News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Ottawa Lends Airlines a Fuel Lifeline
Porter Airlines has borrowed $125 million from Ottawa, and Air Transat has scooped up the full $150 million that was made available to it under a federal emergency loan program. The facility comes as jet fuel prices have doubled since the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran in February, and the two Canadian carriers are tapping public money to make sure they’re able to continue flying through the shock.
The four-year loans will cost roughly 4 per cent. Both airlines will also continue to repay pandemic-era federal loans. In those deals, Transat borrowed $893 million in 2021 and 2022, and Porter picked up $270.5 million, including money that it used for ticket refunds. Air Canada and WestJet have (so far) skipped this new program; WestJet called it out as “market-distorting” and said that Ottawa should let airlines compete on their own strengths.
Read more: The Globe and Mail / Open Jaw
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BMO Takes Trading Fees to Zero
BMO is going to be cutting most of its online trading commissions to zero. The move will make it the first Big Five bank to drop fees on stocks, ETFs and options through its direct investing platform. It says it will also do away with account administration fees and will be lowering options contract fees. No word on panic coming from the discount brokers yet, but it can’t be good news for them.
The cuts are intended to support gaining market share from younger investors, but it will still make a difference for Canadians abroad who sill have money parked in Canadian accounts. A lot of people outside Canada use domestic brokerages for RRSPs, TFSAs, non-registered accounts.
The real test will be whether the other banks follow suit. If they do, it’ll represent a significant reshaping of the market landscape.
Read more: The Globe and Mail
Ottawa Talks Defence With Beijing Again
Canada and China held defence co-ordination talks on Sept. 4, with Beijing saying the meeting has re-opened a military channel that’s been closed for eight years. Ottawa confirmed the meeting a few days later, but presented the re-opening as more of a functional communication tied to Canadian safety and strategic interests than it was a substantial change in stance.
The channel had been quiet through years of strain after China detained “the two Michaels,” Michael Kovrig, and Michael Spavor in 2018. Canada also stopped military exercises and co-operation with the People’s Liberation Army during the period.
The conversation has, perhaps, restarted, but it will take some time to rebuild the trust that hasn’t magically come back this early overture.
Read more: The Canadian Press via CKOM / Canada’s National Observer
Google Starts Guessing Canadian Ages
Google is rolling out an AI tool that is supposed to estimate whether users in Canada are under 18 by evaluating signals about and related to their accounts. Things including search history and the sorts of YouTube videos a user watches are reportedly among the clues.
If the system judges that an account belongs to a minor, it will get tighter content recommendations and other guardrails/ protections. Adults who are caught by mistake (we see you, Sesame Street aficionados) will be able to challenge the decision by using a government ID or a selfie. Google said it plans to collect no new information for the estimate, although the system will make new judgments from data it already has.
Ottawa’s digital safety bill is still before Parliament. That bill would force social platforms to temporarily block children under 16, but the government hasn’t figured out how services should (could?) verify age. Meta says that it is already using AI to sort Canadian users into teen accounts.
Read more: Canada’s National Observer / The Globe and Mail