“We have a huge deficit, so that means the debt is going up, spending is going up, and taxes are going up. So it was really terrible to see this today,” said Kris Simms, Alberta director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, when asked her reaction to the 2026 Alberta budget that was tabled in the legislature on Thursday by provincial finance minister Nate Horner.

The biggest news out of the budget is a predicted $9.4-billion deficit, which the UCP government blamed on lower than expected oil prices and higher than expected spending due to rapid population growth.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the budget shows the UCP has mismanaged the province’s finances, broken its own rules, and lost the moral authority to govern.

He said the budget, despite record levels of oil production, makes the cost of living more expensive with a string of new fees — $360 million this year alone – while failing to solve fundamental problems in health care and education.

And to top it off, he said, “Danielle Smith and the UCP have saddled future generations, our kids and our grandkids, with billions and billions of dollars in debt with no path to balance.”

Premier Danielle Smith has been signaling for weeks that the deficit would be “significant,” but also promised there would be no tax hikes or “deep” service cuts to combat the deficit.

However, among the new fees and levies included in the budget are big increases in the education property tax that municipalities collect on behalf of the province, that will cost the typical homeowner in Calgary $340 more a year and in Edmonton, $154 more.

As for where the province could cut spending, Simms said the government should “go through AHS with a fine-toothed comb.”

“Why do we still have directors directing directors there, all making well over a hundred grand?,” asked Simms.

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“If they would have just cut that number of directors in half, taxpayers would be saving more than $20 million,” added Simms, saying “It shows a lack of fiscal responsibility and accountability.”

She said the province also “could’ve gotten rid of all corporate welfare — that includes not giving millions of dollars to NHL teams for arenas and plazas because they want them.”

1:54
Alberta budget 2026 comes with some spending hikes but also a $9.4B deficit

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas reacted by taking aim at the province’s decision to hike education property taxes.

“Calgarians at this point are contributing more than ever before in provincial property taxes and the provincial portion of the property tax increased by 15.6 per cent in 2025 and we’re going to see a very similar increase in 2026. This represents an increase of more than 30 per cent over the past two years. An equivalent to a total of more than $1.1 billion annually,” said Farkas.

“We’re pretty much on track for having about a 50-50 share of property taxes being delivered to the city and to the province. What this means essentially is that we’re getting very close, perilously close, to half of every property tax dollar being collected in the City of Calgary going to the provincial government to fund provincial priorities without a very clear line of sight in terms of whether that’s being invested back here in the city of Calgary.”

“If property taxes are being jacked up for Calgarians and that money is being spent elsewhere in other municipalities, we’re just seeing another version of equalization like Alberta is being taken advantage of in total, when we think about confederation,” said Farkas, who suggested the province could also take a lesson from Calgary’s new city council on how to control the tax increases.

“Our focus as a council has been doing our fair part. We inherited about a six per cent property tax increase proposed by our city administration at the end of last year. We did the hard work to lower tax increase to about 1.6 per cent.”

“We did that at the same time as investing in critical infrastructure,” added Farkas, pointing to the need for the city to replace the “terminally ill” South Bearspaw Feeder Main at a cost of $200 million as an example.

“We’ve done our part and we’re calling on the provincial government to do their part, too.”

Farkas’ counterpart in Edmonton, Andrew Knack, was also critical of the failure by the provincial government to include more funding for critical infrastructure projects.

“Through consecutive provincial governments for the last 15 years — this is an issue that municipalities across the province continue to face — what is the plan to begin to start to address that? We appreciate it’s a tight budget, but what is that forward-looking plan that allows municipalities to start catching up with the incredibly rapid population we’ve been seeing over the last 15 years and how can we work together to make sure we’re serving the folks we represent across the province.”

As for the hike in the education property tax, Knack called it “a good investment” and said the city of Edmonton will “happily collect” the additional money for the province if it’s used to help build and staff more schools.

Overall, Knack was more conciliatory than Farkas, saying “since becoming mayor, it’s been about four months and I’ve had some incredible conversations with the premier and a number of ministers. I felt it’s very constructive.”

