Feb 24 (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
** Crescent Point Energy Corp CPG.TO has not received any contact from an activist investor seeking a shakeup, the company's Chief Executive Officer Scott Saxberg said on Thursday. (https://tgam.ca/2lyHfFT)
** Eighty percent of Canadian energy sector firms have cut their headcount in the past two years, according to a study by Ernst & Young LLP and the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business. (https://tgam.ca/2lcNI6Q)
** DNS solutions provider BlueCat Networks Inc said it had been bought by U.S. private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for an undisclosed amount. The Globe and Mail has learned that the deal values BlueCat at about C$400 million. ($305.53 million). (https://tgam.ca/2lJAPEo)
NATIONAL POST
** Alberta released its third quarter fiscal update on Thursday, which showed 18,000 jobs had been added in the province since employment bottomed out in July 2016, signaling an end to the province's long recession. Canada's provincial securities regulators have joined forces to create a regulatory "sandbox", a system of tailored and flexible regulation for startup firms aiming to bring new business models to capital markets activities such as lending and financial advising. The Ottawa federal government is proposing to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes to 21 and ban smoking on college campuses or inside condo and apartment buildings as part of a new drive to dramatically curb smoking rates. ($1 = 1.3092 Canadian dollars)