The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 46

C8 WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 17. 2014 MONTREAL GAZETTE 5 0 I r- VI' 9 9J aj a l- i A (' I A I 1 1 1 Bombardier to fix i ownership of condos is at approximately 2.3 per cent in Vancouver, darryl dycktbb Canadian press files A CMHC study suggests that foreign oreign ownership condo data doublet Quebec shale gas, to be left unused Couillard says risks outweigh benefits for now Industry figures question validity of first CMHC study of its kind Italian trains Bombardier's rail division has won part of a 10-year contract to maintain a new fleet of very high-speed trains for Trenitalia. The Montreal-based company says Bombardier Transportation's share is worth about $191 million U.S. The Frecciarossa 1000 trains are manufactured in partnership with Ansal-doBreda, an Italian rail equipment manufacturer, and are scheduled to start operations next year.

Hibernia said to hold 1.6B barrels The federal-provincial regulator for Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry says there is more oil in the Hibernia offshore site than previously estimated. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board says Hibernia is now estimated to have 1.644 billion barrels of oil. That's up from its previous 2010 estimate of 1.395 billion barrels of oil. Mattamy nears deal for builder Mattamy Homes Ltd. has a tentative agreement to pay about $330 million cash for the Canadian division of U.S.

home builder Taylor Morrison Home Corp. The deal is subject to approval by the Competition Bureau but is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. Mattamy says it will then work with Monarch over the following months to integrate the two organizations. The addition of Ontario-based Monarch will solidify Mattamy's position as Canada's largest home builder. Manufacturing sales decline Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 0.6 per in October to $52.7 billion, the second drop this year.

October's decline was slightly more than the 0.4 per cent loss that economists had estimated according to Thomson Reuters. Statistics Canada says the drop was due to lower production of aerospace products and parts. Airbus picks new executive Airbus Group NV appointed Tom Williams to succeed Guenter Butschek as chief operating officer of the airliner unit, shifting management as the manufacturer seeks to upgrade commercial models and turn around its military unit. Williams, 62, will take his new post and join the group executive committee on Jan. 1, Toulouse, France-based Airbus said in a statement Tuesday.

Butschek, who joined the company in 2011, will leave Airbus to pursue other opportunities, the plane maker said. Fiat's Chrysler Group is now FCA Chrysler Group LLC has changed its name to FCA US LLC. The change will be largely unnoticed by consumers, affecting mostly corporate and financial communications. Chrysler-branded cars will continue to bear the Chrysler badge, as those branded Fiat will bear the Fiat badge. The move was part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' renaming of its mass-market brands.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles becomes FCA Italy SpA. concentration of foreign ownership in downtown pockets of Canada's three largest cities. The survey found that downtown Montreal and neighbouring Nun's Island had a foreign ownership rate of 6.9 per cent to lead the country. Vancouver's Burrard Peninsula had 5.8 per cent penetration, while in Toronto's core it was 4.3 per cent. The overall numbers were much lower with Toronto leading with 2.4 per cent of all its condominium apartments foreign-owned; Vancouver second at 2.3 per cent; followed by Montreal at 1.5 per cent.

Next was Victoria (1.1 per cent), Ottawa (0.7 per cent), Quebec City (0.6 per cent), Saskatoon (0.3 per cent), Calgary (0.2 per cent) and Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg (each at 0.1 per cent). To comprise its data, CMHC asked property managers to provide information on the number of condo apartment units owned by people whose permanent residence is outside of Canada. The move came after the Crown corporation was criticized for conducting a survey of the Toronto and Vancouver condo markets that left out the all -important foreign ownership question. CMHC's president, Evan Siddall, has committed to erasing some of the "data gaps" relating to ownership by non-residents. "I think it's better to say something, if you know something, than nothing at all and waitforthe perfect answer," said Dugan.

One of the general fears of foreign ownership is that a sudden sell-off of condominiums by nonresidents, driven by events outside of Canada, could trigger a collapse in the sector. But Brad Lamb, a developer with projects in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa, said the numbers produced by CMHC don't come close to what he sees in his sales office. "I don't think the number is accurate and there is no way you can get a true reading on foreign ownership unless you mandate everyone to come out and disclose what they own," said Lamb. "If a silly statistic. What they have produced has zero value." Lamb said the concern is misplaced because the foreigners buying real estate today have their money parked in Canada because they want an investment in a stable climate.

