Hudson’s Bay liquidation, Buy Canadian movement and the temporary resident population decline: Business and investing stories for March 23

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Buy Canadian movement starts to take a sizable bite out of U.S. business

The rallying cry to “Buy Canadian” – fuelled by trade tensions with the United States – has started to leave a sizable mark on American business, early data from a variety of industries suggests. U.S. tour operators are reporting booking declines of as much as 85 per cent and American distilleries are losing major deals. Traffic across some major border crossings in tourism states such as New York has also dropped. Meanwhile, Canadian grocers are posting a bump in domestic product sales of up to 10 per cent, Mariya Postelnyak reports. There are even a set of Americans who are buying Canadian to oppose Trump’s trade war. Still, concerns are bubbling up about the toll on Canadian businesses and companies that are considering a U.S. move. The news also comes as Chinese tariffs come into force on $3.7-billion worth of Canadian goods as retaliation for a levy on Chinese electric vehicles imposed by Ottawa last year.

Canada’s temporary resident population declines for the first time in three years

The number of temporary residents in Canada has declined for the first time in three years, Vanmala Subramaniam reports. New data from Statistics Canada show that there were roughly 30,000 fewer temporary residents in the country as of Jan. 1, compared with Oct. 1, 2024. The total stood at just over three million people, or 7.3 per cent of the population, down from 7.4 per cent the previous quarter. The decrease in the number of temporary residents can be attributed to a series of policy changes introduced by Ottawa last year to reduce immigration levels. The numbers also suggest that Canada is in the early stages of a demographic slowdown. The federal government is trying to freeze the population over the next two years by drastically reducing the number of visas issued to temporary residents, such as international students, and cutting the permanent resident intake.

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Decoder: Signs of life for interprovincial trade after decades of stagnation

The push to tear down interprovincial trade barriers has gained a lot of momentum in recent weeks as a way for Canada to fight against tariffs. It has always been a concern for Canadian politicians, but little progress was made until the existential threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Yet, according to a new report from Statistics Canada, provinces do trade among themselves. In 2023, roughly $530-billion of goods and services moved between the provinces, accounting for 18.1 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. The problem, however, is that internal trade levels have changed little since the early 1990s. Jason Kirby takes a closer look at the numbers in this week’s Decoder.

Hudson’s Bay Co. receives court approval to start liquidation Monday

Hudson’s Bay Co. has received court approval to begin liquidation of all but six of its locations across Canada, starting on Monday, Susan Krashinsky Robertson reports. The Canadian retailer was first granted protection from its creditors on March 7. By the following week, the company announced that it had secured only limited financing, which would “require the full liquidation of the entire business,” unless an alternative source of “significant capital” could be found, according to a press release. The stores not immediately included in the liquidation sale are the flagship Hudson’s Bay on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto; the store at Yorkdale mall in Toronto; Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, Ont.; the downtown Montreal store; the location at Carrefour Laval in Laval, Que.; and the store in Pointe-Claire, Que. The company removed these six stores from the process after sales spiked at Bay locations in recent days. But the survival of Canada’s oldest retailer remains highly uncertain, and has put the jobs of more than 9,300 employees at risk.

Canadians face chaotic tax season owing to last-minute rule changes and delayed forms

Another tax season is upon us, and Canadians are likely to face much uncertainty and chaos, Erica Alini reports. This time, the main cause of headaches for taxpayers and accountants is the last-minute reversal of the Trudeau government’s proposed capital gains tax hike. There are also questions about the fate of a slew of tax proposals that failed to become law before Parliament was prorogued in January. An electronic-filing update by the Canada Revenue Agency has also turned into an additional hiccup. This host of issues has prompted the tax agency to allow both issuers of tax slips – such as employers and financial institutions – and some affected taxpayers to send in their paperwork later than usual without incurring penalties and interest. Here’s an overview of some of the issues and extended timelines granted by CRA.

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