Toronto Talks

What does it actually take to build an organization that doesn't just use AI, but thinks with it?

In this episode of Toronto Talks, host Jon Worren sits down with Candice Faktor, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Disco to unpack what AI fluency means and why most organizations are getting AI adoption backwards.

Candice breaks down the three types of people inside every organization (catalysts, converts, and anchors), why "work that can be done by AI will be done by AI," and what changes when leaders stop treating AI as a software purchase and start treating it as a superpower their people can grow into.

Recorded against the backdrop of Toronto Tech Week, the conversation also takes stock of our city's tech ecosystem nearly a decade after Toronto was first called the next big AI hub.

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Recorded live at the Board's Home Field Advantage event, Giles Gherson sits down with Mandeep Lali, CEO of the TTC, and Michael Lindsay, President and CEO of Metrolinx, to talk through the plan, the pressure, and what it all means for downtown employers.

Shovels are in the ground on the biggest transit build-out the Toronto region has seen in a generation. But who actually runs these new lines is a question most riders never think about. Giles Gherson talks with Arthur Nicolet, CEO of Transdev Canada, about why the operator matters as much as the builder, what Transdev brings to a project before a track is even laid, how driverless trains and full automation on the Ontario Line will set a new standard for North American transit, and what it will take for the region to finally move as one.

Canada is not a country of business. Not at the moment. On the latest episode of Toronto Talks, Giles Gherson speaks with Lisa Raitt, Vice-Chair in the Office of the CEO at CIBC, about why Toronto's productivity gap with ten major US metros has grown to nearly $100,000 per worker, what's driving the outflow of talent and capital, and what it will actually take to start thinking and acting like a country of business.

Ontario is in the middle of the largest transit expansion in its history and two of the province's most senior ministers say the hardest part is behind us. Recorded live at the Board's 11th Annual Transportation Symposium, this conversation between Giles Gherson and Ministers Sarkaria and McCarthy covers GO Expansion, the shift to alliance-style procurement, OneFare, and why — despite the bumps on the road — the future has never looked brighter for getting around the Toronto region.

Giles Gherson sits down with Wellington Holbrook, President & CEO of Vancity, to discuss how institutions of different sizes contribute to a strong and resilient financial ecosystem.

In this special bonus episode, recorded live at a Toronto Region Board of Trade luncheon, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Honourable Anita Anand, sits down with John Stackhouse, Senior Vice-President at RBC, just hours after returning from trade negotiations in India and as a new military conflict in the Middle East unfolds in real time. From the breaking Iran-Israel crisis to Canada's accelerating reset with India, China, and the Asia-Pacific, Minister Anand offers unfiltered, first-hand insight into where Canada's foreign policy is headed and what it means for business.

In this episode of Toronto Talks, Giles Gherson speaks with Michael Keroullé, President of Alstom Americas, about what it takes to plan, build, and operate regional rail systems in the world’s leading cities.

Toronto’s rental housing challenge is far from over.

In this episode of Toronto Talks, Giles Gherson speaks with Tony Irwin, President and CEO of the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario, about why short-term market indicators can be misleading and why rental housing remains critical to Toronto’s long-term growth. Irwin explains why nearly half of the city’s residents rent, how rental affordability affects talent attraction and workforce stability, and why essential workers and families are increasingly priced out.

In this year-end episode of Toronto Talks, Giles Gherson sits down with Goldy Hyder, President & CEO of the Business Council of Canada, to look back on a tumultuous 2025 — and ahead to the choices Canada must confront in 2026.

Together, they examine an uncomfortable paradox: a country with every structural advantage a modern economy should want still finds itself struggling to scale companies, attract investment, or remove the barriers it built for itself. As they reflect on the year, they press into the questions 2025 made impossible to avoid:

• Why did a more assertive U.S. catch us off guard yet again?

Hyder argues that Canada’s greatest vulnerability isn’t external pressure but the comfort that allows drift to masquerade as stability. If 2025 was a wake-up call, then 2026 will test whether we’re willing to act.