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business briefing

These are stories Report on Business is following Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015.

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'Just do it' is the Nike slogan

'This Bud's for you' is the famous Budweiser slogan

'The best to you each morning' is a Kellogg's slogan

'Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't' was a jingle for Mounds and Almond Joy bars

'Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!' was a popular ad slogan of years past

'You're richer than you think' is a Bank of Nova Scotia slogan

'Good to the last drop' is a Maxwell House slogan

'I'm lovin' it' is a McDonald's slogan

'The happiest place on Earth' is the Disneyland slogan

'Melts in your mouth, not in your hand' was a famous M&M's slogan

'It takes a licking and keeps on ticking' is a classic Timex slogan

'Snap, crackle and pop' is the line from Rice Krispies

'It keeps going, and going, and going'originates with an Energizer campaign

'Rise and shine!' was emblazoned on a Kellogg's Froot Loops T-shirt featuring mascot Toucan Sam

Eric Reguly in ROB Insight (for subscribers): Why Greece will lose Europe's David vs. Goliath fight

Jeffrey Jones: Crude collapse leads to layoffs, public spending cuts in Canada's oil patch

Oil and the Canadian dollar: The modest start of a new reality?

Tim Hortons apologizes for owner who dumped water on homeless man

Daniel Leblanc and Adrian Morrow: Eve Adams confirms she will run against Finance Minister

Tamsin McMahon: Price gap between Toronto houses, condos hits record high

Nicolas Van Praet: Sweeping changes at Bombardier aim to stem downward spiral

Deal in works?
Greece and the rest of the euro zone may yet be headed toward something.

It’s just not clear at this point what that something might be.

According to reports, the Greek government today released documents outlining its suggestion to extend its loan deals.

That follows a breakdown in talks earlier in the week.

“Press reports on Greek developments have been positive - based on the fact that Greece is set to ask for a six-month extension to its loan agreement today - but we do not see any breakthrough,” warned Elsa Lignos, senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada.

“Note the request is said to be for an extension to the loan agreement not the memorandum,” she added in a research note.

But that would be similar to a proposal already rejected by the euro zone’s finance ministers, Ms. Lignos said, citing comments by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.

“In case there was any doubt, Schaueble gave an interview to German station ZDF saying, ‘there is no loan agreement with Greece, there is a bailout program,’ while German officials told the [Financial Times] there are no legal means to extend just the loan agreement without the accompanying commitments – i.e. if Greece submits what press reports are suggesting, we will be no closer to anything apart from the Feb. 28 program expiry.”

Greece confirms it will loan extension from euro zone

Ian McGugan: Greece: How did i get to the precipice?

B.C. forecasts modest surplus
Economists are lauding British Columbia in the wake of its budget, noting it may well stand alone among Canada’s provinces in balancing its books.

As The Globe and Mail’s Justine Hunter reports, B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong unveiled a budget late yesterday with a projected 2015-2016 surplus of $284-million.

“B.C. is the first to table a 2015 budget, and it could well be the only one to post balanced books this year,” said senior economist Robert Kavcic of BMO Nesbitt Burns.

“As is customary, contingencies and allowances of $600-million are embedded in the plan for the upcoming fiscal year, leaving plenty of wiggle room for the province to hit this target … This budget serves up moderate spending growth, and offers few major new policy initiatives.”

Debt as a percentage of gross domestic product, Mr. Kavcic added, appears to have topped out, a “welcome and ongoing development after a quick run-up during the early years of the recovery.”

Justine Hunter: Balanced B.C. budget features higher user fees, little tax relief

Brent Jang: B.C. shifts focus to promising industries for another balanced budget

Wendy Cox: Six things to note about the budget

Streetwise (for subscribers)

Tim Kiladze: Cara heads into IPO with solid turnaround, short track record

ROB Insight (for subscribers)

Clément Gignac: Canada needs to push forward with labour market reforms

Business ticker

HSBC's Geneva offices raided in Swiss money laundering probe

Oil falls as analysts doubt recent rally

Sony sees 25-fold profit jump by 2018, could exit TVs, phones