Smile for the cameras

Good morning. Europeans give us a hard time for saying “soccer” rather than “football”, but it turns out we actually have the Brits to thank for this. In the 19th century, the sport was referred to in the U.K. as “association football” to differentiate it from other kinds of football. A group of Oxford students, who were too cool to say the whole name, decided to just use the middle three letters, s-o-c, which quickly evolved to become soc-er. 

So the next time a British soccer fan makes fun of you for not saying football, you can let them know it’s entirely their fault. 

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Earnings to watch: Montreal retailer Groupe Dynamite will headline an otherwise quiet week with its results on Tuesday, while Sobeys parent Empire will follow with its earnings call on Thursday.

The Trump administration’s crackdown on Anthropic’s latest models is raising questions about vulnerabilities created by Canada’s dependence on made-in-America AI tools.

Catch up: The U.S. government imposed export controls on Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, banning the company from offering them to foreign nationals, including those inside the States. Anthropic responded by disabling access to the models altogether.

Why it matters: The ease with which the U.S. government can block the rest of the world from accessing important technology — and, now, its demonstrated willingness to do so — should raise some eyebrows in Canada, where many of our critical services rely on U.S. tech and many businesses and governments are beginning to embed American-made AI tools in their processes.

Zoom out: The U.S. government’s shutdown of Anthropic’s top models could push more AI adopters to consider open-source models, like Deepseek and Kimi, that may not be quite as powerful as the best Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have to offer, but at least can’t be turned off with the stroke of a pen.—TS

U.S. and Iran announce peace deal. Officials from the two countries announced they had reached an interim deal to end nearly four months of fighting. The specifics of the agreement were not released, but it will reportedly include a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz without a toll, the removal of sanctions on Iran and unfreezing of billions of dollars of Iranian assets, and an end to Israel’s operations in Lebanon. That last item could be a problem, as Israeli media has reported that Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that Israeli troops would not withdraw from Lebanon. (Reuters)

Carney says Trump doesn’t want to fundamentally change CUSMA. The Prime Minister said the Trump administration has made it clear that they do not want to make any changes to the trade agreement that would trigger a vote in Congress. To avoid that, Carney says that the “fundamental architecture” of CUSMA will need to remain in place. Mexico has already begun formal negotiations with Trump trade officials, but Canada and the U.S. have yet to launch official talks. (Bloomberg News)

Switzerland rejected a proposed 10 million population cap. About 55% of Swiss residents voted against the controversial policy in a referendum yesterday. The population cap proposal, which was brought forward by the country’s right wing opposition party, had gained momentum as public services in the country became strained by higher immigration levels. Had it passed, the law could have triggered a clash with the EU over freedom of movement rights within the bloc. (BBC News)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

Close your eyes and picture the dish you always order. The one you recommend to friends. The one that makes a place feel like your place.

Now imagine it quietly disappears from the menu because the restaurant can’t find enough people to keep up.

That is what labour shortages put at risk.

Restaurants are Canada’s 4th largest employer, supporting 1.2 million jobs and a $125 billion sector. Yet today, 70,000 foodservice jobs are vacant.

Eventually, that pressure lands somewhere we all notice: the plate.

So, what happens when those hands are harder to find? We think Canadians should know.

🇫🇷 The G7 meets in France. The leaders of the world’s richest countries gather in Évian-les-Bains this week for a G7 summit that is likely to be dominated by a) the war in Iran and energy inflation caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and b) the growing divisions within the group, particularly the (many) clashes between the U.S. and the rest of the group. AI and the war in Ukraine are also likely to feature on the agenda. 

🏦 First Fed rate decision under Warsh. Kevin Warsh will chair his first interest rate-setting meeting of the Federal Reserve this week. He’ll face pressure from the man who appointed him to the job, Donald Trump, to cut rates despite strong jobs numbers and inflation recently hitting a three-year high. Still, most analysts expect that the Fed will hold rates steady on Wednesday.

⚽️ Canada takes on Qatar in the World Cup. The Canadian squad heads to Vancouver for their second match of the tournament where it’ll face Qatar. Both teams tied their first game, meaning that whoever wins this one will have a very good chance of advancing to the next round. Canada is currently the favourite to come out on top, but Qatar surprised the Swiss team with a draw, so don’t count your chickens.

Young people are clamouring to have their Instagram photos look like they were taken around the time people were worried about Y2K wrecking the world’s computers. 

Driving the news: Sales of digital cameras have more than doubled in the past five years to US$5.5 billion in 2025, driven by a growing cohort of young people swapping their iPhones for old-school point-and-shoots. 

Why it’s happening: Canadians spend an average of over six hours on their devices daily. After finally shutting their laptops at the end of the workday, people are starting to seek out more experiences, hobbies, and shared spaces that don’t involve staring at their devices.

Our take: It may not be realistic to completely decouple from our devices these days, but there’s an obvious space in the market for activities and products that help people get off their screens, at least for a while.—LA

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🍿 US$16 billion. Revenue that the Toy Story franchise has brought in since its debut 30 years ago. The newest movie, Toy Story 5, is hitting theatres this week and is expected to gross up to $175 million in its opening weekend. Three decades later, the Buzz Lightyear economy is alive and well!

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Get your week rolling with today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who.