JB & Bear with Maruf Raza on SERVING INNOVATION THROUGH ACCOUNTING | AFTER MARKET EP 8

JB & Bear are joined by their sixth guest on AFTER MARKET - Maruf Raza - Partner, National Director of Public Companies at MNP. In this "After Hours" segment we tap the expert to better understand how MNP's entrepreneurial culture put them on the frontlines of some of the most exciting growth industries in recent memory:

0:35 - Introducing Maruf Raza, Partner at MNP
1:20 - Differentiating from the "big four"
3:45 - A culture that empowers entrepreneurship
6:00 - The power of collaboration - the Vegas story
9:15 - The western Canadian "roots" of MNP
12:45 - How MNP decided to enter the cannabis industry
17:00 - How are psychedelics different than cannabis?
19:45 - Why drug companies are attracted to Canadian markets
27:35 - What the "smart money" is doing with cannabis
31:15 - What Maruf would be doing if he wasn't an accountant
33:59 - Content recommendations from CSETV - TAAT and BEE
38:15 - Thank you Tennis Canada, help support amateur sports, purchase a 'Return to Tennis' kit: https://store.tenniscanada.com/products/return-to-tennis-kit

Related links
The Psychedelics Renaissance - https://www.blg.com/en/about-us/events/2020/09/the-psychedelics-renaissance
https://www.mnp.ca/en

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, it's James here welcoming you to this presentation of the hashtag finance podcast. This is just a reminder that if you like video, all of our CEO and expert interviews are featured on the hashtag finance playlist on CCTV, including the show that you were about to listen to remember that a CSC space TV on YouTube. And finally, this is just a friendly reminder that the views information or opinions expressed during the podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Canadian securities exchange and its employees. So happy listening, and now enjoy the show. Good evening folks. It's Thursday night and we're back with another episode of aftermarket. I'm James Black, and I'm joined by my cohost very similar. And this week we've got an awesome guest joining us in the booth. None other than mr. Marufo Raza from NMP we'll hear from him right after

Speaker 2: 1:10

[inaudible].

Speaker 1: 1:11

Thanks again for tuning in and for watching. This is aftermarket I'm JB I'm with bear. And this week we are joined by a close friend and business associates, mr. Mira, Frieza from an NP, formerly known as Meyers Norris, penny, and, uh, here's here's my public job for you. Move the most, arguably the most interesting accountant. I know that's not saying much, but thank you anyway. It's a, you know, I was going to say, you guys were, you guys are such naturals at this man. Like you guys have just done phenomenal, and I'm not saying that genuinely Richard Carlton needs to be worried a bit too natural. You know, you were just going up and up every episode. And then, and then now you hit rock bottom. You know, you got this guy, well, you sponsored well Barrington, maybe get through some of the formalities of, uh, our sponsorships. Um, so it turns out maroon and his team, Adam NP have been long time supporters and advocates of the Canadian securities exchange and the capital markets as a whole, um, across Canada, different regions. The one thing about MMP that a lot of people may not know is that the people you meet in the Quebec offices, in the Ottawa office, in Toronto and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Calgary, Vancouver, they're all the same. They're all really nice, really, really helpful. They are a company that acts and walks and talks like the big four, but they're not the big four. We appreciate a MNP because they're very entrepreneurial. And, um, I think what we want to dive into a little bit today is, um, some of our shared journeys in business the last few years. Um, and yeah, a big credit to your firm and yourself Maru for a lot of the, um, trailblazing you've done in the, in the, in the corners you've gone into, you know, that your peers haven't gone into and no disrespect to a lot of the other great people we know at other firms, but, um, certainly MNP has been there every step of the way with us when it comes to things like cannabis and blockchain, e-sports psychedelics. I mean, all these frontier industries that have been capitalized on our marketplace, but also weren't the first, you know, uh, sectors. A lot of these other companies would be willing to jump into because I think of perceived risk or just misunderstandings and maybe just Marie, can you comment on sort of that culture that allows you guys to go and do that? I assume it's not just like, you know, desperation to compete. It's it's a cultural thing has bearing alludes to yeah.

