Scotiabank, Tim Hortons, Telus, and Canadian Tire have suspended funding for Hockey Canada following the organization’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations against its players.

Catch-up: In May, TSN revealed that Hockey Canada had settled a lawsuit with a woman alleging eight Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players—some of whom were members of the 2017-18 World Junior team—repeatedly sexually assaulted her after a Hockey Canada event in 2018. 

• The plaintiff did not name the players in her statement but did claim that Hockey Canada was made aware of the incident and chose not to investigate further. She requested $3.55 million in damages but the final settlement amount was undisclosed.  

The federal government has since frozen Hockey Canada’s funding amidst concerns that government dollars were used to fund the settlement (a claim Hockey Canada denies). 

Now big sponsors are following the government’s lead. Scotiabank paused all funding for Hockey Canada while Tim Hortons, Telus, and Canadian Tire pulled their support from the World Junior Championships this August in Edmonton.  

• According to Hockey Canada, business development and partnerships account for 43% of its funding, while government money only accounts for 6%. Other partners that could potentially take action include Esso and Nike.

What’s next: Marketing professor Joanne McNeish told Bloomberg that losing millions “even in the short term” will result in a “shock effect” that will seriously hurt the organization. As of right now, Canada will still compete in the World Junior’s as planned, just don’t expect to see many big-brand logos anywhere. 

Source: Air New Zealand

Mile high nap: Air New Zealand introduced new ‘Skynest’ bunk beds (pictured above) for economy class passengers who want to get some shut-eye—these pods (which kinda remind us of the hypersleep chambers from “Alien”) will be rolled out in 2024.

Canada’s top financial regulator is capping the amount homeowners can borrow through readvanceable mortgages (essentially a mortgage plus a line of credit), but experts say the effects will be minimal since the new cap is the same as the industry standard. 

Broken arrows: Troubled crypto trader Three Arrows capital has entered court-order liquidation which means, no matter how many assets it sells, it probably won’t be paying back the US$655 million it owes to Toronto-listed crypto lender Voyager Digital.

Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering last year.

Tesla is shuttering its San Mateo office and laying off 195 employees who worked on data annotation (labelling things so machines can understand them) for Tesla’s Autopilot systems.

Calgary-based energy company Whitecap Resources is buying XTO Energy for $1.9 billion from Exxon Mobil and Imperial Oil, which represents 648,000 combined acres of shale oil and gas production in the Montney and Duvernay Formations in Alberta 

CIBC announced a new $1.5 billion venture capital fund (nicknamed ‘Unicorn Fuel’) that will invest in later-stage startups focused on software, life sciences, healthcare, and clean tech.

Tech investor Entrepreneur First (which has a Toronto HQ) raised US$158 million, two-thirds of which it will use to invest in more startups, with the other third going towards building the company’s founder-matching and training platform. 

Finland and Sweden finally got the big invite to join NATO they have been waiting for after Turkey dropped its opposition to their membership, setting the stage for the most significant enlargement of the alliance in years. 

What happened: Both Nordic countries had expressed their desire to join NATO but Turkey refused to let them in (all existing NATO members can veto newcomers) because of objections to their policies regarding the PKK, a group that has fought for an independent Kurdish state partially on Turkish territory. 

• As part of the price of admission, Finland and Sweden agreed to drop arms embargoes against Turkey and toughen their laws against the PKK and other groups Turkey deems to be a terrorist threat.

Why it matters: The deal is a major step forward in NATO’s efforts to contain Russia and resist its invasion of Ukraine.

• Finland shares a 1,300-kilometre-long border with Russia and Sweden controls the entrance to the Baltic Sea, two major strategic benefits for the alliance. 

The US is leading a larger push to strengthen NATO that goes beyond extending the alliance into the Nordics. Yesterday President Biden announced he would establish a permanent headquarters for US troops in Poland, send more soldiers to Romania, and ramp up air defences in Italy and Germany.

What’s next: Russia has warned Finland against joining NATO in the past, and their entry into the alliance could prompt retaliation from Moscow. Both sides appear to be settling in for a long, drawn-out fight and the odds of a peaceful settlement anytime soon seem slim.

⚽️ 1.8 million. Number of World Cup tickets FIFA sold in its first round of ticket sales and Canada is one of the countries that have snapped up the most tix—FIFA expects to sell 3 million tickets total for the event.

🐦 1. Ranking of #NFT on the list of most popular hashtags on Twitter in Canada this year, with #cdnpoli and #BTS finishing second and third, respectively (apparently there are more politicos in Canada than BTS Army members).  

🛢️$3.9 billion. Alberta’s provincial surplus for the most recent fiscal year, the first in seven years amid sky-high oil prices.

• Don’t have time to make it to the gym today? “Excercise snacking” might be a good alternative.
   
• This 4K GoPro footage of the Earth from space is pretty stunning.
   
• Martin Shkreli is out of prison and doing a Reddit AMA. Read at your own risk/discretion.
   
• Not all superhero movies are created equal: these are the top 50 of all time, according to Rolling Stone.
   
• What can Roblox concerts tell us about the future of live music?
   
• Long read: Do we need a new theory of evolution?