CALGARY - Alberta and Ottawa have reached an "agreement-in-principle" that puts the province in control of regulating its methane emissions, with final rules expected by the end of this year. The federal and provincial governments inked a sweeping accord in November touching on several energy policy matters, including a plan to reach a methane equivalency agreement on or before April 1 aimed at eliminating the overlap between federal and provincial rules. “Canada is strongest when we work [Read more]

MONTREAL - The chief executive of National Bank of Canada says he's not changing the bank's strategy because of the war in the Middle East, but he is urging a faster response from Canada to rising threats abroad. Speaking at the bank's financial services conference in Montreal, Laurent Ferreira says the country should be moving quicker on reducing internal trade barriers and boosting energy supplies. He says Canada needs to look to export more liquefied natural gas westward and transport [Read more]

OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre laughed off a conspiracy theory about Justin Trudeau in the opening minutes of his 2.5-hour sit-down with podcaster Joe Rogan, where he made a case for Canadians being America's nice-guy neighbours. While talking about his early interest in politics, Poilievre mentioned that he read a biography of Fidel Castro. "Justin's dad!" Rogan interjected. The Conservative leader shook his head and laughed, "No, no, not Justin's dad," adding later that [Read more]

TORONTO - National Bank and CIBC have committed to measuring how their fossil fuel financing compares with how much money they direct toward renewable energy, but not to making those numbers public. The measure, known as the energy supply ratio, is meant to provide a simple way to see how much banks are helping, or hindering, the push toward a low emissions economy. National Bank says in its latest proxy circular that, following discussions with advocacy group Share, the bank agreed to [Read more]

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney has endorsed a statement from Canada and its allies expressing their willingness to contribute to efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz more than two weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The statement does not say how they propose to help, although Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada is "considering" aiding Iran's neighbours if they seek assistance from the NATO alliance. In response to the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes launched on its territory [Read more]

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate at 2.25 per cent Wednesday as the economy performs below expectations but war in the Middle East threatens higher inflation. The central bank’s decision to hold its policy rate steady for a third consecutive time was widely expected but the future path for the policy rate is much less clear. War in the Middle East has sent global oil prices surging in recent weeks and those costs are already being felt at the gas pumps in [Read more]

OTTAWA - As war rages on in the Middle East, a new Leger poll suggests most Canadians believe the government of Canada should remain neutral, while one in four say Canada should support the United States and Israel in their attacks on Iran. The poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, surveyed 1,608 Canadians between March 13 and March 16. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with several statements about what the Canadian [Read more]

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her long-term goal is to be able to balance the province's books even with moderate oil prices. She says in about 10 years she'd like Alberta to bring spending in line with revenues that average US$60-per-barrel oil would bring to provincial coffers. Alberta's latest budget, tabled last month, projected a $9.4-billion deficit in the upcoming fiscal year based on the price of the benchmark West Texas Intermediate at US$60.50 per [Read more]