This is Patrick’s bio
A lithium battery plant in Jiangsu province consumed 12,000 tons of specialized cold-rolled steel last quarter, more than twice what the facility ordered in the same period two years ago. That's not an outlier. Across China's manufacturing belt, orders for high-grade steel products
A 600-square-foot condo in Toronto's King West district lists for $549,000 with maintenance fees of $380 a month. Three blocks away, a nearly identical unit carries fees of $680. Most buyers reach for the cheaper one. Some of them will regret it. The standard advice
The Bank of Canada says we're not in a recession, but Canadians are living one anyway The overnight rate sits at 4.75%. Unemployment hit 6.2% in May. Per capita GDP has been sliding for six consecutive quarters. But when the Bank of Canada met in June
A broker fielding rate questions in a 2024 Vancouver refinance meeting said "I'd have to verify that" six times in twelve minutes. The client left frustrated, hired a competitor who gave worse advice with more confidence, and lost $11,000 in prepayment penalties the first broker
Your home policy won't pay for the Airbnb guest who steals your kayaks, and your car insurance doesn't automatically follow you to the rental counter in Banff. Most Canadians find this out mid-claim, which is the expensive way to learn. Here are six coverage holes
Ottawa's Condo Rescue Plan Rewards Developers Who Overbuilt British Columbia has roughly 2,200 finished condos sitting empty because developers couldn't hit the 60% pre-sale threshold lenders require before releasing construction financing. Now the federal and provincial governments are stepping in to buy them in
The Bank of Canada's overnight rate sits at a level that makes a business loan for warehouse expansion look unattractive, and a variable-rate mortgage renewal unaffordable. That problem, according to Governor Tiff Macklem, will not be solved by giving banks more room to lend. OSFI, the federal
For two years, a standard conversation at open houses went like this: the buyer liked the floor plan, could manage the down payment, but couldn't make the monthly payment work once they factored in the full tax burden. The developer couldn't discount the price because the
New Westminster landlords watched asking rents fall 15.4% year-over-year. Coquitlam dropped 14%. Vancouver shed 7.9%. A Burnaby teacher renegotiated his lease down $300 a month and his landlord accepted. The market turned. Tenants who spent a decade getting outbid now hold leverage. Landlords who avoid that
A $50,000 MIC investment in a taxable account loses $2,250 every year to tax you weren't planning for. Not to poor returns. To tax treatment the marketing materials never explained. Mortgage Investment Corporations pool private capital to fund residential mortgages, often bridge loans or borrowers who
When you put down 7% on a $650,000 house in Oakville, your lender will add roughly $24,000 to your mortgage balance before you sign anything. That's the premium for mortgage default insurance, a policy you're required to buy, that you'll pay interest
A Victoria-based software consultant closed 2024 at $287,000 in net income. His accountant filed a T1, charged $1,800, and said nothing about the $114,000 he'd just handed to the CRA that could have stayed in his control. That silence will cost him seven figures