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Higher gas prices driven mainly by the war in Iran pushed the annual rate of inflation up to 2.8 per cent in April, Statistics Canada said Tuesday -- the fastest pace of price hikes in almost two years. StatCan said the cost of gasoline was 28.6 per cent higher year-over-year last month as conflict in the Middle East disrupted global oil shipments, sending costs soaring at the gas pumps. April also marked the switch to more expensive summer gasoline blends at gas stations in Canada. The agency noted the federal government’s move to suspend the fuel excise tax mid-month helped moderate the April price increase. StatCan’s April report marks a jump from March’s inflation rate of 2.4 per cent, though a Reuters poll of economists had expected inflation would accelerate even more to top three per cent. The April figures mark the highest annual inflation rate since May 2024.
Investor Corvex Management called for a sale of Premier Inn owner Whitbread as the company struggles to turn around a weak performance and a trailing share price. In a letter addressed to Whitbread’s board of directors and shareholders, Corvex said that the “only credible path to unlocking shareholder value” is through a sale of the business. The hedge fund said it is prepared to nominate new directors to support the process. Corvex has a stake of around 7% in London-listed Whitbread. Monday’s letter comes months after Corvex called for a review into Whitbread’s strategy, arguing that the company’s share price didn’t reflect the value of several significant elements of the business. Shares in the company have fallen steadily in recent years, and now trade at their lowest level in over a decade, according to FactSet data.
U.S. activist investor Corvex Management called on Premier Inn owner Whitbread to pursue a sale on Monday and said it would nominate new directors to the board if the group refused to act, citing share underperformance and a gap in valuation. Corvex holds roughly 7% of the British group, according to a letter by founder and Managing Partner Keith Meister. In December, it urged Whitbread to review its capital strategy, after last year's British budget changes saddled the country's biggest hotel operator with higher costs. "It is imperative that (Whitbread) immediately retains an independent investment bank and makes a public commitment to conduct a rigorous and comprehensive sale process," Meister said in the letter on Monday.
Lululemon Athletica is urging its shareholders to vote against the slate of directors nominated by founder Chip Wilson, saying he has outdated perspectives about how to position the athletic-apparel retailer for the future. Lululemon’s push came after Wilson earlier this month escalated his proxy fight against the company, outlining a series of pillars he said its board has neglected, such as focusing on core consumers, improving merchandising and in-store execution, and increasing marketing and product-development spending. Wilson, who is also Lululemon’s biggest active investor, previously nominated three directors for Lululemon’s board: Marc Maurer, Laura Gentile and Eric Hirshberg. The three picks are former executives from the shoe company On Holding, ESPN and videogame producer Activision Publishing.
A group of United Nations human-rights experts has asked Starbucks and the U.S. government to respond to allegations that Starbucks has carried out a years-long campaign against workers seeking to unionize, according to a March 10 letter made public this week by the U.N.’s human-rights office. The letter says the experts received information alleging “ongoing and widespread” threats, harassment and intimidation against Starbucks employees involved in union activity since 2021. The letter said the allegations include cases in several U.S. states where police were called on workers engaged in picketing, leafleting and other protest activity. The experts said the alleged conduct could violate rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association under international law.
Chile's government on Thursday tapped Bernardo Fontaine to replace Maximo Pacheco as chairman of the world's largest copper producer, state-run Codelco, giving the economist and executive a key leadership role as newly inaugurated President Jose Antonio Kast's administration criticizes the miner's debt, budget overruns and production challenges. The government also named Luz Granier and Alejandro Canut to replace board members Josefina Montenegro and Alejandra Wood. Fontaine's new role will go into effect on May 26, just as Pacheco completes his four-year term. Mining Minister Daniel Mas, who was appointed by Kast, said the new board members will be tasked with a "special mandate" to lead an investigation and external audit to address recent production issues.
Taiwan will deepen ties with the United States following talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, its foreign minister said on Friday, adding that it was China that was increasing regional "risks". Trump said earlier on Friday on his way home from Beijing that he had discussed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan with President Xi and said he would soon make a decision on the matter, highlighting a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations. The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer, while China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own, has demanded that such arms sales stop.
U.S. President Donald Trump left China on Friday with no major breakthroughs on trade or tangible help from Beijing to end the Iran war, despite two days spent heaping praise on his host, Xi Jinping. Trump's visit to America's main strategic and economic rival, the first by a U.S. president since his last trip in 2017, had aimed for tangible results to beef up his sagging approval ratings before midterm elections. The summit was filled with pageantry, from goose-stepping soldiers to tours of a secret garden, but behind closed doors Xi issued a stark warning to Trump that any mishandling of China's top concern, Taiwan, could spiral into conflict. During a huddle with reporters on the way back to the U.S., Trump said Xi told him he opposed Taiwan's independence.
