Mike Moffatt

First, AI.

Ed and Scott spoke with economist Tyler Cowen, an advisor to AI Labs who has been called the man who wants to know everything.

The skeptics say AI is overhyped and unprofitable.

Cowen isn't buying it.

The United States and Canada have spent decades building an economy neither country can easily disentangle.

But if the Trump administration expected pressure to divide Canadians, it appears to be doing the opposite.

On Wednesday's Prof G Markets, Ed spoke with Canadian economist Mike Moffatt about how this is playing out north of the border.

But I, I think Canadians are trying to take the position that we just shouldn't take the bait, right? That this is an attempt to goad us.

[soft upbeat music] That was a commentary by Kara Stern.

She hosts the Missing Middle podcast with economist Mike Moffatt.

You can read the full text of her article on our website, thehub.ca. That's it for today's edition of Hub Headlines.

We hope you enjoyed the program.

The move is payback for the 50% tariffs that Trump levied against Canada last month.

Trade talks between the two nations fell apart at the end of August, and now Mark Carney is pledging to, quote, "hit back" against Trump's bullying, quote, "dollar for dollar, rate for rate." Joining us to discuss what this escalation means for the US and for Canada, we're speaking with Mike Moffatt, Canadian economist and founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative.

Mike, it's great to see you again.

Thanks for joining us.

But is somebody gonna come around and, you know, become the, the Clement Attlee of the situation, uh, one- once the war is over? So we'll, we'll kind of see where we are 20, 30 years from now, but I think that's how he's seen, as, as the kind of steady hand, uh, who's y- you know, um, keeping us through, through this a- at a time of in- intense turmoil.

All right.

Mike Moffatt is Canadian economist and founding director at The Missing Middle Initiative.

Mike, always appreciate your time.

[upbeat music] Hey, everyone.

Today is Friday, August the 28th, and welcome to Answer Period, where Mike Moffatt and I, Kara Stern, will take your questions.

So today we're focusing on the trade war that Mark Carney...

Well, Trump kind of started it l- earlier this [laughs] week, and Mark Carney responded being like, "Yes, we are in fact in a war with them at this point, an economic trade war." Um, and we've got a few questions to kick things off, but then we wanna turn it to whatever questions are coming in from the audience.

And it made me wanna start looking into it, and that made me realize that starting a family looks very different now than it did a generation or two ago.

Demographics, hosted by Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern.

People are spending more years in school, building careers, paying off student debt, and taking longer and longer to afford a home before having kids.

So by the time many people feel they're ready, they're older, and that can come with a whole new set of challenges and costs.

Gentle density, a way of building infill that's designed to minimize opposition and maximize the benefits for existing residents, is increasingly being seen as part of the solution.

Demographics, hosted by Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern.

So cities have followed three basic paths to allow for more housing to be built.

First, they can build out, which many have been hesitant to do over the last couple of decades on both environmental grounds and the cost of building new infrastructure.