CANADA ECONOMICS
CANADA - UK
PM. Itinerary for April 19 to 20, 2018 Ottawa, Ontario - April 18, 2018
Note: All times local
Itinerary for the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, for Thursday, April 19, 2018:
London, United Kingdom
8 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in a roundtable discussion with young professionals based in London.
Laurier Room
4th Floor
Canada House
Note to media:
Open coverage for opening remarks
10 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Ballroom
1st Floor
Buckingham Palace
Note to media:
Live host broadcast only
10:42 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in an official photograph with Her Majesty The Queen.
Ballroom
1st Floor
Buckingham Palace
Note to media:
Host photographers only
11 a.m. The Prime Minister will participate in the official welcome by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Right Honourable Patricia Scotland.
Friary Court
St. James’s Palace
Note to media:
Pooled photo opportunity of Leaders’ arrivals at Friary Court
12:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will participate in Executive Session I.
Executive Tent
Lancaster House
Note to media:
Host broadcast coverage of opening remarks
1:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will attend a reception given by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
Queen Anne Room, Throne Room, and Entrée Room
St. James’s Palace
Note to media:
Host photographers only
2:30 p.m. The Prime Minister will participate in Executive Session II.
Executive Tent
Lancaster House
Closed to media
4:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will participate in Executive Session III.
Executive Tent
Lancaster House
Closed to media
6:15 p.m. The Prime Minister will hold a media availability.
Mackenzie Room
Ground Floor
Canada House
Notes to media:
Open coverage
For security purposes, media wishing to cover this event must arrive no later than 5:30 p.m.
Media should arrive via the Pall Mall entrance.
Media wishing to attend will need to present valid UK press cards (http://www.
Space is limited. Please RSVP to: GalleryCanadaGalerie@
8:30 p.m. The Prime Minister will attend the Leaders’ Dinner for Heads of Government and Spouses given by Her Majesty The Queen.
Picture Gallery
1st Floor
Buckingham Palace
Note to media:
Host broadcast for arrivals and toasts
Itinerary for the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, for Friday, April 20, 2018:
London, United Kingdom
9:45 a.m. The Prime Minister will attend the Leaders’ Retreat Opening Session.
Waterloo Chamber
2nd Floor
Windsor Castle
Note to media:
Pooled photo opportunity of Leaders’ arrival
The Globe and Mail. 19 Apr 2018. Five Eyes leaders fix gaze on cybersecurity. Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand lash out at Russia for cyberattack involvement
PAUL WALDIE, LONDON
JACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attend a meeting at the National Cyber Security Centre in London on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has joined with the leaders of three key Western allies in condemning Russia’s involvement in cyberattacks and its role in the poisoning of a former double agent in Britain.
Mr. Trudeau and the Prime Ministers of Britain, Australia and New Zealand lashed out at Russia on Wednesday, saying it had been “using cyberwarfare as part of a wider effort to attack and undermine the international system.” Their intervention came on the eve of the Commonwealth leaders summit, which is expected to focus on cybersecurity as a main topic.
“There are folks out there in the world, countries out there in the world who do not share our values and our approach to freedoms and mostly the rules-based order,” Mr. Trudeau told the other leaders during an intelligence briefing at the National Cyber Security Centre in London. “So the importance of like-minded friends and partners like us four to stand together … provides a response and a solidarity that is a clear message to those around the world who do not play by the same rules.”
The four countries are part of the so-called Five Eyes security alliance, which also includes the United States. British Prime Minister Theresa May called the alliance “a unique security and intelligence-sharing partnership” that “has done much to protect our people from a range of threats.” Citing repeated Russian hacking, she added: “I have been clear to Russia that we know what it is doing. And we should be in no doubt that such cyberwarfare is one of the great challenges of our time.”
Ms. May has also put cybersecurity on the agenda for the twoday Commonwealth meeting and announced that Britain will commit £15-million ($27-million) to help smaller, and poorer, Commonwealth countries develop computer technological capabilities to tackle criminal groups and “hostile state actors.”
