Here are five things you need to know this morning
Air Transat Strike Looming: Air Transat said it will begin suspending flights on Monday, after its pilots’ union issued a strike notice for early Wednesday morning. The Montreal-based airline and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents its 750 pilots, have failed to reach a new collective agreement in talks that began last winter. Both sides will be in legal strike or lockout positions on Wednesday. The carrier on Sunday morning called the strike notice “premature.” Air Transat said it believes an agreement is possible, but that it will begin suspending service on Monday, with a complete shutdown by Tuesday.
B of C Expected to Hold Key Rate Steady: Economists widely expect the Bank of Canada will hold its benchmark interest rate steady this week and move to the sidelines to cap off a year dominated by trade and economic uncertainty. The central bank’s policy rate stands at 2.25 per cent heading into its final rate decision of the year on Wednesday — a full point lower than where it started 2025. As of Friday afternoon, financial markets placed odds of nearly 93 per cent in favour of a rate hold at this week’s meeting, according to LSEG Data & Analytics. A series of surprisingly strong job reports from Statistics Canada and an unexpected annualized jump of 2.6 per cent in real GDP for the third quarter solidified most economists’ calls for a hold to end the year. “Pulling these strands together, there is now no doubt the bank will stand aside,” said BMO chief economist Doug Porter in a note to clients Friday.
Trump Coy on Restarting Trade Talks: U.S. President Donald Trump answered “we’ll see” when he was asked Sunday whether he’d resume the trade talks he halted with Canada earlier this year. Trump made several comments about the trade dispute with Canada as he spoke with reporters outside a gala for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors. He says he has a good relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney, but that Canada, in his words, “makes a lot of things we don’t need because we make them also.” Trump then said, “We’ll work it out.” The president halted trade talks in October over an Ontario-sponsored ad that quoted former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. He and Carney appeared to get on well Friday when they sat with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during the FIFA World Cup draw before the three leaders entered a closed-door meeting. “Canada is a special place, and they really are good at ice hockey, aren’t they?”
Trump Concerned Over Market Share of Netflix Deal: U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the $72 billion deal. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm. The deal, which could reshape the entertainment industry, has to “go through a process and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
