TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (20,065.92, up 30.62 points.)
BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB). Technology. Up nine cents, or 0.47 per cent, to $19.10 on 15.2 million shares.
Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Down seven cents, or 0.23 per cent, to $30.62 on 12.8 million shares.
BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE). Telecommunications. Up nine cents, or 0.15 per cent, to $61.42 on 10.2 million shares.
Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Energy. Up 48 cents, or 4.2 per cent, to $11.92 on 10 million shares.
Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 27 cents, or 0.57 per cent, to $48.01 on 8.1 million shares.
Air Canada (TSX:AC). Industrials. Up $1.70, or 6.31 per cent, to $28.65 on 7.9 million shares.
In business news:
Consumer debt — The debt profile of Canadians has changed throughout the pandemic, with mortgages accounting for a larger portion of people's debt while credit card debt has dropped, according to credit reporting agency Equifax. The company said Tuesday consumer debt stood at $2.08 trillion for the first quarter of 2021, up 0.62 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2020 and up 4.78 per cent from a year earlier. It said the rise was largely driven by mortgages, with the number of new mortgages up 41.2 per cent from a year ago when the country experienced the start of the pandemic. Rebecca Oakes, assistant vice-president of advanced analytics at Equifax, said the rate of new mortgages in the latest quarter dropped when compared with the final quarter of 2020. BMO economist Priscilla Thiagamoorthy said that cooling was also seen in Canadian home sales numbers, which slowed slightly in May. She said there could be further slumps when new mortgage stress tests start this month, since some consumers won't qualify for large mortgages as easily. But Oakes and Thiagamoorthy said the housing market will only cool off when there are both stricter mortgage regulations and rate hikes from the Bank of Canada.
Cape Breton airline — When billionaires in private jets began touching down in rural Nova Scotia to play a round of golf on Cape Breton’s world-class links, David Morgan saw an opportunity. The golf enthusiasts — a mix of Fortune 500 business leaders and pro athletes — were flying into an aging airport in Port Hastings, N.S., that lacked aircraft services and amenities. So the pilot launched Celtic Air Services at the Allan J. MacEachen Regional Airport in 2017, adding helicopter tours of the rugged coastline two years later. Then the COVID-19 pandemic crumpled global tourism, emptying out golf resorts and airports. But rather than stand down, Morgan’s plan to launch an airline gained speed. As commercial air carriers slashed routes across Atlantic Canada, he put an offer in to buy a small Quebec-based airline “on a wing and a prayer.” His offer was accepted, and AxAir Aviation launched two months ago offering air charter services across the Northeastern Seaboard. The startup’s fleet consists of a single Cessna 421 aircraft, a twin-engine airplane with a range of about 1,600 kilometres that seats five passengers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2021.
The Canadian Press
