Good morning. At the height of Canada’s housing boom, it seemed like a can’t-miss opportunity. Investors were flocking to Scott Reid, the scion of a wealthy real estate family from Guelph, Ont., giving him millions toward the construction of apartment buildings. For years, it worked incredibly well, earning investors as much as 12-per-cent returns on their money. But then, without warning, the investments suddenly stopped flowing back. That’s in focus today, along with a caregiver-friendly workplace.
Up first
In the news
Defence: Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa’s new defence industrial strategy will reduce reliance on the United States, but experts say the ultimate success will depend on implementation and procurement
Finance: B.C. budget projects an upswing for natural gas and tough times in forestry as the deficit soars to a record-breaking $9.6-billion
M&A: Warner Bros. is reopening takeover talks with Paramount to hear the company’s “best and final” offer
When Reid’s Heritage Properties declared bankruptcy, it left behind hundreds of creditors who allege they were deliberately deceived.photo illustration The Globe and Mail/ Source: Andrew Long/The Globe and Mail
In focus
Investors still looking for answers
I’m Greg Mercer, and I’ve been an investigative reporter for The Globe and Mail since 2022, and prior to that, I was The Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter.
I live in Guelph, a city outside Toronto where it’s hard to escape the Reid name. The family has been building homes here since the 1940s, and their impact is measured in dozens of subdivisions, townhomes, apartment building projects and millions given to local charities.
Investor confidence
For many people, the Reid name was something they could trust. When they were offered the chance to become limited partners in Reid’s Heritage Properties projects, families pooled their money. Investors included retired teachers, single mothers, the deputy chief of police’s brother and the former coach of the local junior hockey team.
Last summer, however, the company’s financial problems exploded into public view. In July, one of Scott Reid’s former business partners contacted me about a pending lawsuit. He alleged that Reid and his company had misappropriated more than $74-million in investors’ money, shuffling it into offshore accounts, and they were using the bankruptcy process to provide cover.
Weeks earlier, Guelph Today, a local news site, reported that Reid’s Heritage Properties had filed for bankruptcy – but the full scale of what investors alleged was a deliberate attempt to deceive them was not yet known.
I began a months-long process to better understand what had happened. Was this a financial collapse caused by market conditions and rising borrowing rates, as Reid argued, or a deliberate attempt to spirit away his investors’ money, as many of them have claimed?
Warning signs were missed
There were warning signs that had been missed for a long time. In 2023, Reid’s Heritage Properties held a golf tournament at Whistle Bear Golf Club to raise funds for Hopewell Support Services, a charity that supports people with developmental and physical disabilities. It raised more than $30,000 for the cause, but Hopewell said the money was never handed over.
That same year, Reid began doing business with a long list of questionable characters in the world of alternative financing. One of them, a brokerage called J. Streicher & Co. LLC, was flagged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for impersonating a genuine firm with the same name.
Then there was his mysterious lender he called “Dr. Fritz,” a Montreal-based financier now caught up in a $1-billion bankruptcy case and allegations of fraud that have followed him across the ocean. And Reid bought bonds from a Cayman Islands-registered holding company housed in a building that Barrack Obama once called “the largest tax scam in the world.”
Reid’s own banking records show he continued to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to entities in Dubai in late 2024 and 2025, even after he was in receivership. The developer told me he was only trying to do whatever he could to keep his company from sinking, and he insists there was no intent to mislead his investors.
In a statement, Reid said he is co-operating fully with the legal process and has lost everything as a result of his bankruptcy. Now it’s up to the courts and the Ontario Provincial Police to decide who’s telling the truth.
Charted
Easing the load
Roughly 35 per cent of Canada’s labour force is juggling work with looking after a loved one, and some employers are beginning to recognize the impossible bind their working carers find themselves in. The caregiver-friendly workplace is emerging, reports Zosia Bielski.
Quoted
There is a correlation between stress, and negative emotions, and contributions.
— Julie Petrera, director of financial planning at Edward Jones Canada
The majority of Canadians, especially young people, don’t feel confident about mapping out their retirements, yet plan on contributing to their registered retirement savings plans anyway, according to a new survey.
Up next
More files we’re following
Heated: Prime Minister Carney is facing mounting calls to speak out against the U.S. for widening its restrictions on fuel reaching Cuba, or to send aid to the country.
Cooling: Home sales across Canada fell to multiyear lows in January, as winter storms compounded a market chill already driven by trade upheaval and economic uncertainty.
Chill: Donald Trump has done a great job promoting Greenland as a tourist destination. Bookings for hotels and tours were up sharply in 2025 after the U.S. President repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring the island one way or another.
Morning update
Global stocks pushed higher despite renewed worries about artificial intelligence gripping markets as investors assessed corporate earnings.
Wall Street futures were in positive territory, while TSX futures followed sentiment higher.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.98 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.04 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 1.05 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.62 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.02 per cent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remained closed for Lunar New Year celebrations and will reopen Friday.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.26 U.S. cents.