PWHL, Canadian Tire reach multi-year agreement on sponsorship deal

BNN Bloomberg

A man cycles by a Canadian Tire store in North Vancouver on May 10, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

 

The Professional Women's Hockey League has struck a multi-year agreement with Canadian Tire to be the league's first funding partner. 

The collaboration includes sponsorship of the PWHL’s inaugural draft on Sept. 18 in Toronto.

Canadian Tire has committed to allocate a minimum of 50 per cent of its sponsorship dollars towards women’s professional sports by 2026 through its Women’s Sports Initiative.

The company was one of the premier sponsors which permanently ended its relationship with Hockey Canada because of the national sporting organization's handling of sexual assault allegations in the past.

The PWHL was officially introduced on Aug. 29 with an announcement naming its six markets between Canada and the U.S. 

The teams will be in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and the New York City area, with play set to begin in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2023.

WORKERS CAPITAL

AIMCo opens first Asia office in Singapore, remains leery of China

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) is opening its first Asian office, but the Edmonton-based fund manager says it will steer well clear of China to focus instead on markets with less geopolitical risk.

The official opening Tuesday of AIMCo's new Singapore office marks the first foray into the Asia-Pacific region for what is one of Canada's largest institutional investors, with $158 billion of assets under management as of 2022.

CEO Evan Siddall said AIMCo, which invests on behalf of 17 pension, endowment and government fund clients in Alberta and manages more than 30 pools of capital, has up until recently been missing out on some of the investment opportunities that exist within the large, fast-growing economies of the Asian continent.

"We really are very under-represented in Asia. You know, we have less (investment) in Asia than we do in Alberta," Siddall said in an interview.

"I don't want to look in the rear-view mirror, but we've missed opportunities for sure."

Siddall said the Singapore office opening is part of a larger push by AIMCo towards greater diversification globally. The fund manager — which invests in public and private markets, real estate and infrastructure — already has offices in Calgary, Toronto, London and Luxembourg, in addition to Edmonton, and will be opening a New York City office soon.

But Siddall said Asia is important, as many countries there have economic growth that's outstripping that of the U.S and Europe. 

"In many of them, we just don't have any experience. But on a risk-adjusted basis, we think we can and we should do more (in Asia)," he said. 

"We have no rule of thumb, we have no target ... but it's more than we're doing now, and it's a fair bit more."

AIMCo is lagging behind many other Canadian institutional investors when it comes to establishing a foothold in Asia. A report by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada found that between 2003 and 2017, Canadian pension funds invested $25 billion in the region.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board has had an on-the-ground presence on the continent for over a decade, and currently has offices in Singapore as well as Hong Kong and Mumbai. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board also has offices in Mumbai and Hong Kong.

However, Canadian pension funds have also been under scrutiny recently for their exposure to China, particularly given questions around the health of that country's economy as well as its ongoing tensions with the West.

According to a Reuters report earlier this month, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has laid off at least five employees at its Hong Kong office as it steps back from deals in China.

Last spring, representatives of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation told a parliamentary committee studying Canada-China relations that they had paused new direct investment in China because of the increasing risks associated with that country.

Siddall said geopolitics is a significant risk factor in investing, and is the reason AIMCo has chosen to focus on the comparatively safe Singapore market rather than setting its sights on the world's second-largest economy. 

"We're not rushing into China. We basically have almost nothing (invested) in China and really only in passive instruments," Siddall said.

"There are some countries, where the rule of law and corruption are concerns, that we would rather just avoid, frankly." 

After reporting a loss of 3.4 per cent for 2022, AIMCo says its performance has improved significantly in 2023. The fund manager said for the six-month period ending June 30, its net investment return was 4.5 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2023.

PRICE GOUGING PROFITEERING

Grocer Empire reports Q1 profit and sales up from year ago

The Canadian Press

Empire Co. Ltd. says it earned $261.0 million in its latest quarter, up from $187.5 million in the same quarter last year, boosted by the sale of its 56 gas stations in Western Canada to Shell Canada.

The grocer, which owns Sobeys and Safeway and other banners, says the profit amounted to $1.03 per share for the quarter ended Aug. 5, up from a profit of 71 cents per share a year earlier.

Sales in what was Empire's first quarter totalled $8.08 billion, up from $7.94 billion in the same quarter last year. 

