The Daily Chase: WestJet strike looms as talks with mechanics fail again

Here are five things you need to know this morning:

WestJet is once again threatened with a strike: The union representing mechanics at Calgary-based airline WestJet has issued its second strike notice, setting the stage for industrial action that could begin as early as Friday. WestJet had previously warned that talks were going nowhere and called on the government to intervene. Things appeared to ease last week when both sides resumed talks, but not before the airline preemptively canceled several dozen flights. The airline said Wednesday morning it would take even more action in the coming days to deal with the impact of a labor dispute that could begin as early as 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time on Friday. Members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association overwhelmingly rejected a tentative deal earlier this month and opposed the airline’s arbitration request.

Couche-Tard appoints new CEO, dividend increase despite disappointing earnings: Sales at TSX-listed convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard totaled $17.59 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ended April 28, slightly above expectations. However, earnings per share of 48 cents were just below the 50 cents expected and well below the 71 cents a year earlier. However, the owner of 16,000 convenience stores around the world increased its dividend to 66.5 cents a year from 53 cents. And the chain said its COO Alex Miller will take over as CEO starting in September when current boss Brian Hannasch retires.

Shell makes progress on carbon capture in Canada: Shell says it is moving forward with plans to build a carbon capture and storage facility in Alberta. The facility, called Polaris, has been given the green light by the company and will capture about 650,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually when it is completed in 2028. The British oil giant also says it is moving forward with building another facility, the Altas Carbon Storage Hub, in partnership with ATCO, elsewhere in the province.

Pembina and Haisla give green light to $4 billion floating LNG project: According to Bloomberg, Pembina Pipeline Corp. and the Haisla First Nation have fully invested in Cedar LNG, a proposed floating liquefied natural gas terminal in BC. Both sides are shareholders in the $4 billion project that will transport Canadian gas to Asian export markets. The project is expected to produce 3.3 million tonnes per year and will be located on Haisla lands but operated by BC Hydro.

Mom and Dad’s bank is getting even more generous, says CIBC: A new report from CIBC has found that cash gifts from parents to their adult children as a down payment on homes are becoming more common and larger. In a study released this week, the bank says nearly a third of first-time buyers in Canada rely on gifts from family members, and the average size of such gifts is now in the six-figure range. And it doesn’t even seem to be a one-off thing, with a growing share of existing homeowners getting help from their parents to move from their first home to a larger one. “This phenomenon helps mitigate the impact of housing inflation for buyers, but unfortunately also contributes to a widening of Canada’s already large wealth gap,” economists Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge said in the report. Tal spoke to BNN Bloomberg on Tuesday about the report’s findings.