Donald Trump is ‘coming at us hard,' Doug Ford warns after trade briefing from Mark Carney
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
42 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Air Canada flight attendants picketing at 4 major airports on national day of action
TORONTO - Air Canada flight attendants are expected to picket at airports in four major Canadian cities on Monday in what their union is calling a national day of action. The Canadian Union of Public Employees says demonstrations are expected to take place at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Calgary International Airport, all at 1 p.m. ET.
Winnipeg Free Press
42 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Dirty soda trend bubbles up to Canada with ‘Mormon Wives' as inspiration
Jeremy Guenette was sitting in an Idaho parking lot waiting for his kids to finish back-to-school shopping two years ago, when he noticed business was booming at a nearby truck mixing colas, cream and fruity flavours. 'For about 45 minutes, I just watched people come and go from the Soda Tsunami. They probably had about 150 customers and I think maybe one went to the (adjacent) taco truck, so I was just very intrigued,' Guenette recalled. A few sips of a dirty soda later, he not only understood the hype but was frantically searching for an equivalent back home in Alberta. When none could be found, he opened Sip Soda Co. — an Edmonton-area shop that helped bring the hit drink north of the border. While dirty soda is still quite nascent in Canada, the fizzy drinks with fun names are rapidly growing in popularity. They're cropping up at summer fairs, making their way onto the menus of national chains like Crumbl and scaling social media trending charts. 'The category remains too small to track on its own. However, their emergence is all part of a bigger trend that is taking place in beverages,' said Vince Sgabellone, a foodservice industry analyst at research firm Circana, in an email. The trend he was referring to is the switch away from one of the biggest drink categories — brewed coffee — toward specialty drinks that customers see as 'new, different, unique, and yes in many cases, Instagram worthy.' 'Dirty soda is very Instagrammable. They are colourful and entertaining,' Sgabellone said. 'I had one client tell me their daughter tries to match her beverage with her outfit. They are just fun.' While one could attribute the dirty soda's march toward ubiquity as a reflection of the usual influence U.S. social media has on Canadian fast-food innovation, Guenette said it's actually 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' that got locals buzzing about the beverages. The reality show's stars are frequently shown sipping dirty sodas or visiting Swig, a U.S. chain founded in 2010 that popularized the drinks through Mormon communities, which do not drink alcohol, coffee or tea but can drink soda. 'That created the perfect storm this year,' Guenette said. 'Last year, two out of every three customers would be like, 'What's a dirty soda?' This year, it's complete opposite and I really believe it's because 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' took off.' B.C. sisters Mikayla and Brooklynn Cantelon were part of the wave. Experimenting at home based on what they had seen on the show and then sharing their concoctions with friends and on social media, convinced them they had what it takes to open Pop Culture Dirty Soda, a trailer that's been selling the drinks at events around B.C.'s Lower Mainland since May. While some customers are still puzzled about what a dirty soda is, others are trying to test out what they've seen on TV. 'People are coming to us and saying, 'Can you recreate Whitney's order? Can you recreate Taylor's order?'' Mikayla said, referencing 'Mormon Wives' cast members. The Cantelons can do both – and then some. The sisters charge $4.50 for a base soda that customers then add syrups or creamers to for 75 cents each. Topping the drink with strawberry or cheesecake cold foam or a raspberry or peach puree costs $1.50 each while lining the cup with marshmallow fluff carries a $1 charge. They also have a roster of pre-set menu items including beverages referencing singers Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter. The premium items sell for $8.50 each, while the July bestseller — the cherry Bombshell made with Dr Pepper, cherry syrup, coconut cream and candy on top — goes for $6. The price point is higher than your standard fountain drink, making dirty soda attractive for restaurants, which can use it to upsell customers and attract a younger customer base Sgabellone said is more drawn in by colourful beverages. If dirty sodas keep increasing in popularity, they'll follow a pattern set by cold beverages that have come before them. Energy drinks and carbonated fruit juices have all gained more market share in recent years as they've joined the menus at fast-food giants like Tim Hortons. A recent Restaurants Canada report found carbonated soft drinks are now the second most ordered beverages in the country, behind coffee. Soda made it into 19.6 per cent of orders between March 2023 and 2024, sliding from 21.4 per cent a year earlier. However, even with the dip, its prevalence is now higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Dirty sodas could give the category a boost because they're easy to make, are crafted from affordable ingredients most restaurants already have on hand and are seen by customers as a 'destination beverage.' 