In late October, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced a 2025-2027 plan that was forecast to result in a marginal population decline of 0.2% in both 2025 and 2026 due to restrictions on temporary residents, international students, and foreign workers. Above-trend population growth in Canada of 3% in 2024 and 2025 put pressure on housing, infrastructure, and social services, as well as unemployment, which is running at about 6.8% (versus 4% in the U.S.). The new policies should ease the unemployment rate. In a positive development, the country has made progress bringing down inflation, allowing the Bank of Canada to reduce its target for overnight interest rates by another 50 basis points to 3.25% at its December 11 meeting. Lower rates should help on a number of fronts, and already appear to be boosting both housing activity and consumer spending. The Canadian economy could use the help, after growing by a less-than-expected 1% in 3Q. One wildcard is that the incoming Trump administration is considering tariffs on C