Good morning. Planning a kids’ birthday party? Sure, bowling and piñatas are fine, but if you’re looking for something off the beaten path, have you considered a visit to the local recycling centre?
That’s where British Columbia’s Himmat Rai celebrated his fifth birthday, and judging by the photos, it was a successful (and adorable) outing.
Today’s reading time is 5 minutes.
MARKETS
| ▲ | TSX |
33,181.97 |
+0.22% |
|
| ▲ | S&P 500 |
6,611.83 |
+0.44% |
|
| ▲ | DOW JONES |
46,669.88 |
+0.36% |
|
| ▲ | NASDAQ |
21,996.34 |
+0.54% |
|
| ▲ | GOLD |
4,682.1 |
+0.05% |
|
| ▲ | OIL |
112.35 |
+0.73% |
|
| ▲ | CAD/USD |
0.72 |
+0.21% |
|
| ▲ | BTC/USD |
69,706.71 |
+3.53% |
Markets: All three major Wall Street indexes finished the day in the green, while the TSX inched up 0.22%. Crude futures jumped to US$112 a barrel after a back-and-forth day of trading.
GOVERNMENT
Alberta’s separatist campaign hits a speedbump
Source: Shutterstock.
A court hearing beginning today could put an early end to the separatist referendum campaign in Alberta.
What’s happening: An Alberta judge will hear arguments today in a lawsuit filed by the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, which argues that the separatist petition to hold a referendum on the province leaving Canada is illegal and should be blocked.
The First Nation says the referendum would violate its treaty rights and Canada’s constitution.
Catch up: Alberta’s pro-separation organizers say they have cleared the threshold of 178,000 signatures needed to force a referendum in October on the question, “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada and become an independent state?”
First Nations in Alberta have argued that their treaties with the Crown were signed before Alberta joined Confederation, and the province does not have the right to override them.
Last year, a court ruled that an independence referendum would be unconstitutional. The provincial government then changed the law to allow referendums even if they violate the constitution.
Why it matters: If the courts block the separatist petition, the referendum will hit a dead end — unless the provincial government orders one to go ahead anyway, which is something separatist organizers say they will demand.
What’s next: The court is expected to rule by May 2nd, which is the signature deadline for the petition.—TS
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BIG PICTURE
Source: Shutterstock.
Iran rejects ceasefire deal on the eve of Trump's deadline. Tehran rejected a deal to end the five-week-long conflict, with President Trump reiterating his threats to destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t reopened by tonight. The U.S. president made fresh threats over the weekend to send Iran back to the “stone age” and criticized NATO members for not backing the American effort to reopen the Strait. (Reuters)
Ottawa says AI is being used to fake immigration and asylum applications. Officials from both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) say more applicants are using AI to generate fake stories on their applications and even reference court decisions that don’t exist. The fraudulent (and often lengthy) applications have siphoned more resources away from the IRCC and IRB, which are both dealing with huge backlogs of applications. (Globe and Mail)
Artemis II astronauts officially set the record for farthest space travel. The NASA crew made their way past the far side of the moon yesterday, marking the farthest distance any humans have travelled in space. On its trip around the moon, the four astronauts entered a brief radio blackout and lost all communications with Earth for 40 minutes. (The Canadian Press)
📡 What else is on our radar:
Canada’s services economy shrank for a fifth straight month.
In a rare collaboration, China and Europe are launching a joint space mission.
Meta is planning to make parts of its new AI models open source.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Source: Shutterstock.
“I’m told up to 10 MPs are still in discussion with Liberal delegates from Mr. Carney’s office,” La Presse journalist Joël-Denis Bellavance reported. “They’re still hoping to get more opposition MPs from the Conservative Party or the NDP.”
Why it matters: While Mark Carney’s Liberals are likely to secure a technical majority in the House of Commons with next week’s by-elections, it could be a narrow one of a single seat—tight enough to create procedural issues because of the impartial role of the Speaker. Luring a few more floor crossers would significantly strengthen the government’s position.
BUSINESS
Bars and restaurants want to help you unplug
Source: Shutterstock.
Everyone’s realizing that happy hour drinks are a lot more enjoyable without the threat of Slack notifications.
Driving the news: With people increasingly craving time away from their devices, a slew of new phone-free restaurants, bars and cafes are popping up, promising patrons a few hours without any electronic distractions.
According to Axios, these phone-less bars and restaurants are now in at least 11 U.S. states, including five in Washington D.C., alone. There’s even a Chick-fil-A that gives free ice cream to families who don’t use their phones at the table.
A number of Canadian cafes have either banned devices altogether or limited the hours when they can be used in an effort to bring back a more social environment.
Why it matters: 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 allow them to unplug.
Offline social events are now drawing crowds of thousands in cities across the world, while so-called analog activities like knitting, reading magazines, and listening to records are seeing a resurgence, particularly with young people.
Yes, but: Enforcing no-device policies at bars and cafes can be risky business. Antoine Vautherot, the manager of several 10Dean cafe locations in Toronto, told The Peak, “We tried to cut off laptops entirely when we opened our new location, but we couldn’t sustain it. We lost all our revenue because we kicked out laptops.”
Our take: It may not be realistic to completely decouple from our devices these days, but spending time away from them (especially in cool spaces that encourage us to do so) will increasingly become a luxury that people will seek out.—LA
ONE BIG NUMBER
✈️ $60. Fuel surcharge that WestJet will begin adding to some flight bookings starting tomorrow. Due to the recent surge in fuel prices, the airline will also be cutting the number of flights on its lower-demand routes.
PEAK PICKS
How a cruise ship in Fiji nearly had a real-life Castaway situation.
The countries with the best steaks in the world.
Attention everyone sick of overly bright headlights: Transport Canada is doing a survey on headlight glare.
Why kids are getting back into using landline phones (Wall Street Journal, paywalled).
Watch: How an architect filled a 340-square-foot NYC apartment with storage.
10 movie soundtracks that changed the industry.
Shake off the Easter weekend cobwebs with today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who.
