National Business

TORONTO — Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada has signed a letter of intent with artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia to boost computing power.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades.

OTTAWA — Business insolvencies rose 57.2 per cent in December compared with a year earlier, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. For the entire year, business insolvencies were up 41.

LONDON (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg was acquitted Friday of refusing to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year.

TORONTO — DesRosiers Automotive Consultants says auto sales jumped 14.9 per cent in January compared with the year before. Manufacturers reported an estimated 112,862 transactions for the month, up from 98,259 units in January 2023.

It was a passionate student letter in 2020 that caused the Southern York County school board to reconsider its logo: a Native American man, representing the “Warriors.

OTTAWA — The federal government is lashing out at the U.S. Commerce Department over plans to raise duties on Canadian softwood lumber. International Trade Minister Mary Ng says the U.S. has signalled it intends to raise duties to 13.

MONTREAL — TC Transcontinental says it's closing its printing plant in St-Hyacinthe, Que. The Montreal-based company says it will gradually reduce operations at the plant, with a complete closure scheduled in April.

TORONTO — Indigo Books & Music Inc. says it has received a proposal to take the retailer private from a pair of companies owned by controlling shareholder Gerald Schwartz. The non-binding proposal from Trilogy Retail Holdings Inc.

TORONTO — A blast from the past is coming to Toys "R" Us Canada. HMV, the entertainment brand that departed the country seven years ago, said this week that it has begun selling merchandise in five of the toy retailer's Ontario locations.