RESP Withdrawals Need a Plan

Back-to-school season has reached the RESP phase, which is a particular moment in time when years of sensible saving can get uncomfortably easy to fumble. MoneySense says parents should start withdrawals as soon as they have proof of enrolment, not when tuition is already being demanded.

RESP money comes in two buckets. Contributions can usually get withdrawn in a tax-free way. Government grants, bonds and investment growth come out as Educational Assistance Payments and are taxable to the student. Planner Sandi Martin told The Canadian Press that families often make a blunder by draining the tax-free piece first.

For Canadians abroad who kept an RESP open for a child studying in Canada, the whole thing is a remote administrative hassle that can have impactful tax consequences. A student may have low income while enrolled, which can make taxable withdrawals cleaner earlier rather than after school ends.

If this scenario might affect you or someone you’re close to, read on to make sure your moves are maximally tax efficient.

Read more: MoneySense / TD Canada Trust

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Remote Border Crossings Get a Phone Line

Canada is giving remote border-crossing permit holders a bit more runway. Active Remote Area Border Crossing permits are going to stay valid until 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2026, and the program is expected to shutter on December 1.

The replacement is telephone reporting for remote entries in northern Ontario and from the Northwest Angle into southern Manitoba. CBSA listed the Northwest Angle, the Canadian shore of Lake Superior, the Sault Ste. Marie upper lock system, Cockburn Island, and the stretch from Pigeon River through Lake of the Woods as areas affected.

You might think the info is niche until it is your cabin, your dock, your fishing trip, or your cross-border family route that is going to be impacted. CBSA says the program has had about 11,000 members a year (~90% American), and no new permit applications are being accepted.

From December 1, travellers entering through those areas will need to report by phone site or at a port of entry. In a story that will come as a surprise to few, the border is getting less informal, even in the middle of nowhere.

Read more: Canada Border Services Agency / CIC News

Foreign Aid to Get a Trade Filter

Ottawa is going to start tying foreign aid to trade and domestic economic growth, and Canada’s aid sector (perhaps recognizing the writing on the wall) is starting to bristle. The Carney government says aid can reduce poverty while at the same time also building stronger economic relationships with partner countries.

That seems reasonable, but there’s concern in some quarters about where that logic can lead. CityNews reports that groups in the sector worry Canada is drifting toward aid that serves Canadian commercial goals first, even when local suppliers in recipient countries would be cheaper or better suited to the work. The OECD says tied aid potentially can raise procurement costs by up to 30 per cent, but the gov’t says that what it is proposing isn’t exactly “tied aid.”

This is the sort of policy fight that shows itself in the nation’s reputation before it arrives as paperwork. Aid workers, diplomats, teachers, contractors, and Canadian businesses overseas all represent the same Canadian brand, so it might be worth watching how Ottawa is rejigging what that brand is meant to buy.

Read more: CityNews / Canada's National Observer

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Moneris Gets a U.S. Owner

Moneris, one of Canada’s biggest payment processors, is being sold to Francisco Partners for 2 billion dollars. Before the sale, it was jointly owned by RBC and BMO. A U.S. private equity firm will take over the card-reader plumbing the underpins the finances at a significant portion of Canadian shops and restaurants.

Global News says Moneris currently supports payments at 325,000 points of commerce in Canada. The announcement of the sale comes just a few days after AMD said it would buy Taalas, a Canadian semiconductor company, which both deals are getting somewhat folded into Canada’s running debate about digital sovereignty. It’s not really a phrase that quickens the pulse of most citizens, but it becomes less abstract when the subject is who gets to record payment data.

Read more: Global News / The Globe and Mail

Canada Tests Drone War Kit

The Canadian Armed Forces put domestic drone makers through a real-world test on Wednesday, August 12. The event is called RED COBALT, maybe because it’s cool to give procurement exercises names that sound like rejected action movies.

The testing is happening at a NATO test centre in the Ottawa Valley, with Canadian manufacturers showing how their platforms are able to deal with military scenarios. The federal government is trying to move faster on drones as the technology becomes ever more important to modern warfare.

