Honda employees work along the vehicle assembly line in Alliston, Ont., in 2024.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.
Honda’s suspension of Ontario EV project deals another blow to auto sector
Honda Canada confirmed it has indefinitely suspended plans to build a $15-billion electric-vehicle project in Ontario, Eric Atkins reports. The automaker cited “evolving business conditions, a change in external resource strategy and shifting customer demand” as its reasons. The project would have created four plants, producing as many as 240,000 EVs and 1,000 jobs.
The Honda decision is yet another disappointment for the domestic auto sector. Ford, Stellantis and GM have recently closed plants in Ontario, cut shifts, moved production south and delayed reopening factories.
But there is slightly good news that demand for EVs is officially on the upswing in Canada. There were roughly 21,500 sales of new zero-emission vehicles in March, an increase of 75 per cent from a year earlier, and the highest sum since late 2024, according to Statistics Canada figures published Thursday. Matt Lundy takes a look at the numbers.
Behind Alphabet’s record-breaking Canadian bond deal
Allowing maples into Canada’s flagship bond index has made it possible for Alphabet to bring its megadeal here.Carlos Barria/Reuters
Google’s parent company Alphabet just completed the largest corporate bond offering in Canadian history. Alphabet raised $8.5-billion by selling a four-part bond with maturity dates ranging from five to 30 years. It was also the largest maple bond the market has ever seen (maples being the Bay Street term for loonie-denominated bonds issued by non-Canadian companies).
The maple market was already on track to have a record-breaking year in 2026. Maple bonds have been booming in Canada, contributing to a broader corporate borrowing binge that has been going on for years, Jameson Berkow reports. The Alphabet deal follows several other multibillion-dollar maples in recent months, including a $2.75-billion deal from Goldman Sachs in February and a $2.25-billion offering from AT&T in March.
Foreign issuers are attracted to Canada’s comparatively lower interest rates, favourable currency exchange rates and a 2025 change that allowed newly issued maples to be included in the FTSE Canada Universe Bond Index.
Four Canadian cities compete in race to host defence bank headquarters
People watch the Montreal skyline. Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto are the four Canadian cities vying to host the defence bank headquarters.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
The Canadian fight over who gets to host a new multilateral defence bank is heating up. Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto are vying to host the bank, Pippa Norman and Maura Forrest report. The four Canadian cities are offering everything from lending employees from local institutions to setting up potential office space.
Canada was selected as the host country for the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank – which will provide long-term, low-cost financing for defence projects undertaken by participating countries – after three rounds of negotiations in Montreal involving 19 founding countries. The bank is expected to open by the end of this year and to bring with it about 3,500 jobs.
A decision about the host city is expected in the coming months.
Real estate developer Jesta plans to buy $500-million of unsold Toronto condo stock
Condo towers in Toronto in September, 2022. Jesta has been trying to expand into Toronto’s residential rental market for some time.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Montreal-based real estate company Jesta Group announced plans to expand into Toronto’s market and buy $500-million worth of newly built condos to turn them into rentals. The developer, which manages rental properties and other commercial properties, paid $30-million to buy nearly all of the unsold units in a recently completed condo building near Toronto Metropolitan University in the downtown core.
The company is counting on a turnaround in the city’s depressed real estate market. Developers are sitting on heaps of unsold condo inventory today, but some forecasters estimate that by 2030 the market will once again be feeling a shortage, Rachelle Younglai reports.
“It’s a very good economic opportunity,” said Anthony O’Brien, Jesta’s senior managing director, adding that he could buy newly built condos at a cheaper price than it would take to develop and deliver a condo project over the next three to five years.
Boycotts, cancellations and price hikes: Get ready for a summer of travel chaos
The war in Iran has choked critical jet fuel supply channels, raising operational costs for major carriers.LM Otero/The Associated Press
From boycotts to fuel shortages, the global tourism landscape has been upended over the past year. Canadian airlines are scrapping flights to popular U.S. destinations. Geopolitical crises have curtailed routes to Cuba and the Middle East. The war in the Middle East has led to airlines cancelling hundreds of flights as they contend with a pending shortage of jet fuel.
A significant chunk of Canadians is already delaying or cancelling vacation plans owing to the fallout – and it all adds up to one of the more frenetic periods in travel.
Mariya Postelnyak and Jason Kirby crunched the numbers and mapped out just how much travel has changed, and what Canadians can expect during the summer months ahead.
Take our business quiz for this week
c. It was the largest number of insolvency filings in a quarter since 2009, according to data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. Rising costs and uncertainty around housing and employment are straining consumers’ finances.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.