Tim Hortons Returns To Canada

Tim Hortons is back in Canada.

You might think the ubiquitous double-double provider had never left, and while there remains a plethora of storefronts in the country, their corporate headquarters has been located in Delaware for nearly 15 years.

That happened after the company was purchased by Wendy’s and may have been for taxation purposes, outlined 680News Senior Business Editor Mike Eppel.

But on Wednesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the iconic coffeemaker was coming back home.

“The shareholders approved the plan to bring corporate ownership back to Canada,” Eppel added.

“Over the past few years, the big concern has been that Canada has been losing companies, whether it’s to international acquisition or other factors,” so it’s a good sign for the economy overall, he continued.

Both Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spoke at the company’s headquarters near Oakville. They praised that low corporate tax rates have been luring business to Canada.

“Canadian hockey parents like me know well that when it is 20 degrees below and everyone is up for a practice, nothing motivates the team more than a box of Timbits and nothing warms the parents in the stand better than a hot double-double,” Harper told the media, adding that he rarely drinks coffee.

Harper said his government had already lowered the general corporate income tax rate to 19 per cent from 22 per cent, and that it will fall to 15 per cent by 2012.

“Canada’s economy is certainly making us a strong competitor out there,” noted Patricia Lovett-Reid, Senior Vice-President at TD Waterhouse.

“The fact that we’re having international public offerings, we haven’t seen that in the last 18 months. That’s a good sign as well.”

With files from the Canadian Press.