Budget 2026

Good morning. Canadian music icons Rush are the latest band to book a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, with a five-show run serving as a capper to the band’s rapturously received reunion tour. It does feel like a perfect match, with Geddy Lee saying the venue is “tailor-made for the kind of visual attitude with which we have always designed our shows.” 

We probably won’t be able to get tickets, but just picturing thousands of 50-plus-year-old dudes — blissed out on edibles, gazing heavenward at “Tom Sawyer” visuals — brings a smile to our face. 

Today’s reading time is 6 minutes.

Markets: There was a whole lotta red yesterday (more on that later), but it was a busy earnings day for Canadian firms. Shares in MDA Space jumped after it raised its guidance, while Bombardier — despite beating analysts’ estimates — slid 8.4% on the day.

Here’s the skinny on the Carney administration's second federal budget.

What happened: The 2026 federal budget introduced about $142 billion in new spending compared to the spring economic update, with the feds using an oil-driven revenue spike to fund new and previously announced ambitions across five major areas: growth, housing, affordability, culture, and Indigenous reconciliation. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the most headline-grabbing initiatives: 

Yes, but: While the windfall was directed to these new initiatives, much of the budget is still dedicated to debt and defence spending (as Ottawa seeks to meet NATO’s 5% of GDP target). By 2031, defence and debt servicing could account for 35% of government spending. This could eventually box out the type of social services spending that Canadians will see material impacts from, and have come to expect with such sizable deficits.—QH

AI bubble concerns trigger a US$2.5 trillion tech stock wipeout. The Nasdaq plummeted 5.5% yesterday, driven by a selloff of chip stocks and other tech companies, marking the index’s worst day since April of 2025. About $1 trillion of the Magnificent Seven’s market value was erased on the day, led by Nvidia, which was down 9.3%. The selloff came two days after a number of Democrats were elected to Congress on anti-data centre platforms. (Reuters)

Canada’s economic growth slowed in 2025. According to new Statistics Canada data, real GDP grew by 1.9% last year — down from 2.1% in 2024 — while household spending grew at its slowest pace since the pandemic. Economists say that the sluggish GDP growth has translated to smaller income gains and fewer new jobs across the country. (The Hub)

Wealthsimple splits with Canada’s banks on AI agents. The fintech said it will allow AI agents from OpenAI or Anthropic to access customer accounts by next year, diverging from several big banks that have restricted access to AI agents over security concerns. It also rolled out a new in-house AI assistant named Penny yesterday. (The Canadian Press)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

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Montreal PR group Avenir Global is buying three more agencies for ~$160 million. Avenir is acquiring a British group called the Marker Collective, which consists of three firms focused on advising technology companies (Archetype, Nectar, and Outcast), as well as an AI platform called Delve. 

Why it matters: Over the past decade, Avenir has consistently expanded its global footprint and, with this move, the company now has 14 different PR and media firms under its control. Avenir’s CEO says that this makes it one of the 15 largest communication platforms in the world.

Saudi Arabia’s royal family has learned the hard way that sportswashing is an extremely expensive hobby. 

What happened: The Saudi-backed LIV Golf league will officially be liquidated after failing to secure enough capital to dig itself out of bankruptcy. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) — which sank US$5 billion into the league — pulled its funding for the venture earlier this year. 

Catch-up: PIF spent years pouring billions of dollars into everything from LIV to Premier League soccer to Formula One, which many critics argued was to distract from Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record — a practice known as sportswashing. 

Why it matters: LIV Golf’s collapse could be the final nail in the coffin of Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing blitz. After five years of watching billions of dollars evaporate, PIF is now doing some serious belt-tightening. 

Zoom out: It’s not just sports that are getting trimmed from the Saudi expense sheet. The government is reportedly forking over US$16 billion to cancel chunks of its trillion-dollar desert megacity, Neom, which has — not unlike LIV — proved to be a money pit.—LA

🌎 Hint: This tropical island group is famous for its limestone cliffs and turquoise lagoons — serving as the backdrop for the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. With no roads or cars on its main island, foot or long-tail boats are the transit of choice. Its marquee Maya Bay was closed to tourists for years to allow damaged reefs and marine life to recover.

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

💰 $3.5 billion. What unmanaged menopause symptoms cost Canada’s economy annually, according to the Menopause Foundation of Canada, equating to 540,000 lost workdays. Co-founders of the foundation told a House of Commons committee that Canadian women are losing $3.3 billion in income through reduced hours or lesser roles caused by symptoms.

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