Business as usual

Good morning. Quebec became the first province to ban the sale of energy drinks to people under 16, passing a law in the National Assembly yesterday that will come into effect in six months. Any drink with 150 milligrams or more of caffeine per litre plus other additives will require an ID to buy.

Some entrepreneurial juniors and seniors are about to make a killing selling marked-up Red Bulls in the hallway.  

Today’s reading time is 5 minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index hit a one-week high yesterday, led by metal mining shares and Dollarama, which surged 9% on the day after posting a quarterly earnings beat.

Behind closed doors, the Canada-U.S. relationship seems like it's far friendlier than the Oval Office soundbites would lead us to believe. 

Driving the news: Politicians, diplomats, and business leaders from both sides of the border gathered yesterday at the Eurasia Group’s U.S.-Canada Summit, an event that struck a surprisingly ‘business as usual’ tone.

What they’re saying: The shared sentiment from officials was that, despite the tariffs, 51st state jabs, and a testy CUSMA review, Canada and the U.S. are still on solid ground (the U.S. ambassador even offered to bootleg some Kentucky bourbon to Canada for willing buyers). 

Bottom line: If you believe what these officials had to say, a lot of the recent headline-grabbing comments have more to do with posturing around trade negotiations than a genuine rupture in the two countries' relationship.—LA

The Gordie Howe International Bridge isn’t opening today after all. After saying the $6.4 billion bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor would officially open this week, Mark Carney said it will now be postponed “at the request of the United States,” but that there is “no big drama.” Donald Trump opposes the project, and the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said the postponement will give it more time to “resolve any outstanding issues.” (CTV News)

Koho just became Canada’s newest unicorn. The fintech raised $130 million in its latest funding round, valuing the company at ~$1.3 billion. Shopify co-founder (and professional racecar driver) Tobi Lütke was one of the investors to join Koho’s cap table in the funding round. The company is in the final stage of getting a federal banking licence, which Koho’s CEO says will allow it to compete directly with the Big Six banks. (BetaKit)

Ottawa unveils $3.2 billion food security program. The new federal food strategy includes a $1 billion investment over the next decade to build food terminals and hubs, which sell produce to independent grocers at prices that allow them to compete with big chains. The overarching goal of the plan is to increase grocery competition and produce more food in Canada. The country currently imports half of its food from the U.S. and gets between 72% and 88% of its fresh produce from other countries. (CBC News)

What else is on our radar: 

Toronto-based startup Beacon Software raised US$225 million at a $1.4 billion valuation. Beacon is what’s called an AI-rollup company, which means it acquires software firms, introduces AI into their operations, and then holds onto them indefinitely as their value grows. 

Why it matters: In just two years, the playbook has been a winning one for the Canadian startup. It has already made over 30 acquisitions and is now buying an average of one new company per week.  According to its CEO, the AI makeovers have led to more than 50% growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for companies in its portfolio over the last year.

Three…two…one… we have liftoff.

Driving the news: SpaceX goes public today in what will be the largest IPO in history. Elon Musk’s space exploration venture turned AI-satellite-data centre smorgasbord is offering 555.6 million shares at US$135 a pop. This will raise about $75 billion at a ~$1.8 trillion valuation. The hype is high, with demand for shares reportedly outstripping supply fourfold. 

Zoom in: Like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, SpaceX is promising its suitors the moon (and a whole lot more). In its IPO prospectus, the company said its total addressable market is $28.5 trillion, with ambitious plans like orbital data centres, lunar launch systems, and a colony on Mars.

Why it matters: It used to be that companies would go public in order to get big instead of entering the market when they were already giants. Today, SpaceX is ushering in an age of mega-IPOs where offers generate so much demand they might cause market distortion. 

What’s next: Anthropic and OpenAI will be joining the fray later this year. Their IPOs, along with SpaceX’s, will likely make it so the U.S. stock market gets 50% of its value from AI-linked stocks.—QH

🌎 Hint: This ancient city is famous for its structures carved directly into rose-coloured sandstone cliffs. Once a thriving hub on the trade routes connecting Arabia and the Mediterranean, it was the capital of a powerful kingdom more than 2,000 years ago. Today, visitors can reach its most famous façade through a narrow canyon — a site recognized as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Have an idea where this might be? Lock in your guess here.

Close your eyes and picture the dish you always order. The one you recommend to friends. The one that makes a place feel like your place.

Now imagine it quietly disappears from the menu because the restaurant can’t find enough people to keep up.

That is what labour shortages put at risk.

Restaurants are Canada’s 4th largest employer, supporting 1.2 million jobs and a $125 billion sector. Yet today, 70,000 foodservice jobs are vacant.

Eventually, that pressure lands somewhere we all notice: the plate.

So, what happens when those hands are harder to find? We think Canadians should know.

🎾 £64.2 million. Prize money at Wimbledon this year, a record high for the tennis tournament and a 20% increase from last year. The boost comes as players have threatened to boycott the tour until they get a greater share of the revenue from tournaments. Only ~15% of Wimbledon’s total revenue is allocated to prize money.

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