Weekly Quiz: Strategic Romance, Buying “Canadian,” and AI Pricing

1

2

const title = "Weekly Quiz: Strategic Romance, Buying “Canadian,” and AI Pricing"; const date = "January 17, 2026"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Web_ThePMandthePopstar_Jan26-1536x1024.jpg", title: "The Strategic Love Story of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/the-strategic-romance-of-justin-trudeau-and-katy-perry/", question: "Justin Trudeau’s return to the limelight via his relationship with pop star Katy Perry isn’t an anomaly but part of a larger pattern wherein political power attaches to cultural glamour. His father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, cultivated similar visibility during his time in office. Which singer-songwriter was the senior Trudeau famously linked to?", options: [ "Liza Minnelli", "Barbra Streisand", "Stevie Nicks", "Carole King", ], answer: "Barbra Streisand", correct: "The late Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a media-savvy ladies’ man—and is perhaps the only other Canadian prime minister who felt at home with the Hollywood elite: he was close to the age the younger Trudeau is now when he was linked to a very popular singer-songwriter himself—the pop icon Barbra Streisand—as well as Sex in the City alumni Kim Cattrall. “His dad made the glamour work for his own political career and image, so why shouldn’t he?” asserts Canadian-American psychology professor and relationship expert Wendy Walsh.", incorrect: "The late Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a media-savvy ladies’ man—and is perhaps the only other Canadian prime minister who felt at home with the Hollywood elite: he was close to the age the younger Trudeau is now when he was linked to a very popular singer-songwriter himself—the pop icon Barbra Streisand—as well as Sex in the City alumni Kim Cattrall. “His dad made the glamour work for his own political career and image, so why shouldn’t he?” asserts Canadian-American psychology professor and relationship expert Wendy Walsh.", }, { title: "Carney’s “Buy Canadian” Policy Doesn’t Require Companies to Be Canadian", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/carneys-buy-canadian-policy-doesnt-require-companies-to-be-canadian/", question: "The Mark Carney government’s proposed “Buy Canadian” policy differs from how national defence sourcing is handled in the US and Europe. In those jurisdictions, three core principles help keep strategic expertise and production capacity within national borders. What are they?", options: [ "Ownership, control, and intellectual property", "Manufacturing capacity, export licenses, and physical plant size", "Bilingualism, regional distribution, and small-business quotas", "Employment numbers, local revenue, and tax residency", ], answer: "Ownership, control, and intellectual property", correct: "Around the world, national sourcing regimes are rooted in three core principles: ownership, control, and intellectual property. That is the standard used in the United States and Europe to ensure that equity value, talent, and strategic know-how stay within national systems. Yet Canada proposes to depart from these norms. The new policy means Canada will allow foreign-controlled multinationals to qualify as “Canadian” simply by running revenue and some employment through a local subsidiary. Take General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. With plants across Quebec, it dominates the production of bullets, shells, missiles, and explosives in Canada. But the firm is American. The policy thus invites the very gaming it is supposed to stop.", incorrect: "Around the world, national sourcing regimes are rooted in three core principles: ownership, control, and intellectual property. That is the standard used in the United States and Europe to ensure that equity value, talent, and strategic know-how stay within national systems. Yet Canada proposes to depart from these norms. The new policy means Canada will allow foreign-controlled multinationals to qualify as “Canadian” simply by running revenue and some employment through a local subsidiary. Take General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. With plants across Quebec, it dominates the production of bullets, shells, missiles, and explosives in Canada. But the firm is American. The policy thus invites the very gaming it is supposed to stop.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WEB_TheCostOfLiving_JAN26-1-1536x1024.jpg", title: "Everything Costs More Because the Algorithm Says So", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/everything-costs-more-because-the-algorithm-says-so/", question: "The efficacy of Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) relies on the idea of a uniform “sticker price” that applies to all consumers. How does algorithmic pricing undermine this core assumption?", options: [ "It hinders the ability to track short-term price fluctuations", "It excludes online purchases from inflation calculations", "It treats price variation as consumer-specific rather than market-wide", "It primarily affects luxury goods rather than everyday consumer items", ], answer: "It treats price variation as consumer-specific rather than market-wide", correct: " The CPI is built on the assumption of common pricing. It’s a benchmark that reflects how much things cost, on average, for everyone. But as more goods and services shift to individualized pricing, that collective anchor starts to drift. When prices are personalized, the very notion of an “average” price loses meaning. It complicates how policy makers measure inflation and how the economy maintains a shared sense of value. Dynamic pricing fragments the reference points that hold the economy together. We’ve seen versions of this before. The so-called “pink tax,” for instance, where women paid more than men for comparable goods marketed to them. Algorithmic pricing is the same practice, executed at machine speed and harder to detect.", incorrect: " The CPI is built on the assumption of common pricing. It’s a benchmark that reflects how much things cost, on average, for everyone. But as more goods and services shift to individualized pricing, that collective anchor starts to drift. When prices are personalized, the very notion of an “average” price loses meaning. It complicates how policy makers measure inflation and how the economy maintains a shared sense of value. Dynamic pricing fragments the reference points that hold the economy together. We’ve seen versions of this before. The so-called “pink tax,” for instance, where women paid more than men for comparable goods marketed to them. Algorithmic pricing is the same practice, executed at machine speed and harder to detect.", }, { title: "Inside the Stunning Collapse of the Quebec Liberal Party", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/inside-the-stunning-collapse-of-the-quebec-liberal-party/", question: "Meaningful support for Quebec sovereignty will ultimately not be determined by committed sovereigntists but by a “cautious middle” of voters. What recent political activity suggests that this faction is currently prioritizing stability over risk?", options: [ "A growing dissatisfaction with provincial economic policy", "Increased turnout among young Quebec voters against independence", "A rise in nationalist sentiment in light of global geopolitical instability", "Montreal ridings electorally backing Mark Carney’s Liberals over the Bloc Québécois", ], answer: "Montreal ridings electorally backing Mark Carney’s Liberals over the Bloc Québécois", correct: "Support for Quebec independence has hovered at 35 percent for decades. The challenge for the “yes” side lies in persuading the next 15 to 20 percent they would need to actually win, but recent voting behaviour from that swing group reflects the instinct towards safety. In the federal election last year, many suburban Montreal ridings that traditionally voted for the Bloc Québécois backed Carney’s Liberals, a signal that risk-averse voters were in search of stability. None of this moves the committed base, but it raises the bar significantly for converting undecided or soft “no” voters once the referendum question becomes real rather than theoretical.", incorrect: "Support for Quebec independence has hovered at 35 percent for decades. The challenge for the “yes” side lies in persuading the next 15 to 20 percent they would need to actually win, but recent voting behaviour from that swing group reflects the instinct towards safety. In the federal election last year, many suburban Montreal ridings that traditionally voted for the Bloc Québécois backed Carney’s Liberals, a signal that risk-averse voters were in search of stability. None of this moves the committed base, but it raises the bar significantly for converting undecided or soft “no” voters once the referendum question becomes real rather than theoretical.", }, ];