Industry News
Industry news reported in inverted-pyramid form: what changed, why, and what your business should do about it. Each item includes a clearly labeled PFG perspective so you know where our vested interest is.
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Investors from nearly 30 countries met in Toronto; the release counts nearly $500 billion in new commitments from Canadian pension funds, insurers and banks.
PFG’s View
The first Canada Investment Summit drew investors from nearly 30 countries and closed with nearly $500 billion in commitments, much of it on five- and ten-year horizons. That is a confidence signal.…
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Filter by what you care about: program changes, the rate environment, or the franchise sector. Every item carries a labeled PFG view, so you always know where our interest sits.
Investors from nearly 30 countries met in Toronto; the release counts nearly $500 billion in new commitments from Canadian pension funds, insurers and banks.
PFG’s view. The first Canada Investment Summit drew investors from nearly 30 countries and closed with nearly $500 billion in commitments, much of it on five- and ten-year horizons. That is a confidence signal.…
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Seven jurisdictions lift their hourly floor on September 1 and October 1, and the payroll increase arrives on a published date, which is what makes it financeable in advance.
PFG’s view. The per-hour numbers look small. Now multiply by a crew. The pressure is rarely the hourly step. It is the interval. Payroll clears every two weeks, and the price change meant to absorb it takes a…
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CFIB's September 10 estimate puts 53,112 businesses in the direct path of U.S. tariffs and Canadian counter-tariffs, and argues federal supports still exclude about half of the small business community.
PFG’s view. The advocacy does not change what an owner can do this month. What changes is the file a lender reads. A working capital facility is easier to arrange while the statements still read healthy. Lenders…
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FedDev Ontario began accepting applications September 8 for a rebuilt Regional Tariff Response Initiative, splitting the program into two tracks worth up to $3 million non-repayable per southern Ontario business, or $20 million with repayable pivot funding included.
PFG’s view. The math changed more than the headline suggests. Under the old single-track design, a business that needed only payroll relief had to structure its ask as a small non-repayable grant or a large…
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A bylined legal piece by Dale & Lessmann partner Cassandra Da Re, published by the Canadian Franchise Association, reports that quick-service franchise leases signed between 2013 and 2016 are renewing into a market where Toronto retail rents rose about 142 per cent from 2019 to 2024, and that a missed notice deadline, absent exceptional circumstances, extinguishes the renewal right.
PFG’s view. The lease is a financing document. A lender sizing a term loan looks at how many years of occupancy the borrower can demonstrate, and an unexercised option does not extend that runway on paper. Money…
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Restaurants Canada welcomed the extension on September 2, citing gas costs up an average of 46 percent since December 2025 and supplier fuel surcharges reported by 86 percent of restaurants.
PFG’s view. A dated relief is a financing calendar item. The suspension runs to January 31, 2027, so an operator can price the fuel and surcharge line twice, once with the suspension in place and once without…
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The Bank left the overnight rate at 2.25% on September 2, unchanged since last October's cut, with no scheduled decision before October 28 and bank prime holding at 4.45%.
PFG’s view. Waiting for a cut is now a plan with a date on it. There is no scheduled decision before October 28, and the Bank just said its inflation risks have moved higher. An owner who has held an application…
Read ArticleSales are forecast to grow 1.5 percent in 2026, but Restaurants Canada's Q2 report finds cost growth eating the margin, with 64 percent of operators less profitable than a year ago.
PFG’s view. A margin squeeze punishes an owner twice. It drains the account month by month, and it degrades the financial statements a lender will eventually read. The practitioner move is to set up the line…
Read ArticleThe overnight rate stays at 2.25% for a fourth consecutive decision, leaving bank prime at 4.45% and the cost side of floating-rate business borrowing where it sat in the spring.
PFG’s view. A hold reads like a non-event. For an owner pricing a renewal or penciling a new file, it is the useful kind of quiet. The planning math holds still, and the numbers you ran in the spring are still…
Read ArticleA June 2026 Federal Court decision faults the CRA's reasoning in upholding late-filing penalties on Form T1135, the foreign-property disclosure many newcomers do not know applies to them.
PFG’s view. CRA standing is one of the first things a lender-facing file shows. Notices of assessment, balances owing, and filing history all get read before anyone reads the growth story. A missed information…
Read ArticleMarket conditions change what is possible. Know what changed first, and what to do about it.