In a private meeting earlier in the day, Mr. Trudeau also offered Ms. May Canada’s support for the recent missile strike on Syria by Britain, United States and France in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian military with Russia’s backing. The leaders agreed the missile strike “was the right thing to do and necessary to uphold the global prohibition on chemical weapons use,” according to a summary of the meeting provided by Downing Street officials. “They agreed to continue standing side by side to uphold international norms and the rules which keep us safe.” Relations between Russia and the West have sunk to a low not seen since the end of the Cold War. Allegations of computer hacking, interference with elections and recent fears the Russian government has targeted routers many people use at home, have only increased the mistrust. Last month’s poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, in Salisbury worsened relations further and sparked an international diplomatic row. British investigators said the two were exposed to a type of nerve agent known as Novichok that was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Britain’s findings have been backed up in an analysis by the UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, although it did not identify where the chemical came from. Western allies, including Canada and the United States, have rushed to Britain’s side and joined in the expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats.
Russia has denied any involvement in the case and insisted that it has never developed Novichok. Moscow also retaliated with an equal number of diplomatic expulsions and it has challenged the findings of the UN watchdog, with officials suggesting traces of a Western-made nerve agent had been found. That drew a sharp rebuke on Wednesday from the head of the OPCW, Ahmet Uzumcu, who said the Western nerve agent was used in a control sample and had nothing to do with the Skripal case.
The Skripals have miraculously survived the attack but have become pawns in the saga. Mr. Skripal, 66, remains in serious condition in hospital but Ms. Skripal, 33, has been released. She has issued a handful of statements through London police requesting privacy and declining help from the Russian embassy. That prompted Russia’s Ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, to allege that she was being held hostage by the British. He has also been waging a public relations campaign with weekly news conferences denouncing the British probe.
On Wednesday, Ms. May stood by Britain’s conclusion and said only Russia could have carried out the poisoning. Mr. Skripal was a potential target because he worked as a Russian military intelligence officer in Moscow during the 1990s when he also spied for Britain’s MI6. He was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to 13 years in prison for treason but won release in 2010 and moved to Britain as part of a spy swap. “Recent global events have served to underline the need for nations to stand together in the face of those who would challenge the rules-based international order,” she said.
The Globe and Mail. 19 Apr 2018. OPINION. Our PM and Foreign Affairs Minister may not be considering the risks of antagonizing Putin’s Russia. Why is Canada angering the Russian bear? Provoking Putin is not in our interests as an Arctic nation
KONRAD YAKABUSKI, Columnist
For Canada, which has Russia as an Arctic neighbour, dealing with the Russians is not a choice. As the North is opened up to commerce and travel, it will increasingly be our reality.
Canada’s approach toward Russia and its strongman President Vladimir Putin has come full circle since the 2015 election. We’ve blown cold and warm and cold again, with governmental and ministerial changes in Ottawa underscoring how personalities and domestic politics, not longer-term strategic objectives, dictate our foreign policy.
The hostile approach taken by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, who famously told Mr. Putin to “get out of Ukraine” at a G20 meeting in 2014, has also been embraced by Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. It was Ms. Freeland, after all, who last year lumped Mr. Putin in with North Korea’s dictator and the Islamic State as “clear strategic threats to the liberal democratic world, including Canada.”
In between Mr. Harper and Ms. Freeland came Stéphane Dion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first foreign affairs minister, who sought to reset Canada-Russia relations before getting turfed from cabinet.
“Canada’s severing of ties with Russia had no positive consequences for anyone: not for Canadians, not for the Russian people, not for Ukraine and not for global security,” Mr. Dion said in early 2016. “Canada must stop being essentially the only one practising an empty-chair policy with Russia, because by doing so, we are only punishing ourselves.”
It’s now clear, however, that Mr. Dion was not speaking for Mr. Trudeau when he gave his 2016 speech and articulated the doctrine labelled “responsible conviction” that was to guide Canada’s foreign policy under him.
In a new book on Canadian foreign policy in the Trudeau era, former Dion adviser Jocelyn Coulon describes a mid-2016 PMO meeting attended by the Prime Minister and Ms. Freeland in which Mr. Dion made the case for rapprochement in advance of a pending meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Businesses in Quebec had been complaining about being shut out of the Russian market because Canada had joined other countries to impose sanctions after Mr. Putin’s annexation of Crimea, while France continued to sign contracts with Russia.
