Épisodes

  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1427 - Trump's Big Spending Agenda with Sam Sivarajan

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1427 - Trump's Big Spending Agenda with Sam Sivarajan
    Jul 23 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Sam Sivarajan about his article “Why Trump’s big spending agenda is a worrying sign for investors on both sides of the border”.
    Sam Sivarajan is a speaker, independent wealth management consultant and author of three books on investing and decision-making. Sam discusses the significant impact of rising debt and deficits in the United States and Canada, highlighting the unsustainable nature of current spending.

    Sam emphasizes that the U.S. could soon spend more on interest than on defense, while Canada and Ontario are also facing substantial debt-related costs, which could limit funding for essential services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. They agreed that now is not the time to increase deficits, as it resembles "spiking the punch bowl" rather than "taking it away”. Sam also covers the qualities needed in leaders today, emphasizing the importance of understanding complexity and interconnection rather than just managing risk. He highlights the need for leaders who invest in people, rebuild trust, and embrace reform, while also noting that citizens can influence their leaders. Sam uses the analogy of experienced mountain climbers who stop respecting the mountain to illustrate how leaders should maintain respect for complexity.
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    54 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1426 - The Canadian Economy with Don Wright

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1426 - The Canadian Economy with Don Wright
    Jul 22 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Don Wright about his article on the Canadian economy and gravitation pull of trade with the US. Don Wright, a former Deputy Minister to the Premier of British Columbia, discusses Canada's economic challenges, focusing on wage stagnation, demographic shifts, and the impact of immigration policies on the labor market. He emphasizes the need for balanced generational policies, addressing the "gravity problem" in Canadian business growth, and supporting natural resource industries while encouraging research and development. Wright also highlights the importance of infrastructure improvements and housing affordability to attract skilled workers and boost economic growth, expressing optimism about ongoing economic discussions in Canada.
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    51 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1425 - Canada's Future Growth with Murtaza Haider

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1425 - Canada's Future Growth with Murtaza Haider
    Jul 21 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Murtaza Haider who is the executive director of the newly established Cities Institute at The University of Alberta’s School of Business. Murtaza was at Toronto Metropolitan University and has spent 30-plus years “studying cities, building bridges, working with industry, and being an engineer who researches real estate markets, bringing together disciplines, engineers, planners, computer scientists, people who specialize in machine learning.

    Murtaza discusses the need to focus on Calgary and Edmonton as key cities for Canada's future growth, highlighting their affordability and potential for expansion compared to Toronto and Vancouver. He emphasizes that building affordable housing in high-cost areas like downtown Toronto is ineffective and suggested developing new cities or populating underutilized areas. Murtaza also notes that Calgary's successful conversion of office buildings to residential units was a result of city planning and incentives, contrasting with other cities' inaction.

    Additionally, Murtaza covers the decline in single-family home construction in Canada, attributing it to urban planners' preference for high-density developments and the high cost of building and land for single-family homes. He highlights the need for Canada to grow its population to 60-80 million to enhance economic prosperity and resilience, particularly in light of trade challenges with the United States. He suggests reducing reliance on trade with the U.S., which currently accounts for 80% of exports, by increasing domestic consumption and exploring new trade opportunities with Europe, China, and Asia.
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    49 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1424 - Benjamin Franklin's North American Impact with Madelaine Drohan

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1424 - Benjamin Franklin's North American Impact with Madelaine Drohan
    Jul 18 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Madelaine Drohan about her book: "He Did Not Conquer - Benjamin Franklin's Failure to Annex Canada". Throughout his long and illustrious career, Franklin nursed a not-so-secret desire to annex Canada and make it American. When he was not busy conducting scientific experiments or representing American interests at home and abroad, Benjamin Franklin hatched one plan after another to join Canada to the American colonies and then later to the United States. These were not solely intellectual efforts. He went to Montreal in 1776 to try to turn around the faltering occupation by American forces.

    As lead American negotiator at the 1782 peace negotiations with Britain in Paris, he held the fate of Canada in his hands. Ill health and other American priorities then forced him to abandon his decades-long campaign to possess Canada. Franklin's elevation to the status of an American icon has pushed this signal failure into the far reaches of collective memory in both Canada and the United States. Yet it shaped the future of North America and relations between the two neighbours over the next two and a half centuries.
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    57 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1423 - The War in Ukraine with Elena Davlikanova and Sargent Yevheniy Malik

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1423 - The War in Ukraine with Elena Davlikanova and Sargent Yevheniy Malik
    Jul 17 2025
    Tonight on the Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Elena Davlikanova and Sargent Yevheniy Malik about the war in Ukraine. Yevheniy, a veteran of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and Elena Davlikanova, Senior Fellow with Sahaidachnyi Security Centre in Ukraine and Centre for European Policy Analysis in DC, discuss Ukraine's resilience in the face of the Russian invasion.