Read more: Global News / Canada's National Observer

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Aeroplan Gets Outside Owners

Air Canada is selling a 25 percent (non-controlling) stake in Aeroplan for $2.5 billion to an investor group led by Blackstone and La Caisse. The deal values the loyalty program at $10 billion, which is a reminder that rewards points are not imaginary or pretend coins, they’re (big) business.

Air Canada says it’s going to be keeping operational control, and One Mile at a Time says members shouldn’t expect any immediate changes following the sale. The money is being put towards a $1.2 billion bond repayment, and much of the rest will be going toward Air Canada's share buyback plan.

Aeroplan is one of the pieces of Canadian financial plumbing that shows up in normal life abroad. Flights home, Star Alliance redemptions, credit card points, family visits, emergency trips. A new owner on the cap table isn’t going to rewrite the chart today, but the change in who has a claim on the program's future profits might mean things will be different going forward.

Read more: One Mile at a Time / Financial Post

Departure Tax Gets Less Mysterious

Canada's departure tax is back in the personal-finance pages, which means one of the least fun parts of leaving Canada is having another little moment in the sun. The Globe and Mail tried to present it as less of an extra tax than Canada's last chance to make a cash grab tax gains before assets move out of CRA's reach.

CRA's emigrant rules might be worth bookmarking. Normally, an individual becomes a non-resident on the latest of the date s/he leaves Canada, a spouse or dependants leave, or the person becomes resident somewhere else. Severing residential ties is the test, not buying a one-way ticket and declaring yourself financially free as your condo, spouse, and bank life stay behind.

The conclusion is that you’d better make sure you know that your moving date, the assets you hold, and the ties you keep can matter more than just throwing a bangin’ farewell party.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Canada Revenue Agency

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Credit Files Don’t Travel Well

MoneySense has a reminder that Canadian credit history exists in its own little universe. Equifax and TransUnion build scores from Canadian files, and the big levers should be familiar enough - pay on time, keep the balances low, leave old (aged) accounts open, and try to keep your use of credit available to you below 30%.

The expat angle can be an irritation though, because a Canadian who spends years abroad can come home with a perfectly adult life, a salary, and a foreign credit record that Canadian lenders will treat like a postcard from another planet. MoneySense wrote the article for newcomers to Canada, but the mechanics will apply just as surely for returnees or those who are trying to keep Canadian banking warm from abroad.

Nothing about a secured card, a live chequing account, or periodic credit-report check is glamorous, but neither is getting rejected for an apartment because your file went dark while you were away.

Read more: MoneySense

Canada Looks for a Power Cord to Europe

A $30 billion plan to run an undersea power cable between Canada and Europe has four routes on the drawing board.

Canada's National Observer says that NATO-L, short for North Atlantic Transmission One Link, would run about 4,000 kilometres and move clean electricity both ways across the Atlantic. One favoured route would link Sept-Iles, Quebec with Princess Elisabeth Island in Belgium. The backers say the project has also lined up a still-unnamed major power technology company to build substations.

The reasons for the enthusiasm are part physics, part geopolitics. Europe and Canada have their own peak power demands at different times of the year, and wind doesn’t blow on both sides of the ocean at once. A two-way line would let Canada sell power when Europe needs it and pull power back when the Canadian grid needs a helping hand.

Read more: Canada's National Observer

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Property Tax Appeals Are Worth a Look

Canadians abroad who continue to own a place back home may have a boring little money errand waiting for them.

MoneySense and The Canadian Press say homeowners can appeal property assessments when the bill is based on bad facts or unfair comparisons. Wrong lot size, old garage still on file, new homes used as comparables for an older one - that sort of thing. In B.C. and Alberta, properties are reassessed every year. In Ontario, regular reassessments have been on hold since the pandemic, but permits/ permitting can still trigger updates.

