Day 4 — How Canadians Pay: 20 Years of Credit-Card Evolution Credit cards are quietly reshaping how Canadians spend, borrow, and build loyalty. Over the last two decades, five major trends have defined the country’s payment landscape: 1. Contactless & Mobile Payments 2. Rewards & Co-branded Cards 3. Market Share Concentration 4. Fintech Disruption 5. Regulation & Policy Shifts Here’s what’s changed — and why it matters. Contactless & Digital Wallets Remember when you had to insert your chip and wait? In 2015, only ~40% of Canadians used contactless payments regularly. By 2024, that number is over 90% . Nearly every in-store transaction — and two-thirds of online purchases — now runs through cards. [1] Mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay accelerated this shift, merging convenience with data-rich, loyalty-driven ecosystems. Insight: Payment friction is gone. The new competition isn’t about acceptance — it’s about data, personalization, a...

5 Things North American Firms Must Know About The EU AI Act In August 2024, the European Union officially brought the EU AI Act into effect. Although it’s a European regulation, its reach extends far beyond Brussels — and many North American tech firms are already feeling the consequences. Here’s what business leaders should know — and how to act. Why It Matters (Even Outside the EU) The EU AI Act has extraterritorial scope : any company that markets, deploys, or uses AI systems whose outputs are used within the EU can fall under its rules. [1] Canadian firms exporting AI-enabled products or embedding AI modules in tools used by European clients must assess compliance now. [2] The “Brussels Effect” suggests that many non-EU firms will end up aligning with EU standards to simplify compliance across multiple jurisdictions. [3] What the Regulation Says AI systems are classified by risk levels — from “minimal” to “high risk” and “unacceptable.” The higher the risk, t...

  Day 2 of 30 Days, 30 Cases — Policy Meets Technology: Speed Cameras What happens when a city installs speed cameras—and then considers removing them? Ontario’s pause on automated speed enforcement (ASE) in Vaughan shows how policy and technology intersect. Data clearly shows speed cameras reduce speeding by around 50% and cut average speeds by nearly a quarter . Local Success: As per the City of Toronto's Automated Speed Enforcement Program Evaluation Report 2023, "the proportion of drivers speeding in 30, 40, and 50 km/h speed zones respectively dropped from 59.8%, 51.7%, and 58.4% pre-intervention to 43.3%, 29.2%, and 35.7% when the ASE devices were operational". Minimize image Edit image Delete image Excessive speeding (>20 km/h over) dropped ~87% 85th percentile speed fell by 6–8 km/h across most zones Over 80% of camera locations saw lower average speeds Global Success: UK Fixed Cameras: Speeding fell 71% , road deaths & serious injuries down ~40% Practica...

[30 days, 30 Problems - In this series of one posting a day, I will investigate the economic impacts that unfold when policy meets technology.] When policy meets technology without oversight, the consequences can be both reputational and financial. Deloitte’s partial refund to the Australian government after it was revealed that parts of a $440,000 report were generated by AI serves as a cautionary case for organizations using generative tools in high-stakes policy analysis. When in  July 2025,  Deloitte delivered a report evaluating a welfare compliance IT system was for the Australian Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), it was  found to include AI-generated text containing fabricated citations and factual inaccuracies . After an internal investigation, Deloitte agreed to refund a portion of the $440,000 contract value , acknowledging the inappropriate and undisclosed use of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model through Microsoft’s Azure platform. The Guardian rep...