Change, Politics, and Pressure: Inside the 2025 CAO Survey
Joanne Chianello and Stacy Hushion join the podcast to discuss StrategyCorp’s 2025 Ontario Municipal Chief Administrative Officer Survey . With a municipal election a year away, longstanding pressures facing local governments and Trump-induced uncertainty, it was an interesting time to engage with CAOs to hear their views. Our guests share the Survey’s insights into the local impacts of geopolitics, incivility, strong mayor powers, and provincial-municipal relations.
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Parliament Returns as Trade War Continues to Shape Priorities
After a busy summer for the government and opposition parties, Members of Parliament are back in Ottawa for the return of the House of Commons. Between the ongoing tension with the United States, the return of Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons, and an upcoming federal budget amid a slowing economy, there will be no shortage of political and economic developments to keep an eye on this fall. Jeff Mahon joins the podcast to provide an overview of how geopolitical dynamics will influence Canadian politics and government priorities. Allyson Grant and Garry Keller also drop by to talk about what to expect from the Liberals, the Conservatives, the NDP, and the Bloc as Parliament returns.
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A Credit Rating Agency on Canadian Government Finances
Federal and provincial governments across Canada have been recording budget deficits for several years, which is raising concerns around their financial capacity in a time of heightened uncertainty. Deficits and debt can get very political with opposition parties often attacking governments on their management of public finances. However, the financial market tends to look at government finances through a different lens and focuses on the ability to repay debt obligations. Credit rating agencies play an important role in this ecosystem by rating issuers. To learn more about how credit rating agencies look at current financial situation of governments in Canada, StrategyCorp welcomed on the podcast Travis Shaw, Morningstar DBRS’ Senior Vice President & Sector Lead for Global Sovereign Ratings.
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Venture Capital and Private Equity in Canada
The current Trump-induced uncertainty is impacting every aspect of the economy, including capital flows. When it gets harder to predict economic patterns, investors become more risk-averse and companies have a harder time accessing capital. To get a better sense of the capital and funding landscape in Canada, the StrategyCorp Institute invited the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association on the podcast. Adriana Vega, VP of Government Affairs, and David Kornacki, Director of Data and Product, shared their insights on the trends in venture capital and private equity, and on the role government can play to support the sector.
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Secteur manufacturier québécois: Trump, défis et solutions
Le retour de Donald Trump à la Maison Blanche et la mise en place de tarifs douaniers créent de nombreux défis pour les entreprises manufacturières québécoises. Les taux, la portée et même l’échéancier de ces tarifs ont changé à plusieurs reprises depuis janvier. Ces revirements de situation causent beaucoup d’incertitude pour les dirigeants d’entreprise et les travailleurs. Afin de dresser un portrait de la situation dans le secteur manufacturier et de discuter des défis et des solutions, l’Institut de StrategyCorp a eu le plaisir d’accueillir Julie White, Présidente-directrice générale de Manufacturiers & Exportateurs du Québec, et Philippe Couillard, conseiller principal à StrategyCorp.
Intended Consequences is the official podcast of the StrategyCorp Institute. The podcast discusses practical provincial and Canadian policy ideas that achieve the actual goals they are designed to achieve with interesting guests and experts. The Institute aims to combine political acuity with policy recommendations to provide a one-stop shop for expert policy advice that is politically practical and possible to implement.
StrategyCorp is a Canadian advisory firm that prides itself on being at the nexus of government connectivity and smart policy thought.
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