The useful piece of information may be that if you want to file an appeal, you’ll need to show up with evidence. Complaining about the bill (unfortunately) does not count. Owners are expected to show factual errors, comparable properties, a market value problem, or something else along those lines.

If you are managing a Canadian house from another time zone, your annual assessment notice should be less like junk mail and more like a receipt that’s worth looking at carefully.

Read more: MoneySense / BNN Bloomberg

Crypto Ownership Hits One in Four

One in four Canadians now owns crypto(currency), according to recently released Ontario Securities Commission survey. That is up from 10 percent in 2023, which is a very interesting jump for something that still makes plenty of people nervous, dismissive, or even scornful.

MoneySense says the survey ran from December 2025 to January 2026 and found half of crypto investors had holdings of $10,000 or less. The most common reason that people claimed for buying was portfolio diversification, followed closely by long-term growth and speculation. The non-buyers were candid in that forty-three percent said they didn’t understand crypto “well enough,” and the same share also worried about fraud.

The Canada-abroad angle is in the plumbing. Canadians overseas often have to juggle exchanges, Canadian bank links, tax records, and shaky cross-border access. If crypto adoption is becoming more common back home, it might (eventually) make things a whole lot simpler for those outside the country.

Read more: MoneySense / Ontario Securities Commission

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LinkedIn Is Now an Intel Trap

The job pitch can look normal. A recruiter, a consulting gig, a vague client, a request for a paid report. CSIS says that is now one of the ways that Chinese military intelligence services are targeting Five Eyes nationals online.

A June 3 Five Eyes bulletin says recruiters are using LinkedIn, Indeed, Upwork, and other similar platforms to approach people who have access to classified or privileged information. The targets aren’t just spies-in-a-movie types. The warning identifies all sorts of folks, including security clearance holders, military personnel, academics, journalists, think tank staff, freelance writers, and people who have links to defence, policy, security, or economic files.

The Walrus picked the warning back up this week because Ottawa is trying to increase China trade right at the same time that its security service is warning Canadians to treat some professional overtures as possible intelligence fishing.

Read more: The Walrus / Canadian Security Intelligence Service

Travel Alerts Can Kill Your Coverage

Ottawa paid for a survey of 1,850 Canadians and got an answer that might make travel insurers reach for a highlighter. Only 28 per cent knew that a change in Canada's travel advisory level can change if an insurance claim is able to get paid. Another 56 per cent didn’t know, and 16 per cent were unsure.

The report also found shaky knowledge of what Canadian embassies are able to do abroad. A third knew Ottawa can offer emergency financial help in rare cases, like an evacuation loan. Fewer than four in ten knew the government will not pay to bury someone overseas or bring remains back to Canada.

If you’re building a life abroad, an advisory update should probably be heeded since it’s a change that can turn a hospital bill into a real problem.

Read more: Global News / Canada's National Observer

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Washington Talks Put Quotas Back on the Table

Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette are in Washington again for the second time in two weeks, as an Aug. 19 tariff deadline draws close. CBC says LeBlanc is expected to meet U.S. senators and industry leaders while Canada and the U.S. double down on talks.

The Globe says negotiators have resurrected a steel and aluminum quota idea. Canadian metals shipments would be capped in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs - last fall's version put steel in the quota at 10 to 15 per cent and shipments outside it at 25 to 50 per cent.

The next U.S. move would put a 50% tariff on about five per cent of Canadian exports, including alcohol, dairy, electronics, hockey sticks, and cement.

Read more: CBC News / The Globe and Mail

UN Warns Canada on Sikh Activist Threats

Five UN human rights rapporteurs are pressing Canada to protect Moninder Singh, a B.C. Sikh activist who has received four police warnings about credible threats to his life since 2022.

The letter was dated June 3 and made public this week. It says the threats may be tied to Singh's advocacy at UN bodies and asks Ottawa to speed up investigations, protect his family, and say what else it is doing. Canada has already accused India in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Singh's friend, near a Surrey temple. India denies targeting Sikh activists.

