Change of Aeroplan

Good morning. Lululemon has been going through it lately, between product recalls, losing market share to new competitors, and a vicious shareholder proxy battle. But the Canadian retail icon has seemingly scored a resounding win with its newest product: the Big-Ass Bag.

That is literally what it's called, and also literally what it is. With an 80-litre capacity, the tote is comically huge, but people are loving it. Even with a steep $268 price tag, the bag is selling fast, and reviews have been positive. What Big-Ass product will Lulu make next?

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: Canada’s top stock index hit another record high yesterday on gold prices and positive investor reactions to the annual U.S. inflation rate falling to 3.4% in July. Meanwhile, Air Canada shares took off 12.3% after it sold a stake in Aeroplan (more on that below).

Canada’s biggest airline is selling a stake in its most valuable asset. No, not its planes — its points.

What happened: Air Canada is selling a 25% stake in its Aeroplan loyalty program in a $2.5 billion deal led by PE giant Blackstone and pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Two other Canadian pensions are also in on the deal.

By the numbers: The deal gives Aeroplan a valuation of over $10 billion. To put that into perspective, that’s about $1.4 billion more than Air Canada’s total estimated market cap, as of writing. Yes, that means the airline points program is more valuable than the actual airline.   

Why it matters: Air Canada is not alone. For years, loyalty programs have kept carriers in the skies. These days, airlines are basically banks for loyalty points that just so happen to operate flights. Without the programs, no major North American airline would make money.

Our take: Air Canada shares may have hit a five-year high on news of the sale, but other metrics aren’t looking too peachy. The airline cut its outlook, despite forecasting continued strong travel demand, because of rising costs. The fact that it’s now essentially mortgaging the core part of its business to steady the books doesn’t inspire long-term confidence.—QH

Ottawa isn’t happy with the U.S.’s latest trade offer. With a new wave of tariffs set to take effect on August 19, the two countries are reportedly not close to finalizing a trade deal. U.S. negotiators tabled a new offer that would lower some sectoral tariffs on Canadian goods, but not nearly to the level that Ottawa has proposed. Among other concessions, the Americans are reportedly seeking preferential access to Canadian minerals. (CBC News)

The Los Angeles Lakers are being flipped for a record US$12.5 billion. Less than a year after buying the NBA team, Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter is selling the Lakers to venture capitalist Josh Kushner and ex-Disney CEO Bob Iger. The $12.5 billion price tag is the highest ever paid for a sports team. Bloomberg reported that Walter will use the cash to pay down loans tied to his business that sparked a U.S. Justice Department investigation. (Associated Press)

The military tests homegrown drones in Ottawa. The Armed Forces held an event yesterday called the Red Cobalt Uncrewed Systems Accelerator (catchy name!) where they tested Canadian drone makers' latest technologies. The feds have made drones a priority in that defence spending push, looking to develop sovereign equipment and fast-track acquisitions. (The Canadian Press)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.

Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.

Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.

Download the free guide.

In a paper published in the Annals of Operations Research, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen determined that — mathematically speaking — no first-past-the-post or proportional system can ever balance accurate local representation and national voting shares while ensuring that parliament has a fixed size.

Why it matters: Electoral systems balancing national and local representation often anger voters, but finding alternatives is tough. There’s a reason the Liberals pledged to abolish first-past-the-post but never did. While no perfect system exists, the researchers did suggest the ‘fairest’ solution: having each party's national seat total determined entirely by vote share, with individual constituencies ranked by candidate performance from each party.

Canadian kids aren’t the only young people struggling to find work. 

Driving the news: A new report from the United Nations labour agency found that global youth unemployment jumped to 12.4% in 2025, with ~67 million young people currently out of work. France leads G7 countries with a youth unemployment rate of 21.1%. 

Why it’s happening: Everyone wants to blame AI for stealing entry-level jobs (and there is some truth to that), but weaker economic growth globally has stalled hiring overall. When hiring slows, young people — who have less experience to draw on — usually feel the effects first. Last one in the door, first one out, as they say. 

Why it matters: Young people failing to land jobs could have long-term repercussions as a large cohort of Canadians miss out on crucial early-career experience. A Deloitte report found that failure to address youth unemployment will result in an $18.5 billion hit to GDP by 2034. Globally, the youth jobs crisis is now spurring unrest in several nations.—LA

📱 87%. Share of files connected to documented deepfake attacks that were generated by Grok, the Elon Musk-owned AI assistant, in the first half of the year. According to a new report, there were a total of 3.46 million deepfake files uploaded in the first six months of the year, leading to an estimated US$2.24 billion in losses from deepfake scams.

^{*This is sponsored content.}

This is not a drill! It’s time to play the mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!