R&D spending down 3.8%: survey
Toronto: Investment in research and development in Canada declined last year by 3.8% among the top-spending corporations, says a survey.

"The corporate sector is not positioning itself for the future," stated Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource Inc., which conducted the study.

The unit of the Impact Group strategic planning consultancy found Canada's top-100 R&D companies invested $11.4 billion in 2006, with the decline coming after two years of modest growth.

The top companies maintained their positions although six of the nine biggest spenders reported reductions.

Nortel Networks Corp. maintained its hold in first place with R&D expenditures of $2.2 billion, off 2.2% from the previous year.

BCE Inc. remained second at $1.4 billion, down 13 per cent.

Magna International Inc. cut its R&D by 20.8% but stayed third on the list at $652.1 million.

Pratt & Whitney Canada, a unit of US-based United Technologies Corp., was fourth and showed a 1.9% increase to $481 million.

ATI Technologies Inc., now owned by US-based Advanced Micro Devices, was fifth at $458.2 million, up 1.5%, followed by IBM Canada with $360 million, Alcan Inc. at $249.5 million, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. at $246.1 million and Bombardier Inc. with $196.2 million.

Research intensity�R&D spending as a proportion of revenue�softened to 3.5%, compared with 3.7% in 2005.

Visit www.researchinfosource.com.

Canadian Press

Dumb rules worsening border delays: Beatty
Washington: American security officials have finally bought into the idea of high-tech driver's licences as alternatives to passports at the Canada-US border. But Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, complained that they're still not collaborating properly with Canada on border technology.

That means wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on security systems that can't talk to each other, said Beatty.

The US Homeland Security Department is expected to identify enhanced driver's licences as complying with their new security measures when they publish a final rule on passports.

Beatty warned the border is more clogged than ever and is threatening Canada�s economic security.

Canada has long advocated cutting red tape and fees for businesses while expanding bridges and other infrastructure built two generations ago, when two-way trade was a fraction of the $1 million a minute that it is now.

The so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership struck between Canada, the US and Mexico in 2005 was supposed to do just that.

But there's been little progress on the massive undertaking amid criticism the process is elitist and claims that there are secret plans to integrate the three countries, giving rise to the urban myth of a fictitious "North American superhighway."

The US and Canadian governments have been distracted, said Beatty, and American election politics aren�t helping.

On the plus side, the Homeland Security Department has accepted the principle of enhanced driver's licences that denote citizenship in lieu of passports at land crossings, said Beatty.

A trial run at several crossings between BC and Washington state is no longer referred to as a pilot project but a "prototype," he said.

The US department has also struck deals on high-technology licences with other states, including New York, Arizona and Vermont.

Canadian Press

Hearst plywood mill getting $3M upgrade
Hearst, ON: North American hardwood plywood producer Columbia Forest Products, a private company based in Portland, Ore., says it will invest $3 million to upgrade its hardwood plywood mill in Hearst, Ont.

The investment comes as the company shuts down a particleboard mill in the northern Ontario community, with the loss of 83 jobs.

Columbia said it plans to buy an automatic wood-patching line, which will significantly improve hardwood plywood production, allowing the company to be more competitive and respond more quickly to market demands.

"This facility is essential to our company-wide mission to produce the greenest, most sustainable products in the industry..." said Tim Schallich, Columbia's general manager of Canadian operations.

The US company said the patching line investment was helped by a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Prosperity Fund. As well, the company benefited by wage cuts agreed to in January by all Columbia employees at the Hearst operations.

The company employs about 530 people in Canada.

Canadian Press

Poor markets force West Fraser mill closure
Vancouver: West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has announced the indefinite shutdown of its Skeena Sawmills facility in Terrace, BC, citing poor market conditions.

The plant employs 80 hourly workers and 20 salaried staff.

"This was a very difficult decision for the company to make, but unfortunately it has become necessary due to current market conditions," said Lou Poulin, general manager of Skeena Sawmills.

"These conditions include low US housing starts and the unprecedented and rapid rise in the value of the Canadian dollar."

West Fraser is uncertain about the length of the shutdown, saying any start-up of the facility will be determined by market conditions.

Skeena Sawmills produces 90 million board feet of dimension lumber annually on a one-shift basis.

Canadian Press

Trucks to get Azure hybrid powertrains
Oak Park, Mich.:Azure Dynamics Corp. has signed a supply deal with Kidron Inc. to sell Azure's low-emission electric power systems through the North American refrigerated truck body market.

Kidron is a division of VT Specialized Vehicles Corp.

The agreement lets Toronto-based Azure provide Kidron with low-emission electric power systems for installation in their refrigerated truck and truck body units. Kidron will sell the equipment through its direct sales force and distribution channels across North America.

