Misplaced Pages

#61938

117-436: Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited ( French : Société Canadian Tire Limitée ) is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations and financial services subsidiary Canadian Tire Bank ), Mark's , FGL Sports (including Sport Chek and Sports Experts ), PartSource , and

234-508: A 135,000 sq ft (12,500 m) flagship location at Carlingwood Mall in Ottawa to mark the company's centennial; it introduces a large-scale concept called "Remarkable Retail," which carries a modernized design and focuses on enhancing its auto centres, seasonal departments, and delivery and pickup services. The concept was also used for a new location in Welland, Ontario and will be used for

351-471: A 14-year shareholder class case focused on incidents that happened until HSBC purchased Household International Inc. in 2003. Having recently revealed a possible liability of up to US$ 3.6 billion in regulatory reports, HSBC Finance has offered to compensate US$ 1.575 billion to resolve all charges in Jaffe v. Household International. The deal remains subject to ratification by the court which is estimated to result in

468-603: A Canadian operation which it inherited from Household International . Since the HSBC acquisition the Canadian subsidiary works more closely with HSBC Bank Canada . The unit offers mortgages , personal loans and insurance through 75 branches in 10 provinces and via merchant relationship with stores such as The Brick , Henry's , and Arctic Cat . HSBC Finance Canada ceased operations on March 21, 2012. 75 branches were closed immediately and approximately 500 staff members were laid off. In

585-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

702-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

819-722: A credit card issuer to the U.S. middle market segment. The deal closed in early December 2005 and is an all-cash transaction worth close to US$ 2 billion. HSBC will insert the Metris product line including the American DreamCard (under the Direct Merchants Bank brand) into the HSBC-NA credit card family of products. In 2009, HSBC Finance Corporation announced the discontinuation of loan originations of all products by its Consumer Lending business, but continue to service and collect

936-529: A discount from manufacturers in the winter then reselling the tires during the busy summer season. The brothers opened a retail store at Yonge and Gould Streets in Toronto, Ontario. A product focus on tires was emphasized in 1927 with the incorporation of the name Canadian Tire Corporation Limited because, as A.J. Billes said, "...it sounded big". During 1928, the first Canadian Tire catalogues were distributed, consisting of price lists along with road maps. In 1934,

1053-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

1170-1028: A future Calgary location. That year, the company also committed $ 1.2 billion to renovate 225 stores with its "Concept Connect" format. The following month, Canadian Tire also opened its largest location to-date in Chilliwack, British Columbia at the Cottonwood Centre; occupying a former Sears , it has 170,000 sq ft (16,000 m) of retail space. In addition to the Canadian Tire stores' Parts department, CTC owns PartSource , an automotive parts and accessories specialty chain which has 91 stores across Nova Scotia , Ontario, Manitoba , Saskatchewan, and Alberta . It serves commercial automotive installers and do-it-yourself mechanics. Before November 2013, some stores were owned and operated by franchisees; all currently belong to Canadian Tire. In 2001, Canadian Tire acquired Mark's Work Wearhouse (now branded as Mark's ),

1287-467: A new "Smart store" concept featuring "boutiques" that prominently showcased products within the chain's core product categories. Popular product categories such as auto parts and home goods were moved towards the front of the store to improve their prominence, and some locations began to sell common groceries as a pilot project. With the demise of Target's businesses in Canada in 2015, Canadian Tire acquired

SECTION 10

#1732852270062

1404-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on

1521-560: A pre-tax bill of roughly US$ 585 m to HSBC Finance in the second quarter of 2016 covering attorney costs and expenditures. Over the course of its history, HSBC Finance and its predecessor companies have been subject to various regulatory actions. For instance, it was alleged that Household Finance had placed borrowers in high-cost loans with costly prepayment penalties which had not been properly disclosed. To resolve this issue, Household agreed to pay $ 484 million in restitution and to change its lending practices. HSBC Finance Corporation has

1638-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

1755-601: A retailer of business casual and work wear, for $ 116 million. Along with standalone stores, some Canadian Tire locations feature integrated Mark's locations. Due to space constraints, some smaller Canadian Tire locations removed their Mark's department when remodelled into the "Smart store" format . In May 2018, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan sold the Norwegian sportswear retailer Helly Hansen to Canadian Tire for $ 985 million. In May 2011, Canadian Tire announced

