Loans to a king do not always pay

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary House leader has denied that Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy ever promised to repay his P.E.I. housing allowance. At least, that’s the way it sounded in the House of Commons today, although Peter Van Loan’s spokesman later insisted the minister was actually disputing something else altogether.

Felix Salmon makes the case for allowing the banks to repay the TARP funds. And it's convincing. "If Treasury needs new firepower to rescue banks in real trouble, then — given Congressional opposition to any new bailout bill — the only way to get the necessary funds will be to use money already in the TARP account.

Google faced renewed political pressure in Europe on Monday when France’s technology minister backed suggestions that it should make a contribution to the cost of operating and upgrading telecoms networks.

EDMONTON — Alberta New Democrats say it’s time Premier Alison Redford show leadership on her party’s reported refusal to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations. A leaked telephone call between Progressive Conservative party executives and riding presidents indicates the Tories plan to hold on to $40,000 in illegal campaign donations. NDP critic Rachel Notley says Redford cannot simply say she considers it an issue between her Progressive Conservative party and the chief electoral officer.

Loss-making BlueScope Steel said it will attempt to pay down debt by issuing about US$590.4 million worth of new shares amid tough conditions for Australian steelmakers.

Societe Generale SA on Tuesday became the second French bank to say it is launching a rights issue to repay emergency funding from the French government early.