Conversations That Matter

Ep 446 - Can data help at-risk youth?  Guest: Bill Warburton By Stuart McNish   Can “a scientific approach to addressing social issues using administrative data” improve outcomes in education, health, social services and crime? That is the hypothesis of a new paper published by four distinguished Canadian economists. The authors say there is a “relationship between measures of secondary educational attainment and indicators of poor outcome later in life. Poor outcomes are seen to primarily manifest among high school dropouts.”   One of the authors of the paper, Bill Warburton, says that, “By using data, we can identify 2,000 students in a given year that are at extreme risk of having poor educational outcomes.” Warburton goes on to say, “The earlier we can identify these students, the earlier we can provide them with the specific resources they need to dramatically improve the likelihood of graduating from high school.”   The paper boldly states the challenge: “At first blush, the solution seems clear: govern

Ep 445 - Purpose and how it works Guest: Jade Simmons By Stuart McNish   The world as you knew it has been upended. First, by the pandemic; and now emerging from lockdown, what you thought was going to be a return to your old life isn’t happening – and it's not going to. Jade Simmons knows all too well that life does not unfold the way you hope it will. She says, “You have to know what you want and where to find it.”   Simmons says, “Finding purpose in life isn’t easy. It’s not a formula that you pick up on the internet and suddenly realize this is what my life is about. It takes work and it takes the right kind of work.”  Simmons knows this – she is a highly-regarded concert pianist and sought-after professional speaker who, one day, said: "I need to shift my focus, I need to shake it up and find my true calling.”   “People are leaving their jobs, changing careers, starting businesses and ministries, often taking bold leaps,” says Simmons. She continues, “I remixed my careers in classical music and professio

Ep 444  - Grey Zone Warfare Guest: Calvin Chrustie By Stuart McNish   According to “On Track,'' the magazine published by the CDA (Conference of Defence Associations) Institute,  “hybrid warfare,” also known as grey zone conflict or unrestricted warfare, is a real and present danger.   “On Track” states that “these are just three terms used to describe the same phenomenon – multi-faceted attacks against a country that have serious implications for its national security and defence institutions. They may include military elements, but may also be mounted using cyber tools, public and commercial corruption, weaponization of legal systems, transnational organized crime, and disinformation campaigns, along with a host of other methods. Effective responses will demand an unprecedented level of cooperation between military, intelligence, cyber and other security experts in partnership with experts in the management of conflict in business, legal and public settings.”   Critical risk expert Calvin Chrustie points ou

Ep 443  - Monitoring the Ocean in Real-Time Guest: Dr. Scott Beatty By Stuart McNish   The odds are good that you live on the coast. In Canada, according to Natural Resources Canada, 38.3 percent of us live within 20 kilometres of the coast. In the US, more than 52 percent live within miles of the coast. What happens on the waters that lap against our shores matters. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, “we rely on our oceans for food, jobs, [and] clean air. Our social fabric is woven into the vast history of maritime and indigenous traditions.”   What happens at sea is, however, a mystery. Key to understanding what is happening along the vast coastline is data – real-time data. Not just modelling or satellite imagery – real data gathered from the ocean and beamed up in real-time. Enter Victoria-based MarineLabs’ “CoastAware” ocean buoys that are now providing critical information to ships’ captains, coastal communities, port authorities and governments.   Data that helps to ensure safe passage, data tha

Ep 442  - What is Putin’s End Game? Guest: John Stufflebeem By Stuart McNish   The one-year mark of the invasion of Ukraine has come and we’ve sailed past it with no end in sight. Vice Admiral (Ret) of the US Navy John Stufflebeem says, “Putin continues to ramp up pressure by withdrawing from the New START treaty, implying he's getting closer to going nuclear.”   Stufflebeem says, “For as long as Putin remains in power, he will continue his ‘military operation’ of defending Russia and use it to work to exhaust and destroy American and NATO resolve and weapons.” Stufflebeem goes on to say, “The Russian leader is throwing many more bodies at the front than the allied forces have bullets to shoot back with.”   As a result, Stufflebeem says, “There are two threats at work. First: Putin’s goal of breaking up NATO, which has the Polish government so nervous they will be next, that they’re offering to build a substantial US military base in Poland.” The second threat, Stufflebeem says, is in Asia: “Premier Xi of Chi

