

The Peak Daily
The Peak / Curiouscast
Fast Canadian business news. Get up-to-speed quick with a fun and smart breakdown of the three biggest Canadian and global business stories in less than 10 minutes.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 26, 2022 • 11min
Code of conduct 📜 — Rogers explains what happened with the outage. Grocery chains may have to adopt a code of conduct. And the US Senate moves the Chips Act forward.
Yesterday, Rogers execs went to the House of Commons, received a stern talking to, explained what went wrong, and laid out some measures to prevent another major outage.Grocery chains and suppliers have said the government may need to intervene to help create a national code of conduct for the industry, per the Financial Post.The US Senate has voted to advance a US$280 billion package of subsidies and research funding to raise US technological competitiveness with China.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 25, 2022 • 9min
AI painter 🎨 — DALL-E 2 is now available to the public. Snap got hit hard. And Ukraine and Russia have a grain deal.
DALL-E 2, the image generator that took the internet by storm, has become more widely available.Snap shares fell 35% yesterday after the company reported lacklustre growth and revenue results, despite an increase in daily active users of 18% to 347 million.Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement to reopen three key Ukrainian ports for the shipment of grain, in an attempt to avoid plunging the globe into a catastrophic food crisis.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 22, 2022 • 10min
Strong mayors 💪 — Toronto and Ottawa are getting a strong mayor system. Facebook is copying TikTok (again). And Canada has a new trade adversary!
Ontario wants Toronto and Ottawa’s mayors to become the country’s first ‘strong mayors’—and no, that doesn’t mean they need to hit the gym.
Facebook-parent company Meta has revamped the Facebook app to make it feel a lot more like you’re browsing TikTok
Within hours of each other, Canada and the US launched trade complaints against Mexican energy policies unfairly excluding foreign firms under the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA).
The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 21, 2022 • 11min
Pipeline power 🛢 — Inflation hits 8.1%. Nord Stream 1 comes back online, at least partially. Canada’s improving their marine supply chain sustainability.
Canada’s consumer price index (CPI) surged to 8.1% in June, the biggest annual increase in almost 40 years, mostly driven by high gas prices (up 54.6% since last year).Russia said that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Europe’s main gas delivery system, would resume operations today after a scheduled maintenance shutdown, likely at reduced capacity.The federal government has announced a $2 billion expansion to Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan with one stated initiative to “improve the efficiency and sustainability of Canada’s marine supply chains and mitigate their impacts on the environment.”The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 20, 2022 • 11min
Heat wave ☀️ — There’s a bad heat wave in Europe. Netflix didn’t do as bad as investors thought they were going to do. And Canada filled in a big blank in their climate plan.
Temperatures in Britain hit 40 degrees for the first time in recorded history and wildfires continued to sweep through Southern Europe, showing the huge economic toll climate change can take.On the heels of its first drop in global subscribers in more than a decade, Netflix is expected to lose over a million captive eyeballs—the largest quarterly loss in its history.Canada took the next step in filling in a major blank in its climate plan: How the oil and gas industry is supposed to reduce emissions by 42% by 2030.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 19, 2022 • 11min
Fair share 💰 — Small businesses want Amazon to pay their fair share. Europe’s getting ready to cut back on gas usage. The USD is super strong.
Small business groups are calling on the federal government to change the tax system in order to crack down on multinational companies that are not paying their fair Canadian tax share, in response to some of Amazon’s tactics for tax avoidance coming to light.As Russia continues to squeeze Europe’s energy supplies (as revenge for siding with Ukraine in the ongoing war), the European Commission is making a plan to cut consumption.After posting its highest growth numbers for a half since 2010, USD shows no signs of slowing with experts telling The Wall Street Journal it will continue to go up and away for the foreseeable future as global insecurity drives investors to what they see as the safest and stablest currency.The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 18, 2022 • 11min
Charter rights 👨⚖️ — Travel insurers are just as unhappy with your travel woes. The Bank of Canada really got interest rates wrong. BC’s Court of Appeal closed the door on private healthcare.
Travel insurers are seeing jumbo-jet-sized losses thanks to an onslaught of claims from Canadian travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations. The Bank of Canada (BoC) kind of underestimated just how bad inflation was getting—and is now playing catch-up as it serves up a series of jumbo rate hikes. Long hospital wait times may be the bain of Canada’s health care system, but they’re not unconstitutional according to yesterday’s BC Court of Appeal ruling.
The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 15, 2022 • 12min
EV Week 🚗 — New funding announcements for EV week. Amazon wants to make a deal with the EU. And concerts are really expensive.
It’s EVWeek in Canada and to celebrate the government announced funding announcements for ~950 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Amazon wants to make a deal with EU regulators: The company will limit its use of marketplace seller data and make changes to ‘Buy Box’ rankings, in exchange for a truce (and avoiding a fine worth up to 10% of its global revenue).
Anyone else finally feeling ready for live events again… only to realize your bank account is not*?* We have the surging price of concert tickets to thank.
The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 14, 2022 • 12min
Expensive ice cream 🍦 — Dairy prices are going up. New census data just dropped. And there’s a new TikTok feature.
If cheese and milk regularly appear on your grocery list, get ready for higher even bigger bills at the checkout this fall. as two Canadian food suppliers notified grocery stores their dairy products are going to cost more.
Statistics Canada just dropped the latest census data so we thought we’d dig a bit deeper into some of the income data and why it matters to you—and trust me, we’ll make it fun!
TikTok, the app you were probably scrolling through before you started listening to this, announced the roll-out of two new systems that aim to combat a persistent problem on the platform: Inappropriate content.
The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Jul 13, 2022 • 10min
Backup plan 📕 — The Feds want to avoid another Rogers outage. Canadian dental clinics are being eaten up by private equity. And it’s a big day for Canadian economic news.
As we navigate the Post Rogers Blackout Era (PRBE), the federal government has stepped up to make sure future service shutdowns aren’t so apocalyptic.
Big private equity firms are drilling for value and finding Canadian dental clinics.
At 10:00 AM (ET) the Bank of Canada will kick things off with its decision on the overnight interest rate target.
The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.