True Patriot Love - Canada’s Record-Breaking Year Explained

00:00:00.040 Well, here we are wrapping up 2025.

00:00:02.240 I can't believe there's been this many months.

00:00:04.760 And from all of us at TPL, all the best of the season and Happy New Year to you.

00:00:09.180 You'll find a bunch of shows between now and the end of the holidays that look forward to the new year,

00:00:14.460 look back on the year that we've just experienced.

00:00:16.920 And this is one of those lookbacks.

00:00:18.960 This has been a record-breaking year for Canada.

00:00:26.220 All right, well, here we go, guys.

00:00:27.680 Joining me, Paul Macucci, Jim Lang, the regs, as I like to refer to us here,

00:00:33.120 as we have a look back and we have documentation in front of us and everything.

00:00:37.420 But really what we're doing, guys, is having a look back at some of the great stuff.

00:00:42.280 I mean, we could really mountain a whole bunch of complaints,

00:00:46.000 and we do that effectively almost every day here.

00:00:49.660 But I thought this would be a fun opportunity for us to be proud.

00:00:52.680 We just came back from Ottawa creating a commercial about patriotism and pride here in Canada.

00:00:59.020 And so we thought it would be fitting that we try this out.

00:01:02.800 And for the first time ever, take a look at how Canada broke records in 2025.

00:01:08.220 And, gentlemen, I think you both would agree, as a nation,

00:01:10.340 we need to be better about patting ourselves on the back.

00:01:12.960 Because sometimes as Canadians, whether it's as a group or individual,

00:01:16.360 we do amazing things or we just maybe it's the Canadian nature.

00:01:20.560 We don't shine the spotlight on us to show that.

00:01:23.260 So we allow us to do it for the people that did these great things.

00:01:27.240 It's funny, but when we were making the commercial, we start talking to people around us.

00:01:32.100 You know, what does it mean to you to be a patriot?

00:01:33.820 Yes.

00:01:34.400 You know, Canadian pride and that sort of thing.

00:01:36.260 And I owe this one to my stepson.

00:01:40.460 He's from Mexico.

00:01:41.880 He grew up in Mexico.

00:01:43.060 And he said that when he noticed the difference, and I even noticed this,

00:01:46.560 the difference between Mexico and Canada is in Mexico,

00:01:49.740 they kind of forgive themselves for the finer details and the things you can virtue signal on.

00:01:54.980 And they trade that off in exchange for being proud of their best sports figures,

00:01:59.880 proud of their writers, proud of their directors.

00:02:02.300 You can't say something bad in my household about Guillermo del Toro, I promise you.

00:02:07.000 But that is something that Canada really could use an injection of.

00:02:11.920 And look, we do things in business, in politics, in the arts, in science, in healthcare.

00:02:19.180 You name the topic, and they're on the world stage all the time.

00:02:23.200 Hey, look, it's not all about someone from America or Europe.

00:02:27.640 We're right here in our own backyard.

00:02:29.540 Let's talk about them.

00:02:30.540 Yeah, you blew my mind with just talking about the Blue Jays.

00:02:33.520 We'll get to sports in a bit, but let's kick things off.

00:02:36.720 On our list is tourism, travel, and culture.

00:02:39.980 And the one stat that really popped to my mind was this was the highest summer tourism revenue ever recorded in Canada.

00:02:47.320 59 to 60 billion in tourism receipts between May and August of 2025.

00:02:52.360 Well, I noticed it, I don't know about you guys, but going to our, we have a cottage in Northern Ontario, that was people from, plates from all over the country visiting other parts of the country.

00:03:04.300 And something you had mentioned, you had mentioned about people keeping the money in the country, Paul.

00:03:08.380 And it really, the numbers back it up.

00:03:10.480 Yeah, back it up.

00:03:11.480 And the government did a good job of putting programs together that subsidized, you know, travel.

00:03:17.120 And there was benefit programs for people who wanted to travel across Canada.

00:03:20.660 I think that was really smart.

00:03:22.640 We're seeing, it's funny, there's a bunch of barbing going on between politicians cross-border the last week.

00:03:27.500 Where, you know, our premier, Doug Ford, you know, is going back against Governor DeSantis in Florida.

00:03:33.620 And, you know, they're having some fun jousting back and forth on the tourism numbers being down in the U.S.

00:03:38.360 And, you know, the whole nationalistic climate of North America right now is actually feeding into that tourism number, which is great.

00:03:47.300 And I think, you know, the more we stay home, the more we actually try to benefit Canadians by traveling to seeing the places we don't know.

00:03:55.960 And it's interesting.

00:03:57.160 I think Canadians are learning more about Canada now, which they never knew before.

00:04:02.500 So I think a lot of Canadians knew more about the U.S., you know, because the Americans do a really good job at, you know, it's my youngest son.

00:04:10.860 He knows more about American history than he knows about Canadian history.

00:04:15.260 And they do a good job.

00:04:16.720 Well, it's sexier, right?

00:04:18.160 And there's TV shows.

00:04:19.300 In every movie.

00:04:20.540 Yeah, I mean, you know, they glam it up and regardless how bad it was.

00:04:24.140 And I was, Kelsey Grammer, I was listening to a history show the other day that he does.

00:04:31.940 And even him sitting there reading this monologue about, you know, the Civil War in the U.S., it's actually wonderful to listen to because he does such an articulate job of actually telling the story, you know, about how Grant was a drunk and how, you know, he was going to spy.

00:04:50.160 You know, it sounds very, just listening to it is nice.

00:04:53.080 It sounds like our modern-day parliament, to be honest with you.

00:04:56.460 Spies and drugs.

00:04:57.360 But I have, real quick, just to add to that, I've had a number of friends who say, well, I was going to go here.

00:05:03.260 Now we're going to do a long weekend in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

00:05:06.580 I was going to go here.

00:05:08.260 We're going to Revelstoke to ski in Alberta.

00:05:11.080 And so I'm hearing that more and more, that they're opting out and going to, and we're going to go, let's go down to the Maritimes for a bit.

00:05:18.560 And so, as you said, Paul, exploring different parts of Canada and keeping the money here, and they're very happy to do it.

00:05:25.140 Yeah.

00:05:25.300 No, and the only thing, you know, we're missing some sunshine.

00:05:29.920 We had to figure out a way.

00:05:31.820 Well, this is so funny because even in the midst of the greatest fire in the history of Canada, which, I mean, ruined a lot of summer for our friends to the south and many of us, it still was up.

00:05:43.180 And to Jim's point, check this out, Atlantic Canada cruise traffic hit an all-time high, 845,000 people hit to the seas out of Atlantic Canada.

00:05:54.160 That's the biggest ever.

00:05:55.420 And the highest occupancy rate in hotels in August, 80.7%.

00:06:00.540 That's crazy.

00:06:02.000 The highest since 2014.

00:06:03.940 So tourism, keeping tourism real in Canada for Canadians really was a big deal.

00:06:09.400 So hats off.

00:06:10.460 We see people want to travel inside of Canada, which is a magnificent thing.

00:06:14.620 We finally got people interested in staying home.

00:06:16.820 Yeah.

00:06:17.000 We've reduced the cross-border traffic.

00:06:20.040 Why don't we build some better tourist attractors?

00:06:23.000 Well, that's not a bad idea.

00:06:24.680 They're talking about Niagara being the next real redevelopment for, it's going to be the new Atlantic City, I think is how it's been described.

00:06:33.320 Yeah, Las Vegas of the north.

00:06:34.860 That's it.

00:06:35.260 Yeah, whatever we're going to do, but, you know, build some indoor water parks.

00:06:40.320 So theme parks, build, like, the technology is there.

00:06:44.140 Crepes, 15 years ago, I sat in a presentation for an indoor water park from a Japanese company where people were surfing, sun tanning.

00:06:55.000 Oh, wow.

00:06:56.480 And they do it there.

00:06:58.320 Because they get winter there.

00:06:59.320 Yeah.

00:06:59.840 Oh, yeah.

00:07:00.140 And they build these huge, massive, like, three-mile bubbles.

00:07:04.760 Wow.

00:07:05.200 And they do all these functions underneath these bubbles.

00:07:07.520 And they put the light in.

00:07:09.020 It's beautiful.

00:07:09.840 It's a great point.

00:07:10.920 Tropical.

00:07:11.640 Yeah.

00:07:12.100 It's gorgeous.

00:07:12.740 And so why don't we spend the time now and, you know, in the west, in the east, where we create core tourist attractions.

00:07:20.460 Absolutely.

00:07:21.080 Make them different.

00:07:22.180 And connected to transportation hubs, rail and roads and planes.

00:07:25.400 And it's easy to access.

00:07:26.680 Well, rail.

00:07:27.460 Rail.

00:07:28.000 Right?

00:07:28.300 There's one.

