This is Patrick’s bio
The line between honoring someone's final wishes and creating a legal fiction appeared sharp in a 2024 British Columbia Supreme Court ruling. The court refused to validate a document typed up by the deceased's daughter after his death, even though she claimed it reflected conversations about
The Bank of Canada will almost certainly keep rates unchanged when it meets in June, marking the fifth straight hold. This isn't a sign of stability. It's a sign the central bank is running out of room to maneuver. First-quarter GDP came in substantially below
A British Columbia court recently dismissed an application to validate a will that, technically speaking, did not exist when the testator died. The case involved a man named Richard who died in 2019 after a sudden illness. Before his death, Richard had texted his daughter saying he was updating his
North American equity markets surged Thursday on diplomatic speculation that has become the defining market dynamic of 2026: the possibility of a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement. The TSX jumped 1.8%, tracking the S&P 500's 2.1% climb, driven entirely by headlines suggesting progress on
The S&P/TSX Composite finished lower Thursday while U.S. markets closed mixed, continuing a pattern that has defined 2026: Canadian equities lag while Wall Street wrestles with AI-fueled swings. The divergence is structural, not accidental. The TSX fell 0.4%, weighed by declines in energy and
The homeowner who bought a Toronto condo in early 2022 at $720,000 now faces a problem that has nothing to do with affordability in the traditional sense. She can make the payment. She has stable employment. Her credit score is fine. The problem is that the unit is now
Canada recorded a trade surplus in April that hadn't been seen since early 2018. The headline number looked impressive: $7.8 billion, driven by exports hitting record levels. Strip away the celebration and what's left is a different picture. This wasn't diversification paying off.
The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.25% on June 10, marking the fifth consecutive decision without change. For anyone watching the central bank's monthly announcements hoping for a signal, up or down, the message is now clear. This is the rate. Not for the
Montreal fintech nesto just closed a $300-million round led by IGM Financial, BMO Capital Partners, and Sagard. That's not the story. The story is what the money is for. Nesto started as a consumer-facing digital mortgage broker. Slick interface, faster approvals, the usual pitch about cutting
Rents are falling. In Toronto and Vancouver, the two cities where affordability became a national punchline, asking rents dropped 3% to 4% year-over-year in mid-2026. Vacancy rates that sat at 1.5% in 2024 have edged toward 2.7%. Landlords are offering incentives for the first time
Over the past 18 months, hedged U.S. equity ETFs beat their unhedged equivalents for Canadian investors. That outcome wasn't obvious in advance. The CAD strengthened against the USD through much of 2024 and early 2025, turning what's usually a drag, the cost of rolling forward
The math is blunt. A two-bedroom condo in Toronto's King West district runs $950,000. That same money buys a detached four-bedroom house with a yard in northeast Edmonton, with $200,000 left over. The differential isn't new. What's new is how