“At the end of the day, it’s what I expected. I think it’s a very sort of neutral budget,” added Knack.

Kris Simms of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, meanwhile, said, “I can’t really think of good things to say on this budget.”

1:57
Alberta budget deficit expected despite record resource revenue

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One of Quebec’s best-known coffee producers is bringing production back to Canada after shifting part of its operations to the United States during a period of steep tariffs.

Sherbrooke-based Café William says it has begun repatriating a portion of its production to Quebec following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led to the removal of tariffs on coffee exports to the United States.

The company had temporarily transferred some production south of the border after tariffs exceeding 35 per cent threatened the viability of certain contracts with American private-label clients.

In a statement, Café William said the move was a temporary measure designed to protect its Quebec operations and workforce.

“To mitigate these impacts while preserving jobs and operations in Quebec, Café William entered into a production exchange agreement with an American partner,” the company said.

“With the tariffs now revoked, we are able to bring this production back to our facilities in Sherbrooke and resume normal operations in Canada.”

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The company added that throughout the transition, all Café William products sold in Canada continued to be roasted in Sherbrooke and no layoffs occurred.

It says it is now hiring to support increased production capacity in Quebec.

The Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce told Global News that the move reflects what other businesses in the region have also been facing.

In a statement, the chamber said tariff uncertainty has had a “tangible impact” on manufacturing and agri-food businesses across Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships.

“Even when companies are not directly targeted by tariffs, the instability creates an unpredictable business environment,” the chamber said, pointing to fluctuations in input costs, pressure on margins, logistical delays and increased caution among American partners.

The chamber said businesses are responding strategically.

“Many are working to diversify their export markets, further secure their supply chains, or bring certain operations back to Quebec to reduce their exposure to tariff risk,” the statement said.

“Predictability in trade rules is essential to enable companies to invest, hire, and plan for medium and long-term growth.”

Café William, which has operated in Quebec for nearly 40 years, says the return of production to Sherbrooke marks a reversal of a strategy it adopted last year to navigate the trade dispute.

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The owners of Calgary’s legendary Ranchman’s Cookhouse & Dancehall have announced that the iconic country music hotspot will be relocating in 2027.

The move necessitated by plans to redevelop the property, located at 9615 Macleod Trail South.

Ranchman’s, which opened 54 years ago, has been a launchpad for up-and-coming country music artists with Toby Keith, Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and Billy Ray Cyrus among the musicians who have played there before they became famous.

It has also been a hotspot for country music dancing and Calgary Stampede rodeo celebrations, complete with a mechanical bull for patrons to test their “bull-bustin’” skills.

It has also been used as a set for scenes in some famous locally-shot movies, including Brokeback Mountain and Cool Runnings, the story of the Jamaican bobsled team who shot to stardom during the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary.

The property changed hands in 2017 when it was bought by a group of local business owners, following the death of Calgary businessman Harris Dvorkin, who co-owned Ranchmans for more than four decades.

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It was also forced to shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic and put up for lease before reopening in 2022.

The current owners of the business said the move to a new location means this year’s Stampede celebrations will be the final ones hosted in the current building.

While they aren’t revealing where Ranchman’s will be moving to, they said they have signed a lease for an existing larger location nearby, which the cookhouse and dance hall will be moving to in 2027.

It will continue to operate at its existing location until the end of 2026.

2:16
The history of Calgary’s Ranchman’s country bar in Alberta’s film and television industry

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There were three unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy in December, according to a report from Statistics Canada released Thursday.

That marks a slight increase from a year earlier as the job market tightens and competition grows amid the trade war and U.S. tariffs, which will hit the one-year mark in March.

There were 514,600 job vacancies in December 2025, which was down 3.8 per cent from a year earlier and the highest number of vacant positions since March of last year.

At the same time, the number of unemployed Canadians increased in December by 49,100, according to the Labour Force Survey released separately.

December’s unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent of Canada’s working age population, and up from 6.5 per cent in November.

A job vacancy can exist for a variety of reasons.

Some businesses may be facing a skills gap or sector-specific shortage, where employers may not be able to find candidates with specific qualifications or skills for the roles that are open.