00:07:29.560 Now, we're not great at rail.

00:07:30.840 No, we're getting to speed train, don't you know?

00:07:32.640 No, no.

00:07:33.180 We're not great at rail.

00:07:33.880 In your lifetime?

00:07:34.980 We're not.

00:07:35.180 But it is a great idea, actually, to try to figure that out and connect them via, you know, whether it's plane or crane.

00:07:43.100 I agree.

00:07:43.520 We haven't really done much as a nation that spends most of its year in the cold for really doing these protected.

00:07:50.100 Like, this is a great idea to do these protected biospheres of fun for people that maybe have adjacent hotels that are not part of the.

00:07:59.200 But at least you can make a tunnel trip over to the indoor park, the theme park, or whatever it is.

00:08:06.720 Your family, and you're looking at, do I take the family of four, which isn't cheap, to Mexico or Dominican Republic, or do I drive an hour and a half to this indoor bubble oasis for a weekend and enjoy?

00:08:22.140 I mean, first of all, it's cheaper, and it's a lot easier to get to.

00:08:25.400 I mean, it's an old-brainer.

00:08:26.720 Yeah, or do I go up and, you know, go into the Northwest Territories and, quite frankly, you know, go into a spa, you know, that I hike in during the day and do all my winter sports and then come back, you know, live in an igloo for a night.

00:08:42.240 Into the biohacks biosphere.

00:08:44.840 Yeah, exactly, right?

00:08:46.140 I think we've got an idea.

00:08:47.040 Let's not tell anybody about that.

00:08:48.320 So this is a big deal to us because Canada tourism, by the way, surpassed all previous summer seasons, driven by domestic travel and post-pandemic international demand.

00:08:58.920 So we're still feeling the effects of people not having been able to get here when they wanted to.

00:09:03.840 What about this, guys?

00:09:05.020 Agriculture and food security.

00:09:07.620 Food security has been a big deal.

00:09:09.280 I don't love the phrase food insecurity, but food security I am interested in because this really is a study of how are we feeding ourselves?

00:09:18.320 And this year we had some record-breaking moments.

00:09:23.280 Wheat production was up 40 million tons.

00:09:26.440 Off the hook.

00:09:27.300 Off the hook this year.

00:09:28.700 Unbelievable.

00:09:29.540 Yeah.

00:09:29.880 And where is it going?

00:09:32.220 I would imagine that it's being exported mainly.

00:09:36.480 Well, that's the thing, right?

00:09:37.500 It's amazing.

00:09:38.320 So, you know, again, they finished strong.

00:09:40.780 They had a really good year.

00:09:42.320 You know, even canola. 0.53

00:09:43.980 Canola, 21.8 million tons of brand new record.

00:09:46.840 It's a massive business in Canada.

00:09:47.760 A huge record-breaker for Canada.

00:09:50.020 And the Chinese cut us off. 1.00

00:09:52.720 Yeah.

00:09:53.100 I remember during the year that EV fight.

00:09:55.240 Oh, that's right.

00:09:55.980 Canola and EVs.

00:09:57.500 So even I was shocked when I read the number that it was up 21%.

00:10:01.300 And imagine what it would have been if they didn't get cut off by the Chinese. 1.00

00:10:04.960 So they were able to pivot and go to South Korea.

00:10:07.860 They were able to go to different countries.

00:10:09.560 Just like the wheat guys, right? 0.80

00:10:11.040 Absolutely.

00:10:11.860 And quite frankly, I think the wheat guys, Ukraine, probably benefited them a little.

00:10:16.760 I'm not saying they wanted to be benefited by it.

00:10:18.940 But, you know, the fact that a lot was happening in the country with Russia and the Ukraine,

00:10:23.660 the wheat production here increased because there was a demand, right?

00:10:26.440 Well, the other thing is it gave a way to, as you point out, new customers out there.

00:10:31.400 When we were not allowed to sell to China directly and we had this excess,

00:10:35.600 it gave a lot of other countries a taste of Canadian wheat.

00:10:38.320 You know, a lot of people watched the show Clarkson Farms because it was kind of a cool show

00:10:42.800 and Amazon Prime and they thought, oh, that's what farming is like.

00:10:46.020 But until you've driven to the prairies in Manitoba, Saskatchewan,

00:10:50.120 and seen the scale of these grain farms and canola farms, it's staggering.

00:10:55.040 And the work and the science and the technology that goes into planting it, growing it, and harvesting it is –

00:11:02.880 and we just get better and better at it every year.

00:11:04.700 Have you seen these combines that they have, guys, like that you can go –

00:11:07.800 it's like they live in them for a couple of days.

00:11:10.020 We don't go on by GPS.

00:11:11.560 What?

00:11:12.360 No, they –

00:11:13.060 They're not manned by people anymore?

00:11:14.740 You're only at the end.

00:11:15.920 So basically, once you get to the end of the row, you take over, you turn, and once you do the turn, you hit a button in the –

00:11:23.640 so all the lines are GPS straight, and then you just monitor all the gauges on the farm machine as it gets to the end,

00:11:32.380 and then you turn around.

00:11:33.300 It's got air conditioning.

00:11:35.080 Satellite dishes.

00:11:35.980 I heard that they have full internet in these things.

00:11:38.260 Well, the technology is phenomenal, and Canada is taking it to a next level all the –

00:11:44.420 because it makes it more efficient.

00:11:45.940 You're getting more off the ground, more to the market.

00:11:48.320 Well, since we're not building cars, my next automobile might be a combine.

00:11:52.040 I hear we're building those here.

00:11:53.360 And I'm talking about tourism and agriculture together.

00:11:57.460 I did it when I was 18, 19 years old on a motorcycle and drove from here out to BC.

00:12:04.480 Wow.

00:12:05.020 Yeah.

00:12:05.380 Wow.

00:12:05.680 You know what?

00:12:06.080 If you ever get a chance.

00:12:07.100 Oh, it's amazing.

00:12:07.740 Traveling the country is something I think that is a lost – it's a lost fantasy.

00:12:15.080 You know what I mean?

00:12:15.940 Everyone has to do it once.

00:12:17.400 Well, when I was 15, 16, it's all I wanted to do.

00:12:20.180 I've got a license.

00:12:21.020 I've got to figure this out.

00:12:21.900 How am I going to afford to get across the country?

00:12:23.720 What if the car break – like, it really became something in my mind,

00:12:26.600 a fantasy of seeing my own country.

00:12:29.840 And, oh, how can I do this from Ontario?

00:12:31.600 I've got to go – I've got to traverse, and how am I going to see everything?

00:12:34.280 So, to make that challenge, that adventure in your life, it's a rarity now, I think, that needs to come back.

00:12:41.380 I think that our university students really – yeah, it's nice that you go to Europe and you backpack and everything.

00:12:46.640 See this country, it's got everything that you could ever want to.

00:12:50.080 When you leave southern Ontario, the changes in geography through central Ontario to the Canadian Shield,

00:12:56.120 to the top of the Lake Superior, to the Manitoba border, through the prairies, into the plains of Alberta,

00:13:02.820 it's shocking how many different geographical regions you go through in that drive.

00:13:07.880 Yeah.

00:13:08.340 It's so true. 0.84

00:13:09.140 I mean, it's – somebody told me one time that parts of BC are a rainforest, a temperate rainforest.

00:13:16.260 So, you can go from rainforest to tundra to, you know, the prairies.

00:13:20.560 It really has everything in one place, and to compare what we have to the rest of the world thereafter,

00:13:26.860 I think you'd be impressed.

00:13:28.120 By the way, we had a record-breaking year all around in agriculture with all of the staple crops that make a difference in the planet.

00:13:35.040 Wow.

00:13:35.500 Something we should be proud of.

00:13:36.580 And we have potential to grow that even more.

00:13:38.740 So, with our greenhouse technology –

00:13:40.960 Yes.

00:13:41.280 And all the things we have coming up, you know, and that's something, given where we are with tariffs and everything else,

00:13:46.480 we really have to drill down on.

00:13:48.620 And we don't talk about it a lot, which is unfortunate, but we should because we could be growing.

00:13:53.280 You know, the technology exists to be – I think the word – I'll use the – people don't like the word,

00:13:59.100 but cloning or creating all our fruits and vegetables indoors here in Canada.

00:14:04.820 You don't have to be going out and shipping from abroad, you know.

00:14:08.460 And I know even now, you know, you go to your grocery store and you're looking at where all your fruits are.

00:14:12.900 Everyone does that now, yeah.

00:14:13.960 Yeah, so a lot of it's still coming from these, not crazy places, but pretty far away.

00:14:19.000 We don't need to be doing that anymore.

00:14:20.660 Well, what it does is it actually evens the playing field on pricing.

00:14:23.540 So, if we take plums from Mexico, but we're growing plums here in Ontario, we might want the Mexican plums.

