TORONTO― Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina will outperform other Canadian cities in economic growth this year, according to a new report by the Conference Board of Canada. It expects Canadian GDP will grow two per cent this year and 2.7 per cent in 2012, with most of that action coming from cities in western and central Canada. Growing demand for Saskatchewan resources will advance GDP in Saskatoon by 4.1 per cent while Regina will see a 3.1 per cent increase

BRUSSELS— The European Union is considering paying fishermen to catch plastic instead of fish in the ocean. According to European media reports, the EU launched its trial project in the Mediterranean this month. Fishermen who capture plastic debris will be paid by EU member states

Shipping & Warehouse Equipment – Complete Storage Solutions For Manufacturers Warehouses across the country and beyond have a new resource to explore various shelving and complete storage solutions Vancouver, Washington (IndustrialPR) – The American-European Industrial Trade Portal ForeignTRADEX debuted a new marketplace Thursday to help warehouses of manufacturing plants and other facilities source for and compare a wide variety of warehouse, material handling, shipping & storage equipment from domestic and overseas suppliers. The company, a division of ILG launched the marketplace to market a broad selection of standard and customized commercial shelving, adjustable and affixed industrial shelves, metal storage racks, plastic storage bins, modular shelving, heavy-duty stainless steel industrial shelves, forklifts, dock plates, pallet storage, wooden crates & pallets, conveyors shipping supply and well as steel wire, wire rack, boltless metal storage shelving and other mobile and standard warehousing and shipping equipment. Michael Reed, spokesman for ForeignTRADEX, which recently introduced its industrial supplies and tools catalog for manufacturers in the U.S.

MONTREAL —Domtar Inc. is dipping its toe into the Chinese market by opening two paper converting operations early next year.

Bosch Packaging Systems , a Bosch Packaging Technology company has launched its new Sigpack RAx Stick Pack system for primary and secondary packaging of free-flowing products at Interpack 2011 in Düsseldorf. Suitable for a wide range of granules, powders, pellets and piece goods, the flexible system can handle a variety of materials, products and secondary packaging options. The Sigpack RAx is a turnkey solution, able to form, fill and seal up to 1,000 stick packs per minute and pack cartons at a speed of up to 120 cartons per minute

Zwick Roell’s new hydraulic composites compression fixture (HCCF performs compression tests on carbon-fibre composite materials. HCCF can be used for notch compression tests, with versions for temperatures between -60 °C and +150 °C. It was developed by IMA Materialforschung und Anwendungstechnik GmbH in Dresden, Germany

TORONTO―While most industrial processes rely on water somewhere along the line, nearly half of all companies aren’t aware of supplier-related risks, according to a new global study. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Water Disclosure surveyed more than 300 companies across sectors ranging from mining to manufacturing. More of them are making water a priority―89 per cent have formed water-related policies and strategies and 60 per cent have developed performance targets

Sensors & Instrumentation: ILG Helps Engineers Locate The Most Suitable Sensors IndustrialLEADERS debuts its sensors, components & instrumentation for engineering, medical, laboratory and industry applications Garden Grove, California – The American Industrial Directory, publisher of 192+ directories and founder of multiple industrial marketplaces, B-to-B trade portals, manufacturing news sites, social networking sites (blogs) and other resources for engineers, technical and industrial buyers announced Wednesday it launched its a new Sensors Directory Industrial Leaders said the sensors, components and electronic devices in the publication are suitable for a variety of applications such as calibration, wireless, scales & units, motion control, metrology, fiber optic, weather & climate monitoring, humidity, moisture, thermistor, automotive, metal manufacturing & processing, precision measuring, thermocouples, semi-conductor, optical, thermographic, food temperature and other applications. According to Industrial Leaders spokesperson Aaron Rogers (no relation to the NFL star), supplier listings on the vertical, human edited directory include Sensor Manufacturers and distributors of a broad variety of sensors such as proximity, temperature, vibration, optical, position, displacement, acoustic, gas, magnetic, force, capacitive, fiber optic and other types of sensor components.

TORONTO— Small business has hit a confidence high not felt since 2005, according to the most recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses.

BRIGHTON— Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers that don’t clean up their environmental act can expect to get left behind, according to a new report from the European PVC industry.