What prediction market trading is and why it’s gaining popularity

Financial services company Wealthsimple announced Thursday that it will start offering a new form of investment based on real-world events.

The product is called prediction market trading and it's gaining increasing popularity around the world.

Here's a breakdown of how it works, what's driving its growth and what investors should beware of.

What are prediction markets?

Radon in Newfoundland public housing a reminder of urgent national problem: experts

ST. JOHN'S - The Newfoundland and Labrador government recently found hazardous levels of a cancer-causing gas in some of its public housing units, prompting some experts to call for mandatory testing across the country.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. tested for radon in 172 of its housing units as part of a pilot program with Health Canada and found 23 had levels exceeding federal health guidelines and needing remediation, a spokesperson said.

The public housing authority included some of those test results in a post to the provincial procurement website last month, looking for tenders from contractors that could install mitigation systems.

Kelley Bush, manager of Health Canada's national radon outreach program, applauded Newfoundland and Labrador's efforts and said provinces are stepping up to test public housing for the deadly, odourless gas. But she said there is more work to be done.

Poll finds NDP much more popular than when elected

Support for Premier Wab Kinew and the New Democratic Party remains steady, while Obby Khan and the Progressive Conservative official Opposition are heading into the summer on a bit of a backslide, new polling results show.

Probe Research’s latest omnibus poll for June shows overall support for the NDP remains steady at 55 per cent, while the Tories have slipped to 32 per cent support — starting the legislature’s summer break in a slightly weaker position than when the last session began in March.

The results reflect the ongoing honeymoon for the New Democrats, who took power in October 2023 with 45 per cent support and have surged in popularity over more than two years. The Tories, meanwhile, entered the election cycle with 42 per cent support and have lost ground every step of the way since.

“We keep watching these numbers, wondering when the (NDP) bubble might burst — because it has to burst at some point, that’s politics — but it just doesn’t seem to happen. They seem to be just riding this incredible wave of political capital,” Probe Research partner Mary Agnes Welch said Wednesday.

Alberta separatists can’t see economic future through their blinding rage

It would be easy to dismiss the threat of Alberta separation as the delusions of a misguided and greedy minority. Easy because the concept does not have much traction.

Opinion polls show that a solid majority of Albertans do not want to leave Canada. Yes, more than 300,000 of the province’s voting-age citizens signed a petition demanding a referendum seeking a departure from the federation. But more than 400,000 other Albertans signed a petition telling the separatists to get stuffed.

That is not a good excuse to ignore what is happening in Alberta. It’s a serious threat but right now, it’s easy to ignore because it’s being pursued by people who are decidedly unserious.

The demands uttered by Alberta separatists are not designed to give its citizens more fairness and equality within the federation; this is about getting more from Canada than any other province has a right to expect.

Small grocers embrace Ottawa’s national food security strategy

Independent grocers and industry stakeholders are welcoming the federal government's national food security strategy, aimed at boosting competition among grocers, growing local produce year-round and improving consumer affordability.

Rabies vaccination program for skunks, raccoons in effort to stop spread to Montreal

MONTREAL - The raccoons that roam Montreal’s alleys, parks and backyards are a familiar part of city life. But as raccoon rabies cases mount south and east of Quebec, wildlife officials are making efforts to ensure the deadly virus doesn’t reach them.

Across parts of southern and eastern Quebec, 25 teams of wildlife technicians, professional trappers and animal health specialists are trapping raccoons and skunks, vaccinating them and releasing them back into the wild.

The operation began May 12 and runs until June 23, covering roughly 750 square kilometres. The goal is to create a barrier against the disease before it reaches the Montreal region.

Since the beginning of the year, Quebec has confirmed 71 cases of raccoon rabies and three cases of bat rabies. By comparison, 93 cases of raccoon rabies were recorded during all of 2025.

Transit revenue drop projected to be worse than predicted in 2026 budget

Winnipeg Transit warns it may earn $18.4 million less from rider fares this year than its budget calls for.

When the city’s 2026 budget was released, Transit estimated it would earn $97 million in fare revenue throughout this year. However, it also listed an “outstanding risk” that fares could fall $11.1 million lower due to a drop in ridership.

A finance update, based on figures up to the end of March, notes that risk has since increased.

“As of the first quarter, Transit is forecasting a reduction in revenues of $18.4 million,” the report notes.

Saying ‘no’ to AI data centre a huge win for Manitoba — and Kinew

It’s a tale of two provinces — and two artificial intelligence data centre mega-projects.

Treating the fever while ignoring the infection

Manitoba’s health-care system has a fever. It shows up as emergency room waits, crowded hallways, ambulance delays and patients waiting too long for care. A fever, however, is not the infection. It is the symptom.

