OTTAWA, April 19 (Reuters) – Canada’s export credit agency
released an upbeat outlook for 2012 on Thursday, forecasting 7.1
percent growth in exports on the back of “outstanding” momentum
fueled in part by a strong U.S. recovery.

Export Development Canada (EDC) also said exports would grow
by 7.3 percent in 2013 and predicted a real, sustainable global
recovery would start toward the end of 2012.

TORONTO/OTTAWA, April 17 (Reuters) – Canada will streamline
the way it performs environmental reviews on major industrial
projects in a bid to speed the development of mines and
pipelines, the government said on Tuesday.

The right-of-center Conservatives, who predict Canada could
see C$500 billion ($505 billion) of new investments in energy
and mining industries over the next decade, say the current
process is far too complicated and lengthy.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – A sleepy Air Canada pilot first mistook the planet Venus for an aircraft, and then sent his airliner diving toward the Atlantic to prevent an imaginary collision with another plane, an official report said on Monday.

Sixteen passengers and crew were hurt in the January 2011 incident, when the first officer rammed the control stick forward to avoid a U.S. plane he wrongly thought was heading straight toward him.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada, heavily criticized for its environmental record, unveiled long-delayed regulations on Friday that aim to make big trucks and buses up to 23 percent less polluting by 2018.

The greenhouse-gas emissions rules – designed to fit with measures already set in the United States – will come into effect starting with the 2014 model year. They will apply to full-size pickups, heavy trucks and buses as well as to cement, garbage and dump trucks.

OTTAWA, April 12 (Reuters) – Canada reported a much smaller
than expected trade surplus for February on Thursday as auto
exports to the United States fell, puzzling analysts who cited
healthy U.S. vehicle sales so far this year.

Statistics Canada said the surplus dropped to just C$292
million ($292 million) from a revised C$1.95 billion in January.
The figure was much less than the C$1.90 billion forecast by
market operators.

OTTAWA, April 11 (Reuters) – Although Canada’s output of
greenhouse gases was almost unchanged in 2010 from 2009, the
major oil producer will find it tough to meet its 2020
emissions-cut target, government figures signaled on Wednesday.

Conservative government officials hailed the data, which
showed emissions in Canada rose by just 0.25 percent in 2010
from the year before, hitting 692 megatons. The economy grew by
3.2 percent in the same period.

OTTAWA, April 3 (Reuters) – Canada’s system for monitoring
airline safety has major flaws that could result in more
accidents unless improvements are made, the government’s
spending watchdog said on Tuesday.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson said that although the
transport department’s regulations call for aviation companies
to be inspected every year, about 70 percent of them were not
investigated in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

OTTAWA, April 3 (Reuters) – Canada’s decision to buy
advanced F-35 fighter jets was based on a badly flawed process
that underestimated costs and risks, the government’s spending
watchdog said on Tuesday, dealing another blow to a project that
is already delayed and well over budget.

The Conservative government announced in July 2010 that it
would buy 65 of the Joint Strike Fighters, made by Lockheed
Martin, to replace the country’s aging fleet of CF-18
fighters.

OTTAWA/CALGARY, March 30 (Reuters) – Streamlined rules for
approving mines and pipelines in Canada will apply to existing
environmental reviews and could have an impact on Enbridge Inc’s
proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline, Natural
Resources Minister Joe Oliver told Reuters on Friday.

Canada’s Conservative government on Thursday said it would
soon unveil measures to speed up the process of environmental
assessments for projects, including setting firm timetables for
formal hearings.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s puny penny coin, loved by some but an annoyance to many, will be withdrawn from circulation this year because it costs too much to make and is a pecuniary pest, the government announced on Thursday.

“The penny is a currency without any currency in Canada,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters.