{"id":160703,"date":"2026-08-08T13:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/160703\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:40:12","slug":"ottawas-trade-concessions-with-u-s-unemployment-rate-hits-two-year-low-and-the-100-best-cities-for-renters-must-read-business-and-investing-stories-for-the-week-of-aug-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/160703\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa\u2019s trade concessions with U.S., unemployment rate hits two-year low and the 100 best cities for renters: Must-read business and investing stories for the week of Aug. 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Construction workers work at the site of a condo tower in Delta, B.C. Canada\u2019s economy added 75,000 jobs in July with many gains in the wholesale and retail trade sectors.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here\u2019s your weekly digest of The Globe\u2019s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.<\/p>\n

Ottawa discussing trade concessions with U.S. in return for some tariff relief, sources sayOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc listens as Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Canada’s premiers in Charlottetown on July 23.Darren Calabrese\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada and the U.S. are discussing a prospective deal<\/a> in which Ottawa would agree to a long list of Trump administration trade demands in exchange for some relief on sectoral tariffs, according to three industry sources with knowledge of the negotiations. <\/p>\n

The proposals: Canada would concede on a range of trade issues, including the removal of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products such as autos; the return of American alcohol to shelves; removing provincial procurement restrictions; and agreeing to Washington\u2019s interpretation of how dairy quotas should be allocated. In return, the U.S. would lower sectoral levies on steel and aluminum, with Ottawa also pushing for relief on autos and forest products.<\/p>\n

The two sides have discussed in-depth proposals and traded written bargaining positions, but an agreement has not yet been reached.<\/p>\n

Canada adds 75,000 jobs in July, unemployment rate hits two-year low<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s economy added more jobs in July than expected<\/a> and the unemployment rate dropped to a two-year low, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s job market took a leap toward recovery, adding 75,000 jobs in July with strong gains in both the full-time and part-time sectors. Much of July\u2019s job gains were in the wholesale and retail trade sectors, which added 21,000 positions \u2013 though the sector is still down 50,000 jobs from a year ago.<\/p>\n

The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in two years \u2013 6.4 per cent. Statistics Canada also said the unemployment rate is down half a percentage point from a year ago as more people who were looking for work had been successful at finding jobs than this time last year.<\/p>\n

The Bank of Canada said on July 15<\/a> that there were clear signs the economy was dealing better with the challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and the uncertainty caused by the Middle East conflict. <\/p>\n

War in Middle East continues to disrupt fertilizer demand, prices, Nutrien CEO saysOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Red potash is stored in a warehouse at Nutrien\u2019s Cory Potash mine.Matt Smith\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan-based Nutrien Ltd. executives are raising concerns over the potential for high prices to dampen demand for fertilizer products<\/a>, as the months-long bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global supplies. Approximately one-third of the world\u2019s fertilizer passes through the critical Middle East trade corridor and farmers\u2019 ability to afford fertilizer has been a growing concern since the war erupted. <\/p>\n

Nutrien is closely watching how the closing of the Strait of Hormuz has \u201cdisrupted trade flows and volumes,\u201d chief executive officer Ken Seitz said on a call with analysts on Thursday, the morning after the company announced its second-quarter results, citing demand destruction in certain products. Mr. Seitz said there was \u201cno clear conclusion\u201d in sight to resolve the volatile geopolitical situation affecting both the fertilizer giant and agricultural productivity worldwide.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s 100 best cities for renters in 2026Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Scarth Street in Regina. Saskatchewan had three cities in the top five this year. Regina was ranked first, Saskatoon was third and Lloydminster ranked fourth.Heywood Yu\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Slower population growth, economic uncertainty, high mortgage rates and modest income growth are keeping many buyers from entering the national housing market, making renting a long-term reality for more Canadians. That\u2019s why The Globe ranked Canada\u2019s 100 best cities for renters<\/a> in its second annual data study. The ranking is designed to help find the best place in Canada to rent right now based on your income, offering the best blend of affordability, availability, livability and stability. <\/p>\n

The Number 1 city for renters is Regina<\/a>, the Saskatchewan capital. Saskatchewan cities ranked much higher than larger and more expensive communities in Ontario and British Columbia, with three cities in the province in the top five this year. The study found that Regina and Saskatoon both benefited from having some of the most affordable rents in Canada when compared with average incomes in the region. The cities also ranked among the top 10 for the number of available rental listings, and had above-average livability scores.<\/p>\n

The world is cooling on carbon capture. Why is Canada still barreling ahead in the oil sands?Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Northern Lights Carbon Capture and Storage facilities in Bergen, Norway.LEON NEAL\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, carbon capture has been painted as a great hope for the oil sands. Ottawa, Alberta and Canadian oil companies have talked about carbon capture for years, and in 2021 five oil-sands producers came together to form the Pathways Alliance, promising to build a pipeline to bury carbon emissions from their sites. Five years in, there hasn\u2019t been a single shovel in the ground. The oil companies can\u2019t even settle on a way to pay for it, despite making a collective $24.7-billion in profits in 2025.<\/p>\n

There are finally plans to make it happen, but carbon capture projects around the world are now getting paused or scrapped. Carbon-capture technology works just fine, but project math is challenging. It raises questions about Canada\u2019s decision to barrel ahead with the plans.<\/p>\n

Tim Kiladze travelled to Norway<\/a>, which opened the world\u2019s first cross-border carbon capture and storage hub last year, to understand the secret to Norway\u2019s success and how Canada could make it work. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Construction workers work at the site of a condo tower in Delta, B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[136,902,903,904,905,17,484,137,906],"class_list":["post-160703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-appwebview","tag-aud-growth","tag-aud-headline","tag-aud-url","tag-business-roundup","tag-canada","tag-noastack","tag-yesapplenews","tag-yessnap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}