Episode Details

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! Back on the show for a third time... Trevor Tombe: a truth-telling economist who's never afraid to take a view that's five or six canoe lengths out of the mainstream. Trevor's a professor of economics at the University of Calgary and director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at its School of Public Policy, and he's spent the summer on a major study into the fiscal and economic implications of Alberta separation.

This episode covers a lot of ground. 

Trevor lays out the case against retaliating on Trump's tariffs. Arguing Canada simply doesn't have the economic size to change American behaviour the way China can, and that retaliation risks looking like Canada abandoning its own commitment to free trade. 

He also walks through his research showing Canada's economy hasn't just slowed, it's been permanently knocked onto a lower growth trajectory — a $60-billion-a-year hit. There's a sharp defence of resource extraction as Canada's genuine economic strength rather than something to be embarrassed about, a candid take on when and why government should take on more risk in major projects, and a clear-eyed warning about the US fiscal situation and what it means for Canadian borrowing costs. 

And we close with the numbers on why an independent Alberta would be worse off, not better. Trade friction, capital flight, and lost access to the rest of the country's labour force chief among them. A dense, wide-ranging hour with one of Canada's sharpest economic minds. Stay with us. 

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