Starbucks is laying off 300 U.S. workers and closing several regional corporate offices in the latest move by Chief Executive Brian Niccol to turn the coffee chain around. The company said Friday that chain leaders had been tasked with finding additional reductions beyond thousands of previous layoffs to streamline operations, lower costs and create a more sustainable business. Starbucks said the 300 U.S. corporate roles are based in Seattle along with remote positions scattered around the country. They are in a variety of fields, including technology, marketing, finance, and research and development. Retail staff aren’t affected.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are to meet today in Calgary, where they’re expected to announce an agreement on the future of industrial carbon emission pricing in the province. A source with knowledge of the discussions has said the leaders are expected to reveal a plan for Alberta to raise its emission price to $130 per tonne by 2040. Last year, Alberta froze its industrial carbon emission price at $95 per tonne. The two governments pledged in a memorandum of understanding in November to several steps, including a carbon price plan, in order to build a bitumen pipeline to the West Coast. Carney has said today’s agreement would advance that new pipeline. Smith has called the announcement another step toward resetting the province’s relationship with Ottawa.
Medical device maker Dexcom said on Thursday it will appoint two independent directors and revamp a key board committee in collaboration with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. Shares of Dexcom were up about 6% in after-hours trading. Dexcom CEO Jake Leach said on an investor call that the company is focusing on refreshing its board and seeks to add independent directors with medtech and operations expertise, an area where it currently lacks representation, as it positions for future growth. The company said the new appointments, to be announced at a later date, would bring the total number of independent directors appointed since early 2023 to six.
SpaceX has proposed one of the most aggressive corporate governance regimes in US history, intending to guarantee Elon Musk cannot be fired and offering a trillion-dollar pay deal linked to building a colony on Mars. The unprecedented structure has not deterred investors, who are overlooking weak shareholder rights and a science-fiction business strategy for a chance to own a “unique” company headed for the largest ever IPO. Musk is targeting a listing next month to coincide with a rare alignment of planets, his 55th birthday on June 28 and ahead of the 250th anniversary of the US on July 4. While figures are still fluid, the rocketmaker has discussed raising about $75bn at a $1.75tn valuation.
Lebanon will demand Israel cease fire at face-to-face talks that began in Washington on Thursday, a senior Lebanese official said, as Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel continued to trade blows despite a U.S.-backed truce declared last month. A State Department official confirmed that a meeting of Lebanese and Israeli envoys, along with U.S. officials, had started at about 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). The talks, which are expected to continue on Friday, are the sides' third meeting since hostilities reignited between Hezbollah and Israel on March 2. Beirut is attending despite strong objections from Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah.
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La première ministre disait la veille que M. Macron « peut être un acteur d’influence » dans le choix de l’emplacement du siège social, au Canada, de la Banque de la défense, de la sécurité et de la résilience (Banque DSR). Elle avait l’ambition de le convaincre d’être un allié de la candidature de la métropole lors de sa rencontre avec lui lundi. Le délégué général du Québec à Paris, Henri-Paul Rousseau, avait ensuite nuancé ses propos en disant qu’il ne s’attendait pas à ce que M. Macron se mêle d’une décision relevant du premier ministre canadien, Mark Carney. Lors d’une mêlée de presse après sa rencontre avec M. Macron au palais de l’Élysée, Christine Fréchette a indiqué que le président « ne s’est pas avancé, ne s’est pas engagé » en faveur de Montréal. « Je n’ai pas cherché non plus à ce qu’il me donne son appui », a-t-elle ajouté, malgré ses propos de la veille.
NextEra Energy agreed to buy Dominion Energy in a roughly $67 billion deal that would create the largest U.S. electricity producer and represent one of the biggest tie-ups of the year. The companies said Monday that they plan to combine in a mostly stock deal. NextEra is offering the equivalent of around $76 a share to Dominion shareholders, based on Friday’s closing stock prices. In addition, they will receive a one-time cash payment of $360 million once the deal closes, the companies said. Dominion Energy shares surged 12% to $68.88 shortly after the opening bell, while NextEra dropped 4% to $89.51. In the deal, NextEra is offering 0.8138 of its shares for each Dominion share.
Activist Elliott Investment Management has built a sizable stake in Bio-Rad Laboratories and plans to push the supplier of life-science tools and diagnostics products to boost its underperforming stock price, according to people familiar with the matter. The details:
Elliott is also a large investor in Sartorius, the German supplier of pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment that Bio-Rad has a strategic investment in, the people said. Sartorius serves makers of biologic drugs, which now dominate pharmaceuticals. Bio-Rad’s investment in Sartorius is worth around $5 billion, not far from the size of Bio-Rad’s roughly $6.6 billion market value. Elliott believes Sartorius is a high-quality business with strong growth prospects, the people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. government is suspending a joint defence advisory body and accusing Canada of failing to live up to its military responsibilities, despite Ottawa ratcheting up defence spending over the past year and moving to do more. Elbridge Colby, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for policy, made the announcement in a series of social media posts, in which he cited continuing American upset with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s viral World Economic Forum speech four months ago, which was widely seen as critical of President Donald Trump. “Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. DoW is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense,” he wrote, using the acronym for “department of war,” the term the Trump administration uses to refer to the Department of Defense.