Auto sales down for eighth consecutive month as May sales fall 1.7%: DesRosiers

RICHMOND HILL - DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. says auto sales in May were down from a year ago, marking the eighth consecutive month of declining sales.

The firm estimates 184,000 vehicles were sold in the month, down 1.7 per cent from May 2025.

DesRosiers says while Statistics Canada's latest GDP data indicated a technical recession, the auto industry has already been in a "feels like" recession in recent months.

DesRosiers managing partner Andrew King says while there were hopes that the market may crack the 190,000 barrier for what is traditionally the biggest sales month of the year, that remained out of sight.

Paramedic team to focus on overdoses in city’s core

With opioid-related emergencies overtaking alcohol-related calls for service in Winnipeg, the province is investing more than $1 million to ease pressure on front-line responders and improve overdose care.

The funding includes $802,000 for a three-month pilot project that will see a 24-7, two-person paramedic team respond to overdose calls in high-demand areas, including the downtown core, where many of the city’s shelters and support agencies are located. The pilot will start this month, the province said.

The province will also spend $150,000 on approximately 20 oxygen delivery devices to be managed by Main Street Project, which help when overdoses don’t respond to naloxone. Another $100,000 will be given to provide first aid and overdose response training for workers through St. John’s Ambulance and Manitoba Harm Reduction Network.

“We’ve been meeting quite regularly with the front-line organizations and this really came from them, and what they wanted and they need,” Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith told the Free Press Tuesday. “This was something that we could immediately respond to.”

Canadian, U.S. stock markets notch new record highs amid continued AI boom

TORONTO - Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. reached new highs, powered by gains in energy and AI, respectively.

Theresa Shutt, chief investment officer at Harbourfront Wealth Management, said themes around higher risk appetite driven by “AI fervour” helped lift the U.S. market. She said this was somewhat counterbalanced by lingering tensions between the U.S. and Iran and concerns that the market has risen too high.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 434.57 points at 35,169.46.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 228.91 points at 51,307.79. The S&P 500 index was up 9.82 points at 7,609.78, while the Nasdaq composite was up 7.09 points at 27,093.90. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent after drifting between small gains and losses through the day.

Manitoba makes strides on poverty, but EIA rates must increase: report

When Jayline Bursey gets her monthly Employment and Income Assistance cheque, it’s gone almost immediately.

Police-to-population ratio increases for first time since 2013

The ratio of Winnipeg Police Service officers to the city’s population has increased for the first time in more than a decade.

In 2025, the so-called “cop-to-pop” ratio reached 166.8 officers per 100,000 people, up from 164.8 the previous year.

While that falls behind a national average of 180.3 per 100,000, it was the first local increase since 2013.

Overall, the service added 35 more officers since 2024, to reach a complement of 1,425.

Religion on census needs a rework, group says

Did you get the long form of the census? If you did, then you are among the 25 per cent of Canadians who had a chance to tell the government about your religious identity.

The federal government has been collecting information about religion in Canada since 1871; it’s one of the oldest efforts to track religion in the world.

Since that time, the religious landscape in Canada has changed a lot. Up until the 1960s, the country was mainly Christian, with small numbers of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Canadians.

The 2026 census lists over 200 religious groups, just over half of them Protestant and Catholic. The rest are from a wide variety of other religious traditions, including six streams of Buddhism, 10 different Jewish groups, seven kinds of Islam and five different forms of Indigenous spirituality. People can also choose from Wiccan, Satanist, Rastafarian and New Age groups, among others.

Think it’s hot now? The next five years will smash records, UN says

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the next five years, the Earth is overwhelmingly likely to surge again and again past the international climate threshold set as safe and shatter its hottest-year record along the way, according to new United Nations climate projections.

The World Meteorological Organization also forecasts an overheating Arctic that warms nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 degrees Celsius) between now and 2030 and a dangerous drought with potential wildfires for the Amazon, a crucial part of Earth's natural defenses to lessen human-caused climate change. A hotter globe from the burning of coal, oil and gas means more extreme weather including floods, droughts and heat waves, scientists said.

The projections by the U.N. climate agency and the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office said there's a 75% chance that the average global temperature between 2026 and 2030 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher compared to pre-industrial times. That threshold is the agreed-upon limit of warming — averaged over 20 years — set in 2015 by the Paris climate agreement.

A U.N. science report a few years later detailed how exceeding that 1.5 mark means more likely death, danger and species loss. Even though it's only a few tenths of a degree, some of the planet's ecosystems, such as coral and glaciers, can't handle the strain.

