{"id":96715,"date":"2026-06-20T13:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/96715\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T13:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:39:09","slug":"canadas-population-drops-tim-hortons-vs-franchisees-and-wealthsimples-new-prediction-market-product-business-and-investing-stories-for-the-week-of-june-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/96715\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s population drops, Tim Hortons vs. franchisees and Wealthsimple\u2019s new prediction market product: Business and investing stories for the week of June 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The recent quarterly population declines are a direct reflection of Ottawa\u2019s new immigration goals.Andrej Ivanov\/The Globe and Mail<\/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

Canada\u2019s population drops for third consecutive quarter<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s population dropped by about 55,000 people<\/a> in the first three months of 2026, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada. The country\u2019s population, as of April 1, was 41.4 million people, including citizens, permanent and temporary residents. A year ago, Canada\u2019s population was approximately 0.5 per cent higher \u2013 at 41.6 million people.<\/p>\n

This is the third consecutive quarterly decline driven by the federal government\u2019s efforts to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country, Vanmala Subramaniam reports. StatsCan estimated that the number of temporary residents decreased by roughly 118,000 people in the first quarter, bringing the total number of temporary residents in Canada to 2.56 million (6.1 per cent of the total population). <\/p>\n

Tim Hortons blames franchisees for lower profits in lawsuit defenceOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A person walks past a Tim Hortons in Edmonton.Amanda Erickson\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Tim Hortons is firing back at more than a dozen Quebec franchisees<\/a> who sued the company over their declining profitability. The company says that the restaurant owners are responsible for their business struggles \u2013 and, in one case, for spending \u201clavishly\u201d on investment properties and helicopters rather than investing in the operations, Susan Krashinsky Robertson reports. <\/p>\n

The Quebec franchisees first filed their lawsuit against Tim Hortons in 2024, claiming the company\u2019s decisions had eroded their profitability. The lawsuit is essentially a dispute over how the company coped with skyrocketing food inflation \u2013 including in 2022, a time of massive global supply-chain disruptions, when food prices in Canada increased at the fastest rate in decades. But Tim Hortons rejects the assertion that menu prices were not raised enough to offset some of these rising costs, according to the company\u2019s statement of defence, filed with the Quebec Superior Court last Friday.<\/p>\n

U.S. banking giant JPMorgan expands its $1.5-trillion financing pledge to Canadian companiesOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York City on April 1. So far, JPMorgan has deployed US$122-billion of its US$1.5-trillion target.Eduardo Munoz\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., is expanding its US$1.5-trillion economic security and resilience initiative to Canada<\/a>. The 10-year pledge, known as the Security and Resiliency Initiative (SRI), aims to steer financing and support for companies to build up critical industries and supply chains. The bank\u2019s plan in Canada is to boost key sectors such as energy, defence and critical minerals, with the expectation of deploying billions of dollars to Canada over the coming years. <\/p>\n

The bank has since expanded the SRI to include investments in Europe and Britain. The Canadian arm will be led by JPMorganChase Canada CEO David Rawlings, who oversees a team of bankers in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. He will work with the bank\u2019s clients, governments and organizations in the private and public sectors to expand the unit\u2019s cross-border banking and advisory business. <\/p>\n

Wealthsimple partners with Kalshi on new prediction market product Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Wealthsimple plans to roll out a standalone app called Wealthsimple Predict, which will provide users access to nearly 4,000 contracts trading on Kalshi.Supplied<\/p>\n

Wealthsimple is partnering with U.S.-based prediction market Kalshi for a new trading product that would enable Canadians to wager on real-world events<\/a>. The stand-alone app, Wealthsimple Predict, will be released later this summer, but there isn\u2019t a specific launch date. <\/p>\n

The app will provide users access to nearly 4,000 contracts trading on Kalshi. But the contracts available on Wealthsimple Predict will be limited to economic indicators, financial markets and climate-related events. That means Canadians will not be able to trade on contracts tied to sports outcomes or elections \u2013 two of the most popular prediction market categories on Kalshi in the U.S. In addition, only event contracts with a term to maturity of 30 days or longer will be offered.<\/p>\n

How to fix Canada\u2019s growth capital funding gapOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Private Debt Partners’ managing partner Jeff Deacon wants to address the problem of growth capital by creating The Canadian Private Debt Growth Fund.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The funding gap facing Canadian businesses in the precarious growth stage is known not-so-affectionately as the valley of death. It\u2019s that perilous period between building a business and scaling it up \u2013 and an unfortunate rite of passage for Canadian entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Companies say there are options for smaller financings or investments up to a few million dollars, and many more choices in the tens of millions of dollars. But there is a desolate space between roughly $5-million and $25-million full of startups struggling to secure money to help them scale. It\u2019s the point where many do not survive.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a point of supporting larger Canadian businesses in the wake of protectionist American tariffs. But virtually no effort has gone into fixing a failed financial ecosystem that has long forced innovative Canadian companies to either sell early or move abroad. After gathering months of testimony and written submissions from dozens of expert witnesses, the Senate banking committee is now on the cusp of releasing a report offering solutions.<\/p>\n

Jameson Berkow spoke to a chorus of Canadian entrepreneurs<\/a> about ideas on how to close the gap, including unleashing the considerable resources of this country\u2019s multitrillion-dollar pension funds or building a new banks geared specifically towards serving the small- and medium-sized business community.<\/p>\n

\nThe Kevin Warsh era at the Federal Reserve began this week. The new chair of the U.S. central bank is signalling he wants change in several areas. What is he staunchly opposed to?\n <\/p>\n

a. Cryptocurrency<\/p>\n

b. Too much communication<\/p>\n

c. International co-operation<\/p>\n

d. Bank regulation<\/p>\n

b. Kevin Warsh wants a return to a more opaque Fed and is backing away from the forward guidance policy of recent years in which the Fed signalled its intentions to markets well ahead of time. In its place, Mr. Warsh wants a return to a less communicative approach<\/a>, in which Fed decisions retain their capacity to surprise markets.<\/p>\n

Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here<\/a>, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe\u2019s investing calendar<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The recent quarterly population declines are a direct reflection of Ottawa\u2019s new immigration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96716,"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-96715","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\/96715","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=96715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}