National Business

BEIJING — China’s No. 2 leader on Friday promised higher spending to revive its pandemic-stricken economy and curb surging job losses but avoided launching a massive stimulus on the scale of the United States or Japan.

OTTAWA — Canadian retail sales collapsed in March as they posted their biggest monthly decline on record and Statistics Canada warned an even bigger drop is expected for April as closures due to pandemic ran the entire month.

TORONTO — Phillip Crawley, publisher of The Globe and Mail, is warning that already diminished print advertising revenues are headed for another shock as the impacts of COVID-19 ravage the newspaper industry.

VICTORIA — There are no plans to defer a June 1 increase in British Columbia's minimum wage because of COVID-19, says the province's labour minister.

CALGARY — WestJet Airlines Ltd. is asking the federal labour minister for an exemption to Canada Labour Code provisions that would facilitate mass layoffs.

WASHINGTON — Efforts to forecast the U.S. economy's path to recovery from the current deep downturn face “a whole new level of uncertainty," Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday.

REGINA — The Saskatchewan government says restaurants, gyms and nail salons can reopen in about two weeks.

DETROIT — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer prevailed Thursday in a high-stakes challenge by Republican lawmakers who sued over her authority to declare emergencies and order sweeping restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak.

Canadians are increasingly showing signs of being fed up with airlines, which are offering travel vouchers rather than refunds to passengers whose flights have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (14,884.85, down 112.78 points.) Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX:SLF). Financials. Up 18 cents, or 0.38 per cent, to $47.06 on 25.