TORONTO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Sales of existing homes in
Canada rose in January from December and fell only modestly from
a year earlier, suggesting the housing sector’s recent slowdown
hasn’t developed into a full-blown correction.

Sales were up 1.3 percent in January from December, the
Canadian Real Estate Association said on Friday.

TORONTO, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Ontario’s new Liberal premier,
Kathleen Wynne, has chosen former banker and cabinet minister
Charles Sousa to become the province’s next finance minister.

Wynne’s office made the announcement during the cabinet’s
swearing-in ceremony on Monday.

TORONTO, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Ontario’s incoming Liberal
premier Kathleen Wynne has chosen former banker and cabinet
minister Charles Sousa to become the province’s next finance
minister, according to media reports.

Wynne’s office declined to confirm the reports and said the
official announcement would not be made until later on Monday.

TORONTO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar slid to its
lowest level in more than a week on Friday after data showed
Canada unexpectedly lost jobs in January and housing starts were
much lower than forecast, spurring traders to reduce bets on an
interest rate hike this year.

Canada’s economy shed 21,900 jobs last month, but a drop in
the number of people seeking work pushed the unemployment rate
down to a four-year low of 7.0 percent.

TORONTO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Purchasing activity in Canada
rose more than expected in January, according to Ivey Purchasing
Managers Index data released on Wednesday, an early upbeat
signal for the economy this year.

The seasonally adjusted index rose to 58.9 in January from
52.8 in December. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an
adjusted reading of 53.6.

TORONTO, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturing activity
grew at a snail’s pace in January, according to data released on
Friday that bolstered forecasts that the country’s economy will
get off to a sluggish start in 2013.

The RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index
was 50.5 last month after adjusting for seasonal variation,
compared with 50.4 in December, when the index matched its the
weakest reading since data collection began in October 2010.

TORONTO, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar crept up to
a near one-week high against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday
after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s pledge to stick to its
ultra-accommodative policy stance offset data that showed a
surprise contraction in U.S. fourth-quarter growth.

At the end of a two-day policy meeting, the Fed left in
place its monthly $85 billion bond-buying stimulus plan, saying
economic growth had stalled but indicating the pullback was
likely temporary.

TORONTO, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar eased
slightly to a session low against its U.S. counterpart on
Wednesday after data showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly
contracted in the fourth quarter, suffering its first decline
since the 2007-09 recession.

The currency hit C$1.0039 against the greenback, or
99.61 U.S. cents. It had traded at C$1.0029, or 99.71,
immediately before the release.

TORONTO, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Ontario’s Liberals on Saturday
chose a former Cabinet minister to become the province’s first
female premier and first openly gay leader of a Canadian
province.

In her acceptance speech as the new provincial Liberal Party
leader, Kathleen Wynne, 59, a former Ontario education minister,
thanked her partner, Jane, for her support during a three-month
campaign. Ontario was one of the first Canadian provinces to
allow same-sex marriage.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto’s divisive mayor, Rob Ford, won an appeal on Friday against a ruling that was set to remove him from office, defusing a showdown that has transfixed Canada’s biggest city and allowing him to see out his four-year term.

Ford, a magnet for controversy during the two years he has spent as mayor, was ordered out of office last November after he was found guilty of conflict of interest, but he was allowed to stay on the job while he appealed.