Same-store sales were up 3.0 per cent, while same-store sales, excluding fuel, were up 4.1 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Empire says it earned 78 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 71 cents per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of 75 cents per share, based on estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023.

It will take 20 years for feds to break even with Volkswagen, Stellantis deals: PBO

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press

The parliamentary budget officer says it will take the federal and Ontario governments until 2043 to break even on their electric-vehicle battery deals with two automotive giants.

The governments announced subsidies for Volkswagen and Stellantis-LG Energy Solution this year to entice them to build electric vehicle battery plants in Canada.

A report released by the PBO on Tuesday says it will take 20 years for government revenues generated from the production of both plants to equal the production subsidies, which will total $28.2 billion by the end of 2032. 

In March, Canada reached a deal that will see Volkswagen get up to $13.2 billion in production subsidies for batteries they produce at a plant planned for St. Thomas, Ont.

Stellantis later asked for a similar deal for a plant it's constructing in Windsor, Ont., and ultimately secured a $15-billion agreement.

The production subsidies for both plants are supposed to mirror incentives offered by the U.S. through the Inflation Reduction Act, a law passed in the summer of 2022 that makes significant investments in the green economy.

The cost of the Canadian production subsidies are to be shared between the federal and Ontario governments, with Ottawa shouldering two-thirds of the cost.

However, the PBO report includes a notable caveat: the analysis does not include any additional government revenue that may be generated from spillover effects in the economy.

That's in contrast to the federal government's five-year break-even calculation for the Volkswagen deal, which includes expected revenue from production increases across the supply chain.

The Liberals have argued that these hefty production subsidies will have larger effects in the economy by encouraging more companies involved in the automotive industry to invest in Canada. That, in turn, would help push the country ahead with its green transition plans.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the PBO's findings demonstrate that the agreements are "good deals." 

"While the parliamentary budget officer's report does not capture many of the broader economic impacts on the supply chain, it does highlight, once again, that the investments will generate economic benefits far greater than our government's contribution," Champagne said in a statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The federal government has not provided a break-even estimate for the Stellantis deal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2023.

International Petroleum to expand Blackrod, Alta. facility

Ben Cousins, BNN Bloomberg

International Petroleum Corp. is expanding its facility in Blackrod, Alta., with the goal of producing oil at a new development project by the end of 2026.

The company says the US$850-million project is expected to produce 30,000 barrels of oil daily by 2028. IPC holds a 100 per cent working interest in the project.

“We took a strategic decision at the start of this year to sanction the Greenfield development project, which hasn’t been done in quite some time,” William Lundin, chief operating officer of International Petroleum, told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Tuesday.

“This asset has a significant amount of resource at play.”

A greenfield project refers to a development on bare, undeveloped land.

Lundin said the project is particularly exciting given its proximity to a pipeline leading to Edmonton, which can then connect to shipping options through the Trans Mountain pipeline. 

TRANS MOUNTAIN TIMELINE

The beleaguered Trans Mountain pipeline has faced several delays, including the possibility of another nine months due to a route change. In a worst-case scenario, the pipeline won’t be finished until the end of 2024.

“It might be a little delayed potentially, as we’re hearing some rumblings about that, but I think we’ll be in good time,” Lundin said. “By the time Blackrod comes on, I’m sure that pipeline will be in service.”

With files from Bloomberg News

'We have never consumed more oil in history than we have today': Eric Nuttall

Daniel Johnson , BNN Bloomberg 

Sep 11, 2023

One prominent energy investor says the world has never consumed more oil than it currently does, despite narratives of waning demand.

Oil prices have moved higher over the past three months, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices closed at just above US$87 per barrel on Monday, up from a relative low point of about US$67 per barrel in June.

Eric Nuttall, partner and senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg that recessionary fears had been weighing on the demand outlook for oil – despite high consumption of the commodity.

“We've been fighting this narrative about weak demand due to a recession, which we've been hearing about for a year. We have never consumed more oil in history than we have today,” Nuttall said on Monday.

FALLING INVENTORIES

Additionally, OPEC+ has been “curtailing volumes,” Nuttall said, as oil inventories have hit their lowest levels since about 2017 and demand has reached record levels. Earlier this month, oil prices hit $85 per barrel following efforts by OPEC+ to reduce oil output. 

