TORONTO – Five things to watch this week in Canadian business:
Astronauts: Retired astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Chris Hadfield speak at the Greatness in Leadership business management event in Lethbridge, Alta., on Tuesday. The 86-year-old Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, recently predicted Canada would play a significant role in colonizing Mars.
Banks: Four of Canada’s big banks release their first-quarter results this week. BMO Financial is out with its earnings on Tuesday, RBC on Wednesday, and CIBC and TD on Thursday. Scotiabank reports next week. Late last year, Moody’s Investors Service stuck with its negative outlook for Canadian banks in 2016, due largely to the faltering economy.
Pipelines: Ian Anderson, president of pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Canada, will speak Tuesday at the National Aboriginal Energy and Power Association breakfast in Vancouver. Native groups largely oppose the company’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. A day later, the National Energy Board is hosting a town hall information session in Vaughan, Ont., about a TransCanada Pipelines’ proposal for a 12-kilometre natural gas pipeline near the southern Ontario community.
Oilpatch: A slew of oilpatch companies, most of them hit hard by the global oil price plummet, report fourth-quarter and year-end earnings this week that are expected to be dismal. They include natural gas giant Encana, Calfrac Well Services, Pengrowth Energy Corp. and Husky Energy.
SNC-Lavalin: The criminal case against SNC-Lavalin over its activities in Libya resumes in a Montreal courthouse on Friday. The RCMP alleges the Montreal-based engineering giant paid nearly $47.7 million to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to influence government decisions.