National Business

OTTAWA — Retail sales rose 0.8 per cent to $69.8 billion in March, helped by an increase in new car sales as Canadians looked to get behind a new set of wheels before tariffs started to raise prices.

CALGARY — Vermilion Energy Inc. has signed a deal to sell a group of assets in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for $415 million. The company says it will use the net proceeds from the sale to repay debt.

"It's simply not possible to restore broad-based affordability to the middle class without prices going down," says Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Institute.

OTTAWA — The union representing about 55,000 Canada Post employees has called for a countrywide halt to overtime work, saying its negotiators will continue to review the latest contract offers from the mail carrier.

First Nations leaders in British Columbia say proposed legislation to fast-track resource projects will likely lead to protests and litigation should the provincial government push the law through.

YELLOWKNIFE — Canada's western premiers say they've agreed to identify, plan and develop new economic corridors to connect provincial resources to international markets.

BANFF — There's a sense of unity coming out of this week's summit with finance ministers and central bankers across the G7, Canada's finance minister said Thursday. The group gathered in Banff, Alta.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Opposition leader Obby Khan stripped a Progressive Conservative caucus member of his critic duties Thursday, as questions continued to swirl about the former government’s actions related to a proposed silica sand mine.

TROIS-RIVIÈRES — Quebec provincial police say they've arrested three people in connection with a luxury car fraud ring across five provinces.

OTTAWA — Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has launched a petition to end the temporary foreign worker program.