'More than ever, consumers are looking for new, exciting, different,' Sgabellone said. 'They will cross the street to get that.' It's a good sign for the Cantelons, who are preparing to launch a second trailer, and Guenette who has been in talks to franchise his business with a new drive-thru model across the country. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Hot on their heels is Crumbl, the fast-expanding cookie shop which recently introduced dirty sodas to its Canadian stores, as well as a slew of other independent upstarts and chains like McDonald's which have experimented with the drinks in the U.S. The competition has neither the Cantelons nor Guenette worried. They see it as a sign that they have a winning concept. 'It's been a blessing, to be honest. I love competition,' said Guenette. 'It keeps your head up, keeps you moving forward and it gets the best out of everyone.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
42 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ontario records low housing starts, even using new ways of counting them
TORONTO – Ontario's final tally for housing starts in 2024 is well off what's needed to achieve Premier Doug Ford's goal of getting 1.5 million homes built, even with various new categories the government is adding such as university dorms. The government recently updated its housing tracker for the first time in eight months, and it provides yet another glimpse into home building struggles. The total housing starts for 2024 by the government's calculations was 94,753. That includes 73,462 traditional housing starts, 14,381 additional residential units, 2,278 long-term care beds, 2,807 post-secondary student housing beds, and 1,825 retirement home suites. But in order to meet the goal of 1.5 million homes built over 10 years by 2031, Ontario should have added 125,000 homes last year, with at least 150,000 this year and 175,000 the next. The province met its 110,000 target for 2023 after counting long-term care beds. A spokesperson for Housing Minister Rob Flack said the government is seeing progress made through various funds it has established to help spur home construction. 'Our government is accelerating housing development, investing in infrastructure, and giving municipalities the tools they need to build more homes,' Alexandra Sanita wrote in a statement. She also noted there were 9,125 rental housing starts. But this year is so far not shaping up well either, as highlighted by the province's financial accountability officer, who flagged earlier this year that the starts for the first quarter of 2025 were at the lowest levels since 2009. It's a reality that builders are seeing on the ground, said Dave Wilkes, president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association. Home sales, a leading indicator of housing starts, are low and construction industry layoffs that have already started could see up to 40 per cent of the workforce axed, he said. 'The conditions that are in the marketplace right now really reflect the downturn that the industry saw in the early 1990s, so it's the worst that it's been in probably 35 years,' Wilkes said. The challenges are numerous and compounding, including the high cost to build and the low consumer confidence, he said. To help, the federal government could temporarily expand the GST/HST New Housing Rebate, and all levels of government can pull various levers to reduce development charges, Wilkes said. The fees builders pay are used by municipalities to fund housing-enabling infrastructure such as water and sewer lines, but builders say the costs add too much to the price of a new home for the buyer, and cutting them will spur demand and construction. The provincial government over the last few years has established various funds worth several billion dollars to help spur home construction, including money for municipalities to put toward housing-enabling infrastructure. Ontario has tied one of them, the Building Faster Fund, to targets for housing starts the government has assigned 50 municipalities, with cities getting cash if they meet at least 80 per cent of their target. The newly updated housing tracker data shows that last year, just 23 of them hit that threshold, down sharply from 32 the previous year. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said one of the best ways the provincial government could stem the housing crisis would be to enable more gentle density in existing neighbourhoods, where infrastructure already exists. Ford has adamantly refused to automatically allow fourplexes to be built across the province, preferring to leave those zoning decisions up to individual municipalities. Ontario could also standardize rules for modular housing and fund more affordable, non-profit, co-op and social housing, Schreiner said. 'The Ford government is presiding over the worst housing crisis in Ontario history, and have the worst housing numbers in Canada, and they're doing everything they can to not be transparent and honest with the people of Ontario about the extent of the crisis,' he said. 'But the reality is, is we're feeling it in our day-to-day lives, because we have a whole generation of young people wondering if they'll ever be able to own a home.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2025.
