Business

Agriculture

FILES Soybeans do not require much nitrogen fertilizer.

‘Right now … we need to get the crop in the ground and so you pay what the price is’

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Friday, May. 15, 2026

Soybeans are on Jason Rempel’s radar.

The Manitoba farmer has dodged rising nitrogen fertilizer prices — he pre-bought last fall — but if costs continue to climb, he’ll be seeking more soybeans for 2027.

The crop doesn’t require much nitrogen fertilizer, unlike the wheat and corn Rempel is currently spreading across his land near Landmark.

Nitrogen fertilizer prices have jumped 30 to 40 per cent in Western Canada since the United States and Israel attacked Iran earlier this year, according to Farm Credit Canada. Around one-third of global seaborne fertilizer ships through the now-blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

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Business

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS National Bank president and CEO Laurent Ferreira was in Winnipeg this week.

‘Give us a chance, test us’: National Bank seeks local spotlight

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

‘Give us a chance, test us’: National Bank seeks local spotlight

Malak Abas 4 minute read Saturday, May. 16, 2026

One year into acquiring Canadian Western Bank, Montreal-based National Bank has a message for Manitoba businesses: give it a shot.

“Give us a chance, test us,” National Bank president and CEO Laurent Ferreira told the Free Press ahead of an event in Winnipeg for clients and staff this week. “We’re a very serious counterpart, we’re solid and we have a bit of a different approach, a Canadian focus versus our peers, and it works well.”

While National Bank is the sixth-largest commercial bank in Canada, its presence has been relatively limited in Manitoba. That presence grew after National Bank completed its acquisition of Canadian Western Bank for $5 billion in 2025, and with it, CWB’s national leasing office based in Winnipeg.

“That’s a great part of the acquisition, because it brings products that we did not have at National Bank,” Ferreira said. “It also brings an opportunity for us to increase the equipment finance business across the country, particularly in Quebec, where our market share in that particular segment was very, very small.”

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Saturday, May. 16, 2026

Business

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 4:50 AM CDT

HONG KONG (AP) — World shares mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled back from their records. In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 10,205.31. France's CAC 40 lost 0.9% to 7,883.42, and Germany's DAX dropped 0.1% to 23,925.82.

During Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s. That's part of a broader shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. The yield was around 2.55% just one week ago.

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Updated: 4:50 AM CDT

Business

FILE - A woman walks by a map showing Evergrande development projects in China, as she heads to an Evergrande city plaza in Beijing on Sept. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

China Evergrande liquidators seek $8.4B from accounting firm PwC in Hong Kong lawsuit

Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

China Evergrande liquidators seek $8.4B from accounting firm PwC in Hong Kong lawsuit

Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 6:55 AM CDT

HONG KONG (AP) — Liquidators of the failed Chinese property developer China Evergrande are seeking 57 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) from accounting firm PwC over its auditing work, a Hong Kong court was told on Monday.

The hefty amount was claimed against PwC International, PwC Hong Kong and PwC’s mainland Chinese entity, the court heard. A court decision has not yet been made on the claims.

China Evergrande, once one of China’s largest real estate developers, first defaulted in 2021, and with more than $300 billion in liabilities became the world’s most indebted developer.

Its downfall triggered a liquidity crunch in China's property sector, which faced a slump in sales and prices and still has not fully recovered.

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Updated: 6:55 AM CDT

Business

Firefighters work to extinguish a structure fire at the Westminster Hotel, a historic building from the gold-rush era, in Dawson City, Yukon, in a Sunday, May 17, 2026, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Manu Keggenhoff (Mandatory Credit)

Gold-rush era Westminster Hotel lost to fire in Dawson City

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Gold-rush era Westminster Hotel lost to fire in Dawson City

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:46 PM CDT

When Chris Ross celebrated the birth of his son in 2003 he remembers smoking a Cuban cigar at the Westminster Hotel — known affectionately as "The Pit" to locals in Dawson City, Yukon.

The pink gold-rush era hotel and bar that dates back to 1898 has always been a gathering place for the community, whether to celebrate a milestone or just enjoy a beer.

At about 6 a.m. on Sunday, Ross, who has lived in the community on and off for 30 years, woke up to a "giant smoke cloud" in the sky and walked from his home to find the landmark hotel engulfed in flames.

"I'm still in a bit of shock. This morning it was there, it's always been there. It's been there for 128 years," he said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:46 PM CDT

Opinion

Magnific

Employees choosing stability again; what can smaller employers do?

Tory McNally 7 minute read Preview

Employees choosing stability again; what can smaller employers do?

