Even Ford Motor Co. is concerned about Canadians’ car loan debt + MORE Mar 31st

Bombardier Aerospace office workers and a major international union are working to organize three plants in the Montreal area that make commercial and business jets.
A spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers says it was approached by employees who are frustrated by cuts to benefits, outsourcing to low-cost countries, increased work loads and lack of job security.
The Machinists union currently represents 4,500 shop floor workers at the plants and is aiming to sign about 2,000 more employees who do office work.
Union representative Dave Chartrand says the Bombardier workers are fed up about lacking a voice as the company has shed jobs in an effort to improve its financial health.
Chartrand says workers were angered by this week’s news that compensation for Bombardier’s five top executives and executive board chairman went up by nearly 50 per cent last year.
Bombardier spokesman Bryan Tucker said the union drive is a matter it will “manage internally, not in public…

A judge on Friday approved an agreement for U.S. President Donald Trump to pay $25 million US to settle lawsuits over his now-defunct Trump University, ending nearly seven years of legal battles with customers who claimed they were misled by failed promises to teach success in real estate.

Ontario’s finance minister says he will introduce legislation to allow financial services regulators to better collect fines, such as those levied against unscrupulous advisers.
Charles Sousa says self-regulatory bodies in the investment industry would be allowed to file their decisions with the court.
He says that will improve their ability both to collect outstanding fines and deter potential offenders from wrongdoing in the first place.
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada says the legislation would strengthen investor protection and send a strong message to those who would abuse the trust of their clients.
The organization says there are nearly $20 million in outstanding fines in Ontario dating back to 2008.
Senior advocacy organization CARP, which has called for the changes, says fines are a critical tool to discourage unethical behaviour such as embezzlement and pushing unsuitable high-risk investments, but a fine that cannot be collected is “meaningless…

A judge on Friday approved an agreement for President Donald Trump to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits over his now-defunct Trump University, ending nearly seven years of legal battles with customers who claimed they were misled by failed promises to teach success in real estate.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego settles two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Trump had vowed never to settle but said after the election that he didn’t have time for a trial, even though he believed he would have prevailed. Under terms of the settlement, he admits no wrongdoing.
Neither the White House nor Trump’s attorneys immediately responded to requests for comment on the ruling.
The lawsuits alleged that Trump University gave nationwide seminars that were like infomercials, constantly pressuring people to spend more and, in the end, failing to deliver.
The controversy dogged the Republican businessman throughout the campaign as rivals used Trump’s depositions and extensive documents filed in the lawsuits to portray him as dishonest and deceitful…

F-150 pickup trucks on the lot at a Ford dealership. (David Zalubowski/AP/CP)
Ford Motor Co. has joined financial regulators in raising concerns over Canadians’ appetites for longer-term loans to finance the purchase of new vehicles.
Regulators have warned in recent years about debt-burdened consumers taking advantage of loan offers that leave them in a negative-equity situation where they owe more on the car than it’s actually worth.
Mark Buzzell, chief executive officer of Ford Canada, told media in an interview at the Vancouver auto show this week, that Canadian automakers are selling 41% of their vehicles with loans of six or more years. It’s not uncommon to see loans stretch out to eight or nine years, with interest rates still sitting at near-record lows.
Ford says it is moving to reduce the number of sales it makes at longer terms, but it’s hard when the rest of the industry is doing so. “We really are trying to limit the trade cycles to shorter terms, but at the end of the day we have to stay competitive,” Buzzell told Bloomberg News…