Good morning! It's Hanna Lee.

The prime minister is hosting the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto today, during what's shaping up to be a strange and chaotic time in the two countries' relations.

We'll get into that, as well as some possibly deceptive deals at Old Navy and Canadian Tire.

Also, how over 100 women and children have allegedly had intimate images distributed online without their consent.

Trudeau hosting summit today amid Trump trade threats

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hosting leaders from the business and labour sectors in Toronto today to find ways to strengthen the Canadian economy at a precarious moment. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

After a tense and chaotic weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to hold a Canada-U.S. Economic Summit today. He'll meet with Canadian business and labour leaders in Toronto to figure out a way forward.

The summit's goal: The event is meant to find ways to create more jobs, galvanize the economy and make it easier to trade within this country, among other goals. "We want businesses, investors and workers to choose Canada," the prime minister said in a statement earlier this week.

Industry issues: Those in the industry have long complained that it's easier to do business with other countries than other provinces, mainly because of regulatory barriers like licensing requirements that vary by jurisdiction. The complaints have existed for decades — but Donald Trump's recent tariff threats have helped the movement gain momentum. Issues include restrictions on the sale of alcohol or technical barriers like vehicle weight standards.

Meanwhile, in the U.S.: Trump's pick for trade representative, Jamieson Greer, got an earful on blanket tariffs on Canada at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. The general message: Don't do those. Democrats were emphatic, with one calling the president's trade policy "rancid," while Republicans were subtler, not wanting to challenge the leader of their party. Congress has limited power to stop a president's tariffs, so the hearing didn't signal immediate action — instead functioning as more of a weather vane, showing which way the political winds are blowing.

When is a deal really a deal? We tracked prices at Old Navy and Canadian Tire to find out

An Old Navy location in the Greater Toronto Area. (David MacIntosh/CBC)

Ever felt pressured by a big, seemingly time-sensitive discount online? A new Marketplace investigation suggests that — at least at Canadian Tire and Old Navy — you might have more time than you've been led to think. 

What happened: The team tracked the price of many items across the two retailers to see how often they went on sale, and whether those prices were true discounts. It found that multiple items from Old Navy were nearly always on sale. And at Canadian Tire, several items were actually cheaper on other days than during events like Boxing Day and Cyber Monday, which are advertised as some of the biggest sales of the year. 

"I think it's disrespectful to be playing those games with consumers," said one recently retired marketing associate professor.

What the companies say: Gap, Old Navy's parent company, declined to comment. Canadian Tire declined an interview, but said its weekly promotions are carefully planned and that it understands the economic challenges Canadians face.

The context: The investigation comes as Old Navy and Gap Canada face a potential class-action lawsuit in B.C., though it hasn't yet been certified, alleging the companies are nearly always selling products at a "so-called discount." Old Navy also settled another class action in California in 2022 that alleged similar practices, though it denied them and made no admission of liability or wrongdoing.

At least 117 victims from Canada, U.S., overseas have had intimate images shared illegally online, police say

Thunder Bay Police Service acting Det. Insp. Robert Gombola, left, and Det. Const. Joel Manherz shared new details yesterday about a cybercrime investigation that resulted in 172 charges. (Michelle Allan/CBC)

Twelve Canadian men have been charged after police found an online chat group that distributed without consent intimate images of at least 117 women and children from Canada, the U.S. and overseas.

What's happening: The Thunder Bay Police Service released more details about their investigation, which has gained significant attention, laying 172 charges. They began investigating in September 2023, after one of the alleged victims told police about the chat group, where the images were distributed along with many of the victims' names. They were mostly obtained through hacking, police say, and many of the victims weren't aware the photos were being traded.

The accused: They're between the ages of 28 and 38 and have been charged with distributing intimate images without consent. Seven of them face child pornography-related charges: "We're talking about kids as young as probably 12," said Det. Const. Joel Manherz, referring to the alleged victims.

There could be more victims, police say. Anyone who believes their intimate images may have been shared without their consent can contact TBPS.

In case you missed it

• Canada should consider building a west-east oil pipeline, said Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, now that the American relationship has changed.
   
• Experts say Canada has had a money-laundering problem for too long, and it may be helping cartels push fentanyl here.
   
• California homebuilders are trying to rebuild after devastating fires in Los Angeles — and there aren't many alternatives to Canadian lumber, they say. It comes as B.C., which sends around 70 per cent of its lumber exports to the U.S., looks to diversify amid Trump's tariff threats.
   
• An Ontario property developer is alleging that two staffers of Premier Doug Ford promised to use their influence at Queen's Park to get several plots of land rezoned. 

And, interesting news in the world of bargain hunting...

Heard of bin shopping? It's catching on with the most committed of bargain hunters

Carol McIntyre goes bin shopping at Krazy Binz in London, Ont., once a week. She keeps a photo album on her phone of all the best discounts she's found while bin shopping. (Kendra Seguin/CBC)

Bargain hunters, rise: a different kind of shopping experience awaits you. Called bin shopping, it entails digging through plastic bins, troughs and boxes for deeply discounted items that have been returned to or unsold by online companies. New stores are surging, with names like Krazy Binz and Rich Bins.

The prices are constantly changing in these stores, and the stock is never the same. They're often Amazon returns, with one shopper claiming to have made thousands of dollars buying the items from the bins and reselling them on the online marketplace.

"There's so much stuff here that you might as well have found it on the ground, it's so cheap," said shopper George Gregorev, who was at Binge Bins in London, Ont.