3 Things We're Watching This Week

Recapping the big budget
The Liberal government billed Budget 2025 as both transformational and generational¹, but after the big reveal on November 4, the jury is out on whether it lives up to the hype. To help combat the threat of tariffs and a sluggish economy (RBC expects Q3 GDP growth to come in at around 0.5 per cent²), the government introduced $141 billion in new spending, earmarking billions for defence, infrastructure and homebuilding initiatives, among other programs, as outlined in its Budget 2025 website.³ Those expenses will push the deficit to around $78 billion in the 2025–2026 fiscal year, 86 per cent higher than previously projected. To offset some of that spending, the government proposed around $51 billion in cuts, including eliminating 40,000 public service jobs.

There weren’t many nuggets for individual investors or Canadians’ personal finances, other than the already-passed middle-class tax cut, which will reduce the lowest income tax rate from 15 per cent to 14 per cent in 2026. One positive proposal for business owners is the Productivity Super-Deduction, which will allow for a 100-per-cent deduction of the cost of eligible manufacturing or processing buildings in the first taxation year they’re used.⁴

What we’re watching
Many of the measures in the budget could boost the economy and Canada’s competitiveness, but it may take some time to see how they will play out. “If new capital-focused spending successfully brings in the hoped for $500 billion in private investment, the growth dividends could lead to a different outcome of plentiful buffers and a declining debt ratio. Thus, focus must turn to implementation, and hope for a stable external environment,” RBC Economics wrote in its post-budget report.⁵ It also added: “There is … room for interpretation on whether the budget lives up to the government’s billing of transformational change[.]”

Further your financial literacy
There’s never a bad time to improve your financial literacy, but November is an especially good month to do it. Now in its 15th year,⁶ Financial Literacy Month aims to help Canadians improve their financial well-being. This year’s theme is “Talk Money”,⁷ a call to action, says the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, to “encourage open conversations about money across Canada, breaking down the stigma that often surrounds financial discussions.” As part of this year’s program, the FCAC is challenging people to participate in the Stretch $15 Challenge, which, as its name suggests, asks Canadians to share on social media the creative ways they made the most of $15. To participate, use #FLM2025 and #TalkMoney.

What we’re watching
Whether you participate in the challenge or not, now’s a great time to learn more about the money-related topics that matter to you most, whether it’s budgeting, investing or retirement planning. Here are a few places to start: Learn about the difference between active and passive investing; what the terms growth and value mean; and 5 ways to conquer your investing fears.

Giddy for gold
With gold prices soaring by more than 50 per cent⁸ since the beginning of 2025 (it’s currently about US$4,000 per ounce, as of November 6), you can be sure a lot of investors are cashing in their bullion or other yellow-metal investments to take some gains. One person, though, is trading in their gold like no other: Austrian billionaire Klemens Hallmann is selling a giant 400-pound, 24-karat block of gold for an estimated US$23 million.⁹ The piece is actually a sculpture created in 2022 to launch a cryptocurrency and an NFT platform, and it has been publicly displayed in New York, Zurich and Venice. Hallman owns a 32-per-cent stake in the cube, which he is now looking to unload after his real estate development company became insolvent and he filed for personal bankruptcy.

What we’re watching
Gold is all the rage these days. President Donald Trump has reportedly added a gold doorknob, faucet and shower head to the revamped Lincoln Bedroom bathroom.¹⁰ Elsewhere, a fully functioning 220-pound gold toilet is going up for auction and could fetch upwards of US$10 million.¹¹ (It could make a nice addition to another White House bathroom, too). Gold trappings aside, this precious metal is often seen as a safe-haven investment during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty.¹² Only time will tell how long the current gold rush will last.