Before she or her successors use new legal authority to order the end to a strike or lockout, the public will get to see exactly why the government thinks more bargaining isn’t worthwhile, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said in a round of media interviews. She was defending a bill that would entrench a novel interpretation of the Canada Labour Code that major unions say favours employers who negotiate in bad faith. (The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press)
The country’s communications regulator has launched an investigation into whether Pornhub's parent company, Montreal-based Aylo, violated its duty under the U.K. Online Safety Act to prevent children from accessing pornography. Ofcom is probing whether Aylo conducted proper testing and necessary due diligence before implementing its age verification system. (The Logic)
The province and local school board filed a lawsuit against the ChatGPT parent company and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the San Francisco-based company designed a defective product that aided the February school shooting, when Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people and herself. It also claimed OpenAI was negligent in handling red flags in Van Rootselaar’s chat history, failing to alert authorities despite warnings from its system and employees. (The Logic)
The Ottawa e-commerce platform is partnering with Meta to let users of its new AI assistant, Muse, shop from Shopify merchants and complete purchases using Shop Pay. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke said the partnership will create an “easy and delightful way to shop and check out with Muse.” (The Logic)
The bank said Monday it’s looking to tap investor demand for defence financing, with proceeds from the bond earmarked for assets tied to Canada’s security and resilience priorities. (The Logic)
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company signed an agreement with Coretura, a joint venture created by Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, to supply the software underpinning a new digital platform for commercial vehicles. (The Globe and Mail)
Knowing the federal labour minister can order an end to a work stoppage without special legislation will give employers a reason to blow off serious collective bargaining, said Bea Bruske of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Any new restriction on the right to strike is unacceptable to Canada's workers,” she said. Private sector union Unifor said it will “vigorously oppose” that element of the new Building Canada Strong Act the Liberals introduced Monday. (The Logic)
RBC, TD, CIBC, BMO, Scotiabank and National Bank are working together to make it possible to move digital representations of deposits between them on a blockchain. (The Logic)
The Melbourne-headquartered firm currently has 17 employees in Toronto, and plans to hire up to 30 more. It will spend $25.4 million through 2029 on the expansion, covering salaries, an R&D program to adapt its technology for Canadian and U.S. markets, sales expenses and office space, said Mark Leno, Heidi’s general manager for Canada. (The Logic)
BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, Accelia Capital and Ogaei co-led the pre-seed investment round. The Ontario Centre of Innovation also participated, through its Life Sciences Innovation Fund, as did angel investors. (The Logic)