Here are five things you need to know this morning:

Dollarama raking in the dollars: Dollarama raised its dividend by almost 30 per cent after posting quarterly results that showed sharply higher revenue, profit and same-store sales. The discount retailer said its fourth-quarter revenue rose to $1.64 billion. That’s up 11 per cent from last year and ahead of analyst expectations. Part of the boost came from adding new stores, but even stripping that out, same store sales increased by more than eight per cent. Interestingly, the sales surge came from increased overall transactions, as the chain saw 11 per cent more transactions in the quarter, even as the average value of each customer bill shrank by more than two per cent. The company says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 9.2 cents. That’s up from seven cents before.

Trans Mountain on track to open: It’s gonna be May. That’s not just a Justin Timberlake meme, it’s also the time frame for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion to officially open. The project, which will more than double capacity on an existing line moving Canadian crude from Alberta to export facilities in B.C., has faced numerous delays and cost overruns in recent years. Recently, work on a tricky segment of the line between Hope and Chilliwack is now complete, and ready to start operations on May 1, the company said in a statement on its website. The pipeline is expected to completely reshape the market dynamics for Canadian oil, by opening up new markets in Asia without having to rely on a U.S. intermediary. The first official shipment is a 550,000-barrel order from Suncor to a Chinese buyer, which is set to happen in May or June.

BlackBerry cost-cutting pays off: BlackBerry shares jumped by more than eight per cent in premarket trading this morning as the technology company reported a surprise fourth-quarter adjusted profit, not the loss that analysts were forecasting. Cost cutting was the main reason for the turnaround, the company said in a release. The company’s better-than-expected financial results may be overshadowed, however, by another piece of news surrounding the company, as a former employee of the company has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against the firm and its new CEO alleging harassment.

Another new high for gold: The price of gold has hit another record high, with the futures contract for the precious metal hitting US$2,325 in early trading. Stubbornly high inflation, coupled with global geopolitical uncertainty, has been a winning recipe for the gold price in recent months. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments yesterday seemed to reassure the market that rate cuts were coming at some point, but not even that prospect has been enough to take the wind out of gold’s sails.

Trade surplus widens in February: Gold’s rally showed up in Canada’s trade balance numbers released by Statistics Canada this morning, where the data agency reported that Canada’s trade surplus more than doubled to almost $1.4 billion in January, as exports surged by enough to offset an increase in imports. While energy was a big part of the picture as always, gold was a major factor too, as the total value of Canada’s gold exports increased by 5.8 per cent during the month to an all-time high. The data agency says exports of unwrought gold silver and platinum grew by $2 billion or a 68.8 per cent increase during the month. “Increased high-value shipments of refined gold, as well as transfers of gold assets in the banking sector, were observed in February,” Statistics Canada said. “This increase coincided with a sharp rise in the market price of gold at the end of February.”