scraping to disappear immediately; a ban requires further consultation and a separate timeline
• Read consent screens carefully going forward — under the new rules, consent lasts up to 12 months before it must be renewed

The bottom line

Open banking won’t flip a switch overnight for Canadians. The rules published are still in draft form, and full implementation is expected to roll out in stages over the next year or more. In the meantime, the safest move is knowing exactly which apps already have your banking credentials, and staying alert for signs that a safer, accredited alternative is available.

The increase is a response to a bigger problem. SGI’s rate stabilization reserve, the roughly $1.1-billion cushion it uses to avoid sudden rate spikes, has already fallen to $633 million over the past four years, and independent advisors project it could shrink to $171 million by March 2028 without changes.

Saskatchewan isn’t alone in feeling the squeeze. Auto insurance costs are climbing across Canada, which means even the country’s traditionally cheapest coverage markets are running short on room to keep absorbing it.

Why SGI says the math no longer works

For every $1 SGI collected in auto premiums in the 2024–25 fiscal year, it paid out $1.21 in claims costs, according to a technical report prepared for the Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel by Cathcart Advisors Inc. and Risk Consulting Services Inc. Derek Lothian, President and CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan (IBAS), warned in an IBAS statement that the fund is running out of time to close that gap without intervention, estimating a shrinking window to restructure the system before reserves are depleted.

How did the reserve get this low in the first place?

The reserve actually grew during the pandemic, when fewer people were driving and crashes dropped, and SGI issued $285 million in rebate cheques to bring the fund back down toward its target level. What it didn’t anticipate was that inflation on car parts and repairs would keep outpacing general inflation in the years that followed, a squeeze now compounded by a tariff dispute pushing up the cost of parts, according to SGI’s chief financial officer, Drew Kendel.

What this means dollar-wise for your renewal

SGI’s rate review panel approved the increase in two stages: A 3.75% adjustment already in effect since June 1, 2026, and a second 3.75% adjustment set for June 1, 2027. The average vehicle owner can expect their annual premium to rise by about $39, or roughly $3.25 a month, though the increase won’t land evenly. Because SGI sets rates based on the claims history of each vehicle’s make, model and year, some drivers will see bigger jumps than others, and a small share could even see their rates go down.

Saskatchewan still isn’t the worst off

Nationally, Canadian auto insurance premiums rose an average of 43% between the start of 2023 and June 2026, according to Applied Systems Canada, with Alberta seeing the steepest single-year jump at nearly 23%.

SGI itself paid out 11% more in claims than it collected in premiums in 2024, and Alberta’s private insurers paid out about 8% more than they collected that same year, while British Columbia’s and Manitoba’s public insurers stayed in healthier territory, according to Statistics Canada data cited in the report. A separate industry breakdown puts Alberta’s most recent annual increase at 22.6%, followed by Atlantic Canada at 9.4% and Ontario at 7%, with Quebec’s rates rising just 0.9%.

What drivers can do before their next renewal

• If you live somewhere with a private insurance market, get quotes from more than one company before renewing. Competition is the main lever most Canadian drivers have on price.
• Ask your insurer how your specific vehicle’s make, model and year affects your premium, since claims and repair costs vary widely by vehicle.
• Review your deductible and coverage limits. Raising a deductible you can comfortably afford in an emergency can meaningfully lower your premium.
• Ask about discounts for a clean driving record, bundling home and auto policies, or winter tire installation, which some insurers still recognize.

Saskatchewan’s decade-plus rate freeze made it an exception in Canadian auto insurance, not the rule, and its end is a reminder that even the country’s lowest-cost insurance markets aren’t immune to rising repair costs and claims. Whether you’re in Regina or Toronto, the safest move heading into your next renewal is to check what’s actually driving your premium, not assume last year’s price will hold.

Before 2002, every ferry added to the BC Ferries fleet was built in the province. That changed in June 2025, when BC Ferries awarded a contract for four new Summit Class vessels to China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai). The contract was awarded following a five-year procurement process that drew no bids from Canadian shipyards. In response, a coalition of unions launched a campaign called ‘Build Them Here,’ arguing B.C.’s shipbuilding industry has the capacity to do the work on future contracts.

What the unions are asking for

Brynn Bourke, executive director of the B.C. Building Trades, said BC Ferries was wrong to suggest it was impossible to build the vessels domestically, arguing in a Times Colonist interview that the industry has “the capacity to do more.”

To meet future demands, the coalition isn’t asking for a reversal of the China deal already underway; the coalition is pushing for government commitments for steady, long-term work so B.C. shipyards can retool before the next contract is awarded.

Retooling to rebuild appears to have support; a poll commissioned as part of the campaign found 84% of BC residents want a plan to keep shipbuilding jobs in the province.

Why BC Ferries went to China in the first place

BC Ferries has defended the CMI Weihai contract, saying an equivalent order built in Europe would have cost at least $1 billion more, and that it could not delay replacing an aging fleet while BC’s shipbuilding capacity develops.

“We could not defer replacing aging vessels while waiting for domestic capacity to develop,” the corporation said in a statement. The new vessels are expected to enter service between 2029 and 2031.

The bigger number for your wallet

Regardless of who builds the next ferries, fares are set to increase.

Fares are set by the independent BC Ferries Commissioner under the Coastal Ferry Act, which caps the maximum average annual fare increase the corporation can charge. The current four-year price cap, running through March 2028, permits increases as steep as 3.2% a year; BC Ferries has kept actual hikes closer to 3%. The most recent hike in April was 3.2%. How does this impact fares? For example, on the main Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay route, these price increases pushed the combined vehicle-and-driver fare to $110 one way.

The real question is what happens after March 2028. CEO Nicolas Jimenez has said that, based on the corporation’s 2023 budget forecast, fares may need to rise by roughly 30% once the price cap term ends, to keep up with an aging fleet and its capital plan — and that pressure may be higher given continued inflation.

Who actually pays for new ferries

To help finance the vessels, the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), a federal Crown corporation, has committed up to $1 billion in loans, split between the ships and terminal electrification. BC Ferries says the full loan should save about $650 million in debt interest versus borrowing through private markets — savings meant to ease pressure on fares. But it is still debt the corporation must repay.

Without the CIB loan, BC Ferries would still be building ferries, but have to make up the difference “through higher fares for customers or higher investment from upper levels of government,” explained BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez, in a statement.

BC Ferries projects the four vessels will generate close to $4.5 billion in economic activity and support about 53,000 job-years in the province over their 45-year service lives, including maintenance, refits and terminal upgrades.

What ferry riders can do now

• Book saver fares. BC Ferries has expanded saver pricing to roughly 30% of all bookable space, with vehicle-and-driver fares as low as $49 on major routes — well under the regular rate.
• Travel off-peak. Weekday, early-morning and late-evening sailings carry the deepest discounts.
• Watch for the BC Ferries Commission’s next price cap review ahead of the March 2028. deadline. Public consultations typically open months in advance and are a direct way for riders to weigh in before any increase is finalized.
• Build a buffer into travel budgets for 2028 and beyond, rather than assuming today’s roughly 3% annual pace will hold.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct an error. An incorrect price cap set by the BC Ferries Commissioner was made. A correction to that maximum price cap was made on September 12, 2026.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Deveau told CTV News. Deveau isn’t the only one. Morgan Hempen, a single mother in Digby, N.S., took out the same $1,000 loan from the same lender, using her vehicle the same way. When her bank account changed and payments lapsed, her car was repossessed too, and she was told she needed $5,800 to get it back.

Both loans started at $1,000. Both ended with the borrower owing thousands more than they’d borrowed, and no car to show for it. Here’s how a small, secured loan gets that expensive, and what to check before you use your vehicle to borrow money.

How does a $1,000 loan turn into $4,000?

Deveau’s loan carried payments of $83 a month for 24 months, working out to roughly $1,992 over the full term before any missed payments or fees. She believed the loan was paid off last fall, until she was told she was behind and would need to pay $4,000 to get her Jeep back.

The lender said in a statement that once an account falls into serious default, additional costs can be added on top of the loan balance, including non-sufficient-funds fees, bank charges, bailiff fees, towing, storage and transportation. Those are the costs of recovering and reselling a repossessed vehicle, and under the loan agreement, they land on the borrower.

Your vehicle is the collateral, and the lender can take it

A title loan works differently from a typical personal loan because you’re pledging an asset you already own outright. Taking out a title loan means signing away your rights to the vehicle, so if you fall short on the deal’s terms, the lender is entitled to seize it. That’s what makes a title loan riskier than, say, a missed credit card payment. Falling behind doesn’t just hurt your credit, it can cost you the vehicle you may need to get to work.

What the rules actually allow lenders to charge

Federally, the most a lender can charge in interest is capped at 35% annual percentage rate (APR) under the Criminal Code, down from the equivalent of roughly 48% APR before January 1, 2025. But that cap applies to interest, not necessarily to the collection and recovery fees layered on after a default, which is where costs like Deveau’s and Hempen’s balloon.

Provincial protection also varies widely: Alberta specifically regulates “high-cost credit” products, including title loans, capping annual rates at 32% and barring misleading advertising or harassment of borrowers. Ontario does not yet have an equivalent regime specific to title loans, so borrowers there have fewer guardrails than in some other provinces.

Before you put your car up as collateral

• Ask for the total cost of borrowing in writing, including exactly what you’d owe, dollar for dollar, if you miss a payment.
• Call the lender the moment you think a payment will be late. The company involved in Deveau’s and Hempen’s cases said it remains open to discussing payment arrangements to help prevent accounts from escalating to collection or repossession.
• Compare a title loan against a credit union small-loan option, a co-signed loan or a call to a nonprofit credit counsellor before signing anything that puts your vehicle at risk.
• If your vehicle has already been repossessed, get a full written breakdown of every fee being charged, and ask a licensed insolvency trustee or legal aid clinic whether any of those charges can be disputed.

Deveau says she’s still fighting to get her Jeep back and wants compensation for what she’s been through. Whatever happens with her case, the lesson for other Canadians is the one she wishes she’d known three years ago: a paid-off vehicle isn’t a low-risk way to borrow. It’s collateral, and if the payments slip, it can cost you thousands and your car.

The money never came from the government. It came from JP Home Comfort, a Brampton-based HVAC company, in the form of a $1,900 cheque that included a $250 bonus for referring a neighbour. The purchase itself was financed through Financeit, a third-party lender, and the fine print added up to $12,000 in payments spread over 20 years.

Carter’s story is a reminder that “rebate” advertising for furnaces, heat pumps and other home upgrades doesn’t always come from Ottawa. For Canadian homeowners shopping for HVAC replacements this fall, it’s worth understanding how these offers work — and how to tell a real government program from a financing pitch dressed up as one.

How a $1,650 ‘rebate’ turned into a $12,000 loan

Point-of-sale financing is common in the HVAC industry: A contractor partners with a lender so customers can spread the cost of a furnace or air conditioner over monthly payments instead of paying upfront. Financeit, the lender behind Carter’s contract, told CTV News it “offers flexible purchase financing options for contractors and customers,” and that customers can pay off a loan in full at any time with no fees.

But Financeit also said it isn’t involved in what a customer is charged for the equipment itself, or in administering any government rebate program. What she actually signed was a private financing agreement, and the “rebate” cheque came from the contractor, not a federal program.

The math is worth sitting with. Once the case drew public attention, JP Home Comfort and Financeit agreed to release Carter from the 20-year contract so she could buy the furnace outright for $4,700 — well under the $12,000 she’d been financing. That gap between the financed price and the cash price is where long-term point-of-sale loans can quietly cost the most.

Are there real government furnace rebates right now?

The Canada Greener Homes Grant, which paid homeowners up to $5,600 toward retrofits including heat pumps, closed to new applicants once its funding was fully committed; the final deadline for existing applicants to submit documents was December 31, 2025. The companion Canada Greener Homes Loan, which offered up to $40,000 interest-free, stopped accepting new applications on October 1, 2025.

What’s still open is narrower: The Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program and the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program, both aimed at low- to median-income households and delivered through provincial partners, along with scattered provincial and utility rebates. If an ad promises a broad, no-qualification rebate for a new furnace, that alone is a signal to slow down.

Natural Resources Canada has also warned directly about this kind of pitch. The department says it hasn’t approved any third party to make unsolicited contact with homeowners on its behalf, and that neither NRCan nor its ENERGY STAR and EnerGuide programs ever solicit by phone, email or home visit to inspect, sell or rent heating and cooling equipment.