The meeting, Mr. Coulon writes, “went badly.” Ms. Freeland was against any rapprochement and Mr. Trudeau, “hesitant and incapable of expressing his thoughts on Canada-Russian relations,” sided with her. After that, Mr. Dion was essentially shunned by his boss, only to be replaced by Ms. Freeland in early 2017. Since then, Canada has hardened its stand toward Russia, passed its own version of the Magnitsky Act, slapped sanctions on more Russians and expelled Russian diplomats.
On the face of it, Ottawa’s actions seem appropriate given what is publicly known about recent Russian mischief abroad and Mr. Putin’s role in orchestrating it.
Global Affairs perhaps has classified information on Russia, relayed by allies, on which Ms. Freeland has based her claim that Russian diplomats here sought “to interfere with our democracy.” But all Mr. Trudeau offered this month when pressed to provide evidence of that were the “efforts by Russian propagandists to discredit our Minister of Foreign Affairs in various ways through social media by sharing scurrilous stories about her.”
These are apparently related to Ms. Freeland’s grandfather, who oversaw a pro-Nazi newspaper in occupied Poland during the Second World War, a fact Ms. Freeland’s Russian critics have sought to exploit, twist and amplify for their own purposes.
Still, Mr. Coulon makes a convincing case that Canada has for too long allowed diaspora politics and fealty toward the Americans shape its approach toward the Russians. Little consideration has been made of the longer-term consequences of inviting former Soviet satellites to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Jean Chrétien proposed Ukraine’s entry into NATO in 1994 because, in the former Liberal prime minister’s own words, “a million Canadians have Ukrainian roots.” The Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, of which Ms. Freeland is a proud member, has only grown larger and more electorally critical since then.
NATO’s expansion right up to Russia’s borders is a provocation no Russian president could accept. It is seen in Russia, as Mr. Coulon notes, as a betrayal of a promise made in exchange for Russia’s acceptance of the reunification of Germany in 1990.
For Canada, which has Russia as an Arctic neighbour, dealing with the Russians is not a choice. As the North is opened up to commerce and travel, it will increasingly be our reality. Neither Mr. Trudeau nor Ms. Freeland, Mr. Coulon worries, have been thinking ahead and Canada risks paying a heavy price for it.
NAFTA
Global Affairs Canada. 2018-04-18. Foreign Affairs Minister to visit Washington, D.C.
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will visit Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 19, 2018
REUTERS. APRIL 19, 2018. Mexican ministers head to Washington amid NAFTA talks: Mexico government
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s foreign minister and economy minister will meet U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday and Friday, the Mexican government said, as ministers from Mexico, the United States and Canada gather there to push for a renegotiated NAFTA trade deal.
Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, while Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Reporting by Veronica Gomez
BOOMBERG. 19 April 2018. Nafta Negotiators Wrap Up Telecom Chapter, Sources Say
By Eric Martin, Josh Wingrove and Andrew Mayeda
- Key divides still remain on autos, agriculture, dispute panels
- Freeland says she’ll take the time to ‘get a good deal’
- U.S. Return to TPP 'Dead and Will Stay Dead,' Boltansky Says
Nafta negotiators are said to have wrapped up another chapter of the deal as the three ministers leading talks meet again in Washington amid a push for a deal in principle within weeks.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is meeting Canada’s Chrystia Freeland and Mexico’s Ildefonso Guajardo in sessions Thursday and Friday in Washington. The talks come amid what Freeland called an “intensive phase” after the ministers’ last session on April 6.
They meet as negotiators are said to have finished work on the telecommunications chapter, according to two people familiar with the discussions, who asked to remain anonymous because the discussions are private. The telecom chapter is the seventh completed out of about 30 under consideration for a final deal.
Freeland, speaking to reporters Thursday in Washington, said Nafta talks are in period of “intensified engagement” and that so-called rules of origin for the automotive sector will be among the things discussed in her meetings.
“We are very committed to getting a deal, to getting a modernized Nafta,” she said. “We also think we need to take the time it takes to get a good deal, to get details right on complicated issues like rules of origin. So we’ll see how today’s talks go.”
Nonetheless, a few key disputes -- such as autos, agriculture and investor-state dispute panels -- will determine whether a deal is possible, said Flavio Volpe, head of an industry group representing Canadian auto parts makers. “On balance, we may be close enough on all of them to get a deal done,” he said in an interview.
