VALCOURT, Que. — A special fund will be created to help the families of victims in a plant explosion last week that killed at least one employee, sent 19 to hospital and flattened an industrial facility. The company that owns the plant, Neptune Technologies & Bioressources, announced its plan to set up the fund Monday. It said the fund would pay for psychological help and offer financial assistance to families of workers who were killed or remained in hospital. It did not disclose financial amounts Monday but said more details would be released soon. “There are few, or no, words…

Manufacturing sales posted a small gain in September, boosted by the aerospace industry, even as the Canadian economy faced increased headwinds. Statistics Canada said Thursday manufacturing sales rose 0.4 per cent in September to $49.8 billion, ahead of economists’ expectations of a gain of 0.3 per cent. “The gain reflected higher production in the aerospace product and parts industry and increased sales of primary metals,” the agency said. However, excluding the aerospace sector, which climbed 43 per cent to $1.8 billion, total manufacturing sales slipped 0.7 per cent due to declines in the motor vehicle assembly industry. The overall gain…

Manufacturing sales posted a small gain in September, boosted by the aerospace industry, even as the Canadian economy faced increased headwinds. Statistics Canada said Thursday manufacturing sales rose 0.4 per cent in September to $49.8 billion, ahead of economists’ expectations of a gain of 0.3 per cent. “The gain reflected higher production in the aerospace product and parts industry and increased sales of primary metals,” the agency said. However, excluding the aerospace sector, which climbed 43 per cent to $1.8 billion, total manufacturing sales slipped 0.7 per cent due to declines in the motor vehicle assembly industry. The overall gain…

Already making a name with its leading-edge structural integrity technology, Ottawa's Giatec Scientific is cementing its future with $150,000 from Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) to bring its portable concrete analyzer to market. The money, which is awarded under OCE's Market Readiness program, will be used to further develop the iCOR hand-held device which can detect areas of deterioration in concrete structures before it happens. "Giatec is finding solutions to increasingly common and potentially life-threatening problems associated with aging infrastructure," said Tom Corr, president and CEO of OCE. "We are proud to continue supporting this made-in-Ontario innovation." Based on 10…

A new Canadian study suggests women working in certain industries appear to have a higher-than-normal risk of developing breast cancer. The study says women working with automotive plastics and in food canning operations are roughly five times more likely to develop breast cancer before menopause than women who do not. Women working in tooling, foundries and metal-related manufacturing have nearly double the risk of developing breast cancer as other women. And women working in bars and gambling facilities are more than two times more likely than other women to develop breast cancer. The study was the result of a multi-year…

The plant at the centre of an extensive beef recall has resumed shipping products for the first time since an E. coli outbreak forced its closure in September. The union representing workers at XL Foods Inc. in Brooks, Alta., says the shipments include a full range of products, including ground beef and steaks. “They are shipping product to retailers,” Doug O’Halloran of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said last week. “The people they were supplying before, I think they are loyal, their customers are going to come back. That is a good sign.” The union said the beef…