National Business

TORONTO — Ontario's environment ministry has ordered a Sarnia-area chemical company to get its benzene emissions under control after a neighbouring First Nation raised concerns.

OTTAWA — 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.

TORONTO — First Quantum is preparing for post-election negotiations in Panama in the hopes a solution can be reached for its currently shuttered Cobre Panama mine, said chief executive Tristan Pascall on Wednesday.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. is preparing for the possibility of a strike by some 3,300 workers next month. “The way I see it, the positions have not changed a lot,” chief executive Keith Creel told analysts on a conference call Wednesday.

OTTAWA — Canadian retail sales edged lower in February, weighed down by lower sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors. Statistics Canada said Wednesday retail sales fell 0.1 per cent to $66.

OTTAWA — The RCMP says a former SNC-Lavalin executive has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in connection with a bribery scheme for a bridge repair contract in Montreal.

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index was down nearly 150 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the industrial and telecommunication stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 146.74 points at 21,864.98.

MONTREAL — Metro Inc. is preparing to expand its Moi Rewards program across its Ontario grocery stores later this year after launching last May and garnering more than 2.5 million active members in Quebec.

The Biden administration issued final rules Wednesday to require airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for things like delayed flights and to better disclose fees for baggage or canceling a reservation.

“ Barbenheimer ” is a hard act to follow.