The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has made legislated bereavement leave policies top of mind for both employers and employees. As of Sept. 15, at least one in 1,376 Canadian residents have died from the coronavirus, for a total of 27,315 deaths, according to The New York Times. Bereavement leave is available for employees across most Canadian jurisdictions and some of […]
If elected, the Conservative Party is promising it will encourage employers to add mental-health coverage to their benefits plans by offering a tax credit for 25 per cent of the cost of this additional coverage for the first three years. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party is promising Canadians increased access to free mental-health services through a new […]
Discussion around implementing a national universal pharmacare strategy is growing louder ahead of next month’s federal election. In its 2019 budget, the federal government said it would work with partners to move forward on a national pharmacare program, including the creation of a new national drug agency and formulary, as well as a national strategy for […]
Ottawa will require federal employees and workers in federally regulated industries to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, marking a shift in the federal government’s position on vaccine mandates. The move — which will affect roughly 1.5 million workers — is necessary to protect against more dangerous variants of the coronavirus, says Dominic LeBlanc, head of the Privy […]
Inflation break-evens at multi-year highs and higher nominal yields are putting some upward pressure on real yields in Canada, according to a new report by FTSE Russell. The firm found first-quarter 2021 performance returns showed a sell-off in government bonds, led by longer U.K., U.S. and Canadian government bonds, as the reflation trade gained momentum. […]
Since 2004, Canada has held a AAA rating from all major ratings agencies, but on June 24, it suffered a blow when Fitch Ratings Inc. downgraded the country to AA+. “The rating downgrade reflects the deterioration of Canada’s public finances in 2020 resulting from the coronavirus pandemic,” said the Fitch in a rating action commentary […]
For smaller pension funds looking to access private equity opportunities, the lower and middle part of the Canadian market should be very attractive, says Tracey McVicar, a partner at CAI Capital Partners, referring to businesses with $3 million to $10 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Institutional investors with bigger pools of […]
In Monday’s federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada won a minority government with the Conservative Party of Canada taking official opposition status and both the Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party collecting enough seats to potentially prop up a Liberal government. Overall, these political changes will likely have a very modest impact on broad […]
As climate change restructures the Canadian Arctic year by year, institutional investors should be paying attention to this all but undeveloped economy, according to one expert. “For those that live there, the dominant narrative is about how climate change is remaking the Arctic from a frozen periphery to an area of immense geographic and economic […]
Former Chief Justice of Canada at the 2018 Risk Management Conference