Twenty-Six Billion Dollars. But Is the Discount Even Real?

Pizza Hut Got Its Name From a Nine-Letter Sign

It's Throwback Thursday and Shane, Ryan, and Noah dig into one of 1995's defining fast food moments: the arrival of stuffed crust pizza and the competitive war that produced it. The story starts in 1958, when two college students borrowed six hundred dollars from their mom, found a small brick building with room for exactly nine letters on the sign, and called it Pizza Hut because that was all that fit. Sixty-seven years later the chain is a takeaway staple, the dine-in era is gone, and the stuffed crust is thirty years old. Along the way: the best pizza topping debate gets settled by nobody, Ryan gets a tip about cold tomatoes that may change his life, and the cheeseburger-in-the-crust question gets the answer it deserves. Topics: Pizza Hut history, stuffed crust pizza 1995, fast food wars, pizza toppings debate, throwback Thursday food Originally aired on 2026-06-25

Throwback Thursday: A Large Pizza, a Two-Litre Coke, Twelve Dollars. In 1995

It's Throwback Thursday and the inflation conversation gets personal fast: in 1995, a large pepperoni pizza and a two-litre Coke ran twelve to fifteen dollars as a combo deal. Ground beef was $1.99 a pound. A big box of cereal was three dollars. Gas was fifty-eight cents a litre in Vancouver. Shane and Ryan run those numbers against today's receipts, take listener texts on the definitive best pizza topping, and work through what the stuffed crust revolution of 1995 has become thirty years on, including hot dog crust, cheeseburger crust, and the case for just putting mozzarella in there and leaving it alone. The Quebec referendum of 1995 also comes up, with a clip of three American presidents discussing Canadian unity in a tone that feels like a different era entirely. Topics: 1995 grocery prices Canada, pizza prices inflation, stuffed crust pizza history, throwback Thursday, Quebec referendum 1995 Originally aired on 2026-06-25

SHIFTHEADS: Canada's Grocery Bill Has a Canada Problem

Food inflation in Canada is running hotter than every other G7 country, and food professor Sylvain Charlebois says the reasons are closer to home than most Canadians want to admit. Charlebois breaks down what's actually driving prices higher right now: salmon up 80% in a single month, a weakening Canadian dollar hitting food importers hard, and CFIA licensing delays that are costing the industry over a hundred million dollars and passing every cent to consumers. He also responds to Prime Minister Carney's food strategy, which he calls a list of nice things to think about rather than a plan with measurable goals. The public story around food inflation keeps pointing to tariffs, weather, and global forces. Charlebois argues that story is not entirely accurate, and that Canada's own policy choices are doing real damage. Topics: food inflation Canada, grocery prices, Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian dollar, food policy GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois | @‌foodprofessor Originally aired on 2026-06-25

Twenty-Six Billion Dollars. But Is the Discount Even Real?

Retail analyst Bruce Winder joins on Amazon Prime Day to break down what the numbers actually say about where Canadian consumers are right now and whether the deals are what they appear to be. Adobe is forecasting twenty-six billion dollars across four days of Prime Day sales, with day one already up five percent. But Bruce flags the problem: a fragile consumer shopping for essentials on a platform where it's hard to know whether the price was inflated before the sale. He also gets into the discount trap, how Sears trained shoppers to never pay full price and what that did to the brand, which categories like mattresses and pots and pans have become notorious for it, and why outlet stores are a mix of engineered draws and ugly colours nobody wanted. Plus: who is actually winning in Canadian retail right now. Topics: Amazon Prime Day Canada, retail discounts, Bruce Winder retail analyst, consumer spending Canada, outlet stores off-price retail GUEST: Bruce Winder | brucewinder.com Originally aired on 2026-06-25

Shiftheads - The King Paid Tax. The Public Paid for Everything Else

Columnist and commentator Rob Breakenridge joins for two stories: what King Charles's voluntary tax disclosure actually reveals about royal finances, and what's happening to the Corb Lund coal petition in Alberta. King Charles paid eleven million pounds in income tax last year, voluntarily, continuing a practice the Queen began in 1993. Rob unpacks why the numbers raise more questions than they settle: the palace renovation funded by taxpayers, the land the royal family profits from, and the 177 helicopter trips logged in a single year. Then the conversation turns to Alberta, where a grassroots coalition of ranchers spearheaded by country artist Corb Lund has been fighting to get a coal development question on the provincial ballot, only to have the rules changed mid-process and the timeline suddenly become inconvenient for the government that set it. Topics: King Charles taxes, royal family wealth, Alberta coal petition, Corb Lund, Alberta government accountability GUEST: Rob Breakenridge | robbreakенridge.com | @robbreakенridge Originally aired on 2026-06-25