A help wanted sign hangs in a bar window along Queen Street West in Toronto on June 10, 2022.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Getting caught up on a week (or two) that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
Canada’s job market ends 2024 with a bang
Canada’s labour market finished last year on a strong note with the economy adding 91,000 jobs in December, according to Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey. The agency also said the unemployment rate decreased to 6.7 per cent – down from 6.8 per cent the month before. Mark Rendell reports that the gains were broad-based across industries and provinces, suggesting that the Canadian economy has begun to respond to the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy easing cycle. The latest report also calls into question another BoC rate cut later this month, but financial markets are still pricing in a 60-per-cent chance of a cut, according to LSEG data.
Trump’s talks of using ‘economic force’ to annex Canada and tariffs
Earlier this week, Donald Trump said he would be willing to use “economic force” to coax Canada into a political union with the United States – a remark that was roundly rejected by federal political leaders. The president-elect also signalled that he still intends to proceed with threatened steep tariffs on Canadian and Mexican exports. In response, The Globe and Mail reported that Canada is looking at levying retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of American-made goods – orange juice, ceramics such as toilets and sinks, some steel products among other items – should Mr. Trump proceed with the threat. Meanwhile, the chief economists at five of Canada’s largest banks have said Trump’s threat poses huge risk to the country’s economy, but it also provides an opportunity to address structural problems that hold back economic growth.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 9.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
Canadians have a grim view of whether children will be better off than their parents
Many Canadians aren’t confident that their children will be better off financially than they were, according to a new global survey. Only 16 per cent of Canadian adults said they believe children will be better off than their parents, according to the survey of adults in 36 countries by the Pew Research Center. It tied Japan for the second-lowest share holding that view, with France coming in last overall. Jason Kirby takes a closer look at the survey in the latest Decoder series.
Charting the Canadian economy for 2025
Trudeau out, Trump in, tariffs up, trade down. Canadians are about to embark on a year of upheaval, according to a series of charts that analyze the Canadian economy in 2025. The Globe asked dozens of experts, including economists, investors, academics and business leaders, to each choose a chart they think will be important to watch this year. The charts they picked cover everything from stubbornly-high mortgage rates and artificial intelligence’s reach to tariffs and immigration to teetering stock prices and Canada’s renewed brain drain to the United States.
A Canadian Hollywood financier, accused of misappropriating $44.5-million, is now dead – and investors are stuck
Hollywood film financier William Santor died late last month, just weeks after a court injunction froze his assets. His Ontario-based film financing company Productivity Media Inc. is in receivership amid allegations of fraud. The company is accusing him of setting up imposter companies made to look like subsidiaries of legitimate sales agents and distributors that PMI had previously done business with, then diverting nearly $100-million of investor funds to them, according to court documents. Mr. Santor allegedly misappropriated at least $44.45-million. Now, as Alexandra Posadzki reports, investors are out millions of dollars.
Capital gains tax uncertainty leaves taxpayers facing two unappealing options
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he will resign and prorogue Parliament heightens the uncertainty around the fate of the capital gains tax changes, reports Erica Alini. The Trudeau government said in its latest federal budget it would raise the portion of capital gains subject to income tax, but political turmoil in Parliament prevented it passing legislation. It’s also unclear whether the tax increase will ever become law, but the Canada Revenue Agency has so far been advising Canadians to file taxes based on the changes. Tax experts warn, however, that affected taxpayers will be faced with two unappealing options – either risk overpaying the tax or facing interest and penalties later on.
Take our business quiz for the week of Jan. 10
d. All of the above. Canadian negotiators are seeking to identify cases where the imposition of Canadian tariffs would have minimal impact on Canadian consumers, but would maximize political pain for U.S. legislators. Orange juice, for instance, is largely produced in Florida, Mr. Trump’s adopted home state.
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.