Which provinces saw their mortgage delinquency rates fall in the first quarter of this year? Take our business and investing news quiz for the week ending May 29

c. Investors in the Ksi Lisims proposal say they are moving closer to making a decision on the project after signing a deal with Germany’s state-owned utility SEFE. The arrangement would allow SEFE, short for Securing Energy for Europe, to buy one million tonnes of LNG annually beginning in the early 2030s.

b. The first U.S.-born pope called for robust regulation of artificial intelligence. He urged its developers to work for the common good rather than for profit. Pope Leo’s sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind from AI puts him at odds with the Trump administration, which is seeking to aggressively deregulate development of the new technology.

d. In a stark reversal of its previous strategy, Tims says it will dial back its use of Ottawa’s Temporary Foreign Worker program and begin hiring more workers locally. For years, the fast-food chain was one of the biggest users of the TFW program, a controversial immigration stream that epitomized some of the failings of the Trudeau-era immigration strategy.

b. A Spanish court last week named Mr. Andic as a suspect in the death of his father, Mango founder Isak Andic, who died in December, 2024, after falling more than 100 metres from a cliff while the two were hiking together in the mountains outside Barcelona.

a, c. Mortgage delinquency rates fell in Alberta and Quebec during the first quarter. The situation was less benign in Ontario and British Columbia, where increasing numbers of homeowners missed their mortgage payments as higher interest rates made it harder for them to service their debt.

a. Hiive operates an exchange that allows clients to swap shares of privately held companies. It is being sued by Nasdaq Private Market, which runs a similar operation. Both exchanges cater to employees and investors in “pre-IPO” startups who want to sell their equity, but have limited opportunities to do so.

d. BP, the London-based oil “supermajor,” fired its new chairman Albert Manifold over what it called serious concerns related to “important governance standards, oversight and conduct.” According to the BBC, the firing was prompted by concerns that included “bullying” and “overbearing” behaviour by Mr. Manifold, who had been in his job less than a year.

b. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC) issued guidance this week to help companies identify financial transactions that could be linked to human trafficking for the World Cup, either for forced labour or for sexual exploitation. The massive tournament starts June 11 and will spread its games across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Canada will host 13 matches in Toronto and Vancouver.

a. The U.S. personal consumption expenditures index increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, driven by higher energy prices amid the war with Iran. PCE inflation jumped 3.8 per cent in the 12 months through April, the largest rise since May, 2023, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

d. The Ontario Securities Commission alleges that Purpose misled customers regarding its commitment to investing in projects that met environmental, social and governmental (ESG) criteria. The case is expected to take months and will centre on allegations of “greenwashing”, a practice in which managers make inflated claims about their environmental and social awareness. Purpose denies the allegations.

c. The federal government says it is working to create Canadian defence “champions” to help rebuild the domestic industry. However, the timeline for when those champions will be announced is still unclear.

c. Ferrari just pulled the cover off Luce, its first fully electric car. The new vehicle is one of the biggest gambles in the Italian company’s history and arrives amid a string of missed targets and expensive promises by luxury carmakers to go electric.