60 per cent of Canadian mortgage owners could face higher mortgage payments by 2026: Bank of Canada

By Dorcas Marfo

July 17, 2025 

Houses are seen in a neighbourhood on Burnaby Mountain, in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, June 10, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Roughly 60 per cent of Canadian mortgage holders will face higher monthly payments when their loans come up for renewal in 2025 and 2026, according to a new Bank of Canada report.

In the latest staff analytical note, the bank says that although mortgage interest rates are expected to gradually decline, most borrowers will still see payment increases relative to their current contracts — many of which were signed during periods of lower interest rates.

The report estimates that in 2025, homeowners renewing their mortgages will see an average increase of 10 per cent in their monthly payments compared to December 2024 levels.

In 2026, the increase is expected to moderate to around six per cent.Is your mortgage rate about to shoot up? We want to hear from you

The payment increases will vary depending on mortgage type. According to the bank, borrowers with fixed-rate mortgages, especially those with five-year terms, are likely to experience the steepest jumps in payments ranging between 15 and 20 per cent on average.


These borrowers make up 40 per cent of all mortgages in Canada and are driving the overall upward pressure on renewal payments.

While the majority of borrowers will see their payments rise, the bank’s analysis shows that not all will be affected equally.

For homeowners with variable-rate mortgages that adjust monthly, payments are projected to decrease by five to seven per cent. Meanwhile, those with variable-rate mortgages with fixed payments may see mixed outcomes: around 10 per cent of these borrowers are expected to face increases of more than 40 per cent in 2026, while 25 per cent may see decreases of at least seven per cent.

According to Ratehub.ca, a homeowner who bought an average-priced home in 2020 with a low fixed mortgage rate could see their monthly payments rise by about $424 when they renew this summer. That adds up to nearly $5,100 more per year, or a 19 per cent increase in costs, even though the mortgage balance has decreased over time.

For variable-rate borrowers, the outlook may be a bit better. Ratehub.ca estimates that someone renewing this summer could see their mortgage payments drop by about $69 per month or nearly $830 per year — thanks to recent cuts from the Bank of Canada.
Strain on households budgets

Borrowers facing payment increases at renewal are expected to see a sharper rise in their mortgage debt service (MDS) ratio — the share of income spent on mortgage payments — compared to those with payment decreases, the Bank of Canada says.

For those with rising payments, the median MDS ratio is projected to climb from 15.3 per cent in December 2024 to 18 per cent by the end of 2026. By contrast, borrowers with decreasing payments will see their median MDS ratio fall from 19.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent.

These projections assume no change in income though the bank notes many borrowers likely experienced income growth since their last mortgage term — helping them better manage higher payments.

New buyers rely on financial help

A large number of Canadians are leaning on financial support to access homeownership, according to Mortgage Professionals Canada’s 2025 State of the Housing Market survey. About 2,000 Canadians were surveyed.

The survey, conducted by Bond Brand Loyalty, reveals that 70 per cent of buyers in the past two years could not have purchased their home without help. Across all buyers who received support, 58 per cent said the same.

The report also highlights increasing anxiety around upcoming mortgage renewals. With 74 per cent of mortgage holders set to renew in the next three years, one in five say they are worried about how those renewals will impact their finances.

In a volatile borrowing landscape, Canadians are showing a clear preference for stability with 68 per cent of those surveyed said they chose fixed-rate mortgages.

Despite that, younger and variable-rate borrowers are more likely to make additional or more frequent payments.
Methodology

The Bank of Canada based its analysis on the assumption that borrowers maintain the same type of mortgage and amortization period at renewal.

The amortization period is the process of gradually paying off a debt over a set period of time through regular payments.

The bank also used market-implied expectations for interest rates as of June 17 to model future payment scenarios.

Despite the anticipated financial pressure, the bank noted that some borrowers may not experience changes if they proactively renegotiate terms or adjust their amortization schedules.


Dorcas Marfo
CTVNews.ca Journalist


Help with down payment now essential for many homebuyers: survey

By The Canadian Press
 July 17, 2025 

A Mortgage Professionals Canada survey shows seven in 10 recent homebuyers could not have purchased their home without relying on family gifts, loans and other outside help. A real estate sign is shown in Vaughan, Ont., on Thursday Sept. 12, 2024. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paige Taylor White

TORONTO — A new survey says financial help with a down payment is now essential for many homebuyers.

A Mortgage Professionals Canada survey shows seven in 10 recent homebuyers say they could not have purchased their home without relying on family gifts, loans and other outside help.

Mortgage Professionals Canada CEO Lauren van den Berg says down payment assistance is no longer a backup plan but a requirement for many Canadians hoping to buy a home.Most recent real estate new from BNNBloomberg.ca

The survey also shows one in five homeowners who have an upcoming mortgage renewal feel anxious about what their new payments could look like.

