National Business

TORONTO — The S&P/TSX composite index briefly cracked the 20,000-point level for the first time on a surge in the key energy sector after OPEC gave an optimistic outlook for global demand.

SUDBURY, Ont. — More than 10 years after a steelworkers group in northern Ontario went on a year-long strike, the union representing employees at a mine in Sudbury are once again walking off the job.

HALIFAX — Lisa Drader-Murphy opened her first store in 1997 with $250 in the bank. Over more than two decades, the Canadian fashion designer built her luxury clothing brand debt-free by reinvesting her earnings back into the business.

CALGARY — Pembina Pipeline Corp. has signed a friendly deal to buy Inter Pipeline Ltd. for $8.3 billion in stock, surpassing a hostile bid by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia drivers will face higher prices at the pump on Friday after the province's energy regulator approves a price increase to make up for a drop in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TORONTO — The federal New Democratic Party is backing calls from independent telecom companies for the government to overrule a recent decision on wholesale internet rates by Canada's telecommunications regulator.

HALIFAX — As Nova Scotia begins emerging from its COVID-19 lockdown, a group of hotels in the Halifax area is appealing to the government for more clarity about when they can expect guests to return.

TORONTO — Canadian banks had a strong second quarter, where they beat expectations and began to wind down reserves built up to protect themselves from customers defaulting on loans.

Canopy Growth Corp. is continuing to pin its hopes on the U.S. as competition in Canada's cannabis industry intensifies amid a wave of mergers and acquisitions. The Smiths Falls, Ont.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. construction spending rose a modest 0.2% in April as strength in housing offset further weakness in nonresidential construction.