Down to Business
210 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago - ★★★★ - 5 ratingsWhat you need to know about Canadian business this week in under 30 minutes. Hosted by the Financial Post's Gabe Friedman.
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Episodes
Why it might be hard for Canada to capture economic opportunities from the energy transition
October 04, 2023 07:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, John McNally, program director for clean growth at PLACE Centre, discusses some of the surprising challenges that could make it harder for Canada to capture economic opportunities from the energy transition — such as high housing prices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What happens to Canada after oil demand peaks?
September 20, 2023 03:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down to Business, economist Aaron Cosbey lays out what he sees happening when demand for fossil fuels peaks in the next decade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Canada must build faster to reach climate goals
September 13, 2023 03:00 - 19 minutesBusiness Council of Alberta has a plan to speed up the construction of infrastructure Canada needs to meet climate goals Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Battery eureka moment found in a bag of potato chips
August 16, 2023 03:00 - 21 minutesThis week in Dispatches from the battery economy, Down to Business talks to Maciej Jastrzebski of Li-Metal about technological breakthroughs in producing lithium for next-generation batteries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Canada is doing wrong in its world-leading immigration push
August 02, 2023 03:00 - 41 minutesDown to Business talks to Prof. Rupa Banerjee about what works and what doesn't in Canada's immigration policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why more Canadian workers are at risk of mental health incidents
July 26, 2023 07:00 - 25 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Paula Allen, senior vice-president of research and client insights at Telus Health, discusses what’s happening to workers across Canada from a mental health standpoint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why higher interest rates could be bad for workers
July 19, 2023 07:00 - 23 minutesThis week on Down to Business, economist Jim Stanford talks about how higher interest rates could suppress wage growth. He discusses his view on what's happening with inflation and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dispatches from the battery economy: How Nano One pivoted its focus after North America's rapid EV adoption
July 05, 2023 07:00 - 39 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Dan Blondal, chief executive of Nano One Materials Corp., talks about how his company has been affected by rapid EV adoption in North America. Blondal discusses how shifting geopolitical winds have caused the company to rethink its focus, the pandemic and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The pandemic didn't kill the office, it was already dying
June 21, 2023 03:00 - 44 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Carl Gomez, chief economist and head of analytics at commercial real estate data firm Costar discusses the past, present and future of the office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How the devastation of wildfires ripples through the whole economy
June 14, 2023 03:00 - 22 minutesDown to Business examines the economic impacts of wildfires, with an eye towards the less-obvious ripple effects Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'A ticking time-bomb': The rise of the variable-rate, fixed-payment mortgage
June 07, 2023 08:00 - 20 minutesJimmy Jean of Desjardins Group talks to Down to Business about the risks of variable-rate, fixed-payment mortgages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada's oilsands poised for age of optimization
May 31, 2023 03:00 - 26 minutesAnalyst Kevin Birn explains why S&P Global Commodity Insights raised its oilsands production outlook for the first time in over half a decade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The hidden beliefs about money that sabotage us all
May 24, 2023 03:00 - 16 minutesThis week on Down to Business financial therapist Aseel El-Baba explains where money troubles come from Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This economist thinks interest rate hikes are doing more harm than good
May 17, 2023 03:00 - 23 minutesDown to Business talks to Laurentian economics professor Louis-Philippe Rochon who argues that Bank of Canada interest rate hikes are not only failing to ease inflation, they are also damaging the economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why are cars so expensive in Canada today?
May 10, 2023 08:00 - 32 minutesThis week on Down to Business podcast, Charles Bernard, lead economist for the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association in Ottawa, talks about the forces causing vehicle prices to rise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What Canada gets for its $13-billion investment in VW's battery plant
May 03, 2023 03:00 - 21 minutesDown to Business talks to a policy expert who argues that Canadian subsidies won't reap the benefits American handouts will Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is the world running out of copper just when we need it the most?