Canadian Press

Exide, Ballard sign forklift energy deal
Vancouver: Ballard Power Systems Inc. has signed a deal with Exide Technologies to develop an on-board hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell and lead-acid battery energy system for the forklift truck market.

Georgia-based Exide, one of the world's largest producers and recyclers of lead-acid batteries, said it will exclusively use Ballard fuel cells to meet all its hydrogen fuel cell needs over the next five years.

The deal is for use of Ballard's Mark1020 fuel cells and Exide's Element valve lead-acid batteries.

The Mark1020 fuel cell is primarily used for stationary telecommunications backup power, but is also suitable for motive power applications, the company said.

Ballard said initial prototypes of the hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell battery system will be delivered to the US Department of Defense.

Canadian Press

Two textile mills under creditor protection
Saint John, NB: Two northern textile mills that have been injected with almost $80 million in provincial funds are now under court-ordered creditor protection as the company that owns them stitches together a corporate restructuring plan.

The Court of Queen's Bench in Saint John has appointed Robert Smith of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the monitor of Atholville-based Atlantic Yarns Inc. and Pokemouche-based Atlantic Fine Yarns.

The mills have been given protection to allow their parent company to restructure its business without the risk of creditors demanding repayments.

Smith said the company plans to stay in business over the long term. The protection order is for 30 days, however, he said it's very likely the restructuring process will take longer and require an extension.

The company is blaming its situation on the soaring Canadian dollar and the continued failure of the Canadian government to secure bilateral trade deals with certain Central and South American countries.

Canadian Press

Suncor Energy cuts production outlook
Calgary: Suncor Energy Inc., one of Canada's major integrated oil and gas companies, is cutting its production outlook by about 10% after third-quarter profit slipped to $677 million from a year-earlier $682 million as maintenance outages reduced oil sands sales and increased refined product purchases.

Calgary-based Suncor is targeting an annual production average of 240,000 to 245,000 barrels per day, from a previous forecast of 260,000 to 270,000.

"Sales were down in oil sands due to a planned maintenance outage in July that impacted production rates, while refined product purchases were increased to ensure customer requirements were met during a planned outage at the Sarnia(Ont.) refinery in September," the company said.

Those negative factors were partly offset by higher prices for oil sands products.

"If you [remove] the impact of the maintenance work, you'll see that from an operational perspective, both our oil sands operation and our downstream businesses had a good quarter," CEO Rick George said.

He said production at oil sands and downstream utilization rates were fairly strong the first nine months of 2007, compared with the first nine months of 2006.

Suncor's total upstream production averaged 274,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 277,400 boe per day in the third quarter of 2006. Oil sands production contributed 239,100 barrels a day, down from 242,800.

In Suncor's natural gas business, production was 211 million cubic feet equivalent per day, up from 208 million. But George said the company had been expecting better.

"On the natural gas side of our business, we have been disappointed with the returns generated, year to date," he said, blaming it on industry issues such as lower gas prices.

Canadian Press

Husky Energy integrating Ohio gasoline refinery
Calgary: Husky Energy Inc. expects its newly acquired gasoline refinery in Ohio to be fully integrated by the end of this year, allowing the Calgary integrated oil and gas producer to process heavy crude oil and bitumen from Canada as primary feedstocks.

The company will announce the full integration of the Lima refinery during the first quarter of 2008, likely in January or February after it finishes updating the processing operation's computer systems, said Husky CEO John Lau.

Contributions from the Lima refinery coupled with continued high commodity prices will yield "another record year" in 2007, he said.

A small fire in an electrical substation during the summer shut down a portion of the Lima refinery. Husky used the stoppage to clean out a number of heat exchangers that were "bottlenecking the facility," said Ron Peabody, Husky�s chief operating officer, operations and refining.

"We're now running that facility at about 155,000 barrels a day," said Peabody, noting Husky has been slowly making up the shortfall from that 16- day period.

The Calgary-based company has been looking at options to reconfigure and expand the Lima refinery to integrate heavy oil and bitumen, which would dovetail with its production from the soon-to-be completed Sunrise oil sands project in northern Alberta.

Canadian Press

CC&L invests in BC hydro plant
Toronto: Asset management group Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group will kick off its new investment wing, which partly focuses on energy development, with a $500-million placement in a hydroelectric project in BC. It also plans for expansion in other provinces, including Alberta and Ontario.

The Toronto-based firm said its new business, Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure Ltd., will start by investing in a construction-stage, run-of-river 150-megawatt hydro project that would be among the largest of its kind in the country.

The project will connect six run-ofriver projects that tie into one substation at the north end of Harrison Lake, near Vancouver.

