PODCAST · business
Disruptors
by RBC Thought Leadership, John Stackhouse
Disruptors, now in its 11th season, has become your front-row seat to Canada’s innovation story—200+ episodes exploring the people, ideas, and technologies reshaping Canada’s future. Each episode, hosted by John Stackhouse, SVP, Office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada—and former Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail—cuts through the hype and focuses on what you need to know.This season, we’re leaning into urgency: the global economy is shifting, geopolitics are noisy, and Canada needs to respond. You’ll hear from founders, investors, scientists, operators, and policy leaders at the forefront. Listen for a clearer understanding of the tech and innovation shaping Canada and the world—and practical insights to help you make sense of what’s coming next.
Episodes
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Permission to Fail: A case for youth entrepreneurship
Spin Master co-founder Ronnen Harary believes Canada needs more entrepreneurs—especially young ones. In this episode of Disruptors, he joins host John Stackhouse to explain why your 20s offer the perfect window to start a business: you’re close to emerging trends, you have permission to fail, and...
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Digital Refineries: Data centres as Alberta’s new resource
Alberta wants $100 billion of AI data centre investment within five years, without subsidies. Recorded live at Energy Disruptors: UNITE in Calgary, Alberta's Minister of Technology and Innovation, Nate Glubish, tells John Stackhouse why he sees data centres as "digital refineries" that turn…
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Canada's Biotech Challenge
Canada has world-class biotech science. Too often, the companies built on it grow up somewhere else. Clarissa Desjardins, co-founder and CEO of Montreal’s Congruence Therapeutics, joins John Stackhouse on the state of biotech and what Canada must do to keep more of what it builds. In this…
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Two Middle Powers. One AI Bet
Live from ALL IN 2026 in Montreal, John Stackhouse and Nora Bieberstein sit down with three German business leaders — Yvonne Denz of the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Robert Jozic of Schwarz Digits, and Dr. Ralf Wintergerst of Giesecke+Devrient — as Germany serves as ALL IN's...
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Canada's AI Potential
At the Milken Institute's Global Dialogues Toronto, held alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney's Canada Investment Summit, three Canadian leaders took up both questions on one stage. Aidan Gomez co-founded Cohere and was a co-author of the 2017 paper that introduced the transformer architecture...
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David, Goliath, and Drones: The New Map of Geo-Technology
As global power dynamics shift, the intersection of technology and national strategy is defining a new Cold War race. In this season opener of Disruptors, host John Stackhouse sits down with economist and Noahpinion author Noah Smith to map out the new geopolitics of tech. Together, they unpack...
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REBOOT: The Trust Advantage: How OpenText is Securing Canada’s Information Layer
The world is investing billions in data centres and compute. Canada’s edge isn’t bigger boxes—it’s Trust: rules enforced at home, private information secured under Canadian jurisdiction, and a clear path for enterprise data handling in the age of AI. That’s how “Canadian trust” becomes a...
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REBOOT: Beyond the Battery: Inside Quebec’s Mine-to-Refine Transformation
As the world electrifies—from cars and buses to datacentres and defence—demand for battery materials is exploding. Today, China refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material used in virtually all EV battery anodes—that level of concentration is a strategic vulnerability Canada,...
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REBOOT: Port to Prosperity: How Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Is Rebuilding Canada’s Pacific Gateway
Canada’s prosperity depends on how efficiently it can move goods to market — yet its largest ports have fallen behind the world’s best. With global trade accelerating and supply chains under pressure, Roberts Bank Terminal 2 represents a generational investment in Canada’s competitiveness. In…
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From Ottawa to Orbit: Two Views on Canada’s Big Day
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…
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Own The Stack: Canada's Data Sovereignty Test
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...
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Can AI Fix ER Wait Times?
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...
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Canada’s Tech Growth Challenge
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...
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Permission To Prompt: AI’s Path From Experimentation to Scale
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…
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The Canadian Unicorn Who Stayed
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…
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From MLB to Metallica: The Canadian Company redefining live events
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...
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Street Smarts: The Waterloo company tackling global gridlock
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...
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AI's power, pitfalls, and potential
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…
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REBOOT: Building Canada: A new generation takes charge.
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...
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Trust at Scale: Lessons from Wikipedia
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...
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Tech Wins Gold: How Canada Can Rebuild Its Olympic Pipeline
Canada’s Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics delivered unforgettable moments — and also a hard signal: podium success is increasingly won upstream, through systems, sport science, and technology. In a world where competitors treat sport science as infrastructure, Canada is trying to win with a...
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Harvest Now, Decrypt Later: The Quantum Era's Encryption Challenge
Quantum computing is accelerating — and putting today’s encryption on a clock. John Stackhouse goes inside Xanadu’s Toronto lab with Christian Weedbrook to meet Aurora, a networked quantum computer built to push scale in the right direction and speaks with Photonic’s Dr. Stephanie Simmons about...
