Business

MONTREAL — Rona Inc. (TSX:RON), Canada’s largest home renovations company, says government home tax credits and its own incentive program are showing early signs of stimulating business before an expected economic recovery in mid 2010.

Jean-Pierre Maheu of All Season Painting sands a wooden bannister on the second floor of Abbey Master Builder’s new headquarters in Burnt Lake Business Park on Tuesday.

VANCOUVER — West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd (TSX:WFT) is now the largest producer of softwood lumber in Canada, replacing a position Canfor Corp. (TSX:WFT) held for the past decade, a report released Wednesday shows.

The chairman of Servus Credit Union Ltd.’s board of directors is defending a multimillion-dollar payment to the CEO of the newly formed credit union.

TORONTO — The spectacular fall of two of Canada’s highest-flying theatre impresarios ended with an emphatic thud Wednesday as Livent Inc. co-founders Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb were found guilty of cooking their company’s books and defrauding investors of millions.

CALGARY — With Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) set to add Petro-Canada’s (TSX:PCA) oilsands assets into its already formidable arsenal, international energy supermajors are likely looking at other Canadian oilpatch companies to bulk up their reserves.

OTTAWA — Canada will fare better but may take longer to emerge from the longest and deepest global recession since the Second World War, says a new analysis from one of the world’s leading forecasting firms.

MARKETS CLOSETORONTO — The Toronto stock market handed in a negative finish for a second straight session Wednesday, pressured by the energy sector as oil prices fell while financials stepped back amid tepid reaction to major bond issues in the U.S. and Britain.

A strong year in the agricultural sector allowed Cervus LP (TSX:CVL.UN) to nearly double its net earnings in 2008, despite a construction slowdown.

A new retailer should take up residence in a long-vacant commercial building in Liberty Crossing this summer.