00:14:29.380 They might taste better or the, you know, Colombian fruit might taste better.

00:14:33.880 But evening the price and creating competition in the marketplace by just providing our own product makes a difference to the bottom line on all of those items.

00:14:42.560 Well, Jim, we've rounded it up to your neighbourhood here.

00:14:46.500 Sports and national pride.

00:14:49.000 Multiple record-setting performances this year, Jim, in some really elite and national sport.

00:14:54.560 Summer McIntosh, we'll start with amateur. 0.63

00:14:57.780 She's a teenager.

00:14:59.040 She's a kid.

00:15:00.720 And she didn't just win races on the international stage.

00:15:05.560 She shattered records.

00:15:06.700 And when you watch her touch the touchline in these swim meets, there's no one else in the camera shot.

00:15:12.540 It is true.

00:15:13.440 That is one thing that I think is one of the best memes in sports this year.

00:15:16.860 She's at the elite level competing against the top six or seven swimmers on the planet in her discipline.

00:15:24.080 And they're not even near her.

00:15:26.420 That is unheard of at that level.

00:15:28.420 What do you think, Jim, cuts her way so far from the pack?

00:15:32.780 Genetically, tall, long arms.

00:15:37.040 And the practice.

00:15:38.280 I know our oldest daughter was a competitive swimmer at one point.

00:15:42.020 But to be at that level, like Summer McIntosh, that's twice a day in the pool, six days a week.

00:15:47.680 Maybe on Sunday is a light day.

00:15:49.700 The time and effort, dry land training, the commitment.

00:15:55.920 We have got some world-class swim coaches in Canada, both all over the country.

00:16:02.320 And so we're kind of blessed that way.

00:16:04.220 And then we had Penny Alexiak, and then she got older.

00:16:06.740 And here's Summer McIntosh come around. 0.95

00:16:09.380 And it's the fact that no one's even near her.

00:16:13.980 Like, she'll touch and wait for the rest of the pack. 0.60

00:16:16.480 I've never seen anything like it.

00:16:17.700 It's beautiful, actually, to see this.

00:16:20.620 You know, it's such a – when you see a phenom in sports nowadays, it's rare.

00:16:26.040 Because it's almost fractional now, the difference between players often in sports.

00:16:31.120 But when somebody cuts so far ahead of the pack, it is remarkable.

00:16:35.200 And professionally, there's a young man, a quite unassuming young guy from Hamilton named

00:16:40.480 Shea Gilchrist-Alexander, who did one of the rarest feats in the NBA.

00:16:44.680 Only a handful – three or four players in the history of the NBA were named the league

00:16:49.120 MVP and the NBA Finals MVP in the same year.

00:16:53.120 He did it.

00:16:54.180 And as we're taping this right now, he's averaging over 32 points a game.

00:16:58.020 And he's the kind of guy who goes back to Hamilton after winning the Larry O'Brien trophy

00:17:02.020 in every award.

00:17:03.340 Let's go to DQ.

00:17:04.760 He seems to be a very low-key guy, which is so nice.

00:17:09.800 He is so Canadian in that way.

00:17:11.240 And for a lot of Canadian basketball fans, they're salivating at the possibility of him

00:17:15.940 leading the way in the Olympic basketball tournament because he's so good.

00:17:19.740 And he's so elite.

00:17:20.800 And right now, he's on pace to win the MVP again.

00:17:23.440 And when I was younger, we had Steve Nash, like, he's the best basketball player we've

00:17:27.740 ever produced.

00:17:28.820 Shea Gilchrist-Alexander has surpassed Steve Nash for his ability.

00:17:33.380 And, I mean, knock on wood, he stays healthy.

00:17:36.740 I don't know what he can do, but after the year he just had, he won the Northern Star Award

00:17:41.620 as Canada's Athlete of the Year, beating out Summer McIntosh and others.

00:17:45.000 And no one could dispute that after what he did.

00:17:47.360 Imagine the wealth that is about to be bestowed upon this young man, you know, and the accolades.

00:17:56.940 It's just beginning, I think.

00:17:58.480 Do you want to know his contract?

00:17:59.820 Yeah, yeah, tell me.

00:18:00.440 Let me look it up.

00:18:01.420 I want to compare it.

00:18:02.340 He just signed a contract.

00:18:03.900 Let's compare our contracts, Paul.

00:18:05.780 I have to just call him.

00:18:06.900 I want to get the right figure, right, because it's so outstanding.

00:18:10.500 While you're doing that, I'll tell you this.

00:18:12.380 Josh Lando ranked among the world's top male swimmers.

00:18:16.040 Another great swimmer.

00:18:17.100 Yeah, which, you know, got kind of overshadowed by summer.

00:18:20.500 Summer.

00:18:20.960 Yeah, but, you know, hats off.

00:18:23.260 Yeah.

00:18:23.640 Four years, $285 million.

00:18:26.040 Yeah, that's crazy what they make.

00:18:27.600 Yeah, that's going to change.

00:18:29.080 That's going to change.

00:18:29.760 No, but he just signed that after this year.

00:18:31.400 I guarantee you, in the next five years, he's going to have so much wealth.

00:18:35.320 He's going to own Hamilton.

00:18:36.540 Yeah.

00:18:37.160 Well, you know what?

00:18:38.100 I think he'd do well with it, to be honest.

00:18:40.180 He seems to be...

00:18:41.580 Well, remember Alex Rodriguez.

00:18:43.020 Let's hope he has a business mind very similar.

00:18:45.220 Right.

00:18:45.580 And he can actually come back home, and he can do great things.

00:18:48.360 Absolutely.

00:18:48.620 And he's also on the business front.

00:18:49.880 Because, you know, their careers...

00:18:52.020 Are short.

00:18:52.600 Yeah, basketball's a tough sport, you know.

00:18:54.660 Leg injuries are all over.

00:18:56.160 Yeah, they're all over, and they're playing.

00:18:57.800 The speed with which they're playing the game now is just amazing.

00:19:01.720 So...

00:19:02.160 Can Shack, that's what I've got to say.

00:19:04.200 The Can Shack, it's got a nice ring to it.

00:19:05.980 Can Shack.

00:19:06.620 Can Shack.

00:19:07.140 Can Shack Industries.

00:19:10.560 The Great Cup, I wanted to touch on this.

00:19:12.500 Yeah.

00:19:12.640 The greatest attendance in the history of the Great Cup.

00:19:14.860 Was it?

00:19:15.340 For TV ratings.

00:19:16.580 For TV ratings, yeah.

00:19:17.840 Yeah.

00:19:18.420 Which was nice to hear.

00:19:19.840 Canadian athletes, they really did it.

00:19:22.380 And the post-pandemic performance has really, as you pointed in a couple of these, really vaulted us ahead.

00:19:28.660 And I will say this.

00:19:29.500 The Four Nations Cup, Canada beating the USA in the final, was so big.

00:19:35.220 And I didn't realize how big it was.

00:19:37.860 So, forgive me when I say this, but my partner and I renewed our vows in Vegas at the end of February, just after Canada won.

00:19:46.980 And when we landed in Vegas, every TV at ESPN and everything was the...

00:19:51.780 And I tried not to celebrate too, obviously.

00:19:55.940 I was like, but it was amazing.

00:19:58.420 And there were so many Canadians that got wrapped up, and especially with Donald Trump and the 51st state and all of that, to stick it to America, to win the game the way we did, it felt good.

00:20:08.520 It felt so good.

00:20:09.520 You pointed out Google, the number one search on Google in Canada this year?

00:20:13.020 Blue Jays.

00:20:13.940 The Blue Jays, and it's coast to coast.

00:20:16.680 There were people watching it in Nunavut, in Tolfino, B.C., in Gander, Newfoundland, and all points in between.

00:20:25.560 And the number one Google search item in Canada this year was the Toronto Blue Jays.

00:20:29.900 If you want to find the Patriot and somebody asks them, do you want L.A. or the Blue Jays?

00:20:33.900 Oh.

00:20:34.460 Oh, you're Canadian. 0.99

00:20:35.540 Okay, well done.

00:20:36.240 First of all, they beat the Yankees to get to the World Series, which was amazing.

00:20:40.400 And then they played the Dodgers, and what some people say is one of the greatest seven-game series in the history of the World Series.

00:20:46.820 And, I mean, already people are...

00:20:49.240 It's not even the end of the year.

00:20:50.720 They don't start playing regular season games until the end of March.

00:20:53.080 They're like, well, I've got to see the Blue Jays.

00:20:54.780 They're already talking about it.

00:20:55.720 Oh, everybody is just stoked for another season, for sure.

00:21:00.680 Let's move on.

00:21:01.700 This one made me laugh.

00:21:02.680 Under Environment and Climate Action, we had the strongest methane reduction framework ever introduced in Canada.