What to check before you sign anything

Before agreeing to a furnace or HVAC deal pitched as a rebate, a few checks can save years of payments:

• Go to the source — Government rebate programs are administered through canada.ca or your provincial energy ministry, not a contractor’s sales team or a Facebook ad
• Ask what you’re actually signing — If a “rebate” requires a financing agreement, that document is a loan contract; read the amortization period and total cost before agreeing
• Get the cash price — Carter’s furnace cost $4,700 outright versus $12,000 financed, so ask any contractor what the unit costs without financing
• Watch for referral bonuses — A “rebate” that pays extra for signing up a neighbour is a marketing incentive, not a government benefit
• Check the lender separately — Point-of-sale lenders like Financeit aren’t required to verify a contractor’s pricing or rebate claims, so that falls to the homeowner to confirm

For Carter, the resolution only came after a national news outlet contacted both companies directly. Most homeowners won’t have a reporter to call. The better move is catching the mismatch — a private company posing as a government messenger — before signing, not after.

Instead, a severe health turn changed their trajectory. Twelve years into retirement, John received a rare neuromuscular diagnosis that made staying at home impossible. The couple made the tough decision to sell their house and move into a private retirement residence, where monthly living and care costs quickly escalated to $9,200, a figure far beyond their origina retirement plan.

The Sehns' reality highlights a growing national challenge. With hundreds of thousands of Canadians requiring long-term support and demand surging over the next decade, unexpected healthcare costs can be the single biggest blind spot in modern retirement planning.

Start preparing decades early

Don’t wait to have the healthcare conversations until a medical crisis occurs. Initiating discussions in your 50s or 60s allows for a clearer understanding of potential expenses, reducing emotional and financial stress down the road.

To build an effective strategy, there a few practical steps you can take:

• Envision future care: Visualize your daily life at age 85, considering potential mobility or health limitations. Defining the level of independence and support you desire helps determine the necessary savings target.
• Scenario modelling: Financial projections should test various outcomes starting around age 75 — evaluating best-case, worst-case, and average care requirements — to ensure funds remain intact regardless of how long care is needed.

Funding strategies for long-term expenses

Covering complex healthcare costs usually requires blending several distinct financial streams. Government benefits like CPP and OAS, alongside private pensions and registered fund (RRIF) withdrawals, form the core foundation of a care budget.

Delaying CPP and OAS until age 70 can lock in significantly higher monthly payouts for life, while Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) offer flexible, tax-exempt withdrawals for unexpected care expenses. For those seeking maximum certainty, annuities can provide a predictable, guaranteed income stream to cushion fluctuating costs.

Beyond traditional income, housing equity often plays a central role. Selling a primary home is frequently the most direct route to cover private retirement residence fees.

For couples who want to age in place — or where only one partner requires support — a reverse mortgage can unlock necessary cash flow without triggering taxable income that might claw back OAS benefits.

Establishing a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) well before leaving the workforce will also help support your retirement plans, since securing credit becomes exponentially harder once a senior has transitioned out of full-time employment.

Is private insurance practical?

While long-term care insurance exists, rising premium costs have made it a challenging option for many. Unlike life or disability coverage, premiums directly diminish everyday retirement savings.

Because individual care needs vary drastically — some retirees never require formal care, while others need it for years — many advisors suggest self-funding through personal investments and home equity rather than purchasing standalone policies in Canada’s smaller insurance market.

The realities of in-home care vs. retirement residences

Survey data indicates that an overwhelming majority of Canadians prefer to age in place. However, remaining at home can also bring significant unexpected expenses that need to be considered:

• In-home support costs: Personal support workers frequently charge between $30 and $45 an hour, which adds up quickly if daily or full-time care is required.
• Property modifications: Home renovations to accommodate wheelchairs or walkers add up-front costs, though government tax credits and senior property tax relief programs can help offset a portion of these expenditures.
• Private facility living: Private retirement residences offer comprehensive care but come at a high price point. Base rent and care packages can range anywhere from $3,000 to over $9,000 per month depending on room size and support level. Furthermore, residents must account for annual rent increases and ancillary charges for services and meals.

Government long-term care and wait times

Government-subsidized long-term care facilities offer a more affordable alternative because provincial funding covers medical care, leaving residents responsible only for accommodation fees. In provinces like Ontario, maximum monthly co-payments typically top out around $3,000 for private rooms, with subsidies available for lower-income applicants.

However, relying strictly on public facilities carries a major drawback: long waiting lists. With tens of thousands of seniors waiting for beds, placement can take years. As a result, families who cannot wait for a public spot are often forced to rely on private residences as an interim — and expensive — solution.

Looking ahead to your own future

As you map out your golden years, make sure your financial roadmap accounts for more than just the ideal lifestyle Marilyn and John originally envisioned. Factoring in the potential reality of healthcare needs — by researching local care costs early and building a cushion into your savings — ensures that if your health takes an unexpected turn, an unexpected $9,200 monthly bill won't compromise your hard-earned financial independence.

More than $5 billion in institutional capital flowed into Canadian oil and gas stocks over the past year, led largely by investors from outside the country, according to data from BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeremy McCrea. For Canadians with retirement savings, a job or a mortgage tied to a resource-heavy province, that shift matters — but not in a simple, all-clear kind of way.

“This is the third time that I’ve seen a big green light for Canada,” ARC Financial CEO Brian Boulanger said at the Global Energy Show Canada in Calgary. Energy equities have climbed sharply since Prime Minister Mark Carney’s election, and worries about potential U.S. tariffs on Canadian energy have eased. But Boulanger’s underlying point stands: the last two times capital rushed toward Canada, it left just as fast — not because the country ran out of oil, but because of policy.

Why is money suddenly flowing back into Canadian energy?

Geopolitical instability is doing a lot of the work. The ongoing conflict involving Iran, Israel and the U.S., disruptions to Middle East shipping routes, questions about Russian energy supply and rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centres have pushed governments and investors to prioritize energy security. Canada offers political stability, established rule of law and some of the world’s largest long-life oil and natural gas reserves. Two developments are feeding the optimism directly: the completed Trans Mountain Expansion, which opened new access to Pacific markets, and the startup of LNG Canada’s export terminal in British Columbia.

The last boom shows how fast this can reverse

Canada has been here before. Roughly $174 billion in foreign investment flowed into the sector between 2005 and 2014, helping push industry revenue toward $210 billion a year and government royalties and taxes above $40 billion. However, capital fled almost as quickly starting in 2018, as it was spooked by regulatory uncertainty and cancelled pipeline projects, according to energy economist Peter Tertzakian’s analysis in The Hub.

Today’s targets show how much ground would need to be made up. Alberta has set a goal of nearly doubling oil output to eight million barrels a day by 2035. The province’s production reached 4.8 million barrels a day by December 2025, up from 3.9 million in December 2018 — meaning the province would need to nearly triple its recent pace of annual growth to hit that target, a CBC News analysis of the math found.

Investors still flag certain federal policies as sources of uncertainty, including the Impact Assessment Act, a proposed emissions cap on the oil and gas sector, alongside rising industrial carbon costs, drawn-out project approval timelines and regulatory duplication. Weatherford International CEO Girish Saligram says there’s now a clearer understanding of the sector’s importance globally — but sentiment isn’t the same as project approvals.

What it means for your money

If you hold Canadian energy stocks, sector funds or a broad index fund with meaningful energy weighting inside your RRSP or TFSA, renewed institutional interest is a tailwind — but a policy-dependent one, not a sure thing. Treat ‘energy superpower’ headlines as a signal to watch, not a reason to concentrate new savings into one sector.

The stakes reach beyond portfolios. As of 2023, oil and natural gas supported about 446,600 direct and indirect jobs and made up roughly $177 billion, about a quarter of Canada’s total exports, according to Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Fact Book. For households in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Newfoundland and Labrador, more investment can mean more hiring and stronger local economies. Less investment shows up as slower job growth and tighter provincial budgets, with knock-on effects for public services and housing markets in those regions.

What Canadians should do now

• Don’t assume the boom is permanent. Watch for actual project approvals and pipeline commitments, not production targets or investor sentiment, before treating the sector as a reliable growth story
• If your workplace pension, RRSP or TFSA is overweighed in energy, check whether that concentration still matches your risk tolerance, rather than assuming past strength will continue
• If your household income depends on the energy sector, build the same financial cushion you’d want in any cyclical industry — this sector has swung hard before
• Follow policy news, not just commodity prices. Decisions on the Impact Assessment Act, the emissions cap and new pipeline approvals will do more to determine whether this boom lasts than any single production target

This isn’t just a story about geology. It’s a test of whether Ottawa can turn a favourable moment into durable policy, instead of letting capital arrive and leave again. Until that’s proven, Canadians benefiting from this boom, whether through a paycheque or a portfolio, are better off treating it as an opportunity to watch closely rather than a trend to bank on.

Despite how long you work or how much you save, no single dollar figure can tell you if you’re ‘ready’ to retire. That’s because the answer depends on what you spend, when you start collecting government support, including the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS), and how long your savings need to last. The only reason a lump sum is useful is to calculate how and when to convert this sum into a monthly income — and then compare this against your actual bills.

To help, here’s how to turn yours into a monthly income you can count on.

Comparing your savings to an ‘average’ doesn’t work

According to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian 65 or older had an average of $248,700 saved in RRSPs, RRIFs, and LIRAs. Average retirement savings increased to $436,600 once employer pensions were factored in.

The problem with averages is that they flatten enormous differences by age, region and whether a household has an employer pension. Treating any single Statistics Canada figure as a pass or fail line for your own retirement is more likely to mislead than help. Even if a pre-retiree Canadian had just over $350K saved and no workplace pension plan, they could still be in a good spot if they hold no mortgage and can keep ongoing living costs to a minimum.

Turn your savings into a monthly income

A more useful and helpful exercise to estimate how much monthly income, on average, your savings nest egg can produce. Using this calculation, you can compare your retirement income with your retirement expenses — and get a more accurate picture as to whether you can retire comfortably.

One simple way to calculate your monthly income is to use the 4% rule.

The 4% rule is a rule-of-thumb guideline for how much you can withdraw from a retirement portfolio each year without running out of money over a typical retirement.

To illustrate, let’s assume John withdraws 4% from his total portfolio in the first year of retirement. Every year after that, he withdraws that same dollar amount, adjusted upward for inflation — not 4% of the new balance, but the original 4% figure escalated over time.

Using John’s nest egg, here are the calculations:

• 4% of $357,000 is $14,280 in year one, for a monthly income of $1,190 (before adding in CPP and OAS)
• If inflation runs 3% the next year, John would withdraw $14,708 (and that was calculated by multiplying the original 4% sum of $14,280 by 1.03 (representing the 3% inflation) for a sum of $14,708)
• Repeat for each year

That means John would run this calculation for each annual withdrawal sum, regardless of how the portfolio performed.

Compare against the average household expenditure

But the real question is whether John — or any pre-retiree — will have enough monthly income to cover expenses?

For context, Statistics Canada shows that Canadian households with residents aged 65 or older spent an average of $40,630 per year on core necessities — food, shelter, household operations (utilities/communications), transportation and health care — or about $3,386 a month.

In John’s case, he would be in a shortfall of $2,196 per month if he relied just on income produced by his retirement savings.

If he were to add in CPP and OAS, based on the average monthly disbursement according to Statistics Canada, he could expect another $1,677 per month — reducing his monthly shortfall to $519.

In this scenario, John still falls short of covering his core monthly expenses, even after his retirement withdrawals and government benefits are combined. That gap doesn’t mean $357,000 is the wrong number to retire on — it means he’ll have to do a bit more work on how to retire and live comfortably without running out of money.

Thankfully, he has two options to consider:

• When to start CPP and OAS
• How much he spends in retirement

Calculating what matters most in retirement

Two factors matter almost as much as how much you’ve managed to save for retirement: what age you start to collect government retirement income and how much you spend each month in retirement.

Delaying CPP past 65 increases the payment by 8.4% for every year you wait, up to age 70. Delaying OAS adds 7.2% a year over the same window.

For a retiree who doesn’t need the income right away, waiting even two or three years can permanently raise a guaranteed, inflation-indexed income stream — something no market portfolio promises.

To help delay when you take CPP and OAS, retirees can examine the spending side of the equation, with three obvious options: (1) downsize; (2) cut spending; (3) continue earning income (from part-time or contract work).

How these calculations impact your retirement

Based on John’s $519 per month shortfall, here is the impact of each factor. Keep in mind that all figures are illustrative and are meant only as a way to help explain how and why these factors can impact retirement earnings and savings.

Option 1: Downsize

In this hypothetical, John sells his paid-off home for $650,000 and buys a smaller condo for $450,000, freeing up $200,000 in home equity.

Based on this decision, two things happen to his monthly budget:

1. The freed-up $200,000, invested and drawn down using the same 4% guideline, adds roughly $667 a month in income ($200,000 × 4% ÷ 12)
2. Shelter costs drop, too — lower property tax, insurance and maintenance on a smaller condo could plausibly save another $200 to $300 a month, since shelter is the single largest necessity category in the StatsCan data at $15,703 per year for the average 65+ household

The combined effect of these savings would produce roughly $867 to $967 per month of extra income, enough to erase the shortfall and leave John a decent spending cushion.

