http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/world/canada/canada-today-economy-currency.html 2016-10-14 22:40:43 Canada Today: Economic Bright Spots, and Some Disquieting Mail Thomson Reuters, the global digital information company, said it would move its senior executives to Toronto, and two automakers made deals with Canadian plants. === We’re trying something new: For some time now, writing about Canada’s economy has been less than uplifting. The collapse of energy prices continues to weigh not only on the western part of the country but also other regions, like Atlantic Canada, which supplied much of the oil-sands labor force during the good times. BlackBerry, once the symbol of Canadian technology prowess, continues to shrivel and is The weaker currency was at least supposed to give a boost to Canadian factories by effectively making their products less expensive for buyers in the United States and elsewhere. So far, though, the results there have been mixed. But the past week did bring two pieces of good economic news. Thomson Reuters, the global digital information company controlled by Canada’s Thomson family, The announcement was indirectly linked to BlackBerry. The skills of graduates from the University of Waterloo helped draw Thomson Reuters to Canada; Mike Lazaridis, a co-founder of BlackBerry, studied at Waterloo. The other bright spot came from old-fashioned manufacturing. In its current contract negotiations with Detroit-based automakers, the big trade union Unifor has set preserving jobs in Canadian factories as its central objective, and is showing some results. After persuading The two automakers, unlike Thomson Reuters, will be looking to various levels of government to provide some of the money to be invested in the plants. If the federal government signs on, the decision may be criticized in hard-hit western provinces, particularly Alberta, if no corresponding aid is offered to the energy industry. The Coinage. Return to sender. Portrait. Succession. Here are some stories, not necessarily related to Canada, that I found interesting: • While their numbers have declined, bicycle couriers are still around, and they hold an • As we increasingly interact with computers by speaking to them, • China’s attempts at shaming and A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for more than a decade. Follow him on Twitter at