According to a recent probe, things aren’t all squeaky clean in the world of cleantech investing.  

What happened: Canada’s Auditor General is launching an investigation into Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the body that’s currently in charge of distributing $1 billion in federal funding into green investments, after a career-limiting third-party report. 

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of thousands of hiring managers clacking at their keyboards, updating Indeed postings. 

What happened: All B.C. job postings must now include salary ranges, as mandated by the province’s recently passed Pay Transparency Act. Employers also can’t ask how much you made at your previous job, or punish you for sharing your income with your colleagues.

At what point does the phrase “the more the merrier” ring false? Canada is finding out as it manages immigration levels.

What happened: The federal government is planning to maintain immigration targets — welcoming 500,000 new permanent residents in 2026. After raising immigration targets last year, the move is a pause to the recent pattern of increasing targets at each annual update.

Confused about the current carbon tax drama? Strap in and get in the know.  

What happened: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there would be no more exemptions to the federal carbon pricing plan despite demand from upset provinces.  

Forget ghouls, ghosts, and teenage pranksters; the scariest thing that haunted Halloween this year was the spectre of a recession. 

What happened: New GDP numbers show that Canada’s economy stagnated in August instead of growing 0.1% as expected. If GDP stays flat in September, as is now projected, the country will officially enter… *screams* something called a ‘technical’ recession. 

A global pledge to stop paying ransomware demands might force cybercriminals to whip out their whiteboards and start brainstorming some new business models.  

Driving the news: Forty countries — including Canada — have pledged to stop paying ransomware demands by hackers and take additional steps to cut off cyber criminals from funding, part of a US-led initiative to curb the global rise in ransomware attacks, per Reuters.  

If you ask some experts, financial planning isn’t just a numbers game but a way of life. 

Driving the news: As economic times get tough, a wave of financial experts are leaning into mindfulness (yep, you read that right) to help manage their money. They say that calming down your nervous system or making time for reflection can help you foster better financial decisions — or, at the very least, help you keep your cool if the markets fall… and if they keep falling. 

New numbers suggest Canada’s bail system is more backed up than the highway during rush hour.

Driving the news: As many as 80% of inmates in Canada’s jail system are held without conviction, per The Globe and Mail, based on survey responses from seven provinces. 

The US government is rolling out some new house rules for AI developers. 

Driving the news: US President Joe Biden signed a first-of-its-kind executive order to regulate development in the AI industry. It includes guardrails to protect consumers and is the most significant regulation that the world's leading AI developers have faced. 

Stellantis executives looked around, saw the numerous drawn-out strikes that have happened this year, and told striking workers, “Let’s get this over with.” 

What happened: Stellantis became the last of the Big Three automakers (alongside Ford and GM) to reach a tentative new deal with its employees, repped by Unifor, after a strike that was so short some workers wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to hit the picket line. 

If your favourite AI image generator starts spitting out some weird stuff, we may have an explanation.

Driving the news: Researchers successfully created a method to trick image-generating AI models like DALL-E into wrongly characterizing images during their training, according to their recently published paper.

New research is putting the harmful metal content of chocolate under the microscope again, but don’t go tossing the kids’ trick-or-treat haul just yet.

What happened: Watchdog group Consumer Reports tested dozens of chocolate products for lead and cadmium, finding that almost one-third had dangerous levels.

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Marty Weintraub to talk about the challenges and opportunities that are facing Canadian retailers these days. 

The opera world, worried that audiences have become disenchanted with burly men in funny costume singing very loudly, is trying out new strategies to get butts back in theatre seats.

Driving the news: Eighty-five opera companies across Canada and the U.S. have joined a discount program run by industry group Opera America, in which a subscription to one of the participating companies will also grant you the same perks at every participating company.

For months now, officials have been saying that the 800,000 foreign students at Canadian universities and colleges are putting too much pressure on housing and the labour market. Here’s what they plan to do about it.

Driving the news: The federal government is now responding to growing criticism around international student programs with a plan to hold schools to higher standards when it comes to services, support, and outcomes for students — including ensuring adequate housing.

Home sweet home, sure. But how?

Driving the news: The cost of buying a home in Canada versus renting is facing one of the most extreme price discrepancies since the early 2000s. Monthly mortgage payments for the average-priced home are now well over double the nation’s average monthly rent. 

After securing enough Adderall to finally stand trial, ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was ready to sit before the judge in a last-ditch effort to save himself from the slammer. 

What happened: SBF took to the stand yesterday to testify in his own defence after the prosecution rested its case. In a surprise twist, the jury was not present for it — the judge dismissed them so that he could determine for himself if SBF’s testimony was permissible. 

Shoplifting has risen steadily alongside the cost of living in Canada, but police departments and industry groups have said that incidents are also becoming increasingly violent.

Driving the news: The CEO of London Drugs, a BC-based pharmacy, is calling on policymakers to act as shoplifting increasingly puts staff in harm’s way. Incidents have ranged from threats with needles to stabbings to assaults with hatchets.

Lawmakers in the U.S. are cracking down on cryptocurrency to disrupt funding to Hamas, bringing attention (once again) to digital currency’s darker uses.

Driving the news: The U.S. Treasury Department has proposed rules that would classify cryptocurrency mixers — which take funds, mix them with those from other users and return them to make tracing difficult — as money laundering tools that threaten national security.