National Business

TORONTO — North American stock markets plunged midweek as investors worried about the rise in COVID-19 infections and negative polling data for U.S. President Donald Trump.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. says it will permanently lay off 3,333 employees as part of a major restructuring amid the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the travel industry.

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Bill Morneau is defending the state of the country's finances after an international agency stripped Canada of its triple-A credit rating.

VAUGHAN, Ont. — GFL Environmental Inc. has signed a deal to buy a portfolio of integrated solid waste collection, transfer, recycling and disposal assets in the United States for US$835 million.

TORONTO — Google is adopting new privacy features and data retention practices across its core products, which include its search engine, Google Maps and YouTube.

BERLIN — Bayer will pay up to $10.9 billion to settle litigation over the subsidiary Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, which has faced thousands of lawsuits over claims it causes cancer, the German-based company said Wednesday.

REGINA — Saskatchewan is taking another step in its march to bring small modular nuclear technology to the province. The Ministry of Environment announced it's creating an office that will develop policy around this type of nuclear power.

VANCOUVER — When the COVID-19 outbreak forced many restaurants to shutter dining rooms across Canada, Vancouver-based Joey Restaurants responded by opening two "ghost kitchens" — a new model being adopted for delivery- and pick-up-only spaces.

TORONTO — Owners of the Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea say they will lay off 2,650 local mine workers by the end of July as the result of a continuing dispute with the federal government. Barrick Niugini Ltd.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund has sharply lowered its forecast for global growth this year because it envisions far more severe economic damage from the coronavirus than it did just two months ago.