Speaker 3: 3:59

I mean, you look, firstly, like I probably don't need to say a damn thing for the rest of the thing. Cause you guys have just done such a good job of encapsulating. Our feel though normally is that it's not real it's it's it's, you know, I think it's real. I think I look, we don't want to disparage any of the firms. There are lots of, lots of good firms out there, you know, great people at the big four. I think for us, it comes down to a James, you know, you, you, you that's really, our operative word is being entrepreneurial, right? We work well with people who are entrepreneurial. So in our case, that's the CSE. Cause you guys have the exact same spirit and that's why we jumped in. And the same thing that we jumped in with obviously cannabis is the big thing in the room, but it's not just cannabis. Right? We've done so many things like that. And I think that it's just, I think for us, we just have that little bit of separation. Like you, you certainly have good people who are entrepreneurial at other firms and other exchanges, but there's just a little bit of a difference. I think there's just a little bit of extra. And so when we meet other entrepreneurs, they look at us and they feel like we get it maybe just a little bit more. And so I think that's really been our sort of our theme for, for, for, for success. And you know, I think, you know, when you guys talked about, you know, James, is that, you know, ease for crypto blockchain, cannabis, look, sometimes it works out brilliantly, right? Like, like cannabis, other times, it doesn't like, so, you know, we, we jumped into crypto and then we all jumped up. Right. Because you know, but you know, we tried, I think everybody else is like, let's, let's, let's, let's figure it out. Let's think and think of things and then let's do it. Well, the markets don't wait for that. Right. And so you guys know that we know that I'm so, you know, it's, it's, the speed of change is not like it was before, whether you're an accounting firm or an exchange, you have to be up on.

Speaker 1: 5:57

I still remember.

Speaker 4: 5:58

I remember one of the first trips though it was during, uh, it was during my first time to MJ biz and Marie of you may or may not remember this.

Speaker 3: 6:09

I don't remember it.

Speaker 4: 6:11

We were there and we're on the show floor and we're walking around, we're walking around together and we would go and we would talk to a company, talk to a booth and they would ask me a question about going public or listing or whatever. And then they might have an accounting question and I went, Oh, it just so happens that I have one of the foremost accountants in Canada standing right here, and then they would turn and go, Oh, okay. That's cool. And then they would start talking and then a small group,

Speaker 3: 6:42

Never for a second said, that's cool.

Speaker 4: 6:48

And that a small group started forming around us. And then it dawned on both of us like, Hey, let's just, let's just walk around together. Let's let's have this little, this little one stop shopping so that people don't have to stray very far to get the questions, get the answers to the questions that they have. And that's what we did. I still remember going down one aisle and then it turned into the, Hey, I'm going to pitch you on this. And I know you're going to want to know accounting here, talk to roof. And I'm a roof would do the same thing. Like, Hey, are you interested in going public? And I'll make sure you have audited financials, blah, blah, blah. And here's a stock exchange. And it was that sort of relationship. It wasn't, it wasn't planned. It just happened organically. And I think that's, that goes a long way to explaining how this relationship continues to continues with the fact that James and I are probably wearing, um, you know,

Speaker 3: 7:52

Absolutely. Yes. You get that from no, but honestly you guys do that really well though. I mean, I would say you do that better than anybody else, including us, including it's your great connectors, right? Like you're always thinking about who else you guys are going public, but then what else? And you know, like, look obviously accountants and lawyers and investment banks, those are the obvious choices. Like we, everybody knows that when you guys are actually thinking about other things, like you're saying, Hey, have you thought about this like IRR thing here? And have you thought about, you know, like you guys have to give credit to yourselves. I mean, as much as we love, we think we're great partners for you guys, but I think, you know, you deserve a lot of the credit that you've created, the success that you deserve.

Speaker 4: 8:36

Well, well thank you. And we definitely appreciate that. And um, I'm going to do a quick plug, um, outside of cannabis because we've talked a lot about it, where currently I'm doing a project called mining over Canada. It is being spearheaded by our very own Emissary. And we will be examining CSE, mining and mineral exploration companies from the East coast to the West coast, from the North to the South. And I'm MP is, uh, decided to go on this journey, um, as well. Now the roots of MNP sort of started in, in agriculture. Um, can you tell us a little bit about, about that? About a little Canadiana and MNP

