Business – Brandon Sun

Premier of Manitoba Wab Kinew arrives for a First Ministers' Meeting in Ottawa, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Northern trade corridor top of mind as Manitoba premier plans meeting with PM

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:27 PM CDT

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is planning to go to Ottawa next week for a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Kinew says it's part of a plan the two men have to meet roughly every three months, primarily to discuss the possibility of a northern trade corridor through the Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay.

The project recently made a list of projects being considered as “transformative” by the federal government.

Studies are underway to gauge private-sector interest and examine the use of icebreakers to extend the port's short shipping season.

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Cash for canvas: Annual Calgary Stampede tarp auction sets record of $6.1M in bids

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Cash for canvas: Annual Calgary Stampede tarp auction sets record of $6.1M in bids

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 11:33 AM CDT

CALGARY - If you go by the Stampede chuckwagons, it appears Calgary’s economy is racing along nicely.

The Calgary Stampede canvas auction saw a record $6.1 million collected from sponsors, which is about $2 million higher than the year before.

The money secured partnerships for 27 drivers at this year’s Rangeland Derby during the Stampede, which begins July 3.

The top bid was $550,000 by Bar L5 Ranch for driver Rae Croteau Jr.

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Yesterday at 11:33 AM CDT

Drivers cross the finish line during chuckwagon racing action at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alta., Saturday, July 8, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Average national asking rents fall to $2,008 after largest drop in five years: report

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Thursday, Apr. 9, 2026

A new report says March featured the largest drop for average asking rents in Canada in nearly five years.

The latest monthly analysis from Rentals.ca and Urbanation, which is based on asking rents across the former’s listings network, said prices reached an average of $2,008, down 5.3 per cent from March 2025.

It marked the 18th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Meanwhile, prices also fell 1.1 per cent on a month-over-month basis from February.

“The Canadian rental market downturn has deepened, with rents in March falling at their fastest pace since COVID,” said Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand in a press release.

Official says construction of light-rail station to Montreal airport is on track

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Official says construction of light-rail station to Montreal airport is on track

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

MONTREAL -

Officials at Montreal-Trudeau International airport say a new $600-million light-rail station is still on track to be delivered next year.

Project director Steeve Bouffard says the REM station is about 80 per cent complete and remains on budget and on schedule despite challenges remaining to complete it.

Workers are concentrating on the walls and electrical system, as well as a signature architectural feature that will resemble an iceberg.

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Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

Construction workers are seen on the tracks on the platform level for the Reseau express metropolitain (REM) electric light rail system at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Former commercial pilot Shaheer Cassim admits guilt in B.C. plane hijacking

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Former commercial pilot Shaheer Cassim admits guilt in B.C. plane hijacking

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

RICHMOND - Federal prosecutors say a British Columbia man has pleaded guilty to two terrorism offences after he stole a small plane on Vancouver Island last July, triggering a security incident at Vancouver airport that spurred Norad to scramble fighter jets.

The Public Prosecution Services of Canada says Shaheer Cassim pleaded guilty in a Richmond, B.C., court on Tuesday of charges of hijacking an aircraft and interfering with the operation of Vancouver International Airport.

The service says the charges "also constitute terrorist activities," according to Canada's Criminal Code, and Cassim is due back in court at the end of May to schedule a sentencing hearing.

Cassim posted on social media the day before the hijacking that he was a "messenger of Allah" sent to save humanity from climate change, and police said at the time that the accused had an "ideological motive"

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Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

A worker moves luggage trolleys outside Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Tax cuts not the only way to help Canadians as gas prices rise: economists

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Tax cuts not the only way to help Canadians as gas prices rise: economists

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

OTTAWA - The federal Conservatives are calling on Ottawa to return some of the revenue from higher gasoline prices to give Canadians a break at the pumps — but some economists say cutting gas taxes isn't the only way to deliver relief.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday the federal government is looking at ways to support Canadians as oil prices rise due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The Canadian Automobile Association gas price tracker said on Wednesday prices across Canada averaged more than $1.82 per litre, up from about $1.32 a year ago and $1.52 on March 7.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote a letter to Carney on Tuesday calling on the Liberals to suspend the federal fuel excise tax and the GST on gas and diesel, and to permanently eliminate the clean fuel standard and industrial carbon tax.

