Statistics Canada has shared the August edition which includes a summary of selected Canadian economic events, as well as international and financial market developments.

Resources

  • The Government of Canada announced it had signed a Joint Declaration of Intent with Germany committing the two countries to collaboration in the export of Canadian hydrogen to Germany. The Government said the Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance will commit the two countries to:
    • Enabling investment in hydrogen projects through policy harmonization;
    • Supporting the development of hydrogen supply chains;
    • Establishing a transatlantic Canada–Germany supply corridor; and
    • Exporting Canadian hydrogen by 2025.
  • Pacific Energy Corporation Limited, part of the Singapore-based RGE group of companies, and Enbridge Inc. of Calgary announced an agreement to jointly invest in the construction and operation of the Woodfibre LNG project, a $5.1 billion storage and export facility being built near Squamish, British Columbia. The companies said Enbridge will invest in a 30% ownership stake and that the project is expected to be in service in 2027.
  • Vancouver-based West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. announced it was permanently curtailing approximately 170 million board feet of combined production at its Fraser Lake and Williams Lake sawmills and approximately 85 million square feet of plywood production at its Quesnel Plywood mill due to increasing challenges in accessing available timber in British Columbia and ongoing transportation constraints. The company said that the reduction in capacity is expected to impact 147 combined positions and will occur over the course of the fourth quarter of 2022.

Manufacturing

  • The Government of Canada announced partnerships in the form of memoranda of understanding with Volkswagen AG and Mercedes-Benz AG of Germany.
  • Valcourt, Quebec-based BRP Inc. announced that on August 8th it had been the target of malicious cybersecurity activity and that operations had been suspended temporarily. On August 15th, BRP said that efforts to restore systems and business operations were continuing and that manufacturing sites in Valcourt; Rovaniemi, Finland; Sturtevant, U.S.; and Gunskirchen, Austria were ramping up production activities and were expected to be fully operational on August 16th. BRP added that the rest of the production sites were planning to resume operations over the course of the week.

Transportation

  • Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd. announced the return of 17 sun and leisure routes to the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States that had been suspended during the pandemic.
  • Montreal-based TFI International Inc. announced it had signed a definitive agreement to sell Contract Freighters, Inc.’s Truckload, Temp Control, and Mexican non-asset logistics business to Heartland Express, Inc. of Iowa for USD $525 million. TFI said the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of usual and customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Other news

  • Bermuda-based Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. announced it had signed a definitive agreement with Intel Corporation of California to invest up to USD $15 billion for a 49% stake in Intel’s manufacturing expansion at its Ocotillo campus in Arizona. Brookfield said the closing of the transaction is targeted for the end of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
  • Waterloo, Ontario-based Open Text Corporation announced it had reached an agreement on the terms of an all-cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Micro Focus International plc of the U.K. for an enterprise value of USD $6 billion. OpenText said the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to shareholder, antitrust, and foreign investment approvals.
  • Toronto-based Hudson’s Bay Company announced that retailer Zellers will debut a new e-commerce site and open shop-in-shops in select Hudson’s Bay stores in early 2023.

United States and other international news

  • On August 9th, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (H.R. 4346), which supports domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, semiconductor workforce development, international information and communications technology security, and semiconductor supply chain activities; and establishes an investment tax credit for investments in semiconductor manufacturing, among others.
  • OPEC and non-OPEC members announced they had decided to adjust upward the production level by 0.100 mb/d for the month of September 2022.
  • Idaho-based Micron Technology, Inc announced plans to invest USD $40 billion through the end of the decade to build memory manufacturing in multiple phases in the U.S. Micron said it expects to begin production in the second half of the decade.

Source: Statistics Canada