U.S. Border Agents Can Search Your Phone Without Cause

A U.S. appeals court has confirmed that border agents do not even need any suspicion before searching your cellphone at the frontier.

Canada's official travel advisory already informs visitors to expect scrutiny of electronic devices. It says that an officer is allowed to request a password, fingerprint or face scan and has the power to look through photos, documents and messages. A refusal can mean being denied entry into the United States, getting detained while you wait to be deported, or the seizure of your device presumably while they really go through it. The official Canadian advise is to put devices in airplane mode before crossing so files in the cloud aren't downloaded during a search.

The U.S. border is one of the few places where warrant rules are dramatically loosened, and the regs apply whether you're flying in from Canada, arriving from another country or using U.S. preclearance while still in Canada at a Canadian airport. You might argue that your phone is an extension of your brain, but at the border, it’ll be treated as property.

Read more: Vancouver Is Awesome / Government of Canada

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Canada Wants IN On Erasmus

PM Mark Carney wants Canada to join Erasmus+, the European Union program that helps people study, train, teach and work abroad. Canada already participates in some of the program’s activities as a non-associated country, but a proper membership would open up many more opportunities.

The idea goes further than simple university exchanges; Erasmus+ also funds adult education, youth programs, professional development and institutional partnerships. Canada's five-year Global Skills Opportunity pilot ended in March 2025 after supporting nearly 15,000 post-secondary students and in its last year, 71 per cent of participants came from groups that are frequently underrepresented in study-abroad programs.

No deal has been agreed to yet, so Canada and the EU still need to settle the cost, tuition rules and figure out how Canadian schools might recognize credits that would be earned in Europe. Given how fragmented Canadian higher education is (to say nothing about provincial fifedoms), that last piece could take some real time and effort.

Read more: The Conversation Canada / CBC News

Tax Code at 3,827 Pages

Canada’s first Income Tax Act was about the size of a handy pamphlet. The current one runs to 3,827 pages. The Globe and Mail asked 11 business and tax figures how they would rebuild it.

Their ideas ran the gamut from practical to politically spicy. One would put an expiry date on every new tax break and renew only those that prove their worth. Another would cap the tax-free gain on a principal residence at $750,000 per head and cut capital gains tax on early investments in Canadian businesses. TMX Group’s CEO wants a lower capital gains inclusion rate for Canadian public companies and a TFSA that tips the deck toward Canadian investments.

There is also a proposal to give taxpayers a single clear online view of everything they have filed with the CRA, in addition to faster assessments and password resets that should take minutes rather than a minor archaeological expedition that sometimes involves (*shudder*) a phone call.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Canada Retires at 65

Canada’s normal retirement age for CPP, QPP and Old Age Security remains at the age of 65. That’s where it's been since the 1960s, and the feds have no (known) plan to change it.

Its worthy of note, given how many of Canada’s peers have moved on. Norway and Australia are already above 65. Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands have connected future increases to a shifting life expectancy. Denmark’s age is on the way to eventually reaching 74. The U.S. will finish phasing in 67 this November, a change that was first set in motion during the ‘80s.

For Canadians who have pension rights in another country, retirement can therefore turn into a two-clock problem. Canadian benefits still use Canada’s timetable while a host country’s full pension may arrive years later. CPP and QPP can be taken before 65 at a lower rate or delayed for a higher one, but 65 is the baseline.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Big Banks Build Digital Dollars

Canada's six biggest banks are working to figure out how to move Canadian dollars on the blockchain. RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC and National Bank announced the project on Tuesday, finally putting some muscle from the country's banking establishment into the digital-money game.

The first test will be a transfer of tokenized deposits between participating banks. These tokens are digital representations of normal bank deposits, not a new cryptocurrency. Canada's banking regulator says they will be treated legally in the same way as traditional deposits. A shared ledger could mean faster payment settlements and eventual connections with similar systems already running abroad.

Don’t expect a tokenized chequing account anytime soon, though, since their first phase is going to be just between themselves. For Canadians who frequently send money home, that could eventually take some of the lag out of what’s traditionally been a rather lethargic piece of Canadian banking.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / CoinDesk

Alberta’s Big Vote Leaves Expats Out

Alberta will put 10 questions to voters on October 19, including whether the province should stay part of Canada or if it should begin the process of moving toward a binding separation referendum. This vote will be non-binding.

Elections Alberta says expats and people who have “moved away” are not eligible to participate in this one, though, as voting will be restricted to Canadian citizens 18 or older who are “ordinarily resident in Alberta.” People temporarily out of the country for work, school, military service or travel will still be allowed to vote by mail if Alberta continues to be their ordinary residence.