This is the sort of foreign interference that, ideally, shouldn’t follow people after they move. For Canadians abroad, especially anyone active in diaspora politics, the story isn’t so much about Ottawa and New Delhi talking past each other, but might help indicate something about whether a Canadian passport comes with any muscle when another government starts sniffing around outside its borders.

Read more: Global News / National Post

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Canadian Identity Outruns Ancestry

Canadians are still more attached to Canada than to ancestry, which is perhaps good news for anyone who has ever had to explain Canadian identity at a dinner with foreign friends without hiding behind maple syrup.

A Leger survey for the Association for Canadian Studies found that more than 4 in 5 Canadians feel attached to Canada, including half who are “very attached.” Attachment to ancestry is still strong at 64 per cent. Immigrants were more attached to Canada than non-immigrants, at 85 per cent compared with 81 per cent, and more attached to ethnic origins, at 78 per cent compared with 62 per cent.

So it seems that an individual can be Canadian, from somewhere else, living somewhere else, and still suffer too much cognitive dissonance. Interestingly, the survey also found younger Quebecers were more attached to Canada than Quebecers overall.

Read more: National Post

Carney Wants a Bigger Door to the Pacific

PM Mark Carney is backing a Port of Vancouver expansion because Canada's biggest port may run out of room in less than a decade. Of course, the subtext is that more Pacific capacity means more ways to sell Canadian stuff without squeezing everything through the U.S. relationship.

The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 plan would add three berths and raise container capacity by 50 per cent. Ottawa is looking at more than $10 billion for the port and connected infrastructure, and Carney says the goal is to grow exports away from the United States by more than half.

This is the physical manifestation of Ottawa's diversification talk. Less speechifying, more cranes as Canada tries to build another front door.

Read more: Global News

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China Puts Its Long Arm in Writing

China has committed its long arm of “free” speech policy to paper. A new ethnic-unity law that came into force on July 1 says people and organizations outside China can face legal liability for acts Beijing thinks undermine ethnic unity or creating ethnic division.

The Conversation says the provision matters outside China because it turns pressure on diaspora critics into statute. Canada isn’t a side character in this story because the article specifically names Canada as home to large Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan diaspora communities, and references the same transnational pattern of pressure that has already been discomfiting Canadian officials.

Ottawa's China travel advisory currently warns Canadians that people connected to banned or sanctioned entities could face unknown consequences, and says exit bans may be applied without forewarning.

If a Canadian abroad has family, business, advocacy work, or travel plans tied to China, it may be well worth keeping in mind that speech in one country can still impact people in another.

Read more: The Conversation / Government of Canada travel advice

Germany Signs Up for B.C. LNG

Germany has signed onto Canadian LNG in a way that is meant to last. Uniper will buy two million tonnes a year from B.C.'s Ksi Lisims project for up to 20 years, with first deliveries expected in 2032.

Ottawa says the gas will serve Germany, the U.K., Sweden and the Netherlands. Canada has spent decades sending almost all of its natural gas exports to the U.S., and the government wants non-U.S. markets to take an estimated 55 per cent by the early-to-mid 2030s. That’s a huge change in who Canada sells to.

Ksi Lisims is a $30-billion Nisga'a-led project on the B.C. coast, planned as Canada's second-largest LNG facility. For Canadians watching from Europe, this is Canada trying to become less of a North American supplier and more of a transatlantic one.

Read more: Natural Resources Canada / Canada's National Observer

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Fraud Confidence Gets Expensive

Canadians are feeling pretty sure of themselves about scams, which is apparently part of the problem. A TD survey found 89 per cent of Canadians feel confident they can spot fraud, even as just a little more than half (52%) admit to risky habits that make them easier targets.

The habits include using public Wi-Fi for personal or financial accounts, opening attachments from unknown senders, clicking links before verifying the source, and downloading apps from unfamiliar sites. Nearly one in four respondents said they or a family member had been hit by financial fraud or a scam in the past year.

