In the news today: GDP numbers, High-speed rail, Regulating AI chatbots

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

StatCan to release GDP figures for February and early estimate for Q1 today

Statistics Canada is expected to release real gross domestic product figures for February this morning.

It’s also set to provide early estimates for the month of March and the first quarter as a whole.

Last month, the agency said its preliminary estimate for February was 0.2 per cent growth.

Many Bay Street economists had said the domestic economy looked to be starting the year off better than expected, but the Middle East conflict and the upcoming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement have become sources of uncertainty.

—

Toronto area could get two high-speed rail stations — not just one — says Alto CEO

The head of the country’s high-speed rail project says the Greater Toronto Area could be home to two stations rather than one as previously planned.

Alto chief executive Martin Imbleau told The Canadian Press the GTA “will probably require a secondary station,” though no final decision has been made.

The proposed network, stretching from Toronto to Quebec City, would host 72 trains a day running on dedicated electric tracks at speeds breaching 300 km/h, slashing current travel times.

The project has garnered backlash from a grassroots coalition of farmers and small-town residents, as well as the federal Conservatives, who say the rail corridor would cleave communities, offer locals few benefits and cost taxpayers billions.

—

Body of OPP Sgt. Brandon Malcolm to be brought to Oshawa ahead of funeral

The body of an Ontario police officer who died in a highway crash east of Toronto this week will be taken to Oshawa this afternoon ahead of his funeral.

Sgt. Brandon Malcolm, 33, died while on duty Monday after a single-vehicle collision involving a motorcycle on Highway 401 in Cobourg.

The Ontario Provincial Police says the procession will depart the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto around 1 p.m. and head east on Highway 401 to Oshawa.

It says those who wish to show their support can gather on one of the highway’s overpasses or sign an online book of condolence.

—

Young Canadians want AI companies to make their chatbots less addictive: report

A new report focusing on the perspectives of young people says the government should force AI companies to tackle the addictive design of AI chatbots.

It’s one of a series of recommendations made by youth between the ages of 17 and 23 who took part in roundtables across the country.

Some argued many chatbots are designed to flatter users in order to cultivate dependency and maximize the amount of time they spend on the platform.

The report from McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy says social media platforms and search engines should be required to have easy options for opting out of integrated AI technologies.

It also calls for a new government body that could evaluate systems, audit algorithms and enforce safety standards.

—

A Toronto priest has won a top literary prize for her book on the homelessness crisis

An Anglican priest has won a top literary prize for her book about Canada’s homelessness crisis.

Maggie Helwig received the $40,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing at a ceremony in Ottawa on Wednesday night for “Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community.”

The book follows Helwig’s fight to allow an encampment to remain in the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto’s Kensington Market where she is the priest. 

The judges call the book “a clear-eyed call to not look away, but to deepen understanding of the issue” of homelessness.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2026.