Cameco to halt uranium hexafluoride production at Ont. plant November 30, 2008
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Cameco Corp. said Friday it is temporarily suspending production of uranium hexafluoride at its Port Hope, Ont., plant, a move that will result in the layoff of fewer than 100 of the facility’s 440 workers.
The company said it is halting production because of problems with its supply of hydrofluoric acid. Cameco said it has been in a contract dispute with its sole supplier of the acid, and it has been receiving “unreliable and expensive” deliveries of the material, which is required for uranium hexafluoride production.
Cameco said it has used up its supplies of the acid it bought on a spot basis, and it is trying to broaden its sources of acid while it negotiates with its current supplier.
Saskatoon-based Cameco said it expects to meet uranium hexafluoride shipments to its customers in the first half of next year.
The suspension of uranium hexafluoride production is expected to take several weeks.
Cameco shares were off 40 cents at $21.25 in early trading on the TSX, but ended the day up 50 cents at $22.15.
Stronach’s Harlem Rocker disqualified from win at Cigar Mile November 30, 2008
Posted by businessnewss in Uncategorized.Tags: Cigar, DISQUALIFIED, from, Harlem, Mile, Rocker, Stronach
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Tale of Ekati (5), with jockey Edgar Prado, falls a nose short of Harlem Rocker (3), with Eibar Coa aboard, at the wire of the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Saturday. Their places were reversed on appeal after stewards decided Rocker had interfered with the other Canadian-owned horse. (Adam Coglianese/New York Racing Association, Associated Press)
This hasn’t been a good week for Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach.
Already facing the crunch in his own industry, the horseman and chairman of Magna International saw one of his thoroughbreds snatched from the winner’s circle at New York’s Aqueduct on Saturday afternoon.
And it was another Canadian-owned horse that took advantage.
Stronach’s Harlem Rocker was first under the wire in the $300,000 US Cigar Mile, nosing out Charles Fipke’s Tale of Ekati.
But a stewards’ inquiry sign went up right away and, after the race video was examined, Rocker was dropped to second. Ekati was given the victory.
The ruling said Harlem Rocker, under Eibar Coa, ducked sharply to his left into the path of Tale of Ekati on the rail as the horses thundered down the stretch.
Headed for outside
Jockey Edgar Prado had to snatch up Ekati and then head for the outside, where he made a strong run at the race’s apparent winner.
Tale of Ekati, named for a major diamond mine discovered in the Northwest Territories by Fipke, has won four stakes this season and was fourth at the Kentucky Derby behind Big Brown.
The horse is trained by Barclay Tagg, who was philosophical afterward.
“Sometimes it happens to me, sometimes it happens for them,” he said of the disqualification.
Harlem Rocker’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, was not happy.
“Tale of Ekati had every opportunity to go by our horse,” he said. “And, in my opinion, he was never going by. It’s a tough call in a Grade 1 stakes.”
Pletcher said he would check with Stronach about a possible appeal.
Tale of Ekati paid $19.80, $9.40 and $5.90. Harlem Rocker returned $9.20 and $6.30.
(With files from the Associated Press) (more…)
DBRS cuts Canwest Media ratings November 30, 2008
Posted by businessnewss in Uncategorized.Tags: Canwest, Cuts, DBRS, media, Ratings
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Three months TSX trading in Canwest
Bond-rater DBRS said Friday it had downgraded Canwest Media, a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications, because of pressure on advertising markets.
Looking ahead to the company’s fiscal 2009, which ends next Aug. 31, DBRS said it expects weak advertising markets will hurt internally generated cash flow (through Canadian television), and cash flows from wholly owned subsidiaries Canwest LP (newspapers) and TEN Network (Australian television).
Cuts in advertising revenue, combined with Canwest Media?s high debt, have reduced financial flexibility and caused constraints on liquidity, the rating agency said.
It cut the company’s issuer rating two notches, to B (high) from BB, and said the trend was negative, a change from the previous status of stable.
It also assigned a rating of BB (high) to Canwest Media?s secured bank debt, and said the secured debt had “outstanding recovery prospects.”
But the company’s senior subordinated notes were cut one notch to B from B (high), and have “below average” recovery prospects, DBRS said on its website.
DBRS said the ratings took into account Canwest Media?s recently announced cost cuts, estimated to save $47 million in the current fiscal year and just over $60 million annually over a full year.
Despite the cuts, “DBRS expects revenue pressures will be a more significant driver” on the company’s finances.
While Canwest has more financial room after a recent amendments to its debt covenants, if the economy slides more than anticipated, “the company?s covenant cushion could erode faster than its headroom increases throughout fiscal 2009.”
