Pipe dream

Good morning. Around 80,000 Britons waited up to nine hours in a digital queue yesterday to score tickets to a huge cultural event. No, it wasn’t for a surprise Olivia Rodrigo concert — it was for a chance to see the fabled Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. 

The nearly 1,000-year-old, 70-metre-long cloth depicts the Norman conquest of Britain and is considered a monumental artifact for British heritage, even though its official home is in a French museum — hence the enormous anticipation surrounding its arrival.

We’ve never heard of a resale market for museum tickets before, but maybe this event will create one.

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: A surprisingly weak U.S. jobs report yesterday lowered expectations for a renewed interest rate hike campaign from the Federal Reserve, which in turn helped lift Canada’s main stock index.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline could soon have a sibling, and like any youngest child, it’s causing arguments and expecting someone else to pick up the tab. 

What happened: Alberta and the federal government unveiled details for a new one-million-barrel-a-day oil pipeline to the West Coast — a project that would run from Bruderheim, Alberta, to the southwest coast of British Columbia.

Zoom in: After earlier reports that the proposal would be made without a private backer, Pembina Pipeline unveiled itself as a partner on the project. It will hold a 10% economic interest in the pipeline and will have the chance to stake another 10% once it’s completed. Trans Mountain Corporation, a Crown corporation, will be the lead proponent.

Why it matters: The West Coast pipeline illustrates the high-wire act that Ottawa is trying to pull off as it looks to become an “energy superpower” without (entirely) abandoning its environmental targets and Indigenous consultations. 

Our take: Before today, the status of this whole project seemed murky, but with Pembina onboard and Smith willing to compromise on the route, it seems like it’s really happening. This could be the project that mends the Ottawa-Alberta divide… or widens it if too many controversies arise when construction begins.

Ottawa and B.C. ink deal to maintain North Coast tanker ban. Hours before Alberta’s pipeline update, the federal and B.C. governments agreed to a deal that Premier David Eby called “generational." It upholds the ban on tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of oil from docking on B.C.’s North Coast. It also promises billions in “critical infrastructure, resource projects, [and] clean energy” investments, including money for critical minerals mining. (Global News)

OpenAI is in talks to give a 5% stake to the U.S. government. CEO Sam Altman has reportedly proposed handing the government an ownership stake in the US$852 billion startup, part of a wider effort to quell public blowback to AI companies and data centre buildouts. Altman and OpenAI execs have proposed that all major American AI companies, including Google, Anthropic, and Meta, give a 5% stake to a U.S. sovereign wealth fund as a way to include taxpayers in the financial windfall of the AI boom. (TechCrunch)

SpaceX is working on an AI device. Following in the footsteps of OpenAI’s mysterious Jony Ive device, SpaceX previewed a prototype of a smartphone-like device to investors that would integrate xAI technology. It reportedly would have the “everything app” ethos Elon Musk has tried to bring to X, though at this point, there is no guarantee it will ever go into production. (Wall Street Journal)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

Climate and weather patterns can significantly impact a farm’s crop production. CropMind’s platform, powered by Google AI, provides early and accurate insights on crop health, helping farmers protect their harvests and increase yields.

Find out more about how Google is helping Canadians innovate in ways both big and small at go.co/canadianinnovation

Rocket Lab is buying Iridium Communications in a deal that values the satellite comms company at US$8 billion. Combining the two companies will bring together Rocket Lab’s launch capabilities and satellite manufacturing with Iridium’s established network of low-Earth orbit satellite technology — a domain long dominated by SpaceX. 

Why it matters: SpaceX accounts for nearly 70% of all active satellites, an unprecedented concentration of a space communications market that is only growing larger. A legitimate rival to SpaceX, which is now the seventh most-valuable public company in the world, would give governments, businesses, and consumers a real alternative to Starlink. 

The World Cup is showcasing the world’s top soccer talent… and how messed up ticket reselling is.

What happened: A proposed class action lawsuit in New York is seeking at least US$5 million in damages from StubHub, accusing the ticket resale platform of failing to deliver thousands of World Cup tickets, breaking consumer protection and false advertising laws in the process.

In Canada: Thousands who bought tickets on StubHub to attend matches in Toronto and Vancouver have also said the company never delivered, per a CBC News investigation. The situation has caused enough of a stink that B.C.’s attorney general opened a probe into it last week. The province’s consumer protection body is also investigating the complaints. 

Why it’s happening: Experts pin the blame on sellers cancelling orders to seek larger profits and the act of “speculative ticketing,” where sellers post tickets they don’t actually own — StubHub has faced trouble for letting this happen for other events like concerts.  

Why it matters: This debacle shows how hard it is to enforce consumer protection rules in the wild world of ticket resales. Even though speculative ticketing is barred in both B.C. and Ontario, that hasn’t stopped it from (allegedly) happening on a massive scale for a marquee event.—QH

🌎 Hint: This Mediterranean island is known for its limestone mountains, hidden coves full of turquoise water, and centuries-old stone villages. It’s famous for the historic Palma Cathedral, local specialties like sobrassada sausage, and it is the birthplace of one of the greatest tennis players of all time (who now has his own tennis academy on the island).  

Think you have an idea where we brought you this week? Lock in your guess here.

💰 US$2.8 trillion. Value of all the mergers and acquisitions in the first half of the year — a record high and a nearly 50% increase from the same period in 2025. NextEra Energy’s merger with Dominion Energy to create a $420 billion utilities company led the pack. 

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