National Business

EDMONTON — Alberta is adding $1 billion to its budget to repair more roads, schools, bridges and potholes as a way to create jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve unleashed a new series of moves Thursday to try to make loans available to states, localities and companies that have been hard hit by the coronavirus. In doing so, the Fed will pump an additional $2.

The number of Americans getting on airplanes has sunk to a level not seen in more than 60 years as people shelter in their homes to avoid catching or spreading the new coronavirus.

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic will push the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with the world's poorest countries suffering the most, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

NEW YORK — A staggering 16.8 million Americans lost their jobs in just three weeks in a measure of how fast the coronavirus has brought world economies to their knees.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (14,166.63, up 240.92 points.) Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Industrials. Unchanged at 47.5 cents on 24.7 million shares.

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index ended its best week in more than a decade as a massive intervention by the U.S. Federal Reserve offset weak employment numbers on both sides of the border. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 240.

TORONTO — Canadian mining firm Alamos Gold Inc. reports that a group of armed robbers intercepted gold dore bars on the runway at its Mulatos mine site in Mexico, then staged a dramatic escape in a separate light aircraft.

MONTREAL — Quebec Premier Francois Legault said Thursday health risks for younger people returning to work are limited considering almost all Quebecers who have died of COVID-19 are over the age of 60.

VICTORIA — The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate impact on British Columbia's economy, resulting in 132,000 lost jobs last month and pushing the unemployment rate over seven per cent, Finance Minister Carole James said Thursday.