You kind of have no choice because you want to win You want to win elections, and there's a certain type of way you win them.

Yeah.

But I would also challenge that mindset.

I actually do think that what you just said is one of the main things that is holding Canada back, is that we don't think long-term.

You look at China.

China plans in 100-year cycles, minimum, right? It's a very long-term thinking.

Now, our democracy is different, our political system is different.

Is that it?

What were some of the parameters that you really wanted to dig in on topic-wise?

yeah i mean we wanted to make this questionnaire very specific we didn't want to throw out general questions around you know high level what is your vision but we wanted to force candidates to make choices and so we asked ask questions uh on everything from road pricing to public safety uh police budget transit dollars strong mayor powers And so maybe just to pick a few of those, interestingly, 95% of candidates said that they would publish project-level budgets, schedules, and performance updates for every major capital project.

So huge agreement on that.

85% say if someone in a park encampment is offered indoor space that meets their needs, the city should require them to leave.

76% say the fix for delays and cost overruns is better project management and procurement, not fewer projects.

And 73% said yes to substantially more housing as of right in every ward, including in detached home neighborhoods.

So some incredible agreement and alignment amongst candidates on some of those big issues.

And clearly the over 60s are like, I'm just fine the way it is and I don't want anything to change.

What were some of the parameters that you really wanted to dig in on topic-wise?

Yeah, I mean, we wanted to make this questionnaire very specific.

We didn't want to throw out general questions around, you know, high level, what is your vision? But we wanted to force candidates to make choices.

And so we asked questions on everything from road pricing to public safety, police budget, transit dollars, strong mayor powers.

And so maybe just to pick a few of those, interestingly, 95% of candidates said that they would publish project-level budgets, schedules, and performance updates for every major capital project.

So huge agreement on that.

85% say if someone in a park encampment is offered indoor space that meets their needs, the city should require them to leave.

And clearly the over 60s are like, I'm just fine the way it is and I don't want anything to change.

Explain to our audience, who just may not be as business savvy, uh, i- i- just how critical that is and what a massive, massive move that is to make us more competitive.

Yeah, th- I mean, this is an incredible move.

It's a big move.

It essentially lets a company write off a new machine or software, um, you know, many types of capital expenses, the year that it buys it, um, instead of over time.

And the announcement earlier this week also made this deduction permanent.

Um, and effectively, what it means is that the marginal effective tax rate on new investment drops to the lowest in the G7.

It's important to, uh, remember that this isn't the corporate tax rate we're talking about.

[laughs]

What would you say to someone who's skeptical about AI and kind of doesn't believe in its impact? Where do you think, what do you think they need to hear?

there's two things that come to mind.

One is they need to hear from leaders, and I'm not just talking about political leaders, I'm talking about like corporate leaders, like leaders just in, people who hold leadership positions in society, that those people are leaning in and excited about it and trying to do different things with the AI tools that are available.

There's this great clip of this minister in Singapore who is the minister responsible for...

I'm going to not get his title correct, but it's a minister who essentially is responsible for innovation.

And...

He went on stage in Singapore a few weeks ago and basically told everyone that he has built his own AI bot using Claude.

flawed.

That's a completely separate thing.

That is a separate thing.

Thanks so much for having me on, Ben.

Tell me what Build Canada is.

Build Canada, not Build Canada Homes.

Build Canada is a nonpartisan, mission-driven movement focused on making Canada the most prosperous country in the world.

So we've been around for almost a year, and we started out by sharing actionable, bold policy memos from Canada's leading entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs.

But they're benefiting, I think, from – things were so bad that even a small change is being – We're heralding it as the most wonderful thing when – it's just good because everything else before was so bad.