Nuttall, who has been consistently bullish on oil, said he expects falling inventories will keep prices high.

“But because of recessionary fears, you had oil drifting,” he said. 

“As inventories continue to fall this year and next year, we think that will propel oil meaningfully higher.” 

 

NDP wants Suncor CEO to tell MPs why company moving away from focus on clean energy

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

NDP MP Charlie Angus will ask the natural resources committee to summon the CEO of oilsands giant Suncor when the House of Commons resumes next week.

Angus said CEO Rich Kruger has a lot of explaining to over his remarks to investors on a conference call in August.

Kruger, who took over as Suncor CEO in April, said the company had a "disproportionate" focus on the longer-term energy transition to low-emitting and renewable fuels. He said it needed to revise its direction toward the immediate financial opportunities in the oilsands.

"Today, we win by creating value through our large integrated asset base underpinned by oilsands," he said on Aug. 15.

Last year, before Kruger took over, Suncor sold off its solar and wind power assets, and expanded its fossil fuel assets by purchasing a new oilsands mine.

Angus, who is the NDP critic for natural resources, called Kruger's comments "shocking" and "irresponsible."

"We've had thousands of people displaced, millions of hectares of forest destroyed, large sections of North America covered in toxic smoke, and as everyone was talking about the urgency of dealing with this, we have Mr. Kruger saying the only urgency he sees is making as much money as possible," Angus said in an interview Monday.

Angus said Kruger needs "to come and explain why they're refusing to accept responsibility or even to take up a role that can reassure Canadians that they have our best interests or any of our interests at heart."

Angus first needs to get the motion on the agenda of the committee, which has not yet set a date for its next meeting. He will then need the support of at least five other committee members for the motion to pass.

Liberal MP and committee member Julie Dabrusin said she needs to discuss the motion with her colleagues before deciding whether to support it, but does feel companies need to show how they will make climate change action a priority.

"Oil and gas is the largest emitting sector in the country and meaningful action to decarbonize is a necessity to reach net-zero by 2050," she said in a written statement.

"The CEOs of Canada's largest emitters must clearly outline how climate change is an economic and environmental priority and be clear with Canadians what efforts they are taking to decarbonize and meet the goals they have committed to."

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault won't get a vote but has already publicly criticized Kruger's comments.

In an interview with The Canadian Press during last month's Liberal cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, Guilbeault said an oilsands company retreating from clean energy investments proves why the government needs to regulate climate action in the industry.

"To see the leader of a great Canadian company say that he is basically disengaging from climate change and sustainability, that he's going to focus on short-term profit, it's all the wrong answers," Guilbeault said on Aug. 22.

"If I was convinced before that we needed to do regulation, I am even more convinced now."

Later this fall he intends to publish draft regulations setting a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions from the oil and gas industry that will be lowered over time. Companies that exceed the cap will face financial penalties, such as through buying credits from companies that cut their emissions below their capped amount.

The government has not yet said where the cap will be set but the Emissions Reduction Plan seeks about a 40 per cent reduction in emissions from oil and gas production by 2030.

The Pathways Alliance, a consortium of oilsands companies working together to install emissions trapping technology known as carbon capture and storage, has said that is an unrealistic goal.

Oil and gas contributed 28 per cent of Canada's total emissions in 2021, and the oilsands alone account for 13 per cent.

Suncor contributed 17.4 million tonnes, or 2.5 per cent of the national total. Suncor's emissions in 2021 were 50 per cent higher than they were in 2011. Canada's total emissions have fallen six per cent compared with 10 years ago.

Suncor is part of the Pathways Alliance and Kruger said Suncor remains committed to that project.

Suncor did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Trans Mountain oil pipeline faces nine-month delay over route dispute

Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg New

The expansion of a Canadian government-owned oil pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific Coast could be delayed by nine months if regulators don’t approve a route alteration, the project’s builder said in a regulatory filing.

The expanded Trans Mountain might not be completed before December 2024 in a “worst-case” scenario where regulators force the company to stick with a plan to tunnel under land that’s important to a local indigenous community, according to a filing with the Canada Energy Regulator. The earliest the tunneling could be completed is by April, the company said.

