It is no secret that the expansion of Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) into Canada has been less than a rousing success. The company lost nearly $1 billion in its first year of operations north of the border. Someone has to be responsible for that kind of performance, and in Target Canada’s case, its president is the one who has paid the price.

Target fired the president of its Canadian operations, Tony Fisher, Tuesday morning and replaced him with Target Canada’s senior vice-president for merchandising operations, Mark Schindele. Just two weeks ago Target sacked Gregg Steinhafel, its CEO/president/chairman, for his poor handling of the massive data breach that hit the company during last year’s holiday shopping season.

Target’s interim CEO said Tuesday in announcing the change in Canada, “One of our key priorities is improving performance in Canada more rapidly and we believe it is important to be aggressive.”

The Canadian market may have passed Target by. Success in Canada’s retail market is reserved for high-end luxury stores and low-end discounters. Target is a mid-tier player and, like Sears Canada before it, the company suffers from being neither fish nor fowl in a market that appears to have left room from only two choices.

Target is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings Wednesday before markets open. The company is expected to post earnings per share of $0.71 on revenues of $17.01 billion. Its Canadian stores did nothing to lift either one, and that is why the Canadian stores now have new management.

Target shares were inactive in Tuesday’s premarket, having closed Monday at $58.29, up 0.14%, in a 52-week range of $54.66 to $73.50.

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