Court documents released this week outline a long-term borrowing agreement between Laurentian University and the provincial government to replace $35 million in bridge loans taken out by LU during its insolvency, Sudbury.com reported. In early 2021, Laurentian declared insolvency and filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), making widespread cuts to its programs and employees in April of that year. The university hopes to exit the CCAA in November after creditors voted in favour of a debt plan.

Canada’s economic growth rate fell by half in the third quarter, ahead of what’s expected to be an even sharper downturn later this year, Bloomberg News reported. Preliminary industry-based data show gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in September, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That followed an unexpected gain of 0.1% in August, versus a flat reading expected by economists for that month. Overall, the pace of monthly gains was enough to produce annualized growth in the third quarter of 1.6%, according to an initial estimate from the statistics agency.

The Bank of Canada announced a smaller-than-expected interest rate hike on Wednesday and made clear more increases were still needed, even as it forecast the economy could soon slip into a slight recession, Reuters reported. The central bank increased its policy rate by half a percentage point to 3.75%, a 14-year high but coming up short on calls for another 75 basis points move. It has lifted rates by 350 basis points since March, one of its fastest tightening cycles ever.

Canada's annual inflation rate edged down but exceeded forecasts in September while underlying price pressures were largely unchanged, data showed on Wednesday, amplifying calls for another hefty rate hike by the central bank next week, Reuters reported. Inflation was 6.9%, ahead of forecasts of 6.8% and down from 7.0% in August. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.4% from 5.3% in August.

Canada is still one of the only developed countries that U.S. politicians can look to for guidance on how to go fully legal. Official data shows that four years after opening up on Oct. 17, 2018, one-third of Canada’s cannabis sales still happen in the black market, the Wall Street Journal reported. That’s hardly ideal, but the situation is improving as legal sellers do a better job at attracting customers. In Ontario, cannabis costs just 2% more than what is available in the illegal market, according to an EY report. Investors have been razed, though.

Business sentiment has softened in Canada and most firms now think a recession is likely, a Bank of Canada survey showed on Monday, but inflation expectations remain high, leaving the central bank little choice but to continue raising rates, Reuters reported. The bank's Business Outlook Survey showed 77% of firms see price growth staying above 3% for the next two years. A separate survey showed near-term consumer inflation expectations at record highs, though longer term expectations have eased, providing some relief.

The Canadian government’s purchase of the Trans Mountain Corp. pipeline will end up sticking the country’s taxpayers with a large debt that won’t be repaid, an environmental law group warned, Bloomberg News reported. A 70% rise in the cost to expand the sole oil pipeline running from Alberta to the Pacific Coast increased the project’s debt to C$25.8 billion ($18.9 billion), West Coast Environmental Law said in a report written by economist Robyn Allan and released on Thursday.

The world sorely needs more grains and Canada has a bin-busting harvest this year -- but shippers fear there aren’t enough rail cars to transport it all, Bloomberg News reported. There were almost 2,400 outstanding grain-car orders for the nation’s two major carriers, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., according to the latest data from Ag Transport Coalition. “We have to make up these orders,” Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Western Grain Elevator Association, said Tuesday in a phone interview.

Canadian manufacturing activity contracted for a second straight month in September as higher borrowing costs and an uncertain economic outlook contributed to a drop in new orders, but the pace of decline lessened, data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 49.8 in September after falling to 48.7 in August, its lowest level since June 2020. A reading below 50 shows contraction in the sector.

Laurentian University plans to ask permission to finally make public letters between LU and the province that were sealed by the courts at the beginning of its insolvency in early 2021, Sudbury.com reported. On Sept. 14, the university’s creditors voted narrowly in favour of Laurentian University’s plan of arrangement, allowing Laurentian to clear a major hurdle to finally being able to exit creditor protection. A plan of arrangement is essentially a plan put forward by an insolvent organization to pay out its creditors, and it must be approved by these creditors.