Windsor’s new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant promised a plethora of jobs for Canadian workers, but that may have been a tad overhyped. 

Driving the news: The hiring of 900 temporary foreign workers at Stellantis-LG’s NextStar EV battery plant—which prompted a political brouhaha—will cost Canadian workers and contractors ~$300 million in lost wages, per the leader of Canada’s Building Trades Unions. 

Shoppers don’t need to wait for their credit card statements to know how much they splurged this year, with new Shopify data spilling all the details… 

What happened: Shopify merchants processed $4.1 billion in sales over Black Friday weekend this year, a 22% jump from last year—a spending surge that surprised analysts and delighted retailers who had low expectations for the holiday shopping season.

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, Jennifer Quaid returned to inform us further about Canada’s competition laws, how they work, and how they’re going to change.

Hanging out with a fancy group of friends and don’t know what to talk about? As if they prefer Epic or Ikon, and watch the ensuing debate light up the room. 

Driving the news: Ski resort conglomerates across Canada and the U.S. are turning to a subscription model (tell us if you’ve heard this before) to lock skiers and snowboarders into their networks — which means selling as many season passes as possible, per The WSJ. 

A complete meltdown at the world’s leading AI company continues to provide a steady stream of watercooler talking points and cast doubt on the future of the company

Driving the news: By late last night, around 700 of OpenAI's 770 employees had signed a letter calling for Sam Altman's reinstatement as CEO — including board member Ilya Sutskever, one of the board members who initially voted to fire Altman, according to people who have seen the letter.

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Jennifer Quaid to talk about Canada’s competition laws and how they have shaped the country’s economy.

Canada’s IPO market is drier than a desert valley at high noon. 

Driving the news: Of the 20 tech companies that went public on the TSX between mid-2020 and late 2021, digital meeting tool company Q4 has become the sixth to officially de-list — with private equity firm Sumeru buying up the company’s shares for half of their issue price.

Not all heroes wear capes: Canada’s telecom regulator is trying to make your phone bill a little less daunting. 

What happened: The CRTC is forcing Canada’s biggest telecom companies to give smaller, independent competitors in Ontario and Québec access to their fibre networks — it’s the first move in the regulator's push to increase competition in the highly concentrated sector.

Raise your on-tap kombuchas for a toast to WeWork, which burned far too bright and way too fast. 

What happened: WeWork, the co-working company that once pledged to “elevate the world’s consciousness,” filed for bankruptcy in a U.S. district court, with plans to have the bankruptcy recognized in Canada. For now, its operations will continue mostly unchanged.

Celebrity memoirs aren’t just a source of gossip-worthy headlines… they’ve also been giving the publishing industry a needed shot in the arm.

Driving the news: The Woman in Me by pop legend Britney Spears debuted at the top of The New York Times best seller list for non-fiction this past week, the latest in a steady stream of celebrity memoirs that have been hitting (and flying off of) shelves this year.