The Canadian federal election is finally behind us as we anxiously await the return of Parliament to see what the Liberal party plans to tackle first. Despite the sizeable win for the Liberal Party, Canada remains deeply divided as separatist sentiment gains in popularity in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Carney will have his hands full trying to unite our country, appease our neighbour to the South and follow through with his plans on carbon pricing, tax cuts and affordable housing. The next few months will be telling on whether he is up to the task.

We are also starting to see the fruits of Trump’s labour, as countries begin to finalize trade deals with the US. Most recently, the UK has signed a trade deal, albeit it was more of a framework, which provided some easing for UK car manufacturers, reducing the overall tariff to 10%. Markets have responded positively, taking this as an indication that the end is near. In the meantime, both the BoC and the Fed have left interest rates unchanged, allowing more flexibility for whatever comes next. With all of that in mind, we continue to be systematic in our investment approach, by rebalancing accounts regularly in accordance with your respective investment policy statement. The market remains highly volatile, and we are cautious about making drastic changes too quickly. We see that some sectors having been underperforming the market over the last few months, namely telecommunications and consumer discretionary. We continue to feel their high dividend yield and defensive nature are well suited in the portfolio and should fare well as the chaos around tariff rhetoric dies down.

We will provide another update as new information becomes available, but please reach out to a member of the team if you have any questions or concerns. In the meantime, we would like to thank everyone for their patience during this year’s tax season. As always, we appreciate receiving your Notice of Assessment from CRA, which we use to verify information used on your financial worksheet and any tax saving strategies. If you have any questions on how to send over the information, please reach out to Isabel (Isabel.delasheras@rbc.com) or Ina (ina.song@rbc.com).

Livingston Wealth Management Group