Navjot Salaria sits in a park near her Brampton home on Oct. 30. Ms. Salaria came to Canada in 2021 to pursue a one-year diploma in digital marketing at York University and obtained a job at a bank, but she says cuts to the number of permanent residents in Canada means she will likely have to leave the country.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
Federal immigration cuts mean temporary foreign residents have little chance to stay in Canada legally
Temporary residents will face tougher odds of becoming permanent residents after the federal government cut immigration rates for the next three years, Vanmala Subramaniam reports. Last week, Ottawa announced cuts to the number of projected permanent residents it plans to admit in 2025 to 395,000 from 500,000. The cuts will continue into 2026 and 2027, with 380,000 and 365,000 permanent resident spots available, respectively. There are more than three million temporary residents currently in Canada or 7.3 per cent of the total population – more than half of that number are international students on study permits and those who are already in the labour force holding postgraduate work permits. Many say they are worried that the cuts will limit their chance to secure permanent residence and stay in Canada legally.
Bank of Canada ready for another half-point rate cut if warranted, Macklem says
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem waits to appear at the Senate Banking, Commerce and the Economy committee, in Ottawa on Oct. 30.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Condo completions are soaring in Toronto – for now
There has been a record volume of condominium units being added to Toronto‘s housing supply – and that surge is helping to drive down rental rates. Condo unit completions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area have jumped 132 per cent from the same period last year and 34 per cent from the previous high in 2015, according to a report from consulting firm Urbanation. The new supply is causing a rare decline in rents. The average rent for a condo leased in the third quarter fell 3.8 per cent, year over year, on a per-square-foot basis. In this week’s Decoder, Matt Lundy looks at the numbers and why the trend may not last.
GFL office hit with 10 bullets in overnight shooting, extending string of violent acts
Earlier this week, a GFL Environmental Inc. office building in Toronto was hit with a barrage of bullets in an overnight shooting. It is the latest in a string of attacks on GFL-linked property, equipment and executive homes over the past four months. Employees arrived for work on Thursday morning and found the glass front entrance shattered, with bullet holes in the front door’s metal frame as well as in the front wall, Robyn Doolittle and Tim Kiladze report. The shooting happened just weeks after the homes of two executives tied to GFL were hit by bullets in what police have described as a targeted attack. GFL, which is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, is a serial acquirer of smaller rivals and has become one of the four largest waste management companies in Canada.
How one developer landed at the centre of a fight over London, Ont.‘s core
Farhi Holdings Corp. owns most of the empty space in the London, Ont.‘s downtown, which has the highest commercial real estate vacancy rate in Canada. The brand, named after its owner, Shmuel Farhi, is one of the most visible throughout the city – largely due to the visible name printed onto “for lease” signs hung from vacant office towers. The city, beleaguered by decades of industrial decline in the region and the effects of COVID-19 work-from-home policies, has been struggling to get on with development. The company says it has big plans, but patience in the community is wearing thin, Irene Galea and Chris Hannay report.
Shmuel Farhi, president of Farhi Holdings Corporation speaks during a press conference on Sept. 25, 2019, where an announced was made regarding a major residential housing development near the WFCU Centre.Dan Janisse/Windsor Star/Postmedia Network
CRA exempts bare trusts from 2024 tax reporting rules
The Canada Revenue Agency says it will not require bare trusts to adhere to updated tax-reporting rules for the 2024 tax year, Salmaan Farooqui reports. Ottawa had introduced new reporting rules around trusts in 2022 to ensure tax compliance, but exempted taxpayers from filing the paperwork for 2023 after accountants said the new rules were too wide-reaching and too complicated. The federal government has since been working on new exemptions for bare trusts and began proposing draft amendments in August. Meanwhile, taxpayers and accountants say they welcome the announcement to exempt bare trusts again as they await final amendments to a much-criticized policy.
Canadians aged 55 to 65 who own their own homes have a median household net worth of $1.2-million, according to Statistics Canada. How much do renters of the same age typically have?
a. About $1.5-million
b. About $1.2-million
c. About $600,000
d. Less than $50,000
d. Less than $50,000. Homeowners near retirement age have a net worth nearly 30 times greater on average than renters. The disparity reflects the huge run-up in home prices over the past two decades and underlines why so many people are desperate to get into the housing market.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.
