This is how to ‘try' not to miss your credit card payments when you're flat out of cash
When you miss payments it's a hit to your credit, but it also means your balance grows — more debt on debt, which is basically compound interest working against you rather than for you.
Polling from Equifax shows a staggering number of Canadians have missed credit card payments recently due to the high cost of living, unemployment and an overwhelming amount of pre-existing debt commitments, namely car loans, that were taken out way before all this trade war and tariff business began. And though Canadians appear to be slashing spending left, right and centre, many are still falling behind.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada Standard
an hour ago
- Canada Standard
'Loyal to the oil' - how religion and striking it rich shape Canada's hockey fandom
Dej vu is a common occurrence in the world of sports, and the Edmonton Oilers are no strangers to repeat matchups. The Canadian team faced off against the New York Islanders in both 1983 and '84 for hockey's biggest prize, the Stanley Cup. In this year's National Hockey League finals, the Oilers will try to avenge their Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers in 2024. Edmontonians who have been "loyal to the oil," as fans say, have been waiting for redemption ever since. The Trump administration's threats toward its northern neighbor has fueled a wave of nationalism, making even more fans eager for a Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup - which has not happened since 1993. With hopes pinned to Edmonton, the finals also brings renewed attention to some of Canada's biggest exports: hockey and oil. Novelist Leslie McFarlane once observed that for Canadians, "hockey is more than a game; it is almost a religion." Prayers and superstitions abound, from wearing special clothing to fans averting their eyes during penalty shots. The Oilers also evoke another aspect of Canadian society that, for some, has almost religious importance: resource extraction. In American and Canadian culture, oil has long been entangled with religion. It's a national blessing from God, in some people's eyes, and a means to the "good life" for those who persevere to find it. For many people in communities whose economies center around resource extraction, the possibility of success is valued above its environmental risks. We are scholars of religion who study sports and how oil shapes society, or petro-cultures. The Edmonton Oilers showcase a worldview in which triumph, luck and rugged work pay off - beliefs at home on the ice or in the oil field. The Stanley Cup Final offers a glimpse into how the oil industry has helped shaped the religious fervor around Canada's favorite sport. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, a province known for its massive oil, gas and oil sands reserves. With five refineries producing an average of 3.8 million barrels a day, oil and gas is Alberta's biggest industry - and a way of life. This is especially true in Edmonton, known as the "Oil Capital of Canada." Here, oil not only structures the local economy, but it also shapes identities, architecture and everyday experiences. Visit the West Edmonton Mall, for example, and you'll see a statue of three oil workers drilling, reminding shoppers that petroleum is the bedrock of their commerce. Visit the Canadian Energy Museum to learn how oil and gas have remade the region since the late 1940s, and glimpse items such as engraved hard hats and the "Oil Patch Kid," a spin on the iconic "Cabbage Patch Kids" toys. Tour the Greater Edmonton area and see how pump jacks dot the horizon. Oil is everywhere, shaping futures, fortunes and possibility. Set against this backdrop, the Oilers' name is unsurprising. It is not uncommon, after all, to name teams after local industries. Football's Pittsburgh Steelers pay homage to the steel mills that once employed much of the team's fan base. The Tennessee Oilers were originally the Houston Oilers, prompting other Texas teams such as the XFL's Roughnecks to follow suit. Further north, the name of basketball's Detroit Pistons references car manufacturing. Teams with industry-inspired names play double duty, venerating both a place and a trade. Some fans are not only cheering for the home team, but also cheering for themselves - affirming that their industry and their labor matter. In a TikTok video from last year's Stanley Cups playoffs, a man overcome with joy at the Oilers' victory over the Dallas Stars claps his hands and hops around his living room. The caption reads, "My first-generation immigrant oil rig working Filipino father who has never played a second of hockey in his life ... happily cheering for the Oilers advancing in the playoffs. Better Bring that cup home for him oily boys." He appears to be cheering for the Oilers not because they are a hockey team, but because they are an oil team. And indeed, the Oilers are an oily team. The Oilers' Oilfield Network, for example, describes itself as "exclusively promot[ing] companies in the Oil and Gas industry," allowing leaders to connect "through the power of Oilers hockey." The Oilers' connection with industry is further underscored by their logos. The current one features a simple drop of oil, but past designs featured machinery gears and an oil worker pulling a lever shaped like a hockey stick. Simply put, "Edmonton is all oil," Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner shared after defeating the Dallas Stars to win the 2025 Western Conference Final. There