If you’re eligible, you have until Friday, September 25 to ask for a special ballot and the completed package must then get back to Elections Alberta by mail before 5 p.m. on October 16.

The other nine questions in the poll deal with immigration policy and provincial power, including court appointments, the Senate and federal programs.

Read more: Elections Alberta / Global News

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Ontario Gives Landlords a Better Deal

Ontario has reduced the minimum notice period for unpaid rent in half. Since Monday, landlords are able to give most monthly or yearly tenants a total of seven days to pay up or leave after serving an N4.

This change doesn’t mean anyone will be subject to a seven-day eviction, though. Paying the arrears by the termination date will void the notice, and a landlord would still need an eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board before he can put anyone out on the street. Three late payments of more than seven days within six months are now enough to meet a new definition of persistent late payment, though the board says that it will still “consider the circumstances.”

The rules also change landlord-use evictions. An owner who gives at least 120 days worth of notice to take back a unit for personal use no longer has to pay a month's rent or offer another unit. This may matter to you if you kept an Ontario condo while living abroad, or if you rent out your former home and plan to move back into it.

Read more: MoneySense / Government of Ontario

ASEAN Deals Approaches the Finish Line

Separate free trade deals with the Philippines and the 10-country ASEAN bloc are more than 90 per cent done. Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu is keen to make sure that both agreements are ready by the time PM Mark Carney visits Manila in November.

The ASEAN agreement would reduce or eliminate tariffs on Canadian exports into a market of more than 700 million people. Canada-ASEAN merchandise trade was $52.5 billion in 2025, up nearly one-quarter in a year. Imports from the region have doubled since 2020.

The Philippines deal by itself is also an important piece. Ottawa expects it to triple bilateral trade by 2035, with agriculture and forest products among the Canadian industries that will be in line for new access. Two-way merchandise trade was $3.4 billion last year.

These are trade agreements only, not new visa or residence programs. Their immediate audience will be exporters and businesses, including Canadians running companies in Southeast Asia or who move goods between the region and Canada. Stay tuned.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Global Affairs Canada

World Conflicts Are Breaking Canadian Friendships

More than half of Canadians say it is getting harder for people who disagree about major international conflicts to stay friends. Only about a fifth think it is not getting harder, and just over a quarter say they’re unsure.

A Leger poll asked 1,538 people about four conflicts involving Russia and Ukraine, Russia and the United States, Iran and Western countries, and Israel v Palestine. The last was seen as the least reconcilable with only 14 per cent of respondents thinking that issue was reconcilable. Russia and the United States was the only pairing that was seen as more reconcilable than not, although even in that conflict the largest share of respondents was still unsure.

The pattern held among anglophone, francophone and allophone respondents. Association for Canadian Studies president Jack Jedwab said the splits are now spilling over into the interpersonal level. The poll didn’t measure expats separately, but for Canadians abroad, the same kind of conversation can run through local politics, Canadian news and family chats back home. Sometimes a minefield.

Read more: National Post

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Record $31B Pulled From U.S. Markets

Canadian investors sold a record $31 billion worth of U.S. stocks and equity funds in July. The exit was larger than the retreat seen during the March 2020 market crash.

It was also a sharp U-turn. Canadians had bought $78.1 billion in U.S. equities during the first six months of 2026, then found themselves heavy sellers July, mostly taking gains on shares of big tech companies. Canada was an outlier even as investors elsewhere stayed net buyers of American equities.

The Nasdaq was down 2.6 per cent through that month, but it had suffered worse showings three times earlier in the year, so the slip wasn’t likely the cause. Statistics Canada cannot tell us why millions of people traded, and a one-month swing doesn’t prove a lasting shift, but it seems likely that broader nationalistic sentiment played into the allocation decisions.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Investment Executive

Sweden Gets More Health Care for the Same Money

Only 2 per cent of Swedes reported unmet medical needs because of wait times in 2024. Contrast that to Canada’s number of 9.1 per cent. A Fraser Institute comparison says the two universal systems spend similar amounts of money, but patients in Sweden appear to get much better access.

One of the tricks is Sweden mix of public funding with private delivery. Nearly half its primary care centres are privately run. More than 40 per cent of publicly funded hip and knee replacements and more than 70 per cent of cataract procedures are done in private clinics. Patients, of course, pay into the public system through taxes, even when they carry private insurance as well.

