National Business

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the country's population topped 41 million people in the first quarter of this year as it grew by 0.6 per cent.

SQUAMISH, B.C. — The company behind a natural gas project near Squamish, B.C., has withdrawn its application for a local permit to house workers in a converted cruise ship, and is instead pressing ahead on the basis of a provincial order.

RCMP say a man has died after he was injured aboard a fishing vessel in northeastern Prince Edward Island. Cpl. Gavin Moore says police received a report shortly before 9 a.m. about a man who was hurt on a fishing boat.

MONTREAL — The Business Development Bank of Canada is committing $250 million to help Indigenous and Black-led businesses. The money comes as BDC also creates a new inclusive entrepreneurship team.

TORONTO — Members of the union representing nearly 12,000 public transit workers in Toronto have voted to ratify their new contract.

TORONTO — Ontario's single-game sports betting industry is on a winning streak. On Wednesday, iGaming Ontario (iGO) released a report that states the industry contributed $2.7 billion to Ontario's gross domestic product in 2023.

TORONTO — Neighbourly Pharmacy Inc. says it has acquired six pharmacies across Canada. Financial terms of the deals were not immediately available.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm on Wednesday criticized France for running up excessive debt, a stinging rebuke at the height of an election campaign where President Emmanuel Macron is facing a strong challenge from the extreme rig

OTTAWA — The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario says a code grey issued Tuesday due to a water main break near its facility has now ended.

VICTORIA — Old-growth forests that were environmental and Indigenous rights battlegrounds over clearcut logging in the 1980s and 1990s during British Columbia's "war in the woods" are set to receive permanent protections in a land and forest manageme