The old scam-tells like bad spelling and sketchy graphics are fading and these days AI can produce convincing emails, texts and voice calls in a jiffy. If your Canadian bank, card, CRA account or brokerage is three time zones away, taking a momentary pause before clicking may be worth serious money. Be careful out there, and keep your stick on the ice.

Read more: TD Bank Group / MoneySense

Wealthsimple Opens the Betting Door

Wealthsimple's new Predict app went live on Wednesday, and the first version comes with a wink (and a nod?). Canadians are only able to trade regulator-approved event contracts for now, mostly economic, climate and financial indicators, but the app still shows users some forbidden candy.

Canada's National Observer found markets for the 2028 U.S. election, possible Trump impeachment and the release date of Grand Theft Auto VI, with a note saying those markets are restricted in Canada but users are allowed to follow along.

Clients may want to keep an eye on the most-traded global markets, but the Canadian wrinkle is that prediction markets are in a weird place between investing, gambling and derivatives, which is the sort of regulatory swamp that follows Canadian money abroad.

Read more: Canada's National Observer / Wealthsimple

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Middle East Alerts Get Real (Again)

Iran hit Kuwait and Jordan on Thursday after another U.S. strike on Iran, putting the region back into that grim loop where one country's military move turns into everybody's travel problem.

The Globe and Mail reported that a strike in northern Kuwait killed one worker, and Jordan said its air defences shot down five Iranian missiles. No casualties were reported in Jordan. The fighting has also touched ships in Egypt and militia fire toward Saudi Arabia, which isn’t soothing news if your summer travel plans run through the Gulf.

Ottawa's travel page for Canadians in the region was last updated on July 27 and it tells Canadians to avoid all travel to Kuwait and Iran, avoid non-essential travel to Jordan, and to get in touch with Global Affairs Canada's emergency centre if they need help.

This is the practical side of foreign policy, as advisories change, flights get rescheduled, and insurance gets picky. Consular phone numbers might suddenly matter - make sure you’ve got one saved.

Read more: The Globe and Mail / Global Affairs Canada

Passport Renewals Finally Go Online

Canada opened online passport renewal to all eligible adults in Canada on Tuesday, which is one of those government-service sentences that sounds boring until your passport is six months from death and your nearest Service Canada office is an expedition away.

The new system lets applicants upload the form, a commercial digital photo and payment through the IRCC portal. It keeps the same 20-business-day service standard as mail or most Service Canada renewals, and urgent cases still have to go in person. CIC News says the online option is for citizens 16 or older whose passport was issued in the past 15 years, is already expired, or expires within six months.

The catch, unfortunately, is geography. Canada.ca says Canadians applying from outside Canada still have to use mail or a Government of Canada office abroad. Useful if you are back home. Less useful if you are renewing from Bangkok, Berlin or Brisbane.

Read more: Canada.ca / CIC News

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The Arctic Has an Investment Problem

An internal RCMP report warned Ottawa that foreign actors could use big infrastructure offers to gain influence in northern Indigenous communities, Canada's National Observer reports. That is the kind of national-security story that starts with roads, ports and telecoms, then ends up in the much larger file marked sovereignty.

The report, obtained through access-to-information, warned that communities may be approached with large investment offers meant to shape local decisions. The worry has new context because Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed said in June that Inuit could look at foreign investment if Ottawa is not a better partner.

The money gap is the whole plot. A 2024 ITK report estimated $75.1 billion is needed to close priority infrastructure gaps in Inuit-owned lands. If Canada will not build the basics, someone else may offer to.

Read more: Canada's National Observer

Canadian Passport Keeps Its Muscle

Canada's passport moved up to seventh in the Henley Passport Index, with access to 183 destinations without any need to get a visa in advance. The U.S. is 180, which is not a massive gap, but it is still a gap. Tiny passport bragging rights are still passport bragging rights.

The best part of the news is to find out where the access changes. CIC News says Canadians have been able to enter China visa-free for stays up to 30 days since February, while Americans still need a visa. For Canadians outside Canada, that is the sort of boring little rule that can make a route, a layover, or a last-minute work trip more interesting.