The Trans Mountain expansion has already faced repeated delays since it began more than a decade ago, causing the price tag to more than quadruple to $30.9 billion (US$22.8 billion). The project — which would more than triple the volume of crude Alberta’s producers can pipe to the West Coast to 890,000 barrels a day — was due to start operations by the end of the first quarter.

Trans Mountain is seeking approval for a route change in British Columbia that would scrap the tunneling project in favor of an alternative that’s more intrusive — but cheaper — after running into engineering challenges. But the local Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation, or SSN, opposes the change, saying the change would do “irreparable harm” to its cultural and spiritual rights. The regulator has scheduled public hearings on the proposed change for this month.

Trans Mountain didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government bought the project from Kinder Morgan in 2018 after the company threatened to pull the plug on it amid fierce opposition in British Columbia. 

TikTok partnerships plentiful in Canada amid bans, foreign interference accusations

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

In the halls of Parliament, TikTok is banned from civil servants' phones as the government grapples with allegations of foreign interference. But on Canada's red carpets and in sports arenas, the popular social media platform is still welcome.

The video-sharing app has served as the official voting platform for the Juno Awards' fan choice award, livestreamed the Osheaga music festival in Montreal and even emblazoned its logo across the helmets of Toronto Maple Leaf players for the last two seasons.

It's in the spotlight right now as a media partner of the Toronto International Film Festival. Last year, TikTok set up a recording booth along the event's main strip last year and had influencers host red carpets for the premieres of "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," "The Woman King" and "Bros."

But this year's iteration of TIFF will be unlike the last because Canada finds itself in a very different political climate, where TikTok is being treated with caution and in February was booted from federal devices. It’s also been the topic of an ongoing investigation from Canada's privacy commissioner and three provincial counterparts looking into whether the app complies with the country’s privacy legislation.

The moves stemmed from concerns that data the app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance collects on users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, or that the platform could be used to push misinformation on users to influence the public in pro-China ways. 

TikTok declined to comment for this story, but chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas has previously insisted China has never requested data from the company and it won’t comply if such an order is made.

Experts say the reasons for TikTok's Canadian partnerships in entertainment and sports are likely twofold: they offer a chance to placate worries by showing big brands are still comfortable being associated with the app, but also a means of boosting the app's userbase and coolness.

"It's a hearts and minds campaign," said Richard Lachman, a digital media professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

TikTok has linked itself to brands integral to the Canadian identity like the Maple Leafs, he hypothesized, so that the tech company becomes entrenched in the country's culture.

The thinking, he said, may be this: "We're going to be at all the cultural events you think of so that we are regular, we are mainstream, we're not some something outside the normal. We are part of regular culture in Canada, for sure."

Fostering that link goes hand-in-hand with deflecting attention away from concerns.

"They're trying to say, 'Maybe don't pay attention to these other news stories you might be seeing,'" said Lachman.

In recent weeks, those stories include TikTok being kept off New York City's government-owned devices and a Montana ban on new downloads of the app triggered by FBI and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's concerns that China could access TikTok data. TikTok is challenging Montana's ban in court.

Brands don't appear to be put off by such headlines.

Asked about the political discourse around the app, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Junos, said TikTok has been an “important partner” since 2021 and “engagement has been very strong.

“We hope to continue the partnership in the future.”

TIFF spokesperson Alejandra Sosa declined to comment.

The Leafs, which announced a TikTok partnership during the 2021-2022 season and extended it last season, did not respond to a request for comment. The team hasn't announced a partnership extension for this season.

Lachman suspects brands are drawn to TikTok partnerships because they help organizations drum up fans, attention and funding.

But the deals also have something equally lucrative for TikTok: access to wealthy crowds, including people who may control corporate advertising budgets.

"They're hoping to be in front of the business audience who attends regularly, who can afford the season ticket or the full festival pass," said Joanne McNeish, an associate professor at TMU specializing in marketing.

The celebrities, influencers, athletes and "young, more hip" audiences also make sponsorships attractive because they can draw in users that are sought after by advertisers, said Brett Caraway, a professor of media economics at the University of Toronto.

"Things like sports sponsorships, corporate events, concerts, any of that kind of stuff, festivals, are just another way for them to harvest more and more of those valuable users that they need on the platform to attract the people that they care the most about, which are actually advertisers," he said.

TikTok had about one billion global users in 2021, but a March 2023 report from TMU researcher Sam Andrey showed only 29 per cent of Canadians were on the platform.

