One man’s trash

Markets: Shares of BlackBerry soared over 13% yesterday on news of its expanded partnership with Nvidia, which, alongside positive reactions to new inflation data, helped lift Canada’s main stock index.

A Toronto startup is betting that it can find life-saving treatments by sifting through big pharma’s trash bin. 

Driving the news: Canadian biotech firm Biossil has developed AI algorithms that it says can sort through the millions of drug candidates that have failed in clinical trials, identifying molecules that could be repurposed or tweaked to make new, successful therapies. 

Zoom in: One of the therapies that Biossil bought, called Senicapoc, failed as a pain relief drug in clinical trials under Johnson & Johnson, but its algorithms found that Senicapoc showed promise as a therapy for preventing the breakdown of red blood cells (which can cause anemia and other conditions). 

Why it matters: Drug R&D can take decades and hundreds of millions of dollars — Biossil estimates its portfolio of 10 molecules cost previous owners over US$1 billion to develop. By repurposing therapies that have already had serious legwork (and cash) put behind them, Biossil says it can bring drugs to market for cheaper, and ultimately charge consumers less for them. 

Zoom out: Plenty of hugely successful drugs have been developed accidentally by researchers trying to find a treatment for something completely different. Some of these happy accidents include Rogaine (blood pressure medicine turned hair loss treatment), Botox (which was originally meant for eye-muscle disorders), and Aspirin, which was repurposed as a blood thinner over 50 years after it was first introduced as a painkiller.—LA

Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple’s CEO. After nearly 15 years as head honcho, Cook will hand over the reins of the tech giant to John Ternus, the senior vice-president of hardware engineering, on September 1. Under the leadership of Cook — who will be transitioning to the role of executive chair — Apple’s market cap has grown by ~24-fold (not a bad run). It will be the first CEO succession that the company has undergone since Cook took over for Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs. (Bloomberg News)

Record-high gas prices drove inflation up to 2.4% in March. Canada’s annual inflation rate jumped by 0.6% from February, driven by a record-high 21.2% surge in gas prices. March was the first month that the impact of the war in Iran was really felt at the pumps, though some economists said the inflation data could have been worse (always nice to hear). (The Canadian Press)

Alberta is switching to year-round daylight saving time. Following in the footsteps of B.C., Premier Danielle Smith says Alberta will ditch the twice-a-year time changes, with a law expected to be passed this week solidifying the change. Research has shown that changing our clocks twice a year can have a pretty serious impact on our health and productivity. One study found that the adjustment to daylight saving time can negatively affect worker productivity for up to two weeks. (Global News)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

What they’re saying: "What this should do is shine a spotlight on what we're capable of as a country… The fact that a Canadian flew around the moon in 2026 is not because it happened last year. It happened over decades," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen told Global News in an interview last week following his return to Earth from the Artemis II lunar mission. During the trip, he became the first non-American to travel around the moon.

Why it matters: Hansen is right to say that it happened over decades, as Canada has a rich history of contributing to space exploration that can serve as inspiration for building other large-scale projects. Honestly, it’s just refreshing to hear an optimistic take we agree with.

After years of dwindling numbers leading to a so-called “death spiral,” the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) beat its annual recruitment target for the second straight fiscal year. 

Driving the news: In the 12 months ending March 31, 7,310 people signed up to join the military. The CAF is bullish after these consecutive beats, and has raised this year’s recruitment target to 8,200 — that's more than 1,000 people higher than last year’s.

Why it’s happening: Tweaks Ottawa has made to boost recruitment appear to be working, including a significant pay raise and enrolling applicants with medical conditions like ADHD and asthma. The top factor, though, appears to be the enrollment of permanent residents.

Plus: A rise in patriotism, and also the uncertain state of the world, might be a factor. A March Nanos Research survey found that 24% of respondents would be interested in full-time military service if Canada faced a major conflict — up 12% from last November. 

Yes, but: Recruitment likely would have been even higher if the application process wasn’t so slow and cumbersome. An auditor general’s report last year found that between fiscal 2022 and 2025, around 54% of online applicants voluntarily withdrew from the process.  

Why it matters: The CAF is still facing a personnel crunch and needs to keep the line going up. We’ve all heard about Canada’s dramatic jump in defence spending, but pouring money into a military that’s chronically understaffed is like filling a bucket with a hole in it.—QH

💰 103%. Share of Canada’s GDP that Canadian households carry in debt. In other words, for every dollar the country’s economy produces in a year, Canadians owe $1.03. That’s the highest household debt level of any G7 country. Among advanced economies, only Switzerland has a higher household debt burden.

On Friday, we accidentally posted the cartoon meant for this week with last week’s caption contest winners. We apologize for the error. Please enjoy the winning captions with the correct cartoon.  

And in case you haven’t already, here’s where you can submit your captions for this week’s cartoon. 

Get over those Tuesday blues with some help from the mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!