The same story also shares another practical detail, which is that since April 1, Canadian passport applicants are entitled to receive their passport within 30 business days or have the application fee waived.

Read more: CIC News

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Inflation Keeps Following Retirees

Retirement is supposed to mean fewer surprises, but it sees like inflation didn’t get the memo.

The Globe and Mail's Rob Carrick laid out the squeeze from semi-retirement. His property taxes rose 3.75 per cent, condo fees rose 1 per cent, property insurance was up 3.5 per cent, and his natural gas bill jumped 15 per cent. Gasoline was also up nearly 30 per cent year on year, which hits when family care means regular trips between cities.

CPP benefits rose 2 per cent for 2026, and the Bank of Canada's inflation calculator puts a 2025 basket of goods at $102.80 in 2026. OAS changes four times a year, and some pensions and dividend stocks help, but retired people have fewer ways to earn their way out of rising costs.

If you’re relying on CPP, OAS, RRSPs, rental income, or a return home, you may want to keep your spreadsheet of cash flows up to date.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Citizenship by Descent Gets Practical

The citizenship-by-descent rush has moved from big headline to kitchen-table paperwork. CIC News asked lawyers the questions they keep hearing from people trying to prove Canadian citizenship through a family line, and the answers are very much in the weeds.

Missing birth records are not a dead end, but IRCC wants proof that applicants tried to get them. That can mean no-record letters, sibling records, marriage certificates, death certificates, court name-change papers, and a cover letter that explains the trail without making the officer play genealogy detective.

The timeline is the part that will make people sigh into their coffee. CIC says standard eligibility checks can take about a week, collecting documents can take one to six months, and IRCC proof-of-citizenship processing is sitting at about 19 months at the moment. For families abroad trying to line up passports, school plans, or a move back, the paper chase is now the real project.

Read more: CIC News

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WestJet Adds Strike Wiggle Room

WestJet is giving some passengers a free escape hatch before a possible flight-attendant strike hits home in the middle of long-weekend travel. Travellers booked from July 30 to Aug. 4 are now allowed to make a one-time change or cancellation without paying the usual fee.

The strike (if it comes) could start as early as Aug. 2 after 4,400 flight attendants represented by CUPE Local 8125 voted 99.4 per cent in favour of a walkout. Global News says the fight is centred on unpaid work, including time before boarding and after landing that flight attendants say can add up to 35 unpaid hours a month.

There is a catch (air travel loves a catch!). WestJet Encore Q400 flights and codeshare flights run by partner airlines are not expected to be hit, and a cancellation may leave passengers with travel bank credit rather than cash. For Canadians abroad connecting through Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, or home, that distinction might be one worth noting.

Read more: Global News / Global News

Carney Courts the Money That Left

PM Mark Carney is trying to pull a trillion dollars of runaway foreign capital back to Canada, with a two-day investment summit that will be running in Toronto on September 14 and 15.

Global News says the summit is expected to bring international business leaders, CEOs and institutional investors together as Ottawa pitches major projects. RBC has described the past decade as Canada's biggest modern capital exit, with $2 leaving the economy for every $1 that came in. Yikes.

This is where the maple leaf meets the money map. A country that can attract capital has more capacity to build airports, energy projects, mines, ports and the boring infrastructure that makes long-term growth sustainable. A country that can’t raise money has fewer choices, and growth is likely to be strangled.

The guest list is still fuzzy, we’ll know in September how many people are willing to show up with chequebooks.

Read more: Global News

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Ecuador Deal Gives Canada Another Door

Canada and Ecuador were able to get a free trade deal over the line in Ottawa on Friday, the latest small but deliberate step in Canada's hunt for trade routes that go almost anywhere but through Washington.

Canada's National Observer, carrying The Canadian Press, says the pact will have Ecuador effectively remove tariffs from all Canadian imports. Ottawa says bilateral trade with Ecuador was almost $2.2 billion in 2025. The signing had no public event, which is seems overly low-key for a deal that took more than two years of talks.