The country has 4.4 doctors for every 1,000 people, compared with 2.8 in Canada. Its waiting-time guarantee aims to get patients a medical assessment within three days, and 85 per cent manage to be able to do that.

Room for improvement.

Read more: National Post

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WestJet Gets Its Own Tim Hortons Coffee

WestJet passengers will get a Tim Hortons coffee brewed especially for a cruising altitude starting November 30. The new "flight roast" uses Tim’s usual arabica beans, but has adjusted the finish to account for cabin pressure, shorter brew times and the strange things that altitude (and a dry cabin) does to taste.

The partnership is expected to go beyond the drinks cart next year when travellers will be able to link their WestJet Rewards and Tims Reward accounts to collect points in both programs on eligible Timmy’s purchases.

Both brands say the deal was in the works before the latest buy-Canadian wave entered the zeitgeist. If you’re headed back to Canada via WestJet, it’s possible that your every Timbit purchase might come with a small contribution to the cost of your next ticket.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

EU Opens Its Door to Canada

Europe wants Canada to become the European Union's first associate member. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the offer public on Wednesday with PM Mark Carney sitting in the European Parliament, and then everyone clapped the chamber gave him a standing ovation.

There’s no membership card being sent to the printer just yet, however. The EU's treaties don’t make any allowance for an “associate-member” category, and Carney said that Canada wanted a unique alliance, not full membership. The two sides are now trying to figure out how to moving past a simple trade deal and into closer work on defence, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals and supply chains.

The part that might be most interesting to readers of the Voyageur might be the emphasis that Carney is putting on “people to people” ties in the deal. Those will almost certainly matter to Canadians living in Europe, but no one has suggested there will be new rights to live, work or travel in the bloc yet.

Read more: Canada's National Observer / The Guardian

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Private Money Coming to Canada's Airports

Private investors could soon run Canada's four biggest airports. Ottawa is trying to figure out if long-term operating deals make sense for Toronto Pearson, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver while it would retain ownership of the land and assets.

The plan could raise tens of billions of dollars, and the windfall would go into infrastructure, including regional airports, while private operators are expected to bring capital and airport expertise. Canada's major airports are currently run by non-profit authorities that lease federal land, pay Ottawa rent and pay for upgrades through borrowing and user fees. The proposed model looks more like what’s done in Australia, where governments own airports but lease their operation to investors.

Britain and Australia created economic regulators after airport fees rose under private operation, but Canada still has no similar regulator. It is unlikely that this deal, should it be finalized, will result in lower costs for Canadian travelers.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Global News

Ottawa Lends Airlines a Fuel Lifeline

Porter Airlines has borrowed $125 million from Ottawa, and Air Transat has scooped up the full $150 million that was made available to it under a federal emergency loan program. The facility comes as jet fuel prices have doubled since the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran in February, and the two Canadian carriers are tapping public money to make sure they’re able to continue flying through the shock.

The four-year loans will cost roughly 4 per cent. Both airlines will also continue to repay pandemic-era federal loans. In those deals, Transat borrowed $893 million in 2021 and 2022, and Porter picked up $270.5 million, including money that it used for ticket refunds. Air Canada and WestJet have (so far) skipped this new program; WestJet called it out as “market-distorting” and said that Ottawa should let airlines compete on their own strengths.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Open Jaw

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BMO Takes Trading Fees to Zero

BMO is going to be cutting most of its online trading commissions to zero. The move will make it the first Big Five bank to drop fees on stocks, ETFs and options through its direct investing platform. It says it will also do away with account administration fees and will be lowering options contract fees. No word on panic coming from the discount brokers yet, but it can’t be good news for them.

The cuts are intended to support gaining market share from younger investors, but it will still make a difference for Canadians abroad who sill have money parked in Canadian accounts. A lot of people outside Canada use domestic brokerages for RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts.

The real test will be whether the other banks follow suit. If they do, it’ll represent a significant reshaping of the market landscape.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Ottawa Talks Defence With Beijing Again

Canada and China held defence co-ordination talks on Sept. 4, with Beijing saying the meeting has re-opened a military channel that’s been closed for eight years. Ottawa confirmed the meeting a few days later, but presented the re-opening as more of a functional communication tied to Canadian safety and strategic interests than it was a substantial change in stance.

The channel had been quiet through years of strain after China detained “the two Michaels,” Michael Kovrig, and Michael Spavor in 2018. Canada also stopped military exercises and co-operation with the People’s Liberation Army during the period.

The conversation has, perhaps, restarted, but it will take some time to rebuild the trust that hasn’t magically come back this early overture.

