📈 The Peak on Saturday

Good morning. For a fleeting moment this week, a shipwreck reappeared from the bowels of Lake Erie as strong winds caused unusually low water levels. The wreck was spotted by a local Ontario historian, but just as soon as the vessel saw daylight, it returned to a watery grave.

If we have any folk singers reading right now, we urge you to use this incident for song material.

—Quinn Henderson, Taylor Scollon

🎁 Nearly half of Canadians plan to spend less than last year on holiday shopping, per Boston Consulting Group data shared with The Peak. (Card Craze)

🚬 A new study found that over half of the top-performing movies last year featured tobacco consumption, up a smokin’ 10% from 2023. (Cigfluence)

🤖 Newfoundland and Labrador spent nearly $1.6 million on a Deloitte report that had nonexistent — likely AI-generated — citations. (Citation Needed)

🚉 Montreal’s newly operational transit line was built for just $140 million per km, a relatively small price tag for a massive undertaking. (Hitch a Ride)

🍻 Molson Coors Canada accused an ex-director of running an embezzlement scheme that siphoned at least $9 million from the brewer. (Suds and Duds)

To say the federal NDP leadership contest has flown under the radar would be putting it gently, but the race to carry the standard for Canada’s fourth-largest party is in full swing. 

What happened: The leadership race kicked into higher gear with the campaign’s first debate this week — there are now just four months to go until the NDP picks its new leader at its March convention.

Catch up: Whoever is chosen as the party’s new leader will replace Jagmeet Singh, who presided over a steep decline in the NDP’s seat count from 44 to just seven in the last election, a result that cost it official party status in the House of Commons. 

Why it matters: The NDP has fallen a long way from its glory days of Jack Layton’s “Orange Wave” in 2011, which brought the party to the brink of power and decimated the Liberals, its chief rival for progressive votes. Nevertheless, nearly half of Canadians say they are still open to voting New Democrat — whether they actually do will depend heavily on what they think of its next leader.

Our take: Mark Carney’s early moves (this week’s pipeline deal with Alberta being the prime example) suggest he is more comfortable than his predecessor with alienating left-of-centre voters who are open to switching between the NDP and Liberals. If they can find competent leadership, that should give the Orange Team a chance to get up off the mat in the next election. —TS

🇭🇰 Hong Kong apartment fire death toll rises. The massive blaze that consumed multiple high-rises in the Tai Po district Tuesday has killed at least 128, as of writing. While the inciting incident is unknown, materials that were part of renovations caused the rapid spread, and 11 people have been arrested on corruption and manslaughter charges. (BBC News) 

🇪🇺 Europe gets on the defence. As anxiety about Russian aggression grows, countries in the European Space Agency agreed to fund a military space program, Italian defence firm Leonardo unveiled new missile defence tech, and France proposed a voluntary military service scheme aimed at 18- and 19-year-olds that would begin next year. (Guardian)

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia lets the booze flow… a bit. The kingdom plans to open two liquor stores in Jeddah and Dhahran next year as it looks to appease more tourists. Its first such store opened last year in the capital Riyadh's diplomatic quarter for non-Muslim staff on missions. (Financial Times)    

🇮🇩 Jakarta takes Tokyo’s population crown. The Indonesian capital is now the world’s most populous city, according to a new UN report, with 42 million residents. It’s a staggering rise from 2018, when it was ranked 33rd. Meanwhile, former title-holder Tokyo fell to third. (CNBC)

🇧🇷 Brazil’s ex-president begins 27-year prison sentence. Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his election defeat in 2022, began serving a 27-year prison sentence this week. (Associated Press) —QH

After a Miss Universe riddled with controversies, the two co-owners of the international beauty pageant are facing arrest in their respective countries. How unbecoming!

Driving the news: Last week, Mexico’s Fátima Bosch won the title of Miss Universe amid a flurry of controversies. This included, but was not limited to: two judges resigning amid vote rigging accusations; a contestant being hospitalized after falling off the stage; and a viral incident where the eventual winner stormed out after an organizer called her a “dumbhead.”

And somehow, none of these mishaps were the worst thing to happen to the competition. 

In Thailand: This week, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, who owns half of the Miss Universe Organization. She failed to appear in court to hear the verdict of a case where she stood accused of defrauding an investor in her company, JKM.

In Mexico: It came out that Raúl Rocha Cantú, who owns the other half of Miss Universe, was one of 13 individuals facing arrest warrants as part of a probe into alleged illegal drug, gun, and fuel trafficking between Mexico and Guatemala. He has denied any wrongdoing. 

Why it matters: Despite, or more likely because, of the drama, the contest broke viewership records. The organization said the event racked up 2.6 billion global views across social media as it received more attention than it had in years (it’s certainly the first time we’ve thought about it). If it survives the current turmoil, perhaps it can mount a revival.—QH

Eat a sweet potato donut. We saw this donut recipe from creator ice.karimcooks which uses sweet potato, our favourite fall harvest veggie, and felt we just had to pass it along. It looks scrumptious. And if you like your recipes written down, here’s a similar one from Pinch of Yum. 

Read Capitalism: A Global History, by Sven Beckert. Woah, that’s a pretty hefty title! But Beckert, a Harvard historian, tries his darndest to live up to it, with this 1344-page doorstop that takes a millennium-spanning approach to chronicling the world’s dominant economic system.

Watch Left-Handed Girl on Netflix. The solo directorial debut from Taiwanese-American filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou is a touching story about family, and a vibrant portrait of Taipei. It’s also co-written, co-produced, and edited by Sean Baker, helmer of Best Picture winner Anora. 

Listen to The Rest is Science. This new pod hosted by mathematician Hannah Fry and OG YouTuber Michael “VSauce” Stevens is a lighthearted educational romp, seeking answers to some of science’s stranger queries. For example, the first episode is titled How to Drink Lava.—QH

Congratulations to the winners of last week's cartoon caption contest and thanks to everyone who submitted!

Want to see this week's cartoon and try your hand at another caption? Click here and give us your best witticism.

Come one, come all! It’s time for The Peak’s Saturday Crossword! 

Then, we need you to fight fake news and pick out the fraudulent headline. 

Keep scrolling for the answer.

We’re clowning on you with headline #2 — it’s fake.