Here comes the dental plan

The federal government is planning to announce relief measures aimed at helping low-income Canadians beat back inflation pains.

What happened: The measures are expected to temporarily double the GST tax credit, top-up the Canada Housing Benefit by $500, and start the rollout of a dental care program.

Follow the money

As global markets go haywire, US stocks are suddenly looking pretty appealing in comparison (disclaimer: they’re still looking pretty bad).

How do you like them Apples?

Apple held its latest product launch event, dubbed Far Out, yesterday, announcing a range of new goodies including the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch Ultra.

Rate hike!

In case you weren’t sitting with a bowl of popcorn and an ‘I ♥️ quantitative tightening’ foam finger ahead of the Bank of Canada (BoC) rate hike decision yesterday, here’s the lowdown.

Canada’s corporate climate clunker

Okay, so Canada’s fallen behind on EV adoption. But let’s look at another area of the climate fight: Curbing corporate emissions. We must be leading at that, right?

*Looks at a new report on corporate emissions* Oh c’mon!

Canada’s pulling up the rear in the EV race

Almost half of Canadians want their next car to be an EV, which might be a big ask as the country falls behind in the race to electrify the roads.

Europe’s new energy crisis fix

After a brief dip last month, natural gas prices in Europe are surging (again) and sending inflation soaring across the region.

According to the European Commission (EC), fixing prices could be an answer.

It's getting cheaper to ship

After soaring during the pandemic, the cost of shipping goods across the ocean is falling just as dramatically, down 60% from the beginning of the year, per The Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: Cheaper shipping rates will ease some of the upward pressure on prices (good), but they also show that consumer demand is falling and the global economy is cooling (bad), which naturally sends off a warning light on our recession dashboard.

Priced out on school supplies

Back-to-school shopping used to be fun, and then 30-year high inflation happened.

Driving the news: According to a recent poll, one-third of Canadian parents are spending more on back to school than last year, and nearly all say inflation is impacting their spending.

Deloitte’s national retail leader said parents are spending $500-$600 (on average) on supplies, clothing, and electronics, after cutting back for two pandemic school years.

The UK has a new prime minister

It’s the first day on the job for the UK’s new prime minister, but we’ll be bold and assume there are no swag bag pick-ups or icebreaker activities on the docket this morning.

What happened: Liz Truss has formally taken over as the country’s leader after winning 57% of the vote for Conservative Party leadership, a job previously held by Boris Johnson.

The dorms are full and students have nowhere to go

You’ve got your textbooks, LED light strips, and a fern that you’re definitely going to take care of this time, but if you’re heading back to college or university this week, there may be one small thing you’re missing: somewhere to live.

Driving the news: Soaring rents and a shortage of on-campus residences are making it virtually impossible for many of the country’s 1.5 million post-secondary students to secure housing before classes begin this week.

The office strikes back

It may be Labour Day, but more and more bosses would really prefer if you did that labour in the office rather than your home office/kitchen table/bed.

Driving the news: After several years of tolerating work-from-home arrangements, a growing number of large employers are demanding staff return to the office for at least a few days each week.

Chinese manufacturing hub locked down

If you’re planning to buy an iPad any time soon, you may want to act fast. The Chinese manufacturing hub of Chengdu (where most of Apple’s tablets are made) is locking down to contain a COVID outbreak, threatening to disrupt supply chains around the world.