Interfor Renews and Extends Its Credit Facilities with Enhanced Financial Flexibility
The renewal includes several improved provisions that will enhance the Company's financial flexibility, including a higher threshold as to when a minimum EBITDA interest coverage ratio covenant may apply.
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24 minutes ago
Why Trump's deals with the EU, Japan may not be templates for Canada in trade talks
U.S. President Donald Trump's successive announcements of deals setting baseline tariffs on the European Union and Japan are prompting questions about whether they're a road map for Canada to follow in trade talks. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the bones of an agreement (new window) on Sunday. It sets across-the-board tariffs of 15 per cent on most European Union exports to the United States, along with a commitment by Europe to invest $600 billion US in the American economy and spend $750 billion on U.S. energy products — although there's plenty of fine print still to come. That makes it broadly comparable to the deal Trump announced last week with Japan (new window) : a 15 per cent across-the-board tariff and a Japanese commitment to invest $550 billion in the U.S. Trump was threatening to hit Europe with 30 per cent baseline tariffs and Japan with 25 per cent on Aug. 1, so both trading blocs are selling the deals as wins. Because Canada is facing the threat of 35 per cent tariffs on some goods on the same date, does that mean Canada should be aiming for a similar agreement? Prime Minister Mark Carney certainly isn't saying so. Asked whether any forthcoming deal will be in the ballpark of those 15 per cent baseline tariffs, he emphasized the differences between Europe's and Canada's trading relationship with the U.S. We are in a different position, and that is why these negotiations ... are different, Carney said on Monday, citing Canada's geographical closeness and energy exports to the U.S. Europe, in that agreement yesterday, made commitments to buy American energy, he said at a news conference in Prince Edward Island. America needs Canadian energy. WATCH | Canada's trade talks with the U.S. are different from Europe's, Carney says: Across-the-board tariffs 'difficult for Canada to accept' There are plenty of reasons why a 15 per cent baseline tariff rate is not something for Canada to aspire to, given that its economy is proportionally far more dependent on the U.S. market than Europe's and Japan's are. Jonathan O'Hara, an international trade lawyer in the Ottawa law office of McMillan LLP, said Canada should set its sights on a better deal than the EU or Japan negotiated since it's already so tightly integrated with the American economy. On a broad level, having some kind of across-the-board tariffs, I think, would be very difficult for Canada to accept, O'Hara said in a weekend interview with CBC News. WATCH | Here's what's in Trump's tariff deal with the EU: Yet it appears that Canada doesn't actually face the prospect of tariffs that are truly across-the-board. That's because it has something that neither the European Union nor Japan have: an actual free-trade deal. Trump's fentanyl emergency tariffs, currently set at 25 per cent — which he's threatening to raise to 35 per cent on Friday — hit only those goods that don't comply with the rules of origin in the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). That means the vast bulk of Canada's exports to the U.S. (new window) are currently crossing the border tariff-free. Steel and aluminum tariffs a big question That may be why Carney's Liberal government does not feel the same sort of pressure as Europe and Japan to get a deal on Trump's timeline, said Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Overall, the average tariff on Canadian goods going into the United States is about as low as any place in the world, he told CBC News. What's important for us is that the [CUSMA] free-trade agreement continues to hold. Whether it will in the future, of course, is a fundamental question. The biggest exceptions to Canada's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. are steel and aluminum (new window) , hit by Trump's 50 per cent global rate as he tries to prop up that sector at home. Enlarge image (new window) A worker is shown welding at a steel manufacturing facility in Hamilton on July 16. The biggest exceptions to Canada's mostly tariff-free access to the U.S. are steel and aluminum, hit by Trump's 50 per cent global rate as he tries to prop up that sector at home. Photo: The Canadian Press / Chris Young In their deals reached with the U.S., neither the EU nor Japan are let off the hook from that tariff. While Canada is surely angling for something better on steel and aluminum — such as the U.K.'s 25 per cent tariff (new window) , potentially headed to zero — the European and Japanese agreements suggest that will be tough to achieve. Carlo Dade, director of international policy at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, said Canada will likely face a tariff rate comparable to Europe's. U.S. and Canada might not reach trade deal, Trump says (new window) The Americans have decided to readjust the terms of trade, Dade said. The price of access to the U.S. market is going up globally. It appears everyone is going to have to pay an increased cost. There are plenty of signs to suggest that the prospects are slim for Canada to reach a deal by Trump's deadline of Friday: Carney said the talks are complex (new window) , his top trade negotiators are downplaying the importance of the deadline (new window) and Trump himself is saying there may not be a deal at all (new window) . Mike Crawley (new window) · CBC News · Senior reporter Mike Crawley has covered Ontario politics for CBC News since 2009. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike was born and raised in Saint John, N.B. Follow Mike Crawley on Twitter (new window) With files from Natasha Fatah, Karen Pauls and Andrew Nichols
