Trends

Google Trends Morning Brief — November 12, 2026 (Canada Edition)

Google Trends Morning Brief

November 12, 2026 · 🇨🇦 Canada (primary) + 🇺🇸 United States (secondary)

The bottom line: Ottawa’s refusal to visa Russian players for the World Juniors in Alberta is Canada’s top story, alongside a Canada-wide Molson/Coors metal-fragment recall, a federal 72-hour emergency-kit reminder, an overtime heartbreak for the Flyers and a Raptors home loss. On both sides of the border, the Nvidia scandal — VP Kimberly Powell and the Jensen Huang affair report — is the single biggest search of the morning. In the US, the Flatbush building collapse, the Yella Beezy verdict in the MO3 killing, and a cluster of beloved-figure deaths lead.

At a Glance

Trend	Country	Search volume	Increase
kimberly powell	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	50K+ / 500K+	1,000%
canada denies russian hockey visas	🇨🇦	5K+	1,000%
flyers vs oilers	🇨🇦	20K+	1,000%
celtics vs raptors	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	20K+ / 100K+	1,000%
usman nurmagomedov	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	20K+ / 200K+	1,000%
72 hours emergency preparedness canada	🇨🇦	10K+	1,000%
brooklyn building collapsed / building collapse nyc	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	20K+ / 200K+	1,000%
molson recall	🇨🇦	5K+	500%
shawarma	🇨🇦	5K+	1,000%
anthony clark	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	10K+ / 200K+	1,000%
billy gray	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	10K+ / 50K+	1,000%
jemima goldsmith	🇨🇦	5K+	600%
ss united states / uss united states sinking	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	5K+ / 50K+	600% / 300%
snow	🇺🇸	500K+	1,000%
disco singer rochelle fleming passes	🇺🇸	100K+	1,000%
rex ryan	🇺🇸	100K+	1,000%
mo3	🇺🇸	100K+	1,000%
warriors vs rockets / steph curry	🇺🇸	100K+	1,000%
tomb of the unknown soldier	🇺🇸	100K+	1,000%
irma p hall	🇺🇸	20K+	700%
frankie muniz	🇨🇦/🇺🇸	5K+ / 50K+	800% / 1,000%
scarlett johansson studio pitch criticism	🇺🇸	20K+	1,000%

Source: Google Trends “Trending Now”, geo=CA and geo=US, snapshot Nov 12, 2026 5:01 AM (relevance-sorted, past 24 hours).

🇨🇦 Canada — Featured Trends

1. canada denies russian hockey visas 5K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: The federal government has formally told Hockey Canada and the IIHF it will not issue visas to Russian players for the World Junior Championship in Alberta (Dec 26, 2026 – Jan 5, 2027) — and has said Russians holding valid visas will still be refused entry.

Why it’s trending: Russia was set to return to top-tier international hockey at this year’s junior championship after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared the way, but Ottawa’s visa refusal — reported by TSN’s Gord Miller — plus six nations’ refusal to play Russia, has blown the reopening up into a diplomatic-sports crisis.

Deeper analysis: This is Hockey Canada’s December nightmare: the host nation’s own government has pre-empted the IIHF’s reinstatement decision, forcing the IIHF to choose between postponing Russia’s return, relocating the tournament, or a Canada-vs-the-world standoff. Watch for an IIHF emergency council meeting and whether Alberta’s Dec 26 opener survives; Canadian TV ratings and the annual Canadian roster narrative hang on it.

Sources: TSN · CBC Sports · Daily Faceoff

2. molson recall 5K+ searches · +500%

What it is: A Canada-wide recall of 29 alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer products from seven brands — including Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Blue Moon, Black Horse, Brasseur de Montréal, Hop Valley and India Beer — over possible pieces of metal in cans/bottles.

Why it’s trending: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued the recall Wednesday; Molson Canada advised businesses not to sell or serve affected products, sending consumers searching for lot codes and expiry dates.

Deeper analysis: Metal-fragment recalls are low-severity but high-anxiety, and this one spans every province and two of Canada’s highest-volume brands. Expect bar/restaurant pull-through checks through the weekend and pressure on Molson Canada to disclose the affected plant and batch window — the usual escalation path is a widened lot list within 48–72 hours.

Sources: CTV News · Global News · CFIA recall alert

3. 72 hours emergency preparedness canada 10K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: A spike in searches for Public Safety Canada’s long-standing “72-hour kit” guidance — the recommendation that every household can self-sustain for three days without power, water or services.

Why it’s trending: Federal and provincial officials renewed the 72-hour preparedness reminder this week amid a global push (US, Europe and Japan urging even longer 7–10-day stockpiles), putting the old Get Prepared checklist back into feeds and search bars.