Read more: The Canadian Press via CKOM / Canada’s National Observer

Google Starts Guessing Canadian Ages

Google is rolling out an AI tool that is supposed to estimate whether users in Canada are under 18 by evaluating signals about and related to their accounts. Things including search history and the sorts of YouTube videos a user watches are reportedly among the clues.

If the system judges that an account belongs to a minor, it will get tighter content recommendations and other guardrails/ protections. Adults who are caught by mistake (we see you, Sesame Street aficionados) will be able to challenge the decision by using a government ID or a selfie. Google said it plans to collect no new information for the estimate, although the system will make new judgments from data it already has.

Ottawa’s digital safety bill is still before Parliament. That bill would force social platforms to temporarily block children under 16, but the government hasn’t figured out how services should (could?) verify age. Meta says that it is already using AI to sort Canadian users into teen accounts.

Read more: Canada’s National Observer / The Globe and Mail

Canada Goes Shopping for an EU Alliance

PM Mark Carney said Canada will start talks with the European Union on a "unique alliance" but will not be requesting membership in the bloc. The phrase story came to light after reports that Ottawa was exploring some form of associate status.

Carney said on Sunday that Canada and the EU share values, priorities and complementary strengths. He has asked his special envoy to Europe to explore the most ambitious options short of membership, according to the Wall Street Journal. This week he will visit Britain and France and address the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The idea has come some way since an April poll found one in four Canadians wanted to join the EU and another 58 percent were open to discussing it (Voyageur 78). Canada's trade war with the United States has since deepened, giving Ottawa more reason to build ties elsewhere.

A Canadian passport is not going to get anyone into the EU arrivals lane anytime soon, but Ottawa is now wondering what might sit between trade partner and member.

Read more: Canada's National Observer / BBC News

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Canada's Young Founders Head South

Nearly one in two Canadian company founders who raised more than a million bucks in 2024 are now based in the United States. It seems like Canada's talent pipeline is working, but the catch is where that talent ends up.

Canada lost about 65,000 residents to net emigration last year, according to Statistics Canada figures. Research from the Canadian Labour Economics Forum indicates that more than a few of those leaving are young, highly skilled workers.

The usual pull factors are bigger pools of capital, more customers and a tech scene built for scaling companies. Canada still has six of North America's top 15 tech talent markets, with Toronto in third place and Vancouver and Waterloo also in the top 10.

Plenty of Canadian founders now belong to the same diaspora as their customers, investors and employees. Looks like the brain drain has a cap table.

Read more: National Post

Proof of Citizenship Hits 33 Months

Canada's proof-of-citizenship line is now long enough to make a toddler old enough for kindergarten by the time the certificate arrives. IRCC's September 3 update put the wait for new citizenship certificate applications at 33 months, up from 25 in August and 10 in January.

The queue is tied to Bill C-3, which expanded citizenship by descent in December 2025. CIC News says 136,000 people are waiting for a decision, more than triple the December count. The certificate does not make someone Canadian. It proves the status they already have and unlocks the practical stuff, including a Canadian passport.

Urgent processing still exists for narrow cases, including work, school, family illness or death, statelessness, moving a minor child to Canada, giving up another citizenship, hardship, or access to benefits.

A Canadian passport can be ancestral, but it appear that the paperwork is glacial.

Read more: CIC News / Immigration.ca

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Jobs Report Puts the Loonie on Watch

Canada lost 42,000 jobs in August, according to Statistics Canada's most recent Labour Force Survey. The unemployment rate held at 6.4 percent, but the employment rate slipped to 60.8 percent as the labour market gave back ground before autumn arrives.

A softer Canadian jobs report can feed Bank of Canada rate-cut bets, tug on the loonie, and change the math for Canadians earning abroad but paying bills in Canada. It also usually colours return plans, since it’s a lot easier to return home when the job market has some give. This current one has a little less than it used to.

Read more: Statistics Canada / The Globe and Mail

Iran Enters the Portfolio Chat

Canadian investors have another issue that might require some attention in their portfolios this week. The Financial Post says the Middle Eastern conflict involving Iran is starting to affect bond markets, capital flows and, perhaps most importantly for most regular folks, borrowing costs.

The capital flows story has changed quite a bit over the past 18 months. Middle Eastern capital that was once recycled into global markets is now being used instead for domestic spending, security expenses and infrastructure. Against that backdrop, AI companies are vacuuming up enormous amounts of debt funding, and the U.S. government has about US$9 trillion in Treasuries maturing (and therefore needing to be rolledover) in less than one year.