Canwest Global stock rose one cent to 74 cents in TSX trading. It has ranged between 61 cents and $7.50 in the past year.
Fairfax Financial Holdings, often admired for its acumen, recently said it bought 2.9 subordinate voting shares of Canwest Global, raising its stake to 22.3 million shares or 22.4 per cent of the total outstanding.
Federal government still projecting surpluses – but no guarantees November 29, 2008
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right) watches as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers the fiscal update in the House of Commons on Thursday.(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
The federal government is projecting balanced budgets and small surpluses through 2012-13, but says world economic uncertainty makes it impossible to rule out future deficits.
“No government at any level can guarantee the future,” said the text of the speech from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Thursday accompanying his latest economic and fiscal update in the House of Commons.
“In fact, given so much uncertainty, no one could unconditionally guarantee the fiscal projections contained in today’s statement.”
Flaherty acknowledged that the U.S., Europe and Japan are in recession and that private-sector forecasters expect negative growth in Canada in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 ? meeting the definition of a recession.
Overall, from April to September, there was a budgetary surplus of $804 million this year, compared with a surplus of $6.63 billion a year earlier, the Department of Finance reported.
On Thursday, Flaherty promised a few measures to rein in government spending and small measures to help investors and make credit available to businesses. However, the update did not include a package of measures to stimulate the economy.
“Any additional actions to support the economy will have an impact on the bottom-line numbers in our next budget. These actions, or a further deterioration in global economic conditions, could result in a deficit.”
That potential isn’t something the government takes lightly, Flaherty said. Despite earlier promises by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives not to run a deficit, however, Flaherty was open to the possibility.
Pegs equalization to GDP, boosts business credit
“Our goal must be to ensure the strength of the economy ? to protect jobs, to encourage investment and to help businesses grow ? while protecting the long-term fiscal position of the Government, so that if we must run a deficit, when the economy improves, we return quickly to balanced budgets.?
Flaherty announced that to rein in government spending it would:
Eliminate the $1.95 per vote subsidy to support political parties that receive more than 2 per cent of the vote, starting April 2009.Hold wage increases to public servants, including MPs and senators, to 2.3 per cent for last year and 1.5 per cent for each of the next three years; and bring in legislation to stop them from striking until 2010-11.Cut spending on government travel, hospitality, conferences, exchanges and political services.Peg the growth of provincial equalization payments to the average GDP growth over a three-year period.
The government also promised that to help Canadians and investors and businesses:
It is injecting $350 million in equity into Export Development Canada and another $350 million in equity into the Business Development Bank of Canada to boost the amount of credit available to export-oriented manufacturers and small and medium-sized businesses by about $1.5 billion from each bankIt is allowing federally regulated pension plans to spend 10 years instead of five to make solvency payments if necessary.It is allowing seniors to withdraw a reduced amount in 2008, for example $7,500 instead of $10,000 from their Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs).
It is proposing new powers over the financial system be made available to the finance minister, should the need for them arise.
Bow Valley Energy eyes possible sale November 29, 2008
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Bow Valley Energy Ltd. said Friday it is considering selling all or part of the company as it faces a Dec. 31 deadline for its debt.
The oil and gas company also cited the weak global economic environment as part of its decision to look at a possible sale.
The Calgary-based company said it has hired Scotia Waterous to help explore alternatives, which could wind up including a merger or a sale. The company has also hired Tristone Capital Inc. to assist in the possible sale of some of its Peik assets in the United Kingdom zone of the North Sea. Money from a sale of the non-producing Peik assets would be put toward cutting Bow Valley’s debt.
The company said earlier this month that as of Sept. 30 it had debt and a working capital deficiency of $188.4 million. The company lost $2.4 million in the third quarter on revenue of $29.4 million.
Shares of Bow Valley were off two cents at 48 cents in trading on the TSX. The company’s stock has skidded from the 52-week high of $6.70 it hit back in January.
Bow Valley has additional property in Alaska.
2-for-1 is moneysaver for Quebec car dealer November 29, 2008
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A Quebec car dealership offering a two-for-one vehicle promotion says it will help save money down the road.
Girard Chrysler, a dealership in Repentigny, launched the offer earlier this week as a way to curtail a slowdown in the auto industry.
Buyers who purchase a luxury Chrysler 300C will receive a free Dodge Caliber, said sales manager Michel Leduc.
The car dealership east of Montreal is interested in moving more vehicles given that it wants to stock up on next year’s models.
“We had about 250 cars total on the lot, and those 300 C [models] well, they’re worth $50,000, we need to pay interest on those cars, and it can be anywhere from $300 to $500 dollars a month per car,” he explained.
