Politics – Canadian Investor

Blockade trips up Canada’s biggest ports as shippers steer clear of rail closure

February 21, 2020 CanadianInvestor

MONTREAL — A rail blockade in eastern Ontario has led to backlogs at Canada’s three biggest ports, prompting some shippers to take their business elsewhere as cargo piles up and dockworkers’ paycheques shrink. The protest along Canadian National Railway tracks east of Belleville, Ont., has halted CN’s eastern network — about one-quarter of its operations — and choked shipments from coast to... Read More

Shelved Suncor thermal oilsands project wins Alberta government approval

February 19, 2020 CanadianInvestor

CALGARY — The Alberta government has approved an application by Suncor Energy Inc. to build a 40,000-barrel-per-day thermal oilsands project but construction is unlikely to start any time soon. The province says in a news release that the Meadow Creek West project 40 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, which would use steam to produce bitumen from wells, can now apply for... Read More

Nunavut projects fourth deficit budget in a row on slightly increased revenues

February 19, 2020 CanadianInvestor

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The Nunavut government is tabling its fourth deficit budget in a row. Finance Minister George Hickes says the territory will take in more than $2.3 billion this year. That’s a slight increase, thanks largely to federal funding programs. However, the document still forecasts an operating deficit of about $30 million. Hickes says the health department will see the biggest... Read More

Via Rail lays off 1,000 employees temporarily as blockades drag on

February 19, 2020 CanadianInvestor

MONTREAL — Via Rail says it is temporarily laying off 1,000 employees due to blockades that continue to halt service on CN tracks in Eastern Canada. The Crown corporation has suspended passenger trains on its Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto routes for nearly two weeks due to the protests that have disrupted rail service across the country. The layoffs come amid growing... Read More

Small business owners demand an end to rail blockades, warn of consequences

February 19, 2020 CanadianInvestor

MONTREAL — The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning of dire consequences if blockades that have disrupted rail service across the country continue. CFIB head Dan Kelly is calling on Ottawa to work with the provinces and law enforcement to get trains back on the tracks as protests in support of... Read More

CN Rail laying off about 450 workers after shutting down Eastern Canada network

February 18, 2020 CanadianInvestor

MONTREAL — CN Rail is laying off about 450 workers in its operations in Eastern Canada after cancelling more than 400 trains in the past week over a rail blockade protesting an LNG pipeline in British Columbia. The layoffs will affect operational staff, including employees working at Autoport in Eastern Passage, Moncton, Charny and Montreal. The Montreal-based railway says the... Read More

Nova Scotia tables largest single-year capital plan at just over $1 billion

February 18, 2020 CanadianInvestor

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Liberal government has announced the largest single-year capital plan in the province’s history at just over $1 billion for 2020-21. The $1.042-billion figure is a 51 per cent year-over-year increase in capital spending, which saw $691.3-million allocated in 2019-20. Finance Minister Karen Casey says with the government preparing to table its fifth consecutive balanced budget next Tuesday,... Read More

AFN national chief calls for calm on Wet’suwet’en crisis, rail blockades

February 18, 2020 CanadianInvestor

OTTAWA — The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is calling for calm and constructive dialogue to ease tensions over a British Columbia pipeline project and the nationwide protests it’s spawned. National Chief Perry Bellegarde is telling reporters in Ottawa that governments and industry have to give the time and space to work with the Wet’suwet’en people. Hereditary chiefs in the Wet’suwet’en... Read More

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell in December to $56.4 billion

February 18, 2020 CanadianInvestor

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 0.7 per cent to $56.4 billion in December, hurt by the motor vehicle assembly and the aerospace product and parts industries. The agency says it was the fourth consecutive month that manufacturing sales have moved lower. Economists had expected an increase of 0.5 per cent, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv. Sales... Read More

Zuckerberg meets EU officials as bloc’s new tech rules loom

February 17, 2020 CanadianInvestor

LONDON — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met top European Union officials on a visit to Brussels on Monday, days before the bloc is expected to release new proposals on regulating artificial intelligence. The billionaire social network founder is the latest U.S. tech executive to make the trip to the headquarters of the EU, which is becoming an increasingly important player... Read More