It adds 68 per cent of the borrowers surveyed prefer having a fixed-rate mortgage.


Meanwhile, the report shows variable-rate holders were nearly twice as likely as fixed-rate borrowers to make extra payments.

---

Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.

Real Estate

Landlord who evicted tenant, then offered to take him back at double rent, loses in B.C. court

By Ian Holliday
 July 20, 2025

The property on Garfield Drive in Delta is seen in this 2014 photo from the BC Assessment website. (bcassessment.ca)

A landlord who evicted her tenant so that she and her family could move into the property, then seemingly offered to re-rent the property to the tenant for double what he had been paying, will have to pay him $30,100 in compensation after losing in B.C. Supreme Court last week.

Fatehjit Kaur rented her home on Garfield Drive in Delta to Melvin Javier from February 2021 through May 2022, according to the court decision published Friday. The monthly rent was $2,500.

In mid-April 2022, Kaur gave Javier a two-month notice to end tenancy for landlord’s use of the property. The eviction notice indicated that she would be moving into the home with her partner and children.

According to the decision, Javier moved out on June 1 and Kaur began renovating the property.

Then, in late September 2022, Kaur sent Javier a series of text messages that is partly reproduced in Justice Matthew Taylor’s decision, as follows:

“Hi how are you doing

Are you looking for rent the house?

We fully renovated and extended the house with 5 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms.

Let me know if you are still interested I was like I can ask you first. But this time will be $5,000 rent. It’s with AC unit and fireplace everything brand new.

If you want you can come look at it. Am putting on rent add in this week. So just telling you advance."

Javier filed an application for dispute resolution with the Residential Tenancy Branch, asserting that the messages were evidence that Kaur had not fulfilled the purpose of the eviction notice, and that he was thus entitled to compensation equivalent to 12 months’ rent.

In B.C., landlords can evict tenants without cause if they or a close family member intend to move into the rental unit themselves. The Residential Tenancy Act requires such landlords to act in good faith, to complete the reason for the eviction within a “reasonable” timeframe and to occupy the unit for a minimum period of time – which the government increased to 12 months last year – before renting it out again.

Landlords who don’t occupy the property within a reasonable time or remain there for the prescribed duration – which was six months at the time Kaur evicted Javier – can be ordered to pay the evicted tenants the equivalent of 12 months worth of their former rent.

After hearing the case, an RTB arbitrator concluded that Kaur had not moved in within a reasonable period and had not proven there were extenuating circumstances that prevented her from doing so. The arbitrator awarded Javier $30,100, representing 12 months of rent plus the filing fee.

Kaur petitioned the B.C. Supreme Court seeking a judicial review of the arbitrator’s decision, which is how Taylor ended up weighing in on the case.
‘Ignorance about the applicable law’

The landlord argued that the RTB hearing had been procedurally unfair and that the arbitrator’s decision was patently unreasonable.

On the question of fairness, Kaur told the court she had not been “sufficiently put on notice” that the case would be about whether she completed renovations to the property in a timely manner, rather than whether she had attempted to re-rent the property to her former tenant.

If she had known that the arbitrator would be looking at whether she completed renovations and moved into the home within a reasonable timeframe, she argued, she would have produced additional evidence to support her position that the amount of time taken was reasonable.

Taylor was unimpressed by this argument, writing in his decision that its “fundamental weakness” was that it was based primarily on “her own ignorance about the applicable law, rather than any specific procedural steps taken or not taken by the arbitrator.”


The judge’s decision notes that the eviction notice Kaur provided to Javier references the legal requirements placed on landlords providing such notice.

“Seen in this light, the landlord’s procedural unfairness argument therefore depends upon the corollary assumption that the landlord was not obliged to read or understand the notice she herself delivered to the tenant and, more problematically, that she had no legal obligation to inform herself about the proper statutory basis for delivering a two-month notice before she took formal steps to evict the tenant,” the decision reads.

“The landlord’s own ignorance about the applicable law, and failure to adequately inform herself about the law in advance of a hearing, cannot reasonably in my view form the basis for a claim that the hearing was unfair.”
‘Keeping her options open’

In support of her claim that the RTB decision was patently unreasonable, Kaur argued that the arbitrator had ignored relevant evidence and taken “irrelevant considerations” into account.

Taylor disagreed, finding that the arbitrator had “accepted” the landlord’s evidence that she had moved into the property by Sept. 13, 2022, and that the arbitrator had found her evidence that she couldn’t have moved in sooner because of the renovations to be “vague.”

Kaur told the RTB that there were only two workers who completed the entire renovation, and that they were delayed by difficulties acquiring necessary materials for their work. However, she didn’t specify what materials were unavailable or why she didn’t hire more workers.

