Good morning. Ontario police mounted a spectacular operation over the weekend to rescue 23 ice fishers from an ice shelf that broke away and started floating into Lake Huron. No souls were lost, and though a few did catch hypothermia, full recoveries are expected for all.
This is the type of near-tragedy that Canadian folk songs are made of.
Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.
MARKETS
| ▲ | TSX |
33,189.32 |
+0.32% |
|
| ▲ | S&P 500 |
6,795.99 |
+0.83% |
|
| ▲ | DOW JONES |
47,740.8 |
+0.50% |
|
| ▲ | NASDAQ |
22,695.95 |
+1.38% |
|
| ▼ | GOLD |
5,148.7 |
-0.19% |
|
| ▼ | OIL |
85.08 |
-6.40% |
|
| ▼ | CAD/USD |
0.74 |
-0.08% |
|
| ▲ | BTC/USD |
68,891.06 |
+2.87% |
Markets: Canada’s main stock index and top Wall Street indexes bounced back on Monday after the White House signalled it was looking for an off-ramp from the war in Iran, easing investors’ stagflation fears.
BUSINESS
Cafes have a remote worker dilemma
Source: PeopleImages / Shutterstock.
Coffee shops used to be full of conversation, chill music, and the smell of fresh espresso. Nowadays, they’re mostly people hunched over laptops saying, “Nothing on my end.”
Driving the news: Cafes across Canada are struggling with remote workers settling in all day at a table while only making one small purchase. Antoine Vautherot, the manager of several 10Dean cafe locations in Toronto, told The Peak that they have had to implement a requirement for customers to buy something every two hours to keep a table.
Vautherot says that since the pandemic, his spaces have become an ocean of laptops, with people coming in to work for as long as possible, looking to spend as little as possible.
“We tried to cut off laptops entirely when we opened our new location, but we couldn’t sustain it,” he said. “We lost all our revenue because we kicked out laptops.”
Zoom in: With average customers making $5 to $10 purchases, cafes rely on turning over tables as often as possible — even more so than restaurants. For that reason, cafe owners have been trying all kinds of strategies to stop serial table hoggers.
Some have tried to designate certain tables just for remote workers, while others have even started charging hourly rates. According to a Square survey, only 12% of Canadians say they would pay a cafe an hourly fee to work or study there.
Why it matters: The remote work boom has created a delicate balancing act for cafe owners. They can’t afford to alienate all of the laptop people, but they also run the risk of neglecting regulars who can no longer get a seat and complain that their favourite cafe has turned into a WeWork.—LA
BIG PICTURE
Source: Nick N A / Shutterstock.
Trump signals that the Iran war is close to a resolution. The U.S. president said in an interview that the war was “very complete, pretty much” — comments that sent oil prices back down below $100 a barrel after briefly flirting with the $120 mark earlier yesterday. Trump added that after nine days of war, Iran has “nothing left in a military sense.” For its part, Iran has not yet shown a willingness to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. (Financial Times)
Ottawa commits nearly $1 billion to the domestic defence industry. The feds announced that they will invest $900 million in Canadian defence innovations, including a new Bombardier aircraft, drones, and technology to counteract biological warfare. The investments are part of Ottawa’s $6.6 billion plan to prioritize homegrown companies and double Canada’s defence exports over the next decade. (CTV News)
Live Nation settles its antitrust case. The live entertainment giant cut a deal with regulators that will force it to divest from 13 U.S. concert venues, allow Ticketmaster to open up its platform to rivals like SeatGeek, and cap its fees at 15% of the ticket price. Several states that brought the antitrust case against Live Nation have not signed onto the settlement and plan to continue legal action, saying the deal will allow the company to continue engaging in monopolistic practices. (Politico)
📡 What else is on our radar:
The Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, handled record cargo last year, driven by a surge in Chinese exports.
Anthropic is suing the U.S. Defense Department over its decision to label the company a supply chain risk.
Despite opposition from shareholders, the sale of Montreal-based retailer Sheertex received court approval.
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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
The Library of Parliament in Ottawa. Source: Damian Lugowski / Shutterstock.
What they’re saying: “I don’t know how you justify this decision if you have any sort of commitment to history,” Canadian historian Adam Chapnick told the Globe and Mail. His comment referred to a recent decision by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to cut its access to information team, a move that it acknowledged “may impact the ability to fully comply with legislated requirements under the Access to Information and Privacy Acts.”
Why it matters: Academics, journalists, and anybody else trying to conduct research through LAC find themselves hindered by long wait times as is. A 2022 report found that almost 80% of requests completed by LAC didn’t comply with the time frames mandated by the Access to Information Act.
GOVERNMENT
The Yukon wants to spark a mining boom
Source: BJP7images / Shutterstock.
Yukon is cutting red tape for major miners.
What happened: The Yukon government has updated its mining regulations in a bid to attract more investment and speed up approvals. The territory’s mineral resources branch will be split into two divisions: one handling quartz and placer permits, the other focused on guiding companies through the permitting process for large-scale projects.
That latter department is important as the territory’s vast reserves of critical minerals like copper, nickel, zinc, manganese, and tungsten have attracted mining interest.
Zoom out: It’s surely no coincidence that, mere days after the announcement, Fireweed Metals began its feasibility study for a massive tungsten mine in the territory — Yukon is believed to have potentially the world’s largest undeveloped deposit of high-grade tungsten.
This study is paid for, in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense, which chipped in ~US$15.8 million under the Defense Production Act (tungsten has many military applications).
Why it matters: With the fate of Canada and the U.S.’s free trade deal uncertain ahead of its review later this year, critical mineral access is set to be a crucial bargaining chip to secure a favourable deal. If they want our tungsten for ammunition, they’ll need to play ball.
Last month, the U.S. and Mexico announced an action plan that will sync up their critical mineral supply chain policies; Canada has held back on any such pacts yet.
Yes, but: When it comes to the Yukon, underdeveloped infrastructure and energy shortages will still hinder developments, and fixes for these issues will certainly face pushback.—QH
ONE BIG NUMBER
💊 220,000. Adults in Ontario who have a stimulant prescription such as Vyvanse or Concerta, more than double the total in 2020. In a study published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers said it’s extremely rare to see this drastic a surge for any drug, pointing to overdiagnosis of ADHD as a possible driving factor.
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There’s now a robot that can clean your entire living room.
The ultimate office no-no? Dressing better than your boss. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled)
Seven underappreciated superfoods and how to use them.
Why the music streaming model could be on its last legs.
The bridge that changed the engineering world 200 years ago.
Read: A comprehensive history of how “YouTube Face” came to dominate video thumbnails.
*This is sponsored content.
PEAK PICKS
There’s now a robot that can clean your entire living room.
The ultimate office no-no? Dressing better than your boss. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled)
Seven underappreciated superfoods and how to use them.
Why the music streaming model could be on its last legs.
The bridge that changed the engineering world 200 years ago.
Read: A comprehensive history of how “YouTube Face” came to dominate video thumbnails.
It’s time for the holy trinity of morning mini-games. Play today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, and Codebreaker now!
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