The Canadian Investor - 5 Canadian Stocks Set to Benefit from the 2025 Federal Budget

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

Big Tech posted another strong quarter but the real story is the spending. Simon breaks down earnings from Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta and what that signals for the next phase of the AI cycle and where the risks and opportunities actually are. Then Simon shifts to the Canadian federal budget: rising deficits, shifting priorities, and why the real investment takeaway might be in critical minerals, energy security, and defence supply chains. Plus a quick look at Canadian stablecoins and what they could really mean for the financial system. Tickers of stocks discussed: AMZN, MSFT, GOOGL, META, TECK.B, FM, NEO, CCO, CAE, MDA Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor  Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor  Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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investors this has to be one of the biggest quarters i've seen from this company in quite some time Welcome back to the Canadian investor podcast. My name is Simon Berger. I am back for a solo episode while Dan is spending time with his two boys and getting settled into the new father lifestyle. Like I mentioned, Atlanta Thursday's episode, he will be back in the coming weeks, most likely for this Thursday episode or the following week at the latest as things get settled in. So hopefully that the sooner. the better here. Now, before we get started on big tech earnings,

especially the big AI play. So I'll go over Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and meta platforms. I'll also give my take, general overview of the federal budget and some also investable takeaways. So companies that should benefit from some big themes from the federal budget. So make sure you stay until the end, if that's of interest to you. I'll try to keep it as neutral as possible. Like I've mentioned before, I'm pretty independent when it comes to my politics.

Honestly, not a fan of any of the options that we have in front of us as Canadians, but that's beside the point. I do encourage you to stick until the end. I'll give my overall take and then some of the things that I really notice in the budgets, as well as some investable play. So let's get started here. Shouldn't be a too long episode. It's a bit different, obviously, when you're doing this alone and there's a little

bit less of back and forth. But let's start off with Amazon here. So Amazon reporting is strong quarter driven by re-acceleration in AWS, continued momentum in advertising, and solid execution in its retail business. And it was a very impressive quarter for Amazon. It's definitely surprised me how well Big Day did again, but should I really be surprised at this point? Probably not. Revenue grew 13% year over year to 180 billion. Operating income was 17.4 billion, but operating margins still took a little bit of an impact here. They decreased by 130 basis point. AWS, as joint TCI subscribers can see, was the standout growing 20%, which is the fastest pace

in nearly three years, supported by big enterprise AI workloads. And when you're looking at the chart here, going back to 2019 where AWS was barely, and I say barely facetiously a little bit here, barely $10 billion per quarter. Now you're looking at it at $33 billion per quarter in revenue, which is absolutely massive. And what's crazy is the reacceleration here. You saw a jump sequentially versus the previous quarter of about 10%. It was about $31.30.8 billion, and now it's $33 billion, so maybe 8, 9%. And that's a sequential basis, and clearly it was 20% looking at year over year.

Advertising also grew 24% benefiting from video, live sports, and broader full funnel solutions. For those not familiar with full funnel advertising, which I wasn't before starting to dig into the earnings report, is the full marketing cycle. You make consumer the consumer aware, then the consumer considers the products, then buys it, and then ideally rebies it again and again, which I've definitely been guilty of when it comes to Amazon for things that we use, for example, on a monthly basis, we'll typically have recurring buys. So I'm assuming that's what they're referring to here. On the retail side, Amazon continues to double down on selection, low prices, and faster delivery. and AI power tools. The online retail side also saw solid growth during the quarter. The company is also scaling same-day grocery delivery into more U.S. cities.

They've now spent a whopping $90 billion in capital expenditures so far this year, and they expect to spend another $125 billion next year, primarily to build out their AI infrastructure and fulfillment network expansion. So kind of a dual purpose here, not just AI infrastructure, but also the fulfillment for their retail side. Now, moving on to Microsoft, another strong quarter by Microsoft. It's hard to argue with that, driven by AI demand across Azure and its co-pilot product suite. Revenue grew 18% with Microsoft Cloud up 26% and Azure up 40% as companies.

