Do the robot

Markets: Canada’s main stock index fell for the fourth straight session yesterday, its longest losing streak of the year. The materials sector dropped alongside gold prices, while the tech sector had a lousy day, headlined by Celestica shares dipping 14.5% after posting earnings.

Sam Altman has been spending like a trust fund kid with his parents’ credit card, and his C-suite is getting a little nervous about the running tab.

Driving the news: OpenAI has missed several key targets for revenue and user growth over the past year, sparking concerns from its CFO and other executives that it won’t be able to cover the costs of its $600 billion in data centre spending commitments, per The Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: News of OpenAI’s compute dilemma has reignited talk of an AI bubble, a fear that was reflected in a bit of a tech stock sell-off yesterday. These companies need more compute power to grow (and are spending hundreds of billions to do so), but they haven’t actually figured out a business model that covers those costs. 

Zoom out: OpenAI’s growth (or lack thereof) has ripple effects on a huge swath of companies whose fates have become intertwined with the startup. AI-linked companies now make up 45% of the S&P 500's total market cap, many of which are financially tied to the hip of OpenAI. That’s a lot of money riding on the success of a startup that, according to its own projections, won’t sniff a profit for at least five years. What could possibly go wrong?—LA

The federal deficit is $11.5 billion lower than expected. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne released the feds’ Spring Economic Update yesterday, which projected a $66.9 billion deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year — $11.5 billion less than what the Liberal government forecasted in its November budget. The feds also announced a $6 billion program to help recruit, educate, and hire skilled trades workers. (CBC News)

Health Canada approves its first-ever generic weight loss drug. The regulator officially approved a generic version of Ozempic made by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, the first in what’s expected to be a wave of cheaper weight loss drugs hitting the Canadian market. Even with a relatively high $218-a-month price tag, Ozempic has become the bestselling prescription drug in Canada. (Bloomberg News)

The UAE is leaving OPEC. The United Arab Emirates, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ third-largest oil producer, is leaving the cartel after nearly 60 years. The move will likely diminish OPEC’s ability to manage the world’s oil supply and influence prices. The UAE has had long-running frustrations with the cartel — and its de facto leader Saudi Arabia — over production quotas, which have kept it from selling more of their oil globally. (CTV News)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

🤝 Meet Adrian Rocca. He’s the founder and CEO of Fitzrovia, the largest purpose-built rental developer in Canada, and has overseen more than $20 billion in real estate transactions and investments over his career. We sat down with Adrian to talk about Canada’s rental market, in-residence pet spas, and the stigma around renting vs. owning. 

Do you think Canadians need to adjust expectations around renting vs. owning, similar to European countries?

Yeah, I mean in some countries like Germany, 70% of people rent. In Canada, homeownership is part of the identity, which is fine, but the stigma around renting shouldn’t be there. That’s changing generationally. The quality of rental housing is improving, and we see part of our role as helping eliminate that stigma. Renting is actually a very healthy and often smarter economic choice — it’s about 25–30% cheaper than owning. That includes maintenance, taxes, and debt service.

Your buildings have an emphasis on amenities like rooftop pools, ski simulators, and pet spas. Is there one amenity that has proven to be the biggest draw? 

It depends on the building and neighbourhood. Our basketball courts are very popular. Our gyms are commercial-grade performance centres with studios and reformers. Our spa facilities — the sauna, cold plunge, steam room — are also very popular. We also have things like bowling alleys, speakeasy karaoke rooms. 

But the two I’m most proud of are our schools and our healthcare platform. We’re building out a private school network for preschool through senior kindergarten. We already have two open and more coming. The other is our healthcare platform with the Cleveland Clinic. Residents can see a nurse practitioner within minutes through virtual care. About 25% of residents use it every year. 

What’s one lesson from your time playing football at Western that you’ve carried over into the business world?

Resilience. You’re going to get knocked down in life, and you have to get back up, be creative, and find opportunities. You can’t stay down or you’ll get run over. We look for that when we’re recruiting. Resilience is something we test for through personality and cognitive assessments. I’m obsessed with it. When we’re hiring, we’ll look for athletes or people from the military — those backgrounds often bring resilience.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read the full Q&A here.

A new committee wants more VC money for things that go beep boop beep boop.

What happened: The Canadian Robotics Council, a non-profit advocating for the nation’s robotics ecosystem, launched a new committee to boost investments in the sector. Founding members include partners from Inovia Capital, RBC, and BDC’s innovation venture fund. 

Zoom out: Canada has an impressive coterie of robo-companies, with a 2024 federal report estimating around 300 in the industry, most of which are in their early stages. Big names include autonomous trucking firm Waabi and humanoid robot maker Mirsee Robotics.

Yes, but: Despite the domestic ingenuity, Canada lags behind many of its peers in robot adoption. In 2024, Canada ranked 13th in operational stock per the International Federation of Robotics, with new installations down 12% from the previous year. This ranking puts it well behind leaders like China and South Korea, and even less bleeding-edge countries like Spain and India.

Why it matters: There’s no silver bullet for Canada’s productivity crisis, but more robots could be part of a solution by automating grunt work and addressing labour shortages. If Canadian industry doesn’t pick up the slack on adoption, it will only fall further behind.—QH

💰 US$403 million. Pay package that Rivian’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, was given last year. That’s about 13 times more than the next best-paid boss of a U.S. auto company. The EV makers board approved a package for Scaringe that could pay him out $4.6 billion over the next decade if he hits certain milestones.

Put your puzzle cap on, we’ve got today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who. 

Also, we would like to apologize to everyone who got stumped by Who's Who yesterday because of our typo in the first clue. Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809, not 1909.