Speaker 3: 9:26

Yeah. I'm going to M and P we, uh, you know, it's a, it started in the prairies, it was a very, uh, culturally agricultural firm, I think a little weird. This story was, you know, one of our founders went in a, in a, in a, in a minivan farm to farm doing farm taxes, whatever 50, 60 years ago. And then it morphed right. It morphed into, okay. You know, we're going to be a Prairie firm. And so then we did a bunch of Prairie stuff, you know, and then we're like, okay, we're going to go West, but not East, you know, those East guys. Yeah. You know, a little bit shaky. Right. Uh, and that eventually it just grew into like, you know, about 10, 15 years ago saying, Hey, we want to be the dominant Canadian. So sure. There's other firms doing other things, but we want to be the poster, post Canadian firm representing all aspects of honestly Canadiana, whether that's a farmer to a Bay street or Vancouver mining guy. Right. And what connected everything was that they were all entrepreneurs. Right. They were not, they were not like, you know, fourth generation, you know, sitting on$10 billion, you know, it was all made money. And that was when you, when you, when you look at, if you connect the dots, that's one thing all of our clients have is that they made it right. They're the ones that did it. And so, you know, so for us, you know, what what's been great is the fact, because we came from, I would say, not the urban centers where you would normally think we've come from, it's affected our culture in a very positive and meaningful way. Right. Because, you know, I mean, look, I'm not, I know we all live. The three of us live in Toronto, I'm from Vancouver. I don't want to disparage any urban centers, but you know, there's a certain speed and thing that you move in, in those urban centers. Whereas, because we came from somewhere else, we were very cognizant of not being those guys. Right. So even the guys who are from Toronto, we've tried to take some of those positives away, you know, you know, from, from the other parts of, uh, other parts of MNP. Yeah. It's funny, you mentioned that. Cause we had a, on an earlier episode of this program, uh, we debated, you know, how much, and if people have in Calgary and Edmonton still hate each other sort of like Springfield and Shelbyville, it's good to, it's good to know that outside of all those, uh, you know, uh, rivalries there, I agree with you. Cause

Speaker 1: 11:54

I I'm actually not from Vancouver. I'm from everywhere. I grew up everywhere across Canada because my dad moved us around a lot. And uh, I've had the privilege of living pretty much in every major city and visiting every major city. And uh, yeah, the, the Prairie's have its own vibe. It's, it's very, you know, you, you are what you do and, and, uh, it's, it's less of the talk and more of the work. And, um, I think we can see that in what you guys have built. So that that's something I really read. It resonates with me as far as just, you know, with anyone I want to work with is let the, let the work speak for itself. And then let's have a good time afterwards when the job is done, you know, total end. And then also I can't do it. You did don't walk, you know, like Chris angel down the halls of a, you know, Vegas convention floor, I get mobbed by eager tourists. But so let's see here, I got some questions. So we we've been through a lot of stuff. We mentioned sectors and things like crypto and psychedelics and, you know, mining over Canada, which I'm super excited for. Cause stay tuned. There'll be more programming about that. Um, let's just go into cannabis for a sec. And just, we talked last week with Jay Rosenthal, I'll link above, you know, about the transition from that industry and the psychedelics, but you know, just taking stock where that cannabis industry is at and where you guys on the accounting side really headed, take a hard gut check at one point and go, are we going to be in this or not? And maybe just walk me through how that decision was made, how quick it was, if it was even a hard decision, because I know that MMP was one of the first to kind of say, yeah, well, we'll look at these books. We'll, we'll put our name on some of this stuff. Um, you were there. So tell me kinda what happened in Coles notes, forums. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 13:41

I mean, it looks like, I think there's that there's the Canadian story. And then there's the U S story which are, which is a little bit different, right? Canadian story was circa, you know, whatever 13, 14 when the first batch of those companies were coming. And so, you know, we sort of, you know, a couple of our guys stood up, you know, uh, David DeAndrea and Glenn Frazier to give them a shout out internally, big time. And they basically went to our board and you know, it wasn't an automatic decision. Right. Cause there was big stigmas around drugs and cannabis. Right. But I think ultimately, and this is where I think the entrepreneurial side came on, our board sat back and said, well, look, this is, this is a federally legal business, right. I mean, you know, sure everybody has their can cast their own morality judgment, but this is not about morality. This is about legality. Right. And so, you know, and, and so we got it and what's interesting is two, two years later, nobody could even remember that there was this big discussion around, you know, morality and ethics. It was just, it had to become the norm and fast forward to the, you know, I'm sorry, a lot of firms now, I guess never got past that first thing. Right. Which as the right, I mean, even in one firm, even, even, you know, you have an organization of a hundred people, 30 people can think differently than the other 30 people. So who's right. And who's wrong. Right. The question is about, Hey, this is a completely legal sector that is blessed by the government blessed by health Canada. Right. And so, you know, why so early on we had those discussions, why is this different than, than opiates? It is totally different than opiate in a good way. Right. But why would you be okay with doing big pharma and an opiate deal, but, but not a cannabis deal, but we didn't want to get into those discussions. Right. Because then you're getting into your own personal judgment. Right. So then we sit back and so ultimately the entrepreneurial side, once the logical sidewalk after then, of course you came to the U S and you know, that we have all dealt with this so close that you guys obviously had many of the same issues thrown at you. Um, and it was, you know, because obviously there was a dichotomy of the U S federally not okay. State level. Okay. And so for us, it ultimately became a decision to say, look, we, how can we say, we're the main firm in cannabis. Right. And not be in the biggest cannabis market in the world. Right. Like, it's like, you know, you can't, and you can't avoid it. So look, so sort of, so we got in, but we had a lot of checks and balances, right. Like we couldn't send staff across the border. Right. This was during the sessions era when people were getting mad. Right. So that one was a much more different risk discussion, but ultimately we landed on the right side of it, obviously in our opinion, but it wasn't without its challenges.