Freeland said the auto issue is at “the heart of this agreement” and had gained momentum after a U.S. proposal about a month ago. “It is important to use this as a process that certainly enhances North American competitiveness, that is good for our steel industries, that ultimately though it does have to be something that works. We’re going to be focused on cutting red tape.”
The countries haven’t publicly confirmed an agreement on the telecom chapter. A request for comment from USTR wasn’t immediately returned. Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for Freeland, declined to comment. The U.S. had sought assurances to promote competition in Mexico’s telecom industry, where companies including AT&T Inc. have been investing and Carlos Slim’s carrier America Movil SAB is the top mobile phone player.
Talks have shifted gears to what Guajardo called a permanent round of negotiations as the Trump administration eyes a stopgap deal. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Guajardo have both said a deal could be reached in the coming weeks, though there are signs that there could be a deal that leaves the fine-print to further talks between bureaucrats.
Big gaps remain and the Thursday meeting is unlikely to be a final step. The ministers’ meeting will be closely watched for signs of breakthroughs on some of the key divides, such as the auto sector. But no statement or announcement is expected at this time, said a U.S. administration official speaking on condition of anonymity.
The ministers are scheduled to hold a series of bilateral and trilateral talks Thursday and Friday. Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray is also said to be planning to come to Washington to try to break a Nafta impasse.
— With assistance by Michael McKee
AVIATION
The Globe and Mail. 19 Apr 2018. Bombardier shareholders to seek disclosure on lobbying. Advocates hope proposal will win enough support at annual meeting despite company opposition
GEOFFREY YORK, JOHANNESBURG
NICOLAS VAN PRAET, MONTREAL
After years of paying controversial fees to foreign agents to help it win contracts around the world, Bombardier Inc. will face pressure to disclose such spending if a new shareholder proposal gains support at its annual meeting next month.
The proposal, filed by OceanRock Investments Inc. and endorsed by proxy firms Glass Lewis and ISS, would ask Bombardier to disclose its direct and indirect lobbying activities in Canada and abroad. Bombardier’s board would be requested to prepare an annual report on payments made for such lobbying.
The scheme could have implications for Bombardier’s work in countries such as South Africa, where it paid millions of dollars to a Tunisian middleman as a “success fee” for a multibillion-dollar rail contract. Bombardier also developed a document called a “capture plan” that listed personal information about key officials involved in awarding the contract, including their interests in wine, cigars and automobiles.
The shareholder proposal, opposed by Bombardier, will be voted upon at Bombardier’s annual meeting on May 3.
Although it has little hope of winning a majority of the vote because of the company’s objections, its advocates hope it will win enough support to persuade the company to act. Bombardier is controlled by the Beaudoin-Bombardier family through a class of super-voting stock.
The proposed rules are intended to cover not only traditional lobbying on government policies and regulations, but also lobbying for contracts from foreign governments or state-owned enterprises.
The plan is backed by Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE), a Canadian organization that works with investors to develop ethical investment policies.
It cites the South African rail contract as an example of the concerns that led to the shareholder proposal to seek disclosure of Bombardier’s lobbying activities.
“For a company as active as Bombardier, with as many controversies thrown at it as Bombardier, there should be more than just a report to the board that the company hasn’t broken the law in its lobbying activities in that quarter,” said Kevin Thomas, director of shareholder engagement at SHARE.
“We’d like to see, at the board level, some serious attention to the scope, the content and the purpose of the lobbying activity, to make sure it’s meeting their ethical standards,” Mr. Thomas told The Globe and Mail in an interview.
Similar proposals are being made by shareholders at dozens of other North American corporations, including SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., where a vote will also be held next month.
An investigation by The Globe last year found that Bombardier had won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of international contracts after making successfee payments to agents in foreign countries.
A former employee of Bombardier’s rail unit, who had worked in its bid-preparation team, said he helped prepare bids for foreign contracts that included successfee payments in South Africa, Malaysia and South Korea.
A Tunisian middleman, Youssef Zarrouk, told The Globe that he received US$3.5-million in success-fee payments from Bombardier in 2005 in exchange for helping a Bombardier-led consortium win a contract for the 80-kilometre high-speed Gautrain project, which links Johannesburg and Pretoria.