1872-690: A rewards card, though at a reduced rate. In May 2018, the company extended further into the clothing market by acquiring Helly Hansen . As of December 2021, the company operates 667 Canadian Tire stores, 397 SportChek stores, and 381 Mark's stores. The current President and CEO is Greg Hicks. Canadian Tire tried twice to expand into the United States. In 1982, it purchased the Wichita Falls, Texas -based White Stores, Inc. automotive retail chain with 81 stores in Texas from its then-owner Household Merchandising Inc.,

1989-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

2106-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

2223-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

2340-430: A skit. In early 2006, ads featuring the couple were phased out and replaced by a new campaign featuring overhead signs found in Canadian Tire's store aisles. In 2013, Canadian Tire produced a commercial promoting its MasterCraft Eliminator Ultra car battery, and its ability to function in extreme cold, which featured a stripped GMC Sierra pickup truck with its body re-created as an ice sculpture. The ad premiered during

2457-443: A subsidiary of Household Finance , for US$ 40.2 million. In 1986, after losing nearly US$ 100 million they closed some stores and sold the remaining 40 stores, three warehouses and other White assets to Kansas City, Missouri -based Western Auto Supply . The second time, during the early 1990s, Canadian Tire tried to open a specialized auto parts chain called Auto Source that attempted to have 25,000 different parts or more on

SECTION 20

#1732852270062

2574-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

2691-527: A variety of real estate secured and unsecured loans to primarily sub-prime customers, as well as increasing numbers of other product lines such as auto loans and service plan policies. On 2 March 2009, it was announced that HSBC would no longer accept new business from HFC/Beneficial, and would eliminate 6,100 jobs. The company website now states that the Beneficial and HFC companies and HSBC Credit Centers have closed their consumer finance businesses in

2808-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

2925-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French

3042-538: Is a by-product of its loyalty program, has been accepted across Canada by multiple retailers and could almost be described as a ' sub-fiat ' currency." In November 2000, Canadian Tire introduced an online retail operation. On January 1, 2009, citing consumer disinterest in online shopping compared to its physical stores, the Company discontinued online sales. On November 1, 2013, Canadian Tire returned to online shopping with delivery to stores. In 2009, Canadian Tire introduced

3159-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

3276-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

3393-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

3510-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

3627-402: Is based on the Canadian Tire advertisement showing a boy (Bike Story) receiving his first bicycle, which his father purchased at a Canadian Tire retail store. Starting in 2007, the company ran month-long advent calendar promotions, offering free CDs and discounts throughout the holiday season. From 1997 to 2005, the company's ads featured the "Canadian Tire couple". The male role, also known as

Canadian Tire - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

3861-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

3978-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

4095-721: Is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange . It is a participant in the voluntary Scanner Price Accuracy Code managed by the Retail Council of Canada . On October 24, 1922, John William Billes and Alfred Jackson Billes invested their combined savings of $ 1,800 in the Hamilton Tire and Garage Ltd. (established in 1909 as the Hamilton Garage and Rubber Company) in Toronto . Hamilton Tire and Garage specialized in buying tires at

4212-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

4329-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

4446-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

4563-663: Is the company's retail deposit-taking and credit card issuing arm. They are held indirectly under the Canadian Tire Services, Limited , holding company, Canadian Tire Bank (CTB), a bank under Canada's Bank Act since 2003. Before 2003, all financing occurred under the Canadian Tire Financial Services . In 2014, The Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a 20% economic and voting interest in Canadian Tire Bank, with an option to acquire up to an additional 30% of

4680-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

4797-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

Canadian Tire - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

5031-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

5148-455: The 2014 NHL Winter Classic . In March 2015, Canadian Tire launched a new ongoing marketing campaign, "Tested for Life in Canada." The campaign, which includes television advertising and in-store labels, showcases products that have been vetted based on input by a consumer focus group recruited by the chain and their reviews of the products. The program also collects feedback that is used to help improve products marketed by Canadian Tire. During

5265-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

5382-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

5499-627: The Canadian Tire Bank , under Canada's Bank Act , from its then-named Canadian Tire Financial Services, Limited , subsidiary along with its Mastercard portfolio, which was later renamed as Canadian Tire Services, Limited , effective January 1, 2015. CTC sold 20% of its Canadian Tire Bank to Scotiabank in 2014. In April 2018, Triangle Rewards was launched as a replacement to the digital My Canadian Tire Money program and Options Mastercard. Traditional paper Canadian Tire money continues to be offered at some Canadian Tire stores for customers without