Tory McNally 7 minute read Saturday, May. 16, 2026

For the past several years, employers have been operating in what felt like a constant state of movement.

Workers were changing jobs more freely, exploring new industries, pursuing higher wages and re-evaluating what they wanted from work. Employers were told they needed to move quickly, offer flexibility and be prepared for talent to leave just as quickly as it arrived.

The labour market felt fast, fluid and, at times, unpredictable.

Lately, there are signs another shift may be taking place.

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Saturday, May. 16, 2026

Business

A passenger looks at a closed off entrance to the Long Island Rail Road at Grand Central station, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York, on the first day of a strike after five unions representing about half the LIRR's workforce walked off the job. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Talks to end a strike shutting down the largest US commuter rail system will resume Monday

Philip Marcelo And Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Talks to end a strike shutting down the largest US commuter rail system will resume Monday

Philip Marcelo And Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: 12:54 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A marathon day of negotiations that finished early Monday failed to end a strike that shut down the Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, setting the stage for a rough start to the work week for about 250,000 commuters.

Unions representing rail workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which runs the railroad, negotiated through much of Sunday and early Monday after some prodding from the National Mediation Board and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The two sides came up short, but the talks went well enough that negotiators agreed to return to their work early Monday morning, according to a spokesperson for union workers. The negotiations lasted so long that even a deal could not have saved Monday morning’s commute because of the time needed to get crews and trains in place.

The National Mediation Board, the federal labor agency governing labor relations for railroads and airlines, summoned representatives for both sides to a Sunday afternoon meeting that got the talks started. They continued until nearly 1:30 a.m. Monday. The sides agreed to return to the negotiating table six hours later.

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Updated: 12:54 AM CDT

More Business

Arts & Entertainment

FILE - Secret service agents respond when a man, who authorities say, tried to storm the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives, in Washington, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner, File)

Will White House correspondents’ dinner be rescheduled? Some say: ‘Let’s call the whole thing off’

Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Will White House correspondents’ dinner be rescheduled? Some say: ‘Let’s call the whole thing off’

Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press 7 minute read 6:16 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Or … maybe not?

More than three weeks after the White House Correspondents' Association dinner was thrown into chaos and panic when a man stormed the Washington Hilton lobby and opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill President Donald Trump, the event has yet to be rescheduled.

The association “continues to weigh options for rescheduling the event,” its president, Weijia Jiang of CBS News, said from China last week where she was covering Trump — alongside whom she hit the floor that night as shots rang out.

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6:16 AM CDT

Faith

Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing as he recites the Regina Coeli noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope and co-founder of Anthropic to launch pontiff’s AI encyclical on May 25

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Pope and co-founder of Anthropic to launch pontiff’s AI encyclical on May 25

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 4 minute read 6:39 AM CDT

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV and the co-founder of artificial intelligence company Anthropic will launch the pontiff’s first encyclical on May 25, a document on the care of human dignity in the era of AI, the Vatican said Monday.

The presence of Anthropic's Christopher Olah at the Vatican is significant, and suggests that the U.S. pope's position on AI will become a new flashpoint with the Trump administration.

In February, the Trump administration ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology and imposed other major penalties for refusing to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of its AI technology. Anthropic is currently suing the administration, which it has accused of retaliating against it illegally because of its attempt to impose limits on how its AI technology can be deployed.

Leo, who has made AI a priority of his young pontificate, is greatly concerned about AI in warfare and has called for monitoring of how the technology is used.

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6:39 AM CDT

Personal Finance

Laura Whiteland, financial planner and owner of Inclusive Financial Planning in Truro, N.S., is shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout

Renting out your home short-term can mean extra cash, but it’s not always worth it

Nina Dragicevic, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Renting out your home short-term can mean extra cash, but it’s not always worth it

Nina Dragicevic, The Canadian Press 5 minute read 7:00 AM CDT

If you search “Airbnb how to get started” you’ll reach their splash page with a big number. As of May in Toronto, Airbnb says you can make more than $4,000 per month during the FIFA World Cup.

It’s a powerful lure for someone who needs help with their rent or mortgage, and has a spare room to offer. But whether it's Airbnb, Vrbo, booking.com or another home rental platform, Laura Whiteland, financial planner and owner of Inclusive Financial Planning in Truro, N.S., says prospective short-term landlords should go into the business agreement with open eyes.

“[Airbnb’s] product is not what you’re selling — they’re selling the services of the website, so they’re not in the same business you are going into,” Whiteland said. 

“You’re the product in that scenario, because they need accommodations. That’s how they generate their revenue. So you’re being sold and you need to be honest with yourself about that too.”

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7:00 AM CDT

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