Wonk

Josh Shapiro is the governor of Pennsylvania. He talks to host Amanda Lang about fixing CUSMA, the importance of the U.S. midterms and the trade instability caused by President Donald Trump. This is the final episode of season 4 of WONK. We’ll be back this fall with a brand new season.

The need to pivot away from our dependence on the U.S. as a trading partner has definitely been driven home to Canadian businesses. But actually doing that is a different story. If there's a base camp for that climb, it's Export Development Canada (EDC), the Crown Corporation whose mission is to help Canadians develop new markets. Alison Nankivell, EDC's CEO, joins host Amanda Lang.

Few innovations have held the amount of promise and — let's face it — peril as artificial intelligence. Will it be mankind's greatest leap forward or its absolute demise? Into this uncertainty comes Canada's new AI strategy, one which tries to walk the line between promise and peril. Host Amanda Lang talks to Evan Solomon, Canada's first Minister of AI and Digital Innovation.

More than 25 years ago, management consultant Joseph Pine introduced a revolutionary concept he called the experience economy. It helped shape how companies would reframe their businesses, but also their approaches to customers. Pine described the economy as being divided into progressions of economic value, from the lowest, commodities, to goods or manufacturing, to services, and finally, experie...

Anyone who thinks that insurance is dull hasn't thought about it in the right way. The ability to offset risk is the structural foundation of everything in a modern economy, including our own individual ability to avoid personal financial ruin. Charles Brindamour is CEO of Intact Financial, the largest property and casualty insurer in Canada. He talks to host Amanda Lang about climate change, natu...

One of the dangerous things about constantly talking about the challenges that our economy faces is losing the sense of urgency that it needs. With the new fiscal update under our belts, and plenty of uncertainty in the weeks and months ahead, host Amanda Lang checks in with one of Canada’s top economists, Frances Donald, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at RBC.

When it comes to affordability, few issues hit more than housing. We need homes of all types without cratering the value of the existing housing stock. That's not an easy task, but it is one the federal government is lending its policy to. Host Amanda Lang talks to Gregor Robertson, the federal minister of housing and infrastructure and former mayor of Vancouver.

The challenges facing Canada are pretty enormous, from our aging population to trade issues changing the fabric of our economy. It's a hard time to be a young person thinking about the future. Canada's universities are at the center of this struggle to equip them with the skills they need. Host Amanada Lang talks to former N.B. premier and former ambassador to the U.S. Frank McKenna about his gift...

One of the key goals the federal government has laid out is to attract more investment to Canada after years of outflows. So have we finally turned a corner? Host Amanda Lang talks to TMX Group CEO John McKenzie about building home-grown talent, focusing on long term growth and unlocking Canada’s potential.

The conflict with Iran has raised a lot of questions about Canadian oil, gas and energy. If we produce so much of the stuff, why are we at the mercy of bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz? Jay Khosla is executive director of economic and energy policy at the Public Policy Forum. Susannah Pierce is the former CEO of Shell Canada and also led the development of the LNG Canada terminal. They join hos...

Canada could need up to half a million new workers by 2030 — everything from the trades to high-tech entrepreneurs to knowledge workers. But between the U.S. hoovering up Canadian talent and new policies putting a chill on international students, building the talent we need might take some work. Host Amanda Lang talks to Robert Asselin, the CEO of U15, which represents Canada’s top 15 research uni...

These past few years, inflation has been a beast. No sooner under control from the last supply chain shocks, the war in Iran has it rearing its head again. Stephen Poloz was Canada's central bank governor from 2013 to the summer of 2020. He’s now a special advisor at the law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt. He joins host Amanda Lang to talk about inflation risks, dealing with growing uncertainty a...

Global energy supply is suddenly a hot topic — and it puts Canada in a strong position. At a time when we were already looking to increase our exports, the market is more than ready for them. But can we do it fast enough? TC Energy runs natural gas pipelines across North America, including the Coastal GasLink now feeding Canada's first LNG export facility. Host Amanda Lang talks to the company’s C...

