Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.
This week: The federal and Ontario governments unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal under which Honda Motor Co. will expand its Alliston, Ont., plant to manufacture electric vehicles. The two governments say Honda will manufacture 240,000 vehicles a year at the site. Meanwhile, Gildan Activewear Inc. announced changes to its board of directors as it battles dissident shareholders. The Canadian clothing maker is replacing five directors, including current chairman Donald Berg, with new faces effective May 1. It’s also proposing to add two directors supported by activist shareholder Browning West to replace two directors not standing for re-election.
Also: Tim Hortons had big plans to celebrate its diamond jubilee.
b. 1,000. The two governments said it is the largest single investment in Canada’s auto sector. The expanded plant will manufacture electric vehicles and host a battery plant.
d. Staging a musical. The Last Timbit will make its debut at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto this June. It is loosely based on a snowstorm in 2010 that prompted drivers near Sarnia, Ont., to wait out the weather in a local Tim Hortons.
c. $4,200 a year. Canada’s economic output per person has slipped 7 per cent below its long-term trend, according to the report. The pandemic played a role in that massive shortfall, but lackluster business investment also slowed productivity growth.
a. Anglo American. BHP wants to become the world’s largest miner of copper, a key metal in the transition to a greener, more electrified economy. If BHP succeeds in taking over Anglo American, the combined company will control about 10 per cent of the world’s output of the metal.
c. Opioid makers. McKinsey is facing allegations it played a key role in fuelling the opioid epidemic through its work advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other drug makers. McKinsey has already paid nearly US$1-billion to settle opioid lawsuits brought by U.S. states and health insurers, among others.
c. Because of the backlash to “woke” investing. Fink and BlackRock have been criticized for the company’s use of environmental, sustainability and governance criteria in its investment products. Conservative groups say the company is pushing left-wing ideology on businesses.
d. Divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban. The U.S. bill would require ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. operations by January, although that deadline could be extended by three months.
b. His landlord doesn’t live in Canada and did not pay taxes. In a story that should chill any tenant’s heart, the Canada Revenue Agency ordered David Siscoe, a Montreal renter, to pay several years' worth of his non-resident landlord’s withholding taxes. Siscoe says he did not know his landlord was a non-resident.
d. The same as 15 years ago. Surprising, isn’t it? Sales of new condos in the Toronto region have dropped to their lowest level since 2009 despite the housing crunch and government efforts to spur more building. High borrowing costs and lofty prices have put ownership out of reach for many people.
b. Fears about overspending. Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg told analysts that costs could grow “meaningfully” over the coming years before the company makes “much revenue” from some of its artificial intelligence products.
a. Monday nights. The Monday night deal is for two seasons and is the NHL’s first exclusive national broadcast package with a digital-only streaming service in Canada.
a. Start trading 24 hours a day. The survey could be the first step in moving the venerable stock exchange to round-the-clock, seven-days-a week trading, according to the Financial Times. A startup stock exchange, backed by financier Steve Cohen, is seeking approval from U.S. regulators to launch a 24-hours exchange.
Ian McGugan