Canadians bumped up the amount of overnight travel to the United States in the fourth quarter in yet another sign that consumers are likely spending money shopping south of the border. That trend looks set to grow if you factor in Ottawa's plan to hike tariffs on an array of products from bicycles to leather coats.

Canadians made 832,000 overnight trips to visit relatives and friends, up 19.4 per cent compared to the same time frame in 2011. Travel for pleasure was cited as the most common reason for overnight trips, up 5.1 per cent and accounting for 2.7 million trips in the quarter, according to data published on Monday by Statistics Canada. Business travel climbed 3.3 per cent.

The data itself doesn't draw any conclusions, nor does it necessarily mean that the phenomenon is chipping away at retail sales figures in Canada. But when you look at the rise in the "pleasure" category it's probably safe to say a good chunk of Canadians did a little bit of shopping in this so-called

Incoming Bank of Canada boss, Stephen Poloz, is set to go on a wild ride with economists, industry experts and many Canadian consumers hanging on his every word in a way he's likely never experienced.

In the latest piece of advice, Doug Porter, chief economist of BMO Capital Markets, suggested Poloz drop the central bank's tightening bias when he takes over as governor on June 3.

Given slow growth, low inflation, an overvalued Canadian currency, sagging commodity prices, as well as a cooling house market, Porter says there is a good case for the Bank of Canada to stand down on hinting it will raise rates. Other challenges include soaring consumer debt.

"For more than a year now, the Bank of Canada has had at least a mild tightening bias in place—in a variety of guises—even as seemingly every other major central bank in the world has been easing aggressively," says Porter in a report titled "The Perils of Poloz."

Dropping the rate-hike bias could take a bit of steam out the loonie, which

Canada ranks near the bottom off the list when it comes to granting paid time off work, but we are much better off than our neighbours to the south, a new report shows.

A survey of the world’s 21 richest countries places Canada third from the bottom when it comes to mandatory vacation time and paid holidays – just ahead of Japan and well beyond the U.S., where companies aren’t even required to pay workers for time away from the job.

“Canada and Japan are less generous … and the United States lags far behind the rest of the world's rich countries,” says the report from the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In Canada, employees receive a minimum of 10 mandatory vacation days and nine holidays, such as Christmas Day and Canada Day.

The report notes many Canadian employers do grant more vacation time to employees with more experience.

In Japan, employees receive a mandatory 10 vacation days and zero holidays, while employees in the U.S. don’t receive any

Canada's housing market has been a wildly popular topic lately with experts sounding off on everything from house-market affordability to house-buying intentions to the effects of too-long, very-low interest rates. All this is keeping the debate about the soft landing, or crash to come, firmly on the minds of Canadians.

The common link is the Bank of Canada's benchmark rate, which has been frozen at 1.0 per cent since September 2010. The market doesn't expect the central bank to move higher -- if it moves higher -- until sometime in the latter part of 2014, or even later, so in some ways there's a bit more time to sit back, wait and watch.

If you believe The Economist, Canada's housing market is "especially vulnerable" to a major correction, according to a recent analysis on global property markets. It says house prices here are overvalued by 73 per cent compared to rental prices, and 32 per cent overvalued when compared to household incomes.

"Home sales in March were 15% down on a

Do you have a bloated view of your abilities and achievements, feel entitled and constantly seek instant gratification, or blame others for your mistakes? Researchers are trying to figure out whether you're a superstar employee or a potential insider threat who can wreak havoc.

Nearly two-thirds of Canadian organizations believe they can handle most forms of insider threat, but few -- only one in seven -- have a specific internal definition of the threats it faces, says a recent report by the Conference Board of Canada.

Nearly 20 per cent have no training on how to deal with insider threats, which is broadly defined by the board "as any person who has the potential to harm an organization for which they have inside knowledge or access."

It comes as no surprise then that the not-for-profit group's report "Understanding, Preventing, Mitigating, and Managing Insider Threats," which was based on surveying 115 Canadian organizations, found prevention should be an organization’s first and

Regulations that restrict Canadian competition for certain products such as beer, dairy, poultry and a few professional services may be costing consumers and dragging down the nation's economy, says a new report commissioned by the CD Howe Institute.

It calls for a review of the Competition Act and a limit to the number of sectors that are immune from competition laws, where practical. It also points out a few places to start, including some agricultural products, private alcohol sales and legal services.

"In a number of regulated sectors, Canadian governments have sanctioned restrictions on competition in the pursuit of alternative policy goals. This market intervention involves a trade-off because anti-competitive regulations can drive up prices, limit product choices and restrict economic growth and opportunity,” says the provocatively titled, yet matter-of-fact report, Beer, Butter and Barristers: How Canadian Governments Put Cartels Before Consumers. "We argue that certain

Next time you want to go on that quick, cross-border weekend shopping trip, just think you bear the burden of steering Canada's economic outlook. Perhaps that's a bit extreme, but there is a link.

If there were any doubt cross-border shopping undercuts Canadian retail sales, a key factor in how an economy performs, one can look to the Wednesday's retail sales data to assess the latest impact.

The country's number-crunching arm says retail sales were flat in March, but volumes were up 0.7 per cent. More on the latter later.

The flat reading is adjusted to reflect  price changes such as lower gas prices, which were a big drag on the overall numbers. And Canadian consumers have pretty much run out of gas on "relentless" competition south of the border over the past year or so.

"Much of the softness in both March and over the past year has been a weaker price story --- retail prices were down in March and have dropped over the past 12 months, no doubt in part due to the relentless competitive

It seems small businesses like to stick together, a trend that extends to the size of their financial institutions.

A new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) shows small and medium-sized businesses prefer credit unions to Canada’s big banking institutions.

Called Battle of the Banks, the report shows what CFIB calls a “disturbing trend: the smaller the business, the lower the overall bank score,” based on the survey of nearly 13,000 respondents. The report found credit unions did the best job of serving entrepreneurs in areas such as financing, fees, experience with account managers, and service.

"Banks need to pay close attention to the report's findings if they are serious about serving the small business market," said CFIB vice president of research Doug Bruce.

The results are interesting given the amount of marketing Canada’s big banks do to cater to the small business market. While Canada’s big banks were designated earlier this year as “too big to be