Artificial Intelligence vs Natural Stupidity: Bob Rae’s Message to HRAI Leaders
The assumptions that shaped decades of Canadian prosperity are being tested, and HVACR leaders need to prepare for a world in which familiar trading relationships and business conditions can no longer be taken for granted.
That was the message The Honourable Bob Rae brought to 270 industry leaders at the HRAI Annual Conference + AGM in Gatineau, Quebec. Mixing historical perspective with humour, Rae explored trade tensions, global competition and the importance of adapting to change.
“Resilience is the virtue that we really need to embrace,” he said. “Coming to terms with change is what our lives have now become all about.”
It was a fitting message for a conference themed “UNCONVENTIONAL.” Rae invited delegates to consider the assumptions they had grown up with, the opportunities those assumptions created and how much had changed.
For his generation, he recalled, the decades following the Second World War brought a sense of steady progress. Rising living standards, expanding consumer choices and stable employment encouraged confidence that life would continue improving.
Canada’s increasingly close economic relationship with the United States became central to that confidence.
“We made a calculated decision as a country that we would do everything we could to work as close partners to the country we consider to be the natural leader in the world,” Rae said.
Industries became deeply integrated. The automotive sector illustrated how manufacturers, suppliers and customers could operate across a border while participating in a shared production system.
Now, Rae argued, American trade policy was challenging the logic underpinning those relationships.
“This is an apple cart that did not need to be turned over,” he said.
For HVACR businesses, the consequences extend beyond political headlines. Rae warned that uncertainty could affect prices and potentially disrupt supply chains, complicating decisions for companies accustomed to predictable cross-border commerce.
He questioned the rationale for imposing tariffs on industries whose products and components move repeatedly between countries.
“There’s no totally American car. There’s no totally Canadian car. It’s an integrated industry,” he said.
That interdependence also gave him reason to believe the disruption might not be permanent. American customers and suppliers, he suggested, have their own reasons to seek a more workable relationship.
“I like to think that things that don’t make sense, eventually, get changed.”
Rae encouraged American participants to speak with their elected representatives about the consequences for businesses and workers. But he resisted offering certainty about how negotiations or political decisions would unfold.
“I don’t know the future,” he said, joking that he was still waiting for those claiming predictive powers to win the lottery.
Beyond the immediate tensions with Washington, Rae urged delegates to pay attention to China’s expanding economic influence.
He drew a comparison with the arrival of Japanese vehicles in North America. Consumer demand helped reshape the market, while Japanese manufacturers eventually established production in Canada and became part of an increasingly integrated industry.
China’s emergence, he argued, similarly requires engagement with an economic reality already taking shape.
“China’s entry into the world economy is not a debate about, should it happen?” he said. “It’s what do we do as it’s happening.”
That engagement must include discussions about product quality, government subsidies and the rules governing competition. Rae stressed that recognizing China’s importance did not mean endorsing an unrestricted flood of imports.
“What I’m saying is you can’t take your eye off China.”
He also briefly addressed artificial intelligence, offering a line that captured the humour running through his remarks.
“Just remember that the opposite of artificial intelligence is natural stupidity.”
Behind the joke was a serious observation: AI raises issues requiring oversight and control.
Across those subjects, Rae returned to the challenge of navigating change. For the HVACR leaders gathered in Gatineau, his address offered a case for questioning established assumptions, understanding the forces reshaping their businesses and treating resilience as an essential leadership quality.
And finally, when asked (hypothetically) what he would say or do if he was ever to find himself alone in an elevator with the American president, Rae answered, “I’d hi the alarm button.”
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