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Good morning. Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority is under fire after it devised maybe the cruellest internal phishing test imaginable. N.L. Health Services sent emails to employees promising a paid day off for all of their hard work, only to pull the rug out the next day.
Turns out that baiting burnt-out healthcare workers who recently worked hundreds of hours of mandatory overtime with false promises of a day off didn’t go over well. Our compromise solution: give the people who didn’t click the fake link in the email the day off.
Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.
MARKETS
| ▲ | TSX |
35,002.18 |
+0.42% |
|
| ▼ | S&P 500 |
7,472.79 |
-0.37% |
|
| ▲ | DOW JONES |
51,712.71 |
+0.29% |
|
| ▼ | NASDAQ |
26,166.6 |
-1.32% |
|
| ▼ | GOLD |
4,209.7 |
-0.85% |
|
| ▼ | OIL |
74.08 |
-2.33% |
|
| ▼ | CAD/USD |
0.7062 |
-0.08% |
|
| ▲ | BTC/USD |
64,272.98 |
+0.87% |
Markets: Despite a hot inflation report, Canada’s main stock index broke a three-day losing streak yesterday thanks to a spike in metal mining shares. Elsewhere, SpaceX shares fell 16.4%, hitting their lowest levels since their first day of trading.
GOVERNMENT
Canada’s high-speed rail project calls an audible
Rendering of Alto’s high-speed rail train. Image courtesy of Alto.
Canada’s first high-speed train faces another twist in the tracks.
What happened: Ottawa has directed the Alto high-speed rail project to explore a new potential route that includes a stop in the city of Kingston, ON. The decision follows the release of Alto's first public consultation report, which found demand for a Kingston stop.
In its current conception, the route would connect Toronto and Quebec City while making stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Trois-Rivières, Laval, and Montreal.
Catch-up: With speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour, Alto’s trains promise to be nearly twice as fast as Via Rail’s and generate billions in economic benefits through cross-city integration. However, Alto has faced intense backlash from some residents in affected areas.
The consultation was marred by miscommunication and anti-Alto activism. Some politicians have taken up the opposition, with Pierre Poilievre and Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon vowing to kill the project if they come to power.
Why it matters: A route with a Kingston stop would provide service to a larger population. Perhaps more importantly, it would be an attempt to salvage the political viability of Alto by winning over Kingston and South Frontenac politicians who will oppose the project without a local stop.
That said, high-speed rail is most effective when the track is as straight as possible, and the addition of Kingston could compromise this. Plus, it could just end up spurring even more NIMBYism from residents along the new route.
Our take: As the saying goes, when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. We’re highly uncertain this project will ever actually get built. And even if it does, we foresee decades of compromises that cause delays and hurt overall performance.—QH
BIG PICTURE
Source: Unsplash.
Canada’s inflation rate hit its highest level in over two years. The headline inflation rate hit 3.2% in May, which was higher than economists expected but not an enormous surprise given the surge in gas prices driven by the war in Iran. Core measures of inflation that exclude energy prices were only up 2.2% on the year, and with a deal in the works to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices are likely to keep falling. (CBC News)
Three people were killed in a Montreal shooting, including a police officer and a civilian. Another officer was injured, and is in stable condition. The suspected gunman, who was killed at the scene, reportedly distributed a manifesto promoting views associated with the “incel” subculture and calling for attacks on people working in the pornography industry. The RCMP issued a bulletin to police forces across the country warning of the possibility of copycats carrying out similar attacks. (CTV News)
Ottawa announced plans to boost nuclear power by 50%. Energy Minister Tim Hodgson unveiled the feds’ plan to build up to 10 new Candu nuclear reactors across Canada, sell more of the Canadian-made reactors overseas, and expand the supply chain for nuclear energy. Nuclear reactors are expensive and difficult to build, but with power demand skyrocketing (we’re looking at you, AI data centres), more countries are considering investing in the renewable, emissions-free energy source. (CTV News)
📡 What else is on our radar:
Keir Starmer announced that he will step down as U.K. prime minister — he is likely to be succeeded by Andy Burnham, who was elected to parliament in a by-election last week.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Canada and Mexico are cooperating in CUSMA negotiations.
Bell is being sued by nearly 50 former employees who claim they were fired without cause based on unfair investigations.
Longtime U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan died at the age of 100.
Right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella won the Colombian presidential election in a tight race.
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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Source: Canva.
What they’re saying: “Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months,” reads a joint statement from the Five Eyes — the intelligence-sharing alliance between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.
Why it matters: While the threats and capabilities of Western frontier AI models are known — we’ve all heard about Mythos and its god-tier hacking abilities at this point — that’s not true for models from China or Russia. Joint warnings from the Five Eyes are rare, so its cyber chiefs must have seen something from rival forces that spooked them.
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TECH
Indie cinema is getting an AI makeover
Source: A24.
One of Hollywood’s most reliable hitmakers is betting on the industry’s least favourite collaborator: AI.
What happened: Google is investing US$75 million into indie movie studio A24 as part of a new AI research partnership between the two companies. The tie-up will include building new AI tools for film production and distribution, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The studio, which has released hits like Civil War, Marty Supreme, and Backrooms, already has its own technology arm called A24 Labs that’s building in-house AI tools, like storyboarding apps.
Why it matters: A24 and the rest of Hollywood are trying to walk a fine line between embracing AI tools (which can cut their production costs by up to 50%) and not alienating the filmmakers and audiences that have disavowed the technology as a creativity killer.
Some studios have been more upfront than others about their AI use. Just last month, Amazon’s MGM Studios launched a GenAI Creators' Fund to bankroll AI-generated animated movies (we can’t wait to not watch these).
Netflix has openly boasted about the resources it has saved using generative AI for visual effects in its shows and recently acquired Ben Affleck's AI filmmaking company, InterPositive, for ~US$600 million.
Zoom out: The Google deal is a reputational risk for A24, which has made its name producing edgier films from up-and-coming directors that bigger studios typically pass on. Its creative-over-corporate approach has earned the studio a cult following, but an AI partnership with a tech giant risks undermining that original ethos.
Kane Parsons, the director of the studio’s highest grossing movie ever (Backrooms), described AI as "cultural and economic rot."
Bottom line: Studios adopting AI risks hundreds of thousands of jobs in the film and entertainment sector. That’s a problem for Canadian film hubs like Quebec, which has a visual effects industry that generates ~$8 billion a year.—LA
ONE BIG NUMBER
🛵 230. Cities that transportation startup Lime operates in. The Uber-backed company, which offers short-term electric bike and scooter rentals, is eyeing an IPO at a US$1.66 billion valuation. Analysts say that Lime’s public offering will be a litmus test for the bike-share space, which is facing higher costs and more regulatory challenges.
PEAK PICKS
A cook’s guide to making homemade pizza.
Instagram wants to launch a long-form video feature for its TV app.
Read: Why the dream of putting humans on Mars may be a dead-end.
The Atlantic built a free archive of all the music that’s been used to train AI models.
The best anti-inflammatory foods, according to a rheumatologist.
Watch: A Uruguay soccer fan's poorly timed mid-game proposal.
You best believe it’s time to play today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!
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