Hate crimes jump in Winnipeg in 2025

The number of reported crimes that were classified as hate-motivated by the Winnipeg Police Service more than doubled in 2025, although the true number of incidents is thought to be higher.

Manitoba delinquency rate rises amid cost of living strain: Equifax

Manitobans are increasingly missing credit card payments as the cost of living rises.

Non-mortgage debt in Manitoba jumped 1.84 per cent, when comparing January through March to the same time last year. Manitobans’ average non-mortgage debt hung around $18,568.

Meanwhile, the measure tracking when Manitobans pass payment deadlines by at least 90 days — called a delinquency rate — hiked 2.32 per cent year-over-year, according to new data from credit reporting agency Equifax Canada.

“It’s not the worst province, by a long way,” said Rebecca Oakes, Equifax vice-president of advanced analytics. “But … (there’s) also a little bit more financial stress than some of the other provinces.”

Proponents of solar power push for provincial infrastructure investment to boost grid resilience

In the early 1970s, licence plates were stamped with the slogan “Sunny Manitoba” — a nod to long summer days, crisp blue winter skies and frequent sun dogs reflecting off of blinding white snow. While the slogan later changed, Manitoba’s ranking as Canada’s second-sunniest province has not.

Despite that sunlit reputation, solar power — one of the most-developed renewable energy sources — makes up just a small fraction of the province’s electricity grid.

“It’s extremely marginal, especially when you compare to other jurisdictions like Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said James Wilt, policy development manager at Climate Action Team Manitoba.

Manitoba boasts a predominantly emissions-free grid, with 97 per cent of its power generated by a network of hydroelectric dams. But the provincial utility, Manitoba Hydro, has forecasted that its once-abundant renewable energy source will soon fall short. There is growing demand for power amid the electrification of sectors like transportation and heating, and the rapidly growing interest in developing electricity-hungry data centres. Combined with more unpredictable water levels owing to climate factors like extreme drought, it’s all prompted the utility to warn that capacity could run out as soon as 2030.

Number of new measles cases trending down in Manitoba

Manitoba’s number of new confirmed measles cases is trending downward, but it’s still difficult to predict when the outbreak could end, a top public health official told the Free Press Friday.

Her Sports Fest hopes to reconnect women to recreational sports and activity

TORONTO - More than a year ago, Sherry Lamb woke up from a dream with a fully formed idea for a multi-sport event where women of different ages and backgrounds could get together and try them all out.

She collaborated with longtime friend Carolyn Jeffs to develop and program Her Sports Fest, a three-day event that will open Friday evening at The Hangar Sport and Events Centre in Toronto's north end. Both Lamb and Jeffs hope it will help girls and women reconnect with or maintain their love of sports.

"I saw the event in my head. I could just see the whole thing, the entire event, and the idea wouldn't let me go," said Lamb. "So I called my friend Carolyn and said, 'What are we both passionate about?' and without missing a beat, she said, 'women's sports,' and I said, 'Well, I have a bit of an idea for you.'

"Since then, we've registered as a non-profit and, 15 months later, we're here, we're ready to go."

Is demographic collapse a good idea?

Smartphones seem to be directly linked to a worldwide crash in the birth rate.

It is “quite plausible that the modern digital media environment has had profound effects on society that have led to a decline in romantic coupling,” said Melissa Kearney, professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame.

She has to talk that way, being an academic, but what she means is that people are doomscrolling, not copulating.

That’s old news, but the evidence for it is more impressive because it is data-based. That’s what we have social scientists for, and John Burn-Murdoch, a columnist with the Financial Times, realized that you could quantify the data if you talk to enough of them. So he did, and learned that the big drop in the birth rate happened precisely when people got smartphones.

Nature is a big part of the Canadian economy — but how big? We crunched the numbers.

Canada’s vast landscape, which boasts 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater, a quarter of global wetlands and 28 per cent of its boreal forests, is critical to its economy. Natural resource industries — forests, farms, fisheries, mining and oil and gas — together make up approximately seven per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

Tension exists between expanding these industrialized sectors and protecting the ecosystems on which they depend.

In Manitoba, some worry protecting the Seal River Watershed, which spans more than 50,000 square kilometres in the province’s north, will hinder opportunities in mineral resources and hydro; to the east, critical mineral mining ambitions in Ontario’s Ring of Fire clash with the protection of the Hudson and James Bay Lowlands, the second-largest carbon sink on earth; and in B.C., Coastal First Nations have protested that lifting the large tanker ban through their waters will endanger the protected Great Bear Rainforest.

These tensions make it easy to frame nature as the antithesis of economic activity, if it’s always put in opposition to projects that are described as growing Canada’s wealth, sovereignty and security.