Deeper analysis: Preparedness messaging always spikes when officials amplify it, but the international 7–10-day framing is the notable shift — governments are quietly re-benchmarking “resilience” from days toward a week+. For Canadians the practical read is unchanged: water at 10L/person, food, meds, cash, radio; the kit itself hasn’t changed since 2016.

Sources: Philippine Canadian Inquirer · Get Prepared (Gov’t of Canada)

4. flyers vs oilers 20K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: The Philadelphia Flyers’ road game at Edmonton — decided in overtime when Bouchard buried the winner to lift the Oilers.

Why it’s trending: An overtime finish in Edmonton is peak hockey-search country on both sides of the border, and the “Bouchard OT winner” headline cycled through Canadian sports feeds overnight.

Deeper analysis: For the Flyers, another OT loss deepens the — close-but-closes-it-wrong pattern that defines rebuild-phase seasons; for Edmonton, the clutch-winner narrative is exactly what a McDavid-era team needs before December’s schedule crunch. Fantasy and puck-line gamblers drove much of the search volume.

Sources: Sportsnet · NHL.com

5. celtics vs raptors 20K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: Boston visited Toronto in the NBA — the Celtics won 98–93 behind Jayson Tatum’s 24 points.

Why it’s trending: A prime-time Raptors home game keeps Toronto’s sports search engine busy, and a tightly contested loss to a Boston team near full health is exactly the kind of game fans re-watch and re-search.

Deeper analysis: The Raptors’ competitive-but-losing profile against elite East teams is the season’s recurring theme — the search spike is less about the result and more about the closing-lineup questions. Boston, meanwhile, keeps winning ugly, which is how banner teams are built.

Sources: ESPN recap · Yardbarker

6. usman nurmagomedov 20K+ (CA) / 200K+ (US) searches · +1,000%

What it is: The unbeaten PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov allegedly ambushed former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili during a hotel media session in Abu Dhabi — a slap that ignited a full brawl, caught on video.

Why it’s trending: Cross-promotional bad blood (PFL’s Nurmagomedov vs UFC’s Dvalishvili) boiled over ahead of a possible superfight, and the sneak-attack optics — teammates joining in while Dvalishvili was interviewing — made it MMA’s most-shared moment of the night.

Deeper analysis: The community response has been unusually sharp — even PFL star Dakota Ditcheva condemned it — because ambush videos are exactly the behaviour that deters mainstream sponsors. Watch whether the PFL disciplines its own champion and whether this heats up rather than cools down the superfight everyone actually wants to see.

Sources: TMZ Sports · MMA Junkie · Bloody Elbow

7. kimberly powell 50K+ (CA) / 500K+ (US) searches · +1,000%

What it is: Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s 48-year-old vice-president of healthcare, is the executive named in a New York Times report alleging a relationship with CEO Jensen Huang — who, per CNBC, admitted to an affair with a woman US intelligence believes to be a Chinese spy.

Why it’s trending: Powell abruptly dropped out of a major Washington health summit hours after the report; Nvidia’s board convened an extraordinary meeting, the company reportedly weighed removing Huang, and NVDA slid roughly 7% after hours.

Deeper analysis: This is the rare corporate scandal that fuses governance, geopolitics and tabloid energy — which is why it is the #1 search in both countries at once. Three things to watch: whether the board issues a governance statement separating the two allegations (consensual affair vs national-security concern), whether Powell’s healthcare division’s HLTH appearance is rescheduled, and whether NVDA’s after-hours decline holds into the open. Neither Nvidia, Huang nor Powell has confirmed the report.

Sources: CNBC · NY Post · Invezz

8. ss united states (uss united states sinking) 5K+ (CA) / 50K+ (US) searches · +600%

What it is: The SS United States — the 1952 ocean liner that still holds the Blue Riband as the fastest civilian ocean liner ever built — was deliberately scuttled in the Gulf of Mexico to become the world’s largest artificial reef.

Why it’s trending: The ship took about four hours to sink off the Florida Panhandle while crowds watched, and live coverage of the final plunge drove “ss united states” in Canada and “uss united states sinking” in the US (the vessel was never actually a US Navy carrier — the Navy’s 1949 supercarrier of that name was cancelled before keel-laying).

Deeper analysis: Maritime-heritage farewells reliably trend when a national icon is scuttled — the ship was repeatedly saved from scrapping and even considered as a presidential yacht. The reef converts a nostalgia loss into a dive-tourism asset; expect Florida tourism coverage in coming weeks and perennial ‘what if’ retrospectives about the cancelled 1949 carrier that shares her name.

