New Clean-Emission Truck Technology Already in Place at Canadian Tire

TORONTO, May 21 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (CTC, CTC.a) welcomes the Government of Canada's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles. Canadian Tire is currently replacing its vehicle fleet with new trucks possessing the latest generation in low emissions diesel engine technology. Thirty trucks will be replaced in 2010 with the entire fleet of 70 vehicles replaced by 2013. These trucks are now among the cleanest transportation technology that can be found anywhere in the country.

Canadian Tire has one of the largest transportation footprints in the country, moving more than 100,000 different types of products to 480 stores from coast to coast. This represents approximately 2,700 53-foot container loads each week. Canadian Tire also uses the railway extensively to move goods across the country; reducing emissions and costs.

"Sustainable business practices, like our new clean-emission trucks, are core to Canadian Tire's business strategy," said Stephen Wetmore, President and CEO of Canadian Tire Corporation. "Our new trucks will increase fuel economy, lower our operating costs and also significantly contribute to a cleaner environment. We look forward to working with the federal government on this initiative."

Canadian Tire will continue to reduce waste in its packaging and cut shipping costs while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions through supply chain management. In addition to its low emission trucks, Canadian Tire's transportation initiatives include:

-   Railway - Canadian Tire uses the railway extensively to move its
        fleet of 5000 containers across the country. It increasingly relies
        on rail transport versus trucks to move goods long distances because
        it is less expensive, better for the environment and highly
        efficient. The Calgary Distribution Centre, for example, is directly
        linked to Canadian Pacific Railway's intermodal lines.

    -   Long-combination trucks - Canadian Tire Retail is one of the first
        companies to test the use of long-combination vehicles (LCV) on
        select routes in a pilot with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
        An LCV consists of two containers in tandem attached to one truck and
        with a combined vehicle length of approximately 127 feet. These
        vehicles reduce fossil fuel and associated greenhouse gas emissions
        by an estimated 33 per cent. Since the program began, Canadian Tire
        has run over 194,000 incident free kilometres between its Brampton
        and Montreal distribution centres, resulting in an estimated
        reduction of greenhouse gases of 113 metric tonnes and avoided
        consuming over 42,000 litres of fuel;

    -   The winter tire program - Canadian Tire Retail's Supply Chain
        Integration Team collaborated with one of its largest suppliers of
        winter tires to increase the efficiency of the supply chain and
        reduce the carbon footprint associated with delivering the season's
        winter tires to the stores. The collaboration reduced transportation
        costs by approximately 41 per cent and the associated greenhouse gas
        emissions by approximately 37 per cent;

    -   Reduced damage in supply chain - Canadian Tire Retail's
        Transportation division collaborated with one of its largest
        suppliers of outdoor car shelters to reduce the damage to these
        large, heavy products during shipping. Analysis revealed that the
        appropriate use of clamping machines in the distribution centres was
        still a significant cause of damage. Reducing the clamping touches
        and other process changes resulted in a 55 per cent reduction in the
        damage rate for five products and the associated waste stream,
        greenhouse gas emissions and costs that result from shipping products
        that cannot be sold.

The active management of energy and carbon issues is a foundational element of the Canadian Tire's Business Sustainability Strategy. Canadian Tire's goal is to profitably grow its business without increasing the net carbon footprint of the economy. Canadian Tire also announced it will be one of the first Canadian publicly traded companies to include and report on sustainability metrics in its quarterly and year-end financial reporting. Canadian Tire is currently working to establish metrics that best reflect the realities of the retail sector. It will match widely-accepted criteria such as carbon emissions or landfill diversion with sector-specific metrics affecting supply chain, packaging, and retailing of products.

Note to editors:

A summary of Canadian Tire's ongoing sustainability efforts and related business, environmental and social benefits, can be found on its website at CTSustainabilityInAction.ca. Activities highlighted in the report include:

-   Canadian Tire and its Dealers participate in over 80 environmental
        stewardship programs for such products as used tires, batteries, oil,
        filters, pesticide containers, leftover paint, household hazardous
        waste, packaging, printed materials and electronics.

    -   In 2009, Canadian Tire helped develop and fund Ontario's used tire
        program that collects and recycles over 11 million scrap tires
        generated annually in the province.

    -   Between 2005 and 2007, Canadian Tire reduced the projected carbon
        footprint of its transportation activities by 7 percent through more
        direct vendor shipments to our stores; increasing our rail shipments;
        and packing shipping containers more efficiently.

    -   New product introductions, such as the Goodyear Allegra Touring Fuel
        Max Tire, which saves consumers up to 4 percent on fuel consumption
        or 4,000 kilometres worth of gasoline over a tire's lifetime.

    -   Canadian Tire is completing a program to introduce energy efficient
        lighting in 361 stores. This helped save over 45 million kilowatt
        hours of energy in 2009, and will help save another 85 million KWHs
        annually from 2010 onwards. This program also prevented the emission
        of over 11,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2009, and is anticipated
        to prevent the emission of another 20,500 tonnes annually beginning
        in 2010.

ABOUT CANADIAN TIRE

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC), is one of Canada's most shopped general retailers with 480 Canadian Tire stores across the country. Our core retail and automotive operation is strengthened by PartSource, an automotive parts speciality chain; Canadian Tire Petroleum, one of the country's largest independent retailers of gasoline; Mark's "Clothes That Work," a leading retailer of men's, women's and work apparel; and, Canadian Tire Financial Services, which has issued over five million Canadian Tire MasterCard credit cards. More than 58,000 Canadians work across Canadian Tire's organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail, financial services and petroleum businesses.