National Business

OTTAWA — Prices for furniture, gasoline, food, cars and more leaped higher in August compared with the same month a year earlier as the consumer price index hit a near two-decade high.

CALGARY — Homeowners who resisted the urge to renovate during the first 18 months of the pandemic may find now is their chance, as lumber prices that soared to dizzying heights in the spring have crashed back down to earth.

VANCOUVER — The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada is making a bleak prediction about its members' ability to rapidly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

CALGARY — WestJet Airlines Ltd. has named Harry Taylor its interim president and chief executive. Taylor has been WestJet's chief financial officer since 2015. He will assume the interim CEO role between late November and mid-December 2021.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.

Tight supply conditions and increasing home prices pushed the Canadian Real Estate Association to forecast the country will wrap the year with fewer home sales than it previously predicted.

MONTREAL — The battle between rival Canadian railways over Kansas City Southern is over. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said Wednesday it has reached a deal to acquire KCS for approximately US$31 billion, after Canadian National Railway Co.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production slowed to a 0.4% gain in August as shutdowns of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants caused by Hurricane Ida curbed manufacturing activity.

OTTAWA — Canada's national annual inflation rate was 4.1 per cent in August, Statistics Canada says.

OTTAWA — Canada's national annual inflation rate was 4.1 per cent in August, Statistics Canada says. Here's what happened in the provinces (previous month in brackets): — Newfoundland and Labrador: 4.8 per cent (4.4) — Prince Edward Island: 6.