Sources: NPR · Pensacola News Journal · Stars and Stripes

🇺🇸 United States — Featured Trends

9. building collapse nyc (brooklyn building collapsed) 200K+ (US) / 20K+ (CA) searches · +1,000%

What it is: A three-story building partially collapsed Wednesday in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighbourhood, at the edge of a construction site. Early official counts ranged from at least 2 dead and 17 injured (NYT) to at least 6 dead (ABC), with people still trapped and a “prolonged” search ongoing — treat the toll as developing.

Why it’s trending: The collapse happened during the day in a dense commercial-residential corridor near City Hall-affiliated politics (Councilperson Farah Louis was on scene consoling a child); live feeds of firefighters digging through rubble pushed ‘building collapse nyc’ to 200K+ searches.

Deeper analysis: Adjacent-site construction failures almost always become investigations about the neighbouring excavation — expect DOB stop-work orders, a shoring/underpinning inquiry, and, if the death toll rises, scrutiny of prior violations at the construction site. The cross-border spike (20K+ in Canada) is standard live-disaster behaviour plus NYC-adjacent Canadian traveller anxiety.

Sources: NYT live · ABC News · The Guardian

10. mo3 (yella beezy verdict) 100K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: A Dallas jury found rapper Yella Beezy (Markies Conway, 35) unanimously guilty of capital murder for hiring the gunman who fatally shot rival rapper MO3 (Melvin Noble) in a daylight drive-by on a busy I-35 lane in 2020.

Why it’s trending: The verdict — an automatic sentence of life without parole under Texas law — closed the highest-profile case in Texas rap-country after a multi-week trial, reigniting interest in the original 2020 highway shooting.

Deeper analysis: The MO3 case became a symbol of the drill-music feud-to-violence pipeline, and a hired-gunman conviction of the alleged sponsor is a rare legal outcome in hip-hop violence cases. Watch for the accomplice litigation trail and appeals framing — the verdict may set a template for prosecutors chasing alleged ringleaders elsewhere.

Sources: CBS News Texas · Billboard · AP via US News

11. rex ryan 100K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: Former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, 63, turned himself in in Nashville and was charged with six misdemeanours after allegedly striking two pedestrians with his pickup truck — running over their feet — and leaving the scene.

Why it’s trending: The hit-and-run allegation against a beloved, camera-friendly football personality landed during NFL primetime window, so searchers poured in from sports fandom and true-crime curiosity alike.

Deeper analysis: Misdemeanour charges (not felony) suggest minor injuries, but a hit-and-run allegation carries career risk for an on-air analyst — the ESPN status question is the immediate follow story, and the NFL media ecosystem will watch the first court date closely.

Sources: USA Today · NY Post · The Guardian

12. anthony clark · rochelle fleming · irma p. hall 200K+ / 100K+ / 20K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: A Wednesday night cluster of entertainment deaths: Anthony Clark, the 62-year-old CBS Yes, Dear star, died per an announcement from co-star Mike O’Malley (no cause given); Rochelle Fleming, 72, lead singer of Philly disco trio First Choice (‘Armed and Extremely Dangerous’), died Nov 5 with the announcement Nov 6; and Irma P. Hall, the scene-stealing veteran of Soul Food and The Ladykillers, died at 91.

Why it’s trending: Three distinct fan bases — CBS-sitcom nostalgia, disco/Philly soul, and prestige-cinema character actors — searched simultaneously, each spiking to 20K–200K+.

Deeper analysis: Obituary clusters are the most reliable ‘why is everyone searching’ pattern in Trends — verifying against obituaries/announcements is worth it before speculating. Fleming’s coverage leans toward disco-revival retrospectives (the genre is having a 2026 moment); Hall’s will spotlight her second-act career after age 50.

Sources: Deadline (Clark) · Billboard (Fleming) · LA Times (Hall)

13. shawarma (el-sayed victory joke) 5K+ (CA) / US spillover searches · +1,000%

What it is: Not a food trend: ‘shawarma’ spiked after Abdul El-Sayed’s historic Michigan Senate win revived his viral campaign joke — ‘Shawarma law, not Sharia law’ — which recirculated across social platforms after the result.

Why it’s trending: Victory speeches and victory memes are search fuel: celebratory and critical audiences alike looked up the joke’s origin, the dish itself, and El-Sayed’s biography (he served as Michigan’s chief medical adviser during the Flint crisis).

Deeper analysis: Meme-driven food searches are a recurring curiosity pattern (see ‘little salads’, ‘whataburger’ political spikes). The durable signal is El-Sayed’s arrival as a national figure — his first Senate votes, committee assignments and any Muslim-firsts in chamber ritual will keep this search alive for weeks.

Sources: WION video · Google Trends CA

14. tomb of the unknown soldier (+ snow / clima) 100K+ / 500K+ / 50K+ searches · +1,000%

What it is: Two weather/ceremony bundles: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier spiked with Veterans Day coverage — the Arlington wreath-laying on the Nov 11 armistice anniversary; while a broad ‘snow’ spike (500K+) and a ‘clima’ spike tracked early-November snowfall and the weather apps people opened to check it.

