The Bank of Canada hiked interest rates by a full percentage point, a surprise move that supercharges efforts to withdraw stimulus amid fears four-decade-high inflation is becoming entrenched, Bloomberg News reported. Governor Tiff Macklem raised the central bank’s policy rate to 2.5% in a decision announced Wednesday in Ottawa that warned of more hikes to come. The 100-basis-point move is the largest increase since 1998. Markets and economists were anticipating 75 basis points.

Canada’s jobs market showed signs of extreme tightening, with the unemployment rate falling to a record low, wage gains accelerating and large numbers of workers dropping out of the labor force, Bloomberg News reported. The economy shed 43,200 jobs in June, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa, a surprise negative reading compared to the 22,500 gain anticipated by economists. But the drop appears to reflect the voluntary exit of workers from the labor force, which contracted by nearly 100,000 -- the biggest one-month decline on record outside of the pandemic.

Consumer inflation expectations surged in Canada, hitting fresh highs in the short-term and up "significantly" over the long-term, a Bank of Canada survey showed Monday, bolstering calls for a very rare 75-basis point rate increase, Reuters reported. "Consumers' expectations for inflation have risen, alongside concerns about prices for food, gas and rent," the central bank said in its second quarter Survey of Consumer Expectations.

A new federal private member’s bill aims to protect your pension in the bankruptcy process if your employer ends up as the next Nortel or Sears Canada, the Toronto Star reported. It’s the latest in a string of attempts to change Canada’s laws to give underfunded pension plans with insufficient assets to cover their liabilities a “super priority” over large creditors and the payout of executive bonuses in a bankruptcy or insolvency process.

Canada's British Columbia province said on Wednesday it reached a C$150 million ($116.50 million) settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma Canada over healthcare costs related to the opioid crisis, Reuters reported. Purdue had been named as one of more than 40 defendants - drugmakers and distributors - in a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by British Columbia in 2018 on behalf of all provincial and federal Canadian governments.

Canada’s banking regulator moved to rein in a number of home-loan products that have exploded in popularity during the country’s pandemic housing boom as the market starts to turn, Bloomberg News reported. Consumers who hold mortgages that are combined with a revolving home-equity line of credit and exceed a 65% loan-to-value ratio must use some of their principal payments to pay down their mortgage balance until it’s below that threshold, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in a statement Tuesday.

Laurentian University’s board of governors voted unanimously earlier this month to replace the university's long-standing auditors, KPMG, with the firm BDO, Sudbury.com reported. The university continues to undergo restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA) after declaring insolvency in the winter of 2021. The decision to replace KPMG as the university’s auditors was made at a June 2 special meeting of Laurentian’s board of governors.

Consumer price inflation accelerated to a four-decade high, adding pressure on the Bank of Canada to deliver more aggressive interest rate hikes in coming weeks, Bloomberg News reported. Annual inflation rose to 7.7% last month, up from 6.8% in April, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa. That’s the highest since January 1983 and well above economist expectations for a 7.3% increase. The inflation gauge rose 1.4% from a month earlier with gasoline, hotel rates and cars among the largest contributors to the gains in May.

The Art Gallery of Sudbury can continue to operate out of the Bell Mansion until 2025, under the terms of an agreement reached with Laurentian University, CTVNews reported. Laurentian has also agreed not to sell the art to help settle its debts as it works its way through insolvency under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. After that process is completed, LU has agreed to give the AGS 90 days notice if it intends to sell the collection. The future of the AGS was in question after its assets were included in Laurentian University's insolvency declaration.

Canadians continued to show a willingness to spend, according to retail sales data out on Tuesday, even as accelerating inflation erodes their purchasing power, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s retailers recorded a 0.9% sales increase in April, Statistics Canada reported, driven primarily by higher volumes. In May, receipts were up 1.6%, according to initial preliminary estimates also released on Tuesday. The numbers suggest rising interest rates, higher inflation and slumping consumer confidence have yet to impact household spending in a major way.