Canada

Alberta lost 63,500 jobs in the first eight months of this year, according to government data, showing the toll weak oil prices have had on the western province, The Globe and Mail reported. The losses were the largest since the global economic crisis when the province shed 72,500 jobs over the same period in 2009. Combined with the slump in employment, the average weekly pay in Alberta fell 2.6 per cent to $1,129 in the 12 months ended in August, according to Statistics Canada’s survey of employment, payrolls and hours.

Essar Steel Algoma Inc., one of the largest steelmakers in Canada, is in talks with senior lenders over a deal to put the company into insolvency proceedings for the fourth time as its cash runs dry, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The company is discussing a court filing within the next month, said the person, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Essar Steel has sought interest from investors for a deal that would give it an immediate liquidity boost by selling receivables, another person said. The Sault Ste.

Bombardier Inc. rose after a Montreal newspaper reported that Quebec’s government will provide financial assistance to the embattled maker of the CSeries jetliner. The province will announce an unspecified aid package on Thursday, La Presse newspaper reported, without identifying the source of the information. The government had no immediate comment, while Bombardier spokeswoman Isabelle Rondeau, the spokeswoman, declined to comment via e-mail.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday it would abandon the construction of a major oil-sands project in Western Canada and take a $2 billion write-down, a stark reflection of the challenging economics for unconventional oil projects amid a sharp slump in crude prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. The energy giant said it would discontinue its 80,000 barrel-a-day Carmen Creek oil-sands project, citing an uncertain business environment and highlighting concerns about sufficient pipeline capacity to ship oil-sands crude to markets.

Canada’s government-owned postal agency said Monday it has put a temporary halt to plans to phase out door-to-door mail delivery in urban areas, about a week before a new Liberal government that promised to restore regular mail service comes to power, The Wall Street Journal reported. Canada Post Corp. said it is prepared to work with the government to determine how best to address challenges the postal system faces. “We remain focused on maintaining reliable postal service to all Canadians without disruption,” the agency said in a statement.

Hamilton steelworkers will get a chance to tear away the veil of secrecy surrounding a controversial deal between U.S. Steel and the Harper government on Nov. 19, The Hamilton Spectator reported. In a 12-minute hearing Monday morning the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed to a motion by active and retired salaried workers and others to hear their appeal of a lower court decision not to order the curtain listed. Monday's motion was a request for an expedited hearing of the workers' motion. The request was not opposed and a lawyer for U.S. Steel Canada did not attend the hearing.

Asia-focused miner Besra would file for bankruptcy under Canadian law after considering all available alternatives to “decisively” deal with its cost and debt structure and to narrow its strategic focus in an effective and timely manner, Mining Weekly reported. The company on Monday stated that the proceedings would also facilitate a restructuring of its unsecured notes using a straightforward process otherwise unavailable to management.

The bid to open the secret agreement between the federal government and United States Steel Corp. that ended a prosecution against the steel maker has been given new life. The Ontario Court of Appeal has granted stakeholders in the U.S Steel Canada Inc. creditor-protection hearing the right to appeal a ruling by the Ontario Superior Court that sealed the agreement. The 2011 agreement ended the federal government’s prosecution of U.S. Steel under the Investment Canada Act, which came after the Pittsburgh-based steel maker broke promises it made to Ottawa when it purchased then-Stelco Inc.

Despite a severe economic downturn in a region whose growth once seemed limitless, many energy companies have too much invested in the oil sands to slow down or turn off the taps, the International New York Times reported. In addition to the continued operation of existing plants, construction persists on projects that began before the price fell, largely because billions of dollars have already been spent on them. Oil sands projects are based on 40-year investment time frames, so their owners are being forced to wait out slumps.

The 100-year-old steel maker once known as Stelco Inc. may become independent again after United States Steel Corp. gave up on trying to restructure the company it purchased in 2007, The Globe and Mail reported. U.S. Steel Canada Inc., possessing the youngest integrated steel mill in North America and an idle steel-making mill in Hamilton, would proceed on its own or be sold after U.S. Steel and its stakeholders failed to reach a deal on the future of the Canadian unit within its troubled Pittsburgh-based parent company. U.S.