Why it’s trending: Veterans Day ceremony streams drove the tomb searches — the third-inscription ritual (the Unknown from WWII’s Pacific theatre was interred 80 years ago this November, and retrospectives are running). The snow spike is classic early-season panic-checking behaviour.

Deeper analysis: ‘Clima’ could not be independently disambiguated this pass — most plausibly the weather-app brand searched alongside storm-checking, though a US restaurant chain shares the name. Marked unconfirmed per methodology. If snowfall forecasts hold into the weekend, weather-app and ‘snow’ searches should compound rather than fade.

Sources: Arlington Cemetery · Google Trends US

Also on the Board

billy gray 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (10K+ / 50K+, +1,000%) — the 88-year-old Father Knows Best child star made a rare Los Angeles public appearance 46 years after retiring, and ‘what happened to Bud?’ curiosity did the rest. (People)
jemima goldsmith 🇨🇦 (5K+, +600%) — the producer accused ex-partner Russell Brand of ‘violence, coercive control and abuse’ in a statement released after his 10-year-6-month prison sentence. (The Guardian, Deadline)
frankie muniz 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (5K+ / 50K+) — the Malcolm in the Middle star and NASCAR owner-driver was released from hospital after a Daytona Speedway crash. (ESPN)
steph curry / warriors vs rockets / ayeesha curry 🇺🇸 (100K+) — Golden State at Houston anchored the NBA night; Curry searches followed the box score and courtside family cam. (ESPN)
scarlett johansson studio pitch criticism 🇺🇸 (20K+) — an industry-pitch controversy around the actress is circulating; driver details unconfirmed in this pass. (Google Trends US)
scott bessent / pete hegseth 🇨🇦 (1K+ / 5K+) — US cabinet figures trending in Canada on policy-news spillover; specific catalysts unconfirmed in this pass. (Google Trends CA)
ricky alvarez 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (2K+ / 20K+) — boxing’s biggest Mexican star spiked on both borders amid fight-speculation chatter. (Google Trends)
the body netflix 🇨🇦 (5K+, +500%) — the Netflix true-crime documentary resurged in the overnight algorithm. (Google Trends CA)
noovo info 🇨🇦 (2K+, +1,000%) — Quebec’s Noovo news site spiked overnight on its own breaking coverage (youth-led climate trial testimony among the top stories). (Noovo Info)
NBA/other slates — spurs vs bulls, cavaliers vs knicks, lakers vs bucks, nuggets vs grizzlies, penguins vs sharks and mammoth vs golden knights all posted 50K+/2K–5K+ relevance spikes. (Google Trends)

Cross-Border Derivations

1. One scandal, two countries, one search bar. Kimberly Powell is simultaneously the #1 trend in Canada (50K+) and the US (500K+) — a governance story about the world’s most valuable company has become shared pop culture, and the AI economy’s personality cult makes CEO-level drama index-level news.

2. Hockey diplomacy is now Canadian foreign policy. The World Juniors visa refusal shows Ottawa willing to collide with the IIHF on home soil — sport-as-sanction is no longer theoretical in Canada; expect the Alberta host committee’s contingency plans to trend next.

3. Recall anxiety is seasonal. A 29-product beer recall plus a renewed 72-hour-kit reminder and early-season snow searches form a coherent picture: pre-holiday consumer vigilance — checking what you drink, stockpiling, and watching the weather — all trending in the same 24 hours.

4. The obituary engine is humming. Anthony Clark, Rochelle Fleming, Irma P. Hall, and Veterans Day’s Unknown Soldier retrospectives made Wednesday a collective remembering day — death and remembrance searches clustered tightly across both borders, the clearest shared-mood signal of the week.

5. Spectacle violence trends harder than sport. The Nurmagomedov–Dvalishvili ambush (200K+ US) out-searched every actual fight and game of the night — a reminder that unsanctioned, caught-on-phone violence now out-competes sanctioned competition for search share in combat sports.

Methodology & Sources

Trend lists and search-volume figures are from Google Trends “Trending Now” (trends.google.com) for Canada and the United States, captured November 12, 2026 at 5:01 AM local, sorted by relevance over the past 24 hours. Each trend was researched via web search and Google News RSS; publisher links are provided in each entry. Volume figures are Google’s lower-bound estimates (e.g. “50K+”). Percent increase is Google’s growth metric. Where a trend’s driver could not be independently confirmed (‘clima’, ‘scarlett johansson studio pitch criticism’, Bessent/Hegseth catalysts), it is marked as such in the text. The Brooklyn collapse death toll was still moving at publication time.