Always watching

Good morning. Here’s an inspiring story of perseverance to start your day. A Toronto man had a red light ticket overturned in court after a 19-year wait. He received the ticket in 2007, contested it, lost the case, and appealed, only for the appeal to go unheard for nearly two decades. 

Not only was the man cleared in the eyes of the law, but the presiding judge also reprimanded the justice who made the original ruling for being “sarcastic” and failing to run a fair trial. Now that’s a level of vindication that’s (almost) worth the wait.

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index hit its highest mark yesterday since it achieved its all-time record in early March. One loser on the index, though, was Lightspeed Commerce, which dipped 6.6% after an earnings miss.

Roller coasters these days are coming with a side of surveillance capitalism. 

Driving the news: The Walt Disney Company is being sued over its use of facial recognition technology at its theme parks, a system that the company says is meant to curtail ticket fraud. The plaintiff argues Disney’s use of the technology violates visitors’ privacy rights. 

Catch-up: Advanced surveillance systems are already staples at some theme parks. Universal Studios has an AI camera system to monitor and adjust lines, while Disney has been adopting the technology across its parks since it first trialled a facial recognition system in 2021. 

Why it matters: AI surveillance systems, which were once reserved for high-security areas like airports, have quietly made their way into public spaces like amusement parks, malls, and even residential neighbourhoods. 

Our take: We give away a lot of similar information in an average day of scrolling online, but there’s something particularly Big Brother-ish about having security cameras analyze how often we smile on a trip to Disneyland.—LA

Alberta will have a referendum on whether to stay in Canada. Premier Danielle Smith said her government would put a multiple-choice question on an October referendum ballot asking voters if they wanted Alberta to remain in Canada or if the province should have a second, binding separation referendum. Smith said that she and her government supported Alberta remaining in Canada, but that it was “time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject, and move on.” Because this version of the referendum question does not formally start the process of separation, Smith argued it circumvents a recent court ruling that an independence referendum would violate First Nations treaty rights. (CTV News)

Streamers will have to fork over 15% of their Canadian revenue to fund local media. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is implementing a new rule that would force streamers like Netflix to use 15% of their Canadian earnings to fund Cancon, a major jump from the initial 5% the regulator had proposed in 2024. The new rules will almost certainly face a legal challenge from big streamers, and given how much the Trump administration has complained about the levy, it could become a trading chip in the upcoming CUSMA negotiations before it’s actually enforced. (The Logic). 

TD Bank is rolling out an AI model to review mortgage applications. The lender says its new AI tool — powered by its first-ever agentic model — can cut the process of analyzing mortgage applications from an average of 15 hours to three minutes. TD says it’s the first Canadian bank to use an AI agent in its real estate lending division. Human underwriters are still the ones making the final decision on applications (so it’s unlikely an AI hallucination will trigger 10,000 mortgage approvals overnight). (Toronto Star)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

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Agnico Eagle Mines approves $2.4 billion Nunavut gold mine expansion. The Canada-based miner is spending big to boost the capacity of the Hope Bay mine, hoping that it will produce between 400,000 and 435,000 ounces of gold annually. The company acquired the mine in a takeover of TMAC Resources and suspended operations in 2022.

Why it matters: The Hope Bay expansion has received praise from none other than Mark Carney, who has hailed mining as a core piece of boosting the Arctic’s infrastructure and economy. Case in point: the project is estimated to boost Canadian gold exports by $2.6 billion a year and support around 2,000 jobs.

Instead of being boiled, mashed, or fried, Prince Edward Island’s most prized export is being attacked. 

Driving the news: Advocacy groups for U.S. potato growers are lobbying the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ban imports of PEI potatoes, citing the threat of potato wart — a nasty fungal disease that can devastate crops by turning healthy tubers into deformed spuds. 

Catch-up: A ban on PEI fresh potato exports to the U.S. was in place from November 2021 to April 2022 after an outbreak of potato wart on six farms. Meanwhile, a ban on seed potatoes — those used to propagate a new crop — is still in place. Since then, the CFIA has rolled out a new national response plan aimed at preventing the spread of potato wart.  

Why it matters: PEI potatoes play a significant role in Canada’s agricultural sector. The tiny province is a mighty producer, accounting for nearly 40% of fresh Canadian potato exports between 2024 and 2025. If exports are once again blocked from the U.S. — the top market for Canadian potato exports — it could cause both economic and reputational damage.—QH

With corporate concentration and a lack of competition driving prices up in groceries, banking, telecom and more, Do Not Pass Go is your survival guide to our monopolized times.

Featuring independent investigative journalism through free weekly newsletters and podcasts, Do Not Pass Go helps you understand the competitive issues shaping our economy.

Get it for free.

🌎 Hint: This mountainous city is known for its whitewashed colonial buildings, red-tiled roofs, and historic churches that earned it UNESCO World Heritage old town status. The city is famous for its traditional chocolate shops, colourful textile markets, and nearby dinosaur footprints, which are preserved in massive stone cliffs. 

Think you know where this is? Lock in your guess here.

💵 US$10.9 billion. Revenue that Anthropic is projecting to hit in the second quarter of 2026, a 130% increase from Q1. If the startup hits its projection, it would achieve its first-ever profitable quarter — a milestone that has eluded its chief rival, OpenAI. Last year, Anthropic told investors it wouldn’t turn a profit until 2028, but massive growth recently has drastically changed its outlook ahead of its much-hyped IPO.

Congratulations to the winners of last week's cartoon caption contest and thanks to everyone who submitted!

Want to see this week's cartoon and try your hand at another caption? Click here and give us your best witticism.

We’ve got a full slate for you this morning! First up, it’s The Peak’s Weekly News Quiz.

After that, take on the mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who.