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Employee departures can also lead to job openings that are counted as vacancies in the month if they haven’t been filled yet. This can include people who may have resigned, retired or taken a temporary absence, such as maternity/paternity leave or for sickness.

4:05
Robert Half Hiring Complexities

Job vacancies were up the most in accommodation and food services with 10,600 openings, while construction job openings increased by 6,000, manufacturing by 2,900 and educational services by 2,000.

Sectors where job vacancies fell in December, meaning vacant jobs were either filled or eliminated, included health care and social assistance with a 10,700 decline, while retail trade fell by 7,300 openings, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting fell by 1,700.

The Bank of Canada released a report in December after surveying more than 500 Canadian hiring managers the month before about their outlook for the first six months of 2026. Nearly a third of companies, or 29 per cent, said they have open positions they haven’t been able to fill.

The report from the Bank of Canada said one of the challenges for hiring managers appeared to be a skills gap, with 49 per cent saying applicants lacked relevant experience, 47 per cent cited a lack of hard skills and 44 per cent said it was soft skills.

Thursday’s report from Statistics Canada also included a measure of what it calls “payroll employment,” or the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer.

Unlike the Labour Force Survey, payroll employment does not include self-employed people, owners and partners of unincorporated businesses and professional practices and those employed in agriculture.

Payroll employment decreased in December by 0.2 per cent, or 35,400 from November, and down 0.2 per cent from a year earlier.

The decrease was mainly seen in manufacturing by 7,400, in wholesale trade by 6,300, and in transportation and warehousing by 5,900.

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It’s budget day in Alberta, and the overarching question is not whether the budget will show a deficit, but exactly how many billions of dollars in the red it will be.

Premier Danielle Smith has signalled for weeks that the deficit is going to be, in her words, “significant” but has not provided a dollar figure.

She says the main culprit is low oil prices but has also pointed to the costs associated with sharp population growth, blaming the previous federal government for allowing immigration levels to spike.

Despite the red ink, Smith has said her government won’t look to tax hikes and “deep” service cuts to balance the books.

Her United Conservative government has already offered details about some key spending initiatives, including $10.8 billion on education, a seven per cent increase from last year’s budget.

It has also touted a 22 per cent increase to spending on doctors, promising $7.7 billion for pay and recruitment efforts.

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Alberta’s financial fate has long been tethered to a roller-coaster of oil and gas revenues, and the province does not charge a provincial sales tax.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nate Horner told reporters that the province has in past years relied relies on resource revenues of $20 billion or more, but said this time around that number will be “dramatically lower than that.”

He said population growth has put pressure on health and education spending, along with increased construction costs. He said there’s going to be an “ongoing” conversation about the extent to which revenue, taxation levels and cutting expenses factor into provincial debt.

“Affordability is still a major challenge across the province, and I would say we think that Alberta’s balance sheet is able to weather this (better) than many Albertan households,” he said.

1:40
‘It’s bad’: Alberta energy sector nervous for slumping oil prices

Horner said a five per cent provincial sales tax in an economy like Alberta’s could drive about $6 billion in revenue, but said he’s not promoting a referendum on a potential PST “right now.”

In the current budget year, which runs to the end of March, Alberta is forecasting a $6.4-billion deficit based on a reduced average price of West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark for oil, at US$61.50 a barrel.

Smith said they would have needed oil to average US$74 a barrel this year to avoid a deficit.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says the budget is one more tangible indicator of a government that doesn’t know how to govern.

Nenshi told reporters Wednesday that life has become more expensive under the UCP, the health-care system has “collapsed” and people are losing faith in the education system.

“They can’t balance the budget, and they can’t invest in the things that people want, and so this budget is a chance for them to turn it around — and they won’t be able to turn it around,” he said.

The NDP says rather than take responsibility for the budget, Smith prefers to blame immigrants and oil.

“These are all the results of choices that this government has made,” Nenshi said.

1:57
Alberta budget deficit expected despite record resource revenue

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Widespread return-to-work mandates are sparking “renewed demand” for office space in major Canadian cities, a new report indicates.

