In this edition:
- Bank of Canada maintains policy rate at 2¼%
- Niagara Region celebrates grand opening of Lincoln EarlyON Child and Family Centre on Family Literacy Day
- Niagara College’s annual Career Fair returns in February
- Brock named among World’s Top Universities by Time magazine
- Niagara has ‘too many politicians’ chair Bob Gale tells Pelham council
- New home selling conditions reach “critical low point,” Home Builders’ Assn. warns
- Ransomware attacks will remain “a significant threat” for the next two years, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security says
- Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores to close
- Focus on Technology
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New retirement savings requirements for Canadian businesses with employees in the State of New York
New York State recently opened registration for the Secure Choice Savings Program, which creates new retirement savings requirements for certain employers with New York State employees, including Canadian employers.
If you are a Canadian business with employees in the State of New York, please read more to understand your responsibilities within the Program.
Hodgson Russ LLP, U.S. attorneys, is in Toronto, Canada and across U.S. cities. Our Employee Benefits attorneys routinely advise Canadian companies and individuals regarding U.S. employee benefits compliance and tax matters and assist clients in navigating cross-border employment-related challenges, including the taxation of retirement plan distributions under U.S. tax law. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Amy P. Walters or Madeline G. Miller, co-authors and members of our Employee Benefits Practice.
Subscribe to the Hodgson Russ Canada-U.S. Cross Border Blog for more alerts on U.S. issues that affect Canadians.
Featured content by Hodgson Russ LLP
Photo credit: Iryna / Adobe Stock
Bank of Canada maintains policy rate at 2¼%
The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 2.25%, with the Bank Rate at 2.5% and the deposit rate at 2.20%.
The outlook for the global and Canadian economies is little changed relative to the projection in the October Monetary Policy Report (MPR). However, the Bank notes, the outlook is vulnerable to unpredictable US trade policies and geopolitical risks.
Picture credit: bernardbodo / Adobe Stock
Niagara Region celebrates grand opening of Lincoln EarlyON Child and Family Centre on Family Literacy Day
Niagara Region, in partnership with Port Cares and the Town of Lincoln, celebrated the Grand Opening of the new Lincoln EarlyON Child and Family Centre with a ribbon cutting and community celebration at the Lincoln Community Hub in Beamsville.
Picture credit: Niagara College
Niagara College’s annual Career Fair returns in February
Niagara College’s annual Career Fair returns this February, offering students and alumni expanded opportunities to connect with employers and explore future career pathways.
For the first time, the College’s largest career-focused event will be held over six days and will be hosted at both the Welland Campus and the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Picture credit: Brock University
Brock named among World’s Top Universities by Time magazine
Time magazine has named Brock University as one of the World’s Top Universities.
The news magazine’s inaugural ranking, published online Wednesday, Jan. 28, highlights Brock as one of the Top 10 universities in Ontario, Top 25 in Canada and the Top 500 across the globe.
Niagara has ‘too many politicians’ chair Bob Gale tells Pelham council
The Region’s newly-appointed chair Bob Gale visited Pelham council Wednesday morning to introduce himself, but was also asked during his presentation about potential changes to the governance model in Niagara.
“The way I lean is that we have too many politicians in the Niagara region,” he said.
Picture credit: Svjatoslav / Adobe Stock
New home selling conditions reach “critical low point,” Home Builders’ Assn. warns
The latest quarterly Housing Market Index results published by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) continue to raise red flags, signaling even fewer future housing starts for homeownership and warning of diminished long-term industry capacity if layoffs continue and strategic action is not taken to help the market rebound soon.
Image credit: titima157 / Adobe Stock
Ransomware attacks will remain “a significant threat” for the next two years, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warns
Today, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), part of the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE), released its Ransomware Threat Outlook 2025 to 2027, its latest assessment of ransomware threats facing Canada.
The Cyber Centre assesses that ransomware attacks will remain a significant threat to Canada in the next 2 years. With the rise of AI, these threats have become cheaper and faster to conduct and harder to detect.
Picture credit: wolterke / Adobe Stock
Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores to close
Amazon has thrown in the towel when it comes to its Amazon Fresh stores. The company has revealed that it will close these physical grocery stores, as well as its Amazon Go stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores.
Focus on Technology
Federal government in discussions with Meta over return of news content to Facebook
Jeremy Borg, Western Standard
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
