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Issue #18 10.21.2026
The weekly standup
Everything you need to know before you have to microwave your coffee (for the first time).
📉
Canada lost 68,000 jobs, and young workers took the biggest hit.
🚗
Geely is bringing EVs to Canadian dealerships next year.
🕵️
Banks and telcos are finally comparing notes on scammers.
The office chatter ☕
What everyone’s pretending not to read during meetings.
🚗
Canada’s car lot just got a new tenant
Geely, China’s second-largest automaker, plans to sell EVs here through its own dealerships starting next year. Ottawa let in 49,000 Chinese-made EVs at a 6.1% tariff, hoping the showroom leads to a factory that can offset U.S. tariff damage to the auto sector. The plan starts with a test drive and ends with a plant. That’s a long drive (The Peak).
🕵️
Scammers have been hiding in the gaps between companies
Canada’s big banks and telcos are launching a platform to share intel on fraudsters. Canadians lost a record $704 million to scams last year, but only 5 to 10 per cent of victims report, which puts the real number somewhere between $7 billion and $14 billion. The scammers’ best tool was everyone minding their own lane.
Like what you’re reading?
The breakroom bulletin 📌
What’s hot, what’s not and what’s all for show.
Getting promoted 📈
📈
Canadians are still spending on the fun stuff
Discretionary services led September spending, while goods stayed flat. Gas spending rose too, but mostly because prices climbed nearly 8 per cent. The pump is the only place spending rose without anyone having more fun (Retail insider).
📈
Wellness culture is up, and flexibility is the ask
Seventy-nine per cent of members say their workplace encourages wellness, up from 72 per cent last year. In their top three picks, flexible work beat a low-cost wellness program, 52 per cent to 26. The calendar beat the perks (Benefits Canada).
On a PIP 📉
📉
Lightspeed is growing by subtraction
Montreal-based Lightspeed Commerce is affecting 250 roles through layoffs and unfilled vacancies. The company says it will simplify operations and reinvest in growth, but it hasn’t said which teams are affected. (CBC).
📉
Retirement savings have a lot on their plate
68 per cent of Canadians in workplace plans worry they’ll outlive their savings, and 72 per cent may slow contributions within a year. Ninety per cent want plans that smooth the bumps. That’s a lot to ask of retirement savings (Benefits Canada).
Corporate Theatre 🎭
🌯
Starbucks is hunting for a burrito chain
Starbucks has reportedly explored a takeover of Chipotle, which would be the biggest restaurant merger on record. Chipotle’s stock is down over 41% since its former CEO left for the coffee chain, so the clearance rack is looking tempting (The Peak).
🕵️
The boardroom TV had a second job
An OpenAI engineer has been arrested over an alleged bug behind a boardroom TV. A second recorder turned up in his lost-and-found bag. Most AI labs worry about hackers. This one had to check behind the TV (The Peak).
Ideas worth stealing 💡
🛍
Customers are now doing the retailers’ admin
Samsung Canada found 68 per cent of Canadian shoppers say technology gives them more to manage. Before adding another app feature, map one purchase from coupon to checkout and cut a step. Most customers already have enough passwords (Retail Insider).
🚪
Retail’s revolving door has a line item
Voluntary turnover in retail and wholesale hit about 21 per cent, double the cross-industry rate. Ontario’s Job Grant can help cover training. If a store drops from four staff to three, customers won’t notice. The three will (Retail Insider).
The Thing I Can’t Stop Thinking About 🧠
Are Canadians leaving work, or just getting older?
📖
The story
Statistics Canada says the economy shed about 68,000 jobs in September, the second straight monthly loss, erasing every gain made earlier this year. The unemployment rate rose to 6.5 per cent. Youth aged 15 to 24 accounted for 48,000 of the losses, and Quebec lost 49,000 jobs.
📶
The signal
The participation rate fell to 64.8 per cent, its lowest reading since 1997 outside the pandemic, and Statistics Canada puts much of that down to an aging population. Aging doesn’t explain 68,000 lost jobs in a single month, though. The job-finding rate slid to 30.6 per cent from 32.8 a year ago, so searching is getting harder.
🛫
The takeaway
The bigger question is whether Canada’s job losses are a cycle or a supply problem. If the people who would fill open roles keep leaving or can’t get in, hiring gets harder even when demand returns. Employers should plan for a thinner talent pool, not just a slower economy (CBC).
Smart people saying smart things 💬
One post, tweet or take that’s making people in the world of work stop scrolling.
One post, tweet or take that’s making people in the world of work stop scrolling.
This week, Dr. Julie Gurner argues that the most effective ambitious people run on internal fuel.
The most effective ambitious people have internal drivers, not external ones. They may want external things, have external goals, but their engine runs on internal fuel that is unlimited.
— Dr. Julie Gurner (@drgurner) October 4, 2026
My music at work 🎵
One song helping us survive another week of impromptu Slack huddles.
The last thing before we jump 🦘
Almost every story this week came back to capacity: how much people can carry before they leave, tune out, or drop out of the count. Adding another tool to that load rarely helps, which makes subtraction the more useful strategy.
Start by measuring what your people are actually carrying, then take something off the pile before you add anything new.
See you next week.
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