Ep 441  - Our Digital Technology Supercluster Guest: Sue Paish   In space, a supercluster forms massive structures of galaxies called filaments or supercluster complexes. Here in British Columbia, the Canadian digital supercluster was designed to build networks of “big and small tech companies to develop, scale and unleash digital technology breakthroughs,” says Sue Paish, the CEO of the Digital Technology Supercluster.   The initiative is a joint Canadian government and member collective that was designed to bring together business, academia, community and government agencies to work on and solve some of our biggest challenges. Paish says, “We have more than 1100 members and growing, who are dedicated to advancing net-zero technologies, securing food supply chains, building a healthier Canada and developing a skilled workforce.”   Since its inception, the digital supercluster has supported over 490 projects that are valued at more than $3.5 billion, a number that includes more than 80 COVID-19 response proje

Ep 440  - Surviving the Tech Layoffs Guest: Brian Pulliam   Tech layoffs have been making the headlines. The numbers are staggering, according to TrueUp’s tech layoff tracker. In 2022, through more than 1,400 rounds of layoffs, 220,000 people lost their jobs. And the layoffs continued through January this year, where another 107,000 people were let go. Then in February, the layoffs carried on, and another 35,000 people were shown the door.   The emotional and financial impact is devastating, especially considering the unprecedented growth in the sector between 2008 and now. People hired in 2009 experienced “eleven years of summer,” says Brian Pulliam of Refactor Coaching. He goes on to say, “Don’t lament the loss of your job despite the punch in the gut that it feels like. Refocus and find a new and better path.”   For some, that may seem insensitive. But Pulliam explains, “For many in the tech sector, they are in golden handcuffs. They may not like their jobs, but the money is so incredible [that] they feel

Ep 439 - A Recipe for a Life Well-Lived Guest: Dr. Doug Clement   “May you live long and prosper” (“dif-tor-heh”) is an idiom from a Jewish term and is popularly attributed to Commander Spock of Star Trek. While that may be so, it is also an apt description of the life of Dr. Doug Clement.   “The questions,” asks Clement, “is how do you do both? Live long and prosper?” The average life expectancy in British Columbia is just north of 82 years. “So living long isn’t the issue,” says Clement, “but living long isn’t a guarantee [that] you will live well, especially when you cross the 60-year mark.”   According to Clement, there are a plethora of factors that contribute to wellness. He says they include “physical and mental fitness, an ongoing sense of purpose and contribution, a sufficient amount of money to alleviate financial stress, and happiness.” Clement also points to the findings of the Grant Study of Adult Development, a Harvard program that tracked the lives of 238 people between 1938 and 2000, which sta

Ep 438 - Acupuncture Guest: Dr Linda Rapson   Renowned acupuncturist Dr. Linda Rapson was the 2021 co-winner of the Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary & Alternative Medicine. The $250,000 prize is the largest of its kind and available only to work conducted in Canada. Dr. Rapson is an appropriate recipient.    Throughout her career, she has battled the establishment. From the time she entered medical school in 1965 as one of only 13 women, she has broken down barriers and, as stated on the Dr. Rogers Prize website, “swam uphill developing unfailing courage and a thick skin to ensure that her creative and caring view would reach the conservative medical community.”   In 1974, after years of compassion for her patients who were suffering from acute and chronic pain, Dr. Rapson entered the practice of acupuncture. Once again, she was a groundbreaker. She has advocated for patients' access to acupuncture, gone to battle with regulators, and worked with chiropractic, naturopathic and acupuncture

Ep 437 - The Cold & Flu Rescue Kit Guest: Dr Samuel Gutman   You feel a tickle in your throat; you notice your child snuffling; or your older parent is zapped of energy. You can’t help but wonder: COVID? Or what other respiratory disease is going to work inside your and your loved ones’ bodies? “We are all hyper-aware, just having endured three years of COVID”, says Dr. Samuel Gutman. “I was an ER doc who, for 3 decades, saw the look of fear on the faces of people who flooded emergency departments looking for answers.”   With more than six million Canadians who can’t get a family doc, patients have few choices to find answers. Gutman says, “So they come to the ER and, in doing so, they are creating another form of congestion – hours-long waits to see a doctor. And who can blame them?”   It’s not just COVID. The list of fears includes Strep A, Influenza A and B, and now RSVs – all of which are sending Canadian families to the ER. “I’ve treated patients who have waited more than 12 hours,'' says Gutman. “It

