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The Desk

MORNINGS IN THE LAB
156 correspondents · 93 cities · 10 shows
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THE NUMBERS

Data you can feel. Stories behind the statistics.

Last updated: Mar 24
Inflation (CPI)
2.6%
StatCan
Housing Starts
229,116
CMHC
Unemployment
6.6%
StatCan
Immigration Queue
1.2M
IRCC
Bank Rate
2.75%
Bank of Canada
Commodity Index
578.2
Bank of Canada

🏦 Bank of Canada Rate Timeline

3.0%3.5%4.0%4.5%5.0% Jul 20235%Sep 20244.75%Oct 20244.5%Nov 20244.25%Dec 20243.75%Jan 20253.25%Mar 20252.75%
Current overnight rate: 2.75% (Mar 2025)

🏠 Housing Market Snapshot

Housing Starts (Annual)
229K
CMHC · Trending up
Vacancy Rate
1.5%
0%Tight market10%
CMHC · National average

🛂 Immigration Application Queue

1.2M
applications in processing queue
Express Entry285K
Family Sponsorship310K
Provincial Nominee195K
Refugee & Protected145K
Temporary Resident165K
Other Programs100K
IRCC · Estimated figures based on published processing data

📊 Data Stories

🏛 EXCLUSIVE: CITY HALL DATA

Your City Hall is talking immigration. Here's why.

Here's what your City Hall is talking about Look, here’s the deal, mijo. While we’re all out here trying to beat this April heat – it was a cool 95 t…

🔗 Data Source Directory

The Numbers

Weekly data briefing — StatCan, housing, immigration, commodities.

The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →