Canadian Economic News, November 2025 Edition

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• Illinois-based Coeur Mining, Inc. and New Gold Inc. of Toronto announced they had entered into a definitive agreement whereby a wholly owned subsidiary of Coeur would acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of New Gold for a total equity value of approximately USD $7 billion. The companies said the transaction is expected the close in the first half of 2026, subject to shareholder and applicable regulatory approvals and satisfaction of certain other closing conditions.
• Calgary-based Baytex Energy Corp. announced it had entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement to sell its U.S. Eagle Ford assets to an undisclosed buyer for approximately $3.25 billion in cash. Baytex said the transaction is expected to close in late 2025 or early 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
• Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. announced it had reached a final investment decision on the Mainline Optimization Phase 1 project that will add capacity to the Company's Mainline network and Flanagan South Pipeline, increasing deliveries of Canadian heavy oil to refining markets in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. Enbridge said the expected aggregate capital cost would be USD $1.4 billion.
• Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd., a natural gas exploration and production company, announced that it and its subsidiaries were seeking an order for creditor protection from the Court of King's Bench of Alberta pursuant to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Canacol said it faces a looming liquidity crisis from upcoming interest and principal payments under its funded debt obligations; reduced natural gas production; and increased trade and other accounts payables.
• Vancouver-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced it will permanently close both its Augusta, Georgia and 100 Mile House, British Columbia lumber mills by the end of 2025 due to timber supply challenges and soft lumber markets. West Fraser said the closures would impact 295 employees and reduce its capacity by 300 million board feet.

Economic and fiscal updates

• The Government of Ontario released its 2025 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review on November 6th, which included cutting red tape, investing in infrastructure, supporting workers, improving services, and making life more affordable. The Government forecasts a $13.5 billion deficit for 2025-26 and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.8% in 2025 and 0.9% in 2026.
• The Government of Saskatchewan released its mid-year report on November 25th. The Government forecasts a $12 million surplus in 2025-26 and real GDP of 1.7% in 2025.
• The Government of Quebec released its Fall 2025 Economic and Fiscal update on November 25th, which included additional initiatives totalling $8.3 billion to protect purchasing power and the economy. The Government forecasts a $9.9 billion deficit in 2025-26 and real GDP growth of 0.9% in 2025 and 1.1% in 2026.

Other news

• The Government of Canada released its Budget 2025 on November 4th, which included investments in housing, infrastructure, defence, and productivity and competitiveness. The Government forecasts a $78.3 billion deficit for 2025-26 and real GDP growth of 1.1% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026.
• The Government of Canada announced the second tranche of nation-building projects to be referred to the Major Projects Office, including the North Coast Transmission Line in British Columbia, Ksi Lisims LNG on the north coast of British Columbia, Northcliff Resources' Sisson Mine in New Brunswick, Canada Nickel's Crawford Project in Ontario, the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Nunavut, and Nouveau Monde Graphite's Matawinie Mine in Quebec. The Government said these projects represent $56 billion in new investment.
• The Government of Canada announced that, building on previously announced measures to help transform the Canadian steel and softwood lumber industries, it would further limit foreign steel imports, make it easier to build with Canadian steel and Canadian lumber, and increase protections for Canadian steel and lumber workers and businesses.
• The Government of Canada announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government of Alberta that said upon receipt of a proposal from the Government of Alberta, the Government of Canada would provide an approval process under the Building Canada Act for the construction of a new pipeline that would transport at least one million barrels per day of oil to Asian markets. The Government said the MOU also advances multiple clean energy projects and measures, including advancing the construction of Pathways Plus, a carbon capture, utilisation, and storage project, as well as an industrial carbon pricing agreement for the province and an agreement to lower methane emissions by 75% over the next decade.
• The Government of Ontario announced it had approved Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) plan to refurbish four CANDU nuclear reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. The Government said the refurbishment will extend the facility's operations for up to 38 years, with the project expected to begin in early 2027 and completion by the mid-2030s.
• The Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) announced that the Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement (CMRA) on the sale of goods was signed by most federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers responsible for internal trade. The CIT said the CMRA ensures that businesses can sell their goods across Canada without having to meet duplicative regulatory requirements, unless the good is specifically exempted from the agreement.
• Norway-based Vianode, a producer of advanced battery materials, announced it officially started site preparation at its new synthetic graphite facility in St. Thomas, Ontario. Vianode said the project is structured as a phased, multi-billion-dollar investment, and that, subject to reaching a definitive agreement, the Government of Ontario will provide a loan of up to $670 million in support of its investment. The company also said the plant is expected to create approximately 300 jobs in the first phase, and up to 1,000 at full capacity.

