Season 10 of Disruptors asked one question, in a lot of different ways: does Canada have what it takes—the tools, the ambition and the will—to  compete in the economy being built right now?

For the season finale, John Stackhouse took that question to the RBC and Eurasia Group US-Canada Summit, where 500 leaders spent a day debating the most important economic relationship in the world.

He came back with two conversations that, together, amount to an answer.

Colonel Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to travel into deep space, talks about what you see from the Moon, what it taught him about collaboration and self-reliance, and why the Canada-U.S. relationship is worth fighting for.

Michael Sabia, Clerk of the Privy Council, discusses the hand Canada holds right now and why this is a moment for ambition, not anxiety.

Recorded live. A fitting close to a season built around urgency.

For more RBC Thought Leadership on Canada's economy and competitiveness, visit rbc.com/thoughtleadership

KEYWORDS

Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II, Canadian astronaut, Moon mission, deep space, Michael Sabia, Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada-US relationship, US-Canada Summit, Eurasia Group, RBC, John Stackhouse, Disruptors podcast, Season 10, Canadian economy, bilateral trade, Canada competitiveness, critical minerals, Canadian energy, AI sovereignty, Canada confidence, collaboration, ambition

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There are roughly 11,000 data centres in the world. Canada has about 300. The United States has 5,000 and that number is growing fast.

Canada is putting real money behind sovereign AI compute. But what does data sovereignty look like on the ground

In this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse visits Global Relay’s data centre in North Vancouver to see the physical side of the cloud: cooling systems, backup power, biometric access, data halls, and AI racks.

Global Relay Chief Product Officer Sahar Kayhani explains how the company manages communications data for highly regulated industries and why the infrastructure behind that data is becoming as important as the data itself.

Warren Roy, Global Relay’s founder and CEO, joins the conversation to discuss why the company chose to build its own cloud, and share his thoughts on what Canada needs to do to develop more technology companies rooted here.

For more RBC Thought Leadership on AI, healthcare, productivity and Canada’s innovation economy, visit rbc.com/thoughtleadership.

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Canada’s national AI strategy puts healthcare on centre stage – and for good reason. If you ask Canadians about the healthcare system, many will say they value it deeply, but that they are frustrated by wait times. In this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse looks at what we need to do to make artificial intelligence move the needle for wait times and quality of care.

Mara Lederman, co-founder and COO of Signal 1, explains the pressure inside hospitals: rising demand, constrained supply, long waits, and digital systems that often record care without helping the system move faster. She points to practical AI uses already emerging, including AI agents that call patients before procedures, reduce cancelled appointments and protect scarce clinical capacity.

Dr. Amol Verma and Dr. Fahad Razak of Unity Health Toronto take the conversation to the national level. Their work on VITAL – a health data platform – is aimed at connecting more than 160 hospitals across Canada. The promise is larger than one AI tool: better clinical trials, safer AI validation, more Canadian data, stronger governance and a healthcare system that can learn in near-real time.

Canada’s healthcare system generates enormous amounts of data every day. Every hospital admission can produce hundreds of thousands – even millions – of data points, from lab tests and imaging to digital vital signs and outcomes. But too much of that data remains trapped inside hospitals, provinces and systems that were not built to learn from one another.

The episode asks: if Canada has a public healthcare system, world-class research talent and hospitals generating hundreds of thousands of data points for every admitted patient, can AI finally help make the system work better for patients?

For more RBC Thought Leadership on AI, healthcare, productivity and Canada’s innovation economy, visit RBC Thought Leadership

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Canada has helped shape major technology waves, from AI to quantum. But when companies move from promising startup to global contender, the harder questions begin: where does the growth capital come from, who becomes the customer, and how can long-term value stay connected to Canada?

In this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse is joined by Boris Wertz, founder and general partner of Version One Ventures, and Sid Paquette, head of RBCx, for a conversation about Canada's growth capital gap and what it takes to build globally competitive technology companies in Canada.

They discuss why Canadian companies need global investors and global markets, why domestic capital still matters, how procurement and corporate customers can help companies scale, and why AI is creating faster cycles and more concentrated outcomes. The conversation also looks ahead to physical AI, biotechnology, quantum and the steps necessary for Canada to be a world leader in the tech space for the next 30 years.

Links:
RBC The Growth Project

Keywords: Canadian tech, growth capital, venture capital, domestic capital, RBCx, Version One Ventures, Boris Wertz, Sid Paquette, John Stackhouse, Disruptors podcast, AI, quantum, physical AI, biotechnology, procurement.