Continue shifting core workloads and UAI workloads onto Azure. And then if you're looking here and join TCI, you'll see that the Intelligent Cloud Revenue is just growing at a very nice clip. So when they, the chart I have goes back to 2022 and you're seeing that grow at a clip of 23% actually 22% per year at a compound annual growth weight. So again, very impressive from Microsoft. And the partnership with Open AI was a major driver. Microsoft booked a huge wave of long-term AI cloud commitments, pushing its commercial backlog to $392 billion. That's up 51% year-over-year. Microsoft is also spending aggressively on data center and GPUs, of course, to keep up with demand,

and they expect to remain capacity constraint for at least the next few quarter. Co-pilot's adoption is accelerating fast with widespread use across Fortune 500 companies. They expect CAPEX to continue increasing on a sequential basis. They also expect CAPEX to be higher for fiscal year 2026 than it was for fiscal year 2025. And like I mentioned a bit earlier, this is going to be a theme that you'll see here is these massive CAPEX spending from these companies. And just like Amazon, expect some eye-popping numbers at the end of the year here. one area that continues to lag though for Microsoft is gaming so for those who remember back in late 2023 following some regulatory approvals it took a while to get the acquisition done activation blizzard was acquired by Microsoft but it hasn't really delivered so I don't know if Microsoft has something in store to really bank on that maybe to leverage their AI technology to make better

games make a different kind of experience for gamers, but it's essentially been flat year over here. And it's really something I wanted to point out because it's almost flying under the radar. Almost make me think of the Leafs poor start, so the Toronto Maple Leafs, where a lot of Leafs fans were not really paying attention because they were too distracted by the amazing run that the Toronto Blue Jays had in the World Series. So we'll have to see maybe the market will start paying a bit closer attention. to that segment if AI, anything relating to AI, kind of slows down a little bit here.

So it remains to be seen. Now next on Google, which had an amazing quarter, probably one of the best quarters it could have, if you're looking at all of big tech, Alphabet or Google, I use both interchangeably here. Alphabet delivered its first ever 100 billion quarter after a 16% increase in revenue. led by Search, YouTube, and Cloud. The search really surprised me because I thought search would see

its dominance of road over time. I guess those AI overviews and AI mode are really starting to provide some dividends here for Google. They said they're all being driven by AI integration across the product portfolio. YouTube is benefiting from both advertising and subscription growth.

Google Cloud continues, to scale fast with enterprise AI pushing revenue of 34% and backlog of 82% year over year and 46% sequentially, which now brings their backlog to 155 billion. So kind of the same thing here that you're seeing with Microsoft in terms of the backlog they're seeing. And here for those on Joint TCI, so you'll see it's you actually have the subscription revenue that Google has had. And it's very impressive. It's just been strong growth here all the way back to 2019. And I'm sure way before that, but the data I have just goes all the way back to 2019.

And it's growth grown at a compound annual growth rate of six, almost actually, 17% per year. They've surpassed $300 million in paid subscription across their businesses. And again, that was led by Google One and YouTube premium. And obviously the graphic I'm showing shows that right there. For 2025, KAPX is now expected to be between $91 and $93 billion. And management said they expect a significant increase in KAPX for 2026, mainly to build out AI data center and computing infrastructure. So again, you're seeing this same theme where there is massive investment in KAPX

to build out that AI infrastructure. So, of course, that is strong growth today that they're seeing, especially on the revenue side, They're very profitable again, and these companies are paying with these investment through cash flow. So at least they have the money. It's not like they're getting more debt to pay that. But there's also the risk that there could be some higher depreciation ahead, especially as quickly as the technology is moving and going forward.

Now, we'll finish off here with meta platforms. And I didn't add Apple just because Apple is not investing as much as AI in AI as these companies. And I wanted to do a bit more of an. AI theme for this episode when it comes to big tech. So that's the reason. I'm sure Dan and I will have the chance to dig into Apple in the coming months, especially as things start slowing down and we get into the holiday season. So meta saw revenues grow 26% driven by continued improvement in its AI ranking

recommendation systems across Facebook, Instagram, and threads. That's driving time spent on Facebook, threads, and Instagram. and it's translated directly into a stronger ad performance with impressions of 14% and price per ad up 10%. WhatsApp business messaging and meta verified subscription also contributed and reality labs saw solid revenue growth driven by Quest and Rayban smart classes. And for CAPEX, meta is also spending massively amounts, massive amounts on AI infrastructure.

So you can see it here for joint T-Cased. So it's the only company I decided to pull the KAPX spending, but you see it and it's negative amounts because it is spending. But these are the amounts by quarter and they've just increased consistently over the last decade. It was about $500 million per quarter 10 years ago. And then you see that increasing quite a bit in 2022. I'm not sure if this was AI or a little bit about their kind of reality labs, Metaverse spending and all that stuff. But what you see right now is this is increasing rapidly.

The latest quarter, it was $19 billion, and it's going to be increasing. And just imagine that this kind of chart, you can just different numbers, of course, but the same trajectory that you'll see if you look at Alphabet, if you looked at Microsoft, if you looked at Amazon. And if you're looking at all of them together, and that's, to me, the big, headline here is the spending. Of course, you can make an argument that they just had amazing quarters and they just keep growing and these companies are highly profitable and I would not be able to argue with you. You're completely right. But to me, the biggest headline here is

spending. Think about it for a second. Just based on what they said and of course they didn't provide exact guidance for Cappex for 2026. They simply said that it will be for the most higher or significantly higher so you can interpret that a bit how you want and for the most part the capex spending in this quarter and this year is actually higher than they had projected earlier in the year so keep that in mind so i think it's pretty safe to say based on what was said on these conference calls and in the earnings release that you'll see well north of 400 billion in capex spending for 2026 just for these four companies and that's pretty crazy And I don't think it's impossible that you could see half a trillion in capex spending.

And I'm hoping for them that the growth actually is translated into that. And of course, you see these backlogs at Microsoft and Google. And clearly there is demand for it. But I think there's always the risk that you'll see companies saying, well, this is all nice and dandy. We got super excited. But we just aren't seeing the return on investment. and we're going to start scaling back those investments that we're making, those clients of Microsoft, Google, for example.

So I think that's always a bit of a risk. And of course, the technology is evolving so quickly. Are these investments really going to reap the fruits of their labor? I'm not quite sure three, four, five years down the line. They could very well be. Is there going to be a win or take all? So one of these companies ends up being the winner in the AI race. That's very possible.

It could be more spread around. That's possible as well. But just some food for thought. But to me, the biggest takeaway is just the spending that just continues to increase. But the other one, of course, is how profitable they are because they can pay for that pretty much with their cash flow. So that's impressive too. Want to buy a stock, but don't want to shell out hundreds or even thousands for a single. share? With Quest Trade's new fractional shares, you can invest any dollar amount and build a

diversified portfolio instantly. No delays, no trade fees, no excuses. Want to put $10 into a stock trading at $100? No problem. Quest Trade has you covered. They're the first broker in Canada to offer real-time commission-free trading for U.S. fractional shares in ETFs. It's simple, powerful, and finally available in Canada. Head to quest trade.com to open and fund an account. Use code TCI and you get $50 to get you started. Do you keep hearing about these all-on-one ETFs lately? Well, I have some exciting news. BMO ETFs just cut the fees on their flagship all-in-one ETFs to 0.15%, making them one of the lowest cost options in Canada. That's right. More value, same smart diversification, all in a single ETF. Whether you're

just starting out or simplifying your portfolio, BMO all in one, ETFs make it easy to invest with confidence. Just zad it and forget it. Considering ETFs like ZETQT, BMO's all equity ETF, or ZGRO, BMO's growth ETF. Earlier this year, I headed to Calgary for our Stampede podcast meetup. It was a blast. I got to connect with listeners, hear a few of their stock

pitches, catch them rodeo events for the first time, enjoy the fair, and just soak up the energy of the city during the Stampede, all while rocking my new cowboy hat. While I was there, I stayed in a home on Airbnb just a short walk from the Stampede Grounds. After a full day making new connections with people just as passionate about investing as I am and a late night at the rodeo, it was the perfect place to come back to and make a quick dinner and unwind in a quiet, comfortable space that felt like home. That trip got me

thinking about my own place back in Ottawa. While I'm away, my home usually just sits empty, but instead, I thought I could be hosting it on Airbnb. Hosting is flexible so I can set the timing, and it could help me cover the cost of my next adventure while someone else enjoys our beautiful neighborhood. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Now moving on, we'll go to the federal budget. So one of the big takeaways from this, and I've been pretty critical on this, is that the government is just not tightening spending at all. They're increasing it, but presenting it in a fiscal discipline way. Of course, there's going to be some big cuts to the public workforce.

That's what they're saying to be able to fund of that. But they definitely what I don't like is they do this by playing with accounting categories. So more specifically, the concept of operating versus investment spending. And investment spending sounds more productive. But the reality is that government is still spending beyond its means. And I really don't like how they are trying to frame it as fiscal responsibility when it's anything beyond that. And to be clear, I don't think it would be much better under a conservative government. So I'm not being more critical here of the liberal than I would be a conservative government. I think anyone who says that it would be different, they probably would spend the money on slightly different things. I don't disagree with

that, but I think you'd probably see a similar deficit. Why? You're seeing that across countries across the world. Just look at the U.S., for example, which was supposed to be a more fiscally responsible government. What we're just seeing is they're spending as much, if not more, than the Biden administration. They're just spending it on different things. And this capital investment is still less than 10% of the total spending by the federal government. And the reality is that when you go and start looking at their day-to-day operation expenses in the budget, it's actually rising from 517 billion to 585 billion from now to the 29, 2030 budget. Of course, you'll say, well, GDP is going to be bigger by then, and it's going to be a potential or smaller percentage.

And that's very possible. But at the end of the day, there's no guarantee. And somehow revenues will increase enough to balance the operating budget by that time, which is still a word I don't love seeing operating budgets, just a budget. So the budget will not be balanced, but they're trying to do this adjusted accounting. And that's what I posted on X is almost like, you know, adjusted EBITA. That's the government's like version of adjusted EBITA is operating budget versus investment budget. But even with that, there's still going to be a deficit of over 50 billion by then.

And if we've learned anything about government spending is that this will likely undershoot the actual deficit. The actual deficit is almost always higher than what's projected, especially the further you go out, the higher tends to be than the actual prediction. So if you look at the actual numbers, program spending is projected to rise to about $486 billion this year, up roughly from $472 billion last year. So like I said, spending is still growing, not tightening. And one of the most important lines that doesn't get much attention, you don't see it all that much is debt servicing. So the interest we pay just to carry the debt. The government projects

that to be $57 billion in 2526, which works out to about 1.8% of GDP. So let's pause for a second. 1.8% of GDP is just going to interest payments. And they expect that to rise by 2.1% of GDP by 2029, 2030. And one of the things they say is that, well, it's been worse before in Canada, which It's not very reassuring, if you ask me. And that's based on their base case scenario, which when you start looking at the base case, is actually much closer to the optimistic scenario than to the downside one. So in other word, this assumes that things go relatively smoothly, even though I think we can all agree that the world is rapidly changing

and much different than it was looking 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 years ago. So I think it becomes a bit hard to make projections here, but you're also effectively assuming that the government spends this investment expenditure efficiently and the investments produce good returns, which is far from guaranteed. It's not like governments have the best track record of doing that. So that's my general overview. Like I've said before, regardless of the government in power, when I see these massive deficits increasing and like I said, maybe I'm a little bit. I don't know what word to use may be cheated, whatever you want to call it. I don't think it would be really much better on their conservative governments. I just don't think we have any politicians in Canada right now willing to make hard decisions.

But that's just my point of view. You can disagree or not. But like I've said before, I see myself an independent when it comes to politics. Now, shifting here, Canadian stable coins. So are they coming? Well, this is another part that hasn't, I haven't seen a. a whole lot in the media. So let's talk quickly about it.

Fiat back stable coins, since they're becoming part of the conversation again, and for anyone new to the topic, a Fiat back stable coin is basically a digital dollar. So it's a token on the blockchain that it's issued by a company or bank. And for every token circulation, they're supposed to be a real dollar, Canadian dollar, for example, in this case, sitting in reserve somewhere. The idea is that the price stays stable at $1, unlike something like Bitcoin, of course, or Ethereum that would fluctuate. And in theory, stable coins can make payments faster and cheaper.

Settlement is almost instant. You don't need to wait a couple of days for a bank transfer to clear. And they can work across borders very easily. So there's definitely a efficiency advantage. But here's a tradeoff. In Canada, if this moves forward, the likely issuers of these stable coins will be financial institutions. The government and central banks are also taking a very active role in shaping the framework.

So while it may make payment smoother, it also tightens the control over how money moves in the system. So think of it as a more traceable, more monitorable, and more restrictable electronic payments. If the government wants to freeze, reverse, or flag transaction, that becomes much easier in a digital, fully regulated system. We'll have to see what the legislation looks like, but in my view, it's pretty much a CBDC disguise as a stable coin. That's the way I kind of see this happening.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong here with the legislation. But people may wonder, okay, well, if I'm not doing something illegal, like anything illegal, why should I worry? Well, the way I see it is unless you've been living on their rock, people and politicians are getting more and more polarized. So you're seeing more and more of the extremes, whether it's Canada, whether it's the U.S., more extremes on the right, more extremes on the left. And when you start seeing that, I can very well see governments in the future, whether they're left or right, trying to target their opponents financially with this kind of technology.

And that's what I really don't like about it. Maybe I have my tinfoil ad hon, but from what we've seen from governments over the last five, six years, not only in Canada, but across the world, I think that's a very real possibility. So I'm not a fan of this. And the situation in Canada is also very different from what's happening in the U.S.

In the U.S., there is some logic behind it. So in the U.S., they have privately issued stable coin like USDC issued by Circle or USDT issued by Tether that are used globally. And since the U.S. is the World Reserve currency and seen as a much more stable type of currency than other fiats, especially in countries that are seeing high inflation, the U.S. dollar becomes very attractive because even if it is being inflated, it's much better than their local option. And those stable coins give people access to the U.S. dollar in those other countries.

that can't happen, can't open a U.S. bank account in their country or their local currency where their local currency is unstable. And people might not think about that, but think about it. If you know people in other countries, maybe you're from another country, now you're in Canada, or you have family there, whatever it is, or you start talking to people from Argentina, from you name the country, countries in Africa. And you should ask him about how easy it is to open U.S. dollar bank account. And in a lot of countries, they make it very difficult. Only a select few individuals are able to do that because they want to keep grip on the

local currency and keep a tight control over it. So the U.S. stable coin is actually making that much easier and it would increase global demand for the U.S. dollar. So I think from that standpoint, increasing global demand, that's good because that U.S. dollar demand means that those stable coin issuers have to back it with something. And one of the preferred methods of backing the U.S. dollar stable coins is U.S. Treasury. So those short-term treasury bills. So it would create some more and more demand. So I think it's actually a pretty smart move by the U.S. to create more demand for their debt, for lack of better words. So it is

a way to try and keep the U.S. as a reserve currency as long as possible. So maybe that ends up extending that status for by another decade or two. So we'll have to see. But in Canada, I wanted to just explain a little bit the difference here. In Canada, stable coins aren't really about expending the dollars reach. I mean, let's be honest, who wants a Canadian dollar in Europe? Who wants a Canadian dollar in Africa? Who wants a Canadian dollar in South America? No one. No one wants a Canadian dollar outside of Canada. So it's just our local country. So it's more about modernizing the payment system with more oversight and control. So that's the way I see it.

We'll have to see, like I said, this was just an announcement in the budget. They said they'll be coming out with legislation. So we'll have to see what it comes about. Of course, it will be more efficient. But I think there's some really important tradeoffs that people need to be aware of. And I'll be keeping a close eye when legislation comes here. Want to buy a stock, but don't want to shell out hundreds or even thousands for a single share? With QuestTrade's new fractional shares, you can invest any dollar amount and build a diversified portfolio instantly.

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Earlier this year, I headed to Calgary for our Stampede podcast meetup. It was a blast. I got to connect with listeners, hear a few of their stock pitches, catch them rodeo events for the first time, enjoy the fair, and just soak up the energy of the city during the Stampede, all while rocking my new cowboy hat. While I was there, I stayed in a home on Airbnb

just a short walk from the Stampede grounds. After a full day making new connections with people just as passionate about investing as I am, and a late night at the rodeo, it was the perfect place to come back to and make a quick dinner and unwind in a quiet, comfortable space that felt like home. That trip got me thinking about my own place back in Ottawa. While I'm away, my home usually just sits empty, but instead, I thought I could be hosting it on Airbnb. Hosting is flexible so I can set the timing, and it could help me cover the cost of my next adventure

while someone else enjoys our beautiful neighborhood. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Now, I want to finish here with potential ideas for investment based on budget priorities. So I think just some actionable things that people can do. And of course, this is not investment advice. I will be providing some ticker names and names of companies and not just based on this budget alone,

but just also based on broader geopolitical environment. I think there are some clear investment takeaways here. And I'm probably missing some, but those are the ones that popped out to me with the budget. So we're seeing a shift back towards natural resources, especially critical minerals that feed the energy transition, national defense supply chain, our sovereignty and alliance around the world or globally.

Think of the U.S. and Europe here, of course, I know there's been better relationships with the U.S. than since in the last couple of years. But I think in the long run, Canada and U.S., I believe they will become closer tied together, most likely with Europe and Central and South America as well. I think that's what we're going to be seeing is a multipolar world where you have these big alliances across. geographies, and that's how things I think will be trending in the next several decades. And I also think this direction likely doesn't change if the conservative take power. If anything, it probably gets reinforced with even more emphasis on traditional energy and fossil fuels alongside critical minerals. Now, if you look at where funding and strategic partnerships are being directed,

it's towards metals like copper, nickel, rare earths, lithium, uranium, obviously I'm not going to name them all, but just to give you an idea, these are essential for things like EVs, grid infrastructure, semiconductor, aerospace system, military equipment. Canada has reserves of all of them. So despite us being a tough economic spot right now, Canada has a lot of advantages that other countries simply do not have. So from an investing standpoint, one area to watch is Canadians' producers involved

in these materials. So for me, I would try to focus personally on companies that are actually operating and generating revenues that are ideally profitable. As I started doing more research here, there's a lot of companies on the venture that are pre-revenue, for example, so these are very risky. So I would be very careful with those. I would stick, again, this is not investment advice, but I would personally stick to companies that have revenues ideally profitable. They don't always have to be profitable, but pretty closer profitability where they're in a space that even if they're losing a little bit of money, the tailwinds are so great that eventually they'll become profitable, especially if governments start kind of creating incentive for these

companies. But my personal focus here, some of the companies that I have on my radar would be tech resources or first quantum on the copper side. First Quantum, of course, they're the company with the Cobre Panama Mine. I talked about it a little bit on Thursday's episode with Franco Nevada. Franco Nevada has a streaming deal with First Quantum here, but First Quantum is actually the operator of the mine. It's definitely going to be more dependent on that Cobri Panama Mine, so keep that in mind.

Tech Resources probably a bit of a safer play when it comes to copper. Neo performance material, ticker Neo, they produce and process rare, materials. And those are strategically important for EVs, defense, aerospace. And we've seen, obviously, a lot of this in the news, a lot of the tension between the U.S. and China right now is happening because of these rare earth materials. So something to keep in mind, I don't believe they're profitable, but they do generate revenue. So this is one that I have definitely on my radar, one that I may start like a more risky position, very tiny allocation.

But I think there could be a whole lot of upside for this company, and especially if, for example, the Canadian government starts making strategic investment or maybe a partnership with the U.S. government, not quite sure, but with the way the U.S. is investing in strategic, in companies it views as a strategic national interest. I wouldn't be surprised if Neil here could also see some tailwinds from that. Camaco, which is one of the largest uranium producer globally and ties directly into the renewed push for nuclear power, which was another theme in the budget. So that was mentioned quite a bit as well. There seems to be a push and much more openness from this liberal government versus the Trudeau government to embrace nuclear power. So we'll have to see whether they follow through in the years to come. But I think my opinion is that will not change whether the liberals or the conservatives are in power here. The second category that fits naturally with this theme is defense and aerospace suppliers.

So we're in a geopolitical environment again. If you've been living under ROG, that military spending is just rising. Canada is being pushed by the U.S., of course, to increase its defense commitment. And we don't have some big prime contractor like a Lockheed Martin that they would have in the U.S., but we still have companies that are listed in Canada that are, definitely part of that ecosystem. So a couple of that come to mind here, CAE, so they provide military and aviation simulation and training system. MDA, which provides satellite, space, robotics, surveillance system with defense applications. So these are a couple of names as well. I'm sure there's

other names, of course, in the mining space, but also in the defense. But I try to stick to Canadian names here because it is the Canadian investor podcast. And it really isn't about short-term trade. So definitely, again, make sure you do your due diligence if you're interested in making investments in these companies because I just provided some names obviously with not much more information. But they're multi-year, I think, plays. So if you look at these companies, my view is that I would look at them for five plus years because I'm really looking at this at more as a macro shift, and that's how I invest is I try to look at big macro themes, and then I try to find investments, whether they're specific companies or theme DTFs, for example, or even like resources,

of course, I'm invested in gold, silver, and so on, that would fit those investments. Again, if the government is going to continue emphasizing national security, resource independence, electrification, resource producers, and defense link aerospace companies are really well positioned to benefit much more directly than some of the more speculative innovation programs that we've seen in past budget. So that was my big takeaway. I thought it was an interesting way to take a look at the budget, is just look at things that could provide some opportunities for investors. And I think it's really important, especially when you have a minority government. You have to think beyond this government because it's always going to be a reality

that the government could fall and someone else could come in power. But clearly in Canada tends to be either liberal or conservatives. We'll have to see what happens once we get another election. But I think for the most part, I think it's pretty reasonable. There's a high probability chance that whoever is in power, they will have similar type of priorities in terms of sovereignty and sustainability for Canada than what we're seeing right now. So hopefully you like this episode, like I said, I tried to not make it political, tried to make it as balanced as possible with also a little bit of an investment twist to it. If you'd like to see me, Dan, as well, full videos.

We have those available on join TCI.com. It's $15 a month. You also get our monthly portfolio update, Braden also provides his. I give my parents monthly update for the retirement portfolio too. And what I'll start doing is when I start a position, I'll usually give it a few days because I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to move the stock or anything like that. But if I start a new position or make a big sale, I'll try to do a short video for a joint TCI subscribers. So they're able to see what I'm doing and not wait for two, three weeks later when I talk about it on the podcast. And the last perk that you get here for the joint DCI

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thank you a lot for listening and I'll be back next Thursday hopefully with then but it might be the last solo episode that I do before them comes back. The Canadian Investor podcast should not be construed as investment or financial advice. The host and guest featured may own securities or assets discussed on this podcast. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a financial professional before making any financial or investment decisions.