Nov 18 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** A former employee of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (NYSE:VRX) VRX.TO , and the head of now-defunct mail-order pharmacy Philidor Rx Services LLC have been criminally charged in the United States for allegedly engaging in a multi-million dollar kickback scheme that defrauded the Canadian drug maker. https://tgam.ca/2g4F5tB
** A sudden sharp rise in interest rates that could cause Canadian home prices to plunge 30 per cent would trigger more than C$1 billion ($740.9 million) in losses to the country's government-backed mortgage insurer, according to the results of stress tests released on Thursday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. https://tgam.ca/2g4HqEO
** J.C. Flowers & Co and Varde Partners, two U.S.-based private equity companies, will pay an undisclosed amount for high-risk lender CitiFinancial Canada, which has C$2.5 billion in assets, 217 branches and 1,300 employees. https://tgam.ca/2g4FEnl
NATIONAL POST
** Suncor Energy Inc SU.TO plans to spend C$1 billion less next year, as it finishes work on two major projects, and continues to drive down its costs. Ed Fast, the former international trade minister in the Conservative government, says he is "increasingly concerned" about the ability of the Liberals to defend Canada's "national interests" under a U.S. administration led by Donald Trump. Kevan Cowan has been named chief regulator of a planned co-operative federal-provincial watchdog known as the Capital Markets Regulatory Authority. As the print media industry copes with mounting revenue declines, layoffs and quarterly losses, the Trudeau government is considering what the media landscape would look like without the country's two largest newspaper companies, Postmedia Network Canada Corp PNCa.TO and Torstar Corp TSb.TO . ($1 = 1.3498 Canadian dollars)