Mme Bernier, qui travaille depuis plus de 20 ans dans le milieu communautaire, avait aussi porté les couleurs de QS dans Sanguinet lors des élections générales de 2022. Elle avait alors terminé troisième, récoltant 13,11 % des votes. Mme Fréchette, qui se présentait pour la Coalition avenir Québec, avait été élue avec 48,78 % des appuis. La candidate péquiste avait terminé deuxième. Dans un communiqué publié vendredi, Mme Bernier a dit avoir « la conviction qu’on peut faire des choix différents au Québec et qu’on peut bâtir une société plus juste, qui ne laissera personne derrière ».
Cuba’s government said the country has completely run out of fuel oil and diesel needed to keep the lights on, with extensive blackouts sparking protests for the third day in a row this week. Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said that the island has run out of fuel reserves as a result of an “ironclad energy blockade” imposed by the U.S. “We have absolutely no fuel [oil], we have absolutely no diesel,” he said at a news conference Wednesday. More than a dozen neighborhoods in the capital city of Havana erupted in protests Wednesday night, with residents banging pots and burning garbage amid rising anger over dayslong blackouts and deteriorating living conditions.
Radio-Canada a appris que le Commissariat aux langues officielles enquête en lien avec un message de condoléances en anglais prononcé par le président et directeur général d’Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, le 23 mars 2026. Le PDG d’Air Canada est sous les projecteurs depuis qu’il a enregistré un message de condoléances destiné aux proches des deux pilotes qui ont perdu la vie dans l’accident d’avion survenu à l’aéroport LaGuardia, à New York, en mars dernier. Le grand patron du transporteur aérien devait d’ailleurs comparaître devant le Comité permanent des langues officielles à Ottawa pour s’expliquer à ce sujet. Le Comité est toutefois revenu sur sa décision un mois plus tard à la suite de l’annonce du départ à la retraite de Michael Rousseau d’ici le 30 septembre 2026.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a delay in enforcement of a regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles. The EPA estimated that delaying former President Joe Biden's anti-pollution rule would save automakers $1.7 billion. Environmental groups criticized the delay, saying it would lead to an increase in preventable illness and premature deaths. The EPA said the proposal, first reported by Reuters earlier Thursday, would delay compliance deadlines for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until the 2029 model year. It cited the decline in U.S. sales of electric vehicles, which it said made the more stringent pollution rules unattainable for manufacturers.
British private hospital group Spire Healthcare said on Thursday it received a buyout proposal worth 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) from its second-largest shareholder, Toscafund Asset Management, sending its shares up more than 40%. Spire's board said it would recommend the potential cash bid to shareholders if Toscafund tables a formal offer. Here are some details:
• The 250 pence per share proposal represents a 66% premium to Spire's last closing share price. • Spire shares surged 43.3% to 215.5 pence, making the stock the biggest gainer among all London-listed stocks. • Toscafund must announce a firm intention to make an offer by June 11 or walk away under UK takeover rules.
The Carney government is putting a new emphasis on diplomacy with Persian Gulf countries — one that goes beyond seeking investments in Canada to arrangements touching on defence and artificial intelligence. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand made trips to both Oman and Qatar this week, while Defence Minister David McGuinty was in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ministers and officials have made at least nine separate visits to Persian Gulf nations since October. Carney himself has travelled to the region twice — to the United Arab Emirates in November and to Qatar in January.
Paul Bird revient par la grande porte au Port de Montréal. Deux mois après avoir plié bagage, celui qui était l’architecte de l’expansion à Contrecœur rentre au bercail à titre de président-directeur général de l’organisation, qui traverse une période houleuse. [...] M. Bird revient aussi alors qu’un important jeu de chaises musicales se prépare au sein du conseil d’administration. Le mandat de quatre des sept administrateurs, dont celui de Mme Pilon, arrive à échéance.« Ce n’est pas dans les conditions idéales de changer le PDG avant le C.A., analyse Alexandra Langelier, vice-présidente exécutive de l’Institut sur la gouvernance d’organisations privées et publiques. Surtout qu’ici, les changements sont significatifs avec un conseil sortant. Ce n’est pas un échec garanti, mais on n’a pas tous les facteurs clés de succès réunis pour être dans la meilleure situation. »
SoftBank's LY Corp said on Thursday it and Bain Capital have lifted their bid for Kakaku.com, valuing the price comparison website operator at $4 billion and above a rival offer from Swedish investment firm EQT. Describing Kakaku's businesses as having "extremely high strategic value" given the rise of generative artificial intelligence, LY, which owns the Line messaging app and Yahoo Japan, said they were now offering 3,232 yen per share in an all-cash deal. That is 7.7% higher than their earlier bid of 3,000 yen per share. A tender offer launched on Wednesday by EQT that aims to take the business private and which has the unanimous backing of Kakaku's board also values the company at 3,000 yen per share.
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