Conversations Live with Stuart McNish

If American produced food is removed from grocery stores in British Columbia, get ready to go without. More than 60 per cent of the products on the shelves are from south of the 49th parallel. 

If you want a balanced diet of vegetables, grains, fruits and protein then you can not source all of your meals from BC or Canada. The way we grow and trade food back and forth is based on who can grow it, in quantity, with certainty and ensure we can afford it.

So we grow grains and produce seafood in this country and we sell those to the US and others. But we don’t grow anywhere near enough fruit and veggies, so we import them.

And here’s where it gets tricky, in BC we - at best - produce only 30 per cent of what we need and much of that we send to the US to be processed before bringing it home to consume.

Now throw in tariffs, what will happen to the cost and the reliability of food?

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Last year at this time the headlines were filled with Real Estate Crisis stories. The Province and the Feds were making announcements upon announcements. Bill 44 was introduced with the idea that it would force municipal governments to increase density.

It is legislation that was supposed to increase certainty of supply, stabilize prices and boost construction. But did it work?

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Donald Trump has demonstrated Canada is vulnerable because we are heavily dependent on his country for trade.

Everyone agrees we need to open new trading relationships. Direct Foreign Investment is a significant step in that direction. DFI is an economic generator that provides jobs, tax revenue, infrastructure development, skills development and foreign exchange. 

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We’re heading into a change election. The Liberals will put forward a new leader who will be charged with the daunting task of overcoming a significant gap in the polls.

All indications suggest the Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre will form the next Federal Government.

If Mr. Poiliever is successful with voters, what can we expect regarding tone, the economy, social programs, immigration, Indigenous relations, Trump, tariffs, the border, national security, energy and the environment?

Our remarkable panel of experts will shed light on all and more.

Our panelists:

• Jock Finlayson – Chief Economist, ICBA
• Laura Kirkimaki – Vice President, McMillan Vantage
• Stuart Thomson – Journalist, National Post
• Joyce Murray – Liberal MP, Government of Canada
• Stewart Prest – Political Scientist, University of British Columbia
• David McArthur – Senior Advisor, McMillan Vantage
• Kareem Allam – Political Strategist, Fairview Strategy

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Indigenous leadership is shaping 2025 and beyond - socially, economically and culturally.  

First Nations and Indigenous organizations are developing housing, businesses, and resource sector projects. These organizations are utilizing legislative venues only open to them, and in doing so they are pushing through the clutter, increasing the pace of approval and delivering permits where cities and municipalities can’t.

And First Nations are working to steward the environment with programs and principles that protect our province and celebrate the unique relationships Indigenous people have with the land.

Leadership is a key element to those success stories – the vision, energy, and persistence of individuals leading the way. 

Join us Jan 28 for a conversation with a panel of outstanding Indigenous leaders and allies, remarkable individuals who are getting it done:

• Crystal Smith – Chief Councillor, Haisla Nation
• Chief Derek Epp – Chiyaqtel First Nation
• Christy Smith – Senior Vice President at Falkirk Environmental Consultants and a member of the K’ómoks First Nation
• Stephen Lee – CEO of Musqueam Capital Corporation
• Catherine Pennington – Director, Indigenous Advisory Services at KPMG and citizen of the Metis Nation
• Ethan Clark – Co-Founder and CEO of Nationsfirst Technologies

We hope you can join us for the conversation. 

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It is not news there are glaring cracks in our healthcare systems – in some cases reaching a breaking point. In both BC and AB numerous rural emergency departments have closed for hours, even days, due to shortages. 

Healthcare organizations in both BC & Alberta struggle to recruit skilled doctors, nurses, care aids, and other skilled professionals. What can be done to alleviate the pressures on the system?

Alberta has made changes to primary care funding. This is widely seen as a positive step.

Yet funding for emergency physicians has not changed, nor has funding for hospitals.

Alberta Health Services has considered changing to an activity-based funding model over global budgets. In 2010, BC experimented with ABF and determined there were no changes in measures of quality. During the recent election in BC, the idea re-surfaced.

Families in both provinces struggle to find a GP – the foundation of our health care systems. Ontario has introduced new medical school rules that require students to be Canadians from Ontario.

Surgical waitlists are long, access to operating rooms rationed by difficult budgets, and the food is terrible. 

