OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada hailed the European Union’s failure on Thursday to classify tar sands crude as particularly dirty, but Ottawa made it clear it would take trade action if the EU did end up singling out Canadian oil.

A meeting of EU technical experts failed to approve a proposal to label fuel from Alberta’s vast tar sands as more polluting than other sources of crude.

OTTAWA, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada issued a
fresh warning about increasing levels of household debt on
Thursday, saying Canadians could “experience a significant shock
if house prices were to reverse”.

Last year Canada posted a ratio of debt to income of 153
percent, which was higher than in the United States. The central
bank says it is concerned that low interest rates are persuading
Canadians to take on too much debt.

OTTAWA, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Retail sales in Canada
dipped during the holiday shopping season, but the economy is
still performing relatively well and should hold up in early
2012, analysts said.

Statistics Canada data showed retail sales dipped by 0.2
percent in December from November, the first fall in five
months.

OTTAWA, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Canada’s annual inflation
rate rose more than expected in January, boosted by higher
energy and transportation prices, but the increase is unlikely
to spur the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates this year.

The annual rate inched up to 2.5 percent in January from 2.3
percent in December, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The
year-over-year advance was slightly bigger than the 2.3 percent
predicted by economists.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government is confident that Air Canada and its pilots’ union will reach a contract agreement and avoid a work stoppage at the world’s eighth largest airline, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt told Reuters on Thursday.

The two sides have agreed to Raitt’s offer of a six-month mediation process in a bid to settle major differences.

GUANGZHOU, China, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Canada’s prime
minister on Friday made his strongest comments yet in support of
a proposed pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to the Pacific coast,
saying his government was committed to ensuring the
controversial project went ahead.

Enbridge Inc’s Northern Gateway pipeline, which is
strongly opposed by green groups and some aboriginal bands,
would allow Canada to send tankers of crude to China and reduce
reliance on the U.S. market.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Air Canada will have to improve its performance now that rival WestJet Airlines Ltd is moving into the regional market, the carrier’s chief operating officer told Reuters on Thursday.

WestJet (WJA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares rose more than 4 percent on Wednesday after the company said it expected to serve smaller Canadian destinations dominated by Air Canada (ACa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) – the nation’s largest carrier – and other airlines before the end of 2013.

BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The head of the Canadian
Wheat Board on Thursday declined to comment on whether the board
might be planning to sell wheat or barley to Iran, but added
that “we sell wheat to Iran when they need it”.

Chief Executive Officer Ian White told Reuters: “We’ve often
sold wheat to Iran and right now I wouldn’t be able to comment
on whether there’s much going or not.”

BEIJING, Feb 8 (Reuters) – China and Canada on
Wednesday signed a series of deals to boost modest levels of
bilateral trade and finished negotiations on a foreign
investment protection pact after 18 years of talks.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, keen to boost oil
exports to China and thereby reduce reliance on the U.S. market,
said the investment agreement would help increase trade.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Canadian diplomats have had regular access to China’s most wanted man, who was deported from Canada to China last year after a decades-long legal battle to face smuggling charges, an official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Beijing had sought the deportation of Lai Changxing for years, accusing him of running a multi-billion dollar smuggling ring in the southeastern city of Xiamen in the 1990s in one of China’s biggest political scandals in recent times.