South Africa’s public protector, an ombudsman’s office with the power to investigate corruption, opened an investigation into the Gautrain contract in 2015.
Bombardier has said that it hired Mr. Zarrouk as a “sales representative” on the Gautrain contract. It said the payments to him were “within the norms of the industry practice at the time.”
But the payments only became public because of a dispute between Mr. Zarrouk and a South African lobbyist, who went to court in 2012 to seek a bigger payment from Mr. Zarrouk.
Under the new shareholder proposal, Bombardier would have to disclose these kinds of payments.
“It’s difficult for shareholders to have a fine lens on what the company does, so our first goal is to make sure the company itself has a fine-tuned lens on this and is paying attention at the deepest levels, and that there’s enough disclosure to shareholders that we are reassured that this situation is under control,” Mr. Thomas said. “That’s the key. We can’t manage the company but we do need to know that somebody is minding the store.”
Bombardier has urged shareholders to vote against the proposal. It said it already files reports on its lobbying activities to the Canadian commissioner on lobbying, the Quebec registry of lobbyists and the U.S. government.
Bombardier said the shareholder proposal “would impose an unnecessary administrative burden and costs on the corporation when sufficient public disclosure already exists.” It said the company is already committed to “the highest ethical standards” in its government relationships.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
EDC. APRIL 19, 2018. WEEKLY COMMENTARY. Last Year Matters to This Year’s Growth A Data Interpretation Exercise
By Peter G Hall, Vice President and Chief Economist
Data has regularly been dissed in the past for the conclusions it has led to. But data is data; it’s not really the villain, but the victim of those who use – and abuse – it. What is clear in today’s world of vastly increased computer power is that data is a key engine of conclusions about a vast variety of issues. It’s becoming an integral part of life on Planet Earth.
If so, we need to know how to handle it, and how to leverage it in our businesses to get the most out of it. Competitiveness is increasingly being defined by how we use data to get the right signals, and make the necessary adjustments. Data is also key to a business function that is growing in practical usage and sophistication: forecasting.
Forecast: there will be more forecasts!
The practice of forecasting has had its ups and downs. The first models developed to predict the economy were greeted with great fanfare, only to prove a great disappointment, as they could not account for all the possible disruptions economies could (and did) encounter. Predictive models still have their problems, but advanced techniques are enabling models to self-correct, to automatically refine themselves, in effect to have on-board learning functions that continuously drive them to greater accuracy. There are applications in the financial world, but also in key artificial intelligence functions, machine learning and other such applications.
This can all sound daunting for the average small- and medium-sized business, as it looks like something only the big operators can afford. At the end of the day, it’s still the decision-maker that’s accountable for interpretation and use of the data, which brings me to a key – and pretty basic – point: there are still some simple data concepts that elude even the well-trained. Take as an example yearly growth. It is used in the economy, in business everywhere and in countless personal applications. It is calculated by taking the sum of this year’s activity over the sum of last year’s activity. Simple, right?
It’s so simple that it can lead to the conclusion that every year starts with a clean sheet, and that everything is based on the growth experienced in each month. Sounds reasonable – but it’s not 100 per cent correct. The calculation is actually average activity this year over average activity in the prior year. What that means is that if a business ends a year on a high note, and that level of activity is sustained through the next year, then last year’s in-year growth is determining this year’s forecast. Put another way, if last year ends with sales 5 per cent higher than average sales for the year, then with zero growth in any month this year, annual growth is actually 5 per cent. That’s what we call built-in growth.
What this reveals is that this year’s reported growth is actually being determined a lot sooner than is commonly thought. In fact, in a quarterly data series, next year’s growthrate starts being determined in the second quarter of the current year. In a monthly series, it’s even earlier – this year’s growth actually began getting cooked in February of last year!
Data interpretation makes all the difference
Why is this useful? Well, consider explaining to your boss that the sales team is going flat out, and the boss gives you the toss, because overall performance is still 10 per cent below last fiscal year. Both of you are right – monthly growth can be red-hot, but if last year’s sales tanked toward year-end, the year-on-year growth could indeed be quite negative.