The current environment gives bond buyers both the opportunity to demand, and the expectation to receive, higher yields.

Read more: Financial Post

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Countertariffs Coming on Tuesday

Canada's next round of countertariffs is scheduled to come into force at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, unless there is some sort of a last-minute deal with Washington.

The new duties are intended to match Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods. The list of Canada’s taxed items cover $27.6 billion of U.S. imports, with steel, aluminum, dairy, appliances, farm equipment, pulp and paper, plastics, electronics, honey, hair products, metal furniture, cardboard boxes and a bunch of other specific customs-code material in the mix.

The changes will raise Canada's effective tariff rate on U.S. imports to 3.8 per cent, which is the highest we’ve seen since the 1980s. It seems clear that Ottawa has tailored its efforts to direct much of the pain toward swing including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Read more: Government of Canada / The Globe and Mail

Dutch Gold Leaves Ottawa

The Dutch central bank has moved 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa to London since March. They say they’ve done it in the interest of crisis preparedness, but it realistically indicates an erosion of trust. Before the move, Ottawa was holding just under a fifth (19.7%) of Dutch gold reserves. Now Ottawa and New York each hold 18.5 per cent. The accounting is tidy, but maybe the symbolism is a less neat.

The bank said a move to London makes the gold easier to trade “in a crisis.” Its governor, Olaf Sleijpen, said they intended to improve the tradability of their national reserves, not to pick a fight with North America. The total Dutch pile is 612.4 tonnes, so the shuffle is a meaningful one.

Read more: AP News / The Globe and Mail

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King Gets the Twenty

The Bank of Canada is making a change to the $20 bill, placing King Charles III in the frame to give Canadian paper money its first portrait of the King. Coins made the switch in 2023. The central bank was expected to show the redesigned note in Ottawa on Thursday.

The current $20 still shows the visage of Queen Elizabeth II, so the most common bill in a Canuck wallet will soon get a small constitutional update.

No need to panic-hoard old twenties, of course, but the next time you open a drawer and find one, it may remind you of a time capsule from the Elizabeth years.

Read more: Canada's National Observer / The Globe and Mail

Lake Ontario Goes Split Screen

Google Maps has started showing Lake Ontario under different names depending on where you open the app. In Canada, it will remain labeled as “Lake Ontario”, in the United States, it now appears as “Lake America.” Outside both countries, users are supposed to see both names together.

Google has sort of thrown up its hands and simply says that it (needs to follow) official government naming databases. The U.S. Geographic Names Information System changed the lake after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week. That means a Canadian in Buffalo, Bangkok or Brussels may see a different version of reality on the same app.

Renaming things like this seems petty and unnecessary. We’ve reached out to a friend at Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University for comment, we’ll report again if we hear back.

Read more: Global News / Associated Press

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CPP Money Heads Further Into India

Canadian retirement money is traveling far afield. India says its state-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund has raised 2 billion U.S. dollars for a second infrastructure fund, and CPP Investments are among the global names in the round.

The fund is chasing a 3.2 billion U.S. dollar target and is expected to put money into Indian infrastructure projects. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with Canadian pension leaders in Toronto last week, including CPP Investments and Ontario Teachers. Ottawa and Delhi have been trying to rekindle relations again after a long diplomatic freeze.

This is the less sentimental side of being Canadian since the pension system follows the money wherever it thinks long-term returns are going to be found. Sometimes that means the old country is funding roads, power and ports half a world away instead of building first at home.

Read more: Economic Times / The Globe and Mail

Thirty Canadians Missing in the Himalayas

Global Affairs Canada says 30 Canadian citizens/ permanent residents are missing after flash floods and mudslides tore through the Nepal-Tibet border region on Wednesday.

The disaster hit a mountain area that’s very popular and used by trekkers, tour groups and pilgrims heading toward Mount Kailash. CBC said that at least hundreds are dead and more than 1,300 remain missing. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canadian officials are trying to confirm who is safe, and CBC says five consular staff members are being sent to Kathmandu.

One of the less-fun parts of working the consular desk, surely.

Read more: CBC / Global News

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Rates Wait on Wednesday

The Bank of Canada will make its next rate call next Wednesday, September 2, and markets and mortgage watchers are expecting another hold at 2.25 percent.

The bank has kept the overnight rate unchanged since October 2025, after dropping it 25 basis points from 2.50 percent. The problem is the usual bad sandwich of inflation (up to 3 percent in July), alongside the trade fight with the U.S. that’s still weighing heavily over pretty much everything. That reality leaves the bank with little room to cut - certainly less room to cut than borrowers would appreciate.