The dealership has sold 17 of the luxury cars since the offer started this week, giving away 17 Dodge Calibers, worth about $17,000 each.
There’s no profit to be made from the promotion, but the dealership hasn’t lost any money, Leduc said.
CTV confirms 105 layoffs in Toronto November 28, 2008
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A little more than a week after CTV chief Ivan Fecan warned staff of impending layoffs, the private broadcaster has announced it is cutting “approximately” 105 positions.
“Virtually all of these positions are here in Toronto,” spokeswoman Bonnie Brownlee said about the cuts on Thursday.
Brownlee added that she doesn’t “have the full breakdown” of the divisions affected.
CTV Inc. owns and operates 27 conventional television stations across the country and has news bureaus across Canada and internationally, including in Washington, London and Beijing.
Its parent company, CTVglobemedia Inc., owns sports channel TSN, music network Much Music, arts and culture channel Bravo and more than two dozen other specialty TV channels.
CTVglobemedia also owns the Globe and Mail newspaper as well as 34 CHUM radio stations across the country.
“No further reductions will be taken for the balance of this year,” according to an e-mail staff received on Thursday from Dawn Fell, CTVglobemedia’s executive vice president of human resources and operations.
Last week, Fecan ? who serves as chief executive officer of CTV as well as president and CEO of CTVglobemedia ? informed employees that layoffs, a hiring freeze and other operational changes were pending because of declining ad revenues, in part because of the global economic downturn.
Earlier this month, media giant Canwest announced it was cutting 560 jobs ? about five per cent of its workforce ? including 210 jobs on its broadcast side.
Conventional TV broadcasters have complained of declining revenues in the face of rising competition from pay and speciality services.
In July, Statistics Canada reported that revenue for conventional television fell by 5.3 per cent, slipping to $1.267 billion in 2007 from 2006. By comparison, pay television revenue in Canada rose by 13.5 per cent for the same period, hitting $547 million in 2007.
In the spring, CTV and Canwest Global teamed up to call on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to enact a controversial carriage fees proposal to help traditional broadcasters. The CRTC rejected the idea.
The CBC, which was also calling for the introduction of carriage fees, will be carrying out its own cost-cutting plan, given the current economic climate.
However, in his note to staff on Friday, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix said “where others are contemplating and predicting layoffs, we are looking to put in place and push forward with solutions that won’t involve cutting jobs.”
With files from the Canadian Press (more…)
Mystery unsolved in missing data of 470,000 CIBC clients November 28, 2008
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Personal information on 470,752 customers may not have been lost after all, even though the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is unable to find out what happened to a missing disk drive.
In a report released Thursday, the federal privacy commissioner said the bank could not confirm the information was even transferred to the drive.
“I am troubled that CIBC has been unable to establish whether a data transfer to a portable disk drive had even been made,” assistant commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a release.
The case dates back to December 2006, when CIBC transferred Talvest Mutal Funds files from Montreal to Toronto. The data files included client names, addresses, signatures, birthdates, bank account numbers, social insurance numbers and details on beneficiaries.
The data was to be transferred to two drives, one that would be sent by air and the other by land.
The package shipped by air arrived normally, but when the package shipped by land arrived in Toronto, it was found to be empty. The office of the privacy commmissioner said there was no evidence of tampering.
Police and the privacy commissioner were notified, but, thus far, the disk drive has not been found.
No evidence of improper accessing: report
The privacy commissioner’s office said there is no evidence that personal information on the drive has been improperly accessed and misused.
The office said the bank now considers it possible that the disk drive was never shipped.
“If CIBC had followed its policies and processes, or had a technical means to determine whether the transfer to a second disk drive had actually taken place, quite possibly, no further action would have been necessary,” said Denham.
“Whether or not the personal information of more than 470,000 people was transferred to a disk drive should not be a mystery,” she said.
The office said the bank has changed its methods in handling and movement of private information.
The privacy commissioner is satisfied with the bank’s response and considers the case resolved.
Irving Oil extends construction date for proposed 2nd refinery November 28, 2008
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The Irving Oil refinery in Saint John looms over the city’s east end. The company is considering building a second refinery, but if approved, that project wouldn’t go forward for eight years.
Irving Oil Ltd. is extending its target date for a proposed second oil refinery to eight years from four because of a labour shortage in the Saint John area.
Irving Oil made the announcement at an open house on Thursday in Saint John that was intended to update local residents on the second refinery project, known as Eider Rock.
Kevin Scott, Irving Oil’s director of refining growth for oil, told the crowd the new timeline will make the project “more viable at a time when many energy projects are being delayed or cancelled.”
The company had always intended to make a final decision on whether to push forward with the $8-billion refinery next year, with construction starting in 2011.
