The three-month trial of a lawsuit against Toronto-Dominion Bank, in which the liquidators of the collapsed Antigua bank of former Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford are seeking $4.5 billion in damages, is expected to end on Wednesday, Reuters reported. A written judgment from the court is expected in a few months. In closing arguments at the Ontario Superior Court, lawyers for the court-appointed joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank (SIB) alleged negligence and "knowing assistance" by TD in providing a correspondent banking account that Stanford used to perpetuate fraud.
Read more
Apartment building owners in major Canadian cities are quietly selling billions of dollars worth of properties at premium valuations, despite the pandemic, with pension funds, private equity firms and other investors desperate to swallow large portfolios that rarely hit the market, The Globe and Mail reported.
The Bank of Canada took the biggest step yet by a major economy to reduce emergency levels of monetary stimulus as it hailed a stronger-than-expected recovery from the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers led by Governor Tiff Macklem said Wednesday they would scale back their purchases of government debt by a quarter to C$3 billion ($2.4 billion) and accelerate the timetable for a possible interest-rate increase. The upbeat turn toward plotting a return to more normal policy has been resisted by counterparts elsewhere, including the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Read more
Spartan Bioscience, which filed for bankruptcy protection on April 5, plans to start accepting letters of intent from prospective buyers or investors interested in restructuring the insolvent firm until May 17, The Logic reported. It will select two bids—one winning bid and one backup—from a short list of qualified bidders, with plans to have a transaction complete by the end of June. The Ontario Superior Court first has to approve the process. The Ottawa-based company is seeking protection from creditors, after spending heavily on developing a COVID-19 rapid test.
Read more
Canadian National Railway on Tuesday offered to buy Kansas City Southern for $33.7 billion, topping a $29 billion bid put forward last month by a rival railroad operator, Canadian Pacific, the New York Times reported. The competing offers underline the riches expected to come from trade flows after the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was passed into law last year. A merger with either suitor would create a railroad line that stretches from Canada to Mexico.
Read more
The Ontario government moved to grant independence to a medical school and a francophone university in Northern Ontario on Thursday, just days after more than 100 faculty positions and nearly 70 programs were eliminated at Laurentian University, the Globe and Mail reported. One of the universities currently involved with the medical school seemed taken by surprise, and said it was not consulted. The Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation to make the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and Hearst University independent, stand-alone, degree-granting universities.
Read more
Three-quarters of Canada’s travel agents, ITAs and travel agencies say they could face insolvency if the government doesn’t extend financial aid programs until the end of 2021, or until 90 days after travel restrictions are lifted, according to a new ACTA survey, Travel Week reported. After calling on travel agents, ITAs and travel agencies across Canada to fill out its quick 5-minute survey earlier this month, ACTA has revealed the sobering results. More than 1,000 respondents took part in the survey, including 58% who were Independent Travel Agents, 31% owners and 11% employees.
Read more
Canadian lawmakers on Thursday urged the leaders of the United States and Canada to take further steps to resolve a dispute between Enbridge Inc. and the state of Michigan over the cross-border Line 5 oil pipeline, Reuters reported. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered Calgary-based Enbridge to shut down a 4-mile section of the 540,000 barrel-per-day pipeline that runs underneath the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes by May 12, because of concerns it could leak. Enbridge is challenging Whitmer's order in U.S. courts.
Read more
Canada is facing industry calls to extend financial aid to smaller airlines, after offering a C$5.9 billion ($4.71 billion)life-line to Air Canada, as new COVID-19 variants loom ahead of the vital summer travel season, Reuters reported. The timing of Monday's deal, which saw the Canadian government take a 6% equity stake in Air Canada, was partly designed to secure "access to air travel when it returns," as the country's vaccine rollout ramps up this summer, a source familiar with the discussions said.
Read more
Air Canada, struggling with a collapse in traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reached a deal on Monday on a long-awaited aid package with the federal government that would allow it to access up to C$5.9 billion ($4.69 billion) in funds, Reuters reported. The agreement - the largest individual coronavirus-related loan that Ottawa has arranged with a company - was announced after the airline industry criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for dawdling. The United States and France acted much more quickly to help major carriers.
Read more