Canada will ​look at ways to increase its crude production to help global efforts to stabilize oil ‌prices in the face of the Iran war, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Canadian government is talking to the country's oil producers about delaying planned maintenance projects at oil sands facilities in order to temporarily increase output, Hodgson ​told reporters in Ottawa.

The Canadian auto industry has been rocked by President Donald Trump’s abandonment of subsidies for electric vehicles and embrace of tariffs, the Washington Post reported. Major automakers have abandoned planned vehicles and delayed the start of new ones, battering Jahn Engineering and scores of outfits like it in Canada’s automotive heartland. “This is definitely the worst I’ve seen it in 42 years,” said Louis Jahn, the company’s president. “We’re just trying to stay alive.” Trump’s hostility to his northern neighbor is not helping.

Laurentian University is freezing new admissions to four programs because they failed to meet requirements set in place by the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, the school announced on Friday, CBC.ca reported. The four programs are criminal justice, criminology, interdisciplinary studies, and equity, diversity and human rights. Laurentian initially created the four programs as majors between 2015 and 2017, Alain Simard, the university’s interim provost and vice-president of academics, told CBC News.

Hudson’s Bay is sending its coat collection to the auction block, the Canadian Press. The latest sale of the company’s treasures features 56 coats, including many with HBC’s iconic stripes motif. Some of the coats are a nod to the 355-year-old company’s fur trading history and are made of beaver, silver fox or mink fur. Others were made in partnership with Canadian designers Smythe and HiSO. Also part of the auction are dozens of art pieces, a reproduction of the 1670 royal charter that formed the company, vintage cash registers and an HBC piano.

Global authorities must step up their surveillance of lending by nonbank players such as hedge funds and institutional investors to minimize risks to financial stability, Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stronger banking regulations introduced following the 2008-09 financial crisis have shifted riskier activities to nonbank participants such as hedge funds, pension funds and asset managers, diversifying risk and improving access to financing, he said.

Clothing company Roots Corp. has launched a review of strategic alternatives to maximize value for shareholders, the Canadian Press reported. The company says its board will analyze and evaluate a range of alternatives, including the possible sale of the retailer. Roots was established in 1973 and has grown to over 100 corporate retail stores in Canada and two stores in the United States.

Canada’s economy shrank as it closed out 2025, yet still managed to show resilience against the U.S. administration’s protectionist shift, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product declined at an annualized rate of 0.6% in the October-to-December period to 2.502 trillion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of US$1.829 trillion, Statistics Canada said Friday. The contraction was slightly steeper than the 0.2% economists expected following a recovery in the prior quarter.

The numbers aren’t dramatic at first glance — a 2.3 per cent annual increase in consumer insolvencies tempered by a 3.8 per cent dip in filings in the fourth quarter. But taken together, they tell a story about pressure building quietly for many Canadian households, the Toronto Star reported. New data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) shows there were 140,457 consumer insolvency filings in 2025 — the second-highest annual total since record-keeping began in 1987, and the highest in 16 years.

A.Y.K. International Inc., the maker of Secret and Silk pantyhose, has struck a deal to purchase insolvent Sheertex parent SRTX Inc., The Globe and Mail reported. SRTX and three affiliates last week filed a notice of intention to make a proposal under the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. acting as trustee. The deal, which requires court approval, would be structured as a “reverse vesting” deal, meaning that assets and liabilities that Montreal-based A.Y.K. doesn’t want would be transferred to a separate entity. A.Y.K.

Factory activity in Canada hit the brakes last month, with an early estimate pointing to a sharp retreat in sales, the Wall Street Journal reported. Manufacturing shipments fell by about 3.3% in January from a month prior, an early tally by Statistics Canada showed. That would mark a third decline in the last four months. The largest declines to start the year were in transportation equipment and machinery, the data agency said Tuesday.