Hidden cameras capture bank employees misleading customers, pushing products that help sales targets

Michelle Jeraline says she’s so stressed out by the pressure to sell customers products at TD Bank, it’s affected her health.  The TD employee says she’s usually not acting in the best interest of her clients — she’s trying to sell them products that will help her meet sales targets and keep her from being … Read more

The Body Shop Canada to close 33 stores, end online sales

The Body Shop Canada will close nearly a third of its stores and end online sales as it seeks creditor protection, the Canadian subsidiary of the U.K. beauty and cosmetics shop announced Friday. A court filing showed the company owes more than $3.3 million to unsecured creditors and about $16,400 to secured creditors. The company did not say how many … Read more

Public servant’s company received more than $200M in government contracts since 2015

An IT firm run by a defence department employee has been awarded millions of dollars in government contracts since 2015. Dalian Enterprise has come in for scrutiny recently over its involvement in the development of the ArriveCan app. The company had received $7.9 million for its work on the project as of last March, according … Read more

OpenAI unveils Sora, a tool that uses AI to generate videos from written prompts

The maker of ChatGPT on Thursday unveiled its next leap into generative artificial intelligence with a tool that instantly makes short videos in response to written commands. San Francisco-based OpenAI’s new text-to-video generator, called Sora, isn’t the first of its kind. Google, Meta and the startup Runway are among the other companies to have demonstrated … Read more

PM won’t say whether MP who attacked government’s Gaza policy will stay in current role

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau skirted the question Thursday when he was asked whether one of his key MPs should stay in his parliamentary secretary role after railing against the government’s approach to the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, was recorded in a Zoom call with a … Read more

From cult status to closure fears — what happened to The Body Shop?

It’s a store you know by scent. For decades, the sometimes-overwhelming aroma of The Body Shop’s satsuma soaps and coconut body butters have wafted through mall concourses, as much a staple to the culture as the food court. The U.K.-based beauty and cosmetics shop has more than 3,000 retail locations in 70 countries, including 110 standalone … Read more

With ‘superhuman’ artificial intelligence looming, Canada needs law now: AI pioneer

The federal government must move quickly to regulate artificial intelligence, said a top AI pioneer who warns the technology’s current trajectory poses major societal risks Yoshua Bengio, dubbed a “godfather” of AI, told members of Parliament Monday that Ottawa should put a law in place immediately, even if that legislation is not perfect. The scientific director … Read more

Volcano erupts in Iceland, forcing another evacuation for fishing town

A volcano erupted in southwest Iceland on Sunday, posing an immediate threat to a nearby fishing town that had been evacuated over fears of an eruption, authorities said. Live streams from the site showed fountains of molten rock spewing from fissures in the ground, the bright orange lava flow glowing against the dark sky. The … Read more

Federal health minister says he won’t allow Florida to ‘pillage’ the drug supply

Health Minister Mark Holland says Florida’s plan to import cheaper Canadian pharmaceuticals is a non-starter and the federal government will use its regulatory power to ensure the national drug supply does not face any shortages due to actions by a foreign state. “There is no way we will allow any jurisdiction, be it a state or another … Read more