Maclean’s: Double double trouble at Tim Hortons

Maclean’s | February 12, 2020

Tim Hortons has a serious Canada problem. Simply put, too many Canadians no longer think of Timmies as the folksy Canadian coffee and donut shop it once was. And they’re abandoning the chain in droves.

The latest financial results of Restaurant Brands International, the quick serve restaurant conglomerate that owns Tim Hortons, tell the bitter tale. In the fourth quarter same-store sales at Tim Hortons in Canada, a measure that tracks the performance of locations that have been open for 13 months or more, fell 4.6 per cent. The awful results in the last quarter were partly due to the large number of coffee giveaways through the Tim Hortons loyalty program, a rewards scheme the company now plans to overhaul, but this is a problem that’s been building over the past four years. Canadians have lost faith in Tim Hortons.

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Chartapalooza 2020: The most important Canadian economic charts to watch in the year ahead

Maclean’s | December 04, 2019

It’s back. For the sixth straight year Maclean’s asked economists, analysts, investors and financial observers to each select a chart about Canada’s economy they feel will be particularly important to watch in 2020 and in their own words, explain why.

As in past years, certain themes emerge in this year’s chart collection. The stability of Canada’s housing market and the dangerous levels of household debt remain an obvious concern, even if there’s less focus now on rising interest rates. Canada’s weak climate for business investment and the risk from global trade tensions are also top of mind among the experts. So too are environmental and energy issues. You’ll also find charts on how Canadians live, work and shop, how Canada’s waning competitiveness is holding the economy back, and even how a deficit of amorousness could lead to a slowdown down the road.

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Maclean’s: The biggest piece of land for sale in Canada right now

Maclean’s | November 09, 2019

Late one night in 1954, Anthony Markus hid near Hungary’s border with Austria, waiting for two friends who planned to join him in trying to escape the Communist regime. His friends never showed, so the 18-year-old Markus set out on his own to slip through the Iron Curtain. Crossing mineﬁelds and barbed wire fences, he then ran through the night until he found an Austrian vineyard, where the farmer took him in and offered him work.

It’s anything but a straight line from that escape to the small Manitoba community of The Pas, but today Markus and his son Tony operate one of the largest farms in the province’s north. Nestled between rivers in an area known as the Carrot Valley, the family’s Big Lake Angus Farm boasts 14,600 acres of land and 1,000 head of cattle.

And, along with two adjacent farms, it can all be yours—assuming you have access to $53.3 million.

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Election 2019 primer: Jobs, the economy and the deficit

Maclean’s | September 12, 2019

If it was only about hard economic numbers, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals might not have all that much to worry about in their bid for another four years in office. The most recent economic releases from Statistics Canada on jobs and GDP growth both delivered pleasant surprises to the upside, for which Team Trudeau wasted no time in taking credit. And with Canadians once again telling pollsters that the economy is at the top of their list of priorities, the Liberal’s message—that their strategy of deficit-driven intervention in the economy is working—might carry the day for them.

The problem for Trudeau is that a lot of Canadians don’t feel the economy has gotten better, or at least not for them.

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Dirty money: it’s a Canadian thing

Maclean’s | June 12, 2019

On paper, Peter Zhang and his wife, Judy Wang, were models for the type of newcomers Canada wanted to attract with its immigrant investor program. Before it was scrapped in 2014, the program’s aim was simple: lure the world’s wealthy to Canada’s shores with the promise of a passport. In return they would bring their business savvy, invest in the economy and create jobs.

Zhang and Wang were undeniably rich. They arrived from China at the end of 2010 with at least $6 million, settling in the suburbs north of Toronto. But almost immediately after, a twisting tale was set in motion that would eventually see Wang accuse a realtor, a lawyer and others of fraud and negligence, and prompt an Ontario judge to raise questions about both the source of Zhang and Wang’s wealth and a string of real estate and mortgage transactions tied to the case.

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