Episode Details

We have two exceptional guests on this final live episode of Season 4.

First, we welcome Victor Thomas, President and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council. This not-for-profit organization aims to strengthen the economic ties between Canada and India by promoting bilateral investment and trade. We delve into the vast opportunities for Canadian agriculture to help feed India's enormous and complex nation and discuss the political and regulatory considerations involved in large-scale trade. Interestingly, Victor is a former student of Sylvain's!

Next, Colleen Martin from Caddle joins us with exclusive research found only here on The Food Professor podcast. We talk to nearly 10,000 Canadians about their perceptions of cashiers sitting versus standing at grocery checkouts. Having just returned from Europe—the land of seated cashiers—Sylvain shares his thoughts on this cultural difference.

In the news, we discuss William Shatner's profanity-laden commercial produced by Ryan Reynolds' Vancouver agency, which calls for an end to open pen salmon fishing. We also cover the latest inflation data for May, our upcoming Global Agri-Food Power Index project with MNP, and the Capital Gains showdown. Plus, we touch on summertime politics and the quirky Tim Horton's Musical.

Though this is our last live episode, stay tuned throughout the summer for a series of live interviews from SIAL every Thursday with fascinating figures in food and agriculture. Season 5 kicks off in late August.

Links mentioned in the show:

https://the-food-professor.simplecast.com/episodes/special-encore-interview-episode-guests-isaiah-robinson-kitasoo-xaixais-nation-stephanie-columbo-canada-research-chair-in-aquaculture-tim-kennedy-canadian-aquaculture-industry-alliance

https://www.timhortons.ca/60

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6433107

https://youtu.be/DMtI2rtiQ-Q?si=QsOYt4ColaRaqMcz

About Victor

Victor Thomas is the President and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council — a not-for-profit working to strengthen the Canada-India economic corridor by promoting bilateral investment and trade. He is also Chair of Precision AI, an AgTech company striving for sustainable farming practices in the autonomous farming revolution, and Chair of Marval Capital's Investment Advisory Counsel, which invests in India's leading small and mid-cap publicly listed companies. He is a director emeritus of the Rideau Hall Foundation Board of Directors and a National Executive Member of the 2026 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference.

About Us

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Visiting Professor in Food Policy and Distribution at McGill University and a Professor in Food Distribution and Policy in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University.

Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability with over 775 published peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Charlebois is also an editor for the prestigious Trends in Food Science Technology journal. 

He co-hosts The Food Professor podcast, discussing issues in the food, foodservice, grocery and restaurant industries and which is the most listened Canadian management podcast in Canada. 

Every year since 2012, he has published the now highly anticipated Canadian Food Price Report, which provides an overview of food price trends for the coming year. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers