A group of delegates will spend the week in the nation's capital comparing notes on why plastic is, in fact, not so fantastic. 

Driving the news: Ottawa will play host to delegates from 174 countries this week for the fourth round of United Nations plastic treaty negotiations. The committee will look to make progress on a plastic-reduction agreement ahead of final talks in South Korea in November. 

New laws in B.C. regarding pet custody are further proof that pets really are the new kids.

Driving the news: A provincial court ordered that custody of a golden retriever named Stella must be split week-to-week between her two owners who had broken up. It’s a landmark first ruling under new B.C. laws designating pets as family members, not property, in separation cases.

Things coming to Canada this year: Shake Shack, the Eras Tour, and… a unionized Amazon warehouse? 

What happened: The DXT4 Amazon warehouse in Laval, Québec, could soon be the first in Canada to unionize after the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) — one of Québec's largest trade union federations — filed an application to represent 200 workers there.

Central banks have a simple formula for fighting inflation: raise interest rates, wait for the economy to weaken and demand to fall, and inflation will soon follow suit. 

What if the formula is wrong?

Catch up: Some experts are making the case that higher interest rates are now driving stubborn inflation that’s sticking around both in the U.S. and Canada.

The federal government is sending out invites asking foreign grocery chains to come to Canada, but like a sad birthday party, it’s doubtful anyone will show up.

Catch-up: Canada’s Industry Minister is trying to lure 12 different foreign grocery chains to set up shop in the Great White North, part of an effort to increase competition in the grocery sector, per The Wall Street Journal.

The TikTok bill is moving along with a tried-and-true strategy in U.S. politics: group a contentious bill with a bunch of unrelated stuff that’s more likely to pass. 

What happened: Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take another run at a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app or face a ban. 

 On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Dan Skilleter from Social Capital Partners to talk about why Canada isn't that much more equal than the U.S.  

Switzerland is famous for keeping its nose out of the business of other countries, but some citizens are worried it’s starting to pick sides. 

What happened: Swiss parliament voted against joining an international task force to enforce sanctions against Russia. The decision comes as lawmakers and citizens grapple with what it means to be a neutral country in an increasingly tense Europe.

Don’t get distracted by Mark Zuckerberg’s new look — Meta’s AI news is worth paying attention to.

Halving is when the amount of bitcoin awarded for mining is cut in half. Mining is a metaphor for how bitcoin goes into circulation — put simply, computers run formulas to verify the code that keeps bitcoin transactions secure, and get shiny new bitcoin as a reward for their work. The reward is currently 6.25 bitcoin and will be cut to 3.125.

It’s easy to mock LinkedIn for its “hustle culture” posts and toxic corporate positivity, but that’s exactly what’s making the company a lot of money. 

The DNA test kit that once made Oprah’s list of favourite things (alongside sheepskin slippers and pre-made chicken pies) has fallen on tough times.

What happened: 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki is planning to take the company private following a disastrous three years, during which its valuation crashed ~98%. The company’s stock has fallen so far that it has been on the verge of being delisted from the Nasdaq. 

The only thing more impressive than the players' soon-to-be-grown playoff beards is the total at the bottom of the NHL balance sheet this year. 

Driving the news: The NHL playoffs are kicking off this weekend, but the league is already set to walk away as the real winner — though it won’t be hoisting a silver cup — after raking in a record US$6.2 billion this season thanks to a number of lucrative sponsorship deals.   

*Spoken in the worst Tony Soprano impersonation you’ve ever heard* You think La Casa Nostra don’t have a piece of da pie in da Great White North? Ayyy, fuhgeddaboudit! 

Driving the news: A faction of the infamous 'Ndrangheta Italian mafia allegedly laundered money through TD and RBC branches in Ontario after a suspected leader made connections with bank employees, according to reporting by the Toronto Star and other media outlets.

The feds are hoping Canada’s top pension funds will consider spending a little more of their ~$2 trillion in assets at home. 

Driving the news: Ottawa is enlisting former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz to spearhead a new working group tasked with getting Canadian pension funds to invest more in their own backyard, particularly in housing and infrastructure.

Business at Adidas is booming this year. If you’re wondering why, just go for a walk around town and count how many pairs of Sambas you see walking the street.

What happened: Shares in the German sports giant hit a two-year high — fully recovering from the financial tumult caused by their break-up with Kanye West in 2022 — after a smashing first quarter led by sales for its retro Samba, Gazelle, and Campus sneakers.

After one of its worst seasons in franchise history, Canada’s only NBA team now has the indignity of seeing one of its players kicked out of the league. 

Driving the news: Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has received a lifetime ban from the NBA after an investigation found he broke the league’s gambling rules by betting on games and, more seriously, manipulating games that he played to benefit sports bettors.

The government’s plan to support Canada’s innovation sector is less about opening its own wallet and more about sparking investments from elsewhere.

It’s hard to get robots to move smoothly. All of those rigid parts make for stiff movements and a lot of wasted energy, which — besides looking silly — doesn’t make them all that useful for the commercial settings they are being developed for.