Pascan Aviation (P6, Québec) has filed for creditor protection under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Similar to a US Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the move will allow the distressed carrier to continue operating while restructuring its business, ch-aviation reported. A Superior Court of Quebec docket indicates Pascan's creditors - Business Development Bank of Canada and Investissement Quebec - are providing a total of USD1 million to support the Pascan Companies' recovery plan.

A technical recession, but not an “outright recession.” That is the verdict from economists Tuesday after Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent in the second quarter, following a 0.8 per cent decline (revised from an earlier figure of 0.6 per cent) in the first three months of the year, the Financial Post reported. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Regional airline Pascan Aviation has filed for creditor protection but says it will honour reservations and tickets as it continues to restructure its business in parts of Quebec and Atlantic Canada, CTV News reported on a Canadian Press story. Pascan says two government agencies are providing a total of $1 million in financial support while Pascan operates under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. The airline provides 40 daily flights to 12 airports in Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador using eight to 10 of its fleet of 23 small turboprop aircraft.

Toronto’s housing market faces a high risk of a correction as soaring home prices have outstripped income growth even as the city is facing a rising supply of unsold condos, Canada’s federal housing agency warned, The Globe and Mail reported. In a new quarterly forecast on the housing market, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said it is upgrading the risk of “problematic conditions” in the country’s largest housing market to “high” from “moderate” because it saw evidence the market was heating up this year even though home prices are already overpriced.

Canadian women's fashion retailer Laura's Shoppe, which owns Laura, Laura Petites and Melanie Lyne, has filed for creditor protection, CBC.ca reported. The company, with more than 150 stores across the country, said it expects to close some underperforming stores but plans to keep doing business as usual while it restructures. Laura admits it experienced large losses in 2012 and 2013, but president Kalman Fisher said sales have since rebounded. A filing under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act protects the retailer from claims by creditors while it revamps its operations.

A replacement lender for U.S. Steel Canada that will in effect double the cost of keeping two Canadian steel plants afloat was approved by a Toronto court Friday, CBC.ca reported. The application from USSC to replace its parent company, U.S. Steel (USS) with the new lenders, Brookfield Capital Partners, could cost the company $9.25 million, plus administration costs.

Canada's central bank cut its key interest rate Wednesday as it slashed its economic outlook and predicted a pullback in the second quarter due to the impact of lower oil prices and weaker demand for exports, the International New York Times reported. The Bank of Canada cut its target for the overnight rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.5 percent. In response, the Canadian dollar plunged to a post-recession low of 77.29 U.S. cents Wednesday afternoon, down 1.2 cents from the previous close.

Insolvent Laricina Energy Ltd. plans to close its Saleski pilot oilsands project by fall to save money, according to a report filed online by its court-appointed monitor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Calgary Herald reported. The report says Laricina has successfully shut down its 100-per-cent-owned Germain commercial demonstration project — as it announced it would in February — and is negotiating with 40 per cent partner Osum Oil Sands Corp. to close Saleski after the gathering of production data is complete in August or, at the latest, in September.

A judge has approved the distribution of funds in Mobilicity’s restructuring proceedings after the small wireless carrier struck a $465-million deal to sell itself to Rogers Communications Inc., The Globe and Mail reported. The court’s order Monday was necessary for the companies to proceed on closing the deal, which they announced last week and which already has approval from the federal government and faces no opposition from the Competition Bureau.

Alberta's online university is facing a financial crisis, but the president is reassuring students that the institution will not be closing down, CBC News reported. According to an internal report, Athabasca University (AU) will be insolvent in two years. The report was prepared by a task force struck by Peter MacKinnon, the interim president of the university. Enrolment demographics are behind the university's troubles, MacKinnon said. Provincial funding has dropped from covering 80 per cent of operating expenses at Athabasca to closer to 30 per cent. The rest comes from student tuition.