Option 2: Cut spending

Assuming John doesn’t move, he could find savings by trimming his discretionary spending. To illustrate, he could consider:

• Downgrading from two vehicles to one, or reducing insurance/fuel costs, saves roughly $150 a month on transportation. According to StatsCan data, Canadians 65 and older spend an average of $8,344 per year on transportation, so any reduction in costs in this area can help.
• Trim discretionary recreation and dining out, which could theoretically save another $150 a month.

By trimming his budget, John could probably save $300 or more per month, close to half the current monthly shortfall.

Option 3: Continue earning income

The final factor is for John to continue earning income throughout his retirement, either through part-time or contract work.

For instance, if he were to work 8 to 10 hours per week at $20 an hour, then his gross monthly take-home pay would be about $640 to $800, which covers his monthly retirement shortfall.

Depending on the earnings per hour and the hours worked, John could end up earning enough to allow him to delay collecting CPP or OAS a year or two longer.

What to do before you set a retirement date

While downsizing and continuing to work are effective in solving retirement income gaps, they do require a bigger commitment. Prior to committing to these options, it’s best if pre-retirees run through a few calculations first. To help, here’s a list:

• Calculate your own baseline spending for a full year, not a rough guess
• Run CPP and OAS estimates at 65, 68 and 70 through the CRA My Service Canada Account
• Apply a withdrawal-rate guideline like the 4% rule to investable savings, not net worth
• Stress-test the plan against a down market in the first year or two of retirement

While these calculations are critical for determining the best plan of action during retirement, it’s also important to revisit the plan every year, not just once before retiring.

Bottom line

There’s no single savings sum that triggers a quality retirement for every Canadian, and no single Statistics Canada average that settles the question. What actually determines whether your retirement savings will be enough is how much reliable monthly income that nest egg can produce and whether it’s enough to cover your expenses. Build that comparison first, and a retirement date becomes a math problem instead of a guess.

According to data released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association, new single-family home sales soared 246% year over year that month, driven primarily by buyers taking advantage of Ontario’s expanded Harmonized Sales Tax rebate program.

Buyers return to the market

The dramatic increase in activity saw buyers purchase 781 new single-family properties, which include detached, semi-detached and townhomes.

Total new builder sales reached 1,018 units across the region in July, according to The Star. The single-family segment finished roughly 50% above its 10-year average, marking the fourth consecutive month of positive momentum for the category.

Industry leaders noted that the provincial tax relief measures provided a necessary push for prospective homeowners who had previously felt isolated from the market.

Dave Wilkes, chief executive officer at BILD, highlighted the shift in momentum following months of sluggish market activity.

“The combination of builder incentives and government tax relief has brought buyers back to the single-family market,” Wilkes said in a statement released alongside market data from Altus Group.

Price discounts and market contrasts

The surge in single-family sales coincided with continued price adjustments across the GTA housing market. The benchmark price for new single-family homes stood at $1,362,433 in July, down 8.5% compared to the same period last year.

Market analysts at The MAC Team point out that the expanded tax rebate, combined with builder price reductions, created significant financial savings that resale properties could not match, as resale transactions are not subject to HST.

However, the rebound remains uneven across different housing types. While new single-family homes saw elevated demand, the new condominium apartment sector continued to experience significant headwinds. New condo sales remained 80% below their 10-year average, largely due to stricter eligibility criteria tied to the HST rebate program for high-density units.

Saving for a home, with or without a tax break

Not every buyer will time their purchase to a rebate window, and incentive programs like the expanded HST rebate can change or expire. Building a solid savings plan remains the more reliable path to affordability, regardless of what’s happening with provincial policy.

A few fundamentals hold up:

• Automate consistent contributions. Setting up automatic transfers to a dedicated savings account, even in modest amounts, tends to outperform sporadic lump-sum saving over time.
• Use registered accounts designed for homebuyers. Vehicles like the FHSA (First Home Savings Account) and the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan offer tax advantages specifically built around a home purchase, and can be used alongside each other in many cases.
• Track your debt-to-income ratio early. Lenders weigh this heavily, and paying down high-interest debt before applying for a mortgage can improve both approval odds and the rate offered.
• Budget for costs beyond the down payment. Land transfer tax, legal fees, home inspections and closing costs typically add several thousand dollars on top of the purchase price, and are easy to underestimate.
• Watch for municipal and provincial programs beyond HST rebates. For instance, land transfer tax rebates for first-time buyers are available in Ontario independent of the HST program and can be combined with other savings strategies.

Buyers who build these habits are better positioned to act when incentive-driven windows like this summer’s HST rebate open up, and they’re not left starting from scratch if a program lapses or changes.

It’s a jarring reminder for anyone who assumes a government-linked, unionized or “essential” job comes with built-in security. Restructuring can hit public institutions just as fast as private companies, sometimes with even less warning.

For the workers affected and the broader public watching this play out, the layoffs raise urgent questions about how a premier educational institution operates without a dedicated science team, and what this restructuring signals for the future of Ontario’s public agencies.

What happened at the Ontario Science Centre?

The cuts eliminated entire teams, not just individual roles. Live exhibits, security, business development and the standalone science unit are gone, leaving 136 unionized staff where there were 166, OPSEU/SEFPO says.

The centre has operated out of an interim downtown Toronto location and pop-up sites since its original building closed in 2024 over roof concerns, while the provincial government builds a planned $1-billion location at Ontario Place, expected to open by 2029 and will eventually create 1,000 jobs, The Canadian Press reports.

According to OPSEU/SEFPO, in September 2024, Ontario premier Doug Ford promised that no employee at the Ontario Science Centre would be left jobless following the sudden closure of its old location.

However, that clearly did not stop the eventual firing of 30 people this week.

“What is a science centre without its science staff? It’s like a hospital without doctors and nurses or a fire department without firefighters,” Adil Shamji, the Liberal MPP who represents the OSC’s old location, said to CTV News.

The province’s defense: Restructuring for a new era

In response to the union’s outcry, the province and Science Centre leadership framed the decision as a necessary step to adapt to a changing operational landscape.

According to statements from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, eliminating the standalone science unit does not mean science content is disappearing. The ministry stated that science expertise and programming will remain embedded across remaining departments rather than isolated in a dedicated division. Furthermore, provincial announcements emphasize that the future Ontario Place development will eventually create up to 1,000 jobs, with reconfigured positions opening as the organization transitions.

In a video recording obtained by CP24, CEO Paul Kortenaar told staff that several functions were being "streamlined, consolidated or reconfigured" to build new teams, including a research and impact unit, to better serve future operational needs.

Why "stable" public jobs remain vulnerable to policy shifts

It is tempting to view public sector, crown agency or unionized positions as immune to sudden downsizing. However, public institutions do not operate in a vacuum — they exist at the intersection of shifting government mandates, high-stakes real estate strategy, and provincial budget priorities.

When an agency enters a prolonged transition, such as moving from a permanent landmark to temporary pop-ups ahead of a multi-year construction project, operational needs change.

In the case of the Ontario Science Centre, a collective agreement and decades of service provided severance framework and union representation, but they could not shield workers from a strategic re-alignment driven from the top down.

For homeowners across the region still dealing with soaked basements and insurance claims, the number is more than a headline. It’s a preview of where premiums, and coverage decisions, are headed.

Why the number keeps climbing

IBC says insured losses from extreme weather in Canada have averaged more than $3.7 billion a year over the last decade, up from $1.4 billion the decade before that and $883 million in the decade before that — an increase of roughly 320% since the late 1990s and early 2000s, after accounting for inflation. In 2024, Canada logged its costliest year on record for insured weather losses, at more than $9 billion.

IBC vice-president Maximilien Roy put it plainly: extreme weather “is not a future threat” for Canadian communities. He said recovery from storms like this one isn’t enough on its own, and called on governments to invest in reducing flood risk before the next storm hits. That cost eventually works its way into premiums, deductibles and which coverage options insurers are willing to offer in higher-risk areas.

The coverage gap many homeowners don’t realize they have

Here’s the detail that catches a lot of Canadians off guard after a storm like this one: A standard home insurance policy typically does not cover sewer backup or overland flooding — the two most common causes of a flooded basement. Both are optional add-ons that have to be purchased separately, and without them, a basement full of sewer backup or rainwater runoff may not be covered at all.

A federal flood insurance program meant to help homeowners in high-risk areas access affordable overland flood coverage has also been delayed. First promised in 2019 and reaffirmed in the 2024 budget with a target launch of April 2026, it has missed that deadline with no new timeline announced.

What to do before the next storm

With premiums tracking a decade of rising claims, the most useful thing a homeowner can do is close the gaps in their own policy rather than wait for a bigger fix:

• Ask your insurer directly whether your policy includes sewer backup and overland flood coverage — if it doesn’t, find out what adding both would cost
• Install or test a backwater valve to stop sewage from flowing back into your home during heavy rain
• Make sure any sump pump has a battery backup, since storms often knock out power exactly when the pump is needed most
• Keep floor drains, window wells and downspouts clear, and make sure downspouts direct water at least a couple of metres away from your foundation
• Move valuables and irreplaceable documents off basement floors and onto higher shelving
• Ask your insurer about discounts for installing these mitigation measures — several offer them, and the discount can help offset the cost of the new coverage

The bottom line

Extreme weather losses in Canada have been climbing for two decades, and IBC’s own numbers suggest that trend isn’t reversing soon. Premiums will likely keep reflecting that. The coverage gaps around sewer backup and overland flooding are avoidable, and they’re worth closing now, while the storm is still fresh in mind, rather than after the next basement floods.

The policy hold and hawkish tone have sent a wave of anxiety through Canadian households. On Reddit’s r/PersonalFinanceCanada, a homeowner facing a 4.49% fixed rate due for renewal next November turned to the community to crowdsource advice.

“The BoC’s announcement that they are holding the interest rate at 2.25% came with some cautionary words from Macklem about inflation being too high,” the user wrote. “Some economists are predicting a series of up to three increases to the rate starting in December, with many suggesting a 50 point increase. My current mortgage rate is fine but not great (4.49%). My mortgage is set to renew next November. I am squeamish about taking a wait and see approach to interest rates given that even a .25% increase is a couple hundred dollars more in monthly payments.”

The poster asked whether to break the agreement early or hold out for a deal next fall. The post sparked an active discussion highlighting the dilemma many Canadians face as fixed terms approach their maturity dates.

The high cost of breaking fixed rate mortgages

A prominent theme in the responses was the steep financial penalty associated with exiting a fixed rate mortgage early.

When one commenter asked whether the poster was on a fixed or variable contract, noting that fixed terms are expensive to break, another user shared a cautionary real world experience.

“Learned this the hard way,” the commenter replied. “Was looking into selling our condo and it was about $12,000 in penalties to break our 3y fixed early, with about a year left at the time. Looks like we are still keeping it.”

Breaking a variable rate mortgage generally incurs a penalty equal to three months of interest. Breaking a fixed rate mortgage typically requires paying the greater of three months of interest or the interest rate differential (IRD). The IRD calculates the gap between the original rate and current lending rates over the remaining term, often leading to fees that reach into five figures.

“That’s too large of a penalty you’ll be risking imo,” another commenter advised. “There have been many outlets predicting rate increases all year. I would wait.”

Comfort levels vs hunt for sub-4% rates

For some borrowers, paying a penalty or taking a slightly higher rate is worth the predictability. Several users pointed out that finding rock bottom fixed rates remains difficult in the current market.

“Can’t find fixed rates under 4% (most brokers couldn’t)! I had a trauma with variable lol so I don’t want variable anymore,” one user shared, suggesting borrowers “go based on your comfort level if you can’t stomach increases.”

Another member noted how quickly available rates can shift over a few months.

“I got 3.99% for 5y fixed in April and at the time people were reporting getting as low as 3.69% but I didn’t see it and my broker didn’t either,” they wrote.

High risk tolerance and the variable route

While fixed terms provide stability, other contributors argued that variable rates remain superior over the long run for those with the financial cushion to handle fluctuations.

“This previous renewal is the first time I ever picked variable, the amt of years I spent paying way above average rates because I was worried about the interest changing... I would have saved thousands to date if I went variable, I will be variable forever at this point,” one homeowner explained.

“I got 3.7 5 year variable a few months ago packaged with a heloc prime +0.2 from TD unsecured mortgage, even if rates do go up the 0.5%... Now I am at 4.2 which seems to be a typical unsecured rate.. But when they likely come back down I Atleast do go down with it rather then committing to paying more for 5 yrs. My risk tolerance is high though nowadays and mortgage is only around 300k left so I can see it being alot more worrysome if you are carrying the million plus range mortgages.”

