Fusion power

Good morning. Former Manitoba MP Inky Mark, who sat in Parliament for 13 years, has been arrested on charges of gun trafficking after police seized 439 firearms from his home. Beyond all those guns, he was also in possession of $300,000 cash and an antique cannon.

Our first question if we were one of the arresting officers: does this cannon still work, and if so, where’s the best place to try it out?

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes. 

Correction: Yesterday we wrote that, as part of a new agreement with the U.S., revenue from the Gordie Howe International Bridge’s tolls would be split between Canada and a U.S.-controlled economic development fund. In fact, it’s profits derived from tolls, not revenue, that will be split. We regret the error.

Markets: Iran war tensions and another chip sell-off combined to drag down Canada’s main stock index and top Wall Street indexes yesterday. Perhaps the biggest loser was South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, which saw its worst day ever after a strong U.S. market debut on Friday.

A Canadian company believes it can solve a problem that physicists have been trying to crack for 70 years. Some extra cash from Wall Street might help them do it. 

What happened: B.C.-based General Fusion became the first nuclear fusion company to go public after making its Nasdaq debut yesterday. The stock soared by as much as 40% in its first day of trading. 

Catch-up: Nuclear fusion has seen renewed interest over the past year, with companies in the sector raising US$2.6 billion in 2025. The federal government included support for fusion development in its recently released nuclear energy strategy (General Fusion has already received $100 million in government funding). 

Why it matters: If it were to become commercially viable (which is still a big if), nuclear fusion could provide an abundance of clean, cheap electricity that would help meet our soaring demand for power. 

Our take: If nuclear fusion looks viable at scale, the big tech companies that are racing to build power-hungry AI data centres will likely start throwing serious money at the sector.—LA

Oilsands companies agree to build the Pathways carbon capture project. Ottawa and the Alberta government reached a deal with Canada’s five largest oil sands producers to get the ambitious carbon capture facility up and running by 2035. Mark Carney agreed to axe some environmental regulations and greenlight a new oil pipeline to the coast of B.C. under the condition that producers lower emissions through the buildout of the Pathways project. (The Canadian Press)

First Nations group rejects Quebec’s energy expansion plan. The Innu First Nation of Pessamit voted to reject a deal with Quebec and Hydro-Quebec that proposed billions of dollars in funding for the community in exchange for freeing up new hydro developments in the province. The deal, negotiated by Pessamit Innu leadership, aimed to settle a longstanding legal dispute over claims that Hydro-Quebec used (and profited off of) the Innu ancestral territory of Nitassinan without its consent for nearly 70 years. (Globe and Mail) 

Chinese state-owned EV maker gears up for the Canadian market. Automaker Dongfeng will be in Montreal this week showing off some of its EV models at an event as it awaits regulatory approval to start selling in Canada. It’s the latest EV maker planning to enter the Canadian market under the new low-tariff quota for Chinese-made vehicles. Top brands like BYD and Chery have expressed interest in importing EVs to Canada, though Tesla is the only automaker to widely use the import quota so far. (Bloomberg News)

What else is on our radar: 

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What they’re saying: “Can I just say, for the record, f*ck the glasses. Don’t get the glasses. Not sexy,” proclaimed pop superstar Lorde during her show at the Mad Cool Festival. She was railing against AI smart glasses, and while she didn’t call out any brand by name, it was likely a diss at Meta and Ray-Ban — the latter of which just so happened to sponsor the fest.

Why it matters: It’s not just Lorde hating on Meta’s smart glasses. The tech giant has been blasted over reported plans for “super sensing” glasses able to record continuously — a feature that critics fear is a privacy nightmare. Meta’s smart glasses sales have been quite strong so far, but a chorus of people calling them “pervert glasses” could change things.

Ticks have a new partner in crime besides Lyme disease. 

Driving the news: A new paper in the Canadian Medical Association Journal urged doctors to consider anaplasmosis as an explanation for fevers as ticks increasingly carry and transmit the illness. The infection is pretty easily treatable — it just needs to be detected.

Why it matters: The warning comes as the tick population has ticked up. Rising temperatures are moving the bloodsuckers northward, particularly in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. With more than 40 different species now in Canada, the scope of possible illnesses has grown. 

By the numbers: That said, Lyme disease is still the top tick-borne illness. According to preliminary data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, there were 7,105 reported Lyme cases last year — that’s up 22.3% from 2024, 647.8% from 2015, and 4,868.5% from 2010. The spike could be even higher, as experts believe the 2025 figure is an underestimate. 

Zoom out: The good news is that there’s a lot of research right now on preventing tick bites — from pesticide-doused woodchips to lemongrass essential oil — and mitigating the spread of tick-borne illness. The less-good news is that the Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network formally wound down its operations earlier this year after funding ran out.—QH

🎬 12. U.S. states suing Paramount Skydance to block its US$110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that the merger would leave consumers with higher prices and fewer choices. The joint lawsuit could derail — or at the very least delay — the closing of the deal, potentially costing Paramount hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Giddy up! It’s time for today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!