Talking points: On Olympic pains and cut-rate planes + MORE Jun 28th

A high-angle view of Vancouver’s False Creek real estate as seen from the Fairview Slopes neighbourhood, Vancouver, B.C., February 24, 2016. (Bayne Stanley/CP)
1. It’s time to act on Vancouver’s housing crisis
In typical Canadian fashion, Finance Minister Bill Morneau will create a working group to study skyrocketing house prices in Toronto and Vancouver. He had better hurry. The cost of owning the average Vancouver bungalow now eats up a mind-bending 120 per cent of a median family’s income, according to RBC, and Toronto is not far behind at 71 per cent. No wonder Vancouver’s mayor wants to slap a speculation tax on empty homes—unilaterally, if necessary. It’s about time politicians woke up to the housing bubble threat in both cities. We’ll hope it’s not too late.
2. A man, a plan, a Panama Canal fix
The 102-year-old Panama Canal’s new US$5.4-billion access lane will open for business this week after nearly a decade of construction. The canal’s new locks make it possible for the next generation of megaships, carrying as many as 14,000 containers, to complete the roughly eight-hour transit between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans…

MONTREAL – Top executives of Amaya meet with shareholders today for the first time since former chairman and CEO David Baazov, who is heading a possible takeover bid for the online gambling company, was charged with insider trading by Quebec regulators.
Baazov took an indefinite paid leave of absence in March and will not seek re-election to the Montreal-based company’s board of directors.
Baazov has pleaded not guilty, along with two other people and three companies, following an investigation by the province’s market regulator, the Autorite des marches financiers, into alleged insider trading.
Their case is scheduled to be heard in a Quebec court on Sept. 7.
Baazov faces five charges, including influencing or attempting to influence the market price of Amaya shares and with communicating privileged information.
The AMF also alleged that 13 people, including Baazov’s brother, used their access to information to reap nearly $1.5 million in illicit profits from stock trades…

LONDON – British and European stocks are rising, as is the pound, after a bruising two days in which investors fretted over the consequences of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The British stock benchmark, the FTSE 100, was up 2.1 per cent at 6,109 and indexes across mainland Europe were also up by over 2 per cent.
The pound, which has suffered most from the uncertainty in recent days, rose 0.9 per cent to $1.3347. That is still a 31-year low, however.
Investors are worried about the prospect of months, even years, of uncertainty as Britain first negotiates its exit from the EU and then works to re-establish trade relations with the remaining 27 nations in the bloc. The country could fall into recession, according to some economists, and companies are already issuing profit warnings.
The post The Latest: Stocks, pound rise after days of ‘Brexit’ losses appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.

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