“Given that the landlord was the owner of the property and had directed and paid for the renovation, it was reasonable in my view for the arbitrator to have expected that the landlord would have specific knowledge concerning the details of the renovation and the precise reasons for any delays,” Taylor’s decision reads.

The arbitrator also found that Kaur’s testimony lacked credibility with regard to the offer to re-rent the property.

The landlord claimed that her offer to her former tenant was not to re-rent the Delta property, but rather to rent him a different house that she owned in Surrey. She told the RTB that the confusion in the texts came from her poor English.

For his part, Javier told the RTB the photos included with the texts closely matched the room configuration of the Delta house when he was renting it, and he provided his own photos from the time to match them.

The arbitrator found that Kaur was able to “clearly communicate” in English during the RTB hearing, casting further doubt on her assertion that the re-rental offer was intended to be for the Surrey property, rather than the Delta one.

Taylor’s decision notes that the arbitrator’s adverse findings about credibility are entitled to a “high level” of deference from the court.

“The arbitrator may quite reasonably have drawn the inference from the evidence, for example, that the landlord was keeping her options open with respect to accomplishing the stated purpose by exploring whether she could secure a more lucrative rental arrangement in lieu of moving into the property,” the judge’s decision reads.

Accordingly, Taylor found that the RTB decision was neither unfair nor patently unreasonable, and dismissed Kaur’s petition for judicial review.


Ian Holliday
CTVNewsVancouver.ca Journalist

https://archive.org/details/what-is-property

Canada issues warning about North Koreans posing as remote IT workers

By Daniel Otis

 July 22, 2025 

 (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)

Canadian authorities are warning businesses to beware of hiring North Koreans posing as remote IT workers. Employing such individuals could violate sanctions, compromise cybersecurity and help fund North Korean weapons programs.

“Despite international efforts, North Korea uses increasingly sophisticated tactics to evade sanctions, and continues to fund its weapons programs via illicit activities, including through payment remitted by IT workers located domestically and overseas,” the advisory stated. “North Korean IT workers have also used their access to corporate systems for cyber espionage, money laundering, or to acquire sensitive materials for state-run enterprises.”

The joint advisory was issued last week by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Public Safety Canada, Global Affairs Canada, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. They say that state-affiliated IT workers from North Korea are “known to pose as legitimate freelancers based in other nations.”

“North Korean IT workers are usually competent, highly qualified, and skilled in the services they provide,” the advisory said. “Small businesses and start-ups can be more attractive targets for North Korean IT workers, who seek to exploit these businesses’ need for qualified, relatively inexpensive labour, and the lack of dedicated resources for screening candidates during the hiring process.”

Authorities caution that hiring a North Korean IT worker could result in legal consequences, including fines and prison.

‘Designed to evade sanctions’

The Canadian advisory comes after the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges in two related cases.

“These schemes target and steal from U.S. companies and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons programs,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said in a recent statement.

“The defendants used fake and stolen personal identities to conceal their North Korean nationality, pose as remote IT workers, and exploit their victims’ trust to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars,” U.S. attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg added.

Canadian authorities say that North Korean IT workers have offered services that range from app development to graphic animation. They are known to use VPNs to hide their location, and AI tools to create emails, resumes, cover letters and deepfake videos that mask their identities during remote meetings and interviews.

Red flags to look out for include requests for payment in cryptocurrency, unwillingness to participate in real-time voice or video calls, inconsistencies in personal information such as education and work history, and fees that are notably lower than others. Canadian businesses are also urged to conduct background and reference checks by contacting educational institutions and previous employers when hiring remote IT workers.
‘The primary motivator behind this is the money’

Cybersecurity expert Matt Immler says AI technology has made it much easier for North Koreans to pose as legitimate freelance workers.

“The best place to identify this is in the initial hiring and during onboarding,” Immler told CTVNews.ca from Orlando, Fla. “It’s very difficult to start rooting out these folks once they’re actually involved in the company, once they are actually hired.”

Immler is the regional chief security officer for the eastern Americas at Okta, an IT security company. He says companies should also be on the lookout for candidates and new hires who try to avoid video calls, quickly change their address or request payment to different accounts.

“You’re looking also for things like a face that might appear digitized or looks a little off,” he added. “There’s a common test you can do where you ask a candidate, for instance, to put their hand up in front of their face. If I did that and I was using some sort of deepfake technology, it would screw the whole thing up.”


Other simple tests can include asking someone to drop their Zoom background, doing an on-camera ID verification, or requesting that they visit the office at least once after being hired.