Speaker 4: 16:43

Interesting. Yeah. I know it was. I always think back to the, uh, people being concerned, you know, two years ago at MJ biz, you know, if they're going to get nabbed at the border, going into the U S and now, well, can't even go over the border to the U S until the November, but, um, good luck. So right now I was doing, before we came on the show, I was, uh, I was doing proper notes for another conference. That's coming up called the Renaissance of psychedelics. And it so happened that I was working on the section of questions that I'd be asking Bruce, and just do a little preview here. Um, how is psychedelics? Not like cannabis.

Speaker 3: 17:29

So I think that as a, obviously it's, it's comparable in the context of the people coming in in terms of the money. Right. Not talking about the people at the operational R and D level, but the money is similar. Right. So people think, Oh, it is kind of, I I'll tell you. So initially I was like, wow, like a deluxe, like who cares? Right. I mean, in the context of size of market, I've changed my tune in that. I think that, you know, as a blue sky opportunity, psychedelics is way bigger than cannabis, right? Because if you're saying, Hey, look, this thing can potentially help PTSD depression, mental health, that's that market dwarfs anything that, that cannabis is going to do. I think that the counter of that is there's no path to revenue for these companies, right? This is an RN, the biopharma plate, right? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. You have some ketamine clinics and you have those, there'll be some revenue. You have a little bit of recreational stuff coming from Hollins, but ultimately the real path to revenue doesn't exist. Whereas when these cannabis companies went public, even at the earliest date, you had the revenue model in hand go and build it. Right. You have a path to licensing and you have a path to revenue, right. Just in the medical side. But my big worry on the psychedelic side is that this is a nobody's political agenda. Right. And so is it five years? Is it 10 years? Three years. We don't know. So as long as the money is patient and understand that this is not a, you know, a tomorrow scenario, then, then we'll be fine. So the question is that is the money patient, because there is a lot of cannabis money sitting in psychedelics,

Speaker 1: 19:21

Right. Sorry, go ahead. I didn't want to go too far down the rabbit hole, because if you want to find out more answers, you have the Renaissance of psychedelics with BLG CRC. We'll see if I'm media, as our video sponsor could plug we'll put the registration down below. Yeah, no, I guess you just follow the money. I always find that it is, it's fascinating, right? Like you're seeing a lot of the same people that were in cannabis are now in psychedelics. So are you, are you suggesting that people will just, they're just following the drug narrative or have they learned a few things from cannabis? And we asked you this question last week, but you know, do they appreciate that, that there is this longer term investment strategy needed or strategies, not the word. I mean, it's just, as you mentioned, like these are not going to be companies that are going to make their drug, like they're going to be bought to a big company if they prove their molecule or prove their therapy. And then, you know, that's where the return comes from the stock. But, but no, um,

