Canada Financial News

WestJet Airlines Ltd., Canada’s second-largest carrier, will begin cancelling flights on Thursday — just ahead of a long holiday weekend — as it prepares for a strike.

A bus driver who drove into the path of a semi-trailer in western Manitoba last year was clearly at fault for the crash that killed 17 people but will not face charges, authorities said Wednesday.

ruled the 45-year-old’s employment made her a “member” of IRFAN-Canada, which it said had engaged in terrorism.She has appealed the Jan. 12 decision to the Federal Court.Canadian authorities stripped IRFAN-Canada of its charity status in 2011 after federal auditors found it had sent $14.6 million to groups “associated with Hamas.”The Canada Revenue Agency also said videos found at the group’s office near Toronto glorified “martyrdom” and portrayed the Palestinian conflict as a religious war.In 2014, the government placed IRFAN-Canada on its list of terrorist entities for using its “status as a charitable organization to fund Hamas.”Before arriving in Toronto from Venezuela in 2016 and claiming refugee status, Sarassra worked part-time for IRFAN-Canada in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.Her role was to distribute money to children whose fathers had died.

In a recent survey, Royal LePage found that 29 per cent of renters had contemplated buying a property before renewing or signing a lease. And thirty-three per cent of these would-be buyers said they were waiting for interest rates to decline. Now that theBank of Canada (BoC) has lowered its key rate to 4.75 per cent, it seems a good time to revisit the age-old question of whether it’s better to rent or to buy. The Financial Post’s Shantaé Campbell weighs the options in this evolving economic terrain.

The head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said he doesn’t see an asset class worldwide that’s totally free of risk for investors like his organization.

According to “energy transition” and “net-zero” enthusiasts, the future looks bright for electric vehicles (EVs). Though not so bright, it seems, that the federal and some provincial governments haven’t had to offer at least $15 billion in subsidies to prompt carmakers to develop Canadian production facilities, as well as lavish subsidies to get people to buy EVs. And since even that isn’t enough to bring consumers around, a Trudeau government mandate now requires that all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada must be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2035. In other words, the government is traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs).

A new forecast from Deloitte Canada calls for the pace of interest rate cuts to pick up in 2025, but not enough for many Canadian homeowners to avoid feeling the pinch of upcoming mortgage renewals.

India House at the Paris Olympics will be a «home away from home» for the travelling national contingent and will also provide a glimpse into the country's «rich cultural and sporting heritage», IOA President P T Usha and IOC member Nita Ambani have stated. The India House will commemorate the completion of 100 years of country's Olympic participation. The India House will be located at the Parc de la Villette in Paris, which has been designated as the 'Park of Nations' during the Games and will be surrounded by 14 other hospitality houses including those from Netherlands, Canada, Brazil and France. The India House has been established by the Reliance Foundation in partnership with the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) and will showcase «India's storied past, vibrant present, and exciting future alongside advances in technology and digitalisation», a press release said.

Boeing as the U.S. Justice Department has until July 7 to decide whether to prosecute the planemaker after prosecutors alleged the company violated a deferred prosecution agreement related to two fatal crashes, with lawyers recommending criminal charges.Officials alleged in May that the 2021 agreement, which shielded Boeing from a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud arising from the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes involving the 737 MAX jet, had been breached.Arnold & Porter law firm partner Deborah Curtis told Global News the recommendations of charges will add to the impact Boeing has been dealing with in the past months.“This is not something that’s going away easily for Boeing at all,” she said in an interview.

liquified natural gas export plant on British Columbia’s coast is poised to go ahead.On Tuesday, the Hasila Nation and its partner Pembina Pipeline Corporation announced a green light with their final investment decision in the Cedar LNG plant.The $US3.4 billion project will see the construction of a floating LNG facility in Haisla territory in Kitimat.The nation is a majority owner in the project with a 50.1 per cent stake.“With Cedar LNG, we have proven that Indigenous communities can successfully forge a path to economic independence and generational prosperity,” Haisla Chief Councillor Crystal Smith said in a statement.“We have created a model for how sustainable energy development should be done, with Indigenous Nations as owners, balancing environmental interests with global demand for cleaner energy.”The project has already secured all major regulator approvals and has signed an agreement with the Coastal GasLink Pipeline for the delivery of 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, once it is up and running.Cedar LNG estimates the project will be in service by late 2028.B.C.

World Health Organization said in a new study, calling it a “silent threat” that needs greater attention.Data published in The Lancet Global Health journal on Tuesday showed that more than a third (31.3 per cent) of the global adult population — or roughly 1.8 billion people — did not meet the WHO’s recommended levels of physical activity in 2022.This was an increase of almost four percentage points from 2016, when 27.5 per cent of the global population was insufficiently physically active.For adults, the WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or its equivalent combination of activities, each week.In Canada, 37.2 per cent of adults were reported as physically inactive in 2022, the WHO study showed, going up from 31.1 per cent in 2010 and 25.6 per cent in 2000. If these trends continue, by 2030, the prevalence of physical inactivity in Canada could go up to 41.4 per cent, the WHO estimates.“Unfortunately, the world is not going into the right direction,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO’s director of health promotion, during a virtual news conference.“Physical inactivity is a silent threat to global health, contributing significantly to the burden of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes or respiratory diseases,” he said.The WHO study looked at the levels of insufficient physical activity for 197 countries and territories between 2000 and 2022.

More Canadians are getting help from family to buy their first home — and they’re getting substantially more money to do it than a few years ago, according to new research published by CIBC.

Following the 2007-2008financial crisis, central banks from 28 countries and bank regulators devised an international regulatory accord called Basel III. Published in 2010, it promised common standards for measuring, reporting and managing financial risk across all 28 jurisdictions by imposing new, higher capital charges — the money a bank holds in reserve to cover bad loans and losses from trading stocks, bonds, derivatives and other financial products.

Inflation accelerated in May by 2.9 per cent on a year-over-year basis, according to Statistics Canada, which will surprise economists who were expecting it to ease from the 2.7 per cent increase in April.

When it comes to Canada’s productivity emergency, “the entire country is feeling the pain.”

May’s inflation rate came in surprisingly high, leading some economists to cast doubt on their predictions of a second interest rate cut next month.

Statistics Canada is set to publish its May consumer price index report Tuesday morning.

Hong Kong government entities have attended a tech conference in Toronto, where they showcased the city’s offshore ready-to-move technology hub for Canadian crypto and Web3 startups.

Bitcoin spot ETFs have been experiencing significant net outflows, with the trend continuing for seven consecutive days.

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the country must not take its competitive labour market for granted, adding that with inflation much closer to two per cent, there is room to invest in new jobs without creating inflationary pressures.

By Murtaza Haider and Stephen Moranis