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What to Do with Your Tax Refund: 5 Smart Moves for Canadians

  Tax Season · Personal Finance By MoneySavings.ca Editorial Team • May 7, 2026 • 7 min read Tax season is wrapping up across Canada, and for millions of Canadians, that means a refund cheque — or a direct deposit — is on its way. The average Canadian tax refund hovers around $1,800. That's real money. The question is: what's the smartest thing you can do with it? It's tempting to treat a tax refund like "found money" and splurge. But here's the truth — that refund was your money all along. The government was just holding it for you, interest-free. So before it quietly disappears into day-to-day spending, let's look at five moves that will make it work harder for you. $1,800 The average Canadian tax refund — enough to make a meaningful dent in debt, pad an emergency fund, or kick-start your TFSA for the year. 1 Pay Down High-Interest Debt First If you're carrying a balance on a credit card, this should be your very first call. Most Canadian credit car...

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Canadian Housing Starts Plunge 22% in November as Higher Rates Bite



Canadian housing starts fell by 22% in November from the previous month, missing estimates by a wide margin, as higher borrowing costs hurt groundbreaking on multiple unit and single-family detached urban homes, data from the national housing agency showed on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 212,624 units from a downwardly revised 272,264 units in October, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said. Economists polled by Reuters expected starts to decrease to 257,100 in November.

As the more difficult borrowing conditions and labour shortages now seem to be showing in the starts numbers, we can expect to see continued slower starts rates in the coming months, according to CMHC’s deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes.


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