Speaker 3: 20:33

Yeah, I it's, it's, it's a, it's a really good question. I mean, look, this is just my personal opinion. I think you need in order to really look at this, I mean, let's look at the early stage cannabis money, not so much the late stage cannabis money that came in, because that was obviously different, different of sophistication institutional. But if you look at the early money, you have to keep going back. That was really mining money. Right. That was really money before. And so it honestly, and that's part of our strengths as the Canadian venture public markets, right. Is that we are willing to take, to deploy high risk capital. Right. So yes. Is it the same people that were doing the mining deals that did the early cannabis deal? They're doing the earliest psychedelic deals. Yes. But that's, we should celebrate that as a strip because you know what there's, there's countries look at all these countries internationally, right? Like, look at you guys. How many companies are you guys getting from Australia from Singapore, right? Why don't they have capital in Singapore, in Australia? They do, but not, but not the venture capital, not the high risk public venture capital. So to me, you know, I find that particularly now, even more interesting where the world has become so nationalistic, closing borders, everything else is closed, but look at our capital markets, they're thriving, right? There's no borders.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Well, I would argue, I would support that point by saying that it's not just the market or at least consider when you say market that there's the regulatory and compliance side, which you're a key cog in. Right. And that, you know, the reason a lot of these companies we're seeing from the U S now coming to a CSC is that actually the cost of capital is dramatically lower by going public on a venture style market, uh, North of the border thing and say, raising a series a in the U S or even going public, you know, it was an earlier stage. It was not really possible because in the U S you have the Sarbanes Oxley compliance, you have, uh, you know, the insurance concerns because of the liability and in Canada, you know, we've used off on a lot of that stuff yet, still have that trusted, uh, marketplace. Um, can you me just, just elucidate a bit on that. Cause you know, in Canada, you're, you're in the mix, like I said, um, Canada has much different, uh, accounting standards in the U S where on ifrifrst. Um, do you see that U S model having the way we look at it, having completely just curbed early stage public financing because of the accounting issues down there because of Sarbanes because of, uh, other issues post Enron.

Speaker 3: 23:13

So I th I think that the regulatory side is, is, is one element of it I'll call it risk, right? Not just regularly, it's just, you know, you mentioned insurance, which is such a perfect, like comparison points. So, you know, I've been, I've been a director on a company listed Canada immediately, just via, don't forget, forget anything else. You're looking at 10 to$20 million, extra in premiums. Right. You know? And so you're like, wow, as an early stage public company, like that's, that's$20 million. Like how do you, how do you justify that? And so I think so, I think so. I think that's look, I think there's the risk element of all the other stuff falls out like socks and all that, you know, auditors are going to charge you, more lawyers are going to, it's just, it's a trickle effect. And you know what? You get sued a whole heck of a lot, way more look at all these short seller reports, right? Whether you were right or wrong, whether you adjust or unjust a short seller report, he immediately leads to a loss. Even if you are a hundred percent in the right. So there's so much cost driven towards that. For me. The other thing that I always think about is that we are why we are different than the U S is that to be honest, like we don't have a version of Silicon Valley, a thriving version of Silicon Valley. So all of these early stage companies that go to like a Silicon Valley or, or private venture scenario, right. To get venture capital, that rule is really played by our public venture markets in Canada, not exclusively, but it is a big driver of getting venture money. And so, you know, coming back, I know we keep coming back to cannabis, but you know, people were very critical of Canada, right? Like, Hey, look at all these companies, they didn't make it. I can't believe what, you know, what it was a startup industry. What startup industry does, hundred percent of the players make it, there are a lot of carcasses and dried up bones on the road, on the side of the sand Hill road. You know what I mean,

Speaker 4: 25:25

Company that survived the tech boom that was there before the tech boom and who is here now, there's one,

Speaker 3: 25:36

This is good for anyone who's watched Barrington's programming in the past. He should know this.

Speaker 4: 25:41

Yeah. So there's one, and I'm not even going to tell you, I'm going to let you figure it out. There's only one company that was there before the tech boom. And it's a fascinating story as to how they survived, but they did. So

Speaker 3: 25:57

You know what? We'll tell them after the break, because I'm not telling the man

Speaker 4: 26:02

I'm going to leave you hanging, do the research or watch the show. Oh, it's great. The point is that the industry doesn't look, no industry looks, uh, the same way five years later. There's there's none. Yeah. Yeah. This is no different. Which is again, further evidence that it's a real industry.

Speaker 3: 26:23

Yeah. The way I look, the way I talked to people about it is that if you opened up the books of, of a, of a venture fund in Silicon Valley, and you saw the a hundred investments, they made, how many of them were duds and how many of them were unicorns. You never hear about the 98 that never meet,

Speaker 4: 26:42

Go to just go to any angel, go to an angel meeting, go to a venture capital angel group and talk to talk to somebody there and say, how many investments are you involved in? And the number is going to be between 16 and 25. And how many are, you know, sort of good, two to three every time. That's, that's the way the game's played. Now, I'm getting back to one of your earlier points. I actually think the investor is different going into psychedelics than it is in the cannabis. And the reason for that is there were a lot of people that quote unquote got burned, uh, on the last dip with cannabis. And so entering this, they're a little more cautious. They're doing a little bit more homework and the smart money is dipping their toe in. They're not going gangbusters. Cannabis did teach a lot of lessons, both positive and negative. And that's why I think there's a difference with the investor. That's my 2 cents.

