CANADA

🇨🇦 Nation Building

Now that the “One Canadian Economy Act” has cleared the Senate, it’s time for the government to prioritize its major nation-building projects and the five areas where those projects are expected to come from have been identified after consultation and finding “shared priorities” between the federal government and provinces.

🤝The Five Areas of common ground between the Feds and provinces have been identified as:

• The Western and Arctic Corridor.

• The Eastern Energy Partnership.

• Critical Minerals Pathways.

• Next Stage of Nuclear

• Export Diversification Infrastructure.

The government will do more consultations and will be getting together with Indigenous leaders before designating any project as “national interest.” The aim is to move quickly as the Carney Liberals seek to grow Canada’s economy and minimize the damage from Trump’s tariffs as much as possible.

What do the five areas entail?

• The programs have different focuses aimed at building up Canada’s economy, utilizing its vast land to develop infrastructure, which would create exports using critical minerals, agriculture, manufactured goods, and energy (especially energy), to rebuild Canada’s economy, create jobs and allow Canada’s exports to reach various trading partners. And yes, there is a pipeline project that Alberta is eyeing - and while its Western neighbour, BC, isn’t entirely against the idea, they are against using public dollars to fund it. One of the missions is to reduce red tape, namely for the Eastern Energy Partnership, to increase private investment in these infrastructure projects.

It requires the provinces to be on the same page as many projects will be built on partnerships, transporting goods and energy in an attempt to do what Carney aims: build a “One Canadian Economy” meant to reshape the way Canada does business around the world.

🤔One think tank believes it’s just hype.

As with any plan, there will be opposing voices. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is one of those voices arguing that PM Carney’s government is “overstating” the gains that will come from the internal trade reforms included in the “One Canadian Economy Act.” Instead, the think tank says the $200-billion addition to the economy is largely “theatre” as investment already flows across provinces, and warns that the reforms may have unintended consequences relating to the environment, health and consumer protections.

🧠Bottom line: Take the think tank at face value and there’s still a lot of positive to come from increased partnerships between provinces to build infrastructure that is ultimately good for the country on the world stage as a whole. The trade wars exposed Canada’s reliance on the United States and while breaking down trade barriers between provinces alone may not be enough to spur massive economic growth, infrastructure investment to free up minerals and goods to export can only do long-term good for the country.

CANADA

🇨🇦 Canadian Headlines

✂️Ministers expected to cut save. Ministers were asked to find “ambitious” savings (read: cuts) this summer ahead of the 2025 budget. With the announcement of recent spending, particularly on defence, Mark Carney’s government is looking for ways to balance the “operational” budget - a promise made during the election cycle.

• The reduction in spending is expected to break down as a 7.5% reduction in program spending in the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2026, followed by 10% in savings the next year and 15% in the year following that.

• Unions have warned public service workers will face the brunt of the cost-saving measures.

🫣Canadian job security is shaky. Less than 60% believe their jobs are “secure” or “somewhat secure” which marks a new one-year low as the trade war with the United States drags on.

🪖CAF members charged in extremist plot. Four men, two active military service members, have been charged with an extremist militia plot to take possession of land by force near Quebec City. Police seized 16 explosives, 83 firearms and approximately 11,000 rounds of ammunition were seized.

More stories:

• TikTok pulled all art sponsorships, including TIFF and the Junos, in preparation for a federal ban.

• 59% of Canadians now see the U.S. as a threat. This is a 20% increase from 2019.

• A $100-million contract for night-vision binoculars will be awarded to a U.S. company after requirements made them the only eligible vendor, citing favourability concerns over the process.

• Despite more RTO mandates, downtown cores of Canada’s major cities still see approximately half of the foot traffic they saw before the pandemic.

• Non-binding MOUs were signed by Doug Ford and Danielle Smith to explore a partnership between Ontario and Alberta with new pipelines and railways.

• With lower immigration, the Conference Board of Canada sees wages increasing for Canadians in the coming years and the CMHC reports lower rental prices due to reduced demand in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax.

• The Competition Bureau is investigating Amazon for its pricing policy.

UNITED STATES

🇺🇸🇨🇦 Canadian woman detained

A woman was detained in the middle of her interview for permanent residency in the U.S. and is now in a detention centre while she waits to be expelled from the country. Her husband, a Trump supporter, feels betrayed and now he wants his vote back.

Despite pre-election promises that Trump’s strict immigration stance was to remove dangerous criminals from the United States, anyone without legal status in the country is being lined up for removal.

Cynthia Olivera was once deported from the United States back in 1999 and re-entered the country illegally a few months later by driving from Mexico to San Diego.

After that, she worked in Los Angeles for 25 years and paid taxes. Finally, at the end of 2024, the Biden Administration granted her a work permit to continue working in the U.S. - legally this time.

