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Good morning. The FIFA World Cup starts tomorrow, and to celebrate, we’ve cooked up a special competition for all you footie fans reading. Presenting the Knockout Challenge — a bracket contest that will put your soccer knowledge to the test.
Here’s how it works. During the group stage, pick who you think the first- and second-place finishers in all 12 groups will be, plus the eight best third-place teams. Make sure to get your picks in before June 11, 2026 at 2 p.m.
When the group stage ends, your bracket is seeded with the teams that actually advanced — then you predict every match through to the Final. Whoever makes the most accurate predictions wins.
There will be a leaderboard keeping track of who’s on top throughout the tournament. Click here to enter and see the full rules. Good luck and happy watching!
Today’s reading time is 6 minutes.
MARKETS
| ▼ | TSX |
34,411.69 |
-0.19% |
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| ▼ | S&P 500 |
7,386.65 |
-0.26% |
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| ▲ | DOW JONES |
50,872.11 |
+0.17% |
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| ▼ | NASDAQ |
25,678.82 |
-0.97% |
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| ▼ | GOLD |
4,281.9 |
-1.87% |
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| ▼ | OIL |
88.48 |
-3.09% |
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| ▲ | CAD/USD |
0.72 |
+0.00% |
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| ▼ | BTC/USD |
62,047.54 |
-2.24% |
Markets: Canada’s main stock index dropped yesterday as energy shares fell 3.1% on lower oil prices. Investors are now not-so-patiently awaiting the impending IPO for Canadian drugmaker Apotex.
TRANSPORT
Canada’s new bridge is almost open for business
Source: TheWxResearcher / Wikipedia.
The Windsor-Detroit bridge saga is, blessedly, coming to a close.
What happened: The Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB) linking Windsor and Detroit will finally have its grand opening this Friday, with traffic set to start flowing the following Monday. The bridge will provide a new artery for one of the country's busiest trade corridors.
The project cost around $6.4 billion and was paid for entirely by Canada. Tolls will go to Canada until the costs are paid off, after which they will be split 50-50 with the U.S.
Catch-up: The bridge arrives two years past schedule and about $500 million over budget, but it’s a small miracle it’s open at all. In February, Donald Trump made a post on Truth Social saying he would “not allow” the bridge to open until the U.S. is “fully compensated for everything we have given [Canada].” He supported building the bridge in his first term.
It’s worth noting that the owner of the rival Ambassador Bridge that currently connects Detroit and Windsor is a major Republican donor with close ties to Trump.
Why it matters: Hate ‘em or love ‘em, the U.S. is still Canada’s top trade partner, and the Windsor-Detroit corridor is a vital route, especially for the auto industry. The GHIB will ease bottlenecks caused by the Ambassador Bridge and save truckers money with lower tolls.
The Ambassador Bridge actually lost its title as the busiest Canada-U.S. commercial crossing last year to Sarnia’s Blue Water Bridge, primarily due to its outrageous tolls.
Our take: It’s great news Ontario truckers could save up to $100,000 per fleet per month, but the real victory here is proving that just because Trump says something doesn’t mean it will happen.—QH
BIG PICTURE
Source: Anthropic.
Anthropic releases its first Mythos-class model to the public. The AI company dropped the Mythos-powered Claude Fable 5 model yesterday, claiming it has implemented enough guardrails to protect against it being used for dangerous cyberattacks and other nefarious purposes. Anthropic had withheld Mythos from the public for months, only releasing it to a select group of cybersecurity groups and large tech companies, citing fears it could hack even the world’s most sophisticated computer systems. (TechCrunch)
Apotex is upping its IPO to $1.3 billion. Thanks to strong demand from investors, the Canadian generic drugmaker is increasing the size of its public offering by 30% in what’s expected to be the largest IPO in Canada since 2021. Apotex, which makes about 20% of the generic drugs consumed in Canada, was one of the first drugmakers to get approval to sell a generic version of Ozempic in Canada. (Bloomberg News)
Parti Québécois vows to kill the Quebec portion of the Alto high-speed rail project. The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ) says that, if elected this fall, his government will withdraw the province from the planned high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City. The ambitious rail project, which carries a price tag of up to $90 billion, has faced opposition from locals over the cost and environmental impact. The PQ is narrowly leading in the polls for the upcoming provincial election. (CBC News)
What else is on our radar:
Donald Trump accused Iran of shooting down a U.S. helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz and retaliated with strikes against Iran.
Meta launched a new academy to train workers to build its AI data centres. The five-week program, which is free, comes with a guaranteed job.
Canada reported its largest trade surplus in April since U.S. tariffs were imposed.
Turkey and Canada have launched preliminary talks on a free trade agreement.
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WATER COOLER
🤝 Meet Kevin Blue. He’s the CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer, the sport’s national governing body. He took time out of his hectic World Cup schedule to field some questions about what his role entails and how to grow soccer in Canada.
What are the main roles of being CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer?
General Secretary is the international term in soccer and a few other sports for the person that's in charge of the operation, and it's distinct from the board chair. So that's more of a nomenclature thing than anything. But my job is, essentially, to be the chief executive in the organization and work with and lead the staff who carry out the responsibilities of Canada Soccer — which are broad in terms of its oversight and leadership of the sport in Canada.
