Picking up steam

Good morning. A new trend has emerged for burnt-out young people in China who long to experience the meaning of nurturing something but don’t have the capacity for a kid, a pet, or even a houseplant. Instead of these hard-to-handle companions, they’re raising bricks. 

Yes, as in the building material. A growing number of “brick parents” are spraying bricks with water, which allows moss spores in the atmosphere to attach to them and grow. It seems silly, but it also sounds kinda therapeutic. Hey, if Pet Rocks and Chia Pets were a thing, why not this? 

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: Anthropic’s IPO prospectus helped raise top Wall Street indexes yesterday by stirring a pickup in the tech sector. Meanwhile, Canada’s main stock index was in the green thanks mainly to finance and resources.

Facing serious losses in next week’s midterm elections, the Republicans are suddenly very keen to get a trade deal with Ottawa over the line. 

What happened: Negotiations on a new Canada-U.S. trade deal appear to be picking up steam, with multiple government and industry sources telling CTV News that talks intensified over the weekend and were “all-consuming.” 

Why it’s happening: The tit-for-tat tariff war has become a defining issue for several key states in the midterm elections, with many voters blaming the levies for higher prices. In Michigan, more than 60% of voters disapprove of the tariffs, while 70% of likely voters in Maine say the tariff war is bad for the state. 

Why it matters: The ramped-up pressure on Republicans could be the catalyst needed to finally get a trade deal signed, sealed, and delivered. Despite Trump’s claims that he holds all the cards, souring public sentiment seems to have given Ottawa some renewed leverage. 

Yes, but: As with any Trump claim, take this all with a White House ballroom-sized grain of salt. If the Republicans pull off a few upsets in the midterms, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the White House renege on commitments made in any tentative trade deal with Ottawa.—LA

Carney says Canada needs to move beyond the Indian Act. At a meeting with First Nations in Ottawa yesterday, the PM said that he is instructing his ministers to start a process that “moves Canada beyond the Indian Act” — the 150-year-old legislation that has governed everything from land rights to legal status for First Nations groups. It’s unclear if this constitutes reformation or total abolition. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, the first First Nations premier of a Canadian province, called on Carney at the meeting to abolish it. (The Canadian Press)

Microsoft offers buyouts to more than a quarter of its workers. The tech giant is offering voluntary exit packages to 60,000 employees, including those in Canada, as it looks to drastically cut its workforce and allocate more resources toward AI. Microsoft already offered retirement buyouts to 8,750 workers in April, with more than 30% accepting. The company expects a smaller share of workers to take them up on their offer this time around. (Reuters)

The U.K. says ‘no thanks’ to Canada’s defence bank. The two countries announced that they would pursue separate defence organizations, despite PM Andy Burnham’s government signalling that the U.K. would be open to joining the Canada-hosted defence bank. The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank — which is expected to be operational by next year — has so far struggled to get major economies to sign on. (The Canadian Press)

📡 What else is on our radar:

In the coming weeks, Ontario is set to decide which reactor technology will anchor its new nuclear builds. The choice will shape more than the province’s power supply. It will also help decide whether 65 years of Canadian nuclear know-how keeps growing here at home.

That know-how has a name: CANDU®. It is proven in operation, backed by Canadian talent and modernized through 15 years of refurbishment work, which makes it one of the country’s most valuable homegrown technologies.

What’s at stake:

Canada’s new Nuclear Energy Strategy recognizes these strengths as national advantages. Decisions like Ontario’s will determine whether they’re put to work: supporting communities, growing the economy and preparing the country for the decades ahead.

Discover the story behind Canada’s nuclear powerhouse.

"At a sensible price," is what the Claude chatbot responded when Axios asked if it would invest in its maker, Anthropic, when the company goes public. Claude made its decision after analyzing Anthropic’s 240,000-word IPO prospectus, which it filed yesterday. OpenAI’s GPT 6.1 Sol had a different take, recommending against investing due to “long-term lease commitments, concentrated executive control, and uncertainty over the ultimate IPO price.”

Why it matters: Anthropic’s IPO could end up being the biggest of all time, and lots of investors will be sourcing at least part of their investment strategy on the matter from AI summaries — strategy that, seemingly, will be influenced by a model’s baked-in prejudices.

Next Stop is The Peak’s new column on how Canada gets around, from Reece Martin, the transit obsessive behind RMTransit’s tens of millions of YouTube views. He’s kicking things off with a contrarian take: Canadian transit is a lot better than we give it credit for. 

Vancouver’s SkyTrain carries more daily riders than Chicago’s L, and Edmonton’s light rail outperforms Denver’s. But if we want transit that’s truly great, Martin argues, we need to stop measuring ourselves against the U.S. and start looking east and west instead.

Read the full story.

The world’s polar bear capital could soon be the centre of Canada’s infrastructure push. 

What happened: Dubai’s state-owned shipping giant DP World has inked a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential role in developing Manitoba’s Port of Churchill. The firm will look into how it could link its global logistics network to the northern port’s operations.

Why it matters: The feds have designated the Port of Churchill expansion a project of national interest, but fast-tracking will require help footing a projected $57 billion bill. That’s where the participation of a foreign entity with a vested interest in Canadian infrastructure comes in handy. 

Yes, but: The Port of Churchill is the rare project getting any sort of foreign commitment. While Canada has been courting foreign cash like mad, the feds don’t have enough places to spend it. A prospectus at September’s federal investment summit said that just 15 of the 167 projects pitched there were shovel-ready; meanwhile, a Financial Times piece from this summer reported that Ottawa isn’t prepared to spend a $70 billion UAE investment.—QH

📱 90. Minutes that the longest videos on Instagram will now be as the platform tries to challenge YouTube for viewers. The new product, called Features, is designed primarily for podcasters and other long-form creators.

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