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Algonquin Capital Announces Change of Address for the Principal Office of Algonquin Fixed Income 2.0 Fund
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 29, 2025) - Algonquin Capital today announced a change in the principal office of Algonquin Fixed Income 2.0 Fund (the "Fund") and Algonquin Capital Corporation (the "Manager"). Effective August 1, 2025, the principal office of the Fund and the Manager is located at 161 Bay Street, Suite 1230, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2S1. Investors may contact the Manager by calling toll free at 1-833-306-8404, on the Manager's website at or by writing to the Manager at 161 Bay Street, Suite 1230, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2S1. About Algonquin Capital Corporation Algonquin Capital Corporation ("Algonquin") is a boutique Canadian fixed income investment manager. Algonquin was founded in 2014 and offers fixed income strategies focused on capital preservation while producing strong risk-adjusted returns.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
As more loyalty programs pop up, customers want access and tangibility: expert
Sorry, we're having trouble with this video. Please try again later. [5006/404] An increasing amount of Canadian companies are creating loyalty programs to retain customers and grow market share, and while each new program offers unique perks and benefits, consumers gravitate more towards certain ones. That's according to a recent report from Toronto-based customer engagement agency Bond Brand Loyalty, which examined consumer trends and gathered data from across more than a dozen market segments. 'A lot of programs have come to market in the last little while as brands have faced the circumstances of the market,' Sean Claessen, Bond's chief strategy officer, told BNN Bloomberg in a Monday interview. 'Leaders have said being close to customers is better, that's a safer place to be to understand their new needs or changing needs, and so loyalty programs historically have been one of the ways that a lot of marketers have tried to get closer to customers to understand those things.' Claessen said Canadian customers are keen to join almost any loyalty program that's offered to them; however, they typically are only active in about half of the programs they are part of. 'Customers raise their hands for all of the programs, but the ones that truly engage them and that pay off the effort that's required and afford them the things and the spending power that comes with those delayed dividends… that tends to be the ones that people stay active in,' he said. In the current economic environment, Canadian shoppers value tangibility, Claessen explained, and the ability to use things like loyalty points on day-to-day purchases, rather than just accumulating them over time. Claessen noted that Bond has been collecting customer preference data for more than a decade, and its 2025 'Loyalty Report' represents the first time that access took the top spot when it came to what consumers valued in a rewards program. 'Access has become the top driver in what satisfies Canadians with these programs… being first to know, getting a last call on a product that is going out of stock, anything that is sort of afforded to you by being a part of the club,' he said. 'That kind of mechanic in loyalty performs really, really well… that edge as a customer that makes you feel like it matters that I'm a customer, I'm getting that reciprocal benefit from the company.' Critics of loyalty programs have pointed to the collection of customer data as a downside to joining, as many companies require members to provide an email address, home address, phone number or more. But Claessen said that's becoming less of an issue for customers. According to Bond's report, 64 per cent of customers are comfortable sharing their data with a company in return for the benefits they prefer. 'Less and less consumers are worried about that, in fact, a lot of the data we use to determine what are good programs and how do they operate is customers volunteering their purchase data, the receipt data… that is part of a lot of linked loyalty programs lately,' he said. 'And that seems to be going swimmingly for all involved; for customers they report higher satisfaction, likelihood to stay with the brand, every metric that you would expect as a business goes up and there's sort of a win-win-win in that situation.' Based on Bond's findings in its 2025 report and in previous years, it's clear that loyalty programs do pay off for the companies that invest in them – as long as they're designed and managed well, said Claessen. 'A well-designed program that's properly managed is all incremental, so as you would compare it to non-loyalty participating customers, the results would be clearly in favour of customers who are receiving these offers and getting these perks and benefits,' he said. 'They tend to consolidate their shopping if it's a fragmented category with the kinds of brands who are offering them those programs.'