It seems clear that there won’t be a rush of people to suddenly move to Quito with a briefcase full of maple syrup, but Ottawa is making some headway in making Canadian business feel less trapped by our friends directly south. For Canadians in Latin America, or anyone running a Canadian company from abroad, the smaller trade doors can make a big difference, even when the deal is unaccompanied by fanfare.

Read more: Canada's National Observer / Global Affairs Canada

Canada Gets a Jet Program Seat

Canada has become the first observer in the U.K., Italy, and Japan's program to build a sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035. Observer status gives Ottawa access to classified talks, but no decision-making role yet.

CBC says the move lets Canada study whether its military and aerospace companies can join the Global Combat Air Programme later. The air force is also looking at Arctic testing, which is a very Canadian way to ask whether the new gear would be able to survive the part where everything freezes.

Read more: CBC News / GOV.UK

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Bank Loyalty Gets Wobbly

More Canadians are looking at their bank and asking whether decades of loyalty still deserve automatic renewal. MoneySense says 22 per cent of respondents in Environics' 2026 Canadian Financial Switching study moved to a different bank in the past 12 months.

The article runs through the process of breaking up with a bank. Compare fees, savings rates, ATM access, app quality, cybersecurity, and Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage. Then move payroll, pension deposits, CRA payments, tax benefits, and pre-authorized bills in stages.

The last part is maybe a little trickier from abroad. A Canadian account can become the plumbing for pensions, rental income, tax refunds, brokerage transfers, and the occasional oh-right-I-still-have-that subscription. Switching cleanly obviously beats switching fast.

Read more: MoneySense / CP24

When U.S. ETFs Earn the Paperwork

Canadian investors now have more than $1 trillion invested in Canadian-listed ETFs, but the biggest U.S. ETF by itself is larger than the whole Canadian ETF market. MoneySense used that lopsided fact to reopen a very practical question. When is a U.S.-listed ETF worth the hassle?

The answer depends on currency conversion costs, management fees, liquidity, withholding tax, and whether the account creates extra U.S. tax paperwork. Canadian-listed ETFs are simpler because they trade in Canadian dollars. U.S.-listed ETFs can be cheaper, deeper, and sometimes the only way into a specific strategy.

That calculus can gets more important when you live abroad. A Canadian account, a foreign salary, a U.S. dollar cash pile, and a future return to Canada can all point in different directions. One ticker symbol can drag a lot of baggage behind it.

Read more: MoneySense

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Workplace Pensions Leave a Gap

Canada’s workplace pension pile passed $2.1 trillion in 2024, but The Globe and Mail says the money is wildly uneven once you split public and private workers. On a labour-force basis, the article puts public-sector workplace pension assets at $385,000 per worker. Private-sector workers tip the scales at $26,000.

Even after adding retirees into the count, the gap remains huge. The public-sector figure is nearly $294,000 per worker and retiree, while the private-sector side is near $19,900. RRSPs help close part of the distance, but they also put more of the work onto individuals.

For Canadians outside Canada, that turns retirement planning into a spreadsheet effort. CPP, OAS, RRSPs, TFSAs, locked-in pensions, tax residency, and exchange rates all meet in the same place. The old three-legged stool is often wobblier than advertised.

Read more: The Globe and Mail

Trump Hits Canada With 50 Per Cent Tariffs

Trump has put a new 50 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, with autos, dairy, alcohol and other products in the blast zone. The orders were signed on Monday and will go into effect on Aug. 19.

The White House says Canada is discriminating against U.S. products. Canadian officials say the move breaks CUSMA, which is a spicy thing to say about the trade pact that was supposed to keep this relationship from turning into a bar fight with customs paperwork.

The 30-day clock is running.

Read more: National Post / AP News

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Premiers Try to Unjam Canada From P.E.I.

Canada's premiers are in Charlottetown from Tuesday to Thursday, and the meeting is about some of the stuff that makes the country maddening to navigate. Internal trade barriers. Major projects. Health-care shortages. The usual paperwork maze.