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Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

A person pumps gas in Montreal on Thursday, April 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Deloitte sees Canada’s oilpatch as ripe for deals once turmoil blows over

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Deloitte sees Canada’s oilpatch as ripe for deals once turmoil blows over

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

CALGARY - It might be a busy market for mergers and acquisitions in Canada's oilpatch later this year, provided the geopolitical mayhem eases enough for buyers and sellers to find common ground on price, says a partner at consulting firm Deloitte.

In a report published Wednesday, Deloitte said deal activity seemed to be on the upswing heading into this year after a decade-long lull. But with the U.S.-Israel war on Iran shaking global oil markets, the outlook now is much more hazy.

"It's really hard for a deal to get done" with the US$115-a-barrel price West Texas Intermediate was hovering around earlier this week, said Andrew Botterill, partner for energy, resources and industrials at Deloitte Canada.

"Buyers and sellers are just too far apart."

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Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

Wudang, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, fills up at an LNG Canada facility, in an aerial view, in Kitimat, B.C., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

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Union claims airlines are ‘flying the plane’ in Ottawa’s unpaid work probe

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Union claims airlines are ‘flying the plane’ in Ottawa’s unpaid work probe

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

OTTAWA - The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the federal government's probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector is not taking workers' arguments seriously.

Ottawa launched an investigation of the sector in August 2025, when negotiations between Air Canada and the union representing its flight attendants boiled over into a strike that saw planes grounded as workers took to the picket lines.

Central to that work stoppage were allegations from the union that flight attendants are regularly subjected to unpaid work when aircraft are grounded.

In response, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu asked her department to look into whether workers in the sector were being paid below a standard set by the federal minimum wage.

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Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

Unionized employees and supporters take part in a rally for Air Canada flight attendants on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew mentions possible gas-tax cut in question period

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew mentions possible gas-tax cut in question period

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has told the legislature his government might cut the provincial fuel tax, but it's not clear how seriously he is considering it.

Kinew recently said his temporary, one-year suspension of the provincial fuel tax in 2024 was the most important thing ever done by a provincial government in Manitoba.

The comment was met with criticism from some who said governments have made other, more significant achievements in the province's history.

The NDP government brought back the fuel tax in 2025 at a reduced rate, and is facing calls from some people to cut the fuel tax again now that gas prices are rising sharply.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew speaks with reporters before the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Federal government puts out $412.9 million to renew the Pacific Salmon Initiative

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Federal government puts out $412.9 million to renew the Pacific Salmon Initiative

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

The federal government is spending $412.9 million over five years to renew the Pacific Salmon Strategy in a plan to protect and rebuild wild populations.

Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson made the announcement in North Vancouver Tuesday, saying in a statement that the first five years of the initiative has shown what is possible when partners work together to restore habitat, expand hatchery programs, improve management and find new ways to protect vulnerable stocks.

"But the challenges facing wild Pacific salmon are far from over," Thompson said in the statement. "Through the renewed (salmon strategy), our government is committing to the next chapter of this work — one grounded in science, guided by Indigenous leadership, and driven by the shared responsibility to protect salmon for generations to come."

British Columbia's conservation groups say the funding announcement is welcome, but the money must be spent properly for "boots on the ground" to assess risks, especially those associated with potentially high-polluting major projects.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Advocates have little hope social housing needs in Quebec will be addressed soon

Erika Morris, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Advocates have little hope social housing needs in Quebec will be addressed soon

Erika Morris, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

MONTREAL - Brique par brique, a non-profit that builds housing in Montreal, has been trying to develop more city-owned land for years, but the group says securing money for new projects is getting harder.

Over the last decade, the City of Montreal has acquired several plots of land through its right of first refusal — the power to purchase land over other potential buyers to develop non-profit housing. Brique par brique is developing 31 units of social housing on city-owned land in the Parc-Extension district, but it says it has the capacity to do so much more — if the provincial government unlocks the money.

“We have tons of opportunities. Tons. We have a whole massive list. But every time I look at them, I'm like, well, I don't have the money,” said Faiz Abhuani, executive director of Brique par brique.