With macroeconomic factors like trade disputes and fluctuating global energy prices clouding the interest rate horizon, Canadian homeowners remain caught between locking in certainty today or waiting out the market until renewal day.

Balancing policy warnings with personal balance sheets

Ultimately, the dilemma facing the Redditor user mirrors the exact delicate walk the Bank of Canada itself is attempting to navigate.

While Governor Macklem balances national trade uncertainty and stubborn cost-of-living pressures, individual borrowers are left translating central bank rhetoric into monthly budget line items. Whether taking on thousands of dollars in early break fees to secure certainty or riding variable fluctuations into next year, the central bank’s rate hold proves that waiting out the interest rate storm comes with its own price tag.

Berkshire Hathaway’s newest regulatory filings show the company bought roughly US$23.5 billion in stock while selling only US$3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2026 — a net purchase of nearly US$20 billion. It also ended a 14-quarter streak of net equity selling — the company’s longest since late 2022.

Abel isn’t acting out of desperation. Berkshire’s operating earnings for the quarter climbed 16% to nearly US$13 billion, while net earnings attributable to shareholders more than doubled to US$25.7 billion, largely on investment gains.

For investors, this shift in position isn’t about which stocks Berkshire picked; it’s about what a move like this signals — and what Canadian investors sitting on their own uninvested cash might take from it.

What changed under Greg Abel

Greg Abel took over as Berkshire’s chief executive on January 1, 2026, inheriting a cash position that had grown past US$360 billion. Buffett had built up a large cash reserve primarily because he said he could not find enough value in the market to justify spending it.

After taking the helm of Berkshire and settling in the first quarter of the year, Abel opted to put that cash to work in the second quarter of 2026.

The single biggest move was a roughly US$17-billion addition to Berkshire’s stake in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, pushing that position to about US$36.6 billion — now Berkshire’s third-largest holding, behind only Apple and American Express. Berkshire also expanded its bet on Delta Air Lines by 44%, adding roughly US$1.6 billion to bring that stake to about US$5.1 billion, and repurchased US$4.5 billion of its own shares.

Why a growing cash pile isn’t automatically a warning sign

For years, Berkshire’s swelling cash hoard was read as a caution flag — a sign that even one of the world’s most disciplined investors thought stocks, broadly, were priced too high to buy.

This doesn’t mean that Abel’s pivot is a signal that the whole market suddenly got cheap. Instead, it means that Berkshire found a specific opportunity, largely tied to Alphabet’s position in AI-driven growth, that was worth deploying capital into. The lesson for Canadian investors isn’t to copy the trade. It’s a reminder that a large cash position, whether it’s Berkshire’s or your own, isn’t a strategy by itself — it’s a holding pattern while you wait for a clear reason to act.

What investors should do to prepare

Investors can take a few steps, including:

• Check whether your own cash position reflects a deliberate wait for value, or just inertia
• Confirm which account holds your U.S. stocks — RRSP, TFSA or non-registered — since the tax treatment differs depending on the account in which they are held
• Watch for Berkshire’s next 13F filing, due mid-November, to see whether Abel keeps buying or pulls back
• Resist buying Alphabet, Delta or anything else simply because Berkshire did — the reasoning behind a purchase matters more than the purchase itself

Remember, Buffett spent decades insisting that patience, not activity, was the hardest skill in investing. Abel’s first big move as CEO doesn’t abandon that lesson; he waited until a specific opportunity, not a market mood, to justify spending cash. Canadian investors sitting on cash of their own can borrow that same discipline. The goal isn’t to trade in step with Berkshire. It’s to have as clear a reason as Abel apparently did.

According to a recent TD Economics client note from senior economist Andrew Hencic, the U.S. tariff shuffle shouldn’t materially affect Canadian economic growth — in the near term. Hencic wasn’t alone in this assessment. Analysts with Capital Economics, an independent macroeconomic research firm, reached a similar conclusion saying a related U.S. ban on Canadian whey, alcoholic beverages and motorcycles will have little effect on either economy.

That’s reassuring at the national level. But “no material impact” on GDP doesn’t mean it won’t affect you — especially if your paycheque, business or investment portfolio sits inside one of the affected industries or provinces.

Here’s what actually changed, who’s exposed and what to do about it.

What changes as of September 15

As Director & Senior Economist at TD Economics Andrew Hencic points out that the U.S. response to Ottawa’s counter-tariffs came in three parts:

• New 50% duties on dairy, alcohol, metal and paper products and outboard motorboats — about 0.6% of U.S. imports from Canada in 2025
• Tariffs removed on cement, sugars, toilet paper and fishing rods — about 0.5% of U.S. imports from Canada in 2025
• A separate import ban on whey, alcoholic beverages and motorcycles, starting September 29 — under 0.3% of U.S. imports from Canada

In other words, Washington simply swapped which products get taxed. Based on analysis from TD Economics, the U.S. removed tariffs on roughly 20 products and replaced them with a wider scattershot-type tariffs across more than 300 other products.

Why economists are calling it a wash

While the impact may be different — tariffs removed from some items and applied to other products — the overall impact is about the same, according to Hencic.

As he points out, the U.S. “shifted what is covered by the tariff umbrella but has landed on a similar dollar amount that will be tariffed.”

The real damage is the uncertainty. Hencic frames it as “another manifestation of policy uncertainty” — uncertainty that keeps Canadian firms guessing about U.S. market access. As Hencic explains, uncertainty has its own cost, even when the tariff total stays flat.

Who feels the latest tariff war, first?

From a national perspective, these new tariffs aren’t much different — but the national number hides where the pain actually lands.

In the latest TD Economics report, Hencic flags Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as the provinces most exposed to this round of changes, while British Columbia is expected to come out roughly net neutral. That regional split lines up with where the newly tariffed goods — dairy, alcohol, metal and paper products and outboard motors — are largely produced.

If you or your household income depends on one of those industries, this isn’t a rounding error — it’s your order book, your overtime hours or your firm’s profit margins.

Plus, investors holding Canadian equities concentrated in export-heavy sectors face the same regional math, even if a broad index looks unaffected.

An even bigger risk to watch

Two things could turn a manageable shuffle into a real hit to household finances.

Analysts from both TD Economics and Capital Economics warn that continued escalation raises the odds Canada’s economy stalls or contracts in the fourth quarter — a scenario that would put pressure on jobs and the Bank of Canada’s rate path well beyond the industries directly tariffed.

Then there’s the threat of exclusion: the U.S. has floated excluding Canadian firms from its Multiple Award Schedule procurement program — a US$50-billion-a-year purchasing channel for government IT and office supplies. TD says the timing and scale of any exclusion are still unclear.

What can Canadians do, now?

It’s hard to fight off the economic impact of a trade-war that’s gone adrift, but there are some meaningful steps that every Canadian can take.

• If your job or business touches dairy, alcohol, metals, paper or outboard motors — or you’re in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick or Nova Scotia — treat your emergency fund as a priority, not a someday task.
• Check whether your investments are concentrated in trade-exposed Canadian sectors, and rebalance if you’re not comfortable with that exposure.
• Don’t plan your mortgage renewal around a guaranteed rate cut; build your budget around a range of Bank of Canada outcomes, not the best case.
• Watch for federal support signals from next week’s investment summit and the fall budget, which may address sectors under pressure.

Bottom line

While the current tariff turmoil may be a wash, from a national, aggregate perspective, that doesn’t mean everyday Canadians won’t feel the impact. What’s key, right now, is to use this relative calm to review your income and savings exposure — look at your job, your business, and your portfolio — and to make changes before the next escalation.

When faced with rising cross-border duties, CanCorr co-founder Baha Naemi did what many in the cutthroat industry considered unthinkable: he called his direct competitors to audit national manufacturing capacity. By coordinating across rival plants, raw material suppliers and trade associations, Canadian packagers confirmed they could step in to replace imported packaging.

“The answer was overwhelmingly ‘yes,’” Naemi told CTV News after he surveyed industry capacity across the country.

Naemi noted that reaching out across competitive lines has proven to be the most vital lesson of the trade conflict, transforming an aggressive tariff war into a catalyst for industry-wide collaboration.

“What this situation has taught us is that during times of crisis, working together with companies that were once considered competitors is a crucial strategy,” Naemi said.

Finding strength in domestic partnerships

The Surrey, B.C.-based manufacturer produces corrugated cardboard sheets and ships roughly 800 million square feet annually to its primary market in the U.S., a volume valued at about $80 million.

While flat cardboard sheets escaped the latest American tariff lists because U.S. plants rely heavily on Canadian supplies, fully assembled cardboard boxes made in Canada face steep trade barriers. At the same time, Canadian businesses have historically imported vast quantities of finished boxes from south of the border.

Rather than retreating, CanCorr saw an immediate opening to supply Canadian firms that previously bought assembled boxes from American vendors.

The positive industry survey gave domestic manufacturers the confidence to ramp up box production and launch targeted sales campaigns promoting Canadian-made packaging. Together, Canadian plants can collectively replace hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.-made boxes now subject to retaliatory tariffs, keeping business local while insulating buyers from unexpected surcharges.

Rethinking raw material supply chains

Beyond joining forces with industry rivals, CanCorr is permanently rewiring its raw material supply chains to safeguard operations against future trade friction.

Historically, about 80% of the paper used in its Surrey operation was sourced from suppliers in the U.S., with the remaining 20% coming from international markets.

The company has now flipped that formula on its head.

About 80% of its paper now comes from Eastern Canadian mills and international vendors, leaving just 20% coming from the U.S. for specialty applications. Naemi emphasized that this shift to domestic and diversified sourcing is intended to remain permanent, regardless of future policy shifts in Washington.

By combining direct competitor outreach with restructured supply lines, Canadian packagers are proving that unified domestic action can insulate local supply chains from severe external trade shocks.

For snowbirds who typically head to Florida, Arizona and California each winter, the discounts raise a practical question. Canadians cut spending on U.S. trips by $3.3 billion in 2025, to $18.8 billion, and made 7.1 million fewer visits than the year before, according to Statistics Canada. Before booking on the strength of a deal, it’s worth checking whether the math still favours the U.S.

The ups and downs of recent travel

There are early signs of a partial recovery. Border crossings picked up slightly in May, June and July of 2026, helped along by the World Cup, which Canada’s men’s team competed in. But the rebound has been fragile, and a new round of tariffs threatens to undercut it just as the winter travel season begins.

Do the discounts actually offset the cost?

A hotel room priced at par, or a splashy “we love Canada” promotion, can look like real savings. But a weaker Canadian dollar coupled alongside rising U.S. airfares and hotel rates have already pushed up the cost of an American trip compared with a few years ago. Additionally, tariffs on Canadian goods make cross-border shopping — a side perk of a U.S. trip — less rewarding too. Florida saw a 7% drop in Canadian visitors in 2025; Visit California estimated a 20% decline. Both regions are counting on this winter’s snowbird season to show whether the outreach is working.

What snowbirds should weigh before booking

Before locking in a winter stay, compare more than the sticker price:

• Exchange rate: Check whether an “at-par” promotion actually beats the current conversion rate, and whether it applies to the room or dates you want.
• Total trip cost: Weigh flights, gas and dining against what many Canadians have already found closer to home or in another international country — spending on domestic and overseas trips soared as the U.S. share fell.
• Insurance: Confirm travel medical coverage still applies for the length of stay, and ask about coverage for trip disruptions.
• Tariff exposure: Budget for higher prices on American-made goods if shopping is part of the plan.

The bottom line for snowbirds

There’s no single right call here, and it depends on where you’re headed and how long you’re staying. What’s clear is that this winter is shaping up as a real test of whether the informal boycott holds through another snowbird season.

Before booking on the strength of a discount, run the fully loaded cost and decide with that number in front of you, not the ad.

They're the newest members of a small but growing club. A year earlier, Mark Hanley, a retired software analyst from Newmarket, ON, claimed his own $65-million Lotto Max prize from the March 28, 2025 draw (3). His first instinct was pure joy and disbelief. His second was to start dreaming big.

"I want to buy a castle," Hanley said in a news release from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. But his wife had other plans.

A winning ticket is just the beginning

The Hanleys' reaction to their windfall paints a relatable picture: One partner wants to splash out on a grand estate, the other says absolutely not. And therein lies the universal lesson that it's tempting to go big, but the real win is learning how to go smart.

Their compromise? No castle. But definitely travel. And definitely cheese.

"I want to travel the world for its food," Hanley told Global News. "I want to go to Italy, and especially France. I love French bread, French wine, and... oh my, French cheese!"

It's a grounded approach to sudden wealth: Spend a little, savour a lot and plan for the future.