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AI is no longer a future technology. It is already changing how work gets done, how companies make decisions and how economies compete.

This special edition of Disruptors was recorded at the Creative Destruction Lab’s Super Session during Toronto Tech Week. Host John Stackhouse is joined by Fabien Curto Millet, Chief Economist at Google and Sonia Sennik, CEO of Creative Destruction Lab, to explore AI adoption, productivity, jobs and Canada's competitiveness.

Fabien brings a global view of AI adoption: where the data is showing productivity gains, why the jobs conversation is more nuanced than the headlines suggest, and why simple interventions like training, guidelines and encouragement can unlock experimentation. Sonia brings the founder and commercialization lens from CDL, where hundreds of science-based startups are working across AI, health, energy, agriculture, manufacturing and more.

Together, they explore why AI is moving fast but unevenly, why some sectors and workers are pulling ahead while others remain cautious, and what leaders need to do to move from pilots to scaled workflow redesign. For Canada, the test is clear: the country has deep AI talent, strong institutions and a global reputation in modern AI. The gains will depend on adoption - especially among SMEs, public institutions and the sectors that make up the bulk of the economy.

Think of it as an AI adoption blueprint for you and your organization.

Further RBC Thought Leadership Reading:

Bridging the Imagination Gap: How Canadian companies can become global leaders in AI adoption - RBC

Turning Disruption into Momentum: Manulife’s AI Flywheel

Trust, Scale, and Strategy: How to Build an AI-First Organization

From Rock to ROI: How Calgary’s GeologicAI Turns Core Samples into Knowledge

Sovereign by Design: Strategic Options for Canadian AI Sovereignty

RBC Thought Leadership

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Canada has a scaleup problem. We create entrepreneurs, but too many of them feel they need to leave to build world-class companies.

Fred Lalonde is one of the exceptions. He is the founder and CEO of Hopper, the Canadian travel-tech company that used data, prediction and fintech to help travellers book with more confidence.

Now Lalonde is bringing that same ambition to Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removal company.

In this episode of Disruptors, recorded in front of a live audience, John Stackhouse speaks with Fred about what it takes to build and scale from Canada - and why the country needs more founders willing and able to do it here.

Fred is funny and blunt, but underneath it all is a builder's clarity: disruption is not something he manages. It is something he assumes.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Hopper became one of Canada's leading tech success stories
• Why Fred thinks entrepreneurs better be motivated by building, not just money
• Why AI, energy and advanced manufacturing are central to Canada's next growth chapter
• What it takes to build a world-class company without leaving Canada

RBC Thought Leadership

Keywords: Fred Lalonde, Frederic Lalonde, Hopper, Deep Sky, John Stackhouse, Disruptors podcast, RBC Thought Leadership, Canadian unicorns, Canadian startups, Canadian founders, Canadian scaleups, Canada startup ecosystem, Canada founder gap, Canadian entrepreneurship, Canadian innovation, venture capital Canada, growth capital Canada, RBC growth fund, homegrown Canadian companies, AI disruption, climate tech, carbon removal, direct air capture, energy transition, advanced manufacturing, Canadian productivity, Canadian competitiveness.

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In this episode, John Stackhouse visits Ross on the outskirts of Ottawa to talk with CEO David Ross about how the company grew from a small Canadian manufacturer into a global live-production infrastructure player. They discuss why the economics of live events changed so dramatically, how cheaper and more powerful screens transformed stadiums and concerts into multimedia platforms, and how Ross helps turn live data into visual storytelling through graphics, overlays, motion systems and production control.

Ross Video is one of Canada’s most consequential technology companies, even if most audiences have never heard of its name. They work across more than 100 countries. Their technology now sits inside countless modern live-event and broadcast experience:  On field graphics, robotic camera systems, data-rich stadium presentation, newsroom and broadcast automation and the production systems behind concerts, major sports, studios and major event coverage for clients like MLB, NFL, PGA, NHL, Premier League, Metallica, Taylor Switft, Coldplay the list goes on and on and on.

The conversation also surfaces a bigger business story. Ross describes its work as brand amplification technology, helping sports teams, venues, concerts and companies use screens, graphics, motion systems and production tools to deepen audience experience and strengthen commercial value. David lays out the company’s operating logic clearly: expand into adjacencies, acquire expertise when needed, keep founders and technical talent engaged, and never fall behind in technology. That approach shows up in Ross’s reinvestment model too: roughly one-third of the company is in R&D.

