Chinese investment can’t be the solution for cash-strapped Canadian miners seeking financial backing, according to Canada’s natural resources minister, Bloomberg News reported. “We need to be working to solve access to capital issues, but the answer cannot be investment from Chinese state-owned industries,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday in an interview.

Canada's government said on Thursday it would invest up to C$10.5 billion ($7.74 billion) savings it has gleaned from departmental expenditures into healthcare and housing over the next three years, Reuters reported. The move is a first phase in repurposing some government spending that was announced in the 2023-24 budget. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is facing calls from the opposition to cut the budget deficit, and the central bank has also warned that any new spending could delay interest rate cuts.

Some energy companies are still failing to pay millions of dollars in taxes, says a survey released this week by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, CBC.com reported. Oil and gas producers missed $43 million in payments last year, the group says. "Year after year, the problem drags on due to a lack of industry regulation and accountability," said president Paul McLauchlin in a news release. The association found oil and gas companies owe the communities in which they operate nearly $252 million in all. That's down slightly from last year's total of $268 million.

Bank of Nova Scotia missed analysts’ estimates for loan-loss provisions amid growing stress in consumer lending as the Canadian economy weakens as well as higher delinquencies among retail borrowers in its Latin American businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Provisions for credit losses rose to C$962 million ($713 million) in the fiscal first quarter, the Toronto-based bank said in a statement Tuesday. That was more than the C$922 million average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

With most of Canada’s biggest banks exposed to the U.S. commercial-property market, the deteriorating quality of some real estate loans could lead to nasty surprises as lenders report fiscal first-quarter results this week, Bloomberg News reported. Commercial-property lending accounts for about 10% of the loan books on average at Canada’s five largest banks. With the sector under pressure amid elevated interest rates and plunging valuations, banks have been booking higher provisions for potential credit losses for several quarters now.

Canadian budget airline Lynx Air has filed for court protection from creditors and will cease operations on Feb. 26, it said on Thursday, as it struggles with rising operating costs, high fuel prices and increasing airport charges, Reuters reported. Despite substantial growth in the business, cost reductions and efforts to explore a sale or merger, the challenges facing the business have become "too significant to overcome", the company said. The Calgary-based airline, which launched its inaugural flight in April 2022, said flights will continue to operate until 12:01 a.m. MT (2:01 a.m.

Canada's December retail sales slightly beat expectations as people spent more on cars, food and beverages, and at supermarkets during the holiday season, data showed on Thursday, but likely declined at the start of the year, Reuters reported. Retail sales grew by 0.9% in December from November, more than a forecast for a 0.8% gain, from a flat reading in November, which was upwardly revised from -0.2% previously, Statistics Canada said. January's preliminary estimate pointed to a 0.4% decline on the month, Statscan said.

Canadian inflation decelerated more sharply than anticipated in January, offering comfort the central bank’s past rate increases continue to work through the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices rose 2.9% in January from a year earlier, following December’s gain of 3.4%, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday. That marked the lowest level since June, and undershot the 3.3% advance economists were expecting.

Canada's annual inflation rate slowed significantly more than expected to 2.9% in January and core price measures also eased, data showed on Tuesday, bringing forward bets for an early interest rate cut, Reuters reported. It was the first time in seven months that headline inflation has dipped below 3%. That prompted money markets to hike bets for a rate cut in April to 58% from 33% before the figures were published. The Bank of Canada's next policy announcement is March 6. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation to tick down to 3.3% from 3.4% in December.

Assuming Laurentian University’s new 2024-2029 strategic plan is approved by its board of governors later this week at the governing body’s Feb. 16 meeting, the university will have fulfilled one of its major legal obligations following insolvency, Sudbury.com reported. Following 22 months of insolvency restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Laurentian exited creditor protection in late 2022. As part of the plan of arrangement approved by its creditors, Laurentian was obligated to create a new strategic plan with the help of consultants.