It is amazing how often this simple mistake is made, and sometimes at the highest levels of power. Of course, if the growth path is linear (whether up or down), this whole argument is far less important, as even casual observers will come to the correct conclusions. Where this becomes critical is in times of disruption – which just happen to be make-it-or-break-it moments in business, government and personal finances.
The bottom line?
Data is not always what it seems to be, but getting it right is becoming even more critically important. As we increase in sophistication, it is important that the ultimate interpreters of this stuff keep a good handle on the basics.
IMF and World Bank Spring Meeting 2018
Department of Finance Canada. April 19, 2018. Minister Morneau Takes Canada's Plan for Competitiveness, Equality and Growth to G20, International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group
Washington, D.C. – The Government of Canada is committed to working with its international partners to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared by everyone, including the middle class and those working hard to join it.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is in Washington for the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group, where he will meet with his G20 colleagues to discuss global economic developments. Minister Morneau will call attention to the G7 themes of investing in growth that works for everyone, and advancing gender equality and women's empowerment—which are on Canada's agenda for meetings of G7 Finance and Development Ministers, and Central Bank Governors, taking place from May 31 to June 2 in Whistler, British Columbia.
While in Washington, Minister Morneau will share highlights from the Government of Canada's plan for equality and growth, Budget 2018, Equality + Growth: A Strong Middle Class. The Minister will underscore the importance of ensuring open international trade that is progressive and rules-based and that delivers benefits that can be felt by everyone. The Minister will emphasize that Canada is a great place to invest, create jobs and do business, due to its solid fiscal position, strong economic performance and openness to trade and the Government's plan to strengthen the middle class by promoting equality and investing in the economy of the future.
Quote
"The global economy must work for everyone, regardless of gender, and the benefits of growth must be shared with the middle class. Ensuring equality and investing in growth that works for everyone are key to Canada's global competitiveness and long-term prosperity. I look forward to making progress on these issues with my G20 colleagues here in Washington, as well as at upcoming G7 meetings in Whistler. It is important that we continue to work together as a global community to empower women and girls, to level the global playing field, and to prepare our citizens for the jobs and opportunities in the economy of tomorrow."
- Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance
Quick Facts
- In the last two years, the Canadian economy created almost 600,000 jobs, most of them full-time.
- Canada's unemployment rate is near its lowest level over the past 40 years.
- Since 2016, Canada has led the G7 in economic growth.
- Canada's federal debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio remains firmly on a downward track and the deficit-to-GDP ratio is projected to reach 0.5 per cent in 2022–23.
- Canada's total government net debt-to-GDP ratio is the lowest among G7 countries.
FULL DOCUMENT: https://www.fin.gc.ca/n18/18-030-eng.asp
EMPLOYMENT
REUTERS. APRIL 19, 2018. Canada adds 42,800 jobs in March: ADP
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada added 42,800 jobs in March, led by hiring in the construction industry, according to a report from ADP released on Thursday.
The new report, which is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics, is derived from ADP’s payrolls data of about 40,000 companies.
Reporting by Fergal Smith
ENERGY
REUTERS. APRIL 19, 2018. Exclusive: Brazil's Petrobras near deal with China's CNPC to swap refinery investment for oil
Rodrigo Viga Gaier
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil’s state-run oil company is nearing a deal in which China National Petroleum Corp Ltd (CNPC) would invest in an oil refinery in exchange for crude oil, two people with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, potentially giving China its first refining capacity in the Americas.
Petróleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA), or Petrobras, may give the state-owned Chinese firm stakes in oil fields it operates in the Campos basin, off the Rio de Janeiro coast, along with the right to use the new Comperj refinery, the sources added.
“We are going to have a deal, but it is complex. We should have an integrated solution,” said one of the sources, who requested anonymity because the negotiations are private.
The second source said talks with the Chinese intensified recently and a deal could be only a few weeks away.
Two other people familiar with the matter said the refinery needed about $3 billion of investment to reach an initial capacity of 165,000 barrels per day, adding that it was not clear if Petrobras would foot part of the bill.
Petrobras declined to comment. CNPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The talks highlight rising Chinese interest in the Brazilian oil sector, which has attracted billions of dollars from oil majors over the past year for rights to new exploration blocs as the government lowers barriers to foreigners.
