Five Canadian business stories to watch this week

Construction
Construction

Still optimistic?

The Bank of Canada releases the Business Outlook Survey on Monday. Last quarter’s survey revealed that Canadian companies were more upbeat about the future than they were three months prior, with firms planning to boost investment and to hire more workers, giving the Bank of Canada a green light to hike interest rates again in January.

Unfriended

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate and House committees on Tuesday. Zuckerberg made a public apology last week for his company’s handling of users’ personal information – including more than 620,000 Canadians – as the social media giant faced a growing international uproar over the questionable use of personal data for political purposes.

Tax troubles

Canada 2020 hosts a panel discussion on “Competing with Trump: Canada’s Response to the U.S. Tax Cuts” on Tuesday in Ottawa. The CEOs of both BMO and RBC said last week that they’ve seen varying degrees of investment outflow from Canada to the U.S., particularly in the energy and clean-technology sectors. Panellists include Meredith Lilly (former adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper), Brian Kingston (Business Council Canada) Kevin Milligan (UBC) and Mike Moffat (Canada 2020).

OBJ360 (Sponsored)

Shaw results

Cable TV and broadcasting giant Shaw Communications Inc. discusses second-quarter results on Thursday. Analysts recently said that Shaw was the big winner from the federal government’s decision to set aside 43 per cent of the next spectrum auction for regional wireless carriers and potential new rivals.

Cooling real estate

Statistics Canada releases the value of building permits for February on Tuesday. Building permits are considered a leading economic indicator that signal new construction intentions. The Vancouver and Toronto region real estate boards, representing the country’s most influential markets, reported double-digit annual sales declines in March.

Get our email newsletters

Get up-to-date news about the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Ottawa and beyond.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Sponsored

Sponsored