It is unclear if any Canadian companies are unwittingly employing North Korean IT workers at the moment, although Immler suggests it is possible. The RCMP and Global Affairs Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“They’re typically [from] sanctioned countries that are looking to find ways to subsidize whatever their government is doing,” Immler said. “There are definitely espionage threats there, but the primary motivator behind this is the money.”

Canadian authorities say suspected sanctions violations should be reported to the RCMP, either by phone at 1-800-420-5805 or online at rcmp.ca/report-it, while suspicious transactions should be reported to FINTRAC.

“They should be reported so that law enforcement can do their job,” Immler said. “I don’t think any company should be afraid of reporting this sort of activity and making sure that those folks are rooted out the best they can.”

Daniel Otis
CTVNews.ca Journalist

OpenAI’s Sam Altman warns of AI voice fraud crisis in banking

By The Associated Press
July 22, 2025 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a discussion at the Federal Reserve Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned the financial industry of a “significant impending fraud crisis” because of the ability of artificial intelligence tools to impersonate a person's voice to bypass security checks and move money.

Altman spoke at a Federal Reserve conference Tuesday in Washington.

“A thing that terrifies me is apparently there are still some financial institutions that will accept the voiceprint as authentication,” Altman said. “That is a crazy thing to still be doing. AI has fully defeated that.”

Voiceprinting as an identification for wealthy bank clients grew popular more than a decade ago, with customers typically asked to utter a challenge phrase into the phone to access their accounts.

But now AI voice clones, and eventually video clones, can impersonate people in a way that Altman said is increasingly “indistinguishable from reality” and will require new methods for verification.


“That might be something we can think about partnering on,” said Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, the central bank’s top financial regulator, who was hosting the discussion with Altman.

The Associated Press

‘Global oil market is oversupplied’: 

expert expects oil prices to fall

NO NEED FOR THE US FED TO DO ANYTHING

By Joshua Santos

July 21, 2025 

A commodities expert expects the price of oil to fall as energy producers ramp up supply while countries around the world brace for less severe tariffs from U.S President Donald Trump‘s administration.

Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager and managing director at Tortoise Capital says oil prices are down a little bit but have seen a slight increase as a result of an improved global economic outlook.

“They’re about flat today, maybe down just a little bit, but we’ve seen a nice little rise in the oil price over the last couple of weeks as a result of an improving outlook for the global economy tied to probably a less, I guess, less tariffs than really were expected in the long run,” Thummel told BNNBloomberg.ca in a Monday interview.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was hovering above US$67 a barrel in early afternoon trading on Monday while Brent crude was trading just above $68.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to provide more than 500,000 additional barrels per day around global markets in August, in a bid to regain market share lost to other oil producers.

“The global oil market is oversupplied right now,” said Thummel. “It’s going to be oversupplied for the second, half of the year, because OPEC+ is bringing back oil volumes back to the market. They’ve accelerated the pace at which they’re unwinding some of their previous cuts, and that’s going to result in an oversupplied oil market. And typically, when you have an oversupplied oil market, inventories rise, and then prices fall, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen.”

The Strait of Hormuz, a sea passageway for large volumes of crude, was under threat of closure during the conflict between Iran and Israel. After the U.S. military strikes on three nuclear strikes, the dispute came to an end after the Americans brokered a deal between the two Middle East countries effectively ending tensions.

“The biggest geopolitical risk to focus on still is Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and any implications of a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which we don’t think is going to happen, or just a lowering of the export volumes that come out of Iran on a daily basis that could, you know, cause oil prices to rise,” said Thummel. “But right now, we don’t see any of those geopolitical risks really rising that high.”

About 20 million barrels of oil per day, or around 20 per cent of the world’s oil passed through the strait in 2024.

‘Accelerated electricity growth’

The expected drop in oil prices comes as the demand for electricity surges. Thummel said there has been flat electricity demand for the last 20 years but that is changing.

“AI changed the game,” said Thummel. “We’re going to now start to have accelerated electricity growth in the U.S. and probably Canada, and likely globally and so that’s why we think electricity is the new oil. It’s going to be the growth driver going forward and there are a lot of opportunities as a result of that.”

Canada’s electricity demand is projected to significantly increase in the coming years, potentially more than doubling in the next 25 years, according to Canada Energy Regulator. The growth is driven by population increase, electrification of the economy, including electric vehicles and industrial processes, and the need to replace aging infrastructure.

Thummel says there is going to be massive electricity demand over the next several decades tied to AI, industrialization, manufacturing and EVs.

“All of these captured together, are really going to expand the amount of electricity demand dramatically,” said Thummel. “It could be over 1000 terawatt hours of electricity.”