is a long tradition of pairing hockey with oil - and with Canada itself. After the British North America Act founded Canada in 1867, the new nation searched for a distinctive identity through sport and other cultural forms. Enter hockey. The winter game evolved in Canada from the Gaelic game of "shinty" and the First Nations' game of lacrosse and soon became part of the glue holding the nation together. Ever since, media, politicians, sports groups and major industries have helped fuel fan fervor and promoted hockey as integral to Canada's rugged frontiersman character. In 1936, Imperial Oil, one of Canada's largest petroleum companies, began sponsoring Hockey Night in Canada, a national radio show that reached millions each week. Several years later, Imperial Oil played a major role in bringing the show to television, where the Imperial Oil Choir sang the theme song. Imperial Oil and its gas stations, Esso, also sponsored youth hockey programs across the nation. In 2019, Imperial inked a deal to be the NHL's "official retail fuel" in Canada. Connections between hockey and industry in Alberta's oil country aren't just about sponsorships. Central to both cultures is the idea of luck - historically, one of the many things it takes to extract fossil fuels. "Striking it rich" in the oil fields has become entangled with the idea of divine providence, especially among the many Christian laborers. Philosopher Terra Schwerin Rowe has written about North America's "petro-theology," explaining how many perceive oil as a free-flowing gift from God meant to be taken from the Earth - if you can find it. Oil represents fortune, and who wouldn't want to borrow a bit of that for their team? Sports are thrilling because sometimes talent, team chemistry and the home-field advantage still lose to a stroke of good luck. Oil culture pairs the idea of divine favor with an insistence on rough-and-tumble endurance, similar to hockey. Sometimes if you don't strike it rich the first time, you have to keep on drilling. The next well may be the one to bring wealth. Oil prospectors know this, but so do sports fans who maintain hope season to season. Soon fans from around the world will join Edmonton locals in rooting for the Oilers. They'll throw their hands up in despair if captain Connor McDavid enters the "sin bin" - the penalty box - or dance in celebration to the Oilers' theme, "La Bamba." Some of them will be cheering, too, for oil.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada's Promise David scoring goals and attracting attention with Belgian champions
Soccer has already taken Promise David to Croatia, the United States, Malta, Estonia and Belgium. And the 23-year-old forward from Brampton, Ont., could be on the move again during the summer transfer window. There have been bumps along the way for David, who usually goes by Tobi (his full name is Promise Oluwatobi Emmanuel David Akinpelu). 'I call it a journey though hell,' David said with a smile. 'I'm just trying to better myself as a football player and reach higher levels. But, yeah, from each place, I took a piece of football and added it to myself. And I think that's created the Tobi that's here today.' For the time being, he is happy to be with Union Saint-Gilloise, which won its first Belgian league title in 90 years last month. 'Best football I've ever played in my life,' David said of Belgium. 'I really take in every moment, because it might not last.' While David is under contract to Union Saint-Gilloise, his goal-scoring exploits have attracted attention ahead of the June 15 opening of the transfer window. He recorded 24 goals in all competitions this season with eight of those coming in the 10-game championship round (the top six Belgian sides meet in a mini-league to decide the title). David is currently with Canada in Halifax, preparing for the inaugural four-team Canadian Shield Tournament in Toronto. The 30th-ranked Canadians open Saturday against No. 25 Ukraine before facing No. 41 Ivory Coast on Tuesday. David expects a large contingent of friends and family at BMO Field, noting they haven't seen him play live since high school 'I think I bought tickets for the entire stadium,' he said. Born in Brampton to Nigerian parents, David made his debut for the Nigerian under-23 side in October 2022. But in February, after talks with Canada coach Jesse Marsch, his request to switch allegiance was approved by FIFA. David started at the Toronto FC pre-academy, spending two or three years there before he was let go at 14. He found a new home with Vaughan SC where he excelled despite still growing into an imposing body that now measures six foot four and 209 pounds. 'He almost looked clumsy when he ran. But he had a nose for goal,' said Anthony Vadori, Vaughan's director of men's high performance. 'He always found himself in front of goal with an opportunity to shoot.' He also played with a smile on his face. 'You could tell he loved to play … he wanted to learn so much, which was nice.' said Vadori. After high school, David elected to go pro rather than the U.S. college route — he only got one partial scholarship offer, from Appalachian State — after negotiating a deadline with his parents to make it in soccer. 'I asked for six months. And then six months turned into a year and a half. And that year and a half turned into two years. Two years turned in three. And then after three, I think they kind of realized I don't want to go to school.' After attending a tryout camp held by a Croatian second-division team in suburban Oakville in 2019, he found himself in Croatia two weeks later. That led to a move to third-division NK Trnje Zagreb where he played in the under-19 league against youth sides from top teams. 