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This week in business and investing: The former chief executive officer of a noted Canadian company came out of retirement to retake the reins of a business she started more than three decades ago, after the previous boss quit – just one year into the gig. The last year has been fairly tumultuous for the company, with leadership shakeups, a cyberattack, the exit of half of its board and competitive pressures in the industry.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-based software company also attempted to bring back former staffers – this time, employees that were part of mass layoffs. The business offered relatively plush perks, as part of its pitch to ex-staffers to return. Elsewhere, borrowing costs remain sky-high, and a Canadian province wants to separate – from the federal pension program, that is.

Do you remember these stories? Take our quiz below to test your recall for the week ending Sept. 21.


1‘If you want to bring in the ______ CEOs and whip them with wet noodles, you can do that,’ Prof. Christopher Ragan said about executives from which industry?

a. Grocery

b. Bank

c. Entertainment

d. Oil and gas

a. Grocery. Prof. Ragan was referring to the move by the federal government to summon grocery chain executives to Ottawa to testify over food inflation (still far above most other components CPI data).

2Founder and former CEO ____ announced she’s coming out of retirement to retake the helm of _____, the company she founded 30 years ago.

a. Arlene Dickinson, Indigo

b. Heather Reisman, Indigo

c. Margaret Atwood, Indigo

d. Arlene Dickinson, Chapters

b. Heather Reisman. It’s the latest in a year of leadership shakeups at the bookseller; in early September, Indigo announced the departure of its CEO and president after just one year in the job.

3The Walt Disney Company said it would be doubling its capital expenditure into its parks division as Disney+ continues to see losses. How much will they invest in parks in the next 10 years?

a. US$33-billion

b. US$100-billion

c. US$60-billion

d. US$50-billion

4Yet another Canadian company was the victim of cyberattacks this week. Which company announced a ‘limited’ breach of employees personal data?

a. Air Canada

b. United

c. Ryanair

d. American Airlines

a. Air Canada. The airliner said an unauthorised group of people obtained access to its internal system, compromising the personal information of an unknown number of employees.

5A Toronto townhouse complex allegedly violated Ontario’s Condominium Act by investing $500,000 in a company specializing in what?

a. Condominiums

b. Cryptocurrency

c. Childcare

d. Carousels

b. Cryptocurrency. The complex was alleged to have invested half-a-million dollars in a cryptocurrency exchange called Pink Piggy Investment Group.

6Canada’s annual inflation rate rose up to 4 per cent in August. When was the last time the rate went higher?

a. June

b. February

c. April

d. December

c. April. The highest since it reached 4.4 per cent in April, analysts were only expecting inflation to clock in at 3.8 per cent in August.

7Still on inflation: The U.S. Federal Reserve left its key interest rate steady this week, but signalled another rate is possible if the economy is more resilient than expected. The benchmark rate ‘between 5.25 and 5.5 per cent’ is the highest it’s been since which decade?

a. The 2000s

b. The 1980s

c. The 1970s

d. The 1990s

a. The 2000s. The last time the U.S. benchmark rate was this high was 2001.

8This Canadian province is striking out on its own, announcing it will divorce itself from Canada’s Pension Plan and create an alternate scheme.

a. Newfoundland

b. Alberta

c. Quebec

d. PEI

b. Alberta. The province announced it will leave the CPP this fall after the government released a report arguing its entitled to $334-billion from the program.

9Salesforce is on a (re-)hiring blitz, attempting to lure back recently laid-off employees. The company gave the prospective hires what?

a. Stuffed animals with an illustration of a boomerang

b. A 40-per-cent pay bump

c. A novelty check with a ‘boomerang’ bonus

d. Corporate swag, including hoodies and branded totes.

a. Stuffed animals. About 50 former employees were given custom swag, including the stuffed animals, during an event at the company’s conference, Dreamforce.

10After more than seven decades, this executive stepped down from the helm of his conservative media empire.

a. Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp and News Corp.

b. Conrad Black, National Post

c. Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corp and News Corp.

d. Kendall Roy, Waystar Royco

a. Rupert Murdoch. He stepped down as the chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp. His son, Lachlan, will become the sole chairman of News Corp. and continue as the chair and CEO of Fox.

11The TSX dropped sharply on Thursday. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 423.07 points, or 2.1 per cent at the close. That’s the biggest decline since when?

a. September 2022

b. September 2000

c. March 2020

d. September 2021

a. September 2022 September 2022. Thursday saw the lowest closing level since Aug. 24, on worries that higher borrowing costs will derail economic growth.

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