Business Blog

By Leah Walker — The crunch is on, for the number crunchers. This is the busiest time of the year for many in the financial industry. The tax season is underway and the fiscal year-end is looming. The deadlines have cranked up the pressure, and long hours are the norm. It made me wonder, can big-wigs [...]

By Leah Walker — While the global economy is not well, and may be laid up for some time, the frightening tone of some of the news headlines could make one believe the patient is beyond all possible hope. As if the headlines aren’t enough to raise anxiety, often the stories are accompanied by carefully selected photos of the [...]

By Leah Walker — Before attending the unveiling of the federal budget in Ottawa last month, I slipped into the nearby Rideau Centre, not for a new pair of shoes (I left that to the Finance Minister), but for a lipstick pick-me-up.  I figured it was the dreary weather and dull grey sky, but perhaps I am [...]

By Leah Walker — If things had turned out differently for Romeo and Juliet, do you think eventually they would have found themselves bickering over how their velvet pouch of gold coins should be spent?  Would Romeo discover ornaments and fancy ball masks hidden in the back of Juliet’s closet?  Would Juliet find herself irritated after Romeo — yet again! — hired [...]

By Leah Walker — The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, is warning that 2009 will be a difficult year for the Canadian job market. As mass layoffs make news almost daily, it’s tough to hear it will get worse. Some companies, however, are doing their best to avoid the quickest — and most painful — route, [...]

By Leah Walker — The U.S. President-Elect is in a pickle over his Blackberry device. It looks as if Barack Obama will have to give up the hand-held communicator once he takes office, due to security concerns. National security aside, Barack Obama is someone who really should have access to information, and co-workers, at all times.  How many of [...]

By Leah Walker — Times are tougher than ever for many families this holiday season. Most of us are feeling the pinch, as reflected in the numerous surveys that show we’re cutting back this year. Among them, a poll by American Research Group finds U.S. shoppers cut their 2008 spending plans in half from 2007, and [...]

By Leah Walker –  Watching from a distance the troubles compound in the American housing market, it’s been hard to imagine it could be anything but a matter of time before we would feel the impact on this side of the border, and here it is.  The negative Canadian housing data is now multiplying like a [...]

 By Leah Walker — It may have taken a swift kick in the pants, but the global credit crisis has meant excess is out, and thrift is in. Ask a group of friends and you’ll likely find most are scaling back sharply their holiday gift-giving and entertaining plans. While the holiday gift-exchange looks to be [...]