Meta Breaks Ground on Its First Canadian Data Centre

Meta announced on July 8 that it will build a 1 gigawatt AI data centre in Sturgeon County, Alberta, its first facility in Canada and the 33rd in its global network. The project represents an investment of more than $13 billion, one of the largest private sector investments in Canadian history, and will support roughly 3,000 construction jobs at peak plus 300 permanent positions once operational. Power comes from a separate $4.6 billion natural gas plant being built nearby, and Alberta expects the project to generate about $250 million a year in royalties, taxes, and fees.

This puts Alberta on the map as a domestic AI compute hub, one of the only significant ones in the country right now. For businesses building AI into their marketing stack, more compute capacity based in Canada means more options down the line for data residency and latency.

Shopify Bars All Vape Products From Its Platform, Worldwide

Shopify confirmed on July 10 that it has told merchants to remove all vape products from their stores, following more than a year of pressure from a coalition of 25 U.S. state attorneys general targeting the sale of illegal e-cigarettes online. The policy applies to every vape product regardless of FDA authorization status, and a spokesperson for California's attorney general confirmed the ban applies globally, not just to U.S. storefronts.

If you or a client sells anything in this category on Shopify, the products need to come down now. Appeals are unlikely to succeed since this is a categorical ban rather than a violation specific one. More broadly, it is a reminder that platform risk can move fast and hit legitimate sellers with little warning.

65% of Marketers Report "Differentiation Anxiety" as AI Floods the Content Market

Calgary based Cashew Research released a new study on July 8 finding that 65% of marketers feel pressure to produce content that stands out in a market flooded with AI generated content. The survey of 206 senior marketers found 71% publish content at least weekly, while 66% have used original research in their marketing within the past 90 days as brands hunt for proprietary data competitors cannot replicate.

AI has made content production cheap and fast, which means it stopped being a differentiator. The finding that original research and proprietary data are becoming the real competitive edge is a useful gut check for any content calendar built mostly on volume.

Canada Adds 18,000 Jobs in June, With Retail and Wholesale Leading Gains

Statistics Canada reported on July 10 that the economy added 18,000 jobs in June, edging the unemployment rate down to 6.5%. Retail and wholesale trade led the gains with 16,400 new positions, while manufacturing lost another 17,000 jobs, extending a decline that has cost the sector 61,000 jobs since January 2025. Average hourly wages rose 3.7% year over year, up from 3.2% in May.

Retail hiring strength is a useful read on consumer facing SMB conditions heading into the back half of summer, while the manufacturing numbers are a reminder of where trade pressure is still doing the most damage.