Down to Business
210 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 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
Pulling back the curtain on Tim Hortons' nation-wide privacy breach
June 08, 2022 03:00 - 27 minutesThis week on Down to Business former Financial Post reporter James McLeod talks about his investigation into Tim Hortons’ data collection practices that sparked a nation-wide probe by privacy commissioners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lessons from the Port of Vancouver's annus horribilis
June 01, 2022 03:00 - 21 minutesLast year the Port of Vancouver moved record cargo and still ranked near the bottom in performance among its global peers. Down to Business talks to economists and shipping experts about the port's struggle with pandemic bottlenecks and extreme weather and looks at the challenges to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the death of the penny taught us about our relationship with cash
May 25, 2022 03:00 - 35 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Stephanie Hughes discusses how taking the penny out of circulation has provided valuable insight into how cash is used and Andreas Park explains what blockchain means for the financial system Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Long waits in the airplane await travellers as airports work out the kinks
May 18, 2022 03:00 - 15 minutesThis week’s Down to Business looks at the business of flying and parses what’s happening at airports today amid reports of long lines and extended waits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada in unique position to be world's 'EV supplier of choice'
May 11, 2022 03:00 - 23 minutesThis week Down to Business looks at the shift underway in the auto sector to build local, cleaner and more secure supply chains, and what Canada's role in this could be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Trying to make sense of why Elon Musk is offering billions for Twitter
May 04, 2022 03:00 - 18 minutesThis week Down to Business podcast considers the possible business cases for billionaire Elon Musk's US$44 billion deal to buy a social media platform that hardly ever makes money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What rapidly rising inflation tells us about the economy
April 27, 2022 07:00 - 19 minutesThis week on Down to Business, economists Derek Holt and Talan Iscan discuss what rising inflation tells us about the global economy and the pace of globalization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Canadians are losing faith in the housing market
April 20, 2022 03:00 - 23 minutesThis week Down to Business looks at blind bidding, who real estate agents really work for and what actually can be done to make housing more affordable for more Canadians Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What challenges lie ahead in trying to build Canada's new clean supply chain?
April 13, 2022 07:00 - 27 minutesCanada's federal budget for 2022 devotes billions of dollars to building a new critical minerals and electric vehicle supply chain. This week on Down to Business, Pierre Gratton, Trent Mell, Dave Adams and Josipa Petronic discuss how the budget marks a departure from the past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The real problem behind Canada's out-of-control housing market
April 06, 2022 03:00 - 23 minutesThis week, as part of a special series for first-time homebuyers, Down to Business takes a look at what’s happened in the residential real estate market over the last 50 years and asks whether buying a house or condo is a good investment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the new emissions reduction plan means to the economy and business
March 31, 2022 18:24 - 17 minutesIn this special bonus episode of Down to Business, Gabriel Friedman talks to industry leaders about whether Ottawa's plan to cut 2005 level-emissions by 40 per cent by the end of the decade can work and what it would take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The deal that could launch Canada into the auto revolution
March 30, 2022 03:00 - 20 minutesThis week, Down to Business delves into the auto sector’s pivot to electric vehicles, one of the largest industrial transformations in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Three first-time homebuyers tell their stories about Canada's crazy housing market
March 22, 2022 03:00 - 43 minutesThe Financial Post's Gabriel Friedman on this special episode talks to three different first-time home buyers with three completely different experiences about why they chose to wade out into Canada’s housing market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How gold prices connect to inflation, interest rates, bitcoin and the modern economy
March 16, 2022 07:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Sprott Inc.'s Peter Grosskopf and John Hathaway talk about why gold had been trending down for much of the last year even as it nears an all-time high. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What rising interest rates mean for housing and the economy
March 09, 2022 08:00 - 18 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Tu Nyugen and Jason Del Vicario talk about how rising interest rates will affect the housing market and the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the Ukraine-Russia conflict means for geopolitics, trade flows and the global economy
March 02, 2022 08:00 - 26 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Mark Manger, Alex Tuckett and Robert Huebert talk about the economic consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They point out that Russia is a critical supplier of oil and gas for much of Europe and also a huge producer of metals that will be needed for the energy transition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stephen Poloz explains why volatility is trending up for the next decade
February 23, 2022 08:00 - 35 minutesThis week on Down to Business, former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz identifies five "tectonic" forces that are going to create new crises for at least a decade. He explains why volatility is trending up and why politicians may be ill-equipped to handle the challenges that lie ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What it will take to get Canada to net zero