Ep 436 - Personalized Cancer Genomics Guest: Marco Marra Unlocking the genomic code of cancer – all types of cancer – is an ongoing research endeavour that, when completed, will be a great leap forward. POG is a BC Cancer, Genome BC and Terry Fox Research Institute program designed to offer personalized oncogenomic treatment to cancer patients. The program is a clinical research initiative that started in 2012. The aim is to decode the genome – the entire DNA and RNA inside the cell – of each patient’s cancer and provide that information in a way that can be a part of treatment planning and decision-making.  The POG program has and is working. Since its beginning, data sharing has been recognized as a fundamentally important component that supports and enhances local, national and international research which drives innovation and science in cancer research.  We invited Dr Marco Marra of BC Cancer to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the final frontier in defeating cancer.   Join me Feb 21 for Con

Ep 435 - British Columbia’s Forestry Woes, Explained Guest: John Brink   In December 2021, Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer penned a startling piece about British Columbia’s forest industry. His headline read, “BC forest companies expanding at a rapid pace, but not at home.” That means BC-based forest companies were and continue to invest heavily in wood product production everywhere except the home province they come from.   The flow of forestry capital out of BC is accelerating, including investments made by Canfor, which last year invested $420 million to acquire Alberta-based Millar Western Forest Products. And the rush to get out of BC continues to spiral upward; on the day of this recording, Canfor announced the closing of a pulp line in Prince George, terminating 300 jobs.   It’s not all bad news. John Brink, the founder of the Brink Group company, is a successful entrepreneur who came to Canada with the proverbial 25 cents in his pocket. He went to work at a sawmill north in the 1960s. He set his

Ep 434 - The State of Salmon in British Columbia Guest: Jason Hwang   Salmon are one of the most magnificent species that you rarely get to see, especially when they go to sea.  The migratory route from freshwater to the open expanse of the Gulf of Alaska and then back again is unparalleled. No other species travels these great distances without an overhead view – salmon travel to and from their spawning grounds, guided by some internal sonar that is remarkably precise.   Jason Hwang says, “They swim thousands of kilometres and return to the exact same spot. We still don’t fully understand how they do it. It is truly remarkable.” Over the past 100 years, their numbers have crashed. We know many of the reasons why – spawning ground disruption or destruction, coastal eel grass depletion, predators, and the science also points to impacts from open-pen fish farms. Then there is the mystery of what happens when they head out to the open ocean. Add in a changing climate and the impact is devastating on British Colu

Ep 433 - Unlocking the Magic of Probiotics Guest  - Dr. Gregor Reid   In 1983, Dr. Gregor Reid had a wild and crazy idea. He pondered, “Is lactobacilli bacteria good for your health?” It was an idea that was years ahead of its time. Back then, probiotics didn’t exist. No one thought of or considered the microbiome – in fact, the term microbiome didn’t exist. Dr. Reid faced ridicule: “Oh, I was called a whole host of names.”   Dr. Reid looked over the horizon and around the corner of history, and foresaw the use of beneficial microbes to treat and prevent disease. He has been proven to be right and, in doing so, provided a strong vision for the evolution of the field.   From what was an idea, a worldwide industry has evolved. As of 2021, the probiotics field is estimated to generate more than $60 billion annually and it has spanned the development of multiple products that are available and in use around the world.   We invited Dr. Gregor Reid, the 2021 Dr. Rogers Prize co-winner, to join us for a Conversation

Dec 30, 2022 Ep 432 - A Wicked Problem Guest: Douglas Todd   In his book, “White Angel,”  John MacLachlan Gray describes the Vancouver of the 1920s as “a dirty, smelly, corrupt hellhole.” Anyone who passes through the Downtown Eastside of the city today might wonder if he was referring to 2020 – an unfortunate consideration because, in 2008, then-mayor Gregor Roberstson promised to end homelessness.   When Robertson left office, the Vancouver Sun reported that “tent-city organizers said that they ‘savour Gregor’s resignation and the humiliating end of Vision Vancouver.” When he left office, there were 2,181 homeless people in Vancouver. Today, it is difficult to know the exact number because for the second year in a row, the City of Vancouver cancelled its homeless count.  No matter the number, the situation is worse.   As Douglas Todd, a senior Vancouver Sun journalist, wrote in a recent opinion piece, “It’s impossible to find someone who doesn’t feel compassion for the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown East

