Financial Update

Energy stocks help TSX claw back losses; N.Y. weak on Alcoa earnings- The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market closed sharply higher Tuesday following a steep loss as energy stocks revived and financials advanced after Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) bought a piece of troubled U.S. insurer American International Group.

· TSX +168.22 to 8961.55
· DOW -25.41 pts to 8448.56
· Dollar 0.8224 USD
· Oil +$1.09to $38.87 per barrel.
· Gold +$4.30 to $825.00 USD per ounce
· www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/bond-look.html Canadian bond prices

Oilsands on agenda for Obama visit: Harper

Renata D'Aliesio and Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald Published: Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The oilsands will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with Barack Obama on his first foreign trip as president of the United States.

Harper told a local morning radio show today that his Conservative government wants to work together with its southern neighbour on energy and environmental issues, and he'll stress this point when Obama travels to Canada soon after his Jan. 20 inauguration as America's 44th president.

The prime minister acknowledged there are concerns about the environmental footprint of the oilsands -- the largest industrial development in Canada.

"To be frank on the oilsands, we've got to do a better job environmentally. We hear a lot of pressure on that," Harper said.

"At the same time, the development of these things is pretty important, in our judgment, to North American energy security. So I think there's balance to be seen there."

Harper, who said he's "delighted" Obama has chosen Canada as his first foreign visit, pointed out the United States has its own environmental challenges related to energy production.

"The United States is a big country for coal-powered electrical generation. That's pretty dirty, too," the prime minister said.

Harper is in Calgary today meeting with a dozen heavy hitters from the business community. He held a 60- to 90-minute meeting at the Harry Hays building downtown to get their input on what sort of economic stimulus should be in the Jan. 27 federal budget.

Those included in the business round table are oilpatch giants Randy Eresman from EnCana, Murray Edwards of Canadian Natural Resources, Hal Kvisle from TransCanada, Rick George from Suncor and Ron Brenneman from Petro-Canada. Also taking part in the meeting are senior executives from other sectors, including Sean Durfy from WestJet, Steve Snyder of TransAlta, Nancy Southern from ATCO, Ron Mannix of Coril Holdings, Fred Green from Canadian Pacific Railway and George Gosbee of Tristone Capital.

It's the latest round of pre-budget consultations Ottawa is conducting with business leaders, labour groups and ordinary Canadians in advance of its fiscal blueprint. Harper has said the budget will be the biggest in a long time, while Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has promised extraordinary measures.

The prime minster told the Calgary radio station that his government is considering tax cuts for Canada's middle class and enhancements to the Employment Insurance program.

"It's a little difficult to do a temporary tax cut. How do you do a temporary tax cut? You don't want to be in a position of raising rates back up again," Harper said.

"But I do think we have to do something to make sure that the middle class is part of the budgetary package that we'll be bringing down, and that they're part of the recovery plan."
Harper reiterated plans to significantly boost infrastructure spending nationwide, but said he doesn't want to see long-run structural deficits.

"It is a time for the government to go in, borrow that money, put it to use, make sure the economic activity and confidence is sustained through what we think will be a difficult year or two," he said.

"The vast majority of spending that we will do, we will make sure is short term," he added. "We'll try and make sure there's not a big tail and we're not having deficits once the economy recovers. "