Canada

Elevated house prices and record-high debt levels are contributing to worries about Canada’s future economic growth, the head of the country’s national housing agency says, The Wall Street Journal reported. Speaking at the Bank of England on Friday, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. President Evan Siddall said high house prices in the cities of Vancouver and Toronto have spread to other markets. At the same time, household indebtedness has grown and the concentration of Canadians’ net worth in real estate is near historic highs.

A severe and prolonged economic depression could result in a 25% decline in Canadian house prices by 2021, Canada’s national housing agency says, The Wall Street Journal reported. The estimate was included in a report on stress testing conducted by the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation and released publicly on Thursday. While the agency’s base case scenario is for Canadian house prices to rise about 9.0% between 2017 and 2021, it said several extreme situations could result in price declines over the same period.

The Ontario government is planning a major intervention in Essar Steel Algoma's recovery from insolvency, the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. learned today. News of the funding was disclosed this afternoon at a meeting of the EDC board by James Caicco, a local director of Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC), the provincial government's crown corporation and development agency. "We're working on a major, major funding from NOHFC to help in the restructuring," Caicco said.

American Company Bedrock Industries Group has reached a deal to buy beleaguered U.S. Steel Canada, U.S. Steel announced today, CBC.ca reported. The sale is subject to court approvals.

Canada Finance Minister Bill Morneau pledged Tuesday to spend additional billions of dollars in infrastructure for the remainder of this decade and beyond as the Liberal government presses ahead with fiscal policy to lift moribund growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. The finance minister issued the details in the government’s fall economic update. The expenditures are necessary to mitigate the fallout from a slow-growth global environment and the hit to Canadian incomes from the commodity-price swoon, he said.

Performance Sports Group Ltd , the maker of Bauer ice hockey gear, said on Monday it has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Canada to facilitate a restructuring and sale of almost all of its assets. The company listed assets in the range of $500 million-$1 billion and liabilities of $500 million-$1 billion in its voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the District of Delaware.

Renewable energy giant SunEdison Inc. has placed its Canadian arm into bankruptcy while the parent company seeks more time under court protection in the U.S. to sell off assets and work out a strategy for repaying billions of dollars in debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company’s Canadian division, which also designs and develops renewable energy projects, says it can no longer fund its operations. It sought protection Thursday from both creditors and lawsuits under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, the equivalent of chapter 11 in the U.S.

National Bank of Canada said on Thursday it will cut 600 jobs as part of a restructuring and take a charge of C$175 million ($131 million) in the fourth quarter. Canada's sixth biggest lender said the charge included severance payments to employees and the cost of changing premises. The restructuring will bring C$120 million in annual savings. The bank said that at the same time it is looking to fill over 500 positions, primarily in sales, service and IT functions and expects to increase the proportion of its staff in "knowledge-intensive" sectors over the coming years.

Former telecommunications equipment giant Nortel Networks Ltd reached an agreement on Wednesday to divvy up the $7.3 billion raised from liquidating the failed company, clearing the way for pensioners and bondholders to get paid after a seven-year wait, Reuters reported. The agreement provides 24 percent or $1.8 billion of the cash for Nortel's former U.S. business. Nortel estates in Canada and Europe will receive 57 percent and 18 percent each, the former company said in a court filing.

Canada took a series of steps aimed at cooling housing markets in the country’s biggest cities, including addressing concerns about foreign investors’ influence in driving up home prices to frothy levels, The Wall Street Journal reported. The moves follows months of mounting worries about how foreign cash has contributed to soaring house prices in Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia, and highlight the dilemma facing policy makers looking to balance prolonged rock-bottom interest rates with outsize housing-related debt.