REGINA - Premier Brad Wall says Saskatchewan's finance minister was talking about options governments face when they're short revenue when he used the phrase "draconian cuts."Finance Minister Kevin Doherty told a Regina radio program that governments have two or three choices when faced with drops in revenue.Doherty said they include raising taxes, making draconian cuts in spending or running a deficit — choices the province is looking at as it tries to balance the budget.Wall says the [Read more]

OTTAWA - Regardless of the direction Stephen Poloz chooses, Wednesday's closely watched decision on the Bank of Canada's key interest rate will take place in front of an unsightly economic backdrop.With oil prices in free fall, the global economy weakening and the prospects for Canadian growth dim, the central bank governor will reveal whether he intends to move the trend-setting rate. It's a question Poloz has had to face more than once as head of the bank: whether the strong medicine of [Read more]

CALGARY - More charges have been laid against Apache Corp. over the safety of its pipelines in Alberta.The Alberta Energy Regulator said Monday that the U.S. company could be slapped with a penalty of up to $2.5 million for a spill in northwestern Alberta two years ago.In that incident, about 1.9 million litres of contaminated water spilled about 40 kilometres northwest of Whitecourt, Alta., affecting a nearby creek.Apache has been charged on five counts under the Pipeline Act and the [Read more]

OTTAWA - Five ways tumbling oil prices and the sliding loonie can affect the federal government's bottom line:1. The biggest impact from falling oil prices is the fact they chew into Canada's nominal gross domestic product (the country's economic output before adjustments for inflation). That, in turn, erodes federal revenues. The Finance Department views nominal GDP as "the single broadest indicator of the tax base."2. The fallout of lower crude prices could also have negative effects on the [Read more]

SAINT ANDREWS, N.B. - Canada's natural resources minister says the low price of oil hasn't deterred the government's goal of moving resources to tidewater.The price of oil on the international market has declined along with the value of the Canadian dollar and delivered a financial hit to resource-rich provinces like Alberta.And now the market is preparing for a flood of Iranian oil after the United States and the European Union lifted economic sanctions against Iran.Natural Resources Minister [Read more]