00:21:10.320 And if that sounds boring to you, trust me, it smells just as boring.

00:21:16.460 New federal methane rules target up to 75% emissions reduction from oil and gas in 2012 levels and most aggressive standard to date.

00:21:26.580 Now, here's something interesting.

00:21:27.860 What I didn't find was the results from carbon reduction.

00:21:33.780 Let me just see.

00:21:34.480 Oh, God.

00:21:35.500 No, it didn't.

00:21:36.020 But methane is more dangerous, so it is good.

00:21:39.080 You know, the cost to do this is substantial, right?

00:21:42.180 Yeah.

00:21:42.280 This is a $14 billion program that's going to cost basically over five to seven years.

00:21:49.100 They announced it the other day, right?

00:21:51.180 It's a good move.

00:21:52.380 If the oil and gas companies can do it, so that's the good thing, the cost is going to be high.

00:22:00.480 Right.

00:22:00.660 So it's one of those things that it's getting a little bit of a, ah, because quite frankly, they already are getting, you know, between tanker bans and carbon taxes.

00:22:10.980 They already have some challenges, and now they're putting this on.

00:22:14.260 So I think it's a good thing.

00:22:16.580 I think if you relax the carbon and go after the methane, I do believe that's a good step.

00:22:21.580 I think they have some work to do, but I think it's a good move.

00:22:25.220 I just, gentlemen, my thing is we as Canadians, even if you're not all in on the environment, have done our part as much as we can for the earth, for the environment, for nature.

00:22:36.900 I just wish Russia and China and India and some of these other high-polluting countries would do a fraction of what we would do, and it would make the earth a better place, because we're doing so much as a country and putting in rules to make us do even more.

00:22:51.260 And then at the same time, I'm seeing these other nations do nothing.

00:22:54.500 It is highly frustrating.

00:22:56.080 Your message is out to the world.

00:22:57.940 I'm sure that one of those leaders is tuned in today.

00:23:01.420 I was convincing, Jim.

00:23:02.820 I think you'll have turned them around.

00:23:04.120 And that's the Elon Musk argument, right?

00:23:05.700 It doesn't matter anymore.

00:23:06.900 So, quite frankly, if they don't come aboard, you know, and that, as he just said, you know, it's not, quite frankly, it's not as critical an issue as we thought.

00:23:15.160 You know, I think that's what everyone's come to conclusion.

00:23:18.220 But also, you know, if you don't get the big countries with the big populations to come aboard, then, you know, countries like Canada aren't going to make it.

00:23:27.920 Come on, we've got the most trees.

00:23:29.500 We're already giving the world the most oxygen.

00:23:31.160 Somebody else handle this carbon thing.

00:23:33.280 The airline industry basically has instituted rules.

00:23:35.540 So, all the engines for the commercial airliners have to meet certain environmental standards.

00:23:41.000 Cars have strict environmental standards.

00:23:43.380 You know, we've electric buses, electric trains, this and that.

00:23:47.700 We have done.

00:23:49.000 I don't know how much work we can do that when now we need help from other countries to follow our lead.

00:23:54.380 Agreed.

00:23:54.620 By the way, you can go to tplmedia.ca and get your Go After the Methane t-shirt.

00:24:01.440 Get After the Methane.

00:24:02.540 With a cow on there. 1.00

00:24:04.320 But to Jim's point, you know, my note on this was we have regulated ourselves into the best job we can possibly do.

00:24:12.080 Economy and finance.

00:24:13.220 Canada remained among the world's top 10 economies by nominal GDP.

00:24:19.200 Paul, over you.

00:24:20.800 What are your thoughts on this year?

00:24:22.020 Is there money?

00:24:23.160 Yeah, yeah.

00:24:23.640 No, we did, right?

00:24:25.180 And GDP per capita, we're still strong.

00:24:29.220 You know, we're starting to slip.

00:24:31.160 That's the challenge, right?

00:24:32.800 As our productivity goes down, our GDP is starting to slip a little.

00:24:38.020 So, that's the biggest complaint or criticism right now is we've got to become more productive.

00:24:44.000 But, you know, we still remain in the top 10, which is great, ahead of a lot of countries, which we have to give accolades where they're due.

00:24:55.560 And, you know, we have stayed in that top 10 strata.

00:24:59.120 It's interesting because, as you know, Franco Teresano joins us on occasion.

00:25:04.360 He's got a fire in his belly about, you know, spending here.

00:25:09.140 Obviously, that's his job with the Federation of Taxpayers, Canadian Federation of Taxpayers.

00:25:14.460 But in our discussion, one of the things that we were talking about was a cost of living crisis, which I do believe that we, I personally believe we're in.

00:25:23.000 The government has not called it that.

00:25:25.420 But things like the TSX delivering gains makes it a lot easier for us to make a basis rebound.

00:25:32.180 Energy and financials were the big wins for us.

00:25:36.640 We don't manufacture anything.

00:25:38.520 We do all right with our finance and energy.

00:25:42.340 But it did manage to keep us in the top 10, which gave us, this is going to sound crazy, economic stability, where there's a bunch of countries right now that are really, really struggling going into the holidays with a cost of living crisis beyond ours.

00:25:59.280 And how much credit does Mark Carney, with four decades of experience in finance and investment funds and big business and huge companies and understanding what it takes to be productive in different economic climates?

00:26:14.840 Maybe, I don't care what you think about the man.

00:26:17.420 He could, at this time, with everything going on, this expertise, this depth of knowledge, this wealth of knowledge, and this kind of big picture business is paying dividends for the country.

00:26:27.740 I just agree, Jim.

00:26:28.880 I just, you know, I just wish right now.

00:26:31.080 So I think it's a good move for the major products.

00:26:33.300 You know, a lot of mining projects on the deck.

00:26:35.720 Yeah, we're trying to do LNG.

00:26:37.720 We've got to get this pipeline to resolve.

00:26:40.600 And quite frankly, we need to value more Canadian ownership.

00:26:46.940 I think that's where we're losing it a little bit.

00:26:48.640 I think when he announces these projects, I look at it and I think to myself, is this just another project for another country?

00:26:54.340 Are we just subbing out our resources?

00:26:56.640 Are we giving away?

00:26:57.400 And I think that's a mistake we've got to really look to correct in the upcoming year.

00:27:02.960 But, you know, to your point, we've managed through this year, right?

00:27:07.840 We're not tilting like a lot of other countries.

00:27:10.920 So, you know, hats off.

00:27:12.700 Yeah, absolutely.

00:27:14.000 Credit there.

00:27:14.700 By the way, Jim, I thought this would be fun.

00:27:16.640 You be the reporter.

00:27:17.700 I'll be Mark Carney.

00:27:18.420 Go ahead.

00:27:18.740 Ask any question.

00:27:19.520 Well, Mark, I want to ask.

00:27:20.920 You're fired.

00:27:23.640 So, I think that that's quite important.

00:27:26.620 Poor Rosie Bart just tried to get a question in. 1.00

00:27:28.960 Who would love her? 0.76

00:27:30.240 She's still letting us say the question.

00:27:32.260 I don't know if you saw that, but it did make me laugh really hard.

00:27:35.200 She, you know, she asked it a couple of times for her credit.

00:27:38.320 But she's no longer employed, and she lost her line at the table.

00:27:43.740 On to the next thing, which kind of ties into the economy, of course, is employment and workforce.

00:27:48.860 We had a labor workforce reached the largest in Canadian history.

00:27:54.280 How much of that is part-time?

00:27:55.540 How much is full-time?

00:27:56.520 That's my only question.

00:27:58.460 It's a big part-time.

00:27:59.300 It's increased mostly on the part-time component.

00:28:01.700 And quite frankly, immigration has been the driver for it, right? 0.98

00:28:04.720 Okay.

00:28:04.960 Because we had more people immigrate to Canada.

00:28:07.200 What they dropped into the labor force in a part-time capacity, a lot of students and everything else.

00:28:12.800 Well, also, it changed the labor force from full-time and full-contract to several part-time

00:28:19.940 and easier ways to manage financially for these companies, not necessarily great for the employees.

00:28:26.000 Right.

00:28:26.300 And we are going through a huge demographic shift with our baby boomers dropping out.

00:28:30.880 You know, over the next five years, you know, they're calling it an economic tsunami that we have to manage through

00:28:37.220 as they leave the workforce, as they retire, you know, in the last decade of their...

00:28:43.280 Economic in that the country has to pay for their pensions and stuff like that, or...

00:28:47.340 Economic, and then it's a what will happen to the wealth transfer.

00:28:50.420 So that's a really kind of delicate...

00:28:52.460 Okay.

00:28:52.760 It's a delicate conversation that Canadians need to talk about more.

00:28:55.720 Absolutely.