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The $15m Cliff: Keeping Canadian Agri-Food Startups Scaling at Home
Canada is exporting too much of its agri-food upside—IP, talent, and value-add—because growth-stage financing doesn’t fit the sector. From Ottawa, John Stackhouse speaks with RBC’s Lisa Ashton to unpack Seeding Scale—RBC’s new report on Canada’s agri-food growth-capital gap. Joined by Vive Crop…
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Risk as Signal: A Canadian Playbook
Fresh from Davos, John Stackhouse shares field notes on how the world’s economy is reorganizing — and what that means for Canadians. He is joined by Gerald Butts, Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor at Eurasia Group, to unpack the new RBC–Eurasia Canada risk outlook: what matter most, how to…
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Climate-Led Investing: What’s Next
If you’re trying to separate climate ambition from execution, this conversation is for you! John Stackhouse is joined by Clara Barby, Senior Partner at Just Climate, to pressure-test what’s scaling—and what’s getting stuck by diving into RBC’s new Climate Action 2026 report. What you’ll hear: Why...
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Alberta’s Next Energy Mix
With industrial power demand rising, can small modular reactors help anchor a cleaner, always‑on system that will support the incoming AI Data Centre boom? In this bonus episode of Disruptors, recorded live in Edmonton, host John Stackhouse speaks with Premier Danielle Smith about a practical…
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Building Canada: A new generation takes charge
Canada’s future won’t be decided in PDF strategies — it will be decided by what we actually build: trade corridors, clean power, AI datacentres, agtech and northern connectivity that can stand up in a more volatile world. In this episode of Disruptors: The Canada Project, John Stackhouse speaks...
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Power to Compute: How Alberta Is Powering the AI Age
Energy planners used to talk about a “trilemma”: reliability, affordability and sustainability. As AI reshapes the global economy and data centres demand thousands of megawatts of new load, Alberta is adding a fourth leg to the stool — velocity — turning it into an energy quadlema. At the edge of...
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The Trust Advantage: How OpenText is Securing Canada’s Information Layer
The world is investing billions in data centres and compute. Canada’s edge isn’t bigger boxes—it’s Trust: rules enforced at home, private information secured under Canadian jurisdiction, and a clear path for enterprise data handling in the age of AI. That’s how “Canadian trust” becomes a...
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Beyond the Battery: Inside Quebec’s Mine-to-Refine Transformation
As the world electrifies—from cars and buses to datacentres and defence—demand for battery materials is exploding. Today, China refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material used in virtually all EV battery anodes—that level of concentration is a strategic vulnerability Canada,...
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Powering the North: How the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link Will Build A Stronger Canada
Across Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, communities and mine sites still rely on imported diesel for electricity and satellite links for basic connectivity. It’s expensive, carbon-intensive, and leaves a strategically vital part of Canada dependent on infrastructure we don’t fully control. In this...
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Feeding the Future: How Saskatchewan is Seeding Canada's Ag-Tech Revolution
Saskatchewan, long known for feeding the world, is now leading a revolution in ag-tech. With automation, machine learning, and AI-powered quality control, the province is redefining how food moves from field to port. Agriculture is more than Canada’s heritage - it’s our future advantage. In this...
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Link to the World: How Manitoba Is Rebuilding a Northern Trade Route
At the edge of Hudson Bay, the Port of Churchill is being revitalized — reconnecting the Prairies to global markets and strengthening Canada’s northern gateway to the world. In this episode of Disruptors: The Canada Project, John Stackhouse speaks with Premier Wab Kinew, Chris Avery of Arctic...
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Port to Prosperity: How Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Is Rebuilding Canada’s Pacific Gateway
Canada’s prosperity depends on how efficiently it can move goods to market — yet its largest ports have fallen behind the world’s best. With global trade accelerating and supply chains under pressure, Roberts Bank Terminal 2 represents a generational investment in Canada’s competitiveness. In…
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How Atlantic Canada is powering Canada’s place in space
For over two centuries, Atlantic Canada has been the launch point for Canada’s ventures into the unknown — from the Grand Banks to global trade routes. Today, that pioneering spirit is looking skyward. In this episode, Stephen Matier of Maritime Launch Services and Rahul Goel of NordSpace join…
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Defending the Deep: Securing Canada’s Underwater Sovereignty
Canada’s future security doesn’t just lie in the skies or across its borders — it lies beneath the waves. Newfoundland and Labrador, long defined by its connection to the North Atlantic, is emerging as the front line in Canada’s underwater defence and surveillance revolution. In this episode,...
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The Canada Project (Trailer)
Canada stands at a crossroads. Become a leader or continue to ride shotgun. The choice is obvious. But global political and economic uncertainty demands we act decisively. We need to close the productivity gap with our peer nations and build bigger, better and bolder. Visionary leaders across the...
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REBOOT: Agentic AI - The Next Frontier
AI is moving beyond passive outputs toward autonomous action. In this episode, John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik explore Agentic AI, a new class of AI systems that can reason, plan, and take initiative with limited human oversight. These systems represent a major evolution beyond traditional and...
