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B14-B20OTTAWA/QUEBECEDITION ■ WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER16,2019 ■ GLOBEANDMAIL.COMS&P/TSX
16,418.39
+3.23DOW
27,024.80
+237.44S&P500
2,995.68
+29.53NASDAQ
8,148.71
+100.06DOLLAR
75.69/1.3211
-0.07/+0.0013GCAN10-YR
1.56%
+0.05OIL(WTI)
US$52.81
-0.78GOLD(oz.)
US$1,483.50
-14.10COMPANIESAIMIA .....................................................B2
ALGONQUINPOWER ...........................B10
IMPERIALOIL .......................................B11
LAURENTIANBANKOFCANADA..........B2
LUNDINMINING ...................................B11
MANULIFEFINANCIAL..........................B11
MTYFOODGROUP ..............................B11
ROYALDUTCHSHELL .............................B8
TECKRESOURCES ................................B11CANNABIS
Aphriasharesjumpasit
reports$16.4-millionprofit B2ECONOMY
IMFsaysU.S.-Chinatradewar
couldslowglobalgrowth B8GLOBEINVESTOR
IanMcGugan:BewaryofBill
Gross’sdividendadvice B10Canada’s home sales jumped 15.5 per
cent in September compared with last
year, with rising activity and record pric-
es in Toronto and its surrounding sub-
urbs adding to affordability concerns
that have become a focus in the federal
election campaign.
Sales activity grew 21 per cent in the
Toronto region and 45 per cent in the
Vancouver area, underpinning the year-
over-year increase to 41,819 home sales
nationwide, according to a report from
the Canadian Real Estate Association
(CREA). It’s the seventh straight month
that the country’s home sales have
grown after hitting a six-year low in Feb-
ruary, in part due to tougher mortgage
requirements and a tax on foreign pur-
chases of real estate in Vancouver and
Toronto.
As sales activity has increased across
the country, so have prices. CREA’s com-
posite benchmark home price, an in-
dustry representation of the typical
home sold, which includes detached
houses, townhouses and condos,
climbed slightly more than 1 per cent to
$629,200 in September, compared with
last year.
In the Toronto region, which includes
the city and its outskirts, the benchmark
home price was up 5 per cent to a record
high of $806,700. In the Greater Van-
couver Area, prices were down 7 per
cent to $986,500, year over year, butwere higher than in August, suggesting
the market is rebounding from the B.C.
government’s anti-speculation policies.
High housing prices became an issue
early in the campaign for next Monday’s
federal election, with all major parties
promising to improve affordability, par-
ticularly for first-time buyers.
Nik Nanos, founder and chief data
scientist of Nanos Research, said hous-
ing continues to be a major issue in the
suburban Toronto and Vancouver
areas.
“Housing affordability is definitely
on the radar for voters, especially in
those two regions which are in play, and
also just have a tougher housing mar-
ket,” he said.
HOMES,B5Reboundcontinuesashome
salesjumpacrosscountry
BenchmarkpricehitsrecordhighinTorontoregionamidgrowingaffordabilityconcerns
AhomeisupforsaleonHeslopRoadinMilton,Ont.,onTuesday.PricesareespeciallystronginOntariomarketssuchasMilton,
Oakville,Hamilton,BurlingtonandNiagara.FREDLUM/THEGLOBEANDMAIL
RACHELLEYOUNGLAI
AlamosGoldInc.has suspended construc-
tion of a new mine in Turkey after failing to
obtain a renewal of a mining concession
after widespread protests by environmen-
talists.
The mining concession, which gives the
company the legal right to mine the piece
of land, for the Kirazli mine development
expired Sunday. Alamos said Monday it is
still working with the Turkish Department
of Energy and Natural Resources to try to
obtain a seven-year renewal. The delayed
concession renewal sent shares of Alamos
tumbling more than 12 per cent Tuesday.
In August, about 5,000 people flooded
the area in the vicinity of the proposed
mine in northwestern Turkey, protesting
deforestation and the company’s planned
use of cyanide at the Kirazli mine.
“It appears that thegovernment did not
want to provoke the opposition to the pro-
ject by granting the renewal at this time,”
Credit Suisse mining analyst Tariq Fahad
wrote late Monday in a note to clients.
Kirazli was touted as a new growth pro-
ject for Toronto-based Alamos that would
also help reduce its average cost of produc-
tion. “Given the uncertainty around the
timing of the concession renewal, initial
production from Kirazli has been delayed
from the previous guidance of late 2020,”
Alamos said in a release.
It’s not clear if Turkey is delaying the re-
newal, which gives the company the right
to develop and mine a property subject to
further requirements, or blocking the pro-
ject.
“Whether this is thegovernment taking
its time, or an intentional step by the Turks
to prevent Alamos from doing any more
activity until things die down, either way
this is going to be a protracted delay I
think,” said Jon Case, precious metals port-
folio manager with Sentry Investments
Inc., which owns a small position in Ala-
mos.
ALAMOS,B5AlamosGold
haltsTurkish
miningproject
asconcession
delayed
NIALLMcGEEMININGREPORTERThe Conservative Party says it would re-
strict large payouts to executives at
bankrupt companies with underfund-
ed pension plans, a move aimed at
curbing the unpopular practice of pay-
ing management retention bonuses,
even as employees lose their jobs and
benefits.
The promise, included in the party’s
platform published Friday, appears tar-
geted at high-profile situations such as
the insolvency of Sears Canada Inc.,
where employees complained about
the unfairness of boosting executive
bonuses after a company fails.
But pension experts say the change
proposed by the Conservatives could
make it more difficult for distressed
companies to retain key executives or
hire skilled restructuring teams.
“I think it would be more symbolic
than effective,” said Mitch Frazer, chair
of the pensions and employment prac-
tice at Torys LLP. “It looks good to at-
tack corporate executives, but func-
tionally it’s not going to do much.”
Mr. Frazer said the situation could be
worse if top executives leave and the
company ends up liquidating, locking
in pension losses for plan members and
leaving no opportunity for the plan to
return to better health.
The NDP included a similar pledge in
its platform, saying it would stop com-
panies from paying out dividends and
bonuses when pensions are underfund-
ed. The promise appears broader than
the Conservative proposal, in that it
would not be limited to bankruptcy sit-
uations.David Macdonald, senior economist
at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alter-
natives, said tackling outsized execu-
tive bonuses is a worthy idea. “We don’t
see shame in the corporate world over
executives being paid bonuses to run
the company that they bankrupted. So
there’s certainly room to regulate in
that area.”
However, he would recommend a
more proactive approach to pension
regulation that would target pension
shortfall issues upfront. For example,
he argues, companies should prioritize
pension funding over using cash to pay
shareholder dividends or repurchase
shares.
“Ideally we don’t get to that point,”
Mr. Macdonald said of penalties for ex-
ecutive bonuses in underfunded pen-
sion situations.
PENSIONS,B5ToriestargetCEObonusesinpensionshortfallcases
CHRISTINEDOBBY
CORPORATELAWREPORTER