Abhuani and other housing advocates had hoped that the new Quebec budget, released in March, would include major investments for housing — as the government had said the issue was a priority — but they were disappointed. They say Quebec’s planned investments for the next four years are nowhere near enough to tackle the housing crisis, as rents keep going up.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

A roofer is seen working on a new housing development in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., southwest of Montreal on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Feds looking at how to ‘cushion the blow’ as gas prices rise amid Iran war: Carney

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Feds looking at how to ‘cushion the blow’ as gas prices rise amid Iran war: Carney

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

OTTAWA - The federal government is looking at ways to support Canadians as oil prices rise amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.

Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The Canadian Automobile Association gas price tracker said on Tuesday prices across Canada averaged more than $1.80 per litre, compared with about $1.32 a year ago and $1.51 on March 7.

Carney said at a press conference on Tuesday that his government wants to help "cushion the blow" for Canadians.

"There's a global market and those countries that have lots of oil and gas see their prices go up alongside with those who don't have that oil and gas, it's the same shifts up in prices in the United States as well," Carney said Tuesday.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

Gas prices rose to over $2 per litre in many stations in Montreal on Thursday, April 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Carney defends high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Carney defends high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

OTTAWA - High-speed rail connecting Toronto and Quebec City would be a boon to the economy and job creation, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday, defending his government's project as opposition to it continues to grow.

Much of the criticism comes from communities where land will be expropriated for the construction, but Carney said the project will require only about a 10-metre swath for the route, and people who lose land to it will be compensated.

Carney said at a news conference in Brampton, Ont., the project will create more than 50,000 jobs and contribute more than $35 billion to the economy.

"When you look at the overall (picture), what the high-speed rail does, is it's more cost-effective, it's more sustainable, it's connecting our communities, it's going to be faster," Carney said.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney visits a construction site next to the Century Garden Recreation Centre in Brampton, Ont. before making an announcement on Tuesday April 7 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Trade agreement talks unlikely to be resolved by July 1: U.S. trade representative

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Trade agreement talks unlikely to be resolved by July 1: U.S. trade representative

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

WASHINGTON - United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday that he doesn't expect negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade to be resolved by July 1.

"I think that we aren't probably going to be able to resolve all issues by July 1," Greer said at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. "But I think we are on track to resolve many of them and to move as quickly as we can."

July is the required deadline for the United States to notify Canada and Mexico about its plans for the trilateral trade pact, known as CUSMA.

The CUSMA review sets up a three-way choice for each country. They can renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from it or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which triggers an annual review that could keep negotiations going for up to a decade.

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Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to reporters outside the White House, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Nine of 10 abducted mine workers confirmed dead, B.C. firm says

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Nine of 10 abducted mine workers confirmed dead, B.C. firm says

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Monday, Apr. 6, 2026

VANCOUVER - A Vancouver-based firm that operates a mine site in Mexico where 10 workers were abducted in January says nine of them have been found dead.

Vizsla Silver Corp. said in a statement on its website Monday that it is in contact with the family of the one worker who remains missing.

CEO Michael Konnert said the outcome is "devastating."

He said the firm’s officials mourn their colleagues and friends and “stand beside” the workers’ families.

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Monday, Apr. 6, 2026

The flags of Mexico and Canada fly near the Ambassador Bridge, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Detroit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Paul Sancya

B.C.’s latest credit downgrade signals ‘something wrong’ with finances: economist

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

B.C.’s latest credit downgrade signals ‘something wrong’ with finances: economist

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Monday, Apr. 6, 2026

VICTORIA - An economist says the latest downgrade for British Columbia's credit rating will discourage companies from investing in the province.

Standard & Poor's global ratings lowered its rating this month for B.C. to A from A-plus after Moody's lowered its rating to double-A-one from double-A-two a few weeks after the provincial budget was released.

While B.C. has taken "some corrective fiscal measures" by cutting costs and raising revenues, S&P says that "sizable deficits will persist" as the provincial government lacks a clear plan to balance the budget that forecasts a deficit of $13.3 billion.

Jairo Yunis, director of policy at the Business Council of B.C., says this latest downgrade, the fifth by S&P since 2021, signals "something wrong" with provincial finances.

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Monday, Apr. 6, 2026

April 11, 2026

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