Finance minister says Canada will run deficits until at least 2015, 2 years longer than seen

October 7th, 2009 TORONTO - Canada's Jim Flaherty has been named the finance minister of the year by Euromoney magazine. The honour comes after the World Economic Forum rated Canada's performance as the best among G8 economies in the current global crisis.

September 30th, 2009 US Treasury official: G-7 may drop joint statementWASHINGTON — Finance ministers from the world's seven most developed economies may not even issue a joint communique when they meet in Istanbul this weekend, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Wednesday.

September 5th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers Saturday against moving too hastily to roll back the $5-trillion fiscal stimulus plans governments launched to counter fallout from the recession. Brown told the top G20 finance officials from the world's leading economies meeting in London that scaling back the anti-economic crisis packages would undermine "the tentative signs of recovery" that have recently emerged in the global economy.

September 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Bilateral trade between India and Canada is expected to grow threefold in five years, according to Gerald Keddy, the parliamentary secretary to the North American country's international trade minister. "We are looking at a bilateral trade of $14 billion in the next five years," Keddy said at a press meet here Wednesday after inaugurating the Canada Trade Office.

August 5th, 2009 TORONTO - The Canadian dollar - the only among the major global currencies - is on the rampage, reaching its highest level against the US dollar in 2009 Tuesday. The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is called, reached almost 94 cents US for the first time since October 2009, raising concern about its impact on the country's economic recovery.

July 27th, 2009 Canada says tourism from US near all-time lowTORONTO — Canada's tourism association says the number of U.S. tourists visiting Canada is at a 37-year low and declining, mainly due to the recession, but stricter new U.S.

July 7th, 2009 EU tells nations to curb deficitsBRUSSELS — The European Union on Tuesday gave Poland, Hungary, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania two- and three-year deadlines to curb their budget deficits, which have been swollen by the world financial crisis and its fallout in Eastern Europe. EU finance ministers gave Poland and Latvia until 2012 to bring the yearly gap between government spending and revenue under the maximum 3 percent of gross domestic product.

July 3rd, 2009 Canada finance minister says unemployment to riseTORONTO — Canada's finance minister said Friday that the country's economic recovery will likely be modest and job losses will mount into 2010 even after growth has begun. Jim Flaherty gave his most recent, sobering assessment of economic prospects in a conference call from Chile, after a meeting with finance ministers from the Americas.

July 2nd, 2009 Canada forgives debt owed by HaitiOTTAWA — Canada has forgiven 2.3 million Canadian dollars ($2 million) in debt owed by Haiti as part of the federal government's plan to relieve impoverished and heavily indebted countries. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday the debt relief will let Haiti spend its scarce resources on its priorities instead of its liabilities.

June 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Cooking gas connections for 75 percent of the population, CNG network expansion to 200 cities, SMS booking for gas cylinders and biometric cards for kerosene users are some of the elements of the petroleum ministry's vision paper for 2015. The document, Vision-2015 for Consumer Satisfaction and Beyond", was finalised Friday night at a conclave of chief executives of public sector oil companies in Goa.

June 5th, 2009 Canada refuses US Guantanamo requestTORONTO — Canada has refused a request from the Obama administration to take men cleared for release from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

June 1st, 2009 Canadian PM says country had to bail out GMTORONTO — Canada's prime minister says the country would have lost hundreds of thousands of jobs if it hadn't joined with the U.S. government in bailing out General Motors.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Promising enhanced spending on infrastructure projects, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said all such ongoing projects will be revisited, and recalibrated when required, to achieve the desired results. "My government will have to focus on implementing and strengthening the infrastructure investments," the finance minister said in his maiden press conference after taking oath as senior-most minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet last week.

May 8th, 2009 Union says CAW, GM Canada being pushed to talkTORONTO — The head of the Canadian Auto Workers says the Canadian and Ontario governments are pressing the union to resume labor negotiations with General Motors Canada or risk losing government financial assistance. Ken Lewenza said Thursday that the governments have set a deadline of May 15 for the two sides to agree on a new pact.

May 5th, 2009 Canada to talk trade despite EU seal product banTORONTO — Canada's trade minister says a European Parliament ban of Canadian seal products won't prevent Canada and the EU from agreeing on a wide-ranging free-trade agreement. The European Parliament voted Tuesday to ban imports of seal products in an effort to force Canada to end its annual seal hunt.