He added foreign investment has helped create demand in the condo sector and keep it strong. There is little doubt that condos, which foreigners have been buying, are a key component of the rental market in Canada. In the markets surveyed by CMHC, rental condo units totalled 216,007 of the total 1,286,148 apartments, with the share is growing. Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist with CIBC, said foreign ownership levels in the condo market would probably be higher, depending how the investment is calculated. "Is it a pure foreign investment? They are talking no connection whatsoever to Canada.

No family member here. Nothing," said Tal, adding in many cases you have someone living here with the money coming from abroad. "The number is higher, if they include that." the Bank of Canada survey to share their views on how Canadian bank notes exclude women. The Bank of Canada is also inviting Canadians to participate in an online public consultation for a commemorative bank note to mark the country's 150th birthday in 2017. The Canadian Press GARRY MARR FINANCIAL POST TORONTO Foreign ownership in the housing market has become a bit of a bogeyman for people who fear a real estate collapse, so Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

set out to identify whether it really is an issue. Now that the results are in, there's just one problem: Few people believe them. The Crown corporation Tuesday published the first statistics on foreign ownership of condos, based on its semi-annual rental survey. In the 11 major markets tracked, there was a broad range, from a high of 2.4 per cent in Toronto and 2.3 per cent in Vancouver to a low of only one-tenth of a percentage point in several cities. It found to find some pockets of the country, certain parts of Montreal, for example, had Canada's highest concentration of rental condos under foreign ownership at 6.9 per cent.

"This is the first time we've done anything like this so it's hard to draw too many conclusions," said Bob Dugan, chief economist with CMHC. "It's a pretty good first measure, especially because condos are a pretty good way to capture foreign investors. We're not trying to say it's an exhaustive measure of foreign activity. It is a data gap and people are concerned about it. So our approach is if we have one of pieces of the puzzle, let's put it out there." CMHC did find there was a larger Canadians want more women on money: poll OTTAWA The results of a new online survey suggest many Canadians would like to see women better represented on bank notes.

The Bank of Canada poll asked for input on how bills could best reflect the country the top responses included more gender equality and a better celebration of women. Nearly 2,000 people weighed in from across the country in October and November but the central bank says it was not intended to be a scientific or a representative survey. The questionnaire comes after women's groups were critical of the central bank for removing the so-called Famous Five women on the $50 note in the most-recent series Premier Philippe Couillard has ruled out exploiting Quebec's shale gas reserves at le ast for now. Quebecers are Largely against hydraulic fracturinig and exploiting the natural resomrce in today's market is not economically viable, he said Tuesday. Couillard made tthe comments shortly after Quebec's environmental review board concluded the ecological and social risks associated with hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," outweigh the financial benefits.

Fracking is a process whereby a pressurized fluid is injected into Philippe Couillard shale rock in order to crack the rock and release underground natural gas deposits. The environmental agency noted that fracking risks contaminating surface and underground water basins and that citizens living along the St. Lawrence River, where the deposits are located, are against the practice. "I don't think that there is much interest in developing this resource, uniquely on the economic side," Couillard told Radio-Canada. "And in any case, the social acceptability (for fracking) is not there." Quebec imposed a moratorium on drilling exploratory fracking wells in 2011.

Couillard didn't close the door to fracking in the future, however, and said his government is not opposed to developing the province's energy resources. Quebec last May launched what it called a "strategic environmental assessment" of the province's natural resources. The government's assessment includes a review of major energy projects that have been proposed such as TransCanada's Energy East pipeline and the project to reverse the flow of Enbridge's 9B oil pipeline. The review is also studying the potential to drill for oil on Quebec's Anticosti Island. The final report is due in the fall of 2015.

The Canadian Press -SIX, I i 4 1 A new survey suggests Canadians want to see women better represented on bank notes, sean kilpatrickthe Canadian press files of polymer bills. The website for an online petition protesting the omission says it has gathered more than 52,000 signatures from people concerned about the shortage of women on bank-note designs. In a posting last month on the petition website, organizer Merna Forster encouraged people to take.