“It’s a massive amount of electricity that’s going to be needed to be generated really, not just in the next decade, but really in the next five or six years,” said Thummel. “And so that’s why we’re so excited about it Tortoise, and it creates opportunities to invest in natural gas, nuclear, because those two are going to really be the primary fuel source just to generate this electricity going forward.”


Joshua Santos
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca

‘Growing demand for renewable power’: Enbridge to invest US$900 million on solar project

DESPITE ALBERTA ACTIVELY OPPOSING RENEWABLES

By The Canadian Press
July 22, 2025 

Enbridge Inc. says it will invest US$900 million on a 600-megawatt solar project that will support Meta Platforms, Inc.'s data centre operations. 

 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Calgary — Enbridge Inc. is adding to its renewable energy portfolio with a US$900-million solar project in Texas that will supply the data centre operations of Meta Platforms Inc.

The Calgary-based company, best known for its vast network of crude oil pipelines, said Tuesday that construction is underway on the 600-megawatt Clear Fork project near San Antonio.

“Clear Fork demonstrates the growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies who are involved in technology and data centre operations,” said Matthew Akman, president of Enbrige’s power business.

“Enbridge continues to advance its world-class renewables development portfolio using our financial strength, supply chain reach and construction expertise under a low-risk commercial model that delivers strong competitive returns.”

Clear Fork is expected to start up during the summer of 2027.

Meta, which owns social media and messaging platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has signed a long-term contract for all of the project’s renewable output.

Data centres are huge facilities housing the computing firepower needed for artificial intelligence and other applications. It can take an enormous amount of power to run and cool them, and power generators have been reaching deals to exclusively supply big tech players’ operations.

“We are thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100 per cent clean energy,” Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy.

Not including Clear Fork, Enbridge says it has spent more than US$8 billion on renewable projects since its first wind investment in 2002. That includes 23 wind farms, 13 solar facilities and one geothermal project collectively producing enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2025.

Premiers show support for Carney after meeting, PM says Canada will ‘only accept best deal’ in trade war with U.S.

By Spencer Van Dyk

Updated: July 22, 2025 

Carney’s response to whether Canada will retaliate on tariffs if it cannot reach a deal
New free trade deals within Canada is ‘significant’: PM Carney
‘The world needs what Canada has’: Ford on new energy deal with Alberta, Saskatchewan
Canadians should feel ‘incredibly optimistic’: Premier Houston


HUNTSVILLE, ONT. — Canada’s premiers say they’re confident in the federal government as a negotiating team, following a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday morning, during which he updated them on the state of ongoing talks with the United States, as the protracted trade war between the two countries continues.

“I will say that, as you are aware, our senior ministers, my chief of staff, myself, we’re engaged in continuous discussions,” Carney told reporters ahead of the meeting, adding Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be travelling to Washington in the coming days.

“We are looking for the best deal for Canada” Carney also said. “We are only going to accept the best deal for Canada.”

On day two of the Council of the Federation’s meetings in Huntsville, Ont. on Tuesday, Carney joined the premiers for a two-hour meeting focused largely on updating them on the most recent developments in talks with the United States.

The prime minister’s stated goal date to reach a new economic and security deal with the U.S. is just over a week away and fast approaching, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to raise tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent on Aug. 1.

Carney, meanwhile, conceded last week a fully tariff-free deal with the U.S. may not be possible.

After the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta., last month, Carney said he and Trump were working toward a deal by mid-July. That was pushed to Aug. 1 following Trump’s latest tariff threats, with Carney now downplaying the importance of the deadline altogether.

“That depends. There’s two sides to a deal,” Carney told reporters following the meeting, when asked whether an agreement by Aug. 1 is achievable. “We’re working on behalf of Canadians, and we will agree a deal if there’s one on the table that is in the best interest of Canadians, just as the United States will do in the look for the best interests of the U.S.”

“They’re complex negotiations, and we’ll use all the time that’s necessary, and agree something that’s in the interests of Canadians, if that’s available,” he also said.

Carney on Tuesday emphasized what Canada can be doing to bolster its own economy and insulate it from the U.S., telling reporters he and the premiers discussed Bill C-5, dubbed the One Canadian Economy and the Building Canada Act by the Liberals.

“We did have a good discussion around these ongoing negotiations with the United States, but really large part of our exchanges concentrated on what we can do, what we can control, and how we can move forward,” Carney said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, told CNBC the Trump administration is more concerned with the quality of its trade deals than their timelines, saying: “We’re not going to rush for the sake of doing deals.”
Premiers show support for feds at negotiating table

Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who’s hosting the three-day meeting with the Council of the Federation of Canada’s premiers — said the talks with Carney were “really, really good” and “very, very positive.”

“I think we’re all engaged, we’re all united, and we’re standing behind the prime minister to make sure that he has a fair and free trade deal for Canada,” Ford said.