United States and other international news

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left the cash rate target unchanged at 3.60%. The last change in the cash rate target was a 25 basis points cut in August 2025.
• The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to maintain the Bank Rate at 4.0%. The last change in the Bank Rate was a 25 basis points cut in August 2025.
• The Executive Board of Sweden's Riksbank left the repo rate unchanged at 1.75%. The last change in the repo rate was a 25 basis points reduction in September 2025.
• The Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee of Norway's Norges Bank left the policy rate unchanged at 4.00%. The last change in the policy rate was a 25 basis points decrease in September 2025.
• The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) lowered the Official Cash Rate (OCR), its main policy rate, by 25 basis points to 2.25%. The last change in the OCR was a 50 basis points cut in October 2025.
• The eight OPEC+ countries - Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman - announced they would implement a production adjustment of 137 thousand barrels per day from the 1.65 million barrels per day additional voluntary adjustments announced in April 2023. OPEC+ said this adjustment would be implemented in December 2025. OPEC also said that the eight countries had decided to pause the production increments in January, February, and March 2026.
• Texas-based Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Kenvue Inc., a consumer health company of New Jersey, announced an agreement under which Kimberly-Clark will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kenvue common stock in a cash and stock transaction that values Kenvue at an enterprise value of approximately USD $48.7 billion. The companies said the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
• New York-based IREN Limited announced it had signed a multi-year GPU cloud services contract with Microsoft whereby IREN will provide Microsoft with access to NVIDIA GB300 GPUs over a five-year term, with a total contract value of approximately USD $9.7 billion. IREN said the GPUs are expected to be deployed in phases through 2026 at its 750MW Childress, Texas campus.
• Seatle, Washington-based Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI of California announced a new USD $38 billion multi-year, strategic partnership that provides AWS's infrastructure to run and scale OpenAI's core artificial intelligence (AI) workloads starting immediately.
• Later, Amazon announced an investment of up to USD $50 billion to expand AI and supercomputing capabilities for Amazon Web Services' (AWS) U.S. government customers. Amazon said the investment is set to break ground in 2026.
• California-based Google announced a new €5.5 billion investment (2026-2029) in infrastructure and offices in Germany — including a new data center in Dietzenbach, continued investments in the existing Hanau data center campus, and expanded office locations in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
• New York-based Brookfield Asset Management announced the launch of a USD $100 billion global AI Infrastructure program in partnership with NVIDIA and the Kuwait Investment Authority. Brookfield said it will deploy investment across every stage of the value chain—from energy and land to data centers and compute.
• Washington State-based Microsoft announced that from the start of 2026 to the end of 2029, it will spend more than USD $7.9 billion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including more than $5.5 billion in capital expenses for ongoing and planned expansion of its AI and cloud infrastructure. Microsoft said that beginning in 2023 and through the end of this calendar year, it will have invested and spent just over $7.3 billion in the UAE.
• California-based HP Inc. announced it expects to reduce gross global headcount by approximately 4,000-6,000 employees. HP said these actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2028.
• Illinois-based Abbott and Exact Sciences of Wisconsin announced a definitive agreement for Abbott to acquire Exact Sciences for an estimated enterprise value of USD $23 billion. The companies said the closing is expected in the second quarter of 2026, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Financial market news

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at USD $58.55 per barrel on November 28th, down from a closing value of USD $60.98 at the end of October. Western Canadian Select crude oil traded in the USD $45.00 to $49.00 per barrel range throughout November. The Canadian dollar closed at 71.54 cents U.S. on November 28th, up from 71.34 cents U.S. at the end of October. The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 31,382.78 on November 28th, up from 30,260.74 at the end of October.