5616-483: The Canadian Tire guy , was played by Canadian actor Ted Simonett, and Gloria Slade played the female role. They usually showcase a new product to one of their neighbours who needs a specific tool. The "Canadian Tire Couple" was featured on Royal Canadian Air Farce as one of their targets of the year, as "Canada's most annoying couple." They also made a feature guest appearance on Royal Canadian Air Farce as actors in

5733-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

5850-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

5967-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

SECTION 50

#1732852270062

6084-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

6201-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

6318-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

6435-405: The 1980s, the company sponsored an IndyCar racing team. Alfred J. Billes's son David Billes was a Canadian Corvette racer before opening Performance Engineering Ltd. He was later Jacques Villeneuve Sr. 's car owner in CART IndyCar competition in the early 1980s and entered two cars in the 1985 Indianapolis 500 . In 1985 , Jacques Villeneuve Sr. won the race at Road America . David Billes

6552-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

6669-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

6786-835: The 24-hour gas stations at ONroute service centres in Ontario along Highway 401 and parts of Highway 400 . In May 2023, Canadian Tire announced an agreement with Suncor Energy , under which all Canadian Tire Gas+ locations will be converted to Petro-Canada franchises, and the company's Petro-Points rewards program will be integrated with Canadian Tire's Triangle program. The first converted location opened in July 2024 in Kitchener, Ontario . Moody's observed Canadian Tire's unique position in Canadian retail as being "often both misunderstood and underestimated" and "completely foreign" in comparison to U.S. retail, citing its variety of products (ranging from auto parts to sporting goods to outdoors products and grocery at some locations) and that "its proprietary 'currency,' Canadian Tire money, which

6903-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

7020-418: The Canadian operations of Party City . Canadian Tire acquired the Norwegian clothing and textile company Helly Hansen from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in 2018. Canadian Tire is known for its Canadian Tire money , a loyalty program first introduced in 1958 using paper coupons that resemble banknotes. The company's head office is located at the Canada Square Complex in Toronto , Ontario , and it

7137-502: The Canadian trademark rights. In the 2010s, Canadian Tire began to expand its array of private labels in order to better-compete with online retailers such as Amazon . In 2013, Canadian Tire launched Frank, a budget brand oriented towards household goods and grocery; the brand is known for packaging containing product-specific taglines involving its eponymous mascot—such as "Frank talks trash" (garbage bags), "Frank knows all aboot maple" (maple-flavoured coffee) and "Frank doesn't scrub you

SECTION 60

#1732852270062

7254-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

7371-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

7488-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

7605-430: The Marbles & Beneficial branded credit card portfolios were sold to SAV Credit . In January 2008, the Financial Services Authority fined HFC £1,085,000, for failing to take reasonable care in its sale of Payment Protection Insurance. Beneficial Finance is renowned for its predatory sales tactics. In June 2009, HSBC announced that 100 branches would be closed, including all six in Scotland, with all branches closing

7722-420: The U.S. credit card arm of Britain's HSBC for a premium of about US$ 2.6 billion as a way to expand its domestic credit card business. The acquisition includes the HSBC unit's approximately US$ 30 billion credit card portfolio. The sale of the U.S. credit card division came a little more than a week after HSBC announced that it will sell almost half its retail branches in the United States. That included

7839-411: The United Kingdom, HFC Bank is a sub-prime consumer lender. Its branch network originally consisted of around 125 Beneficial Finance branches. Since Household International's acquisition by HSBC, HFC Bank has worked increasingly closely with HSBC Bank plc particularly for cross-selling purposes. HFC also provides retail finance for stores such as John Lewis , Currys & PC World . In October 2007,

7956-495: The United States, the website is no longer active, and that all loans have been sold with servicing transferred to third-party servicers. Children of former full-time Beneficial employees are considered for scholarships to four Maryland institutions of higher learning: Hood College , Johns Hopkins University , St. John's College and Washington College . Decision One mortgage company directly originated real estate secured loans sourced through mortgage brokers . This subsidiary

8073-446: The company within ten years (or require Canadian Tire buy back its existing 20% interest) at the then fair market value of the business for $ 500 million CAD in cash. Ostensibly in tandem with Scotiabank 's acquisition of a minority position in Canadian Tire Bank , Canadian Tire renamed its intermediary holding company Canadian Tire Financial Services Limited as Canadian Tire Services, Limited , effective January 1, 2015, dropping