What to do if you come into a financial windfall

While most of us won't win the lottery, many will experience some form of windfall in our lifetime, such as a settlement, inheritance or equity payout. Here are some best practices to keep your fortune from becoming a regret.

1. Pause before you spend

A sudden influx of money can trigger a rush of emotion, and a rush of decisions. Don't do either right away. Experts advise keeping your win or windfall quiet at first, so you have time to process and plan (4). Hanley didn't even wake his wife immediately. Instead, he sat with the news, confirmed his ticket and considered how to share it. That kind of calm can be your best first move.

2. Build a financial team you trust

Windfalls can lead to unintended tax consequences, poor investments or simply overspending. Bring in a trusted group of professionals:

• A certified financial planner to design a sustainable strategy
• A tax specialist to make the most of deductions and minimize liabilities
• A lawyer to handle estate planning, trusts and asset protection

This team can help set up guardrails, so your wealth lasts far beyond the initial thrill.

Another way to make sure your windfall lasts well beyond the initial thrill is to put some of it to work so it keeps growing on its own, and so you have a cushion to fall back on if you ever need one.

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3. Set a "fun fund" — and stick to it

It's okay to treat yourself. In fact, you should. But smart winners do it within limits. One common recommendation is to allocate five to 10% of your windfall for "lifestyle spending," whether that's travel, home upgrades or yes, even cheese.

Mark Hanley's world tour for food is a perfect example: It's memorable, meaningful and won't break the bank. A castle? Not so much.

Once you've set aside that lifestyle-spending slice, the rest of your windfall shouldn't just sit idle while you figure out your next move. Parking it somewhere it can grow on its own, like a high-interest savings account, is a simple way to put it to work in the meantime.

A high interest savings account can help you grow your savings faster. It often pays to shop around because some banks offer special interest rates for new customers.

For example, open a personal account with EQ Bank and in just a few minutes you get access to the best features of a chequing account combined with a high-interest savings rate.

When you fund your account and set up a direct deposit, you can earn 2.75% on every dollar deposited into the account.

The account has $0 monthly fees and no minimum balances. Plus, you can withdraw from any ATM in Canada — for free.

You can also optimize your banking even further with specialized accounts and offers.

Some Canadians may qualify for profession-specific banking perks that can help reduce everyday banking costs.

For example, National Bank offers specialized banking packages for professionals in fields like healthcare, engineering, IT, finance, law, teaching, public service, administration, architecture, agriculture and more. Depending on eligibility, the offer can include:

• Up to 3 bank accounts with no fixed monthly fees, with an eligible Mastercard rewards credit card (Certain fees apply)
• Personal and home equity lines of credit with preferred terms and conditions
• Preferred value-added services like legal assistance and identity theft protection
• Access to a financial advisor

According to National Bank, eligible professionals can unlock up to approximately $1,313 in annual savings with higher savings available for select professions such as healthcare and IT.

The special offer covers more than 150 professions, including a wide range of professionals and specialists — and eligible individuals can enjoy even more savings when you combine specific banking products and services.

Find out if you work in an eligible profession and make an appointment to explore your options.

4. Plan for the next generation

One of the biggest joys of a windfall is being able to support your loved ones. Hanley called telling his children "a dream come true."

Smart ways to share wealth include:

• Funding education for children or grandchildren
• Contributing to a down payment on a home
• Setting up a family trust
• Covering caregiving needs for aging parents

Generosity with purpose can strengthen your family's future and your legacy.

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5. Give back with intention

Charitable giving is a powerful use of sudden wealth. It not only helps others, but can also provide meaningful tax advantages. Whether you support causes you care about or create a donor-advised fund, philanthropy can be a core part of your new financial life.

Spend with joy, not impulse

Mark Hanley's story is a reminder that even the biggest windfall doesn't need to change who you are, just what you're capable of doing. His instinct was to celebrate, his wife's was to stay grounded. Together, they struck a balance many can learn from.

It's a balance that's only getting more relevant. OLG raised the Lotto Max jackpot cap to $90 million in April 2026 (5), a record for a Canadian lottery, and bumped the ticket price to $6 for the first time since the game launched in 2009. Bigger jackpots mean more Canadians will eventually face Hanley's problem, and Greg and Krys's.

"It allows us not only to secure our own future, but that of generations to come," Greg said after OLG confirmed his and Krys's win (1).

And if French cheese is part of the plan? Even better. Just maybe hold off on the castle.

What this means for the average Canadian

You don't need an eight-figure jackpot for this advice to apply. A modest inheritance, a severance package or an insurance settlement can trigger the same pressure to act fast. Before you do anything else: confirm the money is real and in your name, resist telling more than a few trusted people right away, and book a session with a certified financial planner. FP Canada, the national body that licenses and regulates certified financial planners, runs a free public directory where you can confirm anyone's credentials before you sign anything (6).

One thing that won't cost you: the win itself. Lottery and other windfall winnings are treated as tax-free in Canada, according to the Canada Revenue Agency (7), though any interest or investment income you later earn on that money is taxable.

Article Sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.

Newswire (1); CBC (2); Global News (3); Government of Canada (4); OLG (5); FP Canada (6); Government of Canada (7)

The mid-90s navigation pioneer is taking a victory lap after defying an executive order that sought to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” according to CTV News.

While tech heavyweights Google Maps and Apple Maps quietly updated their systems within U.S. borders, MapQuest refused to budge. That defiance triggered a massive spike in app downloads, propelling the legacy brand back into mainstream pop culture for the first time in decades.

Now, the company is doubling down on its newfound internet-hero status by plastering street-level ads and billboards across major cities, emphasizing its grievance with the latest U.S. government directive.

Directions to reality

In Chicago, MapQuest trolled the administration directly with a six-foot billboard at State and Hubbard streets. The display outlines step-by-step driving directions from that exact downtown intersection straight to Lake Ontario, anchored by a blunt tagline: “It’s still Lake Ontario. And we’re still here”.

Similar ad postings have emerged in high-visibility corridors across North America, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington and Toronto.

“People rely on maps to make the world feel navigable and familiar,” MapQuest general manager Doug Berger told MediaPost. “While keeping the names that people know and trust, this campaign brings our commitment to life while tapping into 30 years of nostalgia, and puts it all right back on the map.”

Political pushback

The presidential name change has faced fierce opposition from Canadian leaders. Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed the unilateral American decree, emphasizing that Lake Ontario predates the U.S. Declaration of Independence by centuries.

Carney stated that “naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario,” according to CTV News.

While major modern navigation apps fell in line, MapQuest is using its retro paper-style directions to prove that sticking to facts can be the ultimate PR power move.

BMO InvestorLine will eliminate commissions on all stock and ETF trades starting September 14, 2026, according to The Canadian Press. The bank is also scrapping brokerage account administration fees and cutting the cost of trading options.

It’s a notable shift: BMO InvestorLine becomes the first bank-owned direct investing brokerage among Canada’s five biggest banks to eliminate trading commissions entirely, matching what Wealthsimple, Questrade and U.S. entrant Robinhood already offer Canadians.

For younger and newer investors especially, the move removes a real barrier to entry. But zero-commission trading isn’t the same as zero-risk investing, and how you use these platforms matters more than ever.

What’s actually changing at BMO InvestorLine

Effective September 14, BMO InvestorLine customers will no longer pay commissions to buy or sell stocks or ETFs. The bank is also eliminating account administration fees and lowering options trading costs by reducing per-contract fees and removing commissions on those trades too, per CP.

BMO framed the change as part of a push to expand access to digital, self-directed investing for all Canadians, particularly as more people manage their money online. The bank said the pricing changes won’t come at the expense of tools such as research and AI-generated market summaries already available on the platform.

“We were deliberate about this. It isn’t a promotion — it’s a step change in what self-directed investing costs at a Canadian bank, and we made it permanent on purpose,” Silvio Stroescu, president and CEO of BMO InvestorLine, exclusively told Money.ca.

“Commissions off stocks and ETFs across the whole platform, for every client, no caps, no expiry date, and the account administration fee gone with it. The per-trade commission has been the default in this market for decades. As of September 14, commission-free is the default at BMO. That’s what Canadians investor should be expect now, as a baseline.”

Why fees hit younger investors hardest

A commission of a few dollars a trade might seem minor if you’re investing tens of thousands of dollars at once. But for someone building a portfolio $50 or $100 at a time, that fee can eat up a meaningful chunk of every contribution — exactly the friction Silvio Stroescu, president and CEO of BMO InvestorLine, pointed to in describing the change.

“I keep coming back to someone investing a hundred dollars at a time. A few dollars of commission isn’t a rounding error for them — it’s a real bite out of every contribution, and a flat administration fee takes another one, because a flat fee always lands hardest on the smallest account,” Stroescu said.

“Their tenth contribution now costs what their first one did. Nothing.”

He also noted how BMO is betting its size and breadth of tools will still set it apart from smaller, fee-free rivals, pointing to active-trader features for experienced investors and built-in education for people just starting out.

“Cost is the easiest thing in this industry to copy. What’s harder is having somewhere for an investor to go when their situation gets more complicated.,” Stroescu noted.

“Canadians have mostly been offered two choices — do it all yourself or hand it all over. We have a third. With adviceDirect the investor still makes the decisions, but there are licensed advisors and customized portfolio monitoring behind them. If our clients’ needs outgrow that, what we can do for them grows too — right into private wealth. Nobody has to start over somewhere else.”

The catch: Lower fees can mean more risk, not less

Removing the cost of trading can also change investor behaviour, and not always for the better, cautioned Claire Célérier, Canada Research Chair in household finance at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, in comments to CP.

Célérier said zero-commission trading tends to encourage people to trade more often and more actively, a pattern that tends to hurt inexperienced investors the most. She noted that some commission-free platforms lean on riskier products, including leveraged trades, options and prediction markets, to make money once trading itself is free.

Big banks tend to be more conservative, she said, offering a narrower set of products out of concern for investor protection. Still, not every bank is expected to follow BMO’s lead: some may decide their clients are better served by keeping trading costs in place rather than encouraging more frequent trading.

What Canadian investors should do before trading commission-free

Before treating zero-commission trading as a green light to trade more, a few ground rules can help:

• Set a plan before you trade, not after — decide what you’re buying and why, rather than reacting to short-term price moves now that the cost of acting on impulse has dropped
• Watch for other fees — currency conversion charges, account transfer fees and costs on leveraged or options products can still add up even without a per-trade commission
• Use the free tools you’re already paying for — research, portfolio tracking and investor education are worth using before assuming more trades equals more money
• Compare platforms on more than price — investor protection, product selection and customer support still vary between banks and independent brokerages

Commission-free trading is a genuine win for Canadians who felt priced out of investing. But the real cost of trading was never just the commission, it’s the decisions made with every trade. As more of Canada’s biggest banks likely follow BMO’s lead, the investors who benefit most will be the ones who treat lower fees as an invitation to invest with a plan, not to trade more.

They don’t expect to save that amount within the next five years, given their health and financial situation, so they’re weighing high-interest loans — possibly split across more than one lender — to pay off the balance now. The bet: Reinstated student loans and grants, plus a university bursary they’ve received before, would let them pay the loans back once aid resumes.

They’re also in the middle of applying for Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program, though so far they only qualify for the Disability Tax Credit, and they say they can barely work right now. They openly recognize that the loans they’re considering would be predatory.

The bet: Borrowing against aid you don’t have yet

This plan is really two bets stacked on top of each other. The first is that a lender will approve $6,000 in high-interest credit to someone who says they can barely work. The second is that clearing the old balance will actually restore student aid, grants and the bursary in time — and in a large enough amount — to pay those loans back before the fees pile up.

Splitting the amount across multiple lenders doesn’t reduce that risk; it multiplies it. Each additional loan means its own fees, its own due date and its own hit if a payment is missed. If the AISH decision or the school’s reinstatement takes longer than expected, the borrower is left servicing several high-interest debts on little to no income — the exact debt-cycle pattern regulators warn about.

Why this population is squarely in lenders’ sights

This case isn’t an outlier. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), Canadians living with a disability used a payday loan in the past year at more than double the national rate — 3.5%, compared with an overall average of 1.7%. In a separate FCAC survey of high-cost credit users, 38% reported living with a disability.

Payday and high-interest installment lenders don’t need a credit check or proof of employment — they need proof of steady deposits. Disability benefits, tax credits and even the promise of reinstated student aid can all look, on paper, like the kind of predictable income a lender is willing to bet on.

What “pay it back ASAP” actually costs

As of January 1, 2025, payday loans in most provinces are capped at $14 for every $100 borrowed — about 365% as an annualized rate. On a $300 loan repaid on time in 14 days, that’s $42 in fees. Scaled up to $6,000, a single payday-style loan at that rate would cost roughly $840 in fees over just two weeks if structured the same way.