However, those ranks are swelling. TikTok experienced the fastest rate of growth among top social media apps used by Canadians, nearly tripling its reach from 10 per cent in 2019.

Yet trust in TikTok was particularly low among respondents to Andrey's survey, falling so far that the app replaced Facebook as Canada’s least trusted social media organization.

About 50 per cent of respondents had low trust in TikTok, up from 36 per cent in 2021, while only seven per cent had high trust in the app, down from 16 per cent over the same period.

Despite declining trust, Lachman said many users don't appear to be concerned with TikTok or its brand partnerships.

"It does not seem like there's massive public outcry saying, 'We don't like this brand, we don't like this content. We're worried about Chinese or foreign interference, so we don't want your organization to be affiliated (with TikTok),'" he said. 

"I've not seen that level of backlash."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2023.

Trudeau announces first deal under $4B housing fund

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

More than 2,000 new housing units should be built in London, Ont., over the next three years as the city became the first in the country to sign a deal under the new national housing accelerator fund Wednesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was issuing a challenge to other mayors to "step up with their proposals" and "build more homes faster."

The $4-billion accelerator program was first announced in the 2022 federal budget but applications weren't accepted until July.

Trudeau said London was the fastest to respond to the call for ambitious plans that eliminate municipal barriers to getting homes built more quickly. That includes, for example, zoning rules that limit the kind of homes that can be built in specific areas.

London's proposal, which Trudeau called "absolutely visionary," allows for building high-density housing developments without the need for rezoning and allows four units to be built on a single property even in low-density neighbourhoods.

London will receive $74 million toward the housing projects.

The announcement comes as the Liberals are facing heavy pressure to respond to a housing shortage that is compounded by two years of high inflation.

The Liberal caucus is meeting in London for a retreat before the House of Commons resumes sitting next week, and Trudeau is expected to get an earful from his MPs about the party's flagging fortunes in the polls.

Various media reports have quoted backbench MPs as saying the party isn't communicating its accomplishments well and that Trudeau isn't listening to the concerns of MPs who are not in cabinet.

Quebec MP Brenda Shanahan, the Liberal caucus chair, said Tuesday that her fellow MPs are having "very frank" conversations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said those talks are crucial.

"We are going to have conversations that are sometimes not always easy, sometimes difficult, but necessary because we are a government that has been in power for eight years now, a government that has faced several crises and each time, we were able to overcome them.”

Earlier Wednesday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said there are unprecedented measures coming on housing, and implied the London announcement is just the first of many.

"This (afternoon) announcement is one of a series of measures we're going to be advancing over the course of the fall that are going to have a meaningful impact to get more homes built in this country," he said.

Fraser said Ottawa is planning new measures to tackle the housing crisis, working with the private and non-profit sectors.

"We're going to need to advance measures that are going to help change the financial equation for builders who are dealing with a lot of projects that are actually approved but have been put on pause because of a higher-interest rate environment," Fraser said.

He also said the federal government will "work to change" how long it takes cities to issue zoning permits and find ways to attract immigrants with construction skills to Canada.

Fraser added the government will need to be "investing in innovation, like building homes in factories so we can actually be more productive with the assets that we have, with the investments that we make."

The Liberals are also trying to signal they are prudent fiscal managers. 

An ongoing spending review calls for a $15-billion cut over five years, and a drop of $4 billion each following year. Treasury Board President Anita Anand insisted that won't affect priorities such as housing, affordability and support to vulnerable Canadians. 

"We're going to continue to be focused on those priorities while making sure that our own fiscal house is in order. And that's what all Canadians are doing right now," she said.

Charles Sousa, a Toronto-area MP and Ontario's former finance minister, said the party needs to balance building more in the suburbs with managing federal spending. 

"We have to do more collaboratively with the provinces and municipalities, and we have to find ways to be constructive," he said.

"We redistribute wealth where necessary, but we have to promote growth; we have to promote economic vitality."

MPs are meeting in regional groups Wednesday to touch base on issues their constituents have raised, as well as unflattering polling numbers in surveys the Liberals commissioned this summer.

Yet Vancouver-area MP Ken Hardie claimed his constituents are generally feeling positive. 

"We were talking about this last night. Whatever the polls are saying, we're not hearing it at the doors," he said.