8190-430: The corner of Yonge and Church Streets in Toronto. Canadian Tire money that gave gas bar customers an in-store discount began in 1958. By June 1961, there were 31 locations. The small financial services company Midland Shoppers Credit Limited was purchased in 1968 and renamed Canadian Tire Acceptance, Limited . Canadian Tire entered the clothing market by acquiring Mark's Work Wearhouse in 2001. In 2003, CTC established

8307-449: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Household Finance HSBC Finance Corporation's subsidiaries primarily provide real estate secured loans, auto finance loans, MasterCard and Visa credit card loans, private label credit cards, personal non-credit card loans and specialty insurance products to middle-market consumers. Household Finance Corp.

8424-456: The deal, CTC signed a 10-year supply agreement with Party City's parent company Amscan. Historically, Canadian Tire's Christmas ads featured Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge arguing about whether Canadian Tire's selection or their sales prices were the reason to do Christmas shopping there, involving the marketing slogan "Give like Santa, save like Scrooge" . A stamp was issued by Canada Post commemorating Canadian Tire's 75th anniversary. It

8541-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

8658-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

8775-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

8892-417: The end of 2018, Canadian Tire employed 12,735 full-time and 17,951 part-time employees in the corporate structure. These figures do not include temporary employees or employees working for Associate Stores, petroleum stores or franchise stores. There is an in-house Triangle Learning Academy , an allusion to the triangular CTC logo for employee and Associate Store management training. Canadian Tire Bank (CTB)

9009-610: The existing receivable portfolio as it runs off, while continuing efforts to reach out and assist mortgage customers with their loan repayments and home preservation. The Consumer Lending branch offices, branded in the US as HFC and Beneficial, had ceased taking new loan applications as soon as practical and substantially all branch offices will be closed as soon as commitments to customers are satisfied. In 2010, HSBC Finance sold its auto loan units to Santander Consumer USA . On August 10, 2011, Capital One Financial Corp announced that it will buy

9126-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of

9243-463: The first official Associate Store was opened in Hamilton, Ontario by Walker Anderson on King Street. In 1944, to fund its growth, Canadian Tire Corporation became a public company and sold 100,000 shares. By 1945, there were 110 Canadian Tire stores. In 1946, an employee stock purchasing plan was implemented to encourage employee loyalty while discouraging unionization. The first gas bar opened in 1958 at

9360-463: The following month. The remaining branches would be closed to new business, and eventually close altogether. The company website is now offline, it previously stated; our branches have been closed since July 2009 . Operating under the HFC and Beneficial names, HSBC Finance Corporation is the second largest consumer finance company in the United States, with more than 900 branches in 46 states. It provides

9477-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

9594-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

9711-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

9828-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

9945-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

10062-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

10179-452: The leases of 12 former Target store locations. In June 2015, Canadian Tire opened its largest location to-date at South Edmonton Common , which features 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m) of retail space on two floors, widened and expanded departments, various interactive experiences (including a driving simulator and virtual reality ), as well as a rotating exhibit of Hockey Canada memorabilia. In September 2022, Canadian Tire opened

10296-417: The moniker Canadian Tire Financial Services from use. Additionally, in approximately 2018, Canadian Tire rebranded its credit card-issuing online banking website as Canadian Tire Bank , removing the last vestige of Canadian Tire Financial Services from active use. Canadian Tire Petroleum (CTP), operating as Canadian Tire Gas+, is the division of Canadian Tire which operates gas stations and car washes. CTP

10413-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by

10530-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

10647-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

10764-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

10881-515: The purchase of Forzani Group , a Canadian sporting goods retailer that operates various brands, including SportChek , Atmosphere, Intersport, Hockey Experts, National Sports, Nevada Bob's Golf, S3, Sport Mart, Sports Experts, Tech Shop, Pro Hockey Life, and The Fitness Source. In February 2021, Canadian Tire announced the closure of all National Sports stores, citing a focus on efficiencies and core assets. In October 2019, Canadian Tire closed its acquisition of Party City's Canadian business. As part of