The right of patients to use private clinics in their home province is not allowed.

Delivering healthcare in a province isn’t a simple thing. It requires coordination of thousands of patients, billions of dollars, thousands of specialist providers, complex equipment, and hundreds of facilities. 

Just delivering healthy meals and timely appointments is challenging for institutions struggling to keep up with demand under budgets that are too tight - but already the single largest expenditure in every Canadian province. 

Join us December 10 for a conversation on this critical matter with an outstanding panel.

We hope you can join us for the conversation. 

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Canadians don’t get to vote in the upcoming US election, but its results will have an out-sized impact on our lives. The US is not only a world power with which we share an expansive border, the country is our largest trading partner and ally on the global stage. The two presidential candidates have very different visions for the role the US will play on the world stage and in cross-border trade.

Join us 7 p.m. Oct 29 for a conversation with a panel of individuals offering keen insights into our stakes in the US election, drawn from their decades of experience in international politics, trade, and strategy. They are:

• Richard Mahoney – Managing Director, McMillan Vantage
• Maria Rajanayagam – Founder and Chair, American Chamber of Commerce – Pacific Chapter
• Stewart Prest – Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia
• Mario Canseco – President, Research Co.
• Gary G. Mar, K.C. – President and CEO, Canada West Foundation
• Calvin Chrustie – Partner, Critical Risk Team

It should be a good one.

Hope you can join us for the conversation.

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For many British Columbians parties’ divergent views on BC’s economy will be top-of-mind when they step into the ballot box in the upcoming provincial election. 

Join us October 7 when we sit down with a panel drawn from across the political spectrum for a conversation about The Election and the Economy. They are:

• Sonia Furstenau - Leader of the BC Green Party
• Moe Sihota - Former BC NDP MLA & cabinet minister, broadcaster, political commentator
• Yuri Fulmer - Conservative Party of BC
• David Williams - Business Council of BC Vice President of Policy
• Jairo Yunis - Canadian Federation of Independent Business Director, BC and Western Economic Policy 

When asked about rising spending in our past conversations, BC Premier David Eby has pointed to spending as an investment in other deficits left by previous government – a deficit of investment in services and infrastructure including much-needed schools and hospitals, transit, and social services. 

Yet, BC is on track to hit a record $7.9 billion deficit this year – well up from the $5.7 billion surplus the premier inherited two years ago. One commentator noted BC’s debt already requires significant taxpayer dollars to pay interest charges, putting the figure at $4.1 billion this year and rising with each annual deficit. BC’s credit rating has already been downgraded by one agency. 

BC Conservative leader John Rustad calls it chronic financial mismanagement, and was recently quoted in media saying if elected BC’s budget will be his first priority. He’s spoken about growing BC out of the problem through renewed growth in LNG, agriculture, and forestry, among other sectors, and that he will look to selectively reduce spending and cut regulations that are adding costs. He has pledged to cut to both corporate and personal taxes, and to eliminate the carbon tax. 

We hope you can join us for the conversation – webcast with the Vancouver Sun and on our own website.

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We are travelling to Calgary October 1 to delve into carbon capture – technologies that could play a role in combating climate change, but that are not without controversy.

According to the Government of Alberta the province is a “global leader in carbon capture, utilization and storage and continues to safely lead the way.”

All carbon capture technologies involve capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and either repurposing it or storing it underground. Already, two major projects in the province have captured and stored more than 11.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since 2015.

Companies are exploring options for producing liquid fuels or hydrogen from captured carbon, or using it in the production of fertilizer, concrete, chemicals, and plastics.

However, critics raise concerns about the high cost and additional power needed to fuel carbon capture processes. They say it will be an excuse to slow the energy transition, call it greenwashing.

Join us online 6:00pm Mountain Time as we break down carbon capture in Alberta with a stellar panel:

• Ian MacGregor, Chairman of the Board, President & CEO of North West Refining; founder of Sturgeon Refinery
• Zach Parston, KPMG Partner – Major Project Advisory
• Claude Létourneau, President & CEO of Svante
• Justin Riemer, CEO of Emissions Reduction Alberta
• Peter Tertzakian, Deputy Director of ARC Energy Research
• Deborah Yedlin, President and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce

We hope you can join us for the conversation – webcast with the Calgary Herald and on our own website.

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