Speaker 3: 27:54

Can I throw in 2 cents on the cannabis side, we'll have to force that on the sense of like, I don't think it's right. I think that because we both, we have all, all three of us have seen the second wave of us cannabis companies as an example, and these companies are real, right. They're legit. They have great top line. They have great bottom line for striking out the market

Speaker 4: 28:18

Management management. The 2.0 is, is not just for the company, it's for the management as well.

Speaker 3: 28:24

It is. And so, I mean, to me, like obviously the market right now is tough for them to come in, but you know, one thing I'm seeing is a lot of these guys, there's a bunch of these facts sitting in the U S that are gathering Dustin and not being able to, you know, they've raised hundreds of millions. What we're seeing is that they're looking to access the U S facts and then immediately having to delist because they're kind of this and guess where they're coming. Right. But the money is going to be raised at the spackle up. Cause the money's there and the SPACs are desperate because guess what? There isn't enough deals to do a, to fill these 200,$300 million back. They don't, these deals don't grow on trees.

Speaker 4: 29:07

Yeah,

Speaker 3: 29:07

Yeah, yeah. That's, that's a, that's a whole nother kettle of fish. You know, this and the, in this factoring is actually just picking up steam in the U S it's becoming very popular. Uh, and for those who don't notice back as you're watching, it's basically just a large pool of capital put up by a bunch of investors to, we could say, tempted deal to come to their shell and do it, you know, basically an RTO reverse takeover and then go public. So, uh, those people who formed that initial capital, they got cheaper stock. They don't have to buy directly into the company that that's, uh, as

Speaker 1: 29:42

A startup, they can wait til it matures, come in, do the RTO. And then they, they likely have a pretty decent position that they can liquidate in the public market. Okay.

Speaker 4: 29:49

You can also walk away from the deal after. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Yeah. But I guess, but they're all of a timeline, right? Like, yeah. So they need to get the deal. And they're seeing that, Hey, some of these cannabis deals are good targets, but they can't be listed on the U S exchange immediately thereafter. Right. So that's back to that thread of following the money. Right. And one thing I did want to add though, is, you know, we track our numbers and, uh, we, we talked to people and, you know, don't, don't take for granted that again, people use our market and then raise the money internationally as well. Uh, we talk about mining. Um, a lot of mining finance happens over in the UK and in Europe. And, um, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's because there's that trust in our Canadian market. But, um, you know, there's some deep pockets go walk through your London sometime, and you start to realize that our idea of wealth, um, our idea of what we see on Bay street and even on wall street is, um, it's not even close to what they have over there as far as, you know, historic wealth and middle Eastern wealth. And this is the stuff that likes to speculate as well, um, in our, in our resource based economy. So, um, I don't know, just a little note about whenever you go to, whenever you're allowed to go back to London, right. The tube, and it's true. It's very true. Yeah. Yup. Um, I don't know what else is going on in your world. Why did, why did you become an accountant? Let's get into just some real human interest stuff for a second. Oh my God. I actually worried, where am I going with this one? I, the last thing I wanted to do in the world was actually being a cop. I come from a family of a cow, so I kinda messed up and fell back into it. And I guess that's the same. Might've been genetic, so couldn't help yourself. I tried, I tried so hard. What would it, what would you have done if you weren't a, an accountant? You know what, I, I don't know I was doing, I was doing, I was a smart guy. I was doing, I was doing economics for awhile, but like really, that's not that far different from accounting at the end of the day. I thought it was very different, but really it's, I don't know, maybe banking. I think I could have easily seen myself in banking, but you know, maybe we come full circle. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 32:12

You know, we've, we've taken up a enough of mr. Roz's time. Uh, this is, uh, we're always, always, uh, happy to have you and we appreciate the business, but more importantly, we appreciate the friendship and the support and, uh, you know, for your accounting needs, contact accounting and audit needs contact, uh, Marouf Raza at.ca

Speaker 3: 32:40

Oh, wow. Not calm emails until the calm and it never, never replied and questioned me. Why have you not, why are you not writing me back? Are you guys,

Speaker 1: 32:55

Are you guys on the boards right now? Uh, at Rogers and Edmonton? I can't remember. I was just watching the game.

