Conversations That Matter

Ep 580 - Unmanageable Permitting Processes Guest: Todd Yuen By Stuart McNish   A robust industrial property sector is vital to the economy. According to a Metro Vancouver study, “Industrial lands serv...

Ep 579 - Labour Negotiations & Job Action Guest: Kevin Howlett By Stuart McNish   Canada Post is in the midst of job action by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. They’re not on a full strike; i...

Ep 517 - A crisis of indecision in Canada Guest: Gavin Dew   By Stuart McNish   On June 26th, Gavin Dew posted disappointing news on his LinkedIn profile. After four years of planning, fundraising, an...

Ep - 516 - Weaving Two Worlds Guests: Christy Smith - Michael McPhie   By Stuart McNish   “The key to the Canadian economy is in the hands of First Nations,” says Christy Smith and Michael McPhie in t...

Ep 515 - Electronic Recycling Done Right Mohammad Doostmohammadi    By Stuart McNish   “There are six elements that play a key role in optimizing fuel and chemical production,” says Mohammad Doostmoha...

Ep 514 - Real Estate Lessons from Singapore Guest: Ernst Lang   By Stuart McNish   “We can learn a few things from Singapore,” says Ernst Lang, the founder and CEO of Promerita Group. “Singapore has b...

Ep 513 - British Columbia’s Lacklustre Prosperity Guest: David Williams   By Stuart McNish   According to the 2024 British Columbia Prosperity Index, “BC places 11th out of 21 peer jurisdictions for o...

July 12, 2024 Ep 512 - To the Edge of Death and Back Guest: Paul Dragan   By Stuart McNish Ten years ago on June 10, 2014, Paul Dragan sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee across the street from his busi...

Ep 511 - Drug Free Kids Guest: Chantal Vallerand   By Stuart McNish   On Dec 8th, 2022, Jennifer Whiteside was appointed Minister for Mental Health and Addictions. At the time she said, “The Premier h...

Ep 510 - Post-Pandemic Leadership Guest: Ron Bremner   By Stuart McNish   COVID-19 disrupted supply lines and our lives. Now that the lockdowns are over, the lingering impact of the dramatic shifts in...

Ep 509 - Meet the BC Conservative Leader Guest: John Rustad   By Stuart McNish   It’s been two years since John Rustad parted ways with the BC United Party over differences about climate change scienc...

Ep 508 - Generously Giving Guest: Megan Owen-Evans   By Stuart McNish   In the book “Why Good Things Happen to Good People,” Stephen Post writes that “giving to others” has been shown to increase heal...

Ep 507 - A Bleak Market for EVs Guest: Adam Pankratz   By Stuart McNish   “Little did we know how fast the free market would slap the electric vehicle mandate back to reality, while Canadian taxpayers...

Ep 506 - Will AI produce a state of Deep Utopia? Guest: Nick Bostrom   By Stuart McNish   In his new book “Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World,” philosopher Nick Bostrom ponders what life ...

Ep 505 - Has the Floatel Sunk? Guest: Christine Kennedy   By Stuart McNish   The District of Squamish denied Woodfibre LNG’s application for a temporary use permit for its Bridgemans “floatel,” citing...

Ep 504 - Vancouver: Beautiful, yes – but! Guest: Bridgitte Anderson   By Stuart McNish   No doubt about it: Vancouver is beautiful. It’s beautiful to visit, it’s a beautiful place to study, and it’s a...

Ep 503 - Canada’s Sagging Productivity Guest: Jock Finlayson   By Stuart McNish   On March 26th, 2024, the Bank of Canada issued a report titled “Time to Break the Glass: Fixing Canada’s Productivity ...

Ep 502 - Is Peace Possible in Gaza? Gidi Grinstein   By Stuart McNish   At the time of the recording of this interview, the war in Gaza raged on. Since Oct 7, when more than 1139 Israelis had been kil...

Ep 498 - How Canada Saved Me Guest - Sasha Luchkov   By Stuart McNish   On February 24th, 2022, in the dark of the night in Mukachevo, Ukraine, Sasha Luchkov woke to the news that his country was unde...

Ep 497 - Climate Action: The Net Zero Economy Guest - John Stackhouse   By Stuart McNish   “Population and economic growth spell a demand for much more energy,” states the opening paragraph of RBC’s C...

Ep 496 - Ballooning Public Service Guest - Renaud Brossard   By Stuart McNish   According to the Montreal Economic Institute, Justin Trudeau ranks first among Canadian Prime Ministers over the past 40...

Ep 495 - Child Sex Trafficking Guest - Cathy Peters   By Stuart McNish   National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Canada is February 22nd. It was instituted as part of the government’s commitment t...

Ep 494 - Canada and China: What Happened? Guest - Dr Paul Evans   By Stuart McNish   In 1970, Canada led the Western world by recognizing China. According to Paul Evans in his book, “Engaging China,” ...

Ep 493 - A Call to Purpose Guest - Mike Rowlands   “Redefining success for the purpose economy,” Mike Rowlands says, “is to become a part of the rapidly growing movement toward social purpose in busin...