The Comperj deal would not be the first in which Petrobras offered oil to attract Chinese funding. In 2016, it renewed a $10 billion credit line with China Development Bank, originally opened in 2009, that was guaranteed by Brazilian oil exports.
CNPC and Petrobras signed a memorandum of understanding last year to reach a strategic partnership in oil exploration and production. CNPC has already partnered with Petrobras in the Libra field of the Santos basin, one of the largest discoveries in Brazil’s prolific pre-salt oil area.
The investment at Comperj would help to offset Brazil’s fuel imports and resolve a long-running headache at the complex, where Petrobras has little to show for some $13.5 billion in investments over the past decade.
The project was caught up in a corruption probe in recent years and Petrobras has booked some 6.5 billion reais ($1.92 billion) in writedowns there linked to overpriced works and services.
The company said it wants to finish Comperj, but preferably without pouring in any more money, so it is talking to potential partners. Petrobras Chief Executive Pedro Parente said last year that CNPC was in talks to invest in the refinery.
Separately, Petrobras awarded a contract last month worth 1.95 billion reais to China’s Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment Co to build a natural gas processing unit at the Comperj complex.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras
22.25
PETR4.SASAO PAULO STOCK EXCHANGE
+0.45(+2.06%)
PETR4.SA
PETR4.SA
The privately run Kerui Group partnered with mid-sized Brazilian engineering company Método Potencial Engenharia SA to build the plant in Itaboraí, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Rio.
($1 = 3.38 reais)
Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Writing by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Brad Haynes, Daniel Flynn and Christian Schmollinger
G7
Global Affairs Canada. April 19, 2018. Itinerary for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister during the G7 in Toronto
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, will co-host a meeting of G7 Foreign and Security Ministers on Building a More Peaceful and Secure World. The G7 Foreign Ministers will meet on April 22 and 23, followed by the G7 Security Ministers meeting on April 23 and 24. The meeting will also include a joint session on April 23 with both Foreign and Security Ministers.
Schedule of events for April 22, 2018:
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Outreach Brunch hosted by Minister Freeland
Session 1: Ukraine
Time: 9:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media. Host photographer only.
Event: G7 Outreach Session with non-G7 Women Foreign Ministers
Welcome and blessing offered by Indigenous Elder
Session 2: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment with a focus on Women, Peace, and Security
Time: 11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Location: University of Toronto, Governing Council Chamber, Simcoe Hall, 27 King’s College Circle
Notes for media: Opening remarks open to media pool only.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Working Lunch
Session 3: Russia, Ukraine
Time: 1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Working Session
Session 4: Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Iran and region, Israeli-Palestinian conflict)
Time: 2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. ET
Location: University of Toronto, Governing Council Chamber, Simcoe Hall, 27 King’s College Circle
Notes for media: Opening remarks open to media pool only.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Working Session
Session 5: North Korea, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Myanmar, Venezuela
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Cultural Program
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. ET
Location: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park
Notes for media: Arrivals and family photo open to media.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Official Working Dinner
Session 6: China, Maritime Security
Time: 7:45 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
End of day’s program
Schedule of events for April 23, 2018:
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Working Session
Session 7: Africa (North Africa and the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa), Human Mobility
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
Event: Foreign Ministers’ Working Session
Session 8: Conflict Prevention and Support for UN Peace Efforts and Reforms, Cyber, Counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism
Time: 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
Event: Press Conference (Minister Freeland)
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, 31 King's College Circle
Notes for media: Open to media. A livestream will be available[MA-1] .
Foreign Ministers’ and Security Ministers’ Joint Program
Event: Foreign Ministers’ and Security Ministers’ Joint Working Lunch
Session 9: Reinforcing Democracy (against foreign interference), Russia, Managing Extremist Travellers (returning foreign terrorist fighters)
Time: 12:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET
Notes for media: Closed to media.
Event: Joint Family Photo – Foreign and Security Ministers, Family Photo - Security Ministers only
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. ET
Location: Main Lobby, InterContinental Hotel
Notes for media: Open to media.
Event: Joint Media Availability (Ministers Freeland and Goodale)
Time: 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Constitution Hall 107, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Notes for media: Open to media.
End of official program for Foreign Ministers
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LGCJ.:
