Business Report: Major change to Canadian mortgage rules

Business news now. And Phil Martino is with us again in the business center. Hey, Phil, how are you today? I’m good. That’s a bit rainy, but I’m good. Yeah. Staying dry. Awesome. OK. The federal government is bringing in a pretty significant change when it comes to mortgage rules, Phil. Well the feds are making big changes to the rules here in Canada to make it a little easier for young people to get into the housing market because it’s been so hard in the last few years. So this is how it’s gonna work. The Feds are gonna allow a 30 year amortization periods on insured mortgages for first time home buyers purchasing newly built homes. The finance Minister says this will take effect August the 1st. The government will also nearly double the amount first time home buyers can withdraw from RRS PS to buy a home from 35 to 60,000. Meanwhile, a new survey has found home ownership feels out of reach for more than 75% of Canadians who don’t own property. The CIBC poll also found half of all non owners say they are still holding on to the goal of one day owning their own homes. All right, now let’s turn to movies. Barbie and Oppenheimer drew us all back to theaters last summer and apparently that trend continues. We like our movies, Phil. We do. And I mean some movies you should see on the big screen. It shouldn’t be on, you know, your TV screen at home. So Canadians are heading back to the movie. Cineplex is reporting its box office revenue for March was up by more than 45%, helped by Kung Fu Panda Four and June Part 2. The company says it’s box office sales totaled 59.2 million for the month, up from 40.6 million in the same month last year. Total box office revenue at Cineplex for the first three months of the year was 125.1 million. That’s up from 123.3 million in the first three months of 2023. Nearly half of the sales came from premium seats, including IMAX and VIPI. Do love those VIP seats. I must admit, I know you can eat, you can have a drink, watch a movie, they bring you popcorn. It’s all good. Alright. Now, we’ve talked a lot about social media safety and Instagram is taking steps to protect some of its younger users. And I would argue it’s being forced to by by the public. You know, I think you’re right, Cynthia. And at least Instagram is going to try. So Instagram says it’s trying out new tools to protect young people from sex tortion and intimate image abuse. According to the social media platform, it’s testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of image abuse, and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens. And one feature will automatically blur nudity and direct messages. According to Instagram, it’s also testing new ways to help people spot potential sex tortion scams, encourage them to report and empower them to say no to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. Well, let’s hope it’s a start or more than a start. And it’s actually effective because too many young people have suffered. Yes. I mean, at least. Listen, this is a first step, and hopefully it’ll make some big changes. All right. Phil, thanks so very much for joining us. Nice to see you, Cynthia.