Ep 492 - The Fountain of Youth Guest - Angela Brooks-Wilson   By Stuart McNish   Researchers at Simon Fraser University and BC Cancer have pinpointed specific physiological traits that they say “can h...

Ep 491 - The Claims of Life Guest - Diana Chapman Walsh   By Stuart McNish   The Claims of Life, a new book by Diana Chapman Walsh, traces the emergence of a young woman who set out believing she wasn...

Ep 49o - Addressing the Infrastructure Deficit Guest - Mark Liedemann   By Stuart McNish   The backbone of any complex society is its infrastructure. It is the glue that binds communities, provinces a...

Ep 489 - The Path to Urban Net Zero Guest - Jeanette Jackson   In June of 2021, Canada – along with the other G7 countries – committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It is an audacious...

Ep 488 - A Ministry of Entrepreneurialism Guest: Naseem Javed   “The world, and in particular Canada, needs to embrace entrepreneurialism as a new frontier to resuscitate our gasping economy,” says Na...

Ep 487 - The Greatest Gift of All Guest: Paul Sitnam   By Stuart McNish   “Impact investing is an investment strategy that aims to generate specific beneficial social or environmental effects in addit...

Ep 486 - Can First Nations Save Canada’s Economy? Guest: Chris Sankey   By Stuart McNish   “Canada’s per capita growth has been negative three out of the last four quarters,” says Perrin Beatty, the P...

Ep 485 - The interconnectedness of all things Guest: Wade Davis By Stuart McNish   The Roman emperor Markus Aurelius posited in his book “Meditations” that “all things are implicated with one another ...

Ep 484 - How to Stop Stereotyping Seniors  Guest:  Rudy Buttignol By Stuart McNish   More than 7 million people in Canada are older than 64 – that’s just shy of 20 percent of us. I’m one of those peop...

Ep 483 - Youthful Cities: Attracting and retaining a young population Guest:  Robert Barnard By Stuart McNish   How a city attracts young adults to live and work matters. Robert Barnard, the founder o...

Ep 482 - Save Our Streets Guest:  Jess Ketchum By Stuart McNish   At a press conference at the Woodwards development, the new Save Our Streets (SOS) public safety coalition said, “The growing crime, v...

Ep 481 - CleanBC’s $28.1-Billion Price Tag Guest:  Ken Peacock By Stuart McNish   The government of British Columbia is aiming to lower CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030. It’s a bold ambition – one that wi...

Ep 480 - The Impact of Energy Poverty Guest:  Jock Finlayson By Stuart McNish   Energy poverty, according to the Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners, refers to “the experience of households or...

Ep 479- Social Purpose: The New Business Mantra Guest:  Drew Collier By Stuart McNish   Social purpose is emerging as an important and necessary part of business. “What is social purpose?” you ask. Dr...

Ep 478- What is Keto Diet? Guest:  Dr. David Harper By Stuart McNish   “For 30 years, I taught the wrong stuff to generations of students. I taught them that a low-fat high-carb diet was the way to ea...

Ep 477 - Canada: The World is a Hard Place Guest:  John Rapley By Stuart McNish   In the diplomatic spat between India and Canada, a rising India shows Canada that money is power, says John Rapley, a ...

Ep 476 - Eat More - That’s the Message Guest:  Dr Marion Nestle By Stuart McNish   “We live in a food environment that encourages people to eat as much as possible,” says Dr. Marion Nestle. “Fighting ...

Ep 475 -  Rent Control: A Blunt Tool Guest: David Hutniak By Stuart McNish   Housing affordability is a North American-wide issue. In the U.S., only seven states and Washington, D.C. have imposed rent...

Ep 474 -  How Markets Shape Cities Guest: Alain Bertaud By Stuart McNish   What is a city and why does it exist? That may seem like a simple question but according to Alain Bertaud, the author of “Ord...

Ep 473 - The Looming Great Relocation Guest: Laura Alfaro By Stuart McNish   “Nearshoring, friendshoring and onshoring” are terms that are becoming common in reference to moves within the United State...

Ep 472 - The Importance of Workplace Accessibility Guest: Joel Dembe By Stuart McNish   “Accessibility” is a word that you hear more of, and for good reason. Canadian Paralympian Joel Dembe says, “Bei...

Ep 471 - The Great Remobilization Guest: Olaf Groth By Stuart McNish   “In August 2022, when central bankers from around the world gathered for their annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a consens...

Ep 470 - The Reasonableness of Being Unreasonable Guest: Bob Stamnes By Stuart McNish   “The logic of being unreasonable sounds like an oxymoron,” says Bob Stamnes, one of Canada’s most creative ad Ex...

Ep 469 - Boosting scientific innovations in British Columbia Guest: Brenda Bailey By Stuart McNish   In April of 2023, the government of British Columbia announced a new life sciences and biomedical s...

Ep 468 - The electric helicopter revolution Guest: Danny Sitnam By Stuart McNish   Can we achieve liftoff of electric helicopter passenger service? Danny Sitnam, the President and Founder of Helijet s...

Ep 473 - The Looming Great Relocation Guest: Laura Alfaro By Stuart McNish   “Nearshoring, friendshoring and onshoring” are terms that are becoming common in reference to moves within the United State...