In this special episode, recorded live at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s AGM and Convention, host Marwa Abdou speaks with Minh Tri Dang, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Finance at Wilson, and Karla Congson, CEO and Founder of Agentiiv, about the intersection of work, leadership, and innovation at a critical moment for Canada’s economy.

Technology is advancing faster than our ability to build the skills and leadership models needed to use it well. Nowhere is this more evident than in the rise of AI. Organizations that treat AI as a simple technological upgrade, rather than a shift in culture and capability, will struggle to remain competitive in a market that rewards adaptability, not just adoption.

Marwa, Minh, and Karla examine what this means on the ground. They explore how the labour market is already being reshaped, and why the decline in entry-level roles is creating broken rungs in the career ladder. The traditional pathways that once helped young workers gain experience are narrowing, and the implications for opportunity and mobility are significant.

All three agree on one thing: Canada needs a coordinated national workforce strategy that connects skills, innovation, and inclusion. Without it, the country risks falling behind at a time when the pace of change is accelerating.

Links
- Canadian Labour & Staffing Journal
- Agentiiv

Taxes shape more than government revenue. They shape trust. In this episode, host Marwa Abdou sits down with Heather Scoffield, founding CEO of the Canadian Tax Observatory, to explore how Canada’s tax and fiscal systems influence the country’s ability to build, grow and compete.

Together, they unpack the tensions inside the 2025 Federal Budget, from the renewed focus on large-scale capital projects to the difficult choices around fiscal discipline, human capital, and long-term productivity. Heather explains why a modern industrial strategy must include people as much as physical infrastructure, and why simplifying parts of Canada’s tax system could strengthen the relationship between taxpayers and government.

This conversation goes beyond line items and budget tables. It is a look at how Canada funds its ambitions, how those decisions affect households and businesses, and what a credible, sustainable path to shared prosperity might require.

Links
- Heather Scoffield
- Bricks and mortar build out the federal balance sheet
- Canadian Tax Observatory

Canada’s immigration system isn’t one program; it’s an entire architecture. A maze of pathways, permits, and policies that shape who gets in, who gets to work, and who gets to stay.

In this episode, host Marwa Abdou sits down with Dr. Mikal Skuterud, Professor of Economics at the University of Waterloo, and one of Canada’s leading labour economists, to unpack what he calls the country’s two-step system, where people arrive on temporary status before transitioning, often uncertainly, to permanent residency. Together, they explore the unintended consequences of a capless temporary system that neither fulfills the promise of permanence made to immigrants nor strategically addresses Canada’s deeper economic gaps.

Their conversation challenges a familiar narrative: That immigration success can be measured by sheer numbers or GDP growth alone. Instead, they argue that immigration policy should be guided by a different goal — higher living standards for everyone. That means aligning inflows with investment in housing, healthcare and productivity, and ensuring immigration fuels tomorrow’s innovation rather than simply today’s labour shortages.

This is an episode about recalibrating ambition and rethinking how Canada’s immigration system can match the scale of its promise.

Links
- Mikal Skuterud, University of Waterloo
- Mikal Skuterud, C.D. Howe Institute
- A Realistic Strategy to Wean Canadian Businesses Off Low-Skill Foreign Labour
- The Growing Data Gap on Canada’s Temporary Resident Workforce
- Optimizing Immigration for Economic Growth by Matthew Doyle, Mikal Skuterud, and Christopher Worswick
- The economic case against low-wage temporary foreign workers by Fabian Lange, Mkal Skutrud & Christopher Worswick, IRPP

Other Resources:
- Are Immigrants Particularly Entrepreneurial? Policy Lessons from a Selective Immigration System by David Green
- How does increasing immigration affect the economy?
- From Roots to Routes: Immigrant Entrepreneurs and How they are Shaping Canada’s Trade Future
- Trends in education–occupation mismatch among recent immigrants with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 2001 to 2021
- Canada is Wasting the Talents of its Skilled Immigrants