Ep 431 - The Magic, Mystery and Power of Words Guest: Jonathan Berkowitz By Stuart McNish   Words are magical things. Words, when spoken out loud in performance, can be  and often are like music. When rhythm, timber, pitch and pace are spoken aloud, they are like notes of music. Words – whether spoken, read or thought – ignite a complex series of neural circuits that bring meaning to words.   Words can be and are fun unto themselves. Pulling together a combination of words – like “cantankerous old curmudgeon” – oddly and in a contradictory way, is fun to do. Just ask Jonathan Berkowitz, the author of “The Whirl of Words and Tales from the Word Guy,” who says, “Oh yes, they are!” His love of words, he says, “comes from a home where “life was salted with stories and peppered with puns, each delivered with relish.”   He goes on to say, “Words are a part of every language.” For the purposes of this piece, the focus is on English, a global and welcoming language. Berkowitz, in a chapter of his book, called “The Bi

Ep 430 - How we can Save Plastic Guest:  Bob Masterson   Plastics are ubiquitous. You can’t go anywhere without them. Your kitchen, for example, is filled with them and most likely you don’t realize how much a part of your life they are. Turn on a light switch – the switch, the face plate, the coating around the wires are all made from plastic. Turn on the tap and drain the sink, and it is plastic that delivers the water and takes it away.  Not to mention, all of the wraps on foods that are in your fridge or pantry. And then there are the drink containers and sauces.   Bob Masterson, the President and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada says, “The overwhelming majority of plastic products last for decades because they were designed that way.” He also says, “Far too much plastic waste ends up in landfills and as litter and in water – and the industry is committed to reducing that waste.”   The industry association has launched a campaign working with producers, recyclers and organizations to re

Ep 429 - Sounding the Ambulance Alarm Guest: Troy Clifford By Stuart McNish   Imagine that a loved one in your family has fallen and hurt themselves. They can’t move. You call 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance to be sent to your home – at least, that’s what you thought was the best way to care for your cherished family member. “Now, you can’t help but wonder if an ambulance will arrive,” says Troy Clifford, the Provincial President of the Ambulance Paramedics and Dispatchers of British Columbia union.   From the streets of Vancouver to Valemount and everywhere in between, calling for an ambulance and having one arrive in a timely and life saving manner is becoming iffy. Clifford says, “It’s the service that is on life support and we’re sounding the alarm.”  Simply put, paramedics are in the business of helping people when they are having one of the worst days of their lives.   Clifford says, “It’s the system that is failing at the bureaucratic and operational levels; it’s not because our members can’t treat pati

Ep 428 - HIV/AIDS is still a Pandemic Guest: Dr Julio Montaner By Stuart McNish   In 1996, Julio Montaner hosted the Vancouver International AIDS Conference and, at the same time, shared the HAART antiretroviral treatment that he and a team of committed scientists were pioneering in Vancouver. Since then, he has pioneered the concept of Treatment as Prevention (TasP). Dr Montaner was the first person to advocate for the expansion of HAART coverage to curb the impact on the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to decrease progression to AIDS and death.   Dr Montaner says, “It’s more than that – the antiretroviral treatment is also decreasing HIV transmission”. So effective have been Dr Montaners efforts that TasP has been implemented with great success in British Columbia and it is progressively been embraced in countries around the world; in 2013, it was fully incorporated into the World Health Organization’s Consolidated ARV Guidelines.   We invited Dr Julio Montaner to join us for a Conversation That Matter about HIV/AIDS

Ep 427 - Working with Artificial Intelligence Guest: Thomas Davenport By Stuart McNish   “The world does not lack for management ideas [sic]. Thousands of researchers, practitioners, and other experts produce tens of thousands of articles, books, papers, posts, and podcasts each year. But only a scant few promise to truly move the needle on practice, and fewer still date to reach into the future of what management will become. It is this rare breed of idea – meaningful to practice, grounded in evidence, and built for the future – that we seek to present,” says Robert Holland, the Editor-in-chief of MIT Sloan Management Review.   “Working with AI, Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration” endeavours to show that the needle can and will move through the addition of artificial intelligence to the complex work of today’s world. Thomas H. Davenport, one of the co-authors of the book says, “There is no shortage of commentary on what artificial intelligence will do to human jobs. It’s easy to find a multiplicity