GUELPH, Ontario, March 4 (Reuters) – U.S. discount retailer
Target Corp gave a first look at one of its new stores
in Canada on Monday, showing freezers with locally-produced
cakes and the country’s iconic beaver-logoed Roots apparel
brand, designed to appeal to Canadians in its massive expansion
outside the United States.

Target’s bold entry is expected to threaten a range of
Canadian retailers, from department store operators to grocers
and pharmacies, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc has planned its
own growth spurt in Canada to defend its turf.

TORONTO, March 1 (Reuters) – Canadian auto sales dropped a
moderate 3.3 percent in February in a third straight monthly
decline, according to industry data released on Friday, as a
hardy appetite for Detroit’s Big Three brands helped offset a
setback for Japanese makers.

Chrysler Canada was the top seller last month, pipping Ford
of Canada by a few hundred units, although Ford posted a higher
overall sales increase at 5 percent, compared with Chrysler’s 2
percent.

TORONTO, March 1 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar
strengthened on Friday, rebounding from an early decline to its
lowest level since late June, after fourth-quarter domestic
growth data came in as forecast.

The Canadian economy chalked up another quarter of weak
growth at the end of 2012, and shrank 0.2 percent in December
for its first monthly decline since February 2012.

TORONTO, March 1 (Reuters) – Canadian auto parts maker Magna
International Inc raised its full-year sales
forecast on Friday and sweetened its quarterly dividend after a
fourth-quarter performance that beat expectations.

Magna, one of the world’s largest parts makers, said its
North American operations helped drive total sales last year to
a record high. That mirrored the robust recovery for vehicle
sales in the United States, which rang up double-digit growth.

TORONTO, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Bombardier Inc
reported quarterly results on Thursday that fell short of
expectations and issued a lackluster 2013 outlook, sending
shares of the Canadian aircraft and train maker down 9 percent.

The company added to investors’ disappointment by announcing
it was pushing back the first delivery of its Learjet 85
business aircraft to the summer of 2014 from its previous target
of late 2013. It was the second time since November it delayed a
major aircraft program.

By Solarina Ho

(Reuters) – Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported quarterly results on Thursday that fell short of analysts’ expectations and issued a disappointing 2013 outlook, sending shares of the Canadian aircraft and train maker down 9 percent.

The Montreal-based company’s fourth-quarter profit tumbled 93 percent, pulled lower by charges for a plant closure and global job cuts in its rail division.

TORONTO, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Canadian vehicle sales could
reach an all-time high this year, topping the near-record 1.7
million vehicles the industry sold in 2012, automotive
executives said on Thursday.

Pent-up demand from the recent recession, rising employment
and a wave of new models are driving sales for the Canadian
units of the Detroit Three as well as other foreign-based
automakers, analysts have said.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Half of Canada’s primary dealers have recently pushed back forecasts for the timing of the central bank’s next interest rate hike, a Reuters poll showed on Friday after weak jobs and housing starts data suggested the economy will struggle in 2013.

The economic figures released on Friday were the latest in a string of dismal indicators. Earlier reports had prompted the Bank of Canada to say on January 23 that a rate hike would be further in the future than it had once thought.

TORONTO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Hunter Harrison, brought in to
engineer a turnaround at Canadian Pacific Railway, has
tapped a former protege as the company’s president and chief
operating officer.

CP said on Monday that Keith Creel would join on Tuesday
from Canadian National Railway,, the railroad that
Harrison had previously run.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Tom Carter found himself homeless, jobless, with little money and 6,000 miles (9,656 km) from home after answering a job posting on Craigslist that turned out to be a scam.

But rather than return to San Francisco, Carter found a teaching job along China’s Yellow River Delta, which is a world away from Beijing and Shanghai.