Ciara Dolby (24) is a  remarkable young British woman, who has gained profound insights into the heart and soul of China, the Chinese language and culture.  Her passion (and humility) for learning about China and becoming fluent in Mandarin has given her rare and unique insights into one of the world's oldest civilizations and most complex cultures. 

She shares her insights into the complex nature of China and gives us a glimpse of why the ancient Chinese Confucian and Taoist philosophies and basis of living (and governance) may be the basis of our world finding renewed balance and harmony, where disharmony and even chaos threaten our world.

Ciara holds a Bsc from the University of Nottingham (England) in the ‘Business and Economy of Contemporary China’ and a Masters in Mandarin through a Confucius Institute Scholarship.

She currently works for PwC (London) in the China tax team and sees her future in continuing to work as a cultural bridge between the East and the West in other aspects.

Recognising that both language and culture are multifaceted she spent 3 years in China studying, working, living with an indigenous family and immersing herself in all aspects to more profoundly understand the traditional Chinese culture and she wishes to continue on this journey to seek her fulfilment in the East-West relations.

#49. May 26, 2016. Yannick Beaudoin

Yannick Beaudoin is the Director General for Ontario and Northern Canada for the David Suzuki Foundation.

He is schooled in economics for transition to socially and ecologically sustainable societies; social innovation processes and transformational leadership; marine and economic geology.

Yannick holds an: Masters of Arts in Economics for Transition to Social-Ecological Economics) and a Ph.D. Marine Geology.

He was the Former Chief Scientist with GRID-Arendal – a United Nations Environment Programme.

Yannick has witnessed the flaws and failings of old economic thinking and practice.

He sees an opportunity emerging for Canada to lead the way in innovating a new ‘well-being economy’, designed to benefit all people and nature.

Yannick and I, along with other economists, have been crafting a new post-pandemic well-being focused economic system for Canada that we hope will receive serious attention by the Government of Canada and eventually provincial governments. Like New Zealand, which tabled its first Well-being Budget in 2019, Canada might become another model for a well-being economy.

#48. May 18, 2020. Enid Dufresne-Dario is an Edmonton entrepreneur, Co-Owner and CVO of Edmonton-based Juniper Cafe & Bistro, a local neighbourhood cafe located in the Strathearn community. Juniper Cafe and Bistro was born 5 years ago a shared vision of Enid and her husband Kenny Dario.

I spoke with Enid about the challenges their local cafe has faced over the past two month Covid-19 pandemic, navigating the challenges of a temporary closure and how they plan to resume their operations with fewer tables and customers served. How can this jewel of a local cafe remain resilient and sustainable? 

I believe Juniper is a model of an enterprise or business that espouses the principles of well-being in the business world, committed to building enduring relationships of trust with employee and the providing customers with the highest possible value in both food and a place to gather as neighbours and friends.

Juniper was created as an entrepreneurial venture born out of a desire to take your family and friend’s kitchen-get-togethers to a larger space where  more friends could enjoy great food, beverages and lots of laughter. The food Juniper prepares is fresh, seasonal, local and homemade. Enid and Dario choose organic and local products, whenever possible. Breakfast can be as simple as a fresh-baked scone and a coffee to our signature hand-held bennie. Lunch features fresh salads, soups and hand-crafted sandwiches.

Juniper plans to reopen Sunday June 14, 2020 for their beloved brunch... while fewer tables can be served, the same beloved food will again be available for friends and neighbours who experience Juniper like home and family.

#46, May 11, 2020

Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse is Cree and Mohawk from Michel First Nation.

She holds a bachelor of arts degree from the Faculty of Native Studies and is completing an MSc with the Faculty of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology at the University of Alberta.

Jodi is the founder and co-owner of Miyo-Pimatisiwin Productions and is also the producer and broadcaster of an award-winning Indigenous radio program called Acimowin.

Jodi’s interests are Indigenous media, Indigenous legal traditions, Indigenous feminism, social innovation and Indigenous futurisms.

Her work is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous peoples, stories, traditions and laws.

Jodi and I are in the process of co-producing a series called Love Medicine; a series of interviews with indigenous and non-indigenous wisdom keepers, elders and inspired individuals whose stories remind us that love is indeed the most powerful of all medicines.

#47. May 22, 2020. Rozanna, a good friend and executive and life coach, joined me today to talk about what she is seeing in her many clients after more than 2 months of this Covid crisis. She shares some of her most important coaching tips on how we can find that path of joy and purpose by being more present to the NOW, of forgiving oneself (and therefore others) and with discipline follow a path that ultimately is one of love. Rozanna Wyatt is an expert executive and life coach that helps top leaders and high achievers around the globe take their life, performance, and success to the next level. With fourteen years of impactful experience, Rozanna is able to shift the confidence and mindset of those she works with so they can experience the extraordinary impact they’re looking for in their lives. Rozanna takes pride in receiving feedback like this from her clients: "The expression "you don't know what you don't know" is precisely why engaging in coaching with Rozanna is the 1-2 MUST combination for anyone who is driven to take their performance to the next level. Rozanna has guided me beyond that elusive something I knew I was missing but couldn't see or grasp; to new insights, solutions, and strategies. I have a new vision, improved performance, results, and reality. I reached out to her and have never looked back since!" - Senior Leader

#45. May 4, 2020.  Ellen Brown, a public banking expert, author and founder of the Public Banking Institute, joins Walt McCree of the Public Bank Associates today (May 4, 2020) to discuss their ideas of what role a renewed Bank of Canada and public banks (like ATB Financial in Alberta) might play in creating interest-free money, ensuring a Universal Basic Income and slowly extinguishing mountains of unrepayable debt of governments and households.