The report, released by Royal LePage on Thursday, indicates 2026 will be a year of revival for office real estate, which was impacted heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic that drove many employees to full-time remote work.

However, the report states that the dynamic is shifting, given major employers such as Royal Bank of Canada, Rogers Communications and Starbucks Canada have recalled staff to their corporate offices in 2025 and early 2026, implementing in-office work schedules of three, four and five days.

Federal employees will also be back in the office four days per week, beginning this summer.

“Employers are placing greater emphasis on how space can be used rather than how much space they take up, prioritizing layouts that support collaboration, flexibility and employee experience. That shift is increasingly shaping leasing decisions across the country,” said Matt Jacques, interim general manager of Royal LePage Commercial, in a news release.

“While hybrid work models will remain part of the equation long-term, rising in-office attendance and clearer workplace strategies are helping to bring greater stability to the market.”

1:56
Downtown Edmonton businesses welcome back provincial workers

Across the country, the office real estate sector is advancing at different speeds, the report showed.

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Some major centres, such as the Greater Toronto Area, are beginning to see renewed momentum, while others, including downtown Vancouver and Calgary, continue to lag or have already largely completed their transition back to in-person work environments.

In the GTA, major companies like Wealthsimple, Lyft and Nvidia secured significant square footage in 2025, the report said.

Companies are prioritizing environments that support worker collaboration, offer proximity to Union Station and provide access to desirable amenities. Office spaces that lack these are likely to face ongoing softness.

In Montreal, competition for larger, well-located and amenity-rich office space will be high, keeping pressure on the upper end of the market, the report showed.

Vancouver’s downtown office rental market has remained soft in the post-pandemic period, with the greatest pressure on larger office buildings as companies reduce their footprints and continue using hybrid working models.

“As a result, downtown landlords are increasingly offering incentives such as discounted rental rates and extended rent-free periods to attract tenants. In contrast, office markets outside the city core have seen more stable growth in rental rates,” said Raman Bayanzadeh, principal of the CRE investment and development team with Royal LePage Sussex.

“The silver lining is that current market conditions present a compelling opportunity for office tenants to secure high-quality space in desirable buildings. Many tenants are being selective and taking a measured approach, with more price-sensitive users waiting for clearer signals that the market has reached its bottom before committing.”

4:44
Navigating Ontario’s return-to-office mandate

Softness in Ottawa’s market will persist, but only in the short term, as federal public servants will be back in office come July, the report stated. However, the federal government’s commitment to reducing the size of the public service is expected to temper the pace of office recovery.

In Calgary, companies are focusing on rightsizing, optimizing and designing spaces that enhance collaboration and employee engagement, rather than a straightforward return-to-office mandate.

“This shift is evident in the increasing demand for premium, productivity-focused spaces, alongside the repurposing of older office inventory.  … At the same time, restrictive parking and accessibility challenges downtown are pushing some office tenants to look outside the city core, placing pressure on suburban vacancies,” said Maxine Morrison, executive vice-president and real estate advisor with Royal LePage Benchmark.

“Small businesses in particular are seeking space that allows them to grow their teams and strengthen company culture, while employees are increasingly valuing visibility to management and opportunities to collaborate in person.”

Calgary’s geographic advantages — particularly its proximity to the U.S. border — are expected to give it a competitive edge over Edmonton, the report added.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney leaves Thursday for a 10-day visit to India, Australia and Japan — his first international trip since his headline-making speech in Davos that called for middle powers to band together.

It will give Carney a chance to put that speech into action as he visits three “powerhouses of the region,” Asia Pacific Foundation vice-president Vina Nadjibulla said in an interview.

“The Indo-Pacific is where the centre of gravity for geopolitics and economic growth … is increasingly converging,” she said.

In his speech to the World Economic Forum in January, Carney urged middle powers to work together against “American hegemony” and the efforts of great powers to coerce and subjugate smaller countries.

“In Asia, Canada is having a moment. Prime Minister Carney’s speech really was quite an important development in how Asia sees Canada,” Nadjibulla said.

