Bill Ackman, the U.S. activist investor who usurped the leadership of Canadian Pacific Railway in 2012, is leaving the Calgary company’s board after his hedge fund sold off its remaining stake last month. Ackman, who heads New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, joined CP’s board in 2012 and served on its finance and corporate governance […] Read more

U.S. activist investor Ackman leaves CP board

Farmers’ debt seen hitting fresh record high
Reuters — Canadian farmers’ debt will likely reach another record high this year, while land appreciation slows and incomes flatten, but the industry is still in strong financial shape, the country’s biggest agriculture lender, Farm Credit Canada, forecast on Tuesday. FCC, the federal Crown ag lending agency, sounded a note of caution for farmers, who […] Read more

ChemChina extends tender offers for Syngenta
Zurich | Reuters — ChemChina on Tuesday extended by almost two months the deadline for Syngenta investors to tender their shares as the Chinese company seeks to complete a US$43 billion takeover of the Swiss pesticides and seeds group. Investors in Basel-based Syngenta now have until Nov. 8 to tender their shares unless this is […] Read more
Smithfield says Illinois hog plant shut down after fire
Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods on Tuesday said a hog slaughterhouse in western Illinois will be operational as soon as possible after a fire halted pork production on Monday. “(The) cause of the fire is being investigated,” Smithfield spokeswoman Kathleen Kirkham said, adding that there were no injuries in the fire that occurred in […] Read more

Austria drops talk of ‘conflict’ over EU-Canada trade deal
Vienna | Reuters — Austria toned down its opposition to a free trade deal between the European Union and Canada on Friday, two days after social democrat Chancellor Christian Kern had vowed to start a “conflict” over the agreement. While the so-called CETA accord is all but sealed, the Austrian leader’s opposition reflects concerns widely […] Read more

Austria expects ‘conflict’ on Canada trade deal
Vienna | Reuters — Austria is ready to confront other European Union members states over its opposition to a free trade deal with Canada, Chancellor Christian Kern said, because it sees it containing many of the same problems as one being negotiated with the U.S. Austria opposes a proposed free trade deal with the United […] Read more

German activists take EU-Canada trade deal to Constitutional Court
Berlin | Reuters — Activists delivered what they said was Germany’s biggest-ever public complaint to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, hoping it will scupper a trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. The deal, which some see as a template for an EU-U.S. agreement still being negotiated, is the EU’s most ambitious trade pact […] Read more

Chile plans to send TPP deal to Congress this year
Santiago | Reuters — The Chilean government is expecting to send the Pacific trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to its Congress for approval by the end of 2016, President Michelle Bachelet said Thursday. The 12-nation TPP aims to liberalize commerce in 40 per cent of the world’s economy, but its future is […] Read more

Pettigrew tapped to help push through EU trade deal
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada has named a former politician with experience in trade and foreign affairs as the government’s new envoy to help complete its long-negotiated free trade agreement with the European Union, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. Pierre Pettigrew, who served as both minister of foreign affairs and minister for international trade under previous […] Read more

U.S. Senate judiciary committee to hold hearing on ag chem deals
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing in late September to discuss the mergers of Dow Chemical and Dupont as well as ChemChina’s purchase of Syngenta, committee chair Charles Grassley said in a statement Tuesday. Grassley, a Republican from the farm state of Iowa, has already expressed concern that […] Read more