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Category: Podcasts

A Year in Review

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On this week’s episode of Legalized, host Danielle Parr is joined by Navigator principal Dave Phillips and senior consultant Jeff Costen to discuss the good, bad and ugly that we saw over the past year.

We review the historic passage of legislation that ended prohibition, the efforts of provinces and municipalities to get their house in order and the global expansion of Canadian cannabis companies. Then, we hear from friends of the show and movers in Canada’s legal cannabis industry on what consumers, governments and industry participants have to look forward to in the year ahead:

  • Dr. Ife Abiola, 420 Clinics
  • Lorenzo Lisi, Aird & Berlis LLP
  • Dan Skilleter, Lobo Genetics
  • Ranjeev Dhillon, McCarthy Tétrault
  • Lisa Campbell, Lifford Cannabis Solutions

Tune in to hear more expert punditry, predictions and prognostications.

When You Can’t Afford to Lose

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On this episode of Legalized, host Danielle Parr talks with Navigator principals Dave Phillips and Lisa Pearson about crises in the cannabis industry. With legal cannabis still in its embryonic days, Licensed Producers and retailers face unique scrutiny. The leading players all have ambitious plans to tell their stories and present their brands to governments, investors and consumers. But as Mike Tyson famously declared: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” And with so many moving parts in this rapidly-changing industry, these punches are inevitable. We’ve seen many of them play out already, from data breaches to recalls to supply shortages.

At Navigator, these seemingly extraordinary crises are part of our ordinary. Tune in to learn more about managing risk, responding to the unexpected and taking the right steps to restore trust and credibility when faced with a crisis.

Out of the Ashes?

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This week on the season finale of Political Traction, Amanda is joined by Steven Del Duca, a former Cabinet Minister and the MPP for Vaughan. He will speak to us about the Liberal Party’s loss in the last election, and its plans moving forward as the party begins rebuilding from the ground up. Then, in our final episode, we will highlight some of the biggest stories of the year that shaped the news and will continue to gain traction in 2019, by looking back at the legalization of cannabis, the death of NAFTA and the new USMCA deal we have in its stead, and the big blue political wave we’ve seen across Canada.

Banking on Blockchain Update: December 7, 2018

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Canada in Focus

Earlier this week, Coinsquare, Canada’s premier cryptocurrency trading platform, acquired BlockEQ for $12 million. BlockEQ is the leading cryptocurrency wallet on the Stellar network and will be used to help Coinsquare and its users further connect with the world of cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin, the largest digital token, has slumped as much as 10 per cent, reaching the lowest level since September 2017. Several other cryptocurrencies, including Ether, Litecoin and XRP, were hit even harder. The Securities and Exchange Commission plan to decide by February 27, 2019 whether to approve a proposed ETF from SolidX Partners Inc.

Cryptocurrency firms have added to BC Hydro‘s electrical load by almost 40 per cent, but only a fraction of that business has materialized so far. In recent years, BC Hydro was keen to attract and offer discounted rates on electricity for cryptocurrency miners . Some economists are now warning BC Hydro, saying they should be cautious about engaging with the crypto-mining industry as it brings few economic benefits to the communities where they set up.

Canada-based DMG Blockchain Solutions, a cryptocurrency management company, has announced the signing of a Mining as a Service (MaaS) contract with a blockchain company. The new customer will require DMG to host approximately seven megawatts worth of Bitcoin mining capacity for them.

On the World Stage

The story resonating around the world is clear: this week’s substantial drop in the price of bitcoin. It has fallen nearly 20 per cent in the last five days, causing it to reach a 15-month low. Major outlets, such as CNN, are indicating that a possible reason for the plunge is the uphill battle convincing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve more bitcoin EFTs.

Recently, the SEC ordered fund manager CoinAlpha Advisors LLC to pay a $50,000 USD fine following what it deemed to be an unregistered securities sale. The fund reached out to possible investors, raising more than $600,000 in the process. While CoinAlpha did file a “Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities,” the company was not eligible for an exemption and did not otherwise register with the SEC. As such, it effectively solicited securities investors in a breach of the law.

On a more positive note, Mastercard has filed a patent for a method of anonymizing transactions on a blockchain. The patent was filed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and outlines the use of one or more intermediary addresses to hide the source and destination of funds on a blockchain transaction. The goal is to increase the anonymity of those associated with a blockchain address.

Finally, Facebook seems to be heading into the blockchain space. After speculation circulated among the crypto-currency community this past year, Facebook has issued a job advertisement to hire a blockchain software engineer. It remains unclear as to what specific project Facebook is working on, though it is now clear that they are now entering this market.

Remembering 41

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This week on the “Remembering 41” edition of Political Traction, Amanda is joined by Philippe Gervais, one of Navigator’s Principals in Montreal. He will speak to us about his professional experience with both Bush campaigns as a former advance staffer, right before he heads to D.C. for the state funeral for Bush 41. Then, we will look at the topics gaining traction this week, including Alberta Premier Notley’s announcement to cut oil production, and the First Ministers meeting taking place this Friday in Montreal.