Good morning. NASA announced it’s spending US$20 billion over the next seven years to build a base on the moon’s surface and nixed previous plans for an orbiting station. The agency has been tasked with laying the groundwork for a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.
Before any of this happens, NASA astronauts have to get back to the moon for the first time since 1972. Next month’s Artemis launch will be a pivotal test to see if that’s in the cards.
Today’s reading time is 6 minutes.
MARKETS
| ▲ | TSX |
31,941.59 |
+0.18% |
|
| ▼ | S&P 500 |
6,556.37 |
-0.37% |
|
| ▼ | DOW JONES |
46,124.06 |
-0.18% |
|
| ▼ | NASDAQ |
21,761.9 |
-0.84% |
|
| ▲ | GOLD |
4,474.9 |
+1.53% |
|
| ▲ | OIL |
88.37 |
+0.27% |
|
| ▼ | CAD/USD |
0.73 |
-0.29% |
|
| ▼ | BTC/USD |
69,954.45 |
-1.27% |
Markets: Canada’s main stock index rose again yesterday as strength in the energy sector offset stagflation concerns. Meanwhile, Dollarama shares dropped 9.6% after the budget retailer projected slowing sales growth for the year ahead.
BUSINESS
Canada’s indie bookstores are teaming up
Source: nomis_h / Shutterstock.
Betting that there’s strength in numbers, Canada’s indie bookstores are joining forces to take on Big Book.
Driving the news: Online bookseller Les Librairies indépendantes du Québec has expanded to eight more provinces and launched an English version of its website, Booksellers.ca. The company pools the inventory of independent bookstores across Canada in one digital marketplace, akin to Amazon or Indigo, with only titles from local shops.
The operation recently added 30 new stores and now has 160 independent booksellers on the platform (not far off Indigo’s network of 172 stores). The goal is to add 100 new sellers by the end of the year.
After hundreds of closures in the early 2000s, indie booksellers have seen a resurgence over the past few years. As of 2024, there were at least 300 across Canada.
Why it matters: Indie bookstores often have strong support from neighbourhood regulars, but fall behind big retailers when it comes to online sales. The Booksellers.ca model, which has already proven successful in Quebec, could be a win-win for readers and sellers alike.
Customers get a much wider selection than they would at a single bookstore with the online convenience of ordering a book on Amazon — all while supporting small businesses.
For indie sellers, the platform allows them to ship books for far cheaper than they can themselves, and puts their collection in front of a much larger group of customers.
Zoom out: Reading in general has suddenly become cool again. One survey found that Canadians now spend more time reading for fun than they do exercising. It would’ve been great if reading books took time away from doomscrolling TikTok instead of working out, but you can’t win ‘em all.—LA
BIG PICTURE
Source: Tada Images / Shutterstock.
Apple is cooking up some new stuff. Sources told Bloomberg that the tech giant is testing a refreshed version of Siri that gives the voice assistant a chatbot-like user experience in a standalone app. The new Siri is set to debut in June. Meanwhile, Apple launched a new business platform that, among other things, will let companies advertise in Apple Maps. (Bloomberg News)
Alberta and Ottawa are already behind on their pipeline deal. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told CBC News that the first set of goals for the memorandum of understanding for a new oil pipeline to B.C. are not expected to be met by their April 1 deadline. Meanwhile, Canadian officials spoke with Trump officials about reviving the Keystone XL oil pipeline. (CBC News)
BMO buys into the blockchain. BMO is partnering with Google Cloud and CME Group, the largest US derivatives exchange, to offer cash tokenization. Institutional clients will be able to convert U.S. dollars into digital representations on the blockchain that can be moved outside regular trading hours. It comes as global markets pivot toward 24/7 operations. (Reuters)
📡 What else is on our radar:
Investigators found that the fire truck in Sunday’s fatal Air Canada collision wasn’t equipped with the transponder needed to trigger the runway warning system.
Nintendo is cutting quarterly production of its Switch 2 console from six million units to four million units after surprisingly weak holiday season sales.
Canadian AI company Cohere signed a memorandum of understanding to work with Swedish aerospace and defence firm Saab on its GlobalEye surveillance jet.
OpenAI is shutting down its Sora video generator app.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PEAK
You probably know someone who should be on this list
Canada's next generation of business leaders are out there doing remarkable work, and The Peak wants to make sure they get the recognition they've earned. For the sixth year running, we're building the Emerging Leaders list, and nominations are open now.
Whether your nominee is reshaping healthcare, scaling a startup, or leading a team that punches well above its weight, there's a place for them here.