You were a collegiate level golfer, the captain of Stanford's team, no less, and used to work at Golf Canada. Were you also a soccer fan before coming to Canada Soccer?
I was a follower of teams, but I'm definitely unconventional in the sense that I come from outside of a high-performance soccer environment. My training was developed in U.S. college sports where I learned a lot about how to lead an organization that operates in sport and capably manage the business side of it. I think I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not a high-performance technical soccer expert, and that's why we have very capable sporting leadership and head coaches.
What do you see as the biggest challenge right now to growing the sport in Canada?
It’s already the biggest sport in the country in terms of participation, which is highly positive. For there to be further growth, there are a few things that need to happen. One is the facility and infrastructure supply at every level continues to increase so there's enough volume and quality facilities to further foster participation. Second, from a commercial and cultural perspective, soccer's still maturing, meaning that compared to the participation levels, it's still a sport that is underexposed in the Canadian media. We’re hopeful that the World Cup this summer will be a catalyzing event to help grow the penetration of soccer from a media and cultural perspective.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read the full Q&A here.
ECONOMY
People are putting their rent on buy now, pay later plans
First it was vacations, then Uber Eats orders, and now rent. Apparently there’s nothing these days that you actually have to pay for upfront.
Driving the news: Buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies like Affirm and Flex are now offering rent-splitting loans, allowing customers to divvy up their rent into smaller payments over the course of a month. Three of these companies told the Financial Times that the number of people seeking out these loans has grown rapidly.
Flex, which launched in 2019, has already processed US$37 billion in rent payments and now has ~1.5 million monthly customers.
In Canada, fintechs like Zenbase offer a similar service, letting customers split monthly rent into two payments (for a fee, of course). Other BNPL services have already taken off — Klarna saw its Canadian user base nearly double last year.
Why it’s happening: The fact that there’s this much demand for a service that essentially finances rent like a mortgage speaks to the affordability challenges facing many renters, particularly people with inconsistent pay schedules like freelancers and gig workers.
These lenders say they’re providing flexibility to these types of workers, while consumer advocacy groups argue that the hidden fees and high interest rates can trap them in a cycle of debt.
If a borrower misses a payment, some platforms will charge late fees, interest, or cut them off entirely until the loan is paid back in full.
Why it matters: Whether it’s a Chipotle burrito or rent, BNPL is making it easier for people to buy stuff they can’t really afford. As Canadians fall behind on credit card and mortgage payments at rates not seen since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, easy-to-get loans wrapped in fun packaging may be setting up precarious borrowers for even more money trouble down the road.—LA
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ONE BIG NUMBER
🍿 $60.5 million. Box office revenue brought in by Cineplex last month, in addition to record-high for concession spending per patron. Cineplex says a strong May movie slate — that included titles like The Devil Wears Prada 2, Michael, and Obsession — drove up ticket (and popcorn) sales.
PEAK PICKS
While the world watches the men's game, catch what the women are building. Canada's first professional women's soccer league is rewriting the rulebook — Christina Litz is leading the charge. Read more.*
What it’s like to be a dictator's private chef, according to the chefs for Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il.
The first foldable iPhone could be released by this fall.
The world’s five safest countries in 2026.
A cookbook author shares her tips for preserving fresh summer produce for the winter.
Why “doomjobbing” is hurting the labour market.
Watch: How traditional Italian gelato is made.
*This is sponsored content.
Treat yourself with today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!
1 ® / ™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. ‡ All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s). * To benefit from this offer and receive 45,000 welcome WestJet points upon your first purchase (“Welcome WestJet Points”), your application must be approved by Royal Bank of Canada (“Royal Bank”). The Welcome WestJet Points will appear on your monthly credit card statement and in your WestJet Rewards account, accessible at westjet.com/account, up to six (6) weeks after your first purchase transaction date, provided that your WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard for Business credit card account (“Credit Card Account”) remains open and in good standing at that time, “good standing” meaning that your Credit Card Account must not be past due for more than two (2) consecutive Credit Card Account statement periods, closed, charged-off or in credit revoked status at that time. Only the primary business cardholder on the Credit Card Account is eligible for the Welcome WestJet Points; secondary business cardholders are not eligible for this offer. To receive the Welcome WestJet Points, the primary business cardholder must make at least one (1) purchase in the Qualifying Year (as defined below); a purchase made by any secondary business cardholder will not count as the “first purchase”. If you close your Credit Card Account or change it for another type of RBC Royal Bank credit card before the Welcome WestJet Points have been awarded to your WestJet Rewards account, you may not receive the points. This offer may not be combined or used in conjunction with any other offer. Royal Bank and WestJet reserve the right to modify, cancel or withdraw this offer at any time without notice, even after your application has been approved, including if we suspect that you may be manipulating or abusing it, or engaging in any suspicious or fraudulent activity, as determined by us in our sole discretion.“Qualifying Year” means January 1 to December 31 of each calendar year. For new Eligible WestJet RBC Business Accounts, it means the period between the first WestJet RBC Business Account’s monthly statement date, and December 31.
