When news broke that the Donald Trump administration and Iran had agreed to a two-week ceasefire, markets reacted instantly. Oil prices plunged within minutes, wiping out days of gains and triggering a wave of optimism. For many consumers, the assumption seemed obvious: lower oil prices should mean lower food prices.
That assumption is fundamentally flawed.
CALGARY — Cabinet turned to marketing experts and focus groups to test slogans and logos as Canada’s housing shortage worsened, according to internal records that raise fresh questions about priorities in addressing affordability.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Privy Council Office commissioned nationwide focus groups to gauge which branding concepts would best convince Canadians the government had a plan to fix the crisis.
I bet “Blame it on Trump” was touted as a favourite to win.
Housing prices are dipping in Canada’s priciest markets, but real estate experts say it’s not necessarily the break for which potential first-time homebuyers have been waiting — and that break may never come.
TD Economics said in a report last week that it expects home prices to slide 0.3 per cent across Canada this year, after a weak performance in the market over the last two quarters, with Ontario and B.C. facing the biggest drops.
Sometimes, living in a car is the only way a lady can survive.
At the age of 76, Susan Patricia Staples is a veteran of vehicle residency, as it is called, the act of sleeping in a car with no address except the next Walmart parking lot. She did it for nine impoverished months a few years ago, and if car life sounds like part of her past, it isn’t. Sleeping in her vehicle is the only way she can afford to leave her tiny apartment and visit friends in faraway locales, staying connected to the world.
CALGARY — Few Canadians believe Ottawa is getting housing right, with many saying relief is years away despite repeated federal claims of progress, according to internal research obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Privy Council Office focus groups found widespread skepticism that Housing Minister Gregor Robertson is making meaningful headway on affordability, with participants overwhelmingly concluding the government is either on the wrong track or failing to show results.
Ontario minimum wage workers are getting a cost of living boost that will bring their earnings to $17.95 an hour next October but that won’t pay bills in Toronto, says the Ontario Living Wage Network.
While an increase is appreciated, most workers earning basic wages in Toronto region need another $9.25 to reach the $27.20 living wage required for survival, said the network’s spokesperson Craig Pickthorne.
Easter has long been one of the last holidays where tradition still dictated what landed on the dinner table. Lamb for many. Ham for most. Turkey, occasionally. But in 2026, something has shifted — and not subtly. This year, the Easter menu is being decided less by culture and more by cost.
By now, it’s clear that no matter what kind of resolution U.S. President Donald Trump attempts to impose on his latest misadventure in Iran, this conflict and its global repercussions will be far from over.
More likely, it will resemble George W. Bush’s infamous “mission accomplished” moment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003: a premature declaration of victory that gave way to years of prolonged conflict, with consequences that are still unfolding today.
Whatever branding Trump chooses, it won’t stick.
But the economic consequences will.
For decades, economic slowdowns followed a predictable script in foodservice. As household budgets tightened, consumers traded down. Full-service restaurants suffered. Fast food thrived. Value, convenience and predictability made quick-service restaurants (QSRs) the natural refuge in uncertain times.
Taxing food disproportionately punishes those with the least flexibility. It’s not just inefficient—it’s fundamentally wrong
Manitoba’s decision to remove the provincial sales tax (PST) from all groceries is a sound policy move — though perhaps not for the reasons many assume. What makes this announcement even more remarkable is who is making it: an NDP government choosing to reduce taxes at the grocery store. In today’s policy environment, that is both unexpected and noteworthy.
The province is planning to temporarily remove Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for buyers of new homes.
Premier Doug Ford announced the plan Wednesday at a news conference in Mississauga, saying the full 13 per cent tax will be removed for new homes valued up to $1 million from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
For homes valued up to $1.5 million the temporary measure would see them qualify for the maximum $130,000, decreasing proportionally to homes valued at $1.85 million, which would qualify for a $24,000 rebate, said the release.
Sounds like it will be a windfall for the rich.
On any given night in America, rain or shine, warm or cold, more than 700,000 people, mostly in urban areas, are without shelter. It’s a problem that defies all attempts to alleviate it. It’s a problem that is only getting worse.
The problem of homelessness is partly mythological, partly a government flim-flam, and partly a human tragedy that government stupidity and political machinations make worse.
Micro-shelter communities are being floated as one way to provide emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness in Toronto.
However, some challenges have emerged, as 44 city-owned properties identified for potential sites have all been deemed unsuitable.
Nonetheless, the City of Toronto is moving forward with a two-year pilot, with the caveat that interested non-profits must come up with private land options.
Most Canadians want the government to ban or regulate algorithmic pricing, a new poll suggests — with half of respondents saying the practice is unfair because it can result in people paying different prices for the same product.
The Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, polled 1,931 Canadians on algorithmic pricing.
Our elites are hard at work.
They import cheap labour to depress wages and raise the price of everything.
Now with algorithmic pricing they have a modernized stealth version of the “Company Store”.
They won’t clean up the homeless camps because they want you to know that’s where you’ll end up if you make a fuss.
Welcome to the New Canada.
B.C. Premier David Eby has signalled he won’t support the federal government’s move to temporarily increase rural employers’ allowances for temporary foreign workers, saying there should be a pathway to permanent residency instead.
It comes after an event Monday on the Sunshine Coast where the local MP re-announced a move to allow rural employers to have up to 15 per cent of their workforce be low-wage temporary foreign workers (TFW).
The new foreign workers cap is up from the current cap of 10 per cent, and would allow for eligible workers to get an automatic one-year extension on their work permits.
Send them back. Send the politicians who support this assault on our economic and social security back with them.
