PRESS DIGEST - Canada - June 10

June 10 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff dismissed reports of merger talks with the New Democrats as ridiculous -- but even Liberal MPs privately concede the party may be forced to debate this option if the next election leaves their political fortunes unchanged.

- The former chief spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper is spearheading a bid by Quebecor Inc (QBRb.TO) to set up a Fox News-style TV station in Canada with an unabashedly right-of-centre perspective.

Quebecor has filed an application with the CRTC, Canada's broadcast regulator, to operate an English-language news channel. The application has not yet been made public but a source says an announcement on the venture is 'imminent.'

BUSINESS SECTION:

- Canada's federal energy regulator will station an inspector in Greenland to help ensure the safety of a summer drilling program in iceberg-prone Davis Strait, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Thursday.

Prentice has expressed concern that Greenland intends to allow Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy PLC to drill two wells for oil in the Arctic waters, close to Canada's coastline.

- The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts ebbed to 189,100 units in May from a revised 201,800 units in April, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said Tuesday.

NATIONAL POST

- Police in southern Ontario have found the man who bought enough fertilizer to make a massive bomb, and say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the purchase of the ammonium nitrate.

- Helena Guergis was fired from cabinet and dropped from the Conservative caucus partly because Prime Minister Stephen Harper was led to believe she was helping her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer, further a business scheme set up to defraud investors, the lawyer for the Conservative Party of Canada told a House of Commons committee on Wednesday.

FINANCIAL POST

- Wells Fargo Financial Corp Canada is closing its outlets across the country and will no longer make customer loans, but will maintain existing real estate, auto and consumer loan accounts.

- Canada will produce more than twice the amount of crude derived from oil sands by 2025 compared with what experts predict the bitumen-rich zones will churn out in 2010.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers expects the oil sands to produce 1.5 million barrels of oil per day this year, and 3.5 million barrels per day by 2025.