According to a source in the Ontario premier’s office, Ford’s focus in the meeting was largely geared at presenting a united front, and on attracting more business to Canada from outside the U.S., if a deal with Canada’s largest trading partner isn’t possible.


“Once we communicate with each other and everyone knows which way we’re going, we look and act as a united team moving forward, and that’s exactly what we are right now,” Ford told CTV News in Muskoka. “No one can predict what President Trump is going to throw at us, and I emphasize about being united and making sure that we all sing from the same song sheet.”

There are also ongoing conversations with certain industry leaders about a possible minimum level of tariff they’ll be able to survive, the source said.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, for his part, said he’s confident in the federal government and less concerned about the date by which the two countries reach a deal.

“I would be worried that if we constrain ourselves, that we have to get a deal by a certain date, that we maybe have to do some things or give up some things or give up some leverage that we might not otherwise have to if we just focus on getting the best deal,” Houston told reporters after the meeting.

Houston also said Canadians are “galvanized” by the threat from the U.S., and that he has “tremendous confidence” in the prime minister to negotiate strategically.

While a tariff-free deal with the U.S. is the best-case scenario, he concedes “we’re not in that world right now.”

“It sounds like we’re making some progress, although honestly our trading partner is unpredictable and inconsistent,” New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt also told CTV News following the meeting.

“I think the premiers have full confidence in the team that we have negotiating on our behalf,” Holt also said.

Holt, in a press conference later on Tuesday, also said Canada is focused on a “good deal, not a fast deal,” pointing to agreements the Trump administration has struck with other countries and the terms they include as ones Canada may not want to replicate.

“I trust that we have the team in place to get the best deal possible for the Canadian economy, but we also have to look at, is it better than what we have right now and is the timing right? There’s a lot of complex factors here,” Holt said. “Regardless of level of tariff or how it’s exposed, it’s the question of whether its sticky, and whether we’ve reached a point where things will stop changing.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Ford signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe to build new pipelines, rail lines and other energy and trade infrastructure.

Several provinces have also signed trade, energy and infrastructure deals in recent weeks aimed at eliminating interprovincial trade barriers and supporting Canadian industry.

The premiers are set to gather again Wednesday for the final day of the first ministers’ meetings.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello, Samantha Pope and Colton Praill
Spencer Van Dyk
Writer & Producer, Ottawa News Bureau, CTV News

Canadians are drinking more local beer and wine during U.S. trade war, report suggests

By Jordan Fleguel
Updated: July 22, 2025 

A display of Ontario wine is pictured at the 100 Queen’s Quay East LCBO outlet in Toronto on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

 Laura Proctor (The Canadian Press)

As trade tensions simmer between Ottawa and Washington, ‘Buy Canada’ sentiment has taken off across the country, and new data suggests Canadian wine and beer producers are reaping the benefits.

A report published last month from data research consultancy firm CGA, powered by consumer intelligence company NIQ, found that 37 per cent of respondents in a May survey said they purchased an alcoholic drink at a bar or restaurant in the past month from a Canadian brand they hadn’t tried before.

The most common reason given for the increase was to support local, according to the report, which included survey responses from individuals in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

The report found that 28 per cent of beer drinkers reported consuming more craft beer since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration first imposed tariffs on Canadian products. Among them, 46 per cent said they did so to support local or Canadian brands.

When it comes to wine drinkers, 51 per cent reported drinking more Canadian wine than before tariffs were introduced. Overall, 57 per cent of wine consumers reported having tried a Canadian wine brand at a restaurant or bar at some point in 2025.

Survey participants were also asked what they’d like to see more of in national bar and restaurant chains, and the second most common response was the increased availability of Canadian beer, wine and spirits.

The consumer shift towards local and Canadian alcohol comes at the same time American products are less readily available in Canada.

Provinces across the country pulled American beer, wine and spirits from liquor store shelves earlier this year in response to Trump’s tariffs.

While some provinces have since rescinded that action, others including Ontario, whose liquor control board is one of the largest alcohol purchasers in the world, have not.

Methodology

CGA by NIQ surveyed 1,200 LDA On Premise consumers across four key provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec).

Consumers had to have visited the On Premise in the past 3 months and be aged 19+. An equal number of respondents were collected from each province with each nationally representative on gender and age. Fieldwork was undertaken 2025/05/28 to 2025/05/30.


Jordan Fleguel
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca

Canadian boycott of U.S. spirits hurts broader alcohol sales, trade group says

By Reuters
 July 22, 2025

Wine produced in the United States is removed from the shelves of an LCBO store in Toronto on Tuesday March 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Canadian provinces’ boycott of U.S. spirits amid a trade dispute with the United States has caused a sharp drop in sales of American imports, as well as other imported and domestic spirits across the nation, a Canadian liquor trade group said on Tuesday.