‘Slow and steady is perhaps the one that wins the race.”? Tim Curry, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy
If the project does move forward, the company would break it into two phases, each lasting three to four years to complete. Each of those phases would be worth $4 billion and peak construction would hit 2,500 to 3,000 jobs.
“We would construct Phase 1, and start it up and have it operating,” Scott said. “And then at some point during Phase 1, we would make a decision on Phase 2.”
The first phase would produce half the intended amount of oil a day, 150,000 barrels. The company’s current refinery processes 300,000 barrels of oil per day and is the largest in Canada. The company is also considering producing more diesel.
Along with citing the labour shortage in the area, Irving Oil said it is extending the construction period as a result of global competition, rising capital costs and limited availability of material.
Irving announcement ‘good news’: Keir
Energy Minister Jack Keir said he doesn’t view the longer construction period as a setback.
“The fact of the matter is, this is good news that they are coming up with a plan that still makes this, at this time ? still work and move forward,” Keir said.
The energy minister said labour availability has been a major concern of his since some of the major energy projects in southern New Brunswick have been announced.
Workers are already needed for the $1.4-billion refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear station and the $1.6-billion Potash Corp. mine, while there was concern about whether enough workers could be found for potential projects such as the second oil refinery and a second nuclear reactor.
“The upside to this economic [slowdown] that is going on in the world, if there is an upside,it may free up some of those tradespeople from jobs [at large projects] that won’t go forward and this one does; it will give an opportunity to bring those folks home,” the energy minister said.
Tim Curry, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy in Saint John, said a longer construction period may actually benefit the project in the long term.
“Slow and steady is perhaps the one that wins the race,” Curry said. “To me that’s encouraging because that means people are engaged, they are not going with the first [project] out of the gate plan and they are modifying the plan in the light of fuller knowledge.”
Local businesses and all three levels of government have partnered in the Benefits Blueprint initiative, a study that mapped out how the region would deal with issues, such as labour availability, if all of the projects moved ahead.
The study examined what the region would need to do in order to capitalize on the economic activity without experiencing any problems, such as housing shortages or a lack of services.
In March, Irving Oil announced that international oil giant BP were partnering together on the project. BP is contributing $40 million to the next phase of engineering, design and feasibility for the proposed refinery.
Obama rounds out team for ‘urgent work’ on economy November 27, 2008
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U.S. president-elect Barack Obama continued to build his economic advisory team on Wednesday, naming former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to head a new White House panel to create jobs and bring stability to the country’s embattled financial system.
Volcker, 81, who served under both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, will head the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. The board’s top staff official will be Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist, Obama told reporters in Chicago.
The Democratic president-elect also sought to assure Americans who are worried about the state of the nation’s economy and their own finances ahead of the year’s busiest shopping period that “help is on the way.”
Earlier in the week, Obama promised his administration would introduce a massive stimulus package that would create 2.5 million new jobs, but has refused to offer specific details or estimated costs of the plan.
“American people must have confidence that we have gone through recessions before,” Obama said. “Our future is bright if we make good decisions.”
Obama, who is scheduled to take office in less than two months, called Volcker “one of the world’s foremost economic policy experts” who “pulls no punches,” also praising Goolsbee as “one of America’s most promising economic minds.”
The new board, modelled after an existing foreign intelligence advisory committee, will include members from business, academia and government, and will report regularly to the president as part of the “urgent work needed” to restore economic strength in the United States, Obama said.
He said the combination of Volcker and Goolsbee will offer “experience with fresh thinking” to combat the “echo chamber” of ideas inside the capital that tend to supress outside views.
“They are there to challenge some of our assumptions to make sure we are not doing the same old thing all the time,” Obama said. “The reality is that sometimes policy-making in Washington can become a little bit too ingrown, a little bit too insular.”
Obama deflects questions on Gates, Clinton rumours
The announcement comes amid media reports that Obama plans to keep Defence Secretary Robert Gates, appointed in 2006 by outgoing President George W. Bush, in the key position for at least a year.
On Tuesday, Obama introduced Peter Orszag as his pick for White House budget director, where he will oversee a federal belt-tightening push the president-elect says is a “necessity” to ensure “a more efficient and effective” government.
His economic team largely complete, Obama is expected next week to announce national security officials, including Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state. Aides said the New York senator has not yet formally accepted the offer, but transition officials have indicated the nomination is on track.
But Obama on Wednesday deflected questions about Clinton and former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle, another high-profile figure in the party rumoured to be named to a key health-care position.
“We’re not talking about my cabinet because I haven’t made those appointments yet,” Obama said.
With files from the Associated Press (more…)