The rate call is still relevant to Canadians abroad since Canadian mortgages, savings rates, bond yields, exchange-rate pressure and investment income all get moved around based on the same data.

Come Wednesday, the loonie will be listening.

Read more: MoneySense

Ottawa and Delhi Talk Money Again

India's finance minister is spending four days in Toronto as Canada and India try to bring money back as the focus of their relationship. Nirmala Sitharaman landed on Tuesday for meetings about trade, investment, and financial cooperation.

She told an Indian business reception for (primarily) members of the Indian diaspora that the relationship has changed after a June 2025 G7 meeting between PM Mark Carney and Indian PM Narendra Modi. IndiaPost wrote that the reset includes CEPA trade talks, a C$2.6 billion uranium agreement with Cameco and a plan to more than double two-way trade (to C$70 billion) by 2030.

Finance Minister Francois Philippe Champagne also met Sitharaman in Toronto on Thursday. That meeting puts the thaw front and center for the crowd that feels the most pressure from Canada-India relations - the families, students, founders, pension funds, banks and frequent flyers that all end up dealing with reality after the speeches end.

Read more: IndiaPost / Canada's National Observer

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Palestinian Safe Haven Gets More Time

Canada has extended open work permit measures for eligible Palestinians and some family members of Canadians who left Palestine after October 7, 2023. IRCC published the new temporary public policy on August 24, and it applies to applications received on or after August 1.

The policy is for people already in Canada who have valid temporary resident status and work permits that were issued under earlier safe-haven measures. They have to be Palestinian nationals with Palestinian Authority travel documents, or family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents who left Palestine after October 7, 2023.

Each qualifying person can get one open work permit extension. The policy will run until December 30, 2027, though IRCC can revoke temporary public policies without advance notice.

For Canadians who have family caught between war, paperwork and expiry dates, this is the kind of administrative minutiae that can decide whether someone keeps working legally; so even though in some ways it’s a small deal, it can have big consequences.

Read more: CIC News

Face Search Leaked 9 Million Photos

ClarityCheck sells a strange little product. If you upload a photo of someone, it tries to give you names, social profiles and other places that image of that person appears elsewhere online. Then a researcher found more than 9 million image files that were just sitting in unsecured cloud storage tied to the company.

National Post says the folders were labelled faces and profiles, and included adults, teenagers and children. The company prices the service for Canadian users, but it isn’t clear how many of the exposed photos were Canadian.

A University of Ottawa privacy law professor said Canadians can ask what the company holds on them, but finding out may mean handing the company a new photo of yourself. Perhaps a useful reminder that a face is not a password, and it doesn’t sport a reset button.

Read more: National Post

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The Bank Vault May Require a Map

A safety-deposit box is often thought to be a great place to protect the paperwork you can’t afford to lose, but it can also hide that paperwork from the people who need it after you die. Welcome to a not-so-uncommon little Canadian banking nightmare.

Here is a useful warning on the old instinct to put passports, deeds, wills and insurance papers somewhere behind lock and key. One adviser described families waiting weeks for insurance claims because documents were inside a box and nobody knew which company held the policy. One Toronto photographer moved his will out after learning that a box can be sealed during probate.

The fact matters more than ever if your Canadian financial life is split between countries. A branch, a box number, a missing access code and an executor on another continent can turn routine matters of administration into a scavenger hunt with paperwork.

The fix is boring, and that’s why it works. Keep a full inventory of what exists, where it is, and who knows how to reach it, then make sure the inventory is in the hands of someone you trust.

Read more: MoneySense

Currency Hedging Gets Less Academic

The weak loonie has made currency hedging feel less like investing and more like a hot-potato question for Canadians with money parked at home while their live their lives somewhere else. The Canadian dollar fell near 70 cents U.S. in mid-June and was still soft through August, partly because tariff threats shook confidence.

The practical bit isn’t too complicated - a Canadian-listed U.S. stock ETF without a hedge gives you the market return in addition to whatever ride the exchange rate takes you on. If the U.S. dollar rises, that’s often a lovely tailwind, if the loonie climbs, it can often feel a little discouraging. Hedged funds try to strip out that currency swing, often without greatly increased management fees, but the hedge itself is never magic.

If you’re earning in one currency, spending in another, and investing back in Canada, you probably already know most off the drill. Rent, salary, school fees and retirement money might all sit in different buckets, but an ETF wrapper is another place the loonie can join the conversation in a safe way, provided you know what the options are.