Sales of U.S. spirits in Canada dropped 66.3% between March 5, when provinces announced they would stop carrying the products in retail stores, and the end of April, according to an analysis by Spirits Canada.

The group, which represents Canadian manufacturers and marketers of distilled spirits, said total spirits sales in Canada fell 12.8% during the same period.

“The North American spirits sector is highly interconnected, and the immediate and continued removal of all U.S. spirits products from Canadian shelves is deeply problematic for spirits producers on both sides of the border,” said Cal Bricker, president and CEO of Spirits Canada.

Several Canadian provinces pulled U.S. spirits from liquor stores in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on certain imports.

Most recently, Trump’s threat to impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting August 1 has raised concerns about an escalating trade war and spurred a “Buy Canadian” movement among consumers and businesses.

In early March, Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman Corp. called the removal of American bourbon and whiskey from Canadian liquor stores worse than Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and described it as a disproportionate response to Trump’s levies.

According to Spirits Canada, sales of U.S. spirits in Ontario, Canada’s largest market for spirits, plunged 80% after the products were removed from shelves. Two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have since resumed selling U.S. spirits, the group said.

The decision to pull U.S. spirits has hurt American distillers, as well as Canadian revenues, consumers and hospitality businesses, Spirits Canada added.

Currently, U.S. tariffs are suspended on imports from Canada that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Spirits produced in Canada fall under this trade pact.

(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

‘This is definitely concerning’: Stellantis reports Trump tariff hit as Canadian plant sits empty

By John Vennavally-Rao
July 22, 2025 

Auto giant Stellantis says its estimates show a US$2.68 billion net loss in the first half of the year due to U.S. tariffs and some hefty charges.

Stellantis is having a rough year, and Canadian auto workers remain anxious about what lies ahead.

The maker of Jeep, Ram and Fiat announced Monday it’s staring down a massive $3.7 billion loss for the first half of 2025, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs delivering a $480 million blow that has forced the company to slash production and shipments.

For 3,000 workers at Stellantis’ idled Brampton assembly plant, the news is worrying.

“This is definitely concerning for our members, with this news today that the company’s lost a lot of money in this quarter,” said Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285.

The Brampton facility hasn’t been producing cars since late 2023, when a $1.3 billion retooling of the plant began to build the next-generation Jeep Compass. But in February, citing the “dynamic environment” in the auto sector, Stellantis suddenly hit pause on the retool.

Workers were supposed to return by year’s end. That now seems unlikely.

“It’s looking like they’re going to be off well into 2026, if not longer,” said David Kennedy with Automotive News Canada. “You can understand why the company has kind of pressed pause on it, because they just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Trump’s tariffs are making it more expensive for Stellantis to build vehicles in Canada and ship them to the U.S. Beato started at the Brampton plant in 1992 and says its future being left in limbo is taking a toll on his union members.

“Emotionally, it’s very hard, because there’s a lot of uncertainty, because the company still hasn’t made a decision,” he said.

Stellantis had said the retooling pause does not change its investment plans for the plant, but it has not said when work to continue retooling the plant will resume.

The tariff impact could get worse. Stellantis Chief Financial Officer Doug Ostermann warned the full-year hit could reach as much as $2.4 billion as the effects compound in the second half of 2025. Some also warn that it could lead to higher prices. When automakers get squeezed by tariffs, they can pass those costs to consumers through price hikes and fewer incentives.

Stellantis was already struggling with slumping sales. There’s been a massive 25 per cent drop in shipments for North America and the company brought in a new CEO just months ago after the previous one resigned under pressure. The threat of tariffs and the dismantling of electric vehicle (EV) regulations in America have created chaos for the auto sector.

Kennedy says Stellantis may be waiting a better sense of how the tariff situation is going to play out before making any further announcements at the Brampton plant.

“I can’t imagine something will happen before Aug. 1, and if the uncertainty on tariffs continues, I think we should anticipate not knowing what’s going to happen in Brampton for the next few months,” says Kennedy.

Stellantis’ Windsor Assembly Plant was shut down two weeks earlier this year as the company assessed the impact of tariffs.

“A world with tariffs is unacceptable for us,” Beato said. “A world with tariffs puts our plant in a vulnerable position, even more so than it is now, and not only for our plant, but all of southern Ontario and the whole auto industry.”


John Vennavally-Rao
Senior Correspondent, CTV National News

‘An acquisition gone wrong’: AutoCanada Inc. to exit U.S. market for $82.7 million

As Trump’s tariffs slap surcharged prices on auto imports to the country as well as car parts,  it’s the right time to pivot.

