Hudson’s Bay Co. ULC, a company that’s so old it once played a central role for goods traders in Britain’s North American colonies, is being stripped for parts, Bloomberg News reported. The retailer, currently under bankruptcy protection in Canada, had devised a plan to rescue six of its 96 stores from liquidation, including its flagship location in one of the biggest shopping hot spots in downtown Toronto. But that plan has run aground and those locations are now being wound up too, and the company’s 17th-century artifacts are being auctioned off.
Read more
The Canadian economy faces short-term turbulence due to the fallout from President Trump’s trade policy, including the risk of tariff-fueled inflation, the country’s finance minister said Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said global policymakers are monitoring economic indicators closely for signs that U.S. trade policy is beginning to throttle growth. He added he would not predict whether Canada can avoid two straight quarters of negative growth, or the technical definition of a recession.
Read more
Canadian retail sales fell by 0.4% in February from January at C$69.33 billion ($49.95 billion), on lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Sales likely increased 0.7% in March, the agency said in a flash estimate, Reuters reported. In February, sales were down in four of nine subsectors, representing 43.1% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased by 0.4%.
Read more.
Read more
Hudson's Bay Co. has stopped paying commission to hundreds of cosmeticians and fragrance advisers during liquidation sales, effectively reducing their salaries, CBC.ca reported. These workers, also known as beauty advisers, earn commission on products sold, on top of their base salary. Hudson's Bay notified the beauty advisers 12 days in advance that, starting on April 20, they would only receive base pay, according to a company-issued letter seen by CBC News. "Please note that this is a decision we have not taken lightly," the retailer stated in the letter.
Read more
Canada’s central bank chief is blaming President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff war for “violently” damaging the economy of America’s northern neighbor, Politico reported. “The Canadian economy ended 2024 in good shape,” Governor Tiff Macklem said Wednesday during an interest rate announcement that preserved the status quo. “Since January, we’ve had a seismic shift in U.S. trade policy and a sharp increase in uncertainty. New tariffs are now in place on key Canadian industries and on every other U.S. trade partner.
The Supreme Court of Canada says a person must wait seven years after completely finishing their post-secondary studies before they may be released from student loan debt under the federal bankruptcy law, The Canadian Press reported. The top court's decision comes today in the case of a woman who received government student loans in the course of three university programs from 1987 to 2003. She later returned to school and earned a master's degree in 2009 without the help of additional student loans.
The Bank of Canada released the following statement on Wednesday: "The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 2.75%, with the Bank Rate at 3% and the deposit rate at 2.70%,” Reuters reported. “The major shift in direction of U.S. trade policy and the unpredictability of tariffs have increased uncertainty, diminished prospects for economic growth, and raised inflation expectations. Pervasive uncertainty makes it unusually challenging to project GDP growth and inflation in Canada and globally.
The Canadian Real Estate Association has sharply downgraded its forecast for home sales in 2025 as buyers remain concerned about tariffs and interest rates, The Globe and Mail reported. The new 2025 forecast, which updates a prior forecast released Jan. 15, is CREA’s largest revision between quarters since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. CREA now expects 482,673 residential properties to trade hands in 2025, which would be virtually unchanged from 2024 levels. However, this is a large downward revision from the 8.6 percent sales increase predicted in January.
Several businesses under the Sunterra banner, known in Alberta for its agriculture and high-end grocery operations, have taken steps toward creditor protection as three of its U.S. subsidiaries face legal and financial scrutiny, CBC.com reported. Late last month, Sunterra Quality Food Markets, Sunterra Food Corporation, Sunterra Farms, Trochu Meat Processors and Sunwold Farms all filed notices under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, a process that gives financially strained companies 30 days of protection from creditors while they come up with a plan to restructure.
Read more
The 25 percent tariff Canada began collecting on cars and trucks imported from the United States early Wednesday is not just the country’s latest act of retaliation against tariffs imposed by President Trump on Canadian exports, the New York Times reported. The estimated 8 billion Canadian dollars a year, about $5.7 billion, that those levies are expected to generate will also bankroll help for companies and workers now under economic threat from the United States. With no obvious or immediate end in sight to Mr.
Read more