In last 11 minutes of this program I discuss the historical role of the Bank of Canada that prior to 1974 created interest-free debt money for the federal and provincial government. Today that mountain of debt exceeds $1.4 trillion for both provincial and federal governments with interest charges consuming large portions of government operating budgets. Could the Covid-19 crisis and the economic emergency Canada finds itself in be a catalyst for restoring the original mandate of the Bank of Canada along with the mandate of provincial (or state) public banks like Alberta Treasury Branches to create the necessary money to cover government operating deficits and reduce the burden of hidden interest charges in the costs of living (including taxes) of Canadian households? The cost savings to Canadian households of eliminating interest charges on public debt sold to private markets would be tremendous, effectively reducing the number of hours we currently have to work to pay for these interest charges.

Could the creation of money by a renewed public central bank become a public utility without the unnecessary cost of interest charges? I believe so.

Consider, for example, that for every $1.00 of the average American household income, roughly $0.45 is currently going to pay for hidden interest charges in all goods, services and government programs (taxers) that are associated with over $73 trillion in outstanding government, household, and business debts. This total debt continues to growth doubling roughly 7-8 years through the power of compound interest.

#44. Ad Broere is a Dutch economist based in Amsterdam with forty years of experience in business, banking and education. 

Ad has been active as an author and publicist since 2007. 

He has written five books including: A Human Economy (2009), Ending the Global Casino (2010), Money comes from Nothing (2012), Hanneke de Vries borrows money from the bank (2015) and Money in the Supporting Role (2018).

In 2014, he was one of the three initiators of the Citizen Initiative Our Money, which brought it to the House of Representatives in the Hague.

Ad envisions a new financial future where money is no longer our master but in service to our common good and well-being.

#43.  April 18, 2020. Economist Kelly Rudyk joins me today to talk about his vision for Alberta's economy during this most difficult of economic times when oil has entered negative territory and Alberta's financial debts are ballooning. 

Kelly spend 28 years with Strathcona County (Sherwood Park, Alberta) in the capacity of senior economist and head of the strategic planning process. He was instrumental in introducing priority-based budgeting process.

Kelly founded his consulting firm ItsLogical.ca in 2019 with a vision of  pushing the boundaries of strategic planning and building alignment with organizational functions.

He is passionate about the Danish cultural attribute called Hygge, which is a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.

During a time of self-isolation and economic angst, this might be the best time for Albertans to contemplate a future based on Hygge and well-being, learning from the Danes who are consistently the happiest nations on the planet.

#42. April 21, 2020. Author and public banking expert Ellen Brown (author of The Public Bank Solution) explores the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) which Spain recently announced as its national strategy to help individuals and households survive during this Covid-19 pandemic and the economic shut-down that has impacted the whole world.

What is a Universal Basic Income (UBI)? 

How might a UBI work in Canada?  What are the potential pitfalls of a UBI?

Who and how would it be funded in Canada or other countries? 

What role could the central banks of our nations play in financing a basic income?

What does China (which adopted Abraham Lincoln's model of sovereign money creation) have to teach Canada, the US and Europe about creating money in sufficient supply without the cost of interest charges and compound interest, while providing enough money for living wages and sufficient liquidity to invest in the real potential of the nation's human, cultural, produced and natural assets?

Is this crisis an opportunity for Canada to advance a working model of an economy of well-being, well-being based budgeting and well-being-based monetary polices of the Bank of Canada?

#41.  April 20, 2020. My Dutch friend Ivo Valkenburg joins me today from his home in Transylvania (Romania) to talk about his recent book Pure Life: A Plea for Love as Legal Tender. During this time of Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic challenges we all face, is there hope for a new financial future and money system based on love?

Ivo has a passion for an economy based on well-being and a money system based on love.. Ivo is a champion for enabling an economy of well-being and happiness. He goes for essential innovation of classic thinking models and their practical application. In doing so, he looks beyond the material side of life. As the highest ideal, he considers that all living things on planet earth return to the original state of being. Liberated from all illusion and freedom. Restored in connection with himself and everything that is. From the source power of every being. As a gift from the original world. His great passion is LOVE. From there he contributes where possible to bringing the human aspect to life in work and economy to life. To this end he invites people, companies and organizations to the power of his, and the power of love, without judgment or expectations, practical to apply in all aspects of life. For this he facilitates people, individually, and in relation to others, both business and private, in the discovery process of who they really are. Plenty of time and space is created to work from rest and nature on the recovery and use of the human resource in daily life.

I wrote the following forward to Ivo's book Pure Life "'Ivo Valkenburg brings the world an important antidote to a global pandemic of debt money enslavement and trauma. Thank goodness that he did not despair over his financial problems and leave this earth, but instead chose to stay with us with a renewed passion for LOVE and a reminder that we all can and must pursue a pure life. '

You can learn more about Ivo's work on the website Love Made Visible , where there are new examples every day of people and companies where love, passion, mission, profession, vocation and money come together in the beautiful initiatives in areas such as education, health and economy.