PM Mark Carney will join the premiers on Thursday. Indigenous leaders were also scheduled to meet them on Tuesday, as the provinces talk through which projects can move faster and how much cooperation Ottawa can squeeze from 13 governments with 13 different sets of priorities.

For Canadians abroad, this is the machinery behind very practical questions. Can you move back and work in another province without credential drama? Can a Canadian business sell nationally without tripping over provincial rules? Can Ottawa build things fast enough to look serious to investors outside Canada?

The answers still rely in some part on the provinces playing nicely. Let’s watch and see

Read more: Canada's National Observer / Canada's Premiers

Diplomats Get a U.S. Reality Check

Canadian diplomats in the United States deal with the same relocation headaches as the rest of us, except with firearms, emergency drills and medical advances in the mix. An internal Global Affairs Canada audit found staff at U.S. missions had to deal with safety risks, health-care hassles and housing costs that Ottawa didn’t always keep up the pace with.

Canada has its embassy in Washington in additions to consulates and trade offices in 15 other American cities. At the time of the audit in late 2025, the U.S. network was home to 130 diplomats, 254 Canadian staff from “federal departments” and 356 locally hired Americans.

The part of the story that is likely most familiar to any Canadian who has tried to set up life south of the border is the paperwork-meets-real-life bit. Some staff had to use advances or credit card debt to cover health costs, including one advance that ended up being more than $100,000. The audit also found 65 per cent of rents in the U.S. network are higher than the costs set by Ottawa's ceiling. Interesting reading.

Read more: Global News / Canada's National Observer

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CBC Puts More Reporters Overseas

In what is a bit of a surprise move, CBC/Radio-Canada is putting more reporters back overseas. The public broadcaster says it’s going to post journalists in at least five more locations over the next 24 months.

The list includes Beijing, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Mexico City and one European location still to be named. CBC also says it will build a permanent presence in Africa, while continuing to send reporters into other countries when stories break.

The announcement is, in part, a rebuild. CBC had a China bureau for more than 40 years before shuttering it in 2022 after it couldn’t get visas for permanent correspondents. It currently has seven permanent bureaus in Istanbul, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Taipei and Washington, and it sent news teams to 65 countries last year.

For Canadians reading from outside Canada, the news is positive because it will mean more of the world is going to get covered through Canadian eyes.

Read more: CBC News / CityNews Toronto

Parent Sponsorships Put on Pause

Ottawa has closed the door on new parent and grandparent sponsorship applications until further notice. IRCC said on Wednesday that it will keep processing files that are already in the queue and plans to approve up to 15,000 people for permanent residence by way of the program in 2026.

The Parents and Grandparents Program has not opened a new interest-to-sponsor intake since 2020, and the existing inventory is still sitting at about 50,900 applications, according to CIC News.

IRCC is telling families to look at using the super visa instead. That visa allows parents and grandparents visit Canada for up to five years at a time, with multiple entries for up to 10 years, but it is still visitor status. Health insurance, host income and the promise to leave Canada all remain part of that program.

Read more: CIC News / Government of Canada

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Brokerage Cyber Gaps on Alert

Canada's securities regulators have taken a look under the hood at 73 registered investment firms, and the cybersecurity picture is reportedly uneven. The Canadian Securities Administrators said Wednesday that its review found gaps in how some dealers and advisers handle policies, staff training, risk checks, third-party service providers and incident response plans.

This is all normal plumbing, of course, but it is the kind of plumbing that gets attention when water starts coming through the ceiling and people start asking why it was never inspected properly. Canadians abroad often keep RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts or old workplace savings with Canadian firms while logging in from another country, and another time zone, so sometimes it might be difficult to keep track of who, on the ground, is staying current with their obligations to keep things tight.

The CSA said companies need to review the new guidance and improve their systems, but it might behoove anyone managing Canadian money from overseas to make sure that their Canadian partner is keeping up with their end of the compliance deal.

Read more: Canadian Securities Administrators / The Globe and Mail