News about Canada

The chief executive of Mattamy Homes says the HST rebate for new homes in Ontario was an important step, but Canada needs long-term structural reforms rather than stopgap measures. National home sales fell 7% year over year in August, and housing starts slowed modestly. He proposes permanently raising the rebate threshold and eliminating HST on the first $1-million of a new home's cost, with a two-year review mechanism, and allowing homeowners to deduct mortgage interest from taxable income. He notes that home building employs about 880,000 people across Canada each year, arguing that a stronger housing sector is needed to build more homes faster.

Zac Surritt, a leader at Kansas metal fabrication firm R&S Maintenance, says tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have cut global demand and margins, raised transportation and living costs for employees, and forced the company to delay expansion. Republican Senator Roger Marshall, running for reelection against Democrat Adam Hamilton, called the experience likely an anomaly since most manufacturers are expanding, and said the tariffs are bringing jobs back to America. Hamilton criticized the policy's instability, citing 56 tariff changes in the past year, and said Trump's insults toward Canada, which imports $4 billion of goods from Kansas annually, and doubts about Bombardier, which has 1,500 employees in Sedgwick County, were damaging. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that tariffs in 2025 and 2026 added 2.9 percentage points to inflation across a basket of 67 everyday consumer goods, while the Tax Foundation estimated an average cost of $820 per household in 2026.

Alberta voters will cast ballots Monday on 10 referendum questions, including whether to hold a binding referendum on the province leaving Canada; the separation question will be counted first, with results expected early the next morning. Unifor, which represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers, will release Monday the results of a weekend strike vote, calling a strike a last resort but saying a strike mandate would give its bargaining committee leverage. A major sticking point is the future of the Brampton, Ont., assembly plant, which Stellantis wants to sell to defence contractor Roshel. Statistics Canada will publish September inflation on Monday, following August's annual rate of three per cent, unchanged from July, while the Bank of Canada will release its business outlook and consumer expectations surveys ahead of its Oct. 28 rate decision. Rogers Communications will report third-quarter results Friday, having recently completed its purchase of the remaining 25 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Albertans vote Monday on 10 referendum questions, including whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada, with the separation question counted first. Unifor, which represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers, will release Monday the results of a weekend strike vote, with the Brampton, Ont., plant that Stellantis wants to sell to Roshel a major sticking point. Statistics Canada releases September inflation on Monday, after August's annual rate of 3 per cent, while the Bank of Canada publishes its business outlook and consumer expectations surveys ahead of its Oct. 28 rate decision. Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) reports third-quarter results Friday, after completing its purchase of the remaining 25 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Canada's main index, the TSX Composite, rose 552.64 points, or 1.6%, to close Thursday at 36,137.10, as lower bond yields boosted risk appetite despite weakness in energy shares tied to falling oil prices. Shopify gained $7.05, or 2.9%, to $252.53, while Celestica fell 3.1% to $446.70. Canadian wholesale sales declined 1.6% to $91.6 billion in August, manufacturing sales rose 1.5%, and 174,611 new motor vehicles were sold in Canada in August 2026, up 4.9% from a year earlier. In the U.S., the Dow rose 1.1% to 52,177.69 as investors rotated out of AI-related tech stocks over spending concerns, and the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 5.08% from 5.24%.

Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Chantelle de Jonge, ahead of an Alberta referendum and amid AI backlash and US trade tensions, says the provincial government remains focused on responsible resource development, job creation and strengthening Alberta's economy within Canada. She said she ran on an Alberta First platform because of frustration with federal policies, but was not elected on a separatist mandate, and that Albertans should be able to voice their views through a democratic process. She cautioned against escalating the trade dispute, saying tariffs and counter-tariffs harm both Americans and Canadians, and urged diplomacy. On AI and data centres, which have prompted town halls in communities such as Langdon and Indus, she said Alberta is developing consistent province-wide standards so large data centres are built far from residential areas. She also noted ground was recently broken on the Dawson's Landing school in Chestermere with Rocky View Schools.

The column argues that Alberta's upcoming referendum, which asks whether to hold a later vote on leaving Canada, reflects weak leadership from Premier Danielle Smith, who has pandered to separatists rather than handle them as previous premiers did. It cites warnings from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Alberta that even putting the question forward is harming the province's economic outlook. To illustrate Alberta's history of fringe movements, it recalls how Aberhart's Social Credit Party won power in 1935 and pursued unconstitutional ideas, until Premier Ernest Manning dissolved its Social Credit Board in 1948 and marginalized the extremists. It also recalls Pierre Trudeau's 1980 National Energy Program, which Premier Peter Lougheed fought in the courts.

Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty confirmed that people have died and been injured in an incident at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, without disclosing numbers or the cause. A large fire broke out at the base and spread beyond its fence into nearby areas, though no evacuation order has been issued. Census data from 2021 shows the base had 1,310 military and civilian personnel, while the town of Wainwright, with about 6,600 residents, lies just north of it. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the federal government is working closely with Alberta, and the military and the RCMP are investigating.

Former cabinet minister Siobhan Coady, who left politics in 2025, argues that fair pay is needed to attract strong candidates and that low compensation is a democracy issue. An independent report for Newfoundland and Labrador's Member Compensation Review Committee recommends a raise of roughly $23,000 a year for provincial politicians, with indexing to inflation, after 17 years without an increase. Base pay is $95,357, and the raise would move the province to the middle of the pack nationally, while Prince Edward Island pays the lowest at $86,924 and Ontario the highest at $163,275. Premier Tony Wakeham said he had not yet read the report and that it will go before the Management Commission on Oct. 21. A similar increase proposed in 2024 was shelved.

Daniel Fontaine's Progressives party won the New Westminster mayoral race and nearly swept city council and the school board, with Fontaine defeating incumbent mayor Patrick Johnstone by 2,233 votes. Johnstone's Community First party, which had held four of six council seats and six of seven trustee seats, was almost wiped out, while the Progressives now hold the mayor's office, five councillor seats and six trustee seats. Fontaine, a Métis from southern Manitoba, becomes the city's first Indigenous mayor and pledged to build a more economically vibrant city, invest in housing affordability, public safety, parks and infrastructure, and keep tax increases within inflation. Douglas College communications professor Sam Schechter said voters will expect change, and the downtown core, especially Columbia Street, was a key campaign issue.