Business

A man pushes a shopping cart towards a closed grocery store in Montreal, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. A new report says discount grocery stores are set to outperform conventional supermarkets in 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Discount grocers to outperform conventional stores as food prices surge: Report

Consumer efforts to curtail spending are expected to encourage more home cooking

A man pushes a shopping cart towards a closed grocery store in Montreal, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. A new report says discount grocery stores are set to outperform conventional supermarkets in 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Fresh cut lumber is pictured stacked at a mill along the Stave River in Maple Ridge, B.C. Thursday, April 25, 2019. Canada’s international trade minister says the United States appears to be pressing ahead with what she calls “unjustified” duties on softwood lumber imports. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

‘Disappointing’ that U.S. pressing ahead with duties on Canadian softwood lumber: Ng

Trade minister calls results of review disappointing on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border

Fresh cut lumber is pictured stacked at a mill along the Stave River in Maple Ridge, B.C. Thursday, April 25, 2019. Canada’s international trade minister says the United States appears to be pressing ahead with what she calls “unjustified” duties on softwood lumber imports. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
FILE - Taylor Swift poses in the press room with awards at the American Music Awards on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Senators are expected to grill Ticketmaster Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, about its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

U.S. senators grill Ticketmaster after Taylor Swift fiasco

Hearing focuses on consolidation in live entertainment and ticketing, how it harms customers

FILE - Taylor Swift poses in the press room with awards at the American Music Awards on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Senators are expected to grill Ticketmaster Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, about its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Maya Rudolph arrives at the premiere of “Loot” on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles. Mars says it’s pausing using its trademark M&M’s spokescandies and has enlisted Rudolph to star in its marketing efforts. The news comes three weeks before M&Ms is set to return to the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, with an ad after sitting it out last year. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Maya Rudolph new face of M&Ms after veteran spokescandies paused after backlash

Pivot comes on heels of surprising culture war early last year

FILE - Maya Rudolph arrives at the premiere of “Loot” on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles. Mars says it’s pausing using its trademark M&M’s spokescandies and has enlisted Rudolph to star in its marketing efforts. The news comes three weeks before M&Ms is set to return to the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, with an ad after sitting it out last year. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Elon Musk waves while providing an update on SpaceX’s Starship, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, near Brownsville, Texas. In April 2022, a group of Tesla shareholders suing Musk over some 2018 tweets about taking the company private is asking a federal judge to order him to stop commenting on the case. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP, File)

Elon Musk testifies in 2nd day of Tesla tweet court case

Musk testified it was important for jurors to know he ‘felt that funding was secured’ for Tesla buyout

FILE - Elon Musk waves while providing an update on SpaceX’s Starship, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, near Brownsville, Texas. In April 2022, a group of Tesla shareholders suing Musk over some 2018 tweets about taking the company private is asking a federal judge to order him to stop commenting on the case. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP, File)
A tipping option is displayed on a card reader tablet at X-Golf indoor golf in Glenview, Ill., Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. Tipping fatigue, it seems, is swarming America as more businesses adopt digital payment methods that automatically prompts customers to leave a gratuity. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes

Digital requests add social pressure some find difficult to bypass

A tipping option is displayed on a card reader tablet at X-Golf indoor golf in Glenview, Ill., Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. Tipping fatigue, it seems, is swarming America as more businesses adopt digital payment methods that automatically prompts customers to leave a gratuity. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Most PPE in B.C. is only made with men in mind, creating one more barrier for women looking to enter the trades.(Credit: Pixabay)

From hardhats to boots: PPE is keeping women from the trades

Virtually all personal protective gear is designed only for men, creating barriers and safety risks

  • Jan 22, 2023
Most PPE in B.C. is only made with men in mind, creating one more barrier for women looking to enter the trades.(Credit: Pixabay)
B.C. Premier David Eby at the Crofton mill announcement, backed by Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey. (Photo by Don Bodger)

$68.8M to retool B.C. mill to produce wood-based single-use plastic replacements

Government, Paper Excellence investments putting 100 workers back to work in Crofton

B.C. Premier David Eby at the Crofton mill announcement, backed by Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey. (Photo by Don Bodger)
FILE - Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the “Cyber Rodeo” grand opening celebration for the new $1.1 billion Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022. Musk claimed in an August 7, 2018 tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent. But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in a federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)

VIDEO: Elon Musk depicted as liar, visionary in Tesla tweet trial

Shareholders suing Musk for misleading tweets that bumped up stock price, then made it plummet

FILE - Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the “Cyber Rodeo” grand opening celebration for the new $1.1 billion Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022. Musk claimed in an August 7, 2018 tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent. But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in a federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)
Liz Barrett had hoped to return to her electrician apprenticeship after a year of maternity leave. Now her kids are nearly two years-old, but she can’t go back to work due to the lack of childcare spaces. (Courtesy of Liz Barrett)