By Joshua Santos
Published: July 22, 2025

An Alberta-based automotive dealership company plans to turn over a new leaf by selling its U.S. locations as it focuses on the Canadian market amidst tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration.

AutoCanada Inc., which operates 64 dealerships across eight provinces, along with 29 collision centres, plans to expand in Canada by selling 17 U.S. dealers for $82.7 million before exiting the American market entirely.

“This acquisition was more or less kind of an acquisition gone wrong, and it put the company in jeopardy,” Paul Antony, AutoCanada’s executive chairman told BNN Bloomberg in a Monday interview. “I was asked to come in and help bring the company back, return it to its former glory, and we put in a management team and a new board, and went on our way.”

The company reported revenue of $1.24 billion in its first quarter, a year-over-year increase of $28.1 million, according to results released in May. The net loss for the period from total operations was $3.2 million as compared to a net loss of $2.3 million in the prior year‘s first quarter. The net loss from discontinued operations was $12.9 million as compared to $10.3 million in the same period the year before.

The sale includes Autohaus of Peoria and Bloomington Automall in Illinois, U.S. The dealerships sold 15 different brands of vehicles including Audi, BMW, Subaru, Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. The 17 U.S. locations sold about 12,900 new and used vehicles in 2024.

The company entered the U.S. market in 2018, purchasing eight dealerships and the auto mall for $110 million (US$86 million). They found a buyer for their U.S. locations and plan to restructure their business as they offload American dealerships.

“We found the right buyer at the right time for the right money, and we sold the U.S. businesses in order to allow us to pay down debt and basically go after the Canadian market and really focus on (it),” said Antony.

Antony said the infrastructure and relationships were not properly set up for AutoCanada to succeed in the Canadian and U.S. markets at the same time.

As Trump’s tariffs slap surcharged prices on auto imports to the country as well as car parts, Antony said it’s the right time to pivot.

“I would say that we want to control our controllables, and so when we look at tariffs, we kind of say we compete in local markets, and the dealers generally get cars at certain prices from the OEMs, and they sell them kind of in that same band,” he said.

“The difference is the experience the customer has along the way. Tariffs are not something that we can necessarily impact.”


Joshua Santos
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca

CN Rail lowers earnings expectations, cuts outlook amid trade volatility

By The Canadian Press
July 22, 2025 

MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co. reported its profit ticked up during its second quarter compared with last year, as it said trade uncertainty is making it difficult for it to provide investors with an outlook.

The Montreal-based company said in a release Tuesday that it is removing its previously issued 2024-26 financial outlook given continued uncertainty surrounding trade and tariffs.

“We are indeed in uncertain times and while we can’t predict exactly where tariffs and trade and the economy will go, we are very intensely focused on doing the things that we can do both with our customers and in controlling our costs to make sure that we protect our margins and are well positioned to execute our growth strategy as we go forward,” Tracy Robinson, CN’s president and CEO, told analysts on a conference call.Latest updates on company news here

Janet Drysdale, the interim chief commercial officer for CN, said the on-again, off-again tariffs were causing customers to re-evaluate their supply chains.

“Based on what we saw in Q2 and what we’re hearing from customers, we have reduced our volume outlook for the back half of the year, and consequently updated our full year volume assumption to low single-digit RTM (revenue ton miles) growth versus 2024,” she said on the same call.

Cargo volumes as measured in revenue ton miles -- a key metric gauging how many tons of freight are hauled in a mile -- decreased by one per cent during the quarter compared with the previous year.

CN also lowered its 2025 forecast for adjusted diluted earnings per share growth, saying it now expects growth in the mid to high single-digit range. A previous estimate from CN expected adjusted diluted earnings per share to increase between 10 and 15 per cent for 2025.

“With a revised volume assumption and corresponding mixed impact, as well as a higher Canadian dollar assumption for the balance of year, we are revising our guidance to mid to high single-digit EPS growth in 2025,” Ghislain Houle, chief financial officer of CN, said on the earnings call.

He also said the company is looking at slightly reducing its capex for the year.

“Tariff policies have had a meaningful impact on traffic volumes and mix. We are staying close to our customers and continue to manage our costs and resources tightly,” Houle said.

CN reported its net income inched up to $1.17 billion during its second quarter compared with last year. The Montreal-based company says revenue fell about one per cent, to $4.27 billion compared with $4.33 billion a year earlier.

Diluted earnings per share for the quarter came in at $1.87, up from $1.75 a year earlier.

CN also announced it declared a third quarter dividend of 88.75 cents per common share, which will be paid on Sept. 29.

Changes to CN’s 2025 forecast come after the rail company stood by its financial forecast for the year when it reported first-quarter earnings in May. This occurred even as other companies lowered their targets around the same time, including rival Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2025.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press