Hour 3 of Ottawa Now for Wed. March 18th, 2026

A new survey says that Canadians are growing tired of tipping. In fact, some want the practice to be abolished altogether. Where do you stand on that debate? Kristy Cameron sifts through the CFRA textboard and tackles today's Question of the Day. Meantime, the Bank of Canada has held its principal interest rate at 2.25 percent. However, BOC Governor Tiff Macklem is warning that an uptick in oil and natural gas prices will push up inflation in the short-term, a reality that we continue to see as the Iran War drags on. We dig deeper with Pedro Antunes, a Principal Economist for Signal 49 Research. Plus, as online regulators grapple with how to handle A.I. chatbots, Britain is hatching a plan to protect consumers from disinformation and deepfakes. How, you may ask? By slapping mandatory labels on A.I. generated content. Shruti Shekar, the editor-in-chief of Android Central, pays us a visit in Hour 3.