July 20, 2023
The following includes a summary of the week’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
Bank of Canada raises key interest rate to 5%, highest since 2001
The Bank of Canada chose to continue its summer rate-hiking cycle on Wednesday, raising the benchmark interest rate to 5 per cent. The second consecutive quarter-point hike brings the policy rate to its highest level since April, 2001. Mark Rendell spoke to Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem about his decision to start hiking rates again, and the challenges ahead for taming inflation.
The aftershocks of the B.C. port workers strike
A 13-day strike by 7,400 B.C. port workers has ended after the union and employers agreed to a four-year tentative deal earlier this week. Canada’s westernmost ports will re-open, but Brent Jang reports that trading has taken a hit after billions of dollars worth of cargo shipments were disrupted. The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade calculates that more than $9.6-billion of cargo had been affected as of Thursday, with the number rising each second. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest trade and industry association estimates that supply chain issues could take months to sort out – about one week for every day that B.C. ports were shut down.
Demand for low-wage foreign labour is surging
Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is seeing a surge in approvals to fill a variety of low-wage roles, particularly in the service sector. According to figures published by Employment and Social Development Canada, employers were approved to fill about 22,000 positions through the TFW program’s low-wage stream – an increase of roughly 275 per cent from four years earlier. Cooks were the most sought-after roles in the low-wage stream, but cashiers, construction labourers and nurse aides were also in high demand. Matt Lundy takes a closer look in this week’s Decoder.
Laurentian Bank puts itself up for sale
Laurentian Bank, Canada’s ninth-largest lender, is up for sale. The bank – which was founded in 1846, has branches across Quebec and $51-billion in assets – is in the midst of a turnaround plan after its profitability and stock price significantly underperformed those of rival banks for several years. Andrew Willis, Stefanie Marotta and James Bradshaw report that Laurentian has been in talks with several suitors since late June.
