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c. The steelmaker, owned by Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, has 15 days to respond or possibly face legal action. On Sept. 28, Stelco announced that it was laying off up to 500 workers in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ont. The federal government says the layoffs breach job commitments that Cliffs made when it acquired Stelco in 2024. Ms. Joly and Lourenco Goncalves, the combative, Trump-supporting chief executive of Cliffs, will now duke it out.

b. Canada’s official maple syrup reserve is sitting near empty, the result of a strong surge in demand that has drained supply to levels not seen in more than a decade. The Quebec industry, worth about $1.2-billion a year, produces most of the world’s maple syrup.

c. The annual pace of inflation rose to 3.1 per cent in September as war in the Middle East continued to drive up gas prices. The acceleration was led by surging fuel prices, according to Statistics Canada. Excluding gasoline, consumer prices increased 2.2 per cent year-over-year.

b. Anthropic says it will commit 5 per cent of its shares to a new public benefit fund that will make donations for the “public good.” The move comes at a time when Anthropic is planning one of the biggest IPOs in history.

c. “World class” is among the superlatives used by Nova Scotia’s government to describe the strength of the province’s offshore breezes. The boast is an important part of the province’s sales pitch for Wind West, a plan to build wind farms off the province’s coasts. Sadly, though, federal officials acknowledge that hard evidence for the world-class claim is sparse.

a. Air Canada customers who book their flights by phone are now paying $30 per passenger for the privilege. For a family of four who books their Air Canada trip the old-fashioned way, the bill will run an extra $120. The move is an attempt to cut call-centre costs by steering customers to the company’s website or app. Other airlines, including WestJet, United Airlines and numerous low-cost carriers, already charge non-refundable phone booking fees.

a. Located in a remote, boggy patch of northern Ontario, about 550 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, the Ring of Fire is a region that mining promoters have long touted for its potential to produce critical minerals such as nickel and chromite. How real is that potential? We will find out over the next few years. Ottawa says it will commit up to $1-billion to build roads to reach the Ring of Fire.

d. PHP is a programming language that is used by many websites. Researchers using AI have discovered a previously unsuspected vulnerability in the language that allows hackers to run unauthorized software on web servers.

a. Shopify’s chief technical officer Mikhail Parakhin is departing the e-commerce giant after two years. Since he arrived, Shopify has embraced agentic AI to help its merchants sell products to customers via chatbot, a step which industry analysts have said has the potential to reshape the future of online shopping and advertising. Shopify did not say when Mr. Parakhin is leaving or provide a reason for his exit.

b. The return of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. market is putting pressure on Canadian heavy oil prices. Western Canadian Select heavy crude was selling this week for US$28 a barrel less than West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark. The discount on Canadian oil is about US$15 a barrel more than a year ago.

d. The judge ordered Meta Platforms to pay the whopping penalty after a jury found the company had misled consumers. The case arose from allegations that a political consulting firm involved in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. The US$25-billion judgment is one of the largest single state verdicts against a company in U.S. history.

d. Mr. Ferreira wants Ottawa to overhaul the federal tax system, saying it needs to be “scrapped” and rewritten. The CEO of Canada’s sixth-largest bank argues that a simplification of Canada’s complex tax regime could help attract capital and talent.