* North West Company leads gains

* Dollarama lifts consumer discretionary index

* U.S. CPI hotter than expected

* TSX up 0.2%.

Sept 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose for a third straight session on Wednesday, led by gains in consumer discretionary shares, while the U.S. consumer prices data for August cemented bets on a rate pause by the U.S. Federal Reserve in its September meeting.

At 10:49 a.m. ET (1449 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 43.15 points, or 0.21%, at 20,266.23.

Consumer discretionary shares added 1.1%, driven by Dollarama's upbeat results. The discount retailer raised annual sales forecast after topping quarterly sales estimates, pushing its stock 3.9% higher.

Food and general products retailer, North West Company rose 14.7% after strong Q2 results, helping the consumer staples index gain 0.7%.

The healthcare sector lost 0.2% after a continued selloff in Tilray brands for a second consecutive day. The global cannabis-lifestyle company was down 1.0%.

The materials sector, which includes precious and base metal miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.2% as copper prices declined after data showed an acceleration in U.S. consumer prices, even as gold remained steady.

Stateside, data showed that U.S. consumer prices increased the most in 14 months in August as fuel prices surged, but the annual rise in underlying inflation was the smallest in nearly two years, raising hopes that the Fed could keep interest rates unchanged next week.

"It's tempting to read too much into the month-on-month data in this hyper data-dependent central bank age but on balance this doesn't move the needle too much," said John Leiper, chief investment officer at Titan Asset Management.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against the greenback on Wednesday, while the yield on the 10-year Canadian benchmark bond climbed after the U.S. CPI data. (Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru, Editing by Tasim Zahid)