00:28:56.140 And you're seeing it a little bit, you know, as we're talking on housing shows,

00:28:59.840 as people are leaving the major cities because they're retiring,

00:29:03.380 they're deciding to get a lower cost of living, to Mike's point.

00:29:07.380 They're leaving, they're going to other places,

00:29:09.540 they're getting ready to transfer whatever wealth they have.

00:29:12.220 And how's that going to happen?

00:29:14.020 And is it going to stay in the country?

00:29:16.580 And that's kind of the challenge because the next generation of their families 1.00

00:29:21.560 are making decisions on whether they want to take that wealth and keep it here.

00:29:26.040 Interesting.

00:29:26.580 There's trillions of dollars.

00:29:27.640 Like this is, we're doing a show in the next week.

00:29:29.900 There's trillions of dollars sitting on the table.

00:29:31.820 And where people decide to take it is now becoming a critical issue

00:29:35.440 because that generation, of course, you know, made up,

00:29:38.740 I think it's 20% of them made up almost 70% of the wealth in Canada.

00:29:44.460 Wow.

00:29:44.620 So that's a huge component of wealth transfer that's about to happen.

00:29:47.840 I know our neighbours, and we're just north of the Toronto area,

00:29:51.540 they moved to New Brunswick.

00:29:52.900 They sold and bought a sort of a rural place outside of Moncton

00:29:57.940 with a big plot of land, so they decided to go to New Brunswick.

00:30:02.400 And that is the people going out west or...

00:30:05.060 Oh, boom.

00:30:05.780 Yeah.

00:30:06.100 Boom.

00:30:06.520 Yeah, big time.

00:30:07.620 Guys, I can't tell you the number of people that I saw making a permanent move

00:30:11.080 to Mexico when I was heading down there.

00:30:13.720 Oh, is that right?

00:30:14.180 Oh, yeah.

00:30:14.640 It's a really big thing.

00:30:15.980 And to Paul's point, there's not a lot of, I mean,

00:30:21.440 inheritance tax, luxury taxes.

00:30:24.400 When somebody inherits this or their family wants to spread this wealth,

00:30:28.340 there's not a lot of inspiration to keep it here in Canada.

00:30:31.220 It can be very costly to your bottom line, your wealth overall, to do that.

00:30:36.580 Maybe it's time that we had a few accommodations

00:30:38.960 that reached the average Canadian with some wealth

00:30:41.860 and allowed them to keep it here in some fashion.

00:30:44.680 You inherit the money, spend it here, you get a break on...

00:30:47.920 Yeah.

00:30:48.840 Well, that seems to be a win-win, right?

00:30:50.500 You inherit, take it out of the country, you're taxed on it.

00:30:52.860 Right.

00:30:53.060 That seems to be, and many countries do it that way.

00:30:57.080 Well, we saw Chris, you know, did the real estate show.

00:30:59.620 You know, he's transitioning his life as he gets older right now to Mexico.

00:31:03.580 Yeah.

00:31:03.960 And he, you know, he was talking about why and how it made sense

00:31:06.840 and how economically he couldn't compare the two.

00:31:10.080 Well, I...

00:31:10.540 And it made, to me, it made total sense.

00:31:12.220 You know, I love his book.

00:31:13.560 His book is amazing.

00:31:14.480 And going through his book and then talking to him later

00:31:17.020 about his kind of shift as he lives, you know, three months in Mexico now.

00:31:21.420 He's, you know, forming a new development down there.

00:31:24.240 It's really cool.

00:31:25.260 Sorry, Paul.

00:31:25.620 I had heard stories, I don't know if you had heard them too,

00:31:28.040 that certain European countries are inviting people to come from North America.

00:31:32.900 For a dollar, you can live in a small town in Italy or Scotland

00:31:37.140 or these European countries as long as you settle there 0.90

00:31:39.620 and put some money into the community.

00:31:41.140 Yeah, I think you've got three years to kind of settle in that area.

00:31:43.640 Yeah, but Italy is doing it in a big way because they have such an aging population.

00:31:48.100 Yeah, yeah.

00:31:48.460 The transfer of wealth has occurred.

00:31:50.000 And the transfer of wealth there apparently is not as drastic or as huge as ours

00:31:57.600 because they have so many generations in the same home, on the same property,

00:32:03.560 you know, accessing the same wealth pool.

00:32:06.400 But they have an aging population that's not replacing people that are vital to their society.

00:32:12.240 You know, immigration and population growth.

00:32:14.520 We had the fastest population growth rate in the G7.

00:32:20.040 Yeah, by a lot.

00:32:21.540 Yeah, a million people in a single year, permanent and temporary residents,

00:32:25.400 the highest annual growth rate since we started keeping records.

00:32:29.040 Well, and the only time, just I think a few days ago,

00:32:32.200 the stats can said there was a minute dip because of the reduction in immigration and foreign students.

00:32:39.200 But all in all, I think the last number was 41.57 million people in Canada.

00:32:45.100 And it wasn't that long ago.

00:32:46.340 We were just at about 35, 36.

00:32:48.520 And it just seemed like overnight we were over 40.

00:32:50.540 Like, what did that happen?

00:32:51.200 Why does 26 stick in my head?

00:32:53.360 Like, time doesn't move.

00:32:55.280 Sorry, I'm not going to throw out a conspiracy theory that you actually tell me.

00:32:58.660 Oh, we love to get hit at it.

00:32:59.620 No, that's the people we record.

00:33:02.220 Oh, okay.

00:33:04.200 Right.

00:33:04.600 That's not, that's no, no, I truly believe.

00:33:06.900 And this is, and if you really dug into it and you were, you know, you did one of those head counts.

00:33:11.200 Yeah.

00:33:11.760 You would find way more.

00:33:13.220 Yeah.

00:33:13.680 I personally believe several people are sharing an ID in this country.

00:33:17.600 Yeah.

00:33:17.860 I think there's.

00:33:18.600 So you might be what, 43, 44 million?

00:33:20.700 There's millions sharing equal IDs.

00:33:23.140 Okay.

00:33:23.600 Interesting.

00:33:24.000 And I think we don't do a good job of tracking that or paying attention.

00:33:27.700 And that, that's going to become a bigger issue.

00:33:30.480 Well, that's funny because the reason this becomes a big issue, it's, it, it may be something

00:33:34.820 to brag about, but certainly what it is, is worth looking at because, uh, you know, every,

00:33:41.360 by every measure that I found out there, when I was looking at population growth, we kind

00:33:45.540 of, we kind of blew it because we didn't have the infrastructure.

00:33:48.500 We didn't have the jobs.

00:33:49.400 We didn't have the need.

00:33:50.680 Uh, you know, there was, it, we're still trying to catch up.

00:33:53.920 Oh yeah.

00:33:54.480 Yeah.

00:33:54.640 That's why we slowed it down.

00:33:56.120 We dialed to your point, Jim, we dialed it down significantly.

00:33:58.560 So we said, okay, stop.

00:34:00.180 We shut all the, you know, these universities and colleges that popped up all closed.

00:34:04.640 Yeah.

00:34:05.060 We shut the students down.

00:34:06.500 We, we shut the PR programs down.

00:34:09.040 We just, you know, immigration policy in Canada has been horrendous because it was an open 1.00

00:34:14.960 gate in many ways.

00:34:15.820 Yeah.

00:34:16.060 One day we go open her up.

00:34:17.500 The other day we shut her down the other day, like, you know, following the shows in

00:34:21.460 the last six months, open, shut, open, shut, open, shut.

00:34:26.080 The near shows we do are like literally we're doing a near show on immigration, which I love

00:34:30.820 doing, but like the same day we're doing one, he's announcing a new policy on the show.

00:34:36.380 Like it's almost so that if you're, if you're a new immigrant to Canada right now, you literally

00:34:41.540 on your phone, you're dialed in.

00:34:43.900 I can't remember the site, but they all look at the same site and they wait for the announcements

00:34:47.960 on a daily basis.

00:34:49.880 And they hop in.

00:34:50.900 How many points do I need to be, uh, to get a really presence?

00:34:54.320 What do I need to do?

00:34:55.320 And it literally like, they'll go, okay, this month they're doing the lottery to see if

00:34:59.280 you get in and you need 505.

00:35:01.620 Like they literally do it on a daily basis and they all sit there and look at it.

00:35:05.260 So when the first thing most of them do when they get up is actually go to the site and

00:35:09.300 they actually see where they stand.

00:35:10.600 We'll see what the new rule is.

00:35:11.720 Yeah.

00:35:13.060 Yeah.

00:35:13.440 That's, that's how there's a new rule.

00:35:15.260 Do my points count?

00:35:16.140 How many more points do I need?

00:35:17.340 So I'm the mayor of Brandon Manitoba where I'm the mayor.

00:35:20.680 And all of a sudden these rules are changing.