February 16, 2022 03:00 - 32 minutesThis week on Down to Business two electricity experts Bruce Lourie and Gretchen Bakke talk about the many hurdles Canada will have to clear to get to net zero Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tougher Fed is not good news for big tech
February 09, 2022 03:00 - 23 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Douglas Porter, BMO's chief economist, talks about why tech stocks are taking a beating and what it means for investors and our economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Uber's deal with a union could change the gig economy forever
February 02, 2022 08:00 - 28 minutesThis week on Down to Business, law professor Veena Dubal speaks about what Uber's deal with United Food and Commercial Workers means for the company, its workers and other similar businesses in Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Air taxis will need 60,000 new pilots this decade and CAE wants to train them
January 26, 2022 03:00 - 23 minutesThis week Down to Business talks to a living legend of the aviation industry: Marc Parent, chief executive of CAE. During the pandemic, this flight simulator company that derives much of its revenue from a grounded aviation sector, managed to complete nine acquisitions. Parent talks about the future of air taxis and delivery services, which is coming sooner than we think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How the COVID-19 pandemic is changing commercial real estate
January 19, 2022 08:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Cushman & Wakefield's Samantha Sannella talks about how our office may look different once we return and why companies will need to provide perks to lure people back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Web 3.0 — A decentralized internet that could be based on blockchain technology
January 12, 2022 08:00 - 44 minutesThis week on Down to Business, guests Lex Sokolin and Victoria Lemieux talk about how blockchain could have profound implications on the way the internet works, particularly the attention economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Labour shortage threatens to become economy's biggest bottleneck
December 15, 2021 08:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Scotiabank chief economist Jean-Francois Perrault talks about lessons from a shock that had no playbook and what challenges our economy faces ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canadians will feel the bite of rising prices even more in 2022
December 08, 2021 08:00 - 23 minutesThis week on Down To Business, the Conference Board of Canada's Sohaib Shahid explains what’s causing inflation to rise to its highest point in three decades and what that means for Canadians, especially lower income earners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Crypto Files: If you think it doesn't affect you, think again. Blockchain is way bigger than money
December 01, 2021 08:00 - 29 minutesIn the second of a three-part series on Down to Business exploring issues related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, Andreas Park, an economist and a professor of finance at University of Toronto, who co-authored a design proposal for a digital currency for the Bank of Canada, breaks down what blockchain means for the financial system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What the U.S. EV tax credit means for Canada
November 24, 2021 08:00 - 23 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada, explains how the U.S. infrastructure bill will affect Canada's auto industry and why he predicts the EV tax credit will ultimately be dropped. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why blockchain development technology is crucial to the metaverse
November 17, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Ethan Lou, author of the book "Once a bitcoin miner," offers his perspective on why blockchain technology is already important but bound to play an even greater role in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada's biggest risk in green transition is missed opportunities
November 10, 2021 08:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Rachel Samson, research director for clean growth at the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, talks about the COP26 summit and how the pandemic revealed a shift in attitudes about climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why the post-pandemic economy is humbling forecasters
November 03, 2021 07:00 - 24 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Beata Caranici, chief economist of TD Bank, talks about the uncertainty the economy is facing as it struggles to emerge from the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Calgary's new mayor wants to declare a 'climate emergency'
October 27, 2021 07:00 - 16 minutesThis week on Down to Business, host Gabriel Friedman talks with Calgary's first female mayor Jyoti Gondek about the polarization around climate change and fossil fuels and how she plans to attract investors to the city’s burgeoning cleantech economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This tech company grew fivefold in just over a year — and stayed in Canada
October 20, 2021 07:00 - 20 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Lightspeed CEO Dax DaSilva talks about his company's remarkable growth spurt, how it is attracting and keeping talent and why Canada is actually an amazing place to headquarter your tech company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Addressing single use plastics left behind by takeout food
October 13, 2021 07:00 - 14 minutesThis week on Down to Business podcast, Megan Takeda-Tully talks about starting a company during a pandemic, the challenges of her endeavor and what’s at stake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada's unemployment is high but the number of people quitting jobs is also rising. What's going on?
