National Business

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index edged lower on Wednesday, weighed down by the energy sector as the price of oil fell, while U.S. stock markets were mixed, with the S&P 500 and Dow slipping from the records set the day before.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged back from their records as financial markets around the world take a pause following big recent moves. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Wednesday, a day after setting its latest all-time high.

TORONTO — Ontario is exploring the idea of digging a massive tunnel under Highway 401 to move traffic and transit across the Toronto area, with Premier Doug Ford pledging to build it regardless of what a feasibility study says.

HALIFAX — Ottawa has finalized a $500-million bailout to help Nova Scotia Power keep rates from skyrocketing due to delivery delays of Muskrat Falls electricity.

HALIFAX — The working group examining support for Nova Scotia’s wine industry has lost its co-chair, who resigned this week calling talks with the provincial government an “enormous disappointment.”

EDMONTON — Increased Indigenous participation in Alberta's labour market could boost the province's GDP by between two and three percentage points, the equivalent of $8 billion to $11 billion annually, according to the findings of a new report.

HALIFAX — Chorus Aviation Inc. says its shareholders have voted to approve the sale of the company's regional aircraft leasing business to HPS Investment Partners.

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is extending the provincial fuel-tax holiday until the end of the year.

OTTAWA — Population growth in Canada slowed slightly in the last quarter of the year as the government made efforts to reduce temporary migration into the country, Statistics Canada revealed Wednesday.

Climate change is driving and intensifying extreme weather in the world’s major coffee-producing countries, jeopardizing future crops and putting pressure on global prices.