BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When Dawn Daly-Mack checked her mailbox one ordinary day, she nearly tossed an envelope she assumed was junk. Instead, she thought twice and opened it, finding a message that was far from mundane. “I opened it up and it said, ‘Your medical bill has been paid,’” says Daly-Mack, 60,…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If sleep is the unsung hero of your wellness routine, you’re not alone in overlooking it. According to the CDC, about one in three U.S. adults report not getting enough rest on a regular basis. And while we often focus on kale salads, workouts, and green juices, many of…
The University of Alberta is the latest entity to join the City of Edmonton’s longstanding work to reduce emissions on its fleet of city vehicles. On Jan. 27, the university announced a partnership with the City and Diesel Tech Industries (DTI), a technology and engineering company focused on innovative transportation tech for commercial fleets and…
Ottawa-based defence company Calian is watering the seeds of Canada’s burgeoning defence industry with a $100 million CAD platform led by its new Ventures arm. Calian said the funding will be drawn from multiple sources, including capital investment from its Ventures arm, co-development with Canadian small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), and contributions from regional investment…
A handful of Canadian FinTech firms are now in line to reap the benefits of the country’s incoming real-time rail (RTR) payments infrastructure system. Float, Wise, Koho, Paramount, and Brim are now members of Payments Canada, the organization that underpins the Canadian financial system announced on Tuesday. With their membership, the companies can now apply…
After a decade in corporate accounting, one date night and a shot of scotch mixed into homemade popcorn changed Charlene Li’s career trajectory. In 2019, with no formal culinary background, Li and her husband co-founded gourmet popcorn brand EATABLE. Cooking and trying new recipes were something they loved doing together; they’d make popcorn flavours at…
Did you know that between 2023 and 2024, Canada produced and exported 5.8 million metric tonnes of potatoes and potato products worth a staggering $3.6 billion? That’s roughly the volume of 13 CN Towers’ worth of starchy stuff, and more than Turks and Caicos’ gross domestic product. Did you also know that five percent or…
Host applications are now open for the 2026 edition of Toronto Tech Week, as the non-profit community initiative adds more partners and a new multiyear agreement with the City of Toronto. Toronto Tech Week announced Tuesday morning that new supporting sponsors Osler, Bell, and Ada had joined returning founding sponsors Shopify, Google for Startups, and…
Montréal-based Vention has secured a $110-million USD ($150-million CAD) Series D round to enhance and scale its physical AI platform into manufacturing plants worldwide. “We’re becoming the default standard, and we’re going to invest to ensure that’s the case.” Etienne Lacroix The industrial tech scaleup closed the new funding round and hit $100 million CAD…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM That mid-afternoon latte might feel like the boost you need to power through your to-do list, especially when the days are short and the weather begs for something warm. But before you cozy up with a seasonal peppermint mocha at 4:00 p.m., it’s worth asking: will this cup of…