That fee is flat, not daily interest — paying it back quickly doesn’t shrink it the way early repayment would on a line of credit. If reinstated aid takes even one extra billing cycle to arrive, renewal fees or a second loan can erase whatever the borrower was hoping to gain.

Safer moves to try before signing for a predatory loan

For this specific situation, there are avenues worth exhausting first:

• Contact the Alberta Student Aid Service Centre about a Repayment Assistance Plan, an enhanced Repayment Assistance Plan, or Special Consideration on the loan due to a disability — these exist specifically so students don’t need to repay a balance in a lump sum to get back into good standing
• Ask the university’s financial aid or awards office directly whether reinstatement can happen through a payment plan instead of the full $6,000 upfront
• Apply for Alberta Income Support or other Alberta Supports programs while an AISH decision is pending, rather than relying on debt to bridge the gap — the province explicitly allows applicants to seek other benefits during the wait
• Skip the multi-lender split. Applying to several high-interest lenders at once adds fees and hard credit checks without meaningfully improving approval odds
• Call a non-profit credit counsellor before signing anything — advice is free, confidential and can surface options like these that aren’t obvious from a lender’s website

The bottom line

The real question isn’t whether high-interest loans are predatory or a lifeline in the abstract — it’s whether the built-in, lower-cost remedies have been ruled out first. Student loan repayment assistance, disability-specific consideration on a defaulted balance and interim income support while a disability application is pending all exist precisely to avoid situations like this one. Stacking predatory loans on top of aid that hasn’t been approved yet risks turning one financial squeeze into two.

Lewis made the comments at a Tuesday news conference, standing alongside union leaders, affordable-housing advocates and food bank leaders. He argued the government has found billions for a new pipeline to the West Coast and record military spending, but not enough for the everyday cost pressures hitting one of the country’s most expensive cities. The NDP Leader also claimed the trade-war response is a fast track for the corporate sphere’s wish list while asking, in effect, “where is the money for people?”

Lewis called for EI reform and better wage support for workers hit by the trade war, while also arguing for more affordable housing, mandatory rent control and publicly run grocery stores to bring down food prices.

Here’s what the trade war is actually costing Canadians, what income support already exists today and how to protect your own finances regardless of how the political fight plays out.

What Lewis is accusing Carney of

Lewis has criticized corporate concentration and free trade deals since entering federal politics, blaming what he calls a small cluster of oil, grocery, telecom and banking companies for squeezing Canadian households. His caucus retreat comments extend that argument to the trade file directly: that Carney’s government, negotiating with Washington, has left workers and communities absorbing the fallout of tariffs while large businesses receive more relief.

What the trade war is actually costing Canadians

The US tariffs that took effect on August 22 apply to about US$20 billion of Canadian goods — Canada matched them with its own retaliatory tariffs on roughly C$27.6 billion of American products, which went into effect September 8. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business found 40% of its members that export to the US sell something now caught by the tariffs, leaving smaller exporters with the least cash on hand to absorb the hit.

University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe estimates the tariffs put close to 90,000 Canadian jobs at risk once direct and indirect losses are counted, which could push the national unemployment rate up roughly 0.4 percentage points. The hardest-hit sectors include agriculture, electronics, textiles, furniture and plastics, with knock-on losses in trucking and warehousing.

The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate at 2.25% at its September meeting, citing rising trade uncertainty alongside inflation risk. It noted the tariffs affect about 5% of Canadian exports to the US and shouldn’t derail the broader economy, but flagged that a prolonged fight could still delay hiring and business investment in exposed sectors.

What income support already exists, versus what Lewis wants

Lewis’s call for EI reform lands on top of measures already in place. Employment and Social Development Canada has extended three temporary EI measures for tariff-affected workers through October 10, 2026. These include: a waived one-week waiting period, so payments start immediately; suspended treatment of severance and other separation money, so workers don’t have to exhaust it before collecting EI; and 20 extra weeks of regular benefits for long-tenured workers who need more time to find new work.

Rent control and publicly run grocery stores, by contrast, remain NDP policy proposals rather than active programs — worth watching in the months ahead, but not something to build a household budget around today.

What to do with your own finances now

The political fight over who’s protecting whom won’t resolve the trade war on your timeline. A few practical moves:

• If you’ve lost your job or hours due to tariffs, confirm whether your claim qualifies for the extended EI measures before the October 10, 2026 cutoff
• If you work in an exposed sector — manufacturing, agriculture, transportation — build or top up an emergency fund now
• Watch BoC rate decisions closely — a rate on hold at 2.25% means borrowing costs aren’t falling soon, so budget mortgage or loan renewals accordingly

Lewis’s claim that Carney is putting corporations ahead of ordinary Canadians will keep playing out in Parliament and in the next election. The EI measures, job risk and interest-rate holds are already playing out in paycheques. The practical move is to check what support you can actually claim today, and build a buffer for what you can’t.

The Superintendent of Career Colleges issued a restraining order against Randolph College for the Performing Arts, forcing the iconic Toronto school to immediately cease operating as a career college.

The regulatory action has sent shockwaves through Canada’s performing arts community, abruptly ending decades of triple-threat training in acting, singing and dancing.

The official particulars posted by the Government of Ontario cited severe contraventions under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005.

A storied history in Canadian theatre

Founded in 1992 by George C. Randolph Jr., the Randolph College for the Performing Arts emerged as a pioneer in Canadian performing arts education. Located inside a historic former church building at 736 Bathurst St. in Toronto, the institution was established to offer rigorous, multi-disciplinary training for aspiring musical theatre performers.

Over the past three decades, the college carved out a reputation as a major talent incubator for Canadian stage and screen. Alumni went on to perform on Broadway, in major Toronto productions and in regional theatres across North America — some have even gone on to work in major film and television productions.

For generations of young performers, gaining admission to Randolph’s intensive programs was seen as a key gateway into the professional entertainment industry.

Operating without registration

Despite its prominent reputation, the institution ran into major regulatory hurdles earlier this year. According to provincial enforcement records, Randolph College’s official registration expired on Feb. 1, 2026.

Under provincial law, institutions offering vocational programs that charge more than $1,000 must maintain active registration with the Superintendent of Career Colleges.

Between Feb. 1 and Aug. 28, 2026, the school continued to operate, recruit students, advertise and collect tuition fees without active registration. The province highlighted that Randolph was charging $13,710 per academic year for its 101-week Performing Arts Program.

According to CP24, the Superintendent issued four specific directives under the restraining order:

• Immediately cease operating a career college.
• Immediately stop offering or delivering unapproved vocational programs.
• Immediately cease charging or collecting tuition fees.
• Discontinue all advertising and promotional materials related to unapproved programs.

The province has ordered Randolph College to submit a complete list of students enrolled since Feb. 1, 2026, and mandated that the institution refund all tuition fees collected after Jan. 31, 2026.

Fallout for students and the community

This sudden legal move leaves dozens of current and prospective students in limbo, as many had paid thousands of dollars in tuition fees for the upcoming academic session, assuming the school’s paperwork issues were administrative delays that would be quickly resolved.

While the restraining order prevents Randolph College from functioning as a certified vocational college, the province noted that the order does not restrict the business from carrying out other lawful business activities unrelated to its career college operations. However, the loss of career college status effectively shuts down its primary musical theatre diploma curriculum.

The closure marks the end of an era for Bathurst Street and leaves a significant void in Toronto’s independent arts training ecosystem.

Now, a major legal milestone promises to turn one man’s humiliating experience into a reckoning for Canada’s aviation industry.

The B.C. Supreme Court has certified a class-action lawsuit against Air Canada, opening the door for thousands of passengers with mobility disabilities to seek accountability. It includes passengers who travelled with the airline between January 2021 and June 2023 who required wheelchair assistance to and from the aircraft, including help with steps and seating.

In her ruling, the presiding judge rejected Air Canada’s attempt to divert the case to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), noting that the regulatory body’s administrative process would deny class members substantive access to justice and the specific remedies they seek.

The suit alleges a “systemic” issue within the airline, pointing to what Hodgins described as a “culture of apathy and indifference” toward passengers with disabilities.

A systemic issue beyond a single flight

For families navigating air travel with a wheelchair, Hodgins’ ordeal is tragically familiar.

David Fleischer, an advocate whose family has faced their own protracted challenges travelling with a wheelchair and who currently has a case pending before the CTA, says the certified class action highlights a fundamental breakdown in how accessible travel is regulated and delivered in Canada.

“The accessibility legislation is relatively new and the legal process moves slowly, so the unfortunate reality is that change seems to always be coming from below,” Fleischer told Money.ca. “Customers like us are left filing individual complaints that get remedied on a piecemeal basis.”

While a certified class action against Canada’s largest carrier has the momentum to force operational shifts, Fleischer stresses that true systemic change cannot rely solely on court battles.

“A class action against one airline does have the potential to force some larger changes, but at the end of the day, what we really need is for the federal government to be more proactive,” Fleischer said. “They need to hold both airlines and airports to a high standard for accessibility so there is a seamless experience for travellers.”

A turning point for airline accountability

That multi-front fight is precisely why the B.C. Supreme Court’s certification of Hodgins’ lawsuit marks such a critical turning point. By allowing affected passengers to unite under a single legal banner, the class action strips away the isolation that often leaves individual travellers fighting lonely, exhausted battles against massive corporations.

For the thousands of Canadians who qualified for the class between 2021 and 2023 — and for anyone who has ever held their breath waiting at a gate for a missing wheelchair — the case represents more than potential financial damages. It signals that forced indignity on an airplane aisle will no longer be treated as an acceptable cost of doing business, but as a systemic breach of fundamental rights that airlines must finally answer for.

Call it what you want. For Canadians, the price tag is becoming real. Within days of Greer’s comments airing, Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs took effect, and the U.S. responded within hours by banning a slate of Canadian exports outright.

Whatever language the two governments use, the dispute is starting to show up in two places that matter to Canadian households: the price of everyday goods and how soon interest rates might come down.

What did Trump’s trade chief actually say?

Greer’s comments came in an interview with the Financial Times, in which he argued that the tariffs the U.S. imposed in August apply to just 5% of Canada’s exports, and that framing the response as an economic attack was overblown. He isn’t alone in rejecting the framing: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also dismissed the idea that the two countries are in a trade war.

Why Canadians are already feeling it in their wallets

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, which took effect September 8, apply to roughly $27.6 billion of American goods, including furniture, household appliances, beauty products, clothing and agricultural equipment, meaning everyday cross-border purchases and the businesses that rely on U.S. suppliers just got more expensive.

The U.S. answered within hours, moving to ban imports of most Canadian alcohol, some dairy products and large motorcycles starting September 29, along with fresh 50% tariffs on goods including mattresses and motorboats. Economists say the direct hit to the overall economy will be small, since the banned categories account for roughly $700 million of exports, according to RBC economist Nathan Janzen, but the pain will concentrate in specific industries and the workers who depend on them, from alcohol producers to motorcycle makers.

As rising consumer costs and sector-specific strain ripple through the broader economy, they are also complicating the central bank's path forward on borrowing costs.

What this means for mortgages and interest rates

The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate at 2.25% on September 2, warning that new U.S. tariffs and Canada’s counter-measures have made the outlook for growth and inflation more uncertain, and that upside risks to inflation have increased. Its next scheduled rate decision isn’t until October 28, so Canadians hoping for near-term relief on variable rates, or an easier renewal, may need to keep waiting.

While macro-level decisions remain on hold at the central bank, household finances require a more immediate, proactive strategy.

What Canadians can do while the dispute plays out

To navigate this ongoing uncertainty, consumers can take a few practical steps to protect their personal finances:

• Build a small buffer into your budget for goods you regularly buy that come from the U.S., since tariff costs take time to show up at the register.
• Comparison-shop Canadian-made alternatives before big purchases like furniture or appliances now subject to the new tariffs.
• If you’re renewing a mortgage soon, don’t assume rates are about to drop. Budget as though your payment could hold steady or rise until the Bank of Canada’s next decision.
• Avoid making big investment moves based on political rhetoric alone. So far, the measurable economic damage has been concentrated in specific export sectors, not the broader economy.

Whether Ottawa and Washington call it a war or “just business,” the costs of this dispute are landing in real dollars, in store aisles and on mortgage statements.

The steadier response for Canadians is the boring one: Budget for higher prices where tariffs apply, hold off on assuming rate relief is imminent, and watch for the Bank of Canada’s next move on October 28.

For a country where a lot of steel, aluminum and finished goods still cross the border in both directions, that sounds like an automatic price hike on the next fridge, dishwasher or vehicle a Canadian buys. The reality, according to the Bank of Canada’s own research on the earlier round of these tariffs, is messier — and less severe — than a straight pass-through of the tariff rate.