Speaker 3: 33:01

You know what? I don't know. I don't know. I I'm pretty sure. Yeah. I don't know. I assume so, because those are usually multi, multi length contracts. Right. So I don't think you can get out, you know, I'm just looking forward to one of these days. Maybe we can go back to MJ biz. Certainly doesn't look like this year, but no,

Speaker 1: 33:25

I want to go back to brunch or sorry, the buffet at Rogers center in Toronto and all. Yeah. That's why it's like five innings and go home.

Speaker 3: 33:35

That is, that is the perfect day.

Speaker 1: 33:39

All right. Well, Mark, thanks so much. Thanks for being on the aftermarket. Thanks for supporting us and thanks for being a great, great guy, great friend, great colleague and collaborator with a fortune more and, uh, certainly wish you all the best. Uh, as we continue to navigate all this fun business outside of our walls of our homes and our safe places.

Speaker 3: 33:58

Well, appreciate it guys. Take care. All right. Thanks.

Speaker 1: 34:03

But there you have it. I think Murph was like our six or seven guests on a aftermarket and, uh, frankly, I'm, I'm very thankful of having good people like that in my life who can educate me and help me stay, stay somewhat sharp. Um, Barrington we've produced a lot of content on the network on CCTV. Yes. Um, yes. And mostly credit to you and, uh, Neil Mol our, uh, our colleague and friend in Vancouver. Um, we've had a couple of videos that I think are worth highlighting just because it illustrates just how unique the ecosystem is. And some of the great, you know, ingenuity and ideas that are coming. Um, and one of them I never expected that I would think would it would be something I would have just never thought I'd see the day. Um, let me, I've got to take a step back on this one. Do you, do you know the company I'm about to talk about tattoos?

Speaker 3: 34:55

They do smoke, smoke alternatives, smoking alternatives.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Well, they're, they're recreating the cigarette, but using hemp and CBD instead of tobacco and nicotine and their new CEO said he Costco, Ella. I've known him since he works at Philip Morris. Uh, we had lunch, uh, not too long ago before you couldn't have lunch with someone. Um, well I guess you can, but you know what I mean? And in a way where you're not thinking about getting affected. And so here they were working on a, um, I coast was the name of the product is it's a, it's a, I guess it's not like a, it's not a vape, so it doesn't burn. And, um, or maybe it's, Oh, burn, not smoke. That's, that's the whole thing that they're going after. So he was helping develop that product. They want to bring people off combustible cigarettes into these IKOS products. And, um, you know, he's now at tat there, they've got these hemp cigarettes, which basically are meant to, by all intensive purposes, look, feel, taste, smell, uh, like a tobacco cigarette. That being said, it has the additive effect of CBD and not the effect of, you know, nicotine, which last time I checked is arguably one of the most addictive substances in the world. And obviously the lay cigarettes has all sorts of interesting things to keep you coming back for more. Um, go watch the video. We did, we did a brief interview with them, Philip Shum. Um, it's on the TV, uh, CCTV channel. I will link it. And if anything, just keep an open mind. It's a solution to a problem, which is a, is a major issue, but also a huge business opportunity. It's something like a$900 billion global market, the tobacco industry. So, um, that's all happening on CSE under the symbol T a T um, Citi, customer, Ella, check it out. Now you had one that I thought was really interesting.

Speaker 4: 36:53

I volunteered to do this one. It was a factoring. And the reason I jumped all over it

Speaker 1: 37:00

Bees like the bees that buzz. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 37:03

Uh, they're uh, they have an office in Mississauga in my hometown. So, uh, like I have to, and I did the interview and I learned, I had no idea what B vectoring did, what it was. Um, and I don't want to, I want you to go and watch it to learn. Um, it's using bees as control, uh, to control your crops, to mitigate crop damage. Um, I had no concept of how many bees and I sort of whispered it during the interviews. Like how many bees do you use a couple hundred? And he's like, like hundreds of thousands and they are programmed and it works. So if you got a chance to check out, be vectoring, uh, they also appeared on our show tech Tuesday, which we just had an episode this past week talk Tuesday, every Tuesday, four, 15 Eastern standard time, two 15 mountain standard time run by Mark Francis and grace put Dota.