Read more: MoneySense

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Pensions Need an Earlier Look

Here’s a sensible reminder for anyone treating retirement like a folder marked “Future Me”: your pension picture should start being formed long before you need the money. As it happens some of the boring details and bigger pitfalls are easier to manage and fix while you still have years until you need the cash.

In Canada, the basic stack is CPP, workplace pensions, and personal savings through RRSPs or TFSAs. CPP contributions are mandatory and employer matched, and younger workers will normally get more from the enhanced CPP if they contribute long enough. Workplace coverage is patchier - only 38% of Canadian employees had an employer-sponsored pension plan in 2023.

If your career has crossed a borders, foreign jobs, years outside Canada, local pension schemes, RRSP room, TFSA eligibility and OAS residence rules can all turn a neat Canadian retirement spreadsheet into what might more look like modern art. It could be beautiful from a distance, but less helpful at tax time. Think ahead.

Read more: The Conversation Canada

Special Ballot Clock Runs Down

Canadians in three federal byelection ridings have until Tuesday to ask for a special ballot, which is… less-than-convenient timing if your mailbox is in another country and your riding is in North Vancouver, Toronto or Quebec.

The August 31 votes are for North Vancouver-Capilano, Beaches-East York and Chicoutimi-Le Fjord. Special ballots can be requested online or in person, but Elections Canada says anyone requesting one 10 days or less before election day should plan to return it in person at a local Elections Canada office, and that’s the rub from abroad. More than 1,000 voting kits had already been sent to voters outside Canada by August 20, but only 152 have been returned as of press time. Democracy by mail might work, but unfortunately, it doesn’t bend the laws of physics.

Read more: CityNews Vancouver / Elections Canada

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Economy Seats Get a Little Less Grim

Canadian airlines are promising a somewhat less punishing economy cabin, which is welcome news for anyone who weighs trips home in knee angles and charging-port luck.

The National Post says Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat and Porter are all trying to make the cheap seats feel a bit less cheap. Air Canada is adding ergonomic seats, tablet holders, larger screens and Bluetooth audio on some aircraft, and WestJet says its refreshed cabins include free Wi-Fi, four-way headrests, phone holders, charging ports and coat hooks.

The biggest improvements, naturally, are still to be found up front, especially lie-flat seats and premium cabins, however, so if you plan to fly home from Dubai, London or Bangkok, the back of the plane may get nicer gadgets before it gets more space.

Small mercies at 38,000 feet.

Read more: National Post

RBC Changes Up Card Math

RBC is raising the annual fee on its Cash Back Preferred World Elite Mastercard from $99 to $120 on October 1. The purchase interest rate will also rise from 20.99 percent to 21.99 percent, which is a reminder that you’d better not be carrying a balance.

Despite these headwinds, the card is getting a little sweeter in other places. Groceries, dining, gas, EV charging, transit, rideshare, streaming, and digital gaming will now get 3 percent cash back with no annual earning limit. If you don’t want to pay a fee, the plain RBC Cash Back Mastercard will retain its $0 annual fee, but its purchase rate will also go up to 21.99 percent. Grocery rewards stay at 2 percent, also with no cap.

If you’re still holding a Canadian card and would rather not wait until December for a tiny cash-back ceremony, starting December 2, both cards will move from once-a-year phone redemptions to online or app redemptions starting at $1.

Read more: MoneySense

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The Loonie Gets a Short Reprieve

The Canadian dollar flirted with 73 cents U.S. this week. The loonie hit 72.8 cents before slipping back to about 72.64 cents on Friday.

The move looked tempting to credit to Canada and the U.S. inching toward a trade deal, but currency watchers aren’t buying such a clean story. Karl Schamotta at Corpay said the U.S. dollar was doing most of the work after Treasury officials doubled buybacks of longer-dated bonds. David Rosenberg said the loonie had already started climbing because Canadian data is showing a likely rebound in the second quarter. Higher oil prices helped too.

If your life is split between Canadian dollars and another currency. CPP, OAS, rent, school fees, remittances, subscriptions, and plane tickets all shift when the exchange rate does. Of course a stronger loonie is nice (for most of us), but it seems that a durable one might be nicer.

Read more: Financial Post

WestJet Needs to Take Heavier Wheelchairs

WestJet has been told to drop its 300-pound limit on power wheelchairs and other mobility aids on most of its aircraft by July next year. The Canadian Transportation Agency said the existing limits created an undue barrier for disabled passengers, and said the airline should ought to use spreader plates to spread weight through the cargo hold floor.

