Weekly Digest – 19 July 2023

Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.

Canada’s hot housing market ‘settling down’ amid rate hikes, new listings

A return to Bank of Canada interest rate hikes and growth in new listings started to cool off the housing market in June, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Here’s what could send the Canadian dollar higher this year

Corpay’s Karl Schamotta talks about the outlook for the Canadian dollar for the rest of 2023 and how different factors such as economic data, the price of oil and stock markets could affect its path.

Housing affordability worse in cities rife with regulations

Approval delays and land use regulations by municipalities are limiting housing affordability across Canada, according to a recent study by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Construction labour crunch leaves Canada in need of boosting ranks of home builders

Canada is growing rapidly — and so are its housing needs. In turn, these pressures are testing the construction industry, which finds itself dealing with a mounting labour shortage.

Report shows that Canada welcomed more than 32,000 tech workers between April 2022 and March 2023

The study shows that Canada has been an attractive destination for tech talent due largely in part to a more immigration-friendly national policy and labour cost advantage.

Rodriguez plans to provide clarity on Bill C-18 amid standoff with Meta and Google

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez has released a “Backgrounder” on the controversial Bill C-18, proposing regulations that appear to address some of the concerns raised by Google and Meta.

Bank of Canada hikes rate to 5%, expects inflation to be above 2% until mid-2025

The Bank of Canada hiked its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday to five per cent as the central bank predicts it will take even longer for inflation to return to its two per cent target.

Canada to speed up critical minerals permits in bid to erode China’s dominance

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government hopes to unveil a plan by the end of this year to streamline permitting for mining projects as the U.S. and its allies push to accelerate the production of critical minerals in North America.

Alberta filed 1st ever charges against a carbon offset firm. Here’s why they may not be the last

For the first time ever, a Canadian province has charged a business for providing false information related to carbon offsets, a spokesperson for Alberta’s Environment Ministry said, underscoring the sometimes murky activities of companies in a complicated, rapidly growing industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Record-breaking 10 million hectares of land burned in Canada’s wildfires

Canada has reached an unprecedented milestone: 10 million hectares of land has burned by wildfires. This is just under the size of the island of Newfoundland, not including Labrador, data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) shows.

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