Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.
This week: The Canada Revenue Agency offered some good news to taxpayers, saying it won’t require individuals with bare trusts to adhere to complex new tax-reporting requirements for the year 2023, except in a few cases. In less good news, the agency said it has fired more than 200 employees south of the border, while shares in Trump Media & Technology Group surged following the company’s debut on the NASDAQ. And speaking of ex-politicians, former Toronto mayor John Tory has a new gig.
Also: There were plenty of warnings about crises.
a. Carolyn Rogers, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada. “It’s an emergency – it’s time to break the glass” and address Canada’s woeful productivity record, Ms. Rogers said. In 1984, Canada produced about 88 per cent as much as the U.S. per hour of work. In 2022, it produced a mere 71 per cent as much.
b. BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink. Mr. Fink, chief of giant asset manager BlackRock, said nearly half of Americans don’t have a single dollar saved in personal retirement accounts. His suggested solutions? Work longer – or invest in a new BlackRock product to be introduced next month.
b. Collecting pandemic benefits they weren’t entitled to. Canada Revenue Agency fired them for inappropriately collecting the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which paid $500 a week to people who could not work for reasons related to COVID-19. CRA says it may fire more people as its investigation continues.
d. 800,000 people. Counting the increase of slightly more than 800,000 people last year, Canada is now home to 2.67 million temporary residents. The number of temporary residents has nearly doubled in just two years, putting tremendous pressure on home prices and rents.
d. Cocoa. Bad news for chocolate lovers: Cocoa prices have soared to record levels because of poor crops in West Africa. The disappointing outlook for the harvest puts the world on course for a third straight year in which supply of the key chocolate ingredient will fall short of demand.
c. The board of Rogers Communications. Mr. Tory used to be an executive at Rogers and served on the board from 2010 to 2014.
a. A psychologist. Mr. Kahneman held a doctorate in psychology and was a pioneer in the field of behavioural economics. His research demonstrated that people often reason using intellectual shortcuts that result in irrational or contradictory behaviour.
b. Having a baby. The company is attempting to do its bit to address South Korea’s plunging birth rate. Last year, more prams were sold in the country for pets than for babies.
c. The co-founder of a defunct cryptocurrency exchange. Michael Patryn had held the valuables in a safety deposit box at a Vancouver bank. He was the co-founder of defunct crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, once Canada’s largest virtual currency trading platform.
a. About US$3-million. The company had revenue of just US$3.4-million during those nine months and reported an operating loss of US$10.6-million. For now, though, Trump enthusiasts are driving the stock of the tiny, money-losing company to giddy heights.
d. 25 years. The 25-year sentence fell far short of the 150 years handed out to fraudster Bernie Madoff but was in line with what many observers expected. Defence lawyers had suggested six years would be an appropriate sentence for stealing billions of dollars from FTX. Prosecutors had asked for 40 to 50 years.
c. They say the platforms disrupt learning. The school boards claim compulsive use of the platforms disrupts classroom time and requires mental health programs to deal with the effects of cyberbullying.
Ian McGugan