LONDON, Ont.—A mother of four who was fired from her job at a Tim Hortons outlet in London, Ont. for giving a free Timbit to a child has been rehired.
Nicole Lilliman was fired yesterday after giving one of the small blobs of fried dough to a tot who came in with a regular customer.
The 27-year-old woman, who worked at the outlet for three years, said she didn’t see the harm since Timbits often are doled out to kids and dogs.

TORONTO—Readers appreciate good content and always will pay for newspapers, but only the strongest brands will survive the decades ahead by adapting with the times and giving people what they want, Thomson Reuters deputy chairman Geoffrey Beattie said yesterday.
The newspaper industry needn’t worry about a future when readers demand free content because people value a good product and the relationship they build with a brand, Beattie told an audience at a joint conference of the Canadian Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.

TORONTO—Nearly 9,000 Canadian Auto Workers have ratified a landmark three-year deal with Ford Canada that will frame looming labour talks between the union and the country’s beleaguered auto industry.
Last night, 78 percent of Ford Canada’s workers voted in favour of the agreement, which will increase pension payments and extend the life an assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont. by one year, the CAW said.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove said yesterday the agreement is a “victory” and that it looks after workers past and present.

VANCOUVER—Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. is exploring strategic alternatives to strengthen its balance sheet and enhance its liquidity, chief executive Brian Ainsworth said yesterday after shares in the company gained more than 40 percent.
In response to a request from the Toronto Stock Exchange, the company said it was too early to say what the impact of any strategic alternative would be on shareholders.
Ainsworth shares closed up $1.24, or 46 percent, at $3.94 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada moved to put a halt to growing speculation about a recession yesterday, saying the country’s considerable strengths will buffer the economy from the current “shocks.”
Governor Mark Carney and senior deputy governor Paul Jenkins both strongly suggested that fears of a recession were being overblown following Wednesday’s Statistics Canada report that showed the economy contracted by 0.2 percent in February.
“There needs to be a lot of perspective here,” Carney said.

OTTAWA—Now more than ever, Canada’s rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer and the middle class stagnates, according to the latest census data released today by Statistics Canada.
Between 1980 and 2005, median earnings among Canada’s top earners rose more than 16 percent while those in the bottom fifth saw their wages dip by 20 percent.
“Most people, most of the time, are interested in who is getting poorer, not necessarily who is getting richer. At least from a policy perspective,” said Michael Haan, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta.

OTTAWA—Young people entering the job market today may be better educated, but they’re earning less money than their parents did a generation ago, according to new census data released today by Statistics Canada.
In fact, it’s a trend that began a quarter-century ago and doesn’t appear to be slowing down—especially for young men entering the workforce.
Across all age groups, median salaries for full-time workers have changed little in 25 years. Workers today make, on average, a mere $53 more than they did in 1980, when adjusted for inflation, according to the census.

Thunder Bay received $627,963 on Friday for hosting OLG Casino Thunder Bay.
The payment was for the host municipality’s fourth-quarter share of slots revenue (January-March, 2008).
To date, Thunder Bay has received more than $18.9 million in non-tax gaming revenue. Payments are made on a quarterly basis according to the government fiscal year, which runs April-March.
OLG Casino Thunder Bay opened on Aug. 28, 2000. Since opening, the facility has attracted more than 8.8 million visitors.

Municipal representatives accounted for slightly more than half of the roughly 225 people attending the annual general meeting of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association on April 17-19 in Thunder Bay.
Once the program got underway Thursday morning, Dr. Robert Rosehart, Northwestern Ontario economic facilitator, was the first speaker. He presented his report entitled, “Northwestern Ontario: Preparing For Change.”
Dr. Rosehart, a past president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, led a review of the northern economy in 1986.

OTTAWA—Existing homes sales tumbled 13 percent for the first three months of the year compared to last year and the resale market has become “more balanced” for the first time in nearly a decade, prompting one analyst to call the end of Canada’s hot housing market.
“Canada’s six-year housing market boom is officially over,” Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter said in response to the January-March survey released last Thursday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.