These are stories Report on Business is following today. Get the top business stories through the day on BlackBerry or iPhone by bookmarking our mobile-friendly webpage.
OECD warns Ottawa on EI
The OECD said today that the temporary changes to Employment Insurance should have created a "much-needed buffer" during the recession, and should be maintained until long-term unemployment falls significantly. But, it warned the government in a report on employment in its member countries, "it is becoming even more important to make sure these extensions are accompanied by close monitoring of job-search efforts to avoid benefit dependency."
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development also said that long-term unemployment in Canada almost doubled in the two years to the end of 2009, though the proportion of workers without jobs for at least 12 months was well below the OECD average. It also projected Canada’s jobless rate will now fall faster than it did in the recession of the early 1990s, sliding to 7 per cent by the end of next year.
Statistics Canada disputed the findings on Canadian long-term unemployment and said it asked the OECD about its methodology. It said long-term unemployment as a share of the overall jobless level was 7.5 per cent in 2009, 6.7 per cent in 2008 and 7.1 per cent in 2007. As a share of the total labour force, long-term unemployed represented 0.6 per cent in 2009, and 0.4 per cent in 2008 and 2007.
Overall, the report said the jobless rate for the OECD stood at 8.6 per cent in May and, in a welcome sign, may have peaked. But 17 million jobs are needed to bring employment back to pre-crisis levels, it added.
Total strikes deal for UTS
French oil giant Total SA TOT-N has joined the rush to snap up the last remaining oil sands projects with a cash bid for Calgary’s UTS Energy Corp. UTS-T worth $3.08 a share – a 46 per cent premium to Tuesday’s closing price. Taking UTS’s cash on hand into consideration – $355-million – the bid's cash cost to Total would come to $1.15-billion.
The UTS purchase, which was recommended by the UTS board, will give Total a 20 per cent stake in the big Fort Hills oil sands mining project, whose reserve estimate is 3.4 billion barrels of bitumen. The project is 60 per cent owned by Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T, which said Wednesday that it is happy with that ownership stake, with the remaining 20 per cent held by Vancouver’s Teck Resources Inc. TCK.B-T
The remaining UTS assets, which contain more than 2.5-billion barrels of recoverable bitumen, according to the company, will be placed into a new entity called SilverBirch Energy Corp. SilverBirch will be funded with $50-million, enough to operate it for 18 to 24 months. Read the story
Montreal's Ogilvy sold to investors
The iconic Ogilvy store in downtown Montreal has been sold to a group of investors who plan to open more upscale shops under its banner. The group - led by the Fonds immobilier de solidarite FTQ - includes Champlain Financial Corp, BB Real Estate Investment Trust and a number of private investors. The consortium acquired the store from private equity funds in Ontario. Ogilvy's store in downtown Montreal was founded in 1866 by James A. Ogilvy, and has been a fixture for high-end shoppers ever since. Read the story
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty listens to a question during an interview in Ottawa Dec. 21, 2009. — Chris Wattie/Reuters
