OTTAWA, May 16 (Reuters) – Sales by Canada’s manufacturers blew past
expectations in March, rising 1.9 percent from February, as shipments of
petroleum and coal products jumped to their highest level in more than 3-1/2
years, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast, on average, a 0.3 percent
increase in sales at the factory gate in the month.

OTTAWA, May 16 (Reuters) – Canada’s manufacturing sales blew past
expectations to grow 1.9 percent in March from February as shipments of
petroleum and coal products jumped to their highest level in more than 3-1/2
years, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast, on average, a 0.3 percent
increase in sales at the factory gate in the month.

OTTAWA, May 7 (Reuters) – The value of Canadian building permits
unexpectedly climbed in March even while plans for home building softened for
the third straight month, Statistics Canada reported on Monday, likely calming
nerves among policymakers troubled by soaring property prices and debt.

Building permits issued by municipalities jumped 4.7 percent from February
t o C$6.5 billion ($6.5 billion), confounding market expectations of a 2.8
percent decline.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Just two months ago, economists and policy wonks were cheering the news that Statistics Canada, the much lauded government statistics office, had eliminated fees for its online databanks, making millions of figures available for free.

Now the quantity of that data is under threat from the biggest budget cuts in recent memory. Experts fear the quality will fall as well, hurting Statscan’s global reputation and compromising data that shapes government financial and social policy, as well as business investment.

OTTAWA, April 30 (Reuters) – More than 8,000 Canadian
federal government workers will receive notice this week that
they may lose their jobs due to budget cuts, including about
2,300 employees at Statistics Canada, unions said on Monday.

The Conservative government announced in its March 29 budget
that it would cut operational spending across all government
departments and agencies by 6.9 percent, eliminating 19,200
public service jobs, or about 5 percent of total federal
employment, as it seeks to balance its budget by 2015-16.

OTTAWA, April 30 (Reuters) – Bank of Canada warned again on
Monday it may have to pull back on policies designed to
stimulate the economy, with Deputy Governor Timothy Lane
reiterating the more hawkish language the BOC introduced this
month and pointing to the need to keep inflation in check.

In a speech in Ottawa, Lane said there is less slack in the
economy and firmer underlying inflation, and that this may mean
that the bank will have to withdraw stimulus by raising interest
rates.

OTTAWA, April 26 (Reuters) – The government introduced
legislation on Thursday to give Canada’s banking regulator
oversight powers on the federal housing agency for the first
time in a bid to minimize risk in the heated domestic housing
market.

The bill also provides a legislative framework for covered
bonds, which are mortgage-backed securities that are sold by
banks and guaranteed by the housing agency, the Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corp (CMHC). The legislation will also establish a
registry for institutions that issue covered bonds and for
covered bond programs.

OTTAWA, April 25 (Reuters) – Bank of Canada Governor Mark
Carney dismissed on Wednesday the n otion that the suggestion of
interest rate hikes to come might hurt consumers, saying
conditions are still very stimulative.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and
Commerce, Carney was asked by one senator how he expected
consumers to continue driving economic growth in the country if
he threatened to hit them with a “two-by-four”, a piece of wood,
by raising interest rates.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) – The International Monetary
Fund’s bid to win a big boost in funding to handle the euro-zone
debt crisis hit a speed bump on Thursday when Brazil demanded
more power at the IMF for emerging economies as a condition for
lending it extra cash.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega laid out the terms
for a deal after a meeting with fellow BRICS nations Russia,
India, China and South Africa.

OTTAWA/TORONTO, April 18 (Reuters) – Canada heads into a
weekend meeting of global finance chiefs refusing to budge in
its stance against contributing additional funds to the
International Monetary Fund to deal with fallout from the
European debt crisis.

The IMF has been pressing for increased resources to be able
protect the world economy from Europe’s debt crisis.