Speaker 1: 38:06

You are basically TV guide. That's how much that's how many programs. Yeah. Um, yeah. And, and I guess on a final note this week, we just wanted to raise some awareness. So we, uh, well, I'll leave it mostly to Barrington. All I want to say is thank you to tennis Canada, who, um, sent us some, some nice wag. Um, but it was to help spread the message. And once I messaged bring it to,

Speaker 4: 38:29

Yep, here it is. I don't know if you can see it. Um, tennis, Canada, they were, uh, absolutely rocked by the Rogers cup and not having it in Montreal and Toronto. Um, and as you know, a lot of the funding that goes into tennis, Canada and their programs are generated through these tournaments. So, uh, you can go to tennis. I think it's tennis, Canada store or tennis store.com. And you can get your, I guess I'm going to call it a COVID basket box where you receive a mask, you receive a Roger's tennis balls and hand sanitizer. It's a good cause. Uh, these tennis balls are fantastic.

Speaker 1: 39:12

No, they're the ones they use at the U S open. And so like, if you want to show up to your local court while you still can, before it snows or whatever, ans or whatever, there is legit you'll, you'll, you'll look like a stud cause you'll have the, um, the ones that are getting sold out,

Speaker 4: 39:30

Support, support. Um, these are, there's a ton. We have so much, so much talent, so what's Canadian talent homegrown, and it's a, it's a shame, like I know Colbert effects and we're just trying to do our part. So thank you to tennis Canada for sending us stuff and, um, check it out.

Speaker 1: 39:47

Yep. And if you have other messages in swag and things that you want to share with us, uh, you know, we're, we're happy to spread the good word on whatever it is you're doing. Um, because, and especially sports, we, we would just, as parents believe in sports so much, uh, for the development of our youth and, uh, you know, it's a good way to get kids out of the house. Um, when really there's not many of them,

Speaker 4: 40:09

Do you know where they are? You know what they're doing? You know where they are.

Speaker 1: 40:13

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 40:15

And the rest of that same,

Speaker 1: 40:18

Well, yeah, I've told you, um, on Thursday afternoons, I'm now running basically a,

Speaker 4: 40:24

I knew you were going to get sucked in like, Oh, Hey bear. I'm going to, you know, I might run some ice and you know, three weeks later you have a whole system going

Speaker 1: 40:39

People. I go there, people hand me cash, kids get to skate. It's all good. I'm not making money off of this.

Speaker 4: 40:47

Like, you're, you're going to be doing it for you're going to be paying. And I know how it works. I've seen, I've seen so many people just dip a toe. Uh, you know, I'm just going to try this out or I'm just going to help out. And then fast forward they're team managers, they're coaching they're on the board.

Speaker 1: 41:05

All I gotta say is that the rink that our kids get to go to for this hour, every week, you don't send the address. You send the Google image, satellite image, because it's the only way you can kind of find the street to get there. But, um, needless to say, there's demand now, um, mainly because a lot of the programs have been hacked off at the knees and there's no, uh, you know, there's no games coming up. I mean, it's ridiculous, but it's week to week. And you know, please Canada, every province, every territory region stay, stay socially distant, where your mask, we are tennis, Canada mask. If you have, like, we want to, you know, we want to resume some sort of normality. Um, but yeah, that's my, that's not a political statement. That is no, that is just a straight up. Be rational, be fair, be a good citizen, do your thing. And, uh, at some point while I'll be back together and you'll see maroon and Barrington and I, and Vegas, and, you know, that's when life will be back to normal, but until then continue to subscribe. So that's for feedback, let us know, let us know what you liked, what you didn't like and what you'd like to see we're here. We've definitely played with the format the last few weeks. So we totally recognize that we've we haven't touched headlines. Um, mainly cause we don't feel, we haven't felt too inspired by the news pressing man, like music kind of stuck the last couple of weeks and you know, that's not, it's not just headlines that we've got these great guests. We've got another one next week. I mentioned about mining and then we've got, um, jeez, you know, uh, so many other things that we've taped over the last few weeks that are really cool. So, uh, yeah, hit that like button, let us know what you saying. Um, and then until next week, uh, you know, we're going to be back. So, uh, we look forward to having you join us again. Thanks very much. Thank you. Have a great night for sure. Hey, it's James here reminding you that if you just enjoyed this episode of hashtag finance, there's a lot more, make sure you subscribe to this show available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google podcast shows coming out at least twice a week. So please do not miss out. Also if you're on Instagram, please don't forget to follow us at Canadian exchange. That's all one word Canadian exchange. We're hosting live daily content with great guests, discussing the capital markets, entrepreneurship, investing, and much more. And finally feel like video. Please subscribe to COC space TV, that CSC space TV on YouTube. You can find more great stuff, including exclusive series content like cannabis month, 2020, and our new series investing in psychedelics as always. Thank you for listening.