John Ruffolo

Hello? Is this thing on?? I am back and ready to roll...literally. I am proud to announce the launch of Maverix Private Equity - a dream come true. theglobeandmail.com/business/artic…

This is HUGE! Lisa is one of the kindest and most competent politicians in Canada. She brings experience and gravitas to this rising campaign. Fantastic! @BradMBradford @lraitt

The reported @SpaceX IPO valuation is ~2x the combined market cap of Canada's big six banks! ($1.75T vs US$840 billion)! Sit with that number for a second. It reframes how you should think about where capital is actually flowing, and what the next wave of trillion-dollar IPOs does to everything else competing for it. On this week's Tank Talks Rundown show, @ruffoloj and I dig into one of the most loaded weeks in tech: quantum funding gaps, SPACs back on the TSX, vertical SaaS that won't die, and the AI burn nobody's pricing in.

Yesterday, I informed Premier Ford of my decision to resign from Cabinet and from my seat in the Ontario Legislature, effective June 5. To Premier Ford, to the people of York-Simcoe, to Ontario’s Francophone community, to the York-Simcoe PC riding association, to my Caucus and Cabinet colleagues, to my constituency and ministerial teams, to the Ontario Public Service and my family – thank you.

It’s time to expose a huge scam in AI startups: Contracted ARR The reason many AI startups are crushing revenue records is because they are using a dishonest metric The biggest funds in the world are supporting this and misleading journalists for PR coverage. The setup: Company signs 3-year enterprise deals. Year 1 is discounted (say $1M), Year 2 steps up ($2M), Year 3 is full price ($3M). They report $3M as “ARR” — even though they’re only collecting $1M right now. The worst part: The customer has an opt-out option at 12 months! It’s not actually a 3 year contract. In the chart below, by Q5 the company is trumpeting ~$100M “ARR” to press, while actual cash-generating, in-effect ARR is ~$35M. That’s ~3x inflation. On top of this, enterprise AI companies are bundling full-time “forward deployed engineers” into deals massively reducing margins, sometimes producing Year 1 negative margins. At some point customers are going to start triggering their opt-out clauses or aggressively negotiating down Year 3 pricing. And a wave of enterprise AI companies may collapse.

City Council decides to pay 55% of Chris Moise’s legal fees FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Toronto, ON — May 21, 2026 — Seventeen months after the initial integrity complaint was filed against Councillor Chris Moise for conduct unbecoming of a City official, Toronto City Council voted to reimburse 55 percent of the Councillor’s submitted legal bill, representing a taxpayer-funded reimbursement of $15,403. IntegrityTO is disappointed that 16 councillors believed it appropriate for taxpayers to cover this legal expense after Councillor Moise was found to have violated the City’s  Code of Conduct. “By awarding Councillor Moise a $15,403 taxpayer-funded reimbursement, Council sends the message that elected officials can disrespect constituents, bring disrepute to their office, and still have a majority of their legal fees covered by public money. This erodes deterrence for bad behaviour on the part of government officials.” said Daniel Tate, Executive Director of IntegrityTO. The debate over whether to reimburse Moise’s roughly $28,000 legal bill stretched over more than two months, involved lengthy deliberations at two City Council meetings, and exposed confusion among councillors regarding the City’s reimbursement policy for legal expenses arising from Integrity Commissioner investigations. Despite introducing the motion to reimburse half of the outstanding legal fees, Councillor Jon Burnside criticized Moise for substantially exceeding the City’s existing $5,000 guaranteed reimbursement, stating: “For me, as a steward of public funds, I would have never gone and spent $23,000 more [in legal costs] and put council in this position.” Six councillors ultimately voted against reimbursing 50 percent of the outstanding legal fees. IntegrityTO hopes this matter serves as a lesson to elected officials that treating constituents with dignity and respect is among the most fundamental responsibilities of public office. When those standards are violated, taxpayers should not be expected to absorb the financial consequences.

Canada has what it takes to be a leader in AI. It's time to mobilize our resources to achieve it. From @fnthawar and @shaneparrish - Launch an AI literacy dividend: buildcanada.com/memos/the-ai-l… From @ddebow - An AI strategy to build Canadian prosperity: buildcanada.com/memos/ai-strat… From @ruffoloj - A blueprint for Canada’s digital sovereignty: buildcanada.com/memos/digital-…

Bradford pledges crackdown on 'mini-motorcycle' menace | Toronto Sun #topoli torontosun.com/news/local-new…

@georgebell @BradMBradford Yeah. They are called wheelchairs.