April 26, 2023 03:00 - 23 minutesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How the small movie theatre came back from the dead
April 20, 2023 03:00 - 24 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Andy Willick, chair of the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors, talks about how small theatres have survived and changed, and what the future holds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada on the road to first net-zero cement in the world
April 13, 2023 18:19 - 28 minutesDown to Business talks to Heidelberg Materials' David Perkins about the ground-breaking zero emissions cement plant planned for Edmonton, Alberta Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Safety Net: The impact of ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure in Canada
March 15, 2023 07:00 - 31 minutesEnergy pipelines, government websites and numerous companies have all reported cyber attacks in recent weeks. This week’s episode of Down to Business examines the impact of ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure in Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Inside the only rare-earths mine in Canada
March 03, 2023 19:15 - 15 minutesDown to Business talks to Vital Metals' David Connelly about starting a rare-earths operation in a remote area of the Northwest Territories, one of only two mines in North America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Critical minerals in spotlight as global miners gather in Toronto
March 02, 2023 20:01 - 14 minutesJeff Killeen talks about the hot trends and topics in commodity markets ahead of PDAC 2023 in Toronto, one of the largest mining conferences in the world Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What lies ahead for Canada's economy as it seeks to reduce carbon emissions
March 01, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutesCanada is reaching an inflection point in which carbon emissions and economic growth are decoupling. On this week's Down to Business, Dave Sawyer and Michael Bernstein discuss what lies ahead for Canada as it seeks to reduce emissions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How immigration and an aging population will affect Canada's housing market
February 22, 2023 08:00 - 21 minutesDesjardins' Randall Bartlett talks to Down to Business about why Canada needs to build housing faster than its currently doing to accommodate immigration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Maybe Canada can pull off a soft landing after all
February 15, 2023 03:00 - 24 minutesTD economist James Orlando talks to Down to Business about where he thinks inflation, interest rates and the economy might be going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Harnessing the sun is closer than ever
December 21, 2022 03:00 - 25 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Greg Twinney, chief executive of Vancouver-based General Fusion Inc., talks about his company’s efforts to replicate the power of the sun in a laboratory right here on earth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Canada ran short of Children's Tylenol — and why it could happen again
December 14, 2022 03:00 - 28 minutesDown to Business talks to Mina Tadrous, of the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, about how the very nature of the fragile and opaque pharmaceutical supply chain makes it vulnerable to disruption Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The four-day work week is coming
December 07, 2022 03:00 - 31 minutesWhy are we still working the same hours we were in the 1970s? This week Down to Business looks at the future of the work week — and it's shorter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rare-earth magnets are key to our electric future — and china controls 93% of them
November 30, 2022 03:00 - 19 minutesDown to Business talks to Ahmad Ghahreman about his business recycling rare earths, a material of growing importance to our society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why lettuce is suddenly so unbelievably expensive
November 23, 2022 03:00 - 24 minutesDown to Business talks to Simon Somogyi, Arrell chair in the business of food at the University of Guelph, about why food prices are so high and what that means for Canadians Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Reddit, the 'old soul of the internet', succeeds when others fail
November 16, 2022 03:00 - 26 minutesDown to Business talks to Jen Wong, chief operating officer of Reddit, about how the platform has evolved in the past 17 years, how it is different from social media, and how you don't need to track people all over the internet to sell ads online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada's immigration boom will be biggest in 60 years
November 09, 2022 03:00 - 27 minutesThis week Down to Business looks at Canada's immigration targets, the most ambitious in the world. Economist Mikal Skuterood talks about the impact on the economy and labour market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is the Bank of Canada reaching the end of its rate raising cycle?
November 02, 2022 07:00 - 31 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Financial Post Editor-in-Chief Kevin Carmichael discusses whether the economy has reached an inflection point yet and how far along he thinks the Bank of Canada is in its rate raising cycle, given that inflation remains elevated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Consumers can now get charged for using credit cards in Canada. What does this mean?