What’s actually changed on September 8

The new tariffs were confirmed on August 25, after trade talks with Washington collapsed and the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on C$27.6 billion of Canadian exports. As a result, Canada is matching the U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar, rate for rate with its own list of roughly 700 tariff items, also worth C$27.6 billion in trade.

For Canadian households, these new measures mean that starting on September 8, Canadians should anticipate two changes to goods from America:

1. Canada’s existing counter-tariff on U.S. steel and aluminum — in place since 2025 at 25% — doubles to 50%
2. A new 25% tariff applies to categories previously untouched, including household appliances and dairy products such as cheese

Canadians shopping for a new vehicle will not face additional counter-tariffs on U.S.-built vehicles; however, the counter-tariffs imposed in 2025 will remain at their existing rate of 25% on non-CUSMA-compliant vehicles and non-regional parts imported from the United States.

What’s changed on September 8: Trump’s countermeasure

Within hours of Canada’s counter-tariffs taking effect on September 8, the Trump administration signed five proclamations retaliating further.

As a result, the U.S. is now banning imports of most Canadian alcohol and motorcycles, effective by the end of September, and adding Canadian mattresses and motorboats to the list of goods facing 50% U.S. tariffs.

Trump has also threatened to double tariffs on Canadian-built cars and auto parts to 50%, starting January 1 — a move that, if it goes ahead, would make vehicles a direct tariff target rather than an indirect one through steel and aluminum costs alone. For now, the auto counter-tariff remains unchanged at 25%, but that could shift again before year-end.

Impact of the steel and aluminum counter-tariff

The 50% counter-tariffs now imposed on the raw materials steel and aluminum will affect household budgets because those metals are embedded in houses, renovations, cars, appliances and countless manufactured goods.

As a result, this counter-tariff will look and feel more like a gradual cost increase rather than an overnight 50% jump in retail prices.

The most exposed household purchases are likely to include home renovations and construction, where steel goes into beams, roofing, fasteners, HVAC systems, ductwork, doors and other components.

Impact of the counter-tariff on households appliances

Canada was the largest export market for U.S. household appliances last year, buying more than US$1 billion worth of goods — most of which will now face the new 25% tariff, according to U.S. trade data cited by CNN Business. As a result, Canadian consumers may experience an immediate bump in prices for certain appliances and equipment, in addition to gradual pricing pressure as the counter-tariffs work through the system.

Why cars are affected indirectly, not directly

During this round of tariffs, there is no new, direct levy on U.S.-assembled vehicles imported into Canada — the existing auto counter-tariff stays at 25%.

But vehicles and auto repairs will still feel the impact of these new counter-tariffs because cars contain substantial amounts of steel and aluminum — and that exposure runs through the supply chain.

Many vehicles sold in Canada, including those assembled at Ontario plants, use American steel and aluminum somewhere in their production. When that input cost doubles, automakers have to make choices: Absorb it, pass it along in sticker prices, or some mix of both.

Bank of Canada: What will actually happen to prices

To establish the impact of past and current tariffs, Bank of Canada researchers tracked daily prices at seven major Canadian retailers during the earlier round of counter-tariffs. The research found that prices on tariffed goods rose gradually, peaking at about 6% after three months — roughly one-quarter of the full 25% tariff rate being charged at the time. Untariffed substitute products saw little spillover, and when the counter-tariffs were later removed, the price increases reversed quickly.

For instance, on a refrigerator with a price tag of US$1,200, a full 25% tariff would add about C$300 to the price. But if the Bank of Canada research continues to hold true, the more realistic near-term increase for that fridge is closer to C$70, not C$300.

The BoC’s broader modelling also flagged that retaliatory tariffs feed into the consumer price index because roughly 13% of that basket is made up of goods imported from the U.S., so some upward pressure on inflation is expected — just not a one-for-one translation of the tariff rate.

What to do before you buy

None of this means prices won’t move at all, and retailers can choose to raise prices faster than the historical pattern suggests, particularly if they expect the tariffs to stick around. For anyone planning a big-ticket purchase in the next few months, a little diligence now can offset most of the risk.

To help, here are four strategies to use:

• Check country of origin before buying a major appliance — Canadian-made or third-country models sidestep the new 25% tariff entirely
• If you’re shopping for a vehicle assembled in Ontario, ask the dealer whether any price adjustment tied to steel and aluminum costs has already been applied, rather than assuming a future increase
• Watch for a “tariffed” label or note at checkout — Bank of Canada research found visible tariff labelling made retailers more willing to raise prices, so it’s also a signal of where the increase is real
• Don’t rush a purchase purely on tariff fear — the BoC’s data shows past price bumps were partial and reversed once the tariffs were lifted

Remember, Canada’s decision to double steel and aluminum tariffs, and to add a new levy on U.S. appliances, is a countermeasure — an effort to incentivize our trading partner to negotiate more favourable terms. While the real cost increase will begin to work through the supply chain starting September 8, there should be relatively few instances of massive price jumps at Canadian checkouts.

According to the report, an American withdrawal from CUSMA would result in an economic output loss of $402 billion over the next decade, and translate into 163,000 fewer jobs per year, on average.

Despite panic-filled social media feeds, Deloitte shows that the impact would be a “severe but not cataclysmic” hit to the nation’s overall economy.

For Canadians whose paycheques and savings are tied to the sectors most exposed to the U.S. market, the report is a useful gut check on how bad “bad” could get — and what to do about it now.

Quick take

• A full U.S. exit from CUSMA could cost Canada $402 billion in lost GDP and 163,000 jobs a year on average through 2036
• Manufacturing (autos, machinery, chemicals) and oil and gas exports would be hit hardest
• Trade diversification could offset roughly a third of the job losses — not all of them
• A formal U.S. withdrawal needs six months’ notice, so there is no overnight shock

What would a U.S. exit from CUSMA actually trigger?

Deloitte’s downside scenario assumes the U.S. formally withdraws from the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), ending tariff exemptions across the board and resetting trade to World Trade Organization minimum rates, on top of the 10% global tariff the U.S. has already applied elsewhere.

Keep in mind, withdrawal from CUSMA by any party requires six months’ notice, which is why the report’s authors call it “a possibility that cannot be dismissed” — not a distant hypothetical.

Under this scenario, Canada’s real GDP would fall 1.6% by 2036 compared with keeping CUSMA intact — this equates to lost output worth $402 billion over the decade. Given the economic slowdown, employment growth would also slow, resulting in about 163,000 jobs a year lost, on average. This overall economic slowdown would drag wages and household spending down with it, compounding the negative effect on overall economic growth.

Which paycheques take the biggest hit?

Unfortunately, the pain of the worst-case scenario would not be spread evenly. Manufacturing would get the deepest cuts, including:

• Motor vehicles and parts would see a real GDP drop of 28% by 2036 versus the baseline
• Electronics, machinery and equipment would experience a 21% drop
• Rubber and plastics would face a 20% decline
• Chemicals can expect a 13% drop

Canadians working in auto assembly, parts manufacturing, chemicals, or energy exports will definitely feel the pinch. Even without direct exposure, residents in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta or Saskatchewan will feel the weight of these economic constraints, given that larger portions of the population in these provinces are employed in exposed sectors.

Canada’s oil & gas industry would feel the heat

If CUSMA should stall and die on the negotiating table, Canada’s oil and gas sector would lose its tariff shield and become subject to the 10% U.S. tariff that’s applied to almost every other Canadian good.

Deloitte analysts anticipate that it would also prompt a reduction in oil exports to the U.S. — at an approximate 11% decline — while natural gas exports would drop by 30%. Despite double-digit declines, the net hit to GDP would be smaller — 0.4% for oil and 0.9% for natural gas — given current global turmoil and its impact on oil & gas prices.

Won’t trade diversification just fix this?

Over the last year, Canadians across multiple sectors and government institutions have worked hard to develop trade diversification for Canadian products and services. While there have been significant strides in developing global diversification, these new possibilities won’t fix the loss created by the collapse of the North American trade treaty.

What about the best-case scenario?

In Deloitte’s best-case scenario, Canada keeps CUSMA and every other existing trade deal while continuing to grow new global trade deals. If this occurs, Canada adds 0.6% to real GDP by 2036 — $141 billion in additional output and roughly 53,000 more jobs per year. Based on this analysis, the Deloitte report shows that while diversification helps, it doesn’t fully offset what a downside scenario could cost.

Could Canada offset the losses at home instead?

One overlooked lever is Canada’s own internal trade.

Interprovincial exports made up just 18.1% of GDP in 2023, a share that has barely moved in three decades.

Deloitte research suggests fully phasing out interprovincial trade barriers over five years could add $881 billion in economic output by 2040 and create 133,000 jobs.

Deloitte partner Matthew Stewart told The Canadian Press he doubts Canada could capture all of that, but figures “we could at least achieve half of that,” which, combined with diversification, could offset most of the downside scenario’s damage.

What this means for your money and your job

None of this is a reason to sell Canadian investments or panic about a border you don’t control. But it does make an argument for understanding how exposed your savings and your income are to the ongoing trade war with the U.S.

If your income or your TFSA and RRSP holdings are concentrated in auto, machinery, chemicals or energy names, it’s worth checking how much of that weighting you’re comfortable carrying.

For example, a manufacturing worker earning $60,000 a year could see overtime and hours cut well before any layoff notice arrives. To prepare, build an emergency fund. This fund would help cushion the blow of lost hours and reduced pay, and give you time to adjust should trade wars not resolve promptly.

Bottom line

The real lesson from Deloitte’s modelling is that Canada can withstand America’s withdrawal from CUSMA — and it won’t fall or fail. But it’s also a reminder of the risk associated with single-market dependency.

For everyday Canadians, this report illustrates the importance of knowledge and preparation. Knowing which slice of your paycheque or portfolio carries exposure — and rebalancing before the next disruption instead of after — will help you weather this economic storm.

Yet, as a new wave of renewals approaches, many Canadians appear ready to run the same gauntlet again.

Aled ab Iorwerth, deputy chief economist at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), warns that a growing number of Canadians are taking on heightened mortgage risk by leaning into shorter-term and variable-rate loans. While these options offer lower monthly payments upfront, they expose homeowners to market volatility down the road.

Households, not institutions, bear most of the interest rate risk in Canada, and while opting for shorter terms might provide short-term budget relief, it leaves families vulnerable if economic conditions shift before their next renewal date, ab Iorwerth notes.

Here is a look at why Canadian buyers are leaning into short-term mortgage risks, why the Canadian financial system leaves households vulnerable and how you can protect your wallet before your renewal date arrives.

The allure of the short-term discount

For decades, the standard five-year fixed mortgage was the unquestioned bedrock of Canadian homeownership. It offered predictable payments and peace of mind — but times have changed.

According to CMHC figures for early 2026, variable-rate loans now account for nearly a third of all new insured mortgages — a massive jump compared to last year. At the same time, short-term fixed options (between one and three years) have surged in popularity, while traditional five-year terms have plummeted to barely a third of the market.

The driver behind this shift is simple arithmetic: short-term and variable mortgages are currently cheaper than long-term fixed rates. For a household managing a tight budget, choosing a two-year or variable rate offers immediate relief on the monthly bill.

However, as ab Iorwerth emphasizes, choosing a lower rate today isn’t the same thing as choosing a safer mortgage. It simply pushes your rate exposure down the road.

A system built on household risk

Why are Canadians uniquely vulnerable to shifting interest rates compared to homeowners in other countries? It comes down to how the financial system is built.

In the United States and much of Europe, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are the norm. Thanks to government-backed funding systems, American banks and investors carry the long-term interest rate risk — not the homeowner. Once a U.S. homeowner locks in a rate, their monthly payment remains frozen for three decades.

In Canada, Australia, and the UK, the system operates very differently. Canadian banks offer shorter loan terms, shifting the long-term market risk directly onto the shoulders of everyday homeowners.

When you sign a one- or two-year mortgage to grab a lower rate today, you are making a high-stakes bet that rates will drop before your renewal arrives. If rates stay elevated — or spike again — you absorb 100% of the financial shock.

Who is most at risk?

The pressure is already mounting on major Canadian housing markets, particularly in urban hubs like Toronto and Vancouver.

Pandemic-era buyers who stretched their borrowing capacity to the limit at historic rate lows are facing the steepest slope. CMHC data shows that over 1.5 million Canadian households have already renewed at significantly higher rates, with another million due for a rate reset in the coming year.

In markets like Toronto, mortgage default rates have more than quadrupled from their post-pandemic lows. For households that bought near the top of the market and have built up minimal equity, even a slight bump at renewal time can push monthly finances to the breaking point.

