Fiat would 'fully utilize' Chrysler Canada's plants, CEO says

Italian automaker Fiat SpA plans to make full use of Chrysler Canada's plants when it buys a major stake in the ailing North American automaker, CEO Sergio Marchionne said Friday.

Fiat officials have toured Chrysler's assembly lines in southern Ontario and concluded that they're efficient operations that churn out high-quality products, Marchionne said .

"We have a large commitment to fully utilize these assets, and the opportunity is going to be visible relatively quickly about what can be done here," he told reporters after giving a speech in Montreal.

Germany OKs Magna bid to acquire GM's Opel

An employee of General Motors' German unit Opel works on a Corsa at the Opel plant in the eastern German town of Eisenach earlier this month. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters)

Canfor to close 3 B.C. mills, lay off 570 workers

B.C.'s struggling forestry sector has been hit with another big blow — forestry giant Canfor announced Friday that it's closing three sawmills in the B.C. Interior indefinitely and laying off about 570 workers.

The Vavenby mill north of Kamloops, the Radium mill in southeastern B.C. and the Rustad mill in Prince George will shut down once existing log inventories are processed and finished products are shipped, the company said in a statement.

GM says debtholders support new revamp plan

General Motors Corp. said a group of its debtholders are supporting a new proposal that would see them get 10 per cent of the equity in a revamped GM, plus warrants to acquire another 15 per cent stake.

GM said an unofficial committee of bondholders is backing the proposal.

Under the proposal, a new GM would be created that would acquire the assets from the current GM after a restructuring under bankruptcy protection.

The U.S. Treasury would hold 72.5 per cent of the new GM, while a United Auto Workers benefit trust would hold a 17.5 per cent stake. The remaining 10 per cent would go to current GM debtholders.

Federal officials reveal $2.2B deficit for fiscal year

A $3.6-billion deficit in March sent the federal government $2.2 billion into the red for the 2008-09 fiscal year, officials said Friday.

The latest reading on the status of the government's coffers comes just days after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the deficit for the current 2009-10 fiscal year is projected to hit more than $50 billion.

For the 2007-08 fiscal year, the government ran a surplus of $11.4 billion.

In its monthly fiscal monitor released Friday, the Finance Department said the government slipped into the hole in March as its budgetary revenues fell $3.1 billion, or 14.4 per cent, from March 2008, due to declines in tax revenues.

RBC loses $50M in Q2 due to U.S. economic fallout

Royal Bank 3-month TSX chart

A $1-billion goodwill impairment charge related to its U.S. business pushed Royal Bank to a second-quarter loss of $50 million, the bank said Friday.

Oil prices could shoot beyond 2008 peak by 2012: Saudi Arabia

Oil prices could soar above previous records within "the next two or three years" because of a lack of exploration capacity now, said the Saudi oil minister in Rome on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali al-Naimi said current low prices are discouraging the search for new oil in the ongoing recession. Energy prices, however, can jump quickly with the greater demand associated with an economic recovery, he said.