October 26, 2022 07:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Laurence Ashworth, a professor at Queens University’s Smith School of Business, whose research focuses on consumer behaviour, discussed a change in credit card fee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Toronto became the biggest housing bubble in the world
October 19, 2022 03:00 - 24 minutesToronto has been named by UBS the number one real estate housing bubble in the world. This week at Down to Business we look at how Canada's biggest city got there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Exposing the dark side of the green transition
October 12, 2022 03:00 - 25 minutesThis week Down to Business talks to Henry Sanderson about his new book 'Volt Rush: The winners and losers in the race to go green,' an exploration of the dark sides of the energy transition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From scrap metal dealer to billionaire: How Anil Agarwal built one of the world's largest mining companies
October 05, 2022 03:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down to Business, host Gabriel Friedman speaks with Anil Agarwal, an Indian billionaire who is the founder and chairman of London-headquartered Vedanta Resources Ltd., about his career and the relationship between Canada and India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The risky business of carbon capture in Canada
September 28, 2022 03:00 - 16 minutesThis Week Down to Business looks at what is thwarting the development of the carbon capture industry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
EV sector could mean a quarter of a million jobs and $50 billion a year to Canada
September 21, 2022 03:00 - 14 minutesDown to Business talks to two experts about what it would take for Canada to establish an EV supply chain and what it would mean to the economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Office buildings are having an existential crisis — and it's not just work from home
September 14, 2022 03:00 - 18 minutesDown to Business looks at the decline of office buildings which started before the rise of work from home arrangements amplified the crisis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada's home sales and prices are falling. Has something changed in the housing market?
September 07, 2022 14:28 - 24 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Murtaza Haider, a professor of real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University, explains why he thinks housing prices in Canada will return to their space-ward trajectory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'The lines between travelling and living are blurring:' Airbnb CEO on the future of work and more
August 31, 2022 07:00 - 34 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Brian Chesky, co-founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based Airbnb Inc. explains how the pandemic has reshaped the way we travel, work and live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Should Canada invest in hydrogen? Here are the pros and cons
August 24, 2022 07:00 - 30 minutesThis week on Down to Business, chemical engineers Paul Martin and Matthew Klippenstein explain the pros and cons of hydrogen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The modern tragedy of Long COVID
August 17, 2022 03:00 - 32 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Inez Jabalpurwala, an expert on how viruses affect brain health, talks about how Long COVID is affecting lives, our healthcare system and our economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'Soft landing is wishful thinking,' says former Bank of Canada economist
August 10, 2022 03:00 - 20 minutesJean-Paul Lam, a former economist at the Bank of Canada, talks to Down to Business about how central banks fell behind the curve and missed crucial signals about the economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Without government aid, Canada's car industry would vanish in a decade
August 03, 2022 03:00 - 20 minutesThis week Down to Business talks to Peter Frise, a professor of mechanical, automotive and materials engineering at the University of Windsor, about where we are at in the electric vehicle transition and what it means for the economy and society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The new oil? How demand for copper could reshape the world
July 27, 2022 03:00 - 18 minutesDown to Business talks to veteran energy analyst Daniel Yergin about how copper, the metal of electrification, will reshape geopolitics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How high a price will Canadians have to pay to tame inflation?
June 29, 2022 03:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down to Business, economists Benjamin Tal and James Osborne look at what might happen to Canada's economy and housing market as the Bank of Canada embarks on an aggressive rate hiking cycle to fight inflation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the future holds for western Canadian oil producers
June 22, 2022 07:00 - 23 minutesThis week’s episode of Down To Business focuses on what the future holds for the western Canadian oil producers if pipelines and other critical infrastructure are no longer on the table. Will the Biden administration seek greater oil production from Canada, which sends 99 per cent of its oil exports to the U.S.? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Bill Browder began warning the world about Putin's corruption a decade ago
June 15, 2022 07:00 - 25 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Bill Browder, once Russia’s largest foreign investor, describes how he started more than a decade ago on his campaign to convince the world that Russian President Vladimir Putin is dangerously corrupt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices