Ep. 208: Gerald Butts, Vice Chair at Eurasia Group

Today's guest is Gerald Butts, Vice Chair of the Eurasia Group and former Principal Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada and Premier of Ontario. He also served as the CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada. In 2014, McLean's Magazine declared Gerald to be the 14th most powerful Canadian. And as the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Trudeau, Gerald was praised as the architect behind the Liberal Party of Canada's platform that led to their victory in October of 2015. He was also one of Prime Minister Trudeau's most senior staffers. I was excited about this one on a number of levels. One, it's just great to hear from someone that's operated in the political realm at such a high of given how important politics is for climate action. Two, it was great to hear from someone outside of the walls of the U.S, but a pretty close neighbor about the U.S' role. It's also interesting that after hundreds of MCJ episodes, conventional wisdom is while a carbon tax might be super impactful, no one thinks it's possible or most people certainly don't and yet Canada did it. And Gerald was a key person that helped get that over the line. Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 (me), @mcjpod (podcast), or @mcjcollective (company) and via email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests. Episode recorded April 4, 2022