TORONTO, April 5 (Reuters) – Ernst & Young LLP has resigned
as Sino-Forest’s auditor, days after a Canadian court
granted creditor protection to the embattled Chinese forestry
company and months after fraud allegations triggered a stampede
out of its stock.

Sino-Forest’s Toronto-listed shares tanked last June after a
short-seller accused it of exaggerating the size of its forestry
assets. The company says the allegations have paralyzed its
business.

TORONTO, April 3 (Reuters) – Canadian auditing firms need to
improve the quality of their work to assure they are fulfilling
their responsibility to protect investors against corporate
fraud and sloppy accounting, according to a watchdog’s report
released on Tuesday.

The Canadian Public Accountability Board’s annual review,
which examined 245 audits conducted by 88 firms, found the same
weaknesses cropping up year and year without much improvement.
It follows at least two other reports this year that identified
weaknesses in Canadian auditing.

WATERLOO, Ontario, April 2 (Reuters) – Canada’s economy is
doing better than expected and the threat from the European debt
crisis has lessened, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said on
Monday, while warning that high household debt levels are
unsustainable.

The speech largely echoed a more upbeat tone in the bank’s
March 8 statement and suggests the bank is inching toward an
interest rate hike, although possibly not until next year.

March 30 (Reuters) – Sino-Forest Corp, a
Toronto-listed Chinese forestry company accused of fraud, is
seeking protection from its creditors and a court’s approval of
an agreement with some of noteholders to put its embattled
business up for sale.

Sino-Forest, whose stock fell more than 70 percent after a
short-seller in June accused it of exaggerating its assets, said
the agreement would allow for its sale to a third party, or if
no buyer emerges, a restructuring that would let noteholders buy
nearly all of its assets.

TORONTO, March 28 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index
tumbled on Wednesday as mining shares were hurt by soft U.S.
durable goods data that cast some doubt on the pace of economic
recovery, while oil skidded on supply concerns.

A mix of resource names led the index lower, including
Suncor Energy Inc, down 1.2 percent at C$32.48, and
Cenovus Energy Inc, which fell 2.4 percent to C$35.40.
Barrick Gold Corp skidded 1.4 percent to C$43.05, while
Teck Resources Ltd tumbled 3.3 percent to C$34.56.

TORONTO, March 28 (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index sank
on Wednesday as resource shares were hit by softer underlying
commodity prices and as investors reacted to the Ontario budget
released the day before.

A mix of resource names led the index lower, including
Suncor Energy Inc, down 0.6 percent at C$32.67, and
Cenovus Energy Inc, which fell 2 percent to C$35.55.
Barrick Gold Corp sank 1 percent to C$43.22, while Teck
Resources Ltd dropped 2 percent to C$35.02.

TORONTO, March 26 (Reuters) – Toronto’s main stock index
rose along with global equity markets on Monday and hit a
three-week peak after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
made comments that signaled the U.S. central bank will keep a
supportive monetary policy stance.

Bernanke said the U.S. economy needs to grow more quickly to
get unemployment down, leading investors to take on more risk on
hopes the central bank could conduct another round of
quantitative easing.

TORONTO, March 26 (Reuters) – Toronto’s main stock index
climbed on Monday, supported by higher materials and energy
issues, as German data and comments by U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke lifted investors’ confidence about the
global economic outlook.

Gainers included Suncor Energy, up 0.7 percent at
C$33.02 as the price of oil steadied following a Friday’s sharp
sell-off.

TORONTO, March 20 (Reuters) – A review of Canadian stock
listings by companies with most of their operations in China and
other emerging markets found a web of shortcomings that could
put investors at undue risk, the country’s main securities
regulator said on Tuesday.

The OSC initiated the review last year after China-focused
forestry company Sino-Forest was accused of
exaggerating its assets. Sino is the most prominent of a dozen
companies with Chinese operations whose accounting or disclosure
practices came under fire, shaking investor confidence in the
oversight of Canadian regulators.

TORONTO, March 16 (Reuters) – Toronto’s main stock
index extended gains on Friday, as shares of Astral Media
soared on news BCE Inc will buy the media
company.

The parent of Bell Canada said on Friday it has agreed to
acquire Astral in a deal that values the television and radio
company at C$3.38 billion, including debt.
Shares of Astral jumped 33.60 percent to C$48.43. BCE fell 0.4
percent to C$39.90.