The Peak Daily

At 4:00 p.m. today, Minister (of so many things) Chrystia Freeland will unveil the 2022 federal budget, the first budget announcement since the 2021 election. A new survey of Canadian office workers found that ‘meaning’ and ‘flexibility’ are now the biggest job incentives, with 71% of respondents saying they’d never take a frustrating or unrewarding job—even if the pay was higher. Wealthsimple is giving Canadian retail investors access to a venture capital (VC) fund investing in tech and health care companies—for as low as $5,000, per The Globe and Mail. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Canada’s federal employment ministry has annouced changes to a Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program that will increase the number of TFWs allowed into Canada. Amazon is going to head-to-head with SpaceX in the satellite-internet service arena, by securing 83 planned rocket launches that would bring satellites into low-Earth orbit and establish a new satellite-internet service called Kuiper. The Canadian government has spent over $650 million over the past 11 years on an IBM payroll system for federal employees that, much like a kid who’s been given too much money, hates working but loves acting up Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Just one week after Elon Musk tweeted about giving “serious thought” to building a new social media company, he has become one of the biggest shareholders in Twitter. Famed futurist Nikolas Badminton (who is paid to consult companies like Google and Microsoft) has published a list of the top-paying jobs of 2040. A US$1 billion biotech fund backed by over 20 major drugmakers has made two investments worth tens of millions in startups looking to fight against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, commonly known as “superbugs.” Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The federal government raised its carbon tax yesterday by $10, meaning that large-scale emitters like corporations and the oil and gas sector will have to pay more for emitting greenhouse gasses (primarily CO2). After missing a self-imposed deadline for proposing online harm legislation back in February, the federal government has decided to form an expert panel that will meet regularly over the next two months to inform what should be in the new bill. In a massive win for organized labour in the US, workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island have voted in favour of unionizing. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

President Biden announced a massive release of the US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve as the administration tries to combat soaring prices at the pump. One month after Western nations smacked Russia with unprecedented sanctions that put pressure on the country’s financial system and reduced the ruble’s value to an [all-time low](https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russian-rouble-slips-past-100-vs-dollar-banks-hunt-fx-2022-03-02/#:~:text=NEW YORK%2C March 2 (Reuters,over the invasion of Ukraine.), the currency has almost fully recovered. Just in time for International Fact-Checking Day on April 2 (the day you circle on your calendar every year...), Google is introducing a feature that tags news stories with a label that measures the reliability of sources. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

This week, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, announced its building an engineering hub in downtown Toronto and will look to hire 2,500 skilled workers to build technology for the metaverse. Remember when things at the dollar store were actually $1? That hasn’t been the case at Canada’s largest dollar store chain since early 2009. We explore why. After slow but steady declines in recent months (and years) Canadian cannabis companies are seeing a surge as the US House of Representatives votes tomorrow on a bill that would declassify marijuana as a controlled substance on a federal level and potentially open the market for Canadian cannabis companies. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Canada has announced a new emissions plan outlining how it will absolutely, positively meet its net-zero commitments by 2050. Eleven of Canada’s most prominent crypto and Web3 companies including Wealthsimple and Dapper Labs formed an industry council to help grow the Canadian Web3 space and collaborate with the government on creating a unified national strategy for blockchain regulation. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canadian organizations are the victims of thousands of cyberattacks every...single...day, this, according to the Financial Post. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The Group of Seven - not the Canadian painters... but France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, the UK and Canada, have rejected Moscow’s demands to pay for Russia’s gas exports with rubles Postmedia, which owns more than 120 media outlets across Canada, closed a $16.1 million deal to acquire media publisher Brunswick News, a move to expand its reach to the Atlantic region…and help grow its parcel delivery service. Oat-milk maker Oat Canada struck a $4.1 million deal with French food processor Roquette to develop new ingredients, as part of a Canada government project that aims to grow the country’s plant-based protein industry to $25 billion by 2035. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The EU is passing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) a landmark deal that will curb the powers of tech giants, like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), Romance scams are leaving Canadians heartbroken and broke, totaling $64.6 million in losses last year. Canada and the UK have begun negotiations on a new and improved free trade agreement that would encourage even more trade with Canada’s third-largest trading partner and lessen dependence on both countries’ larger neighbours. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced yesterday that Canada could increase its oil and gas exports by up to 300,000 barrels per day to help European allies replace Russian oil and gas. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) chairman Larry Tanenbaum has submitted an offer to buy the Premier League soccer (or football, if that’s your persuasion) club Chelsea joining several other bidders in the chase. Higher interest rates could trigger a “severe correction” and “topple” Canada’s housing market, according to a new report from economic researchers. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.