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Flaherty sees U.S. deficit as biggest threat to recovery

The biggest risk to Canada’s economic recovery is not the rising dollar or climbing oil prices, but the burgeoning U.S. deficit, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said at the close of the Group of Eight finance ministers meeting. Although Canada is showing signs of renewed economic life and better consumer confidence, Mr. Flaherty said “I worry [...]

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Carney delivers reality check on economy

Mark Carney, the Bank of Canada governor, suggested Thursday the markets might be premature in their enthusiasm about improving economic conditions, and are underestimating how long it will take for the global economy to heal. His remarks, made in Montreal at the International Economic Forum of the Americas, came after a speech in which he [...]

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Government butters up foreign reporters to beef up investment

The Conservative government is flying reporters to Canada and beefing up its presence on the international trade-show circuit, but Trade Minister Stockwell Day wants more bucks to stimulate flagging foreign investment. Day is pushing his cabinet colleagues for a larger chunk of the $50 million the government sets aside annually in the budget under the [...]

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Downturn has hit bottom in Canada, OECD says

The economic outlook for the OECD area declined at a slower pace in April, an OECD survey said on Monday, and there were stronger indications that the downturn may have hit bottom in Canada, France, Italy and Britain. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said its composite leading indicator for the OECD area [...]

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OECD: Canada still in ‘strong slowdown’

Canada is not among a small group of major economies showing tentative signs of a “pause” in their economic slowdown, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development said Monday. Those countries showing less gloomy signals are China, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, said the OECD, a Paris-based think-tank sponsored by major western democracies, in [...]

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Employment surprise: Canada adds jobs in April

The Canadian economy saw an unexpected increase in jobs during April, despite a deepening economic recession, leaving the unemployment rate at 8%. Statistics Canada said 35,900 positions were added during the month, driven by an increase in self-employment. “Despite this increase, overall employment has fallen by 321,000 since the peak in October 2008,” the federal [...]

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Canadian dollar a buy despite hitting four-year low: Citigroup

Investors should buy the Canadian dollar against the greenback because the country’s fiscal position is better than the U.S. and oil prices may rise to support the currency, Citigroup Inc. said. Canada’s dollar, which recently touched the lowest in more than four years, “overshot fundamentals,” Citigroup currency strategist Todd Elmer in New York wrote in [...]

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Do Business in Canada!

Are you a non-Canadian interested in doing business in Canada? Canada’s open for business, and welcomes foreign investment and business immigrants. Why do business in Canada? Why not? Operating a business in Canada is better for your bottom line than operating your business in the United States, and thanks to NAFTA (the North American Trade [...]

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Mortgage rates have bottomed out

Mortgage rates in Canada, which have plunged by almost 50% in the last year, aren’t likely to fall further, said Phil Soper, chief executive of Brookfield Real Estate Services Fund. “Certainly with the Bank of Canada’s target rate set at virtually zero, there’s very little room,” Mr. Soper said Tuesday at a conference in Toronto [...]

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8% jobless rate ‘not good news,’ but not unexpected, Harper says

Canada’s employment rate hitting a seven-year high of eight per cent and the economy shedding another 61,300 full-time jobs in March, was not unexpected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday in Edmonton. “This is the kind of level of unemployment we were expecting in the budget. That’s why we’ve come forward with the kinds of [...]

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