The CDHI Podcast

Should Canada be worried about a possible second Trump presidency, or excited? On September 24th, the C.D. Howe Institute hosted a Regent Debate – Be It Resolved: Canada can turn a Trump presidency from a threat into an opportunity. Podcast host Michael Hainsworth talks to two of the debaters, Conrad Black and Martha Hall Findlay, about what was said at the debate and delved further into their views about what Canada should do in the era of Trump. Hainsworth learns the two are closer on key issues than one might expect.

Since the mid-1980s, US labour productivity has grown by 100 percent. But in Canada, it's only grown by 40 percent. Lower productivity means the economy grows more slowly — and that means Canadians' paychecks grow more slowly as well. Why is Canada less productive? And what can be done about it? Michael Hainsworth speaks with the University of Toronto's Michelle Alexopoulos and the C.D. Howe Institute's Jeremy Kronick to get answers.

If Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025, Canada needs to prepare to open its wallet wider to NATO, and ask itself it is willing to die on the hill of Supply Management in the dairy sector. In this episode of the CDHI Podcast with Michael Hainsworth, Wilbur Ross, who was U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Trump, shares his insights on how Canada can best position itself amid renewed economic tensions if Trump wins the upcoming election.

If the goal of a vacant-homes tax is to improve housing affordability, it doesn't work. But if its goal is to improve housing availability, it does. That's the conclusion of a new C.D. Howe Institute report called "Ripple Effects: The Impact of an Empty-Homes Tax on Canada's Housing Market". The authors used Vancouver's 2017 empty-homes tax as a case study for implementing the tax across the country. Michael Hainsworth speaks with Gherardo Caracciolo, one of the authors of the report, about the study and what it tells us about improving availability and affordability in the Canadian residential real-estate market.

Federal and provincial governments in Canada are too casual about deficits and public debt, according to Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne and economist Trevor Tombe of the University of Calgary. In our latest C.D. Howe Institute podcast episode, Coyne and Tombe discuss the long-term challenges to government balance sheets that we can see coming, and why they think cost-cutting is needed for Ottawa and the provinces to avoid a Greek-style debt crisis in the future. It's an informative conversation for anyone interested in Canadian politics, economic and fiscal policy, government deficits and debt, demographics, our aging population.

Canada needs to return to the immigration system that made us the envy of the world. Economists Mikal Skuterud and Christopher Worswick explain that choosing economic immigrants based on their likelihood of success is key to the long-term success of the country on the whole.

From cows to cars, Canada is at risk of entering the trilateral review of CUSMA from a position of weakness unless Ottawa steps up and encourages the private sector to do the same. Veteran trade lawyer and C.D. Howe Institute Senior Fellow Lawrence Herman joins Michael Hainsworth to explain why he’s raising the alarm two years ahead of the talks.

Solving Canada’s healthcare crisis requires a combination of strategic policy reforms, technological innovation, and a shift towards more collaborative care models. On this episode of the CDHI Podcast, policy analysts Tingting Zhang and Rosalie Wyonch tell host Michael Hainsworth about the five key strategies for success the provinces should be paying attention to.

Are Canadians Willing to Pay for Net Zero? with A.J. Goulding and Nik Nanos

How do we get global powers to work together to solve the world’s polycrisis? Financial Times Chief Economic Commentator Martin Wolf dives into the profound generational shifts in demographics, climate change, technology, and geopolitics responsible for the state of nations and the globe.