Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers and Governor Tiff Macklem at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
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 on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.
Teck royalty on Fourmile gold project could be worth billions, potentially affecting Barrick’s IPO plansOpen this photo in gallery:
A visitor views a core sample from Barrick’s Fourmile Goldrush Camp at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in 2019.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
Teck Resources Ltd. owns a royalty on Barrick Mining Corp.’s Fourmile gold project in Nevada that could be worth billions, according to documents viewed by The Globe and Mail – a revelation that could affect the valuation of Barrick’s planned initial public offering of its North American business.
Up to now, the only royalty disclosed on Fourmile is the 1.6-per-cent gross smelter return, which is based on revenue, not profit, held by Royal Gold Inc., writes Niall McGee.
The royalty agreement was filed in Nevada about four years before Barrick made the discovery at Fourmile. In what has now become company lore, Barrick in its early drilling program at the site repeatedly came up snake eyes, before finally hitting pay dirt on its final drill hole.
Homeowners with stronger credit scores are increasingly defaulting on mortgage paymentsOpen this photo in gallery:
A home for sale in Toronto on Feb. 4.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Homeowners with stronger credit scores are increasingly defaulting on their mortgage payments, an alarming trend that reveals the impact of higher mortgage rates on traditionally lower-risk borrowers.
An increasing number of the financially stable middle-tiered group – defined as homeowners with credit scores in the 621-to-680 range, according to Equifax Canada data – are behind on their mortgage payments by at least 90 days. Across the country, that delinquency rate increased by 31 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the same period in 2025, reports Rachelle Younglai.
During the pandemic’s real estate boom, interest rates on home loans were below 2 per cent. Now? The popular five-year fixed-rate mortgage is advertised in the 3.6- to 4-per-cent range. The five highest delinquency areas in the country are in the priciest markets of Toronto and Vancouver, but also the relatively expensive markets of Brampton, Ont., Markham, Ont. and Oshawa, Ont.
BoC holds benchmark rate at 2.25% amid oil price shockOpen this photo in gallery:
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem in Ottawa on Wednesday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate steady Wednesday, but said it’s prepared to adjust monetary policy if needed amid a global oil price shock that risks reigniting inflation.
The decision was made against the backdrop of a sharp rise in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East, which has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz through which approximately one-fifth of global oil supplies typically travel. Energy shocks are tricky for central bankers to manage, as they tend to crimp economic activity while pushing up inflation.
But just how high will inflation go? That largely depends on the duration of the war and the damage done to energy production facilities in the region.
Xanadu CEO Christian Weedbrook wants his company to win the quantum race. Now he’s betting big on going publicOpen this photo in gallery:
Xanadu CEO Christian Weedbrook in front of the company’s Aurora machine on Thursday.Janick Laurent/The Globe and Mail
Christian Weedbrook wanted to be a filmmaker, but he failed out of film school – twice. Now, he leads Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., set to be the first Canada-based technology company since 2021 to go public on the TSX.
Xanadu has emerged as one of the sector’s leaders, writes Sean Silcoff. It’s in a global race with companies like Google and International Business Machines Corp. to harness the logic-defying rules of quantum physics in machines they hope will vastly outperform the world’s most powerful computers in several categories. That should allow them to power through sophisticated tasks such as complex economic forecasting, discovering advanced materials and pharmaceuticals – and, if used by bad actors, pick the cryptographic locks that protect the global digital economy.
LNG Canada sharply boosts exports to Asia as global supplies tightenOpen this photo in gallery:
A carrier ship for liquefied natural gas at LNG Canada’s export facility in Kitimat, B.C.Jesse Winter/Reuters
LNG Canada has been boosting exports this month to Asia, coinciding with reduced global supplies of liquefied natural gas after the virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. Canada’s first LNG export terminal had a total of 21 ships starting to transport the fuel across the Pacific Ocean in January and February, up from four in December.
Despite a recent production delay, the export volume in March thus far puts LNG Canada on pace to reach almost 85 per cent of its full capacity in early spring. And, for the first three months of this year alone, LNG Canada will easily surpass the export volume from the initial six months of running last year.
Canada reports first annual population decline on recordOpen this photo in gallery:
A busy street in downtown Calgary.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s population declined by more than 100,000 people in 2025, marking the first annual decline in records that date back to the 1940s as the federal government tries to rein in the number of temporary residents in the country.
At its peak, in October of 2024, there were more than three million temporary residents in Canada, or 7.6 per cent of the population. This rapid growth of people in a relatively short time frame led to concerns about housing shortages, high rents and an excess of labour supply that was linked to the growing youth unemployment rate.
The population decline over the last two quarters is a direct reflection of a series of policy changes Ottawa introduced to reduce the share of temporary residents to 5 per cent of the total population.
Which publisher sued OpenAI this week, alleging that the artificial-intelligence pioneer unlawfully copied the publisher’s works to help train its chatbot?
a. Playboy
b. Pravda
c. Encyclopedia Britannica
d. Oxford English Dictionary
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.