10998-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

11115-673: The sale of 195 branches in New York and Connecticut to First Niagara Financial Group. HSBC said the two actions are part of its plan to make HSBC a more internationally focused business, but reassured that the U.S. is still considered a key market in its strategy. HSBC and Capital One said that they expect no immediate changes to the credit card programs and operations. HSBC customers will see no near-term service changes and should be able to use their credit cards normally. In 2013, HSBC Finance sold its US consumer loans to Springleaf Financial and Newcastle Investment Corp. In April 2015, HSBC Finance

11232-592: The shelf in each store, more than its competitors. The first Auto Source was opened in Indianapolis in 1991. Unlike the previous attempt, the Auto Source concept was built from scratch. During the next three years, Canadian Tire had opened two Auto Source stores each in Indianapolis, Cincinnati , Dayton , Columbus and Louisville for a total of ten stores before abruptly closing the money-losing chain in 1995. Some of

11349-547: The stores were sold to Pep Boys . Although Auto Source lost nearly CA$ 60 million during its four years of existence, a scaled-down version was used in Canada under the PartSource brand. Canadian Tire owns a number of house brands , with some of its most prominent including Mastercraft (tools), MotoMaster (automotive), as well as NOMA (household goods, particularly lights and Christmas lights ) and Simoniz (car care products)—two brands for which Canadian Tire acquired

11466-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

11583-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

11700-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

11817-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

11934-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

12051-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

12168-581: The wrong way" (dish sponges)—which became a viral trend in 2020. Canadian Tire owns the rights to three ice hockey brands. In 2011, the company's purchase of the Forzani Group gave it the rights to the Hespeler and Victoriaville brands. In 2018, it acquired the trademarks of Sherwood Hockey . On May 10, 2017, Canadian Tire announced it would buy Padinox, the manufacturer of the Paderno kitchen equipment. At

12285-555: Was a provider of consumer loans and credit cards in the United States , Canada and the United Kingdom . In October 2002, Household International settled for US$ 486 million charges of predatory lending by attorneys general in 46 U.S. states. On November 14, 2002, HSBC announced the acquisition of Household International Inc for a total value of US$ 15.3 billion. On March 28, 2003, HSBC acquired Household International, which

12402-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

12519-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

12636-438: Was founded in 1878 by Frank MacKey of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It claims that in 1895 it was the first financial company to offer the installment plan, under which a consumer loan could be repaid through a regular monthly amount rather than a lump sum on the due date. It was restructured in 1981 under a holding company named Household International Inc., and, in 1998, it acquired Beneficial Corporation . Household International

12753-422: Was founded in 1958 as a means of increasing customer traffic to Canadian Tire stores. In Ontario, CTP also operates Pit Stop, which provides services like oil changes and rust checks. The Canadian Tire money loyalty program was originally launched through the gas bars as "Gas Bonus Coupons." CTP has opened three Q Stop stores featuring a mini-grocery store and other items. CTP also holds the concession to operate

12870-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

12987-912: Was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1994. The company has had naming rights at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park , formerly known as Mosport International Raceway , since 2012. The home arena of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) has been known as the Canadian Tire Centre since 2013. The company sponsors the Northern Super League , which is planned to be Canada's top division of women's soccer. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

13104-633: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

13221-550: Was merged in 2005 with a subsidiary company that became the HSBC Finance Corp. Household International CEO William Aldinger became the highest-paid director in the United Kingdom before announcing his departure in February 2005. On March 2, 2009, HSBC chairman Stephen Green said that, in retrospect, HSBC should not have acquired Household International. In August 2005, HSBC-N.A. announced plans to acquire Metris Companies, Inc,

13338-414: Was reported as having accidentally uploaded information on United States customers' mortgages, including social security numbers and telephone numbers, to a publicly accessible webserver that was subsequently indexed by Google search. The data included information from a large number of HSBC Finance's subsidiary firms. On 16 June 2016, HSBC Finance Corporation (HSBC Finance) has declared a settlement of

13455-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

13572-532: Was shut down September 2007 due to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Approximately 1,500 employees were affected. HSBC Bank Nevada issues a range of HSBC-branded credit cards, to both credit card only customers and customers of HSBC Bank USA . HSBC was the third-largest issuer of private label credit cards in the United States, including cards for more than 70 active merchant relationships, including Best Buy , GM , Yamaha , Kawasaki , Neiman Marcus , Polaris and Saks Fifth Avenue . Most of its card portfolio

13689-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

#61938