"We were expecting to run into some heavy weather; some people are upset. Most people aren't even paying attention." 

The caucus meeting is taking place in a convention centre with locked doors and heavy security.

On Tuesday, a dozen protesters gathered outside the venue holding flags with expletives seen during the Freedom Convoy protests in 2022. Some in that group were seen that evening lighting off fireworks in the vicinity of hotels where Liberal MPs were staying.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2023.

— With files from Emilie Bergeron

London, Ont.'s housing plan 'uniquely strong': Housing Minister Sean Fraser

Ben Cousins, BNN Bloomberg

London, Ont.’s flexibility when it comes to its housing strategy made it the easy choice as the first city to secure funding under the federal government’s new Housing Accelerator Fund, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced London would receive $74 million toward its plan to build 2,000 new homes in the city. The funding announcement is the first under the government’s $4-billion accelerator program, first announced in 2022.

Fraser called London’s proposal “uniquely strong,” but only awarded the money after the city approved the federal government’s requests for housing projects near public transit and bylaw tweaks to allow four apartment units in a dwelling. 

“When they were able to add the additional competitive features to their application, it made the decision easier to make London be the first successful applicant through this fund,” Fraser told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview Wednesday.

Fraser said the money is intended to help boost the housing supply in the cities and communities that apply for grants, but how they choose to use the money will vary on a case-by-case basis.

This is far from the only announcement either, Fraser said the government has seen “hundreds and hundreds” of applications from cities of all sizes.

“We’ve now set the bar for what we expect,” Fraser said. “We expect cities to legalize housing more broadly, we expect cities to build more housing near transit.”

Fraser also teased that more announcements from the Housing Accelerator Fund would be revealed in the fall.

What homes can median income earners afford across Canada?

Daniel Johnson, BNN Bloomberg

As many prospective buyers struggle to afford homes, new research from Zoocasa is highlighting what median-income earners can afford across each Canadian province. 

Zoocasa shared the findings in a Monday blog post, noting that home ownership is “remarkably difficult” across all provinces and that median incomes were not enough to afford a home anywhere in Canada at benchmark prices.

However, the research highlighted some “hidden gems” across Canada when it comes to homes in an affordable range based on median salaries for that province.

MOST AND LEAST AFFORDABLE PROVINCES 

Newfoundland and Labrador was found to have the highest level of affordability among the Canadian provinces, where the difference between what someone earning the media income could afford and the benchmark price for a home was just over $43,000. 

Prospective buyers in Newfoundland and Labrador with a median income could afford a home worth approximately $246,459, while the provincial benchmark sits at $289,800, the research found.

Ontario and British Columbia were the least affordable provinces, according to Zoocasa’s findings.

In Ontario, the gap between the median income and benchmark price was about $637,000. Ontario homes were priced at about $920,000 on average, while median-income buyers could only afford homes priced up to $283,180. 

In B.C., median-income earners could only afford homes priced up to $277,466, about $722,000 lower than the benchmark price of $998,900. 

However, Zoocasa noted that the gap between median income levels and benchmark prices doesn’t necessarily mean home ownership is out of reach for median-income earners, as there are homes for sale in the range of what those buyers could afford. 

Here is a look at some of the homes listed across Canada within an affordable range for people earning median incomes.

ONTARIO 

In Ontario, Zoocasa highlighted that median-income earners could afford a home in Sault Ste. Marie listed at $229,000. The detached home features three bedrooms and one bathroom but it doesn’t have parking available. 

You can see photos of the home below, courtesy of  Exit Realty True North. 

ALBERTA 

In Edmonton, median income earners could afford a home priced at $319,900. The townhouse features three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two parking spaces. 

You can see photos of the home below, courtesy of  Yegpro Realty.

BRITISH COLUMBIA 

In Fort St. John, B.C., the Zoocasa report showcased a duplex unit with three bedrooms and two bathrooms but no available parking. The home would be affordable to median-income earners at a listed price of $260,900.

You can see photos of the home below, courtesy of  Century 21 Energy Realty.

 

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

Zoocasa highlighted a home in Newfoundland and Labrador listed for $225,000 that is within an affordable range for median-income earners. Located in St John’s, the detached home features four bedrooms, one bathroom and no parking spaces. 

You can see photos of the home below, courtesy of  3% Realty East Coast. 

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