Here's why this matters:
Over 1,000 Canadian leaders have already been celebrated through this program
12 categories mean virtually every industry has a spot at the table
Recognition reaches 150,000 engaged business readers across the country
Know someone who deserves a moment in the spotlight? Nominate them before the deadline.
🤝 Meet Christian Weedbrook. He’s the CEO and founder of Canadian quantum computing firm Xanadu. We caught up with Christian ahead of Xanadu’s planned $3 billion IPO to chat about the practical use cases for quantum computing, why Canada could be a global leader in the field, and why that should all matter to us.
How would you explain the importance of quantum computing to the average person?
I always go back to a previous quantum computer we had called Borealis. Borealis solved an extremely difficult math problem in what was a very important proof of principle. It would have taken the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time 7 million years to solve, and our quantum computer solved it in 2 minutes. That gives you a sense that something remarkable is happening here.
The technology will be applicable to major industries. Drug discovery is a good example. It takes on average 10 years, costs billions of dollars, and 90% of candidates fail. The potential to do this in less than a year and with greater accuracy is revolutionary. There’s others like material design, next-generation batteries, next-generation solar cells, finance, AI, defence. Many large industries will be affected by quantum computing.
What are some of the challenges that you’ve seen in turning Canadian research into profitable, homegrown companies?
I think, for me, it always comes back to mindset. We’ve said from day one that we won’t be moving to the U.S. We think there’s enough here. Canada is great for talent, particularly in AI and quantum. There’s also more money going into the sector, including a lot of federal government funding. We announced that we’re in final negotiations for up to $290 million with the federal and provincial government.
So I don’t see anything that’s lacking except the agency or mindset to want to stay here. We’ll be going public, listing on the Nasdaq as well as the Toronto Stock Exchange, and it’s been great. I think others can do that too. There have obviously been other success stories before us, and I think more and more people are realizing Toronto is great and that it’s a great place to start a business.
You guys are in talks to receive major government funding. What would you say to a Canadian taxpayer who may not see the value in quantum investment right now?
I would suggest thinking about parallels with other industries. For instance, the early days of the internet — quantum computing will be just as impactful as that. Same with the early days of semiconductors or digital computing — imagine if we didn’t have computers or phones. Quantum computing has the potential to be just as significant.
In Canada, we often talk about industries we’ve missed out on, and people rightly say we’ve missed out on fully commercializing AI. We don’t want that to happen with quantum computing. We have a chance to say enough is enough — we’re going to do something big here. It’s going to be based here, and people will come to us rather than us going to other countries. That’s why it’s important.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Read the full interview on our website.
ENTERTAINMENT
Cricket Canada is in shambles
Source: Yogifromhills / Shutterstock.
Cricket Canada is caught in a sticky wicket.
Driving the news: A B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered that Cricket Canada — the country's national governing body for the sport — hold a meeting with an independent arbitrator to resolve issues with four provincial-level cricket bodies that had taken it to court.
The petition was launched by B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario cricket orgs, alleging that Cricket Canada had violated its own constitution and bylaws. While the judge found this to be true, he also cited violations committed by all involved parties.
“Squabbles before the court appear to be driven at least in part by… egos and ambitions,” the judge said, noting that would be okay if the parties involved weren't ”charitable organizations, operating on donations, player fees, and taxpayer dollars.”
Zoom out: Internecine bickering is just the tip of the iceberg. Cricket Canada is dealing with a raft of controversies including a match-fixing investigation, a wrongful dismissal suit from ex-national team coach Pubudu Dassanayake, and the hiring of Salman Khan as CEO even though he was accused of fraud and theft while at the Calgary and District Cricket League.
Why it matters: Cricket has been tabbed as one of the fastest-growing sports in Canada, and the national team has made impressive strides on the world stage. The opportunity to build on this momentum will be squandered if those in charge can’t get their house in order.
Bottom line: It’s not just cricket that’s facing a reckoning. A commission studying the future of sport in Canada released its findings yesterday and called for a total overhaul of how athletics are structured in the country.—QH
ONE BIG NUMBER
📱~625 million. iPhone and iPad users whose devices are vulnerable to a new widely circulated hacking tool that can expose everything from passwords to photos. The tool, called DarkSword, targets devices running iOS 18 or any older versions of Apple’s operating system.
PEAK PICKS
Gold bars and dinosaur fossils: Inside Asia’s version of Fort Knox.
A new Spotify feature called SongDNA tracks how your songs are connected.
How hotels are using underused space to build members’ clubs for young people. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled)
Tips for travel packing and organizing from a professional declutterer.
An Ontario woman is selling her collection of over 2,000 Harlequin books.
What happens to your body when you don’t get eight hours of sleep.
Get your head in the game and play today’s mini-crossword, the daily sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who!
