The recent quarterly population declines are a direct reflection of Ottawa’s new immigration goals.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
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.
Canada’s population drops for third consecutive quarter
Canada’s population dropped by about 55,000 people in the first three months of 2026, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada. The country’s population, as of April 1, was 41.4 million people, including citizens, permanent and temporary residents. A year ago, Canada’s population was approximately 0.5 per cent higher – at 41.6 million people.
This is the third consecutive quarterly decline driven by the federal government’s efforts to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country, Vanmala Subramaniam reports. StatsCan estimated that the number of temporary residents decreased by roughly 118,000 people in the first quarter, bringing the total number of temporary residents in Canada to 2.56 million (6.1 per cent of the total population).
Tim Hortons blames franchisees for lower profits in lawsuit defence
A person walks past a Tim Hortons in Edmonton.Amanda Erickson/The Globe and Mail
Tim Hortons is firing back at more than a dozen Quebec franchisees who sued the company over their declining profitability. The company says that the restaurant owners are responsible for their business struggles – and, in one case, for spending “lavishly” on investment properties and helicopters rather than investing in the operations, Susan Krashinsky Robertson reports.
The Quebec franchisees first filed their lawsuit against Tim Hortons in 2024, claiming the company’s decisions had eroded their profitability. The lawsuit is essentially a dispute over how the company coped with skyrocketing food inflation – including in 2022, a time of massive global supply-chain disruptions, when food prices in Canada increased at the fastest rate in decades. But Tim Hortons rejects the assertion that menu prices were not raised enough to offset some of these rising costs, according to the company’s statement of defence, filed with the Quebec Superior Court last Friday.
U.S. banking giant JPMorgan expands its $1.5-trillion financing pledge to Canadian companies
The JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York City on April 1. So far, JPMorgan has deployed US$122-billion of its US$1.5-trillion target.Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
The world’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., is expanding its US$1.5-trillion economic security and resilience initiative to Canada. The 10-year pledge, known as the Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI), aims to steer financing and support for companies to build up critical industries and supply chains. The bank’s plan in Canada is to boost key sectors such as energy, defence and critical minerals, with the expectation of deploying billions of dollars to Canada over the coming years.
The bank has since expanded the SRI to include investments in Europe and Britain. The Canadian arm will be led by JPMorganChase Canada CEO David Rawlings, who oversees a team of bankers in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. He will work with the bank’s clients, governments and organizations in the private and public sectors to expand the unit’s cross-border banking and advisory business.
Wealthsimple partners with Kalshi on new prediction market product
Wealthsimple plans to roll out a standalone app called Wealthsimple Predict, which will provide users access to nearly 4,000 contracts trading on Kalshi.Supplied
Wealthsimple is partnering with U.S.-based prediction market Kalshi for a new trading product that would enable Canadians to wager on real-world events. The stand-alone app, Wealthsimple Predict, will be released later this summer, but there isn’t a specific launch date.
The app will provide users access to nearly 4,000 contracts trading on Kalshi. But the contracts available on Wealthsimple Predict will be limited to economic indicators, financial markets and climate-related events. That means Canadians will not be able to trade on contracts tied to sports outcomes or elections – two of the most popular prediction market categories on Kalshi in the U.S. In addition, only event contracts with a term to maturity of 30 days or longer will be offered.
How to fix Canada’s growth capital funding gap
Private Debt Partners' managing partner Jeff Deacon wants to address the problem of growth capital by creating The Canadian Private Debt Growth Fund.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
The funding gap facing Canadian businesses in the precarious growth stage is known not-so-affectionately as the valley of death. It’s that perilous period between building a business and scaling it up – and an unfortunate rite of passage for Canadian entrepreneurs.
Companies say there are options for smaller financings or investments up to a few million dollars, and many more choices in the tens of millions of dollars. But there is a desolate space between roughly $5-million and $25-million full of startups struggling to secure money to help them scale. It’s the point where many do not survive.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a point of supporting larger Canadian businesses in the wake of protectionist American tariffs. But virtually no effort has gone into fixing a failed financial ecosystem that has long forced innovative Canadian companies to either sell early or move abroad. After gathering months of testimony and written submissions from dozens of expert witnesses, the Senate banking committee is now on the cusp of releasing a report offering solutions.
Jameson Berkow spoke to a chorus of Canadian entrepreneurs about ideas on how to close the gap, including unleashing the considerable resources of this country’s multitrillion-dollar pension funds or building a new banks geared specifically towards serving the small- and medium-sized business community.
Take our business quiz for this week
b. Kevin Warsh wants a return to a more opaque Fed and is backing away from the forward guidance policy of recent years in which the Fed signalled its intentions to markets well ahead of time. In its place, Mr. Warsh wants a return to a less communicative approach, in which Fed decisions retain their capacity to surprise markets.
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