Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
What stands out in Carney’s Trump survival planOpen this photo in gallery:
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne shakes hands with Prime Minister Mark Carney after delivering his budget speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government unveiled the 2025 federal budget this week, aimed at diversifying Canada’s economy and surviving Donald Trump’s trade war. The budget acts as a blueprint to counter American protectionism, with $89.7-billion in new spending and a promise to spur $1-trillion of investment. It includes ramped-up defence spending, tax incentives to spur corporate investment and targeted federal spending. But it also comes at a cost: This year’s federal budget deficit will be $78.3-billion and Ottawa plans to cut 40,000 jobs in the next five years.
The budget also outlines the immigration levels plan for the next three years, measures aimed to get the corporate sector spending, and funds that will invest in key trade projects. Jason Kirby and Matt Lundy take a look at 10 highlights from this year’s federal budget.
Canada posts surprise job gains in October
Canada added a surprising 67,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to 6.9 per cent from 7.1 per cent, beating economists’ expectations for the month. It is the second consecutive month for gains, and the growth was driven by part-time work with 85,000 positions added. Statistics Canada noted, however, that from January to October, employment in goods-producing industries has fallen by 54,000, largely because of losses in construction and manufacturing. The national youth unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 14.1 per cent from 14.7 per cent in September – the first decline since February.
The latest data bolsters calls that the Bank of Canada is done cutting interest rates for now. Interest rate swaps, which capture market expectations of monetary policy, are pricing in a 5-per-cent chance of a reduction at the central bank’s next decision, according to Bloomberg data. Still the outlook is hardly certain, Matt Lundy reports. The North American trade agreement is up for renegotiation next year, and Ottawa has been unable to secure relief for certain industries getting battered by hefty U.S. tariffs.
Decoder: Ottawa’s rising debt charge burden
There is some good news and some bad news with Ottawa’s rising debt charge burden. The good news is that federal interest payments this past fiscal year were actually slightly lower than what had been forecast in the last fall economic statement. The bad news? Public debt charges – the costs of servicing the federal debt – are forecast to climb steadily over the next five years, jumping 42.5 per cent to $76-billion in 2029-30. Jason Kirby reports that the government paid more to service its debt last fiscal year ($53.4-billion) than it sent to the provinces for health transfers ($52.1-billion). Take a look at the numbers in the latest instalment of the Decoder series.
India joins China in slapping tariffs on Canadian yellow peasOpen this photo in gallery:
Terry Youzwa, a Saskatchewan farmer and the chair of Pulse Canada, on his farm near Nipawin, Sask.Liam Richards/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s yellow pea farmers will face duties in both India and China, its top two markets, after New Delhi announced a new 30 per cent tariff on all imported yellow peas beginning Nov. 1. Canada is by far India’s largest supplier, selling more than $700-million worth last year to that country. Meanwhile, back in March, China placed 100-per-cent tariffs against Canadian peas. The two markets account for 80 per cent of all Canadian yellow pea exports, Kate Helmore reports.
Canadian farmers are demanding that Ottawa take action to resolve the trade dispute. Canada is the second-largest producer and top exporter of peas globally and peas are grown on some 3.7 million acres across Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. Market diversification could soften the blow of those countries’ trade barriers, said Terry Youzwa, a Saskatchewan farmer and the chair of Pulse Canada, the industry association representing growers of peas, lentils, chickpeas and dry beans.
Canada’s 100 best cities for renters in 2025
Housing affordability in Canada remains the worst it’s been in decades. Rents, on the other hand, are dropping across the country. Renting is no longer a temporary arrangement for would-be homebuyers – for many people, it is a lasting home in a community. That’s why The Globe’s data editor Mahima Singh built a tool to help readers find the best cities to rent – whether you’re a young professional, a student, or someone looking for a new start. She used monthly listing data from Rentals.ca, and ranked cities across Canada on four attributes: Affordability, Availability, Stability, and Livability. Explore the data-driven ranking of the places to rent in the country.
The ranking found that Edmonton is the best city in the country for renters. In fact, seven cities in the top 10 were in Alberta or Saskatchewan, pointing to the mix of affordability and economic opportunity that exists in those provinces. It reflects another hard truth: the state of the housing market is challenging for lots of Canadians who are moving to find cheaper homes, Salmaan Farooqui reports. Nearly 100,000 Canadians moved to Alberta over the course of 2023 and 2024, and affordability is part of the reason why.
Which company just received approval to launch a bank in Canada
a. Shopify
b. Bank of China
c. The Trump Organization
d. Questrade
d. Questrade Financial Group has secured final approval for a licence to launch a new Canadian bank. The company wants to diversify beyond low-cost stock trading and plans to launch banking operations under the name Questbank.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.