4:17
Moe says reviving Canada-India trade talks would be ‘a real positive’

University of Waterloo political science professor David Welch said the trip is a “clear follow” on the speech, since India, Japan and Australia are all important middle powers. He said Canada’s “stock has risen dramatically globally since the Davos speech.”

But it’s still not clear how much Carney will be able to accomplish with the trip, beyond symbolism.

“Whether he comes back with deals that do significantly enhance Canada’s economic relationship or security relationship with any of these countries, that remains to be seen,” Welch said.

At the G20 summit in South Africa last year, Carney launched a partnership on emerging technologies with India and Australia.

“We don’t have a lot of details but I’m hoping that we will see some announcements connected to the trilateral during the prime minister’s visit,” Nadjibulla said, noting the agreement came after India hosted a global summit on AI.

Carney will land in Mumbai on Feb. 27, then head to New Delhi on March 1, where he will meet Indian President Narendra Modi. He will then fly to Sydney March 3 before stopping in Canberra on March 5 and then Tokyo on March 6.

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While Canada has a good relationship with both Australia and Japan, Carney has set out to reset Canada’s relations with India after a diplomatic crisis that erupted in 2023.

In September 2023, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons Canada was pursuing “credible allegations of a potential link” between India and the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

A year later, the RCMP accused New Delhi of playing a role in a network of violence linked to domestic homicides and acts of extortion.

Both countries recalled their high commissioners and diplomatic ties were suspended for months.

Then Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta last June and the two countries have since reappointed high commissioners.

2:29
Canada, India revive negotiations for comprehensive trade deal

“We both decided that this is too important a relationship to let go, for it to meander the way it was meandering,” India’s High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik said in an interview last week.

The two countries have relaunched trade negotiations that have stopped and started since 2010. Patnaik said he’s optimistic about the chances of reaching a deal in just 12 months of negotiations because both countries want stability in a turbulent world.

Both Canada and India are looking to diversify their trade links away from dependence on the United States. Sushant Singh, a lecturer on South Asian studies at Yale University, said Carney and Modi are being driven by the same motive.

“Very clearly there is a desire to close the previous chapter or whatever happened with the previous government … and to start afresh,” he said.

After India, Carney heads to Australia, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been in power since 2022. Carney will address Australia’s Parliament during the trip, government officials said in a background briefing.

Both Canada and Australia are Commonwealth countries and partners in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, along with the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand.

Nadjibulla said there is a lot of goodwill and trust between the two countries, along with strong investment ties, but the “defence and security relationship is one that absolutely needs to be strengthened.”

Canada and Australia signed an agreement last year to deploy an over-the-horizon radar system.

Welch said Canada’s relationship with Australia is good but the opportunities for interaction are limited.

“They’re a commodity exporter. We’re a commodity exporter. They’re an agricultural powerhouse. We’re an agricultural powerhouse,” he said. “Just trying to figure out what we could sell them that we don’t sell them now and vice versa is a bit of a trick.”

Carney’s last stop will be in Japan, also a close ally. His visit comes after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female prime minister, was re-elected in a landslide earlier this month.

“In some ways, the trip is long overdue given how significant Japan is as a partner for us in the region,” Nadjibulla said. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau visited in 2023.

A side-trip to Japan was considered when Carney travelled to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea last fall, but the timing did not work out.

3:00
Carney, Modi hold talks to reset India-Canada ties during G7 in Alberta after tense 2 years

Canada launched an Indo-Pacific strategy three years ago. Nadjibulla said that strategy has led to a deeper relationship with Japan.

She described it as a “full spectrum partnership” that includes strong economic relations, commercial investment, partnerships on energy and critical minerals, “alignment around values and deep people-to-people ties as well.”

But Nadjibulla noted that because the relationship is in a very good place, “it’s easy to overlook it and to not give it the kind of attention that it deserves.”

Welch said Canada and Japan have grown closer as global volatility and uncertainty have increased.

“Canada and Japan in the past few years just seized on each other as stable, like-minded countries that are committed to a rules-based international order and committed to a liberal international order,” he said.