We talk a lot in Canada about the size - and importance - of our agriculture sectors. But the estimates of what we could be doing are staggering. From new markets to new products, updating ag could be a pretty valuable opportunity. Farm Credit Canada is a Crown corporation that's dedicated to that cause, and it's now armed with a $5 billion kitty to do it. FCC’s CEO Justine Hendricks talks to host...

Few places in Canada have been as threatened by Trump's tariff war as New Brunswick, with an economy built around forestry, seafood and energy. But there's opportunity arising too. New Brunswick's maritime port is booming with Canadian cargo looking to avoid U.S. tariffs. And the Premier has a strategy to develop new mines in the province. Premier Susan Holt talks to host Amanda Lang about selling...

Most Canadians are still adjusting to the inflation that has settled across our economy from the last big geopolitical disruptions. Now a new one threatens to send prices higher again... all this at a time when Canada is trying to rebuild its own economic engine. Jim Stanford is the director of the Centre for Future Work and one of Canada’s most prominent economists. He speaks with host Amanda Lan...

It's hardly a secret that Canada has a housing problem. Usually it's described by the affordability issues around owning a home, but there is another and arguably more pernicious problem. Too many Canadians simply don't have one. Treating housing as a human right is one way to start facing that second housing crisis. Host Amanda Lang talks with Pearl Eliades, a Quebec-based lawyer specializing in...

Canada has changed tack on its climate efforts from a price on carbon and a philosophical view that fossil fuels might be phased out to a more pragmatic policy that embraces energy development while still aiming to meet climate targets. It's a tricky line to walk at any time, but especially while the economy faces a generational upheaval. Host Amanda Lang talks to Minister of Environment and Clima...

Some of the thorniest problems of our time won't be solved with the tools and systems that we currently use, but that doesn't make them beyond our capacity to solve. Tom Chi has spent his career at the center of innovation and process design — that includes at Google X, the moonshot factory inside Google. He now has a new book and a message about process and problem solving when it comes to climat...

Nestled in a tiny fishing outport in Newfoundland, Fogo Island Inn has become a luxury stop for the well-traveled. But it is a lot more than that -- by design. Fogo's part of a social enterprise called Shorefast, and while its success has definitely created wealth for the local economy, its founders believe that the model of community-based entrepreneurship is highly exportable. Host Amanda Lang t...

With gambling in the palm of everyone's hand, it's not just big business: it's changing the world of sports. It also ignores the harms that come along the way. Danny Funt is a journalist and the author of a new book, Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. He talks to host Amanda Lang about the dark side of sports betting, why professional sports has embraced it and why t...

Prime Minister Carney's recent speech in Davos was hailed globally as a pivotal moment. But, as is always the case, the question becomes, what's next? In Canada, finding new trade partners is obviously top of the agenda. So is getting out of our own way on internal trade barriers. David Eby is the Premier of British Columbia. He talks to host Amanda Lang about this new reality, LNG and global trad...

A Toronto startup recently launched 10 low earth orbit satellites as part of a new commercial satellite network. Meanwhile, a Canadian astronaut is poised to be one of the first to orbit the moon, and new investments are being made in space technology in this country. Chris Hadfield is one of Canada's best known astronauts, the first Canadian to walk in space, commander of the ISS, an engineer, fo...

Even by recent standards, the world right now feels precarious with the U.S. attack on Venezuela and saber rattling over taking over other countries, all while abandoning international cooperation. It's hard not to wonder, where does it leave the rest of us? Host Amanda Lang talks to former UN ambassador Bob Rae about dealing with Donald Trump, the future of the UN and why it’s time to worry.

If ‘uncertainty’ was the word of 2025, what will the new year bring for Canada's economy and the world? On top of the now familiar trade and tariff worries for Canada, we are facing technological change and new geopolitical concerns. So what lies ahead? Kevin Carmichael is The Logic’s economics columnist and editor at large. Jean-Francois Perreault is the chief economist at Scotiabank. They speak...