Stephen Punwasi

One country’s discreet bailout is another country’s financial crisis, and that’s why Basel III was rolled out. The series of banking supervision measures are designed to improve banking resilience, with the latest measure designed to set minimum capital using a standard approach to risk. Canada was set to begin adopting the rules this year, but […]

Toronto mortgage delinquencies are surging, doubling over the past year to hit the highest rate since 2016—and they're still climbing.

Canadian inflation is under control, as expected with the country’s unique modeling strategy. The Statistics Canada (Stat Can) Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows annual growth slowed in July. The quick slowdown was due in part to a circular reporting model, where central bank rate decisions have significant influence on the report itself. Slowing headline inflation […]

Canadian home building costs surged as rates were cut, and stimulus fueled record demand. Policymakers assured households that it was just supply shortages and the inflation was transitory. Supply chains will scale up and prices will come down, eventually. That day is finally here for steel. It turns out that was never the goal. Earlier […]

Canada will try to break its rising dependence on low-wage, temporary foreign workers (TFWs). This week the Government of Canada (GoC) announced it will freeze processing of TFWs in some regions with elevated unemployment. Despite rising unemployment, the program has seen explosive growth with annual volumes rising 300% over the past five years. Just the […]

Canada’s remote workforce has been breathing new life into small cities, but that may come crashing down soon. The Government of Canada (GoC) has ordered its remote workforce back to the office starting next week. The reasons cited haven’t been particularly strong, but the impact on big cities has been. Downtowns have been hollowed out […]

Canada’s work-from-home boom was a little too popular and has resulted in flight from big cities to more affordable suburbs. Now the governments and their agencies across Canada are facing pressure to bring workers back to the office. Canada Post’s non-operational staff in major cities are the latest being ordered back to the office for […]

Canada’s economy went from struggling with productivity growth to an all-out crisis. That’s the take from TD this morning, who warns the productivity crisis is worsening. Skewed incentives have reallocated productive investment to non-productive areas, now consuming a larger share of the economy. If this persists, the bank warns that Canada will see further erosion […]

Canadian real estate experienced a major shift during the pandemic as remote work was embraced. Unanchoring careers from pricey cities, people fled to more remote and affordable smaller cities, bringing a surge of economic activity (and higher home prices), at the expense of big cities. Policymakers are now attempting to reverse this move by pushing […]

Canada appears to be doubling down on its position that more demand will create affordability. Earlier this week, the Government of Canada (GoC) announced its “boldest mortgage reforms ever,” including its most ridiculous mortgage reform ever—first-time buyers using state-backed, high leverage loans to purchase $1.5 million homes. Confused? You’re probably thinking: First-time buyers usually don’t […]