New economic data coming on Friday is set to give the clearest picture yet of how hard U.S. tariffs and the trade war hammered the Canadian economy for the full year of 2025.

That comes as uncertainty continues to dominate most predictions for 2026 and amid a new round of 10 per cent U.S. tariffs on countries around the world that went into effect on Tuesday after previous global tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump early in 2025 were struck down on Feb. 20.

December’s report on gross domestic product (GDP) will be released by Statistics Canada on Friday, and will give a summary of the final quarter of 2025, offering insight into the full scope of the economic impacts for the year.

Royal Bank of Canada released a report on Feb. 20 outlining predictions for the GDP report. It was authored by RBC’s assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen and senior economist Claire Fan.

“International trade uncertainty and volatility has been a persistent feature in the growth backdrop over the last year, but we expect a flat Q4 gross domestic product reading for Canada next Friday [Feb. 27] was in part due to temporary disruptions in the economy with signs of stronger activity late in the quarter,” the report said.

Despite some positive signs within a few of the previous GDP reports, RBC says, “still, soft spots remain.”

5:40
Trump raises new global tariffs to 15% after Supreme Court ruling

GDP is measured by adding the value of all goods and services produced within a country during a given period.

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In November, GDP showed zero per cent growth from October, when GDP fell 0.3 per cent.

December’s GDP report will conclude the fourth quarter of 2025.

RBC’s report is somewhat optimistic for the results expected to be released on Friday, and forecasts that GDP in the month will be up by 0.2 per cent.

“The silver lining to a soft looking quarter is that most of the weakness was concentrated in October and November with industry reports for December mostly positive,” the RBC report said.

“Following two soft growth prints in October and November, we expect a 0.2 per cent increase in December that would be slightly above Statistics Canada’s 0.1 per cent advance estimate. That would leave Q4 tracking close to our (and the Bank of Canada’s) forecast for no growth after a 2.6 per cent annualized increase in Q3.”

The third quarter of last year saw GDP rise 2.6 per cent in the three months from July through September. This meant Canada avoided a recession, which economists define as two back-to-back quarters, or six straight months, where GDP drops.

2:23
Business Matters: Canadian economy loses 25,000 jobs in January

When the September GDP report was released, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce warned that there were still concerns for the economy.

“Canada’s headline growth only looks good on paper — external conditions will continue to put pressure on the economy,” Andrew DiCapua, principal economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement from November.

“We’ll need strong domestic demand to carry more of the load — it simply wasn’t there in third quarter GDP. Households and businesses are still holding back, and the economy hasn’t found the momentum it needs to shift into a higher gear.”

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says a trade deal between Canada and India would be “a real positive” for both the nation and the province.

Moe’s comments Wednesday come ahead of his trip with Prime Minister Mark Carney on a trade mission to Mumbai and New Delhi.

Carney’s office said Tuesday that he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss ways to expand their trading relationship.

Moe said Saskatchewan “has been waiting some time” for Canada to sign trade agreements with a nation like India.

“Those discussions were occurring a number of years ago, and they were put on pause for a number of years,” he said.

“I’m thankful to see that’s even part of the discussion as we go there, and I’m hopeful that should we be able to get back to the table and start to work out the opportunities for that more broad-based trade agreement, that’s a real positive for Saskatchewan and Canada.”

2:12
How Carney’s travel compares to other Canadian prime ministers

Last year, India imposed a 30 per cent tariff on Canadian yellow peas, dealing a major blow to Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry.

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The province has urged Ottawa to immediately negotiate with India to alleviate pressures.

Earlier this year, Moe joined Carney on a trade mission to China. Both countries agreed to see Beijing reduce tariffs on Canadian canola products in exchange for Ottawa lowering duties on Chinese electric vehicles.

NDP Leader Carla Beck said Tuesday that she hopes Carney and Moe can come back with a deal.

“Get the tariffs off of peas,” she said.

“I also hope that while he has time to be sitting with the prime minister, that we see some big announcements in this province about infrastructure.”

The trip comes ahead of the Saskatchewan spring legislative sitting, which is to start next week.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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