00:35:26.600 You're like, all of a sudden I got an influx of new people.

00:35:30.020 How do we like, and then they, they are, all these towns aren't built with the infrastructure

00:35:34.960 to handle all this increase.

00:35:36.260 And then you get going on the infrastructure and by the time you get going, they've changed

00:35:40.100 the policy and they're leaving again.

00:35:41.760 Right.

00:35:42.100 So all of a sudden you change all your policy directives to meet the increasing immigration 0.95

00:35:46.140 load that's happening on your city.

00:35:48.580 Next thing you know, you're switching up because they're leaving again, which is, uh, what's

00:35:52.200 it?

00:35:52.680 The college this morning.

00:35:54.440 Conestoga.

00:35:55.000 Conestoga.

00:35:55.600 Right.

00:35:56.100 Yes.

00:35:56.500 How many thousand, uh, people were they?

00:35:59.680 I think it's 3000.

00:36:00.580 Well, that's, that's because don't forget the catalyst to get in the country guys is

00:36:04.940 to be a student.

00:36:05.640 So when those, when the rules change on that, the colleges are going to dry up.

00:36:11.140 I think that was one of the first things that we thought about, right?

00:36:13.540 Was, uh, the other thing that, that comes up is immigration is a primary driver of national

00:36:18.300 growth and labor supply.

00:36:20.060 We have the largest labor supply available on earth.

00:36:22.880 However, to Paul's point, we're not making anything.

00:36:26.640 Um, no, so that's the, well, it was supposed to be, which didn't turn out that well.

00:36:32.540 Don't want to get into the details, the gory details of it, but we created all these labor

00:36:36.700 training programs, which turned out to be just bananas crazy.

00:36:40.860 So, and, uh, we didn't spend the money properly.

00:36:43.520 We didn't train the people for the, for the jobs requires.

00:36:46.700 And that is, you know, again, brought it up many times.

00:36:49.360 That's where countries like China and other countries do a really good job at figuring out

00:36:54.240 the, uh, direction of their country and training people to do the things they need to do to

00:36:59.660 take the country in a direction.

00:37:01.120 And that is leadership, right?

00:37:02.620 That's kind of figuring out, you know, if you're going to be a mining country, then you

00:37:06.500 better go produce people who, you know, know how to use heavy equipment.

00:37:10.480 You better get mechanics for heavy equipment.

00:37:12.740 You better, like, those are the things you got to train because quite frankly, when you're

00:37:16.200 pushing those new immigrants up north, they all have to be trained to do that. 1.00

00:37:19.980 And I think the U S China, China better than U S right now, but they do a really good job

00:37:24.900 of that.

00:37:25.160 Like they figure out their strategic, uh, directions, their industries, and they push

00:37:29.760 people, you know, and they multipurpose these industries so that they're both

00:37:33.600 def national defense and corporate ring of fire highway.

00:37:37.920 They're building a far Northern Ontario, which is a provincial federal consortium.

00:37:42.180 Yeah.

00:37:42.780 Think about the logistics of building that highway north of well, north of Thunder Bay.

00:37:47.240 And then, as you say, all the specialized heavy equipment to extract the mineral.

00:37:52.240 Like it, it's a massive undertaking right in a, in a climate where right now, tell you

00:37:56.860 the truth, I don't know if you guys have, you know, do you have a local mechanic?

00:38:00.740 Well, yes, I do.

00:38:01.300 Yeah.

00:38:01.480 Yeah.

00:38:01.780 A lot of people don't anymore, but quite frankly, they just go to the dealership.

00:38:05.020 They buy their car, right?

00:38:06.480 They have it under full warranty for a lot of them.

00:38:08.580 If they come, you know, depending on which company they buy from, they take it to the dealership.

00:38:13.340 They never go back.

00:38:14.160 The number of mechanics that are back in play, um, from a heavy machinery perspective,

00:38:18.660 they're all retired.

00:38:20.060 Right.

00:38:20.500 And we haven't, we haven't, we haven't filled in anyone.

00:38:23.240 Yeah.

00:38:23.420 That's where we kind of interesting.

00:38:25.000 Yeah.

00:38:25.200 I think about that highway sometimes.

00:38:26.680 And I think, boy, that's going to be expensive.

00:38:28.620 Then they add the bike lanes to it.

00:38:31.440 Rumble strips.

00:38:32.160 Yeah.

00:38:32.560 Yeah.

00:38:32.800 Yeah.

00:38:33.000 Yeah.

00:38:33.160 Yeah.

00:38:33.320 Uh, you know, the next one on my list is housing and infrastructure, but to be honest

00:38:37.160 with you, I might blow by it because the records that we broke in housing and infrastructure

00:38:44.140 are really not that flattering.

00:38:45.960 Okay.

00:38:46.360 Hundreds of thousands of units under construction nationwide, a multi-year high in infrastructure

00:38:50.980 spending.

00:38:52.040 Nothing I could put on the list allowed me to, wow.

00:38:56.600 Canada entered a sustained building phase, not seen since the 1970s, another time of

00:39:01.820 major immigration and housing shortage.

00:39:04.600 But I regret to tell you the, the stat that we broke, uh, the record on was the least people

00:39:10.740 with their own home in Canada in the history of the country.

00:39:13.820 So I'm sorry that that's not a fun stat.

00:39:16.640 No, no.

00:39:17.100 Next.

00:39:17.540 Uh, energy and natural resources.

00:39:19.920 Canada remained in the top five global energy production, uh, producers worldwide.

00:39:24.820 Uh, five, uh, top five producer of oil and natural gas.

00:39:28.600 We're the third largest hydroelectric producer.

00:39:31.080 We're great at that.

00:39:31.900 And LNG export capacity expansion is underway.

00:39:35.500 Uh, I, I put that in at the end because it's, it's hopeful.

00:39:39.260 I think we missed the market on it, to be honest with you, but yeah, we were a little late, but

00:39:43.240 they do have the one port in BC.

00:39:44.980 We're getting there.

00:39:45.520 Yeah.

00:39:45.740 It's, it's baby steps, right?

00:39:47.320 Like it's, it's starting to build.

00:39:49.040 Yeah.

00:39:49.140 We're getting there.

00:39:50.180 Uh, trade and global commerce, uh, total trade volume reached historic.

00:39:54.820 Uh, highs.

00:39:55.760 I don't know if that's a good thing, Paul.

00:39:57.560 I'd almost have to defer to you on that trillions and annual imports and exports went on.

00:40:01.980 And that was despite, uh, the, the, uh, tariffs that I don't even believe in.

00:40:07.760 Well, so remember when we'll lead up to the tariffs.

00:40:10.100 So this is kind of a funny year when you look at it, everyone's stockpiled.

00:40:14.180 Oh yeah.

00:40:14.820 So remember, we had some crazy economic figures.

00:40:17.500 So we had growth like warehouses are full to the rafters.

00:40:20.740 Exactly.

00:40:21.240 So, you know, everyone was shipping, receiving, uh, altering transfer pricing, just getting

00:40:27.300 ready for tariffs and then tariffs hit and they kept going for a while.

00:40:31.060 And then all of a sudden we've now hit where it's real.

00:40:34.080 Yeah.

00:40:34.700 So we had kind of that honeymoon period where we were seeing huge growth just because people

00:40:38.680 were getting ready.

00:40:39.580 So that's interesting.

00:40:40.940 Yeah.

00:40:41.060 We're going to ride through that.

00:40:42.380 So how does that work?

00:40:43.080 Paul, can all of those products pre-tariff that were, uh, excised or went back and forth,

00:40:48.220 we exported and imported.

00:40:49.180 Yeah.

00:40:51.100 Does that all take on the new tariff pricing?

00:40:54.980 Is that up to the seller, uh, to the consumer?

00:40:58.580 So it's void.

00:40:59.340 So it doesn't, it doesn't get hit because it came in before.

00:41:02.420 Before.

00:41:02.940 Okay.

00:41:03.320 So, you know, and now it starts to get hit.

00:41:05.340 So the mission is to have enough stock in the, in the bank so that by the time.

00:41:09.040 Look at steel.

00:41:09.840 We have tons of steel, right?

00:41:10.960 Yeah.

00:41:11.460 Yeah.

00:41:11.960 So we, we shipped in a bunch of steel from China.

00:41:14.640 We got, uh, cause we don't produce all kinds of steel.

00:41:17.120 We shipped out a bunch of aluminum.

00:41:19.080 So we did a lot of that.

00:41:20.220 So the question I have for you is how much does our weekend dollar help import exports

00:41:25.560 because people are able to make, get a bargain by coming to Canada?

00:41:29.580 Oh yeah.

00:41:29.880 It helps a lot.

00:41:30.660 Right.

00:41:30.960 And, uh, but now quite frankly, the U S is the, in the currency game, if you noticed

00:41:35.800 the U S has gotten a little smarter and they're not letting our dollar weaken as much.