October 06, 2021 07:00 - 17 minutesThis week on Down To Business Prof. Jennifer Robson talks about whether employers may end up hiking wages, the labour shortage and the Canada Recovery Benefit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada is addicted to high-rising home prices — and that's the problem
September 29, 2021 07:00 - 22 minutesThis week on Down To Business Prof. Paul Kershaw talks about how rising real estate prices are distorting Canada’s economic growth and hurting younger generations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Uncovering Canada's role in supporting slavery in the Caribbean
September 22, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesThis week on Down to Business, University of Toronto's Padraic Scanlan talks about the controversy around Henry Dundas and some unsettling chapters of Canada’s past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'That world is over:' Airbnb CEO on how the pandemic has disrupted how we live and travel forever
September 15, 2021 07:00 - 33 minutesThis week on Down to Business Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, talks about how his tech startup survived the most disruptive time for travel since World War II — and came out stronger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How facial recognition technology impacts our dignity, autonomy and human rights
September 08, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Wendy Wong, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto where she is also a research lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and Canada Research Chair in Global Governance and Civil Society, discusses the ways that facial recognition technology has changed the world. Wong is an advocate for data literacy — being aware of the many ways our data is collected and how it’s used. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...
Smaller housing markets set for a shock when life shifts back to the cities
September 01, 2021 07:00 - 13 minutesWith the Federal Election around the corner, leaders are rolling out their political platforms, including promises on housing and affordability. This week on Down to Business we talk to John Pasalis, president of Realosophy, about whether government can do anything about this persisting problem and what's ahead for Canada's housing market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'The pandemic is going to be a catalyst to change how we do income support:' Craig Alexander
August 25, 2021 07:00 - 18 minutesThis week on "Down to Business," Deloitte chief economist Craig Alexander talks with Financial Post's Larysa Harapyn about the election issues dominating Canada's economic landscape: the recovery, underinvestment in business and infrastructure, and where post-pandemic prosperity is going to come from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The jobs most at risk of being transformed by automation
August 18, 2021 07:00 - 16 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Natalia Mishagina, research director at the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Montreal, where she focuses on the future of skills and adult learning, speaks with host Gabriel Friedman to discuss technology's impact on jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pave paradise … how parking lots are choking our cities and economy
August 11, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesThis week on Down to Business, urban planner Ashley Salvador talks about how Edmonton, a city with 50% more parking than it needs, is the first city in Canada to ditch minimum parking requirements. Most cities have way more mandated parking than necessary and it adds up to a huge impact on our economy, even affecting housing prices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
People need to accept that Canada is the fourth biggest producer of oil in the world: Seamus O’Regan
August 04, 2021 07:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Seamus O’Regan, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, talks about the importance of the oil and gas industry to the economy and why he believes the carbon tax is the “most elegant solution” to emissions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'We're in trouble:' Ag expert warns there's no adapting if this summer's 'heat dome' becomes the norm
July 28, 2021 07:00 - 21 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at University of the Fraser Valley, explains what climate change and extreme weather mean for Canada’s food supply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The huge human, social and economic costs of governments’ failure to prepare for the pandemic
July 21, 2021 07:00 - 20 minutesThis week, on Down to Business, Heather Reisman, chief executive of Toronto-based Indigo Books and Music Inc. speaks with host Gabriel Friedman about how her business fared during the pandemic, when customer browsing abruptly came to a halt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Deciphering the mysteries of the pandemic job crisis
July 14, 2021 07:00 - 14 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Fabian Lange, Canadian Research Chair in Labour and Personnel Economics at McGill University, talks about how the pandemic has affected employment across Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada can't escape China, so here's how it can build a bridge to ease trade tensions
July 07, 2021 07:00 - 19 minutesThis week, on Down to Business, Sharon Zhengyang Sun, trade policy economist for the Canada West Foundation, and a distinguished fellow for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, speaks to host Gabriel Friedman about the implications of Canada’s trade tensions with China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Not since Expo '67: pandemic leads to first travel surplus in Canada in decades
June 30, 2021 07:00 - 17 minutesThis week on Down to Business, David Jacobson, a former U.S Ambassador to Canada, talks about the economic impact, both directly and indirectly, of closing our borders with our biggest trading partner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'Stark, unmistakeable and tragic': The failure of long-term care during COVID
June 23, 2021 07:00 - 14 minutesThis week Down to Business talks to Alex Himelfarb, a former clerk of the privy council, about why more than two-thirds of Canada's deaths during the COVID-19 crisis occurred in long-term care homes, 50 per cent more than in other OECD countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Canada is showing the world how carbon pricing should be done: Nobel-prize winning economist William Nordhaus
June 16, 2021 07:00 - 20 minutesThis week on Down to Business, Yale economist William Nordhaus discusses the economics of climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices