Canadian Economic News, January 2026 Edition

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• Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corporation announced it is proceeding with the construction of three organic growth projects: the Round Mountain Phase X and Bald Mountain Redbird 2 projects in Nevada, and the Kettle River-Curlew project in Washington State. Kinross said the initial capital costs of the three projects are expected to be approximately USD $1.38 billion to be spent over three to four years.
• Toronto-based Allied Gold Corporation announced it had entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Zijin Gold International Company Limited of Hong Kong had agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Allied Gold for an equity value of approximately $5.5 billion. Allied Gold said the closing was expected by late April 2026, subject to shareholder and court approvals, approval under the Investment Canada Act (Canada), and other standard conditions for the closing for transactions of this nature.
• Calgary-based Keyera Corp. announced an extended unplanned outage at its Alberta Envirofuels facility (AEF). The company said that in early January 2026, it had initiated an unplanned outage at AEF to investigate an observed reduction in plant performance and that it anticipates that AEF will return to service in May 2026.
• Calgary-based Imperial Oil Limited announced its hydrocarbon production at Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories would end in the third quarter of 2026 as the facility comes to the end of its lifespan. Imperial said final reclamation work is not expected to start until after 2030, once a final closure plan and environmental assessment are completed and permits are approved by regulators.

Other news

• The Government of Canada announced it was proposing the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, starting in the spring of 2026 and subject to Royal Assent. The Government said the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit would provide $11.7 billion in additional support over six years by (i) providing a one-time top-up payment to be paid as early as possible this spring and no later than June 2026, and (ii) increasing the value of the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit by 25% for five years starting in July 2026.
• The Government of British Columbia announced that the Environmental Assessment Office had approved an amendment to the Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine environmental assessment certificate, authorizing the mine near Fort St. James to increase production and continue operations until 2035.
• The Bank of Canada left the target for the overnight rate unchanged at 2.25%. The last change in the target for the overnight rate was a 25 basis points cut in October 2025.
• The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) announced it had received an authorization from Fisheries and Oceans Canada prior to the expansion of port facilities in Contrecœur and the continuation of the construction of the new container terminal. The MPA said the authorization follows the environmental assessment process conducted by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which resulted in a favourable decision statement in 2021.
• Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. announced a new 126,000-square-foot manufacturing centre in Dorval. Bombardier said the centre represents an investment of approximately $100 million and is set to open before the end of 2027.
• Ottawa-based Minto Group and Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Limited Partnership of Toronto announced they will form a new programmatic joint venture partnership and that they had simultaneously entered into an arrangement agreement whereby Crestpoint will acquire all of the outstanding trust units of Minto Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust for approximately $2.3 billion, including the assumption of net debt.
• Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper announced it would file notices with the Ontario Ministry of Labour to cease newsprint operations in Thunder Bay in the first quarter of 2026. The company said that up to 150 people would be directly impacted by the closure and that it will continue to operate as a single-line Softwood Kraft mill and generate renewable energy for sale to the grid.
• Oshawa-based General Motors Canada announced that Oshawa Assembly would return to two shifts of production beginning February 2nd, at which time approximately 500 employees would be placed on layoff.

United States and other international news

• The U.S. White House announced on January 5th the capture and extradition to the U.S. of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
• The White House announced on January 20th that President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ensuring large institutional investors do not buy single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by families. The White House said the Order directs key agencies to issue guidance preventing relevant Federal programs from approving, insuring, guaranteeing, securitizing, or facilitating sales of single-family homes to institutional investors.
• The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%. The last change in the target range was a 25 basis points cut in December 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 Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced it will encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.75%. The last change in the uncollateralized overnight call rate was a 25 basis points increase in December 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 eight OPEC+ countries Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman announced they had reaffirmed their November 2, 2025 decision to pause production increments in February and March 2026.
• Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corporation and Penumbra, Inc. of California announced they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Boston Scientific will acquire Penumbra in a cash and stock transaction for approximately USD $14.5 billion. The companies said the transaction is expected to be completed in 2026, subject to receipt of Penumbra's stockholder approval and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
• New York-based Saks Global Holdings LLC announced it had commenced a voluntary chapter 11 process with support from key financial stakeholders. Saks said the stores and ecommerce experiences across Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks OFF 5TH, Last Call, and Horchow were open and serving customers.
• Washington State-based Amazon.com, Inc. announced additional organizational changes that would impact 16,000 roles across the company.
• Michigan-based Dow Chemical Company announced a plan to simplify how it operates and that it anticipates about USD $600 million to $800 million in severance for approximately 4,500 Dow roles.

Financial market news

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at USD $65.21 per barrel on January 30th, up from a closing value of USD $57.95 at the end of December. Western Canadian Select crude oil traded in the USD $43.00 to $53.00 per barrel range throughout January. The Canadian dollar closed at 73.74 cents U.S. on January 30th, up from 72.96 cents U.S. at the end of December. The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 31,923.52 on January 30th, up from 31,712.76 at the end of December.