The Rundown 9/29/26: Quantum Reality Check, AI Risks, and Why Canada Is Missing Its Tech Opportunity

John Ruffolo (0:01)

Call me paranoid, but you want me to trust everything to Zuckerberg?

On their track record of trust, are you fucking nuts? They're not getting anything. In fact, I think you remember, back in 2017 when I was at Omers, I invested in Duck Duck Go to prevent the release of any of your personal information. I still believe in that. I can't believe that people are just willingly giving everything open kimono. I'm not.

Matt Cohen (0:33)

Welcome back everyone to another electrifying episode of Tank Talks. I'm your host, Matt Cohen, and joining me as always is the one and only John Ruffolo. Get ready as we dive headfirst into the hottest news and most exciting headlines at the intersection of business, innovation, and politics.

Matt Cohen (0:47)

All right, John, welcome back to the Tank. I know you're coming off a crazy busy week after a Canada Investment Summit and TIFF, but not talking about the Investment Summit. I want to talk first off about the amazing week you had on the charitable side, both with Hanson and with Peter Gilgian. Can you tell our listeners just sort of what happened over the last week and how much, honestly, attention and money was raised for both amazing two organizations you're a part of?

John Ruffolo (1:14)

The opening night of TIFF was a film called Being Human about disabled folks and disability rights. And I was there, met many of the casting crew. They even asked me, many of them are from New York and LA, and they said to me, I can't believe the theme of disability rights in Canada and all this sort of stuff. And I said, look, it wasn't purposeful. It just happened to be the great movies. The next day we premiered the worldwide premiere of the Rick Hansen film, which I'm on the board. That evening I co-hosted a gala. We raised $1,345,000 for Spinal Cord.

And then the next day, shot up to Muskoka and co-hosted with Peter Gilgit, his annual tour de bleu. For the last two years, the proceeds go to spinal cord injury. And it's basically my cycling team and some of my close friends there. And we raised $6.9 million for spinal cord injury. But also on the Monday or the Tuesday of TIFF, then it was the Terry Fox Foundation. So this theme of disability and the dollars that went to it, have been astronomical, so...

But it's been exhausting, but quite satisfying.

Matt Cohen (2:28)

You still have your voice, barely, but...

John Ruffolo (2:30)

Barely. I've recovered now, yes.

Matt Cohen (2:32)

Maybe just explain to me, our younger listeners, exactly who Rick Hansen is, you know, his athletic capabilities, his man in motion tour that he completed in 1987, why, you know, he started two years before that, but why is it so important to know who he is, what he's advocating for and how important he is to Canadians and the rest of the world?

John Ruffolo (2:52)

I mean, Rick is a dear friend and an unusual individual. He was in an accident at 15 years old. He was an athletic guy. One of his best friends was Terry Fox.

Terry Fox convinced him to do wheelchair basketball, and he became a marathoner. In fact, he may still have the Canadian records for Paralympic medals, and he races in his wheelchair, and he took that back in 1985 to 1987, the journey to go 40,000 kilometers around the world on his wheelchair. When you watch the movie, you know, it's kind of funny. You know the story, but you didn't really know the story. And here is the amazing part. For 36,000 of those, or maybe 35,000 kilometers, no one cared, no one knew until he came back to Canada. And the moment that he hit Thunder Bay, where Terry Fox had his last step before he succumbed to cancer, Canada went nuts.

And he ended up raising, you know, astronomical amount of money, I think it ended up being $35 million, and still holds the record after all of these years. And you see what he went through on this challenge. It's rather remarkable, and he's been one of the world's leading champions for accessibility for folks.

Matt Cohen (4:28)

Yeah, for anyone who hasn't been able to go check it out, they should man in motion.

John Ruffolo (4:31)

October in a theater near you.

Matt Cohen (4:35)

Definitely buy it, it's going to be amazing. Well, John, let's give some listeners things going on in the, the startup tech and business world, a name we always keep coming back to, the day has finally come, Xanadu.

The lockup has officially expired, the six month lockup expired on the Xanadu SPAC deal that closed in March 26