Middle ground

Good morning. As Parks Canada contends with $145 million in budget cuts over three years, the department has ended its search and rescue dog program, which dates back to the 1970s. The last rescue dog — a very good German shepherd named Leroy — retired this year after seven years at work and finding more than 50 people lost in the wilderness. 

As lovers of dogs with jobs, we find this pretty disheartening news. Personally, we think the nation needs a full-fledged return to rescue St. Bernards who carry barrels of brandy around their necks.

Today’s reading time is 6 minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index hit a six-day high yesterday as gold prices rose and shares of tech firm Celestica surged 11.9% after posting a surprisingly strong earnings beat.

Even after the longest trial in Canadian history, the status of B.C. land rights is very much up in the air. 

Driving the news: Lawyers for the Cowichan Tribes in B.C. say they will bring a proposal to court in January that will protect residents’ private property rights, pitching it as a compromise after a landmark court ruling last year recognized Aboriginal title to 800 acres of land in Richmond.

Catch-up: The Cowichan Tribes v. Canada ruling was the first case in Canadian history affirming Indigenous title over land that includes privately owned property. The judge ruled that the governments’ ownership rights of those lands are “defective and invalid,” but didn’t clarify who will ultimately control the properties.

Zoom out: B.C.’s new Premier Lorne Doerkson, who partially campaigned on strengthened property rights, said that it is his top priority to repeal B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) — legislation passed in 2019 that requires all other provincial laws to be in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

Why it matters: Skeptics have argued that Indigenous rights and private property cannot coexist. As similar cases play out across Canada, other provinces will be watching to see if the Cowichan Tribes and the B.C. government can find a happy(ish) middle ground.—LA

Canada and the U.S. are ironing out a deal on steel and auto tariffs. Multiple government sources told Reuters that the two sides are working on a new deal to ease U.S. tariffs on Canadian autos and steel — two of the country’s hardest-hit sectors. The tariffs have proven to be a hot-button issue (as in deeply unpopular) among midterm voters, and a deal to ease the levies could reportedly be pushed over the line before the November 3 elections. (Reuters)

Ottawa demands a plan to restore jobs before meeting with Cleveland-Cliffs. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said she will not meet with the U.S. steelmaker until it comes to the table with a concrete plan to avoid hundreds of layoffs at two Stelco plants in Ontario. Cleveland-Cliffs, which already requested a meeting with Joly, was given a 15-day deadline by Ottawa to reverse the layoffs. (CBC News)

Apple’s new iPhone Duo has a screen-cracking problem. The launch of the US$2,000 foldable iPhone — Apple’s biggest product rollout in years — hasn’t gone quite to plan, with many customers complaining that the screen broke within hours or days. In what’s been dubbed “Crackgate,” customers reported hearing a crunching sound while unfolding the device, with a large crack soon forming along the foldable centre crease. (TechCrunch)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

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🤝 Meet Simon Blackwell. He’s the founder and principal owner of Blackbird Baking Co., the Toronto bakery that has become an institution in the city and recently opened its first café-style location. We sat down with Simon to talk about all things bread, building a business, and the importance of seeing every product with his own eyes.

How did you get into baking?

My parents are both bakers. And so is my grandfather and my great-grandfather on my mother's side, so I'm actually a fourth-generation baker. I always had a love of baking and cooking, and I actually went into cooking school straight out of high school and worked as a chef for many years. When I decided to try my hand at my own business, I decided, bakery. It was a natural fit for me to move from cooking into baking, especially with the family history, and that was back in 2010. I wrote a business plan, and then baked my first bread in spring of 2011, so we're 15 years in now.

What would be your advice to someone opening up a bakery?

I get asked that quite often. We've been going for 15 years, some of my employee team have left and started their own businesses, own bakeries. I always suggest starting small. I've seen other people, and maybe more in the restaurant industry, where they really try and do something grand right out of the gate. So I always say, “Start small, have a sound business plan.” Having more than one revenue stream, I think, is very important for the baking industry, so retail sales and wholesale sales to keep things balanced.

Retail bakery sales really suffer from January to April, and can be very much weather-dependent in Ontario because of the cold temperatures. And I always also recommend perfecting a tight range of products before expanding your offerings. Have a really solid core group of things that you do very well, that are consistent, that your customers keep coming back for, and once you've established that, then expand your offerings.

Any plans to expand beyond Toronto? 

When people ask me that, I usually say that we're real sticklers for quality and consistency, and I want to see the products that we're producing — the breads and the pastries and everything that we're making — with my own eyes every day. People have said, “Oh, you should try opening up in Vancouver or in Montreal,” and I think it's just too far away. I really want to see what we're producing every day.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Click here to read the whole Q&A.

Self-driving excavators could soon be as hot a commodity as self-driving cars.

What happened: Autonomous construction vehicle startup Bedrock Robotics raised a US$600 million funding round, giving it a $4.1 billion valuation after just two years. The round — backed in part by Canadian venture firm Georgian — is a sign of growing demand for robots that can help build stuff.

Why it matters: Ambitious infrastructure plans around the world are running into the problem of a labour crunch; one that projects to get worse as aging workforces retire. That's where autonomous construction vehicles — and other tools like robotic arms able to assemble prefab houses — could come in and supplement systemic shortages.

In Canada: A BuildForce Canada report found that Canada’s construction sector actually rose to 1.25 million workers in 2025, but that still isn’t enough to meet lofty housing and infrastructure goals. A recent National Bank study estimated that to deliver on planned major projects, construction employment would have to rise 51% over the next four years.—QH

Cale Makar, Avalanche star and brand-new dad of twins, has a few ideas. Most involve breakfast. He’s even got a business plan: an old-school diner meets modern coffee shop, farmer’s breakfast on the menu.

Turns out hockey and small businesses have a lot in common. The best teams build over time, and nobody does it alone.

See what else Makar had to say here.

🩺 89%. Share of Ontarians who now have access to a primary care provider. The province has connected 511,000 additional people to a health care setting since January of last year. Ontario is now on pace to meet its goal of providing every resident with primary care by 2029.

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