Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks says consumers have started to ease up on the frugality they adopted to cope with the economic slowdown, but that progress has likely been "substantially erased" by tariff threats. Hicks says Canadian Tire and the other brands it owns -- SportChek, Mark's and Party City -- have noticed a succession of interest rate cuts have had a "distinct positive psychological effect on consumers," but worries the trend is fleeting. (Feb. 13, 2025)