Child care, benefits, stigma among barriers fuelling labour shortages in B.C. trades

Canada will face a shortage of at least 10,000 workers in every recognized trade in the next 5 years

Liz Barrett had hoped to return to her electrician apprenticeship after a year of maternity leave. Now her kids are nearly two years-old, but she can’t go back to work due to the lack of childcare spaces. (Courtesy of Liz Barrett)
A Toronto family’s home was sold without their knowledge while they were out of the city. Now the Better Business Bureau is offering tips to residents of B.C. (Graeme Roy/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

How to avoid scammers from selling your home from underneath you

After two home title fraud scams in Toronto, the Better Business Bureau offers tips to avoid this scam

A Toronto family’s home was sold without their knowledge while they were out of the city. Now the Better Business Bureau is offering tips to residents of B.C. (Graeme Roy/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
A Zellers pop-up store inside the Hudson’s Bay store at the Burlington Centre in Burlington,Ont. is shown in a July, 2021 handout photo. Hudson’s Bay Company unveiled Wednesday a list of the first 25 Zellers locations to be opened inside select Hudson’s Bay department stores across Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Hudson’s Bay Co.

Hudson’s Bay Company unveils 25 Zellers locations to open inside select stores

B.C. to get 4, a decade after the discount chain closed most of its stores in Canada

A Zellers pop-up store inside the Hudson’s Bay store at the Burlington Centre in Burlington,Ont. is shown in a July, 2021 handout photo. Hudson’s Bay Company unveiled Wednesday a list of the first 25 Zellers locations to be opened inside select Hudson’s Bay department stores across Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Hudson’s Bay Co.
Small-scale seafood producers will get a boost toward competing in global market producers with a new seafood business accelerator program at Vancouver Island University. (Photo submitted)

‘Accelerator’ program aimed at helping Vancouver Island seafood businesses compete

Island Coastal Economic Trust supporting Vancouver Island University program

Small-scale seafood producers will get a boost toward competing in global market producers with a new seafood business accelerator program at Vancouver Island University. (Photo submitted)
The parking lot of the Mariner Village Mall in Sidney, which includes Thrifty Foods. (Wolf Depner/News)

Vancouver Island grocery store chain is dropping Air Miles for Scene+

Thrifty Foods transitioning to new rewards program ‘in early 2022’

The parking lot of the Mariner Village Mall in Sidney, which includes Thrifty Foods. (Wolf Depner/News)
People make their way around the Rideau Center shopping centre on Boxing Day in Ottawa, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Statistics Canada will release its inflation report for December this morning. The federal agency’s consumer price index report will provide insight on how quickly prices rose last month as Canada continues to struggle with decades-high inflation.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Despite inflation slowing in December, Bank of Canada still expected to hike rates

Inflation rate peaked in the summer at 8.1 per cent and has been slowly decelerating since

People make their way around the Rideau Center shopping centre on Boxing Day in Ottawa, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Statistics Canada will release its inflation report for December this morning. The federal agency’s consumer price index report will provide insight on how quickly prices rose last month as Canada continues to struggle with decades-high inflation.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Nicolas Jimenez. (Black Press Media file photo)

ICBC CEO Nicolas Jimenez to take on top role at BC Ferries

Jimenez spent close to 20 years with the insurance corporation

Nicolas Jimenez. (Black Press Media file photo)
The Bank of Canada is shown in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. The Bank of Canada will release its business outlook and consumer expectations surveys this morning.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The Bank of Canada is shown in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. The Bank of Canada will release its business outlook and consumer expectations surveys this morning.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
An analyst says inflation is eroding household budgets at the same time overleveraged Canadians face sharply rising borrowing costs. (Black Press file)

Debt worries rise amid higher interest rates and persistent inflation: MNP report

Bankruptcy firm’s quarterly consumer debt index at an all-time low of 77 points

An analyst says inflation is eroding household budgets at the same time overleveraged Canadians face sharply rising borrowing costs. (Black Press file)
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington. A federal judge on Friday, Jan. 13 2023 rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s bid to move or delay a trial over a misleading tweet about a potential buyout of the electric automaker, setting the stage for the mercurial billionaire to be thrust into a legal drama amid the turmoil of his Twitter takeover. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Elon Musk’s next drama: a trial over his tweets about Tesla buyout

Trial may hinge on jury’s interpretation of motive for tweets a judge already decided were false

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington. A federal judge on Friday, Jan. 13 2023 rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s bid to move or delay a trial over a misleading tweet about a potential buyout of the electric automaker, setting the stage for the mercurial billionaire to be thrust into a legal drama amid the turmoil of his Twitter takeover. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
(The Canadian Press)

Stores launch Lunar New Year sales during typically slow shopping season

Western retailers grasping onto holiday as means to make money

(The Canadian Press)