Voyageur 51
A $2.6-billion uranium handshake with India, and the end of $48 bank fees.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Canada and India Hit Reset With a $2.6-Billion Uranium Deal
PM Mark Carney and India's Narendra Modi announced a pile of deals in New Delhi today, the biggest being a long-term agreement to supply India with Canadian uranium worth US$2.6 billion. The two also agreed to wrap up a free trade deal by December, with the goal of more than doubling two-way trade to $70 billion a year by 2030.
This is a sharp turn. Less than two years ago, Canada expelled Indian diplomats over allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. (And an Indian ex-diplomat maybe hilariously made claims the PM Trudeau’s plane was ‘full of cocaine’). Relations cratered. Now Carney is framing India as a "natural partner" in Canada's push to sell its stuff to someone other than the United States.
Carney's office said he raised transnational repression with Modi directly. Modi, for his part, was full of praise, crediting Carney personally for the thaw. Whether the free trade timeline holds is another question - Canada and India have been talking about one, off and on, for more than a decade.
Read more: CBC News
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Banks Cap NSF Fees at $10
Starting March 12, the federal government is capping non-sufficient funds fees at $10 for personal bank accounts at federally regulated institutions. Right now, Canada's big banks charge between $45 and $48 every time a payment tries to clear and your account comes up short - even if you're a dollar under.
The new rules also limit banks to one NSF fee per two business days, and they can't charge anything at all if your account is less than 10 bucks short. The Department of Finance estimates this will save Canadians about $619 million in the first year. Roughly a third of Canadians get hit with at least one NSF fee annually.
If you still have a Canadian bank account - and plenty of expats do, for pension deposits, tax refunds, or family transfers - this is a quiet win. The cap applies to RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, National Bank, and federal credit unions. Provincial credit unions are a different story and depend on where you bank.
Read more: Immigration News Canada