Business

Small businesses are less satisfied with Canada's five largest banks than retail customers, says a J.D. Power and Associates study that ranked Sco-tiabank in top spot in terms of satisfaction among this key banking clientele.

A deal to create a European defence and aerospace giant to rival Boeing Co. collapsed Wednesday when BAE Systems and EADS NV called off merger talks in the face of government objections.

Deteriorating global economic prospects continued to weigh on the Toronto stock market Wednesday amid a weak outlook from resource giant Alcoa Inc. and a pessimistic assessment from the International Monetary Fund.

A new poll suggests more Canadians are living debt-free this year compared to 2011. The annual RBC survey found that 26 per cent of respondents had no personal debt - excluding mortgage debt - in 2012, up from 22 per cent last year.

The old Heber River dam near Gold River is gone and water is running along natural riverbeds for the first time in more than half a century. B.C.

Chartered accountant Lance Abercrombie is the new chairman of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, succeeding Island Savings Credit Union president and CEO Rod Dewar.

Kinross Gold Corp. said chief financial officer Paul Barry is quitting the company to pursue other interests. The departure follows a move by Kinross to replace CEO Tye Burt with J. Paul Rollinson in an effort to improve the company's performance.

The old Heber River dam near Gold River is gone and water is running along natural riverbeds for the first time in more than half a century. B.C.

Ottawa extends program aimed at 55-to-64 set

Power-window switches said to have sticky feel