We’ll take it from here

Good morning. Kraft Heinz has partnered with Canadian craft soda brand Solly’s on a collaboration that might make you retch: Kraft Dinner mac ‘n’ cheese soda. 

The only-available-in-Canada limited-edition flavour is the latest in a growing number of gimmicky KD concoctions that also included cheesecakes at local Canadian bakeries (this actually sounded pretty good) and a KD Smoothie with Booster Juice (this one, less so).

As for the soda, we just might have to do a taste test and let you know how it is.

Today’s reading time is 5 minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index fell again yesterday as U.S. rate hike fears and 30-year U.S. Treasury yields reaching 2004 levels shook investor confidence. Meanwhile, BlackBerry shares were up 3.6% after the company raised its financial forecast for the second time this year.

Three of the biggest AI companies in the world are looking to write their own safety rulebook. 

What happened: Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google are launching their own AI safety group to implement standards for new models before they’re released to the public, per The Information. The organization, dubbed Standards Authority for Frontier AI (SAFA), is expected to be up and running by early next year. 

Why it’s happening: All of these companies have recently had their AI agents go on rogue hacking sprees, sparking calls from their leaders to slow down development of new models until safety regulations are put in place.

Why it matters: These rogue hacking incidents are clearly not one-off slip-ups, and with the technology advancing by the day, pressure is building on AI companies to collectively prove they can actually control their models. 

Zoom out: The victims of these hacks will eventually start holding AI companies criminally accountable, even if the attacks aren't intentional. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese already said his government has opened an investigation into OpenAI and that there would “obviously be legal consequences” for the hack.  

Bottom line: Letting AI giants self-police their own technology comes with its own set of problems, but with the Trump administration showing zero interest in regulating the industry, the only option right now may be to have these companies hold each other accountable.—LA

Carney spells out a long-term vision for reducing reliance on the U.S. In an interview with the New York Times, the prime minister said that Canada will continue to diversify its trade and defence relationships beyond the U.S., even after Donald Trump leaves office. Speaking about the rupture in the two countries' relationship, Carney said “There’s certain things, once you’ve seen them, you can’t unsee them.” Carney added that he has prepared for a scenario of U.S. military action on Canada, but only as a precaution. (New York Times)

Trump and Xi play nice at White House summit. The two met in Washington yesterday, where Xi Jinping called for more cooperation between China and the U.S. to avoid falling into a “Thucydides trap” — the tension that occurs when a rising power threatens to unseat an established power. In a sign of warming relations, China agreed to send two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta. That should de-escalate all those Taiwan tensions! (Associated Press)

Cohere and Bell release AI cybersecurity model. The new model, designed to assist with cybersecurity investigations, was built with Cohere’s tech using a decade of data from Bell Cyber — the telco’s cybersecurity unit. Experts say that AI-powered security tools are one of the only viable defences to the hacking capabilities of new AI models. (Globe and Mail)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

Most software rollouts look successful on paper — until someone asks whether it is actually paying off. Teams buy the tool, run the kickoff calls, and then nothing changes. Adoption stalls. Old manual workarounds creep back in. Six months later, nobody can say with confidence whether the investment worked.

This free guide from Capterra breaks down four concrete signs that a software implementation is actually delivering value, plus the early warning signs of one that is quietly failing. You will learn what real usage looks like beyond login counts, how to measure time saved instead of guessing, why fewer manual workarounds is the clearest signal of adoption, and how to spot stakeholder buy-in that holds up after the launch excitement fades.

If you are responsible for a recent purchase, or deciding whether to renew one, this is a fast, practical read that helps you separate real ROI from wishful thinking.

Get the Free Guide!

Portuguese drone startup Tekever raised US$580 million at a $6.4 billion valuation. That’s a fivefold increase in the company’s valuation from its last funding round. The raise makes Tekever one of Europe’s most valuable defence startups, as investors continue to bet big on the drone space. 

Why it matters: Military drones are not a new technology, but they’ve had a breakout year in 2026. Developments in Ukraine and Iran have led many analysts to believe they are the future of warfare and defence, spurring a rush of global investments in firms like Tekever.

The dream of a competitive Canadian grocery sector is still alive.

Driving the news: Empire — the grocery chain that owns Sobeys, Farm Boy, and several other supermarkets — will end property controls in its leases, making it the first major Canadian grocer to reach a legally binding deal with Canada’s Competition Bureau to do so.

Why it matters: The Bureau has designated property controls an impediment to competition, unfairly hobbling rival outlets and potentially dissuading expansion from foreign grocers. They can include “restrictive covenants” that prevent other grocery stores from opening nearby and “exclusivity clauses” prohibiting landlords from leasing to competitors.

Yes, but: Eliminating these restrictions won’t magically increase competition — for now it probably just means that Loblaw can open a store across from a Sobeys if it wants to — it is just one piece of a larger puzzle to increase consumer choice.—QH

🌎 Hint: This subtropical island chain, recognized as one of the world’s blue zones, is home to an unusually high number of centenarians. Once an independent kingdom, it's known as the birthplace of karate, for purple sweet potatoes, and for one of the world's largest aquariums.

Any idea where we brought you this week? Lock in your guess here.

While Canada's biggest banks were busy selling their payments business to American private equity, Calgary’s Helcim raised $53M CAD to keep its payments platform Canadian-owned.

This values Helcim at a $250M courtesy of BDC Capital's Growth Venture Fund.

Sovereignty still for sale? Apparently, just not here. Read the full story.

🖲️ ~8,000. How many data centre jobs Canada added between June of last year and June of this year per a new Indeed.com analysis of Statistics Canada data — a 22.8% increase. The sector with the next largest increase over that time was public administration, which saw a mere 3.9% increase in the number of roles.

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