    Yevheniy shares his experiences fighting in Russian regions and being held as a prisoner of war, describing it as the worst period of his life. He shared his experiences during the battle of Mariupol, where his unit, alongside the Azov Regiment, held off Russian forces despite being surrounded. He explains that the city was eventually destroyed by Russian airstrikes, and the remaining defenders were captured. Yevheniy notes that the Ukrainian military's resilience and strategic actions, including creating a new front line, have hindered Russian advances, leading to a stalemate.

    Elena explains that Russia's intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians aim to break Ukrainian spirit and force a government compromise on Russian peace terms, which would threaten Ukraine's existence. She emphasizes that despite the attacks, Ukrainian forces are holding firm on the front lines, and the country is developing anti-drone defenses like the Clear Sky project in Kiev. Together Elena and Yevheniy discuss the historical context of Russian-Ukrainian relations, highlighting how Russian propaganda has fueled anti-Ukrainian sentiment, and Elena stressed that Ukrainians are determined to resist Russian occupation and maintain their way of life.
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    51 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1422 - Canadian Values and Indigenous Rights with Kate Kempton

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1422 - Canadian Values and Indigenous Rights with Kate Kempton
    Jul 16 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Kate Kempton. Kate is a Senior Counsel Woodward & Company LLP. She discusses the implications of two laws, Bill 5 (Unleashing Ontario's Economy Act) and the Building Canada Act, on Canadian values and Indigenous rights. Kate criticizes the bills for potentially undermining constitutional rights and called for a balanced approach that addresses both economic needs and indigenous concerns. She says they grant sweeping powers to cabinets, similar to the "Henry VIII clauses" that allow laws to be suspended at the discretion of the government. Kate also covers the importance of including First Nations in decision-making processes and the need for reconciliation.
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    50 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1421 - The Growth Management and Housing Crisis with Richard Lyle

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1421 - The Growth Management and Housing Crisis with Richard Lyle
    Jul 15 2025
    Tonight on the Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Richard Lyall, President of RESCON, the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, about our Housing Crisis in the GTA and across Canada. Brian closes with his ten point plan to solve our housing crisis.

    Richard Lyle discusses the current housing situation in Canada, describing it as a crisis and even a catastrophe in some areas. He emphasizes that it's not just a housing crisis but also a growth management crisis, particularly in Ontario. Richard covers the significant decline in GTA new home and condo sales, noting a 90% drop to 345 units in May, down from a typical 2,700 units monthly average. Despite ongoing construction activity, Richard highlights that the market has reached a critical point where new projects are not being announced, indicating a long-term decline in the industry.

    Richard expresses concern over high unemployment rates predicting potential layoffs of 200,000 to 300,000 people in Ontario's new home and condo building sector, which could lead to a 1.5 to 2.5% GDP hit. Richard discusses the housing affordability crisis, highlighting that housing costs to income ratios remain unacceptably high, with numbers as high as 14:1 in some areas, compared to the ideal ratio of 3.5-4:1. He attributes the high costs to a combination of factors including excessive taxes, development fees, and regulations, noting that while some costs are beyond government control, others can be addressed through policy changes.

    Additionally, he expresses concerns about the need for urgent action this fall to address the decline in housing projects and potential layoffs in the construction industry. He emphasizes the importance of preventing Toronto from becoming unaffordable and unattractive for growth. Richard suggests removing sales taxes on new housing, reducing land transfer taxes and development charges, streamlining the planning and zoning process, and standardizing rules across the province.
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    59 min
  • Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1420 - The Housing Crisis with Aled ab Iorwerth

    Brian Crombie Radio Hour - Epi 1420 - The Housing Crisis with Aled ab Iorwerth
    Jul 14 2025
    Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Aled ab Iorwerth the Deputy Chief Economist of CMHC about our housing crisis. Aled joined CMHC in 2016, previously had a 15-year career at Finance Canada, in various research and analysis roles that included secondments to Environment Canada and the Council of Canadian Academies. He holds a PhD in Economics from Western University and master’s degrees in European and International Relations and Economics.

    Aled discusses the CMHC's new modeling approach, which still supports the need for increased housing supply to improve affordability. He says there are structural long-term challenges in the GTA and Vancouver with high housing costs deterring talent and causing a shift to other cities like Calgary and Halifax. Aled emphasizes that increasing housing supply could slow the growth of house prices, aiming for a flatline rather than a significant decrease. Additionally, Aled attributes the recent decline in housing prices to macroeconomic uncertainty and a short-term glut of condos, rather than an increase in supply. He notes that the disconnect in affordability metrics began around 2006, and current per capita housing construction rates are about half of what they were in the 1970s. Development fees and GST have significantly increased over the past decade, accounting for about 31% of the cost of housing. Aled also discussed the lengthy regulatory process for rezoning land, which can take 3-5 years in Toronto.

    Together Aled and Brian explore the potential for a boom and bust cycle due to low housing starts in the current year. Aled says simplifying zoning regulations and moving away from municipal control towards provincial or national oversight could help increase housing supply, highlighting the need for more harmonized regulations to allow for industry consolidation and greater productivity. Aled expressed skepticism about inclusionary zoning, preferring to address affordability through the tax system.
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    49 min