Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Canadian retail sales rose in January, a sign of consumer strength even as inflation continued to push prices higher.
Statistics Canada said retail sales rose 1.4 per cent to $66.4 billion for the first month of 2023, buoyed by gains at motor vehicle and parts dealers as well as gas stations.
The result beat the agency's early estimate for the month, which had suggested a gain of 0.7 per cent in January.
"Consumers started the new year on a stronger footing," Ksenia Bushmeneva, an economist with TD Economics, said in a client note.
"A better-than-expected end of 2022 and the start of 2023 has led to upgrades in our consumer spending outlook for the first half of this year."
But Statistics Canada said its initial estimate for February points to a 0.6 per cent decline for the month.
Though the agency cautioned the early figure would be revised, it suggests consumer resiliency despite higher interest rates and inflation could be wearing thin.
Indeed, debt servicing costs have been moving higher and "much of the pain from higher interest rates on household finances is yet to come," Bushmeneva said.
"As such, we continue to expect consumer spending to slow significantly in the second half of this year as this headwind intensifies and the labour market slows," she said.
For January, sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers gained 3.0 per cent, led by higher sales at new car dealers which rose 3.0 per cent. Meanwhile, sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors increased 2.9 per cent as sales in volume terms fell, but gasoline prices rose.
Core retail sales -- which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers -- rose 0.5 per cent for the month with food and beverage retailers leading the increase.
Sales at beer, wine and liquor retailers were up 2.3 per cent, convenience retailers and vending machine operators recorded a six per cent increase in sales and sales at specialty food retailers climbed 3.3 per cent.
Also contributing to the increase in core retail sales in January were higher sales at clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers, up 1.8 per cent compared with the same month last year, Statistics Canada said.
The increase was led by a 2.2 per cent hike in sales at clothing and clothing accessories retailers -- the largest increase since February 2022.
Sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers dropped 1.2 per cent, the largest decline to core retail sales for the month. Sales declined in the subsector for five of the seven months preceding January, the agency said.
In volume terms, retail sales rose 1.5 per cent in January.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.