Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.
Air Canada CEO criticized for English-only condolence message after plane crash
A memorial is shown on Wednesday for Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest, who died when his plane collided with an emergency vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau is under fire for his English-language video message of condolence after the tragic death of two pilots who died in a plane crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. In the four-minute video, Mr. Rousseau offered information on the accident and expressed his “deepest sorrow for everyone affected” but only said two words in French: “Bonjour” at the start and “merci” at the end.
Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his dismay with the Air Canada CEO, but the outrage was fiercest among politicians in Quebec. Yves-François Blanchet said Mr. Rousseau should quit, adding that Mr. Carney should put pressure on Air Canada’s board to get him to leave.
Parliament’s official languages committee summoned Mr. Rousseau to allow him to explain himself, asking him to appear before May 1. Mr. Rousseau said he was “deeply saddened” that his inability to speak French has diverted attention from the tragedy.
U.S. jury finds Meta and YouTube liable in landmark social media harms trial
Parents who say they have lost their children because of social media hold up a banner with the children's names outside the court in Los Angeles, Calif., after a jury found Meta and Google liable in a test case.Mike Blake/Reuters
In a landmark ruling this week, Meta and Google-owned YouTube were found liable for designing platforms that are harmful to young people. The companies must pay millions in damages to a 20-year-old woman, known by her initials KGM, after the U.S. jury found the platforms were designed to hook young users without concern for their well-being.
After more than 40 hours of deliberations, a majority of jurors agreed and awarded her $3-million in damages. Jurors later recommended an additional $3-million in punitive damages. The judge has final say over how much is awarded. Meta and YouTube issued statements disagreeing with the verdict and said they would explore their legal options, which includes appeals.
This week’s decision could influence the outcome of thousands of similar lawsuits. It’s the second verdict against Meta this week, after a jury in New Mexico determined the company harms children’s mental health and safety, in violation of state law.
Wealthsimple clears regulatory hurdle to bring prediction trading to Canada
Wealthsimple is the second firm to receive approval for prediction trading, after Interactive Brokers Canada last year.Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press
Canadian investors are a step closer to being able to legally bet on real-world events after Wealthsimple cleared a regulatory hurdle this week to bring prediction trading to Canada. The online investing platform received approval from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization to offer what are known as forecast contracts, Meera Raman reported Tuesday.
Prediction markets allow users to bet on whether specific events will happen, from interest rate decisions to geopolitical developments. Wealthsimple’s approval allows it to offer contracts tied to economic indicators, financial markets and climate trends, but not sports nor elections. It is the second firm to receive such approval, after Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. last year.
The moves signal a shift in Canada, where such products have largely been restricted due to stricter rules and a murky regulatory framework. But prediction trading has exploded in popularity in the United States.
Canada’s economy is falling even further behind the U.S. by these key measures
A new report by Statistics Canada found that weak labour productivity has weighed down Canada’s economy since the late 1990s. It also shows that Canada has fallen even further behind the United States on critical gauges of economic health, according to the study’s authors, Statscan analysts Carter McCormack and Ryan Macdonald.
Canada’s productivity gap with the U.S. has steadily widened since the turn of the millennium – with relative productivity tumbling by 26 per cent over that time. Jason Kirby takes a closer look at the numbers in the latest instalment of the Decoder series.
LNG Canada to take lead role on potential Coastal GasLink expansion
Liquefied natural gas tanker Wudang fills up at an LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, B.C., in November, 2025.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
LNG Canada has agreed to lead a potential expansion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline across northern British Columbia. The expansion would double capacity for production of liquefied natural gas at the export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., and would cost roughly $6-billion to add five compressor stations, Brent Jang reports. LNG Canada is expected to make a final decision by the end of the year.
On Wednesday, TC Energy Corp., which operates the existing Coastal GasLink project that transports natural gas from northeast B.C. to Kitimat, said Coastal GasLink has signed commercial agreements with LNG Canada, which will take responsibility for managing front-end engineering and design for increasing the pipeline’s capacity.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last September that LNG Canada’s Phase 2 terminal expansion plan made the list of major projects to be considered for fast-tracking.
For these busy parents and professionals, AI agents are the personal assistants of their dreams
To prepare for the arrival of his first child earlier this year, Saurabh Suri turned to a custom AI agent he named Hobson.Jon Laytner/The Globe and Mail
There has been a major shift in how we use AI. The first crop of generative AI applications answered questions, but the current wave can do things while you do something else. This is the promise of AI agents, a concept that allows AI to take action and complete tasks on behalf of users.
People who understand artificial intelligence the most, the superusers, are using AI agents to program their life – sometimes getting twice as much done. These people are tasking AI agents with booking appointments and rescheduling meetings, taking phone calls, responding to e-mails and texts automatically, dealing with expense reports and working on to-do lists constantly, in the background, with minimal direction. They can simply text their AI agents to do a menial chore.
Take our business quiz for this week
a. Wealthsimple has won approval from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization to start offering prediction trading, a controversial form of wagering on future events. The approval permits Ontario-based Wealthsimple to offer prediction contracts that are tied to economic indicators, financial markets and climate trends – but not to sports or elections, which are among the most popular areas for prediction markets in the United States.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.