@ruffoloj @BradMBradford Lots of people can’t use pedal assist…

Finally! This insanity needs to stop.Any vehicle that possesses a throttle MUST BE BANNED from using cycling paths. Period.They are a menace and someone is going to get killed. Electric bikes with pedal assist are fine. Motorcycles are not.The key is the throttle. @BradMBradford

The scourge of unsafe e-bike use must be a central issue in Toronto's election. E-bikes and illegal scooters injure kids and cyclists, often by illegally riding on sidewalks, speeding in bike lanes, or riding the wrong way on the road. But to the Mayor, only cars are a problem.

@georgebell @BradMBradford Comrade! I am in a wheelchair. I know what accessibility is. Dont be a jackass. Brad is clearly differentiating between ebikes (pedal assist) vs motorized bikes with throttles.

You said any vehicle with a throttle. The problem is that many devices that are used for accessibility (including e-scooters, chairs and even bike like devices) all have throttles. So your idea doesn’t make any sense. Size, weight, speed and acceleration matter. But the absence of pedals does not. Ableism is dumb…this is essentially no different than a bike share ebike… As long as it has the same performance characteristics they shouldn’t be banned.

@georgebell @BradMBradford Dude. We are talking about bikes - not wheelchairs. Give your head a shake.

@ruffoloj @BradMBradford ???

From @fnthawar and @shaneparrish - Launch an AI literacy dividend: buildcanada.com/memos/the-ai-l… From @ddebow - An AI strategy to build Canadian prosperity: buildcanada.com/memos/ai-strat… From @ruffoloj - A blueprint for Canada’s digital sovereignty: buildcanada.com/memos/digital-…

Mayor Chow has asked us to accept that motorcycles on the sidewalk and battery fires in our buildings are the price of a growing city. They are not. It’s time to crack down on these mini motorcycles. 👇 torontosun.com/news/local-new…

The teams winning with AI in sales aren't the ones buying the most tools. They're the ones designing how the tools actually work together. A sharp read by on why the gap between AI hype and AI revenue is an architecture problem, not a technology one. Article linked below👇

This is insane. And CBC protocols for dealing with independent producers generally require regular updates on production and content. Either CBC knew this was happening on their dime, or they broke their own rules. This goes beyond just the usual weekly “woke” CBC dumpster fire

Once in Vegas I lost half of my life savings in 30 minutes, still hurts thinking about it… To this day when I’m in Vegas, I won’t drive anywhere near that wedding chapel

As part of the Senate Banking Committee’s study on access to capital for SMEs, we recently welcomed John Ruffolo from Maverix Private Equity who shared with us some bold recommendations to strengthen Canada’s innovation and investment ecosystem. As I noted during our exchange, if all five recommendations he put forward were implemented effectively, Canada would be in a much stronger position to address longstanding access-to-capital challenges facing entrepreneurs and growing businesses. Our discussion also focused on the role of pension funds, sovereign investment strategies and the need for stronger incentives to encourage greater investment in Canada’s economy. #SMEs #Entrepreneurship #AccessToCapital #Innovation #Investment #CanadianEconomy 🍁 Dans le cadre de l’étude menée par notre Comité sénatorial des banques sur l’accès au capital pour les PME, nous avons récemment reçu John Ruffolo, de Maverix Private Equity, qui nous a fait part de recommandations audacieuses visant à renforcer l’écosystème canadien de l’innovation et de l’investissement. Comme je l’ai souligné lors de notre échange, si les cinq recommandations qu’il a formulées étaient mises en œuvre de manière efficace, le Canada serait bien mieux placé pour relever les défis de longue date liés à l’accès au capital auxquels sont confrontés les entrepreneurs et les entreprises en croissance. Notre discussion a également porté sur le rôle des fonds de pension, les stratégies d’investissement souveraines et la nécessité de mettre en place des incitations plus fortes pour encourager davantage d’investissements dans l’économie canadienne. #PME #Entrepreneuriat #AccèsAuCapital #Innovation #Investissement #ÉconomieCanadienne

C-22 must be scrapped.

C-22's architecture is most similar to laws in place in China, Russia, India and Vietnam. Among allied democracies, the closest analog is Australia's TOLA Act (2018), which Australia is now amending due to the economic harm it caused.