Celebrating 7 Years on the CBC News Network Weekend Business Panel (August, 2024)

Extremely grateful to celebrate seven years on the CBC News Network Weekend Business Panel; there is nothing like live TV!  It started with two and a half years of appearances on set in CBC’s flagship studio, followed by a longer period of remote work, covering a wide range of business stories.  Below is a sample of topics where I have provided commentary over the past seven years (over 130 lines and counting!), all of it live:

• Canada Jetlines stops flying
• Growth in Canadian housing starts
• The membership crackdown at Costco
• Hudson Bay Co’s deal to purchase luxury retailer Neiman Marcus
• Canadian home sales plummeting, especially in some markets
• The abundance of vacant downtown office space
• The Westjet strike (and lots of unhappy customers)
• The Loblaws grocery boycott
• London Drugs cyberattack
• New ride-hailing startup, Hovr
• The Body Shop’s store closures, the end of an era
• The Wendy’s surge pricing controversy
• Questions around the fairness of Cineplex online booking fees
• Another round of layoffs at Bell Media
• Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, coming to Canada
• Those commercials that Canadians won’t be seeing during the big game on Sunday
• The CEBA repayment deadline
• Hertz selling one-third of its EV fleet (hint: customers have something to do with it)
• The SEC’s bitcoin decision
• Alberta’s musings to leave the CPP
• FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud conviction
• Changes at the helm at Blackberry (is anyone paying attention?)
• All things interest rates and inflation
• Steps businesses and consumers can take to prepare for an emergency, as Canadians face fires and floods
• Twitter becomes X
• Big grocery profits (optics alert!)
• Canada’s immigration boom
• The latest economic numbers
• Cyber attacks and business implications
• The lack of grocery competition in Canada
• BMO’s acquisition of Air Miles
• Air Canada pilots steps to enter contract negotiations early
• Concerns over AI
• WNBA’s first game in Canada
• New ownership possibilities for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators
• The movement to push back CEBA repayment deadlines
• What’s next for the banking industry, in light of recent failures
• Federal budget highlights
• Tall Poppy Syndrome (what’s that, you ask?  Keep reading)
• Rising cell roaming charges
• The closure of Canada’s Nordstrom stores
• ChatGPT’s subscription plans
• Rate increases at the US Fed
• Rising grocery prices
• The critical state of business succession
• Possible changes to mortgage guidelines
• Continued inflation rate increases
• Increasing financial strain in a post-pandemic world
• The collapse of crypto platform FTX
• Layoffs at Meta
• Changing travel rules; considerations for consumers and business
• The impact of Hurricane Fiona
• The evolution of Canada’s economy over the past 70 years, as Queen Elizabeth passes
• The state of streaming (and big news from Disney Plus)
• Canada’s rising retirement numbers
• Inflation arrives on the scene
• Online ticket fees at Cineplex
• Canada’s latest economic numbers
• Air Canada’s schedule cuts
• Interest and inflation rates continue to rise
• The end of remote work at Tesla
• Changing consumer shopping habits
• The end of COVID19 support programs
• Falling stock markets
• Rising interest and inflation rates
• First successful unionization steps at Amazon
• Rising prices at Dollarama
• Federal Budget day in Canada
• Sanctions on Russia
• The invasion of Ukraine
• Blackrock’s message for CEOs
• Netflix stock and the state of streaming
• Vaccine mandates and logistics
• Inflation implications
• IP dispute between Peloton and Lululemon
• Latest Canada jobs report
• Impact of Omicron on the markets
• Worker concerns at Instacart (among other companies)
• US opens its land border to vaccinated Canadians
• Global supply chain woes
• The tenuous circumstances of Chinese real estate giant, Evergrande
• The Federal government’s post-election priorities
• Vaccine passports and implications for business
• Implications of opening the border to some US citizens
• What’s behind Canada’s big trade surplus
• Canada’s monthly jobs report
• Tourism industry woes have operators looking South
• Canada’s electric car push
• Volkswagen and its oops of an April Fools joke
• Joe Biden’s big infrastructure plan
• Canada’s national regulator plans shuttered
• Air Canada’s and Air Transat’s merger plans fly away
• Leadership transition at Amazon
• Australia’s plan to make big tech pay for news content
• Gamestop trading lessons learned
• The universe and beyond: China’s Moon travels
• The NASDAQ takes on diversity (or lack thereof)
• Canada’s big bank accounts, as savings continue to soar
• More COVID19 support for business; how companies are managing as the pandemic continues
• Election week in the US; Canada and a Biden Administration
• Markets in turmoil, as Trump is hospitalized with COVID19
• Federal aid and the Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Businesses face stricter COVID19 measures; as cases rise, cashflow is challenged
• Increasing consumer debt levels, as COVID19 continues
• The future is now, with the successful launch of a flying car
• Walmart takes on Amazon, with the launch of Walmart Plus
• The story of 2020: Business in times of COVID-19 (too many links to post here, as the global pandemic impacts every aspect of our lives)
• Diversity and Black Lives Matter
• Travel bubbles and re-opening the economy (still very much in the news)
• Facebook ad boycotts (big business finally steps up)
• The struggling tourism industry (as the world stays inside)
• Ongoing retail troubles, as stores big and small cease operations
• Interest rate cuts in challenging economic times
• New NAFTA reaches the finish line (but, implementation would take a while longer; talked about that too!)
• Removing the cap on cannabis shops in Ontario
• Business and the Federal election
• The CN Rail Strike
• The final chapter for Sears
• The gender gap, globally and in business (and the alarming estimate that women won’t have equality for 100 years or more)
• Small business tax changes (remember those?)
• NAFTA, NAFTA, and more NAFTA
• Falcon Heavy, Spacex, and Tesla’s wild ride (a personal favorite!)
• Humans Wanted: automation, disruption, and the future in jobs
• Millennials and home ownership, impacting real estate, rates, and more
• Google Duplex and artificial intelligence
• G7 analysis on the fly (the fun of live TV!)
• Bombardier’s latest competitive threat
• The Global Financial Crisis 10 years later
• Cannabis in the workplace
• Back to the future: Amazon’s toy catalogue
• Huawei, Canada, and China: early days of conflict and trade implications (still a story in 2020)
• Turmoil in Venezuela
• Shorting Canada’s banks
• Breaking News: Canada, US eliminate steel tariffs (live TV means commentating in real time)
• Where’s the beef?  Beyond Meat’s ongoing attention
• The Raptors (and businesses) win big
• Facebook’s big fine

Stories of particular interest to me are those that can bring in a range of factors, such as demographics, changing consumer preferences, global business trends, and even the political landscape.  Thanks for watching; it is a privilege to bring the news to you!

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Jenifer Bartman

Business Advisor| Speaker| Published Author| CBC News Network Weekend Business Panel| Former Venture Capital Executive

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