00:41:40.100 So the U S is kind of, and they said that when they did tariffs, that they would actually

00:41:44.380 weaken their dollar to not allow people to undercut them.

00:41:47.840 So the U S kind of plays the dollar game really well right now.

00:41:51.180 So whereas years ago that, you know, the U S was like, you know, I'm going to keep the

00:41:55.360 strongest dollar.

00:41:56.240 The U S isn't concerned about that anymore.

00:41:58.120 There's so much, as you see, the U S dollar tends to weaken as ours goes down.

00:42:02.300 The U S dollar will come down with us.

00:42:03.700 Interesting.

00:42:04.040 I didn't realize that.

00:42:04.960 I did notice that over the summer, uh, that they, that they, they tended to follow us

00:42:10.620 one or two days, not to the same degree, but they did keep sort of a, uh, a softer follow

00:42:17.700 on us.

00:42:18.520 Yes.

00:42:18.740 Uh, if we took a sharp downturn, you would see the, the slight dip.

00:42:22.540 Steven Muir and just did a paper on it.

00:42:24.280 The head economist for the U S and they're really tracking foreign exchange rates.

00:42:28.700 So they're not going to let you drop out of the market to beat them with terror.

00:42:31.760 Interesting.

00:42:32.620 Interesting. 0.60

00:42:33.420 We're kicking ass when it comes to going to new countries, uh, pre pandemic, mainly 0.75

00:42:37.880 U S and now we're out there. 0.87

00:42:40.040 Uh, that's the one thing I can say is, uh, we've been put into a position to get out

00:42:43.820 there and start to do some trade in other countries and, and to Carney's, uh, uh, travel

00:42:48.220 log.

00:42:48.680 That's probably how a lot of that has, uh, started now.

00:42:51.680 Good thing you got a new plane.

00:42:53.220 A lot of those.

00:42:53.980 Yeah.

00:42:54.300 He's certainly broke it in next on the hit list of, uh, places where we made some, uh, global,

00:43:00.180 uh, momentum Canada, maintain global leadership and AI research density, which is a big deal.

00:43:06.500 Toronto, Waterloo and Montreal ranked among the world's top AI hubs.

00:43:11.440 And there's also pockets in Markham, Richmond Hill, north of the city.

00:43:15.460 And, uh, as you said, Montreal and other pockets of the Vancouver area where they're developing

00:43:22.160 some world-class scientists in the field of AI and utilizing AI in different applications,

00:43:28.420 whether it's business and healthcare and whatnot.

00:43:30.620 Well, this must make you feel pretty good, Paul.

00:43:32.380 We're in a country where we're not really doing too much manufacturing.

00:43:35.240 We are kind of like hitting above our weight class, I think with AI and tech at the moment.

00:43:40.400 Oh yeah.

00:43:41.040 Compared to the government's spend on AI compared to the U S is just tiny.

00:43:47.520 Like, like we do not participate where, you know, literally the U S puts billions of dollars

00:43:52.680 into, uh, research and technology for AI.

00:43:55.580 We put, I don't know, not even.

00:43:59.400 $917 million, I think was the commitment.

00:44:01.800 But that's laughable compared to America.

00:44:03.500 Compared to America.

00:44:04.220 Not a lot.

00:44:04.620 Yeah.

00:44:04.800 It's not a lot.

00:44:05.660 So, you know, it's amazing to watch what we do compared to the Americans.

00:44:10.620 And, um, but, you know, look at us.

00:44:12.760 We, we were the, you know, Blackberry, all the amazing things we did in technology.

00:44:17.260 In the early days, we did have the lead, like we were the leader in tech, you know, whether

00:44:22.400 it be phones or radar or, you know, all the cool things we did do.

00:44:27.700 Um, and we kind of lost that just because we weren't good at our IP.

00:44:31.580 I think we've gotten smarter.

00:44:32.820 I think we're doing a better job.

00:44:34.500 The government realized that they, they do a good job in actually helping companies now

00:44:38.400 with, uh, IP trademarks, all that good stuff.

00:44:41.080 They have a, a huge group up in Ottawa that deals with it.

00:44:44.480 So, so yeah, um, I think I'm very proud of what.

00:44:47.220 Absolutely.

00:44:47.820 Yeah.

00:44:48.060 Yeah.

00:44:48.420 With smaller means you're right.

00:44:50.280 We do tend to, uh, keep in there.

00:44:52.560 And this is where we should give some credit to some of the, um, universities in this country

00:44:56.780 producing young, these young men and women of elite level science, math, computer science,

00:45:03.260 physics.

00:45:03.480 It's pretty incredible.

00:45:04.680 And the new, the new immigrants. 1.00

00:45:06.440 So that's interesting because we, uh, we have done a good job with the new people coming

00:45:10.700 to Canada.

00:45:11.140 I noticed, uh, when I meet them, uh, how tech savvy they are incredible.

00:45:15.320 Yeah.

00:45:15.540 And how, how good, like they, they transition and they move into tech industries.

00:45:19.680 Interesting.

00:45:20.660 So good on that.

00:45:22.180 Excellent.

00:45:22.620 In fact, even among our own team, um, new Canadians, uh, are numerous in our tech department and

00:45:29.100 the stuff they do blows our minds.

00:45:30.960 You know, they, they have multiple tasks at any given time that are fairly major.

00:45:34.560 And they're, when we release our website and our app, which by the way is underway right

00:45:41.640 now, as you're seeing this, congratulations, go to, uh, the play store, uh, go to, uh, Apple

00:45:47.180 and, and download the app and, uh, go visit the website.

00:45:50.340 You'll see what I'm talking about.

00:45:51.520 You're right.

00:45:52.160 They come well-equipped.

00:45:53.460 This is going to make Paul McCoochie's head explode.

00:45:56.900 This could cause a fight between the two of you.

00:45:59.000 I almost don't want to bring it up.

00:46:00.500 Uh, healthcare and life sciences, uh, largest healthcare workforce ever recorded.

00:46:06.120 In fact, healthcare became Canada's largest single employment sector, 2.5 million Canadians

00:46:11.460 employed in healthcare and social assistance.

00:46:15.100 Uh, that's aging population.

00:46:17.400 Right.

00:46:17.940 So a lot of it, quite frankly.

00:46:19.620 And, uh, but you know, we do have a lot of people in healthcare, you know, we, that the

00:46:23.400 shows we've done, it's, you know, it's not for lack of people.

00:46:27.100 It's not the, it's not the challenge.

00:46:28.900 It's the allocation of dollars.

00:46:30.500 Yeah.

00:46:31.040 And how we do it.

00:46:32.000 And then we just got to get better at it.

00:46:33.640 I want to give a shout out to a doctor in the university health network, Toronto, who,

00:46:38.780 uh, groundbreaking transplant.

00:46:40.740 It was the first person to do a heart transplant with a heart that had stopped beating.

00:46:45.140 Oh, wow.

00:46:45.900 They had never done that.

00:46:46.840 So they've opened up what they feel is huge new avenues for heart transplants because

00:46:53.360 they never thought it was possible.

00:46:54.620 It always had to be a beating heart that they would transplant.

00:46:57.520 And this brilliant doctor was able to come up with the capabilities to do this.

00:47:03.340 So you have Dr. 0.99

00:47:04.980 Robbie, um, at a university health network.

00:47:07.460 When you think about some of the, and we just talked about it before we started, when it comes

00:47:11.480 to cardiac care, heart surgery, some of the, the best of the best are in this country.

00:47:16.480 Yeah.

00:47:17.000 You wouldn't, you wouldn't want to trade the doctors that you meet in this country, uh, at

00:47:21.500 the, uh, specialist level for just about anywhere in the world.

00:47:25.040 You know, they, you know, they have options, you know, you're a good cardiac surgeon and

00:47:29.780 which we have some of the world leaders, they stay here because they want to be here.

00:47:34.460 It's not because they have to be here.

00:47:35.780 They want to be here, which is, that's a nice thing that we've done that, uh, defense,

00:47:41.000 security and a global role.

00:47:43.520 Uh, how we as a nation, uh, participate on the, uh, on the global front, largest defense

00:47:49.760 modernization budget in Canadian history.

00:47:52.100 This is maybe too little too late, but it is great news for our military that is desperately

00:47:59.080 in need of retooling, uh, refunding reorganization and, uh, and, and finding new members of its,

00:48:06.880 of its, uh, force.

00:48:08.420 It's even beyond just jeeps and planes and boats and whatnot.

00:48:12.460 They just announced this week, uh, a massive infrastructure program for proper housing at

00:48:17.600 all the bases from coast to coast.

00:48:19.800 So they have proper apartments and proper housing.