Since being detained, Cynthia Olivera has been transferred to an El Paso, Texas holding centre while waiting for deportation, with a spokesperson from the Trump administration calling her “an illegal alien from Canada.”

WORLD

🚨 More Headlines

🇪🇺EU is looking to secure a deal. The European Union is pushing to conclude a framework agreement with the United States this week to lock in a 10% tariff rate beyond the August 1st deadline as they seek a permanent deal to be made.

🇺🇦Ukraine will continue receiving weapons from the US. After initially pausing shipments to Ukraine, President Trump said “they (Ukraine) have to be able to defend themselves” and said the U.S. would be sending more weapons their way. The change of heart comes as Russia continues to ramp up their attacks.

🏛️The Acropolis closes. With stunningly high temperatures spurring major wildfires and bringing unbearable heat, the decision was made to temporarily close the site “for the safety of workers and visitors.”

📱AI wars heat up as Apple takes a hit. Meta has poached another one as Apple’s top executive leading the AI efforts will be joining Meta’s AI team, being lured away with a compensation package of tens of millions of dollars per year.

🇺🇸 Tariffs

• President Trump announced increased tariffs for copper and pharmaceuticals, increasing the tariffs on copper by 50% and on pharmaceuticals by a whopping 200%.

• President Trump threatened countries that align with BRICS policies - which President Trump calls “Anti-American” - with an additional 10% tariff hit. BRICS members include China, Russia and India.

• 14 countries received letters from President Trump signalling 25% tariffs beginning August 1st. The letters still keep the door open for further negotiations up to the deadline.

🏦 Numbers

• $250,000 lost to a crypto scam. A Trump donor lost $250,000 in an email scam after falling for a lookalike domain. The funds were routed to Nigeria, and despite blockchain transactions meant to be anonymous and protected, the FBI was able to trace and recover $40,000 worth of the money so far.

• 115.1-million users. Meta’s “Threads” app is racing towards X as the app’s daily active users reached 115.1-million, over 125% of last year’s number. X has seen a 15% decline, with 132-million active daily users.

SPORTS

🏒 The business of college hockey

For the first time ever, a top Canadian prospect, Gavin McKenna, eligible for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, will be taking his talents from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) to the NCAA - and actually get paid for it.

From going to living with billet parents to being a star athlete on a college campus - and getting paid $700,000 for it - Gavin McKenna is setting the stage for top Canadian hockey prospects to get paid for their talent before they go pro by jumping into the American NCAA system.

It’s unprecedented at this point, but expect it to happen more frequently. Don’t expect all prospects to get paid this much, however. McKenna’s potential is that of a franchise player for any NHL club that’s lucky enough to draft him. The star prospect had a bidding war going on for him: Michigan State offering $300,000 and Penn State dwarfing the offer with $700,000. Gavin McKenna is already being called the best recruit to ever join Penn State in any sport ever.

NEWS

💭 ICYMI

💔109 people are confirmed dead and 161 are still missing following the flash floods in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend.

🤖BRICS nations will look into protections against unauthorized AI use aimed at avoiding excessive data collection.

🇫🇷Over 100 people are injured as France’s second-largest city, Marseille, is battling rapidly spreading wildfires. 800 firefighters have been deployed.

🎾In the first year where AI has replaced human line judges, players are not happy due to incorrect calls and players having to rush matches due to the AI hitting the snooze button once the sun starts dimming.

🦅Scientists discovered a new type of winged reptile that lived with dinosaurs over 200-million years ago.

🚫After rambling about Grok’s “wokeness,” Elon Musk broke it to the point where the AI bot is now referring to itself as “MechaHitler” and posting antisemitic messages.

🛒Amazon Prime Day begins. This time, it’s almost a week - spanning from July 8th to July 11th. Here are the best deals in Canada.

🤔CASE CLOSED ON EPSTEIN

• Department of Justice closed the door on the Epstein case, saying there was no “client list” that was kept, no blackmail and announced no more files would be made public. The department’s memo also says his death was a suicide while in custody.

• MAGA supporters were not happy.

  • Attorney General Pam Bondi had said the files and the list were on her desk at one point.

  • A core piece of MAGA is a deep distrust in the “deep state” and years of conspiracy theories surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide and whose name was on the “list.”

  • The integrity of top FBI officials, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino and AG Pam Blondi was called into question by loud right-wing voices on social media, including Mike Lindell and Elon Musk.

REFERRAL

🍁 ENJOYING READ MAPLE?

If you’re enjoying Read Maple, please refer your friends who may be interested in staying informed with everything going on in an easy way.

Want to see a particular piece of content added into the mix? Reply to this email and let me know.

Have peace of mind in knowing that we’ll ALWAYS be free.