Hello, and welcome to the first edition of The Margin newsletter! While a lot of the internet feels like a race to the bottom of the AI-slop bucket, we’re doing something different. Over the coming months, you’ll get to know the cool crew (😎) we’ve assembled here, but for now, just sit back and enjoy the premiere edition of… actually, we didn’t give this newsletter a name (not everything needs a sub-brand).

Every Friday, we’ll send you the best of The Margin and the broader web, keeping you in the loop financially, culturally, and memeally. We’re here to talk about money in Canada and the messy, fascinating ways it dictates our lives. Glad you’re here.

– Eric Wainwright, Editor in Chief

The takeaway: All four major indices are in the green going into Friday, with the Nasdaq leading the way, driven by some cautious optimism around a potential US-Iran peace deal. The TSX’s comparatively smaller gain reflects the flip side of that, though: if the conflict ends, oil prices drop, which would hit the Canadian index harder (energy makes up nearly 18% of the TSX, but only about 4% of the S&P 500).

Mark Carney’s Liberals secured their majority this week after three key by-elections went their way. It’s an interesting time for it: the Iran war has pushed oil above $95 a barrel, allies are calling our energy companies directly asking for propane and natural gas, and Canada – the world's fourth-largest oil producer – should be cashing in. Instead, the Trans Mountain pipeline is at capacity, energy CEOs aren't changing their capital budgets because they expect prices to drop once the conflict stabilizes, and Carney just suspended the federal fuel excise tax to cushion consumers from prices that, in theory, should be good for us. The majority removes some big obstacles for the Liberals, but never underestimate Canada’s ability to fumble a sure thing.

For Arjun Patel, the sound of financial security is the metallic clink of a heavy rice tin being dragged across a laminate counter. While his peers were probably learning about the mechanics of an RRSP, Arjun grew up watching his parents peel apart damp $20 bills tucked into such a tin for a rainy day that never seemed to end.

“My mother was incredibly frugal, even when we finally had enough,” Arjun says, remembering humid summers in their Scarborough bungalow where the only breeze came from a rattling floor fan. In his household, cash was the only truth.

He learned the rule of the rice tin early: if you can’t touch it, it isn’t real; if it’s in a bank, it’s out of your hands.

Now 34, Arjun is a senior software developer in Toronto, a role that by 2026 standards should signal "arrival." To his father, who earned $14 an hour for 30 years at a plastic plant in Brampton, Ont., Arjun’s income sounds like the end of all worry. But to Arjun, it still feels precarious. He has the glass-walled condo overlooking the Toronto skyline, the six-figure salary, and his mother's voice in his head every time he thinks about spending it.

Even after his first sizable bonus, Arjun froze in a dealership parking lot. He wanted to buy a Toyota RAV4, a symbol that he’d finally made it. But in that moment, the 'fear tax' kicked in, and his salary felt less like a reward than a liability – money earmarked for a disaster that hadn't arrived yet.

Read more

I can’t afford to quit. I can’t afford to keep working. Essayist Lyiga Navarro recounts her struggle to work through long COVID flareups so she can save money for medical care she’ll need in the future. Read more

Revenge spending is real, and it's spectacular. We’re all broke, but we’re somehow still spending more than ever. Why do we keep acting like a teenager whose parents told them to turn down the music? Read more

An Indecent Proposal? In this economy? Robert Redford offered $1 million to sleep with Demi Moore in the 1993 movie. How much would he need to offer in 2026? The answer’s more involved than just an inflation calculator. Read more

Eric Wainwright, Editor in Chief: Last month, H&R Block and Angus Reid released survey results about tipping culture in Canada. I don’t know what circles you spend time in, but my personal echo chamber of one has been very loud about how over-the-top tipping has become. Thankfully, more than two-thirds of Canadians agree with me.

I don’t have the space or the time to go into all the egregious ways tipping has invaded crept into our daily lives since the pandemic – prompts for historically untipped services (looking at you, Subway), ever-increasing percentages being suggested, the whole thing. But I think it’s time for a reckoning that actually fits the bill.

From The Margin group chat

We ask; you answer; we share our favourites next week. Simple!

This week, we want to know: What's a so-called “dumb” purchase that you actually use all the time?

Send your responses to [email protected] by next Thursday, April 23 at 12 p.m. ET and we might feature it in next week's issue.

This week’s contributors: Louisa Eunice (writer), Tyler Haw (audience engagement), Douglas Dunlop (content lead), Jenna Zaitchik (senior creative designer), Shazia Khan (social media strategy manager), Kat Angus (deputy editor), and Eric Wainwright (editor in chief).

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