This episode is about sports broadcast innovation, stadium technology, robotic cameras, concert production, real-time graphics, data storytelling, and the broader live-entertainment economy.

Ross sits inside a much larger market shift: a world where live sports, concerts, venue systems, and production technology are becoming more immersive, more data-driven and more economically important.

For more ideas and insights on Canada’s economy, innovation, and competitiveness, visit 

RBC Thought Leadership

Primary keywords: Ross Video; David Ross; John Stackhouse; Disruptors podcast; Ottawa technology company; Canadian tech company; live production technology; sports broadcast technology; stadium technology; robotic cameras; spidercam; sports graphics; NFL first down line; MLB All-Star Game; Olympic broadcast technology; concert production technology; newsroom automation; data visualization in sports; live event infrastructure; sports media innovation

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Congestion isn’t just annoying, it's an economic drag. In this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse speaks with Kurtis McBride, co-founder of Miovision, about how a Waterloo-built company turned intersection data into a real-time operating layer for cities and how that platform is scaling globally.

McBride explains how Miovision began with a simple insight from manual traffic counts, then evolved into a digital twin approach that helps cities reduce congestion, improve safety, support transit performance, and shorten emergency response times. He also shares how Miovision is applying AI including a conversational interface that lets traffic teams ask plain-English questions about their network and get actionable recommendations.

The conversation expands into a founder playbook for selling into cities, navigating cross-border requirements like Build America, Buy America, and building the connected intersection infrastructure that can make vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services and eventually autonomous mobility safer and more affordable.

For more ideas and insights on Canada’s economy, innovation, and competitiveness, visit RBC Thought Leadership

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We’re all using AI more, but how many of us actually trust it?

AI is now used by more than a billion people worldwide, but trust in these systems is far from settled. In this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse speaks with Yoshua Bengio, Turing Award winner, founder of Mila, and Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero, about whether AI is getting safer or more dangerous as it becomes more powerful, more agentic, and more embedded in work, public systems, and everyday life. They explore LawZero’s mission to build non-agentic, trustworthy AI, including Scientist AI, and why Bengio believes the next generation of artificial intelligence should be designed to reason, evaluate, and supervise rather than independently pursue goals. John is also joined by Jaxson Khan, Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, to discuss AI sovereignty, the risks of dependence on foreign cloud and compute infrastructure, and what Canada should be thinking about as it prepares its next national AI strategy. This is a conversation about AI safety, Canadian AI sovereignty, trustworthy AI, and who should shape the systems that are increasingly shaping us. Yoshua Bengio’s work through LawZero offers one of the clearest Canadian answers yet.

Show notes links
Episode guests and organizations
Yoshua Bengio
LawZero
Jaxson Khan
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Referenced reading
RBC Thought Leadership
RBC Thought Leadership on LinkedIn
Sovereign by Design: Strategic Options for Canadian AI Sovereignty
Bridging the Imagination Gap: How Canadian companies can become global leaders in AI adoption

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As Disruptors: The Canada Project earns a Webby Award nomination, we’re re-releasing the season finale, “Building Canada: A new generation takes charge.” 

How does Canada actually build faster, smarter and at greater scale?

In this episode, John Stackhouse speaks with Daniel Debow and Lucy Hargreaves of Build Canada about what it will take for Canada to move from big ideas to real execution. 

After a season exploring defence tech in Newfoundland, sovereign launch capacity in Atlantic Canada, critical minerals and refining in Quebec, AI-ready power in Alberta, and trusted data infrastructure in Ontario, this finale brings those threads together in one conversation about nation-building, productivity, infrastructure, innovation, and Canadian competitiveness.

If you’ve been following the series, please support Disruptors in the Webby People’s Voice Awards.  Vote.webbyawards.com

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Trust at Scale: Lessons from Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the internet’s most-used public resources, but what makes people trust it in an era shaped by AI, misinformation and institutional decline? On this episode of Disruptors, John Stackhouse speaks with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales about how Wikipedia built trust, why neutrality still matters, and what generative AI gets wrong. They discuss community governance, social media, local journalism, online accountability, young people’s information habits and what businesses can learn from a platform designed around public trust.

In this episode you’ll understand:

• Why Wikipedia still earns trust when so much of the internet does not.
• What neutrality looks like in a polarized digital environment.
• Why AI makes trusted human systems more important, not less.
   

RBC – Thought Leadership

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