Canada

Canada’s state-backed export credit agency is reportedly nursing steep losses after lending debt-ridden Thames Water hundreds of millions of pounds.

The British utility, which has said it could run out of cash by next June, received two loans from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2018 and 2019 after the Canadian pension fund Omers had invested.

EDC sold the loans at a deep discount in recent weeks, according to the Financial Times, which cited unnamed investors.

Thames Water has been pushed to the brink of collapse in recent months after struggling under the weight of debts built up over years by successive owners and could fall into government-handled administration if it fails to find new financing within the next 10 months.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party would oppose any government intervention in the ongoing labour dispute between Canada’s two main rail companies and unions as the deadline to avoid an unprecedented service shutdown approaches.

Both the Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City remain at loggerheads with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union. The union has been demanding better wages and benefits — including better crew scheduling — for workers.

Intimate texts exchanged between an ousted Royal Bank of Canada boss and her junior colleague have been revealed amid the latest round of legal wrangling over their secret office relationship.

Canada’s biggest lender fired its CFO Nadine Ahn in April after uncovering an alleged decade-long courtship with her subordinate Ken Mason, who reportedly received promotions and raises as a result of the connection.

Nothing really spicy but the texts clearly contradict her denials.

Canadian Olympian Eric Lamaze owes nearly $800K following latest court ruling

A breach of contract lawsuit against one of Canada’s most prominent Olympians finally ended last week with an Ontario judge ruling Eric Lamaze owed the plaintiffs more than $786,000.

The case lasted 15 years and Lamaze had argued he couldn’t take part because he had terminal cancer – but another judge in the same case ruled the evidence Lamaze submitted to prove he was receiving treatment wasn’t “credible or reliable.”

… Despite facing so many lawsuits – and despite testing positive for cocaine at several Olympics and having multiple judges issuing arrest warrants for Lamaze for contempt of court when he repeatedly failed to respond to court summons – Equestrian Canada named him in 2022 to a leadership role where he coached Canadian athletes on the world stage.

h/t DS

In mid-July, when Doug Moore’s daughter fell and hurt her wrist at the family’s property in northern B.C., he rushed the nine-year-old to the nearest hospital — only to find the emergency department had shut down.

There was no advance notice of the closure, the Fort St. John resident recently told CBC’s Daybreak North.

“When you’ve got a nine-year-old, and it’s 9:30 at night, and she’s tired, she’s in pain … it definitely makes me nervous for my family and for those around us,” he said.