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CAW union reaches tentative contract deal with GM, Chrysler

TORONTO - The Canadian Auto Workers has reached a tentative contract with Chrysler, on the heels of forging an agreement with General Motors.

The union didn't immediately release details of the Chrysler deal, but it's believed to be similar to tentative contracts hammered out with GM and Ford.

The GM and Ford deals will see auto workers' wages frozen for three years but contain improvements in other areas.

At GM, workers at car and truck plants in Oshawa, Ont. will stay on the job as the September shutdown of a shift at the facility was postponed until 2009.

Union leader Buzz Hargrove called the GM a "good agreement" that protects as many jobs as possible.

$200 million container terminal to be built in Sydney, N.S.

SYDNEY, N.S. - Plans are being developed for the design and construction of a new $200 million container terminal in Sydney, N.S.

The project is a joint venture involving Galaxy SARL of France, a transportation infrastructure equity fund and Laurentian Energy Corp., a manufacturing and commercial property management group based in Nova Scotia.

A two-berth container facility with a yearly capacity of 750,000 tonnes will be built to accommodate the world's largest vessels.

The project will require a deepening of the Sydney harbour access channel to 17 meters, at an estimated cost of $30 million.

The project is currently undergoing an environmental assessment with an expected startup in late 2010.

Investors favour safer funds in April

TORONTO - Canadian investors slashed the amounted they put into mutual funds in April compared with a year ago as net contributions totalled $560.8 million, down from $2.51 billion a year ago, with the lion's share going into safe, low-yielding money market funds.

According to data compiled by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, net money market fund sales totalled $511.9 million for April, followed by global balanced funds which saw net sales of $475.3 million.

Prius hybrid tops one million units sold

TOKYO - Toyota's Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology.

Today, it's the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the one million mark in sales.

The Prius, which went on sale in Japan in 1997, has been a big hit with drivers around the world and is now sold in 40 countries and regions.

Its popularity is going strong amid surging gas prices and growing concerns about the environment.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday a cumulative 1.028 million Prius vehicles have been sold globally as of the end of April.

Of the more than one million Prius sales worldwide, nearly 592,000 were sold in North America and 315,000 in Japan, Toyota said.

Sources: The Canadian Press, The Associated Press