'I was just exploring and discovering the world of football and other cultures,' he said. It was not all fun, dealing with the language barrier and some racism. In 2021, he returned to North America to join FC Tulsa of the USL Championship where he played against older, more experienced players. 'It forced me to grow, forced me to hit the gym. Forced me to understand how my body works and how to run at people, how to hit people, how to take hits,' he said. The next year he went to Malta where he was initially assigned to the under-19 team at Valetta FC but was quickly promoted to the senior side. After the team survived relegation, he switched clubs and hit a roadblock at Sirens FC, where he didn't play. 'It was horrible. But that's football,' he said. In early 2023, he joined Estonia's Kalju FC where It took a coaching chance for him to get his chance with the senior side. He started scoring, which triggered the move to Belgium last July. For David, ignorance is bliss right now when it comes to a possible transfer. 'Anything's possible,' he said. 'I just hope they don't tell me anything until it's ready to sign.' 'You can crack your brain thinking about it,' he added. He could stay where he is. European cup football awaits and David has grown to love Union's fans as well as his teammates and coach. He is an avid Chelsea fan — and devotee of club legend Didier Drogba. 'it wasn't really the goal-scoring that got me, it was the playmaking ability and just the sheer strength and the problems (he presented) for defenders,' he said. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. While going to a Chelsea game has long been on his bucket list, there is a caveat. 'I kind of told myself I would not go to Chelsea unless I get to play there first — like against them,' he said. 'I told myself that a couple of years ago.' David is hoping the Champions League draw might lead to London's Stamford Bridge. And with teams like England's Brighton & Hove Albion and Germany's Stuttgart interested in him, bigger stages await. — This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Edmonton, Sunrise mayors up the ante in bet over Stanley Cup rematch
EDMONTON – If history repeats itself, Edmonton's mayor may soon declare an official Florida Panthers Day in Alberta's capital city. Last year's bet between Amarjeet Sohi and Mike Ryan, the mayor of Sunrise, Fla., where the Panthers play, saw salt be rubbed in the wounds of Edmontonians when their own mayor was forced to wear a Panthers jersey during a council meeting. This time around, with the Edmonton Oilers set to take on the Panthers again in the Stanley Cup Final, the municipal pride of both respective cities is being put on the line. The losing team's mayor will read a decree written by the victor in city hall and declare a certain day be set aside to honour the championship winner in the losing city. 'We both had a good laugh about how much fun this could be,' Ryan said in an interview about this year's wager. He joked that 'when the city of Sunrise celebrates the Florida Panthers winning again' he plans to write a declaration that is bearable, but still a little bit embarrassing for Sohi to read. 'Mayor Sohi's a consummate professional and respectful, so I'm confident that if Edmonton was to win, he'll send me something that I won't be too embarrassed to read, too,' Ryan said. Sohi, in a video posted on social media Tuesday, was more than confident he wouldn't be making a declaration any time soon. 'Edmonton is more ready than ever,' he said. 'The Oilers have the passion, the grit, and the talent to bring the cup home to Canada where it rightfully belongs.' Things have changed since the mayors made their bet last year. The Panthers, of course, won their first Stanley Cup in team history — and there was also the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Since taking office again Trump has launched an ever-evolving trade war between the two countries while repeatedly saying Canada would be better off if it became part of the United States. Statistics Canada recently reported that the number of Canadians flying to the U.S. was down by 12.5 per cent compared with 2019, and down nearly six per cent alone compared with April of last year. Experts have said Trump's trade war and thinly veiled threats to Canadian sovereignty at least partially explain the drop, but Ryan said he thinks Canadians will flock to Sunrise to support the Oilers just as they did last year. 'I know we're ready to welcome the Edmonton fans and the Canadian fans,' Ryan said. 'I don't expect any changes.' 'For hockey fans, this is a great distraction for whatever else is going on in the world.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Ryan said there might be an 'undercurrent' of nation-to-nation tension that flows beneath the ice during the final, but he expects it to subside once the puck drops. 'I really do think that when the game begins, it's just about what's going on on the ice.' Moving up a level of government, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office didn't immediately confirm if she plans to renew her previous wager with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The two leaders agreed to send a bottle of locally made liquor to the victor last year, meaning Smith sent DeSantis a bottle of Alberta whisky when the Panthers won. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.