CC&L Infrastructure has provided all of the equity capital alongside developers. The Harrison Lake project is contracted for 40 years to provide power to BC Hydro and should start operating by the end of 2010, the firm said.

CC&L president Matt O�Brien sees the potential for new projects across Canada, especially in Ontario where a "huge amount" of development is needed.

"Ontario is probably in the most dif- ficult position among Canadian provinces in terms of the supply-demand balance for power," he said.

"Much of the growth is going to come in renewable resources of power�wind, hydro and possibly some biomass�but those likely won't be the solution in and of themselves. Some of the solution is going to have to come from nuclear and existing coal capacity."

Canadian Press

Alberta turning up wind-generated power
Calgary: Alberta hopes to nearly quadruple the share of wind-generated electricity in the province.

With the end of a 900-megawatt cap on the generation of wind power, Energy Minister Mel Knight said an unfettered free market breeze could now blow the proportion of wind energy from 4% later this year up to as much as 15% by 2025.

Today, the national average among the provinces is one per cent wind power.

A million-dollar study of wind forecasting puts the province in a better position to generate wind power reliably and with greater stability, rendering the cap moot, said the energy minister.

The move is a huge step in breaking the bottleneck of generation proposals that now total about 5,500 megawatts, said Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association.

Currently, turbines in the province produce about 450 megawatts.

"There is tremendous interest in taking advantage of Alberta's wind resources," said Hornung.

Most of the generation will be done in the province's breezy south, but he said the construction of transmission lines remains a hurdle that must be cleared before realizing that potential.

Calgary Sun

Bombardier launches new Learjet
Wichita, Kan.: Bombardier Aerospace will launch a new Learjet aircraft, provisionally named Learjet NXT.

The Montreal-based company said the new jets provide a larger, more comfortable cabin than any existing midsize aircraft and target a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.82.

"Development of this all-new jet with a group of international collaborators continues to progress well, and we are on target for a public unveiling of the next Learjet business jet in October 2008, in time to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the first flight of a Learjet aircraft," stated Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace.

The company said it has already received "in excess of 65 letters of intent for this aircraft, which we expect to successfully convert into firm orders over the coming months."

Canadian Press

Magellan's 2007 orders hit $50M
Toronto: Aerospace industry supplier Magellan Aerospace says orders for its proprietary products in 2007 will reach a record $50 million.

The majority of the orders are for solid-propellant rocket motors and small satellite platforms, the company said.

Magellan also makes large, complex aeroengine components and aerostructure assemblies.

Canadian Press

New Flyer logs $624M in bus orders
Winnipeg: New Flyer Industries Inc. has received orders for up to 1,180 buses for a combined value in excess of US$624 million.

The Winnipeg company said of the new orders, 794 buses are firm, 386 are options and they include a variety of vehicles, including 35- to 60-foot buses with diesel, hybrid-electric, natural gas and fuel-cell propulsion systems.

The largest order is from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which has approved an order for 400, 40-foot hybrid buses with options for up to an additional 80 buses.

The order brings that transportation authority's bus order from New Flyer to more than 1,100 since 2000.

BC Transit in Victoria also placed an order to build North America's first commercial fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell buses.

New Flyer, Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems and ISE Corp. will manufacture and deliver 20, 40-foot hydrogen fuel-cell buses for delivery by the end of 2009.

Canadian Press

Campaign urges military to buy Canadian
Winnipeg: Thousands of postcards have been sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding the federal government rethink a military bus contract.

Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers put together the campaign after the Department of National Defence awarded a $14-million bus contract to a German company.

Setra, a division of auto manufacturer Daimler-Chrysler, offered to make 30 troop-carrying buses for about $2,000 less per bus than a competing bid from Winnipeg- based Motor Coach Industries.

"For the price of a set of tires, Stephen Harper chose to sell out 1,000 Manitoba workers," Martin said.

The protesters are asking Ottawa to yank the German contract and re-tender it.

Manitoba senior MP Vic Toews said his office has encouraged the Winnipeg company to appeal the contract through the Canadian Internal Trade Tribunal if it feels the contract was not awarded properly.

Martin, however, said the government should have used its made-in- Canada procurement policy to award the contract to Motor Coach or accept another bid from a Quebec firm.

Motor Coach has estimated about $2.5 million in economic spin-offs were lost when the contract was awarded to Setra.

Winnipeg Free Press

TriMas closing, 163 jobs lost
Huntsville, Ont.: A Huntsville, Ont. factory that manufactures trailer hitch products will shut down at the end of the year, putting 163 people out of a job.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based TriMas Corp. says it will move production to one of its plants in Goshen, Ind.

Company executive Edward Schwartz said the move was necessary in order to help the company become more cost competitive and to better serve its customers.

Canadian Free Press