00:48:22.220 Uh, so you have, you know, you, you have an uptick uptick in the amount of people trying

00:48:27.980 to get in the Canadian military.

00:48:29.080 They had an increase in the recruits year to year, 2024 to 2025.

00:48:33.780 And now with the plans in place to increase the reserves, increase the regular force and have

00:48:39.280 a supplementary reserve.

00:48:41.280 They have got many, many contracts out there.

00:48:44.200 They're about to modernize the, the rifles that the Canadian army use built at cold Canada and

00:48:49.520 Kitchener, Ontario.

00:48:50.620 So they're really utilizing Canadian manufacturing, Canadian companies for clothing, for vehicles,

00:48:58.140 for weapons and keep them in Canada.

00:49:00.180 And unfortunately it's because of what's happening in Ukraine, the modernization of a military

00:49:05.920 can't be put off any longer.

00:49:07.700 And the way battles are fought and the weapons they use, they're using $500 drones to destroy

00:49:14.120 a $10 million tank.

00:49:15.680 Well, as a nation, no matter who you are, you have to be ready for that.

00:49:19.100 They're using a $200 Chromebook to take down a financial system.

00:49:24.220 Uh, we have committed more to NORAD than we ever had.

00:49:27.440 That made me feel good.

00:49:28.460 And our Arctic surveillance and NATO readiness puts us in to play again, uh, protecting ourselves

00:49:36.020 to the North, uh, and actually maybe protecting our sovereignty in, in being, uh, cool partners

00:49:41.060 with NATO and the U S, uh, NORAD being a key player in that.

00:49:45.600 Think about a point, a big picture.

00:49:47.440 Once you're spending this kind of money and you're actually, uh, putting your mouth money

00:49:52.360 where your mouth is.

00:49:53.100 So when you go to the international stage and you're with world leaders, they're going

00:49:57.500 to listen to you.

00:49:58.280 Yeah.

00:49:58.580 It does make a difference.

00:49:59.820 Oh, it does make a difference.

00:50:00.720 And you know, how do you define a country?

00:50:02.660 You know, I've said this before on the show, you define a country by, you know, you have

00:50:07.080 an economy, you have a military.

00:50:08.760 Those are all the things that define you as a, as a country and as an economy in a country,

00:50:13.900 right?

00:50:14.640 We, we needed it.

00:50:15.680 And we were laughing at it and quite frankly, we were starting to see the effects of it

00:50:19.440 as time went on, how, you know, our nationalism in our country was dwindling because we didn't

00:50:24.740 have it.

00:50:25.080 So, you know, hats off.

00:50:26.600 I know the minister takes a lot of flack.

00:50:28.520 I think it's, um, David McGinty.

00:50:30.760 Yes, it is.

00:50:31.440 Yeah.

00:50:31.620 You know, and hats off to him.

00:50:33.080 He's, I think he's doing a good job at getting his, his head around the issues when he got the

00:50:37.800 file.

00:50:38.120 Um, and, you know, we've done shows on housing, healthcare and, you know, they're responding.

00:50:44.840 They're starting to come up with a plan and they're getting into gear.

00:50:47.360 The recruitment is starting to come around.

00:50:49.300 It was a mess that you kind of fixing.

00:50:51.080 They're really doing a good job with that.

00:50:52.420 So I think, you know, hats off to them.

00:50:54.300 And, and, uh, now the next thing, quite frankly, is as we get trained up and we figure out the

00:50:59.780 reserves is how do we celebrate it as Canadians?

00:51:03.360 So then, you know, which we haven't done in a long time and then start to bring them

00:51:08.460 out and start to do a little bit of a PR campaign.

00:51:10.740 Yes.

00:51:11.200 I think I need to do more of that.

00:51:12.620 You know, I like, you see a lot of it in the U S.

00:51:15.320 The U S motivate Americans, right?

00:51:16.980 You're at a game, you're at a game.

00:51:18.680 And, you know, during the, it feels like an infomercial.

00:51:21.360 It does during the Anthem, you know, those, the, the Navy, the army, you know, the air force,

00:51:26.340 just someone from each one standing there with flags, you know, you go, you know, they're

00:51:30.600 calling out, uh, someone who's just come back from my, uh, Iraq or during the game.

00:51:36.020 Like they're, they do a good job at celebrating their men and women of the armed forces.

00:51:40.380 We need to do a better job.

00:51:41.720 So that's the PR.

00:51:42.880 I agree.

00:51:43.360 We're missing a little bit.

00:51:44.240 That makes sense.

00:51:44.840 And unfortunately, the world, the way it is, as we look at a 2026, the fact remains, there's

00:51:51.240 going to be a country in Scandinavia, in Europe, that's going to say, Canada, we need your

00:51:56.200 help because, and so we want to be able to, as a nation to step up with equipment, with

00:52:02.060 personnel to help those people.

00:52:03.780 And that helps us in the big picture in the world stage.

00:52:06.940 Oh yeah.

00:52:07.360 Those, those men and women in Lafayette now, like you and I've talked about it, Jim, you

00:52:11.980 know, when, when that's over and they come back, like, you know, they should be celebrated

00:52:16.220 because, you know, really they were the last, uh, the last line of defense until Europe

00:52:22.620 was, uh, and they sat there knowing that, like they were, survival rate was probably

00:52:28.660 zero.

00:52:30.260 Not, not, if that, yeah, if that occurrence happened and they had the courage to actually

00:52:35.560 be there and do that.

00:52:36.700 And they're going to be there for a few more years.

00:52:38.240 Yeah.

00:52:38.660 So, no, great story.

00:52:40.960 Some records were broken and, uh, we, we sit around and we, we do analyze.

00:52:45.060 I don't know if you guys notice this as a group.

00:52:46.560 We analyze a lot of stuff, keeping an eye on it with a raised eyebrow, but it's worth raising

00:52:52.140 an eyebrow to the things that we accomplished, uh, and in 2026, uh, an eye on much, much

00:52:59.100 more.

00:52:59.740 I would be remiss of it and say, we should be proud of what we're trying to build here

00:53:04.040 a true Patriot love.

00:53:05.340 And I, the one thing I enjoy about working with everyone here on and off camera is the

00:53:10.620 fact that we also are acknowledging other people, other men and women in the country

00:53:14.180 who are doing their own thing and making a difference through media, through social

00:53:19.420 media, through their YouTube channels.

00:53:20.960 We have a lot of talent in this country and we see it end up being exported, uh, around

00:53:25.560 the world and a media in the world stage.

00:53:28.640 And whether it's reporting at foreign wars or what happened to Bondi beach in Australia,

00:53:33.940 or just talking about, you know, domestic situations, you know, we, as Canadians have created

00:53:39.900 some great journalists, great individuals, great voices for that to be heard.

00:53:44.400 Yeah.

00:53:45.400 And I'm hoping, Jim and Mike, I'm hoping as the year goes on, 2026 comes up, is coming

00:53:50.600 up.

00:53:51.000 We, people come and they tell their story.

00:53:54.000 Yes.

00:53:55.000 The joy of long form podcasting is you get to tell your story.

00:53:58.600 And as we, you know, as we contact people and we start to talk to them, the more people

00:54:03.320 get to know us, the more they're starting to come out and, you know, we're booking people

00:54:07.040 in and they're coming and telling their story.

00:54:08.720 And, you know, it, it doesn't always have to be out about a critical issue.

00:54:13.600 It can just be about your story.

00:54:14.600 And that's life.

00:54:15.600 That's what we're here for.

00:54:16.600 The Canadian story.

00:54:17.600 Yeah.

00:54:18.600 Absolutely.

00:54:19.600 And that's, that's hopefully, you know, we'll hear more of them in 2026.

00:54:22.600 And we're blessed in this country, Mike, that there are so many fascinating stories

00:54:26.400 of, and they're so different.

00:54:28.000 Each one of them.

00:54:29.000 I'm not sure we broke a world record, but we produced 200 shows in a very short period

00:54:32.860 of time.

00:54:33.860 And the crews to be thanked for that.

00:54:37.740 You guys are to be thanked for that.

00:54:39.880 And now this just moves every day.

00:54:42.600 We keep doing this every day.

00:54:44.240 There's new stories, new people, and we're proud to do it.

00:54:47.600 Uh, all right, let's, let's look back fondly, but get 2026.

00:54:51.600 Let's get it on for 2026.

00:54:53.600 Don't forget.

00:54:54.600 Don't, don't, don't feed the points that are to your cat.

00:54:56.800 It's poisonous.

00:54:57.600 Uh, and thank you for joining us over the holidays.

00:55:00.600 Subscribe.

00:55:01.600 Like and subscribe.

00:55:02.600 TPL media.ca.

00:55:04.800 Thanks so much.

00:55:05.400 We'll see you next time.

True Patriot Love - December 26, 2025

Canada’s Record-Breaking Year Explained

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