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Big Six Banks Raise Fixed Mortgage Rates: What Your Renewal Costs Now

  Canadian Money Brief • Mortgages Updated Saturday, October 17, 2026 If your mortgage term ends this winter, the rate you saw advertised in August is probably gone. All six of Canada’s big banks have raised fixed rates since early September, and the Bank of Canada hasn’t touched its policy rate in almost a year. That disconnect catches a lot of homeowners off guard. Your fixed mortgage rate doesn’t follow the Bank of Canada. It follows the bond market. And bond yields have been climbing on oil-driven inflation worries, which means the people feeling it first right now are the ones opening a renewal letter. The numbers at a glance Up to 0.50 pt in fixed-rate increases at the big banks in about five weeks • BoC policy rate still 2.25% • Big bank prime still 4.45% • About $110 a month more on a $400,000 balance from a half-point jump How far have the big banks moved? Depending on the term, some big bank fixed rates are up by as much as half a percentage point in roughly five week...

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Ontario Cancels $100M Starlink Deal Amid Escalating Trade Tensions

 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced the cancellation of a $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, a move aimed squarely at countering U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. The contract—signed last November as part of Ontario’s initiative to deliver high-speed internet to 15,000 remote and rural premises—will now be scrapped amid a broader decision to ban American companies from provincial contracts until the tariffs are removed. 

Ford emphatically stated on social media that Ontario “won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy,” attributing the policy shift to President Trump’s tariff actions. He warned that U.S.-based businesses could lose “tens of billions of dollars” in new revenue as a result. This decisive step is just one element of Ontario’s wider strategy to respond to the escalating trade dispute, which has already seen retaliatory tariffs imposed by both Canada and the United States. 

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