Until the changes are made, WestJet will have to arrange other transportation with another airline when its own weight limits block a passenger. The whole issue came into the light because Steven Fletcher, the former federal transport minister from Winnipeg, was steamed after WestJet wouldn’t carry his custom chair on a Winnipeg to Toronto flight last year.

This is a travel stories that’s really about whether getting home is possible at all. A wheelchair shouldn’t be considered baggage with a battery for those who need one, so it is nice to see that accommodations are being made.

Read more: PAX News / The Globe and Mail

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Alberta Separatism Has Foreign Boosters

Alberta's separatism fight is getting a helping hand from outside the Great White North. The Walrus reported that Russian-connected disinformation and propaganda networks have taken an interest in the province's referendum politics, and researchers have also tracked U.S.-aligned publishers pushing the split.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has admitted that foreign influence campaigns are possibly pushing pro-separation messages online. CityNews reported that the activity includes suspected Russian connections. Smith, of course, is keen to confirm that any democratic debate should stay with Albertans and Canadians.

Canadians abroad often meet Canada as one passport, one embassy, one flag, but the reality is that in a provincial system things can get a bit murky. This is a provincial separation debate that’s being shaped in part by foreign networks, and can no longer remain exclusively a provincial argument.

Read more: The Walrus / CityNews Calgary

Ottawa Wants to Thin the Tax Code

Ottawa says tax reform is back on the menu, which is probably good news for tax advisors, and just “one more thing” for everyone else to have to try and figure out. Wayne Long, the minister responsible for the CRA and financial institutions file, told The Canadian Press the Carney government wants to tackle the tax code one bite at a time, and it is putting small-business issues high on the list.

Ottawa is heading into a fall budget, automatic tax filing is planned for a pilot next year, and the Liberals promised a corporate tax review during their 2025 campaign, so this isn’t entirely unexpected. Truth be told, the system has grown too layered, become too political, and is too expensive to follow.

Read more: MoneySense / Global News

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The Dark Web Has a Long Memory

MoneySense has a reminder for anyone whose Canadian life is spread across old email accounts, bank logins, passport scans, SIN forms, and that one forgotten cloud folder from 2018: once personal information ends up on the dark web, it can be sold again and again, sometimes for months or even years.

The warning signs are usually boring before they get expensive, so keep your head up. It could start with tiny card charge, a password reset email you didn’t ask for, or a credit inquiry you don’t recognize. Might even be a bank alert that arrives while you are asleep in another time zone.

The practical list is familiar, but it’s worth a reminder, and perhaps taking a few minutes to do. Lock affected accounts, change passwords, use multi-factor authentication, tell banks and credit-card issuers, check credit reports, and contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre if you think something real has taken place.

Read more: MoneySense

Tavares Puts CRA on the Stand

John Tavares is heading to Tax Court over an $8 million fight with the CRA, and the whole thing turns on a question many Canadians abroad know too well. Where were you really resident when the money landed?

The Maple Leafs captain signed a seven-year, $77 million U.S. contract in 2018 with a $15.25 million U.S. signing bonus paid in the first year. Tavares says the payment was an inducement under the Canada-U.S. tax treaty, which would cap Canadian tax at 15 percent. The CRA says he was already a Canadian resident, or that the bonus was ordinary employment income, which points to a much bigger bill.

The hockey numbers are cartoon-sized, but the bones of the dispute are pretty common. Residency date(s). Treaty wordings. Sources of income. What a contract says versus what tax authorities think it means (or want it to mean). You don’t need a slapshot to recognize how that works.

Read more: Financial Post / Blaney McMurtry

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Inflation Hits the Ceiling

Canada's inflation rate climbed back to 3 percent in July, right at the top of the Bank of Canada's target band. Statistics Canada says gasoline did most of the pushing, as pump prices have moved up 25.7 percent from where they were a year earlier.

If you strip out gas and inflation, the number held at 2.2 percent for the third month in a row, which is less dramatic but the number Canadian-rate watchers will be pondering at least until the next Bank of Canada decision. Food bought from stores softened nicely to 3.1 percent from 3.9 percent in June, so the grocery aisle behaved slightly better. We’ll accept any and all small mercies.

The travel line is where Voyageur readers might want to raise an eyebrow. Higher jet fuel costs helped pushed airfares up 12 percent, as travel tour prices also jumped. For Canadians pricing trips home, renewing a mortgage, living on Canadian pensions or moving money back and forth, July's report is not so much a headline as a story to watch play out with a spreadsheet open to evaluate where things are likely to go next.

Read more: Statistics Canada / iPolitics