How to protect your household before your renewal date

If your mortgage renewal is coming up in the next 6 to 12 months, you don’t have to wait passively for your bank’s offer letter. Take these four proactive steps to safeguard your budget:

1. Stress-test your own finances: Don’t just rely on the bank’s stress test. Run the math on your household budget assuming your interest rate goes up by 1.5% to 2% at renewal. If that number causes panic, a variable or short-term loan may carry too much risk for you.
2. Start shopping early: Begin speaking with lenders and brokers four to six months before your renewal date. Lenders often send out default renewal offers assuming you won’t shop around, which means their first offer is rarely their best rate.
3. Explore hybrid mortgages: Ask your broker about splitting your mortgage into two portions — one fixed, one variable. This “hybrid” approach allows you to capture savings if rates drop without exposing your entire balance to market volatility.
4. Use amortization extensions cautiously: Extending your loan’s payback period (amortization) can lower your monthly obligation in a crisis, but it significantly increases the total interest you will pay over the life of the loan. Treat it as an emergency breathing room strategy, not a permanent fix.

The bottom line

Grabbing the lowest available rate today can feel like an immediate win, but true financial security comes from long-term sustainability. As CMHC’s economic analysis cautions, taking on extra risk to trim today’s monthly bill can lead to a bigger financial shock tomorrow. Before locking into a short-term or variable mortgage, make sure your budget can survive a worst-case scenario.

The new court claims, detailed in recent filings by Delaware-based Diriba Investments LLC, add significant pressure to the high-profile legal advocate, whose assets are already under a court-ordered freeze amid accusations of misappropriated First Nations trust funds.

Delaware investor claims firm defaulted on $109M agreement

According to court documents, Diriba alleges that Rath and his firm, RathPC, defaulted two years ago on a 2018 litigation financing agreement tied to various legal cases, including First Nations claims and COVID-19 restriction challenges. The Delaware funder claims the outstanding debt now stands at $108.8 million, plus interest and legal costs.

The legal proceeding threatens to entangle the proceeds of some of Rath’s biggest cases and places his firm under severe financial strain.

“If you are a law firm, these are very, very serious matters,” Roderick Wood, a bankruptcy and insolvency law professor at the University of Alberta, told Global News. “If you have a secured party in a position where they are enforcing their claim, any debtor, not just a law firm, is really in a situation you would rather not be in.”

Litigation funding allows third-party investors to finance a law firm’s court cases in exchange for a portion of eventual financial awards or settlements. Diriba alleges that RathPC breached its contractual duties by failing to submit required monthly updates, withholding information on client departures and omitting reports on incoming case proceeds.

Diriba issued a formal notice of default in November 2024. In July 2026, the company issued a demand letter alongside a formal notice of intention to enforce security under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, characterizing RathPC as an “insolvent person” unable to meet its obligations as they come due.

Rath declined to answer specific questions regarding the claim. In previous statements on his ongoing legal battles, he noted he would address matters in court and declined to comment on personal financial issues outside the public record.

Separatist figurehead faces parallel court actions from First Nations

Beyond his legal practice, Rath has served as a prominent figurehead and legal architect for the Alberta independence movement, co-founding the Alberta Prosperity Project and speaking at town halls across the province.

However, the $109-million claim from U.S. investors represents only part of his growing legal troubles.

Rath and his firm are already locked in high-stakes court fights with former indigenous clients. Both the Tallcree First Nation and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation have filed court actions alleging RathPC misappropriated millions of dollars from trust funds meant for band beneficiaries.

Court documents filed in separate actions by CBC News show that Tallcree obtained a Mareva injunction freezing Rath’s personal and corporate bank accounts after alleging millions were improperly removed from its settlement trust. Tallcree claims an $8.5-million settlement refund meant for the trust was instead transferred into a credit union account controlled by RathPC, where it was subsequently used to purchase $8 million in precious metals bullion and a $500,000 bank draft.

An investigative receiver appointed by the court is currently attempting to trace missing trust assets.

Diriba is now applying to expand the receiver’s mandate to trace legal fees and other assets pledged as security under its financing agreement. A Calgary court is scheduled to hear Diriba’s application on September 14.

None of the allegations brought by Diriba Investments LLC, Tallcree First Nation or Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation have been tested or proven in court.

As a result, the exchange rate from U.S. dollars to Canadian dollars jumped to around 1.3862, up roughly 0.5% on the day, reversing a run of recent loonie gains. By the time the Bank of Canada officially closed, $1 Canadian dollar bought just $0.7225 in U.S. currency — the weakest reading of the week.

For Canadians, the timing matters. This is happening while the Bank of Canada holds its policy rate at 2.25% while warning that new U.S. tariffs add uncertainty to Canada’s economic recovery.

But some analysts question the data — with more questions being asked about how much weight to put on current U.S. numbers. These questions trace back to the White House’s own conflict with its statistics agency.

Here’s what triggered the swing, why the U.S. side comes with an asterisk and what a softer loonie means for your travel budget, your shopping cart and your investments.

Why Canada’s jobs report sank, while the U.S. jobs market soared

When receiving the latest jobs data, it appears that Canada’s job losses were broad. Business and support services cut 20,000 positions, public administration lost 8,800 and natural resources and utilities each shed jobs too, according to the Statistics Canada report.

Manufacturing was the lone bright spot, adding 22,000 jobs, mostly in Ontario.

The unemployment rate held at 6.4%, but the employment rate slipped to 60.8%, and wage growth cooled to 2.0% year over year — the slowest pace since 2017, outside the pandemic.

South of the border, the story was flipped.

U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in August, blowing past the roughly 53,000 to 56,000 economists had forecast, while the unemployment rate held at 4.1%, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of these job gains were concentrated in food services and local government education.

The divergence between Canada and the U.S. job market — showing how one economy is cooling, while the other is apparently accelerating — is exactly the kind of gap currency traders punish.

A weaker Canadian labour market lowers the odds the economy can absorb higher rates, while a stronger U.S. dollar reduces pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut rates.

As a result, money moves toward the better growth story, and this week that was the U.S. dollar.

Why the strong U.S. number comes with a caveat

The same agency behind Friday’s blockbuster number has spent the past year under unusual political pressure. President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer in August 2025 after a weak jobs report included large downward revisions, accusing her — without evidence — of manipulating the data. Economists across the political spectrum, including a BLS commissioner from Trump’s own first term, said rigging the report that way would be virtually impossible given how many people compile it.

These days, the bigger issue isn’t a conspiracy — it’s capacity. The agency has faced shrinking budgets and scaled-back data collection, and survey response rates have declined for years, both of which can make revisions larger and more volatile.

None of this means August’s 162,000 figure is wrong. But it’s a reason for Canadian investors and exporters, who rely on accurate U.S. data to gauge demand for Canadian goods, to treat any single U.S. data point with a little more caution, and to wait for the revisions that typically follow.

What a weaker loonie costs Canadians

A softer Canadian dollar isn’t just a headline. In this hypothetical example, a Canadian family that budgeted C$5,000 for a US$3,700 Florida vacation last week would need roughly C$70 more today to cover the same trip. Snowbirds paying U.S.-dollar property costs, online shoppers ordering from U.S. retailers and anyone carrying U.S.-dollar debt all feel a weaker loonie the same way.

There’s an upside, too. Canadians holding unhedged U.S. stocks in an RRSP or TFSA see the currency move add to returns — once converted back to Canadian dollars. And a cheaper loonie makes Canadian exports more competitive, though the Bank of Canada has flagged that new tariffs are complicating that math for trade-exposed industries.

What to do now

For most Canadians, one job report isn’t a reason to overhaul a financial plan. Although, a few practical moves make sense while the loonie is under pressure:

• Delay non-urgent U.S.-dollar purchases if you can, or lock in a rate through your bank or a currency broker
• Check whether your RRSP or TFSA U.S. holdings are hedged or unhedged, and confirm that’s the exposure you actually want
• Watch the Bank of Canada’s October 28 rate decision, since a weaker job market raises the odds of a future rate cut even though this month’s decision held steady

The loonie’s next move depends less on any single report and more on whether Canada’s August slump is a one-month wobble or the start of a trend, and on whether the U.S. data keeps holding up under scrutiny.

It’s an expensive lesson for anyone who has ever eyed a neighbour’s overgrown hedge or thought about “helping” with a chainsaw. In Canada, a tree standing on someone else’s land belongs to them — not to whoever finds it inconvenient. Treating it otherwise can turn a landscaping annoyance into a five-figure liability.

For the many Canadians who own a cottage, a waterfront lot or a home with a view worth protecting, that temptation is real. Here’s what the ruling means, what the law actually allows and how to handle a tree dispute without ending up in the same position.

Why ‘it’s just a few branches’ is the wrong assumption

Homeowners are generally allowed to trim branches or roots that cross onto their side of a property line. What they cannot do is enter a neighbour’s yard or damage a tree that isn’t theirs. If pruning goes too far and injures or kills someone else’s tree, the tree’s owner can sue for the cost of restoring it, and courts increasingly treat mature trees — especially ones planted for privacy or shade — as having real financial value.

The price tag can climb even higher

The Shuswap Lake case isn’t an outlier. In a widely cited 2021 ruling, the BC Supreme Court ordered a West Vancouver man to pay his neighbours more than $48,000 after he snuck onto their property and topped cedar trees they’d planted for privacy, despite being told not to touch them. The award combined compensation for the damaged trees with punitive damages meant to deter similar conduct, plus a permanent injunction barring him from entering the property again. Courts, in other words, can impose more than just a bill.

What to do instead

Before touching a neighbour’s tree, or if you’re already in a dispute, here’s how to go about a tricky conversation:

• Ask first, and get the answer in writing. A quick text or email confirming permission (or a refusal) becomes evidence if the disagreement escalates.
• Hire a licensed arborist for any trimming that touches a shared or disputed tree, and keep the invoice and photos.
• Know where small disputes get resolved. In B.C., claims under $5,000 go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, while those between $5,000 and $35,000 can go to Small Claims Court — both cheaper and faster than a full lawsuit.
• Check with your home insurer before assuming a policy will cover the fallout. Coverage for intentional acts, including tree damage, varies widely and is worth confirming ahead of time, not after a judgment arrives.
• Document everything. Take photos of the trees before and after, and collecting written requests and any responses from the neighbour.

If a tree is blocking a sightline or dropping needles where they aren’t wanted, the cheapest first move isn’t a chainsaw — it’s a conversation, followed by something in writing. As this Shuswap Lake neighbour just learned, skipping that step can cost far more than professional tree removal ever would.

A recent investigation by the BC Securities Commission (BCSC) shows that Christopher R. Anderson, an officer, director or significant shareholder of five publicly-traded firms listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, failed to disclose 172 trades worth more than $2 million in a three-year period.

While Anderson was ordered to pay $50,000 to settle the case, the investigation highlights the risks everyday Canadians face when choosing to buy small-cap stocks. Despite laws and tools meant to protect investors, this case highlights how insider filings are only useful if someone checks them.

What Anderson didn’t disclose

When a person holds an executive position at a firm or is privy to information that isn’t public knowledge, they are required to file documentation regarding any change in share ownership. That means any purchase or sale of shares by an ‘insider’ must be reported on the System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders (SEDI) within five days of the trade.

In the investigation into Anderson, it was found that he missed this deadline 172 times over three years, on trades worth $2,097,332.

As a significant shareholder of three of the issuers, he also failed to file 28 required reports and news releases tied to reportable transactions.

Anderson had no prior disciplinary history and cooperated fully once the BCSC caught the gap, correcting his filings and paying $10,300 in late fees on top of the $50,000 settlement.

There’s no suggestion he broke insider trading rules by profiting on non-public information — only that he failed to report trades the public is entitled to see.

Why insider filings matter to investors

What does this case illustrate? It shows the importance of stakeholder actions and how this can impact investor decisions.

Perhaps the most obvious example is Warren Buffet when he held the chief executive officer position at Berkshire Hathaway. Each year, the market would scrutinize Buffett’s trading decisions — trying to glean guidance on where the market was heading and how it should influence individual investor decisions.

In Canada, SEDI provides a window for all retail investors (aka: everyday Canadians who want to invest). SEDI filings allow investors to see what the people running a company are doing with their own shares — buying can signal confidence, selling can signal the opposite.

But when SEDI filings are incomplete, late or don’t exist, that signal disappears exactly when smaller investors need it most.

In junior mining and other TSX Venture-listed stocks, where insiders often hold an outsized share of the company and information is otherwise thin, these SEDI filings are considered critical.

What to do before you trust a stock

Before buying into a thinly traded stock, search the company on SEDI to see whether insiders have been buying or selling — and note how current those filings actually are, in relation to your current opportunity. This doesn’t mean you should avoid investing in small-cap stocks; it means treating a company’s insider filings as standard checks before executing a trade — because the gap between what regulators eventually catch and what investors see in real time can run into the millions.