Money

Alberta suffered its worst year for employment losses since the dark days of the national energy program and early 1980s recession, revised labour figures from Statistics Canada says. The updated figures released Tuesday show the province lost 19,600 jobs in 2015, up from an earlier estimate of 14,600.

A new report suggests Canadians aren’t investing their hard-earned money. In fact, they’re holding a record $75 billion in extra cash and are saving money at unprecedented rates. The report by CIBC says Canadians are nervous about the markets and the economy. The $75 billion represents nearly 10% of the total value of personal liquid assets nationally.

One of Canada’s largest telecom companies is cutting 200 jobs, accounting for four per cent of its workforce, according to a memo to staff on Monday. Rogers Media cited reasons including, “significant pressures from a softening advertising market, fierce competition from global players, and shifting audience consumption habits.”

Canadians are still buying new cars and vegetables even as they become more expensive, supporting the central bank’s view the economy will recover from a commodity crash without further interest-rate cuts. The consumer price index rose 1.6 per cent in December from a year ago following the rate of 1.4 per cent the prior month, Statistics Canada said Friday from …

Apache Canada Ltd. is facing charges for a 2014 pipeline spill near Whitecourt, Alta., the energy regulator said Monday. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said there’s a maximum penalty of $2.5 million in relation to five counts for contraventions of the Pipeline Act and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

A Vancouver company is revamping its holiday policy, giving their employees unlimited paid vacation. BuildDirect, a Vancouver-based website that sells home improvement and building materials at wholesale prices, unveiled the plan earlier this week. “We ask people to deliver a lot of aggressive results and we feel like that needs to be balanced with taking a break,” said Heidi Rolston, …

Equitable Bank, a subsidiary of Equitable Group Inc., today announced the launch of EQ Bank, a new completely digital way of banking. EQ Bank offers a seamless online and mobile banking experience, and will help Canadians reach their savings goals faster. EQ Bank’s first product, the EQ Bank Savings Plus Account, allows customers to pay bills, transfer money to friends …

Canadian Dollar Forecast To Fall To 59 Cents U.S. As Economic Clouds Darken. Macquarie Group analyst David Doyle is predicting the loonie will fall to 59 cents U.S. by the end of this year, due to the ongoing commodity price slump, weak manufacturing and a heavily indebted Canadian consumer. On Tuesday, Doyle declared the lowering Canadian dollar value forecast to …

British Columbia’s high housing costs are on the government’s radar as it prepares to table its budget next month, but Premier Christy Clark is ruling out luxury or speculation taxes to cool Vancouver’s hot market. “We want to be really careful about unintended consequences,” says Clark. “But we’re thinking of a range of solutions…as we put together our budget, this …

Detectives in Toronto believe a ring of crooked cab drivers has stolen dozens of bank cards from bleary, late-night riders and emptied their accounts over the past month. Since November, taxi drivers have allegedly used bogus debit machines to swipe data from a customer’s debit or credit card, then handed the customer a fake card that looked similar to their …

Products geared towards women and girls can cost more than the same items made for men and boys, according to a newly released study. The research team compared prices on nearly 800 products with male and female versions (of similar quality) at two dozen stores, both online and brick-and-mortar, around Manhattan. Products fell into 35 categories and five industries: toys …