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REBOOT: AgriFood and Food Security: Can Canada Feed the World?
With a growing global population and climate challenges reshaping food production, Canada has a golden opportunity to lead the ag-tech revolution. But are we ready? In this episode of Disruptors x CDL, John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik take a deep dive into the future of farming with industry...
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REBOOT: Powering Canada: Electricity and Data Centres
What does it take to power the intelligence economy of the future? In this episode of Disruptors x CDL: The Innovation Era, hosts John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik dive into the surging energy demands of AI and data centers, exploring how Canada can seize this pivotal moment to lead the way in...
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REBOOT: AI in Canada: Leading Innovation, Lagging Adoption
In this episode of Disruptors x CDL: The Innovation Era, hosts John Stackhouse, Senior VP of RBC, and Sonia Sennik, CEO of Creative Destruction Lab, dive into one of the most transformative technologies of our time: Artificial Intelligence. With the potential to revolutionize industries from...
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Canada’s AI Opportunity with Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan Solomon
Are we ready for the AI era or are we stuck in an imagination gap? In this special 200th episode, recorded live at Creative Destruction Lab’s Super Session, John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik sit down with Minister Evan Solomon, Canada’s first-ever Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital...
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Space: The Low Earth Orbit Movement
From Arctic sovereignty to wildfire response, Canada’s challenges are increasingly being solved by the low earth orbital satellites less than 1000km from the earth’s surface. In this episode, co-hosts John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik dive into the pivotal role that satellite communications have…
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Building Global from Canada: Shopify’s Entrepreneurial Ambition
What does it take to transform a startup into Canada’s second-largest company in just a decade? Sonia Sennik and John Stackhouse discuss his conversation with Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify, live from C2 Montreal. Harley discusses how Shopify embraced anti-fragility, continually...
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Agentic AI - The Next Frontier
AI is moving beyond passive outputs toward autonomous action. In this episode, John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik explore Agentic AI, a new class of AI systems that can reason, plan, and take initiative with limited human oversight. These systems represent a major evolution beyond traditional and...
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Beyond Offsets: How to Build a Carbon Removal Industry
Carbon offsets aren’t enough. To truly tackle climate change, we need a global industry dedicated to pulling carbon out of the air and at massive scale. Join hosts John and Sonia inside the innovation race to scale carbon removal technologies, featuring insights from leading voices in the field....
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Detect Early, Treat Early: Innovations Shaping the Fight Against Cancer
Early detection remains the single most effective strategy for treating cancer, significantly enhancing survival rates and outcomes. Join hosts John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik as they explore how groundbreaking innovation and technology are reshaping cancer detection, treatment, and prevention....
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How Tech Entrepreneurs Can Capitalize on the Buy Canadian Movement
The “Buy Canadian” movement has surged during talks of tariffs, often highlighting consumer goods. How can Canadian tech companies take advantage of this sentiment? Join John Stackhouse and Sonia Sennik in a conversation about Canada's emerging era of supporting local businesses and products.…
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The Cleantech Edge: Tackling Methane Emissions with Canadian Innovation
With global energy demands surging and climate concerns intensifying, Canada finds itself in a rare position: rich in natural resources, top technical talent, and the innovation needed to become a clean energy superpower. But how do we harness that potential without compromising on…
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Scammers, Fraud, and Deepfakes: The AI Arms Race
With cybercriminals leveraging AI to fuel scams and misinformation, how do we verify what's real? Joined by cybersecurity experts Shuman Ghosemajumder (former Global Head of Product Trust at Google and Co-founder of Reken), and Ken Nickerson (Inventor and Entrepreneur, iBinary, ex-Microsoft,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Disruptors, now in its 11th season, has become your front-row seat to Canada’s innovation story—200+ episodes exploring the people, ideas, and technologies reshaping Canada’s future. Each episode, hosted by John Stackhouse, SVP, Office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada—and former Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail—cuts through the hype and focuses on what you need to know.This season, we’re leaning into urgency: the global economy is shifting, geopolitics are noisy, and Canada needs to respond. You’ll hear from founders, investors, scientists, operators, and policy leaders at the forefront. Listen for a clearer understanding of the tech and innovation shaping Canada and the world—and practical insights to help you make sense of what’s coming next.
HOSTED BY
RBC Thought Leadership, John Stackhouse
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Disruptors have?
Disruptors currently has 240 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Disruptors about?
Disruptors, now in its 11th season, has become your front-row seat to Canada’s innovation story—200+ episodes exploring the people, ideas, and technologies reshaping Canada’s future. Each episode, hosted by John Stackhouse, SVP, Office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada—and former Editor-in-Chief...
How often does Disruptors release new episodes?
Disruptors publishes regularly with 240 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Disruptors?
You can listen to Disruptors on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Disruptors?
Disruptors is created and hosted by RBC Thought Leadership, John Stackhouse.
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