Moody’s maintains Canada at AAA credit rating, despite concerns + MORE Oct 21st

(Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
OTTAWA – Canada is maintaining its triple-A credit rating thanks to a steady economic outlook, but the country also faces potential risks amid mounting household debt and climbing house prices, Moody’s Investor Service said.
The U.S. credit rating agency said in a report Monday that Canada’s top grade was supported by a “relatively solid economic performance,” a strong banking system, relatively low government debt and a projected balanced budget following a series of deficits.
“After a recession at the time of the global financial crisis, the economy recovered and continues to show positive momentum, supporting improvement in government finance,” said the Moody’s assessment.
However, the research identified possible risks linked to Canada’s high household debt and a “particularly inflated” housing market in some big-city areas — both of which, the paper noted, continue to rise.
“This combination presents a potential risk to the banks and to the federal government directly, as it guarantees a considerable portion of mortgages,” said the report, co-authored by Steve Hess and Dmytro Kulakovskyi…

(Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
OTTAWA – Canada is maintaining its triple-A credit rating thanks to a steady economic outlook, but the country also faces potential risks amid mounting household debt and climbing house prices, Moody’s Investor Service said.
The U.S. credit rating agency said in a report Monday that Canada’s top grade was supported by a “relatively solid economic performance,” a strong banking system, relatively low government debt and a projected balanced budget following a series of deficits.
“After a recession at the time of the global financial crisis, the economy recovered and continues to show positive momentum, supporting improvement in government finance,” said the Moody’s assessment.
However, the research identified possible risks linked to Canada’s high household debt and a “particularly inflated” housing market in some big-city areas — both of which, the paper noted, continue to rise.
“This combination presents a potential risk to the banks and to the federal government directly, as it guarantees a considerable portion of mortgages,” said the report, co-authored by Steve Hess and Dmytro Kulakovskyi…

Rexall announces its new loyalty partner and triple Aeroplan miles for Wyndham stays. News, Tips & Tricks Just days after the notice of Aeroplan and Rexall calling it quits we learn that Air Miles is the new loyalty program of choice for drug store chain in Ontario and the Western Provinces. That’s two major retailers in the span of a few months that have jumped ship from Aeroplan to Air Miles. For those of you who read this blog, you’ll know my local shopping area once had three merchants participating in Aeroplan and quickly that has changed to only one and two for Air Miles. For Aeroplan frequent shoppers this isn’t good news but then again Aeroplan, although a full fledged coalition program, is still a major frequent flyer program and credit card miles issuer which means for them this isn’t that big of loss. For Air Miles, which is pretty much only a frequent shopper program the gain is good but one has to wonder, what incentives Air Miles is giving to gain these merchants as we know they have been feeling the pinch from Aeroplan and from many of the other credit card and propietary loyalty programs…