The ​Canadian dollar extended its weekly gain against the U.S. dollar on Friday as ‌the greenback posted broad-based declines and domestic data showed that retail sales rose in November, Reuters reported. The loonie was trading 0.5% higher at 1.3715 per U.S. dollar, or 72.91 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since January 2 at 1.3705. For the week, the currency was ‌up 1.5%, its biggest weekly gain since May. Investor angst in the currency ​markets this week over intensifying geopolitical tensions has largely been borne by the U.S. dollar.

As fallout from the Greg Martel Ponzi scheme continues to inflict hardship for over 1,700 people who invested with the Victoria, B.C., fraudster, newly released documents show that the company appointed to manage Martel’s bankruptcy stands to bill over $12 million for untangling his web of deceit, CBC.ca reported. The estimate is contained in minutes of a meeting posted online by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the accounting firm appointed receiver and bankruptcy trustee of Martel and his Ponzi-vehicle My Mortgage Auction Corp. (MMAC).

A Calgary-based private equity manager has filed a court application to push the numbered company behind the Stephenville airport into receivership, CBC.ca reported. “An interim receiver is required immediately because the respondent’s chronic lack of capital and ongoing mismanagement threatens the ongoing protection and preservation of the airport assets,” lawyers from BTG Capital Inc. wrote. Late last year, BTG Capital acquired the rights to collect a court judgment against Carl Dymond — the sole director of airport owner 15132738 Canada Inc.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's new approach to Canada's foreign policy can perhaps be distilled in one line: "We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be," BBC.com reported. That was his response when asked about the deal struck with China on Friday, despite concerns over its human rights record and nearly a year after he called China "the biggest security threat" facing Canada. The deal will see Canada ease tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles that it imposed in tandem with the US in 2024. In exchange, China will lower retaliatory tariffs on key Canadian agricultural products.

A slump by Canada’s auto industry in November as a semiconductor shortage weighed on activity hit sales by factories and wholesalers and threatens to hold back economic growth in the final quarter of last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Manufacturing shipments declined 1.2% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 70.77 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about US$50.97 billion, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

Canadian home sales posted an annual decline last year as sales and prices fell in December, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Home sales fell 2.7% in December from November, while they were down 4.5% year-over-year without seasonal adjustment. For 2025, sales decreased 1.9% from the previous year to 470,314 units. The economic shock of U.S. tariffs pushed buyers to the sidelines in the first quarter, CREA said.

A new report by insolvency firm MNP Ltd. suggests Canadians are expecting their household finances will come under pressure this year, the Canadian Press reported. The report says 71 per cent anticipate higher living costs heading into the new year, while 59 per cent anticipate a worsening economy and 52 per cent see job market weakness coming. MNP president Grant Bazian says Canadians expect most aspects of daily life to worsen rather than improve in 2026.

Wood lot mix-ups, slow permitting processes, and extreme cold have made it a difficult winter for some of Yukon's firewood harvesters, CBC.ca. Bill Whimp, owner of Bill's Woodcutting, said he's been harvesting firewood for over a decade and he isn't sure his business will survive the rest of the season. "I can't pay the bills anymore," Whimp told CBC News. Last month, Whimp moved his operation from his home community of Watson Lake to Haines Junction, 600 km away, because, he said, all accessible woodlots around Watson Lake had been picked over.