The Iran war could make groceries more expensive

The Iran war is expected to raise food cost increases even further than the spikes consumers have struggled with over years, and it’s actually tied to the rising price of fuel itself.

“Energy is in everything. You need to transport food from one place to the other, you need to put fuel in those ships,” says University of Toronto professor and supply chain expert Andre Cire.

“We’re going to start seeing some increase in food prices as well, just because the transportation costs are going to go up.”

Higher fuel prices are a result of spiking oil prices, and Iran has blocked access to the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping channel in the Middle East, which sees about 20 per cent of the global oil supply.

Read more about how much higher grocery prices could go.

Sacrificing privacy for savings on car insurance

Auto insurance companies have long been able to use various technologies to track driver behaviours, habits, locations and other data to help some policy holders pay less on car insurance.

But a new lawsuit in the U.S. raises questions of whether these companies take data collection too far.

The office of Canada’s privacy commissioner says it is “monitoring” the lawsuit, as drivers in the U.S. are cleared to bring forward claims that companies like Allstate Insurance and its subsidiaries violated federal laws by using these technologies and monetizing the data to boost their profits.

Allstate argued drivers never alleged it actually captured their data, or that their insurance rates went up and that its privacy policy disclosed the possibility of data collection.

Many Canadian auto insurance companies use similar methods to collect driver data.

“Some consumers may have a problem with that, so it’s quite a fascinating case to watch,” says a retail analyst.

Read more about how some Canadian insurance companies collect and share data.

More workers hit by tariffs to get funding for retraining

As U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to hurt Canada’s economy and job market, Ottawa’s Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu announced more funding for workers impacted to get retraining.

Tariffs have especially hit Canadian steel and aluminum, lumber, automobiles and auto parts sectors.

Nearly $230 million will be infused into Ontario over the next three years for those workers to stay working, but potentially in different positions or fields. That’s on top of the nearly $1 billion that Ottawa contributes annually to employment programs in the province.

“Tariffs actually have caused labour market challenges, and in particular in the automotive, steel and softwood lumber sectors have really taken the largest hit,” said Hajdu.

Ontario isn’t the only province to get more funding to retrain workers in the tariff-hit economy. A similar one was announced in British Columbia, where tariffs have hurt the already-struggling softwood lumber sector.

Hajdu adds: “Each province and territory is in the process of signing an agreement with Canada.”

Read more about the funding measures and how they will help.