On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we chatted with Cordell Jacks, CEO and General Partner of The Regenerative Capital Group, to discuss the oncoming retirement wave of small-to-medium-sized business owners and how entrepreneurs can capitalize on it. 

Soon, you’ll have to decide if seeing the Venice canals is worth the price of admission. 

Driving the news: Next year, Venice will become the first city to start charging an entrance fee for day-tripping tourists to ease overcrowding during the city’s busiest days, per The Globe and Mail. The fee aims to disincentivize tourists from visiting on 30-40 peak days.

The British government wants to make smoking a thing of the past in the UK, alongside lions (that once roamed the land) and its EU membership.

Driving the news: The UK is proposing a new law that would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. This would effectively raise the legal smoking age by one year every year until, eventually, nobody would be allowed to smoke. 

Two years ago, $2,000 could get you a long way in Canada’s major cities: We’re talking floor-to-ceiling windows, indoor swimming pools, and desirable downtown locations… these days, it’s all about staircase living and shared bedrooms. So, what happened?

Per CTV, the increasingly limited housing supply across the country is causing both developers and tenants to try and make the most of their space. All of it. But some of the arrangements are so unconventional that they’re starting to draw backlash online.

As some Canadians prepping for Thanksgiving come face-to-face with $120 turkeys, the government is asking big grocers to do something, anything, to lower food prices. 

What happened: The feds announced that Canada’s five biggest grocers — Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart, and Costco — committed to several actions that will lower prices, including price freezes for “key food products” (exact foodstuffs were unspecified) and price matching. 

BlackBerry just booted up the ol’ Bold 9700 and sent a heartfelt break-up text… to itself.  

What happened: BlackBerry announced its splitting into two separate public companies next March as it looks to stoke new investor interest and chart a clearer path forward. 

Ham, yams, the fam, and the inflation slam – yes, it’s Thanksgiving this weekend.

Or, in other words, while turkeys are getting stuffed, your wallets are not. 

Driving the news: Grocery bills had increased by an average of 6.8% at the end of summer compared to August 2022, so go easy on the gravy train this weekend. One Toronto Redditor recently reported finding an oven-roasted turkey for $119.99 and other birds for $59.99.

Two months into Meta’s Canadian news block, small-time publishers are feeling the pinch.

Driving the news: Meta’s decision to block news content for Canadian users across its platforms has disproportionately affected small online publishers, per The Wall Street Journal, as they depend more on social media traffic than larger legacy outlets.

If there’s ever a modern-day Mad Men reboot, it’ll likely feature less cigarette smoking and whiskey drinking, and more inputting prompts into chatbots.

What happened: Meta has begun rolling out AI ad-generation tools to advertisers across its platforms, allowing ad creators to generate backgrounds, automatically adjust creative assets to fit different types of posts, and create and edit multiple versions of ad copy.  

The tech industry hopes you’ll consider making AI gadgets a regular wardrobe fixture. 

Driving the news: Tech firms, startups, and entrepreneurs are launching a slew of wearable AI-powered devices, racing to be the first to bring AI to the consumer hardware market, per Axios.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the spat between Canada and India isn’t the kind that’s easily resolved over a few texts and a round of beers. 

What happened: India is reportedly demanding that Canada remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country by next week to match the number of diplomats the country has in Canada.

In a story ripped from the works of John le Carré (or perhaps John le Carr-eh), a landmark Canadian espionage case just hit the courts. 

What happened: The eight-week trial of Cameron Ortis is now underway, with the former director general of the RCMP’s intelligence unit pleading not guilty to six espionage-related charges. In his role, Ortis had access to troves of information about Canada and its allies. 

Yachts and mansions are nice, but these days, Silicon Valley executives are chasing something money can’t buy: Time.  

Driving the news: The who’s who of Big Tech, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are leading a Silicon Valley effort to crack the code to longevity, per The Economist. 

Over the summer, analysts were pretty confident that major banks would be interested in buying Laurentian. But now, even the CEO doesn’t want to work there.

What happened: Laurentian Bank is bidding adieu to CEO Rania Llewellyn, the first woman to head a major Canadian bank, after just three years in the role. Eric Provost, who was formerly in charge of personal and commercial banking, will take her place, per Bloomberg.

Bad business idea: Opening a meth and crack store that immediately gets shut down. 

Maybe a good business idea? Early investing in the potential decriminalization of hard drugs.

Driving the news: Safe Supply Streaming is on track to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange. But it’s not like other investment firms: It claims to be the first company designed to invest in the “third wave” of drug reform, or policies relaxing laws around hard drugs. 

What do four-year-old boys and the electric vehicle (EV) market have in common? Both are obsessed with trucks.  

Driving the news: Tesla missed its delivery target last quarter, shipping out 7% fewer vehicles than it did in the preceding quarter. One thing that may have contributed to this miss: The fact that its long-awaited Cybertruck has yet to be sent out to buyers. 

The last time GIC rates were this high, flip-phones were cool and frosted tips were…tolerated.

 Driving the news: With Canada's interest rates sitting at the highest level seen since the early 2000s, the returns on guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) have also been soaring.  

This year’s historically bad wildfire season has the federal government searching for new ways to battle future blazes.

Driving the news: Three government agencies, including the Canadian Space Agency, are working together on a plan to use a series of satellites to monitor and track wildfires around the country.  

Still working from home in your sweats? Better hang on to that gig if you want to keep the lifestyle because few new jobs will afford you the same luxury.

Driving the news: Only 9% of new job postings on LinkedIn were fully remote in August, according to a report from the company. 

Our picks for what to eat, read, watch, and listen to this weekend.