<p><em>This episode was first published on April 12th, 2025. </em></p><p>Happy New Year, Hatchet listeners!</p><p>The chance to put out good journalism is its own reward, but to everyone who has listened, shared, or supported us over the last year—thank you. </p><p>We wanted to kick off the year by updating you on our series on Brookfield. It’s been a long road, but we’ll be publishing the next two new episodes this week, with more to come later in the month.</p><p>We can’t wait for you to hear it.</p><p>But before you do, we wanted to re-publish the first episode in the series. It’s an important primer for an increasingly complicated story.</p><p>Brookfield has been in the news constantly over recent months. <a target="_blank" href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/tories-say-carney-supported-brookfield-move-new-york">The Conservatives attacked</a> the company for moving the headquarters of one of their subsidiaries to New York City. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ndp.ca/news/mark-carney-has-helped-brookfield-avoid-53-billion-taxes-2021">NDP have accused it</a> of avoiding taxes through offshore havens. And Prime Minister Mark Carney, the former chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/mark-carney-tells-reporter-to-look-inside-yourself-over-questions-on-blind-trust/article_3b1ae824-0376-11f0-b66c-a781c245b221.html">found himself on the defensive</a> because of his association with the company.</p><p>But what these political attacks miss is a far more important story. It’s a story of a company that has been central to Canada’s history and economy for more than a century.</p><p>So what exactly is Brookfield? That’s a question that we here at <em>The Hatchet</em> have set out to answer.</p><p>What we found was a company that almost defies description.</p><p>Brookfield has been a financial universe unto itself, operating by a different set of cosmic laws and fundamental forces than other corporations.</p><p>It’s a company that’s shown an almost unparalleled talent for reinvention. Over its 125-year-history, it’s morphed from a neo-colonial experiment to Canada’s most ruthless corporate raider to a seemingly boring storehouse of our collective pension earnings.</p><p>Now it is one of a tiny handful of financial entities that sit at the very centre of the global economy.</p><p>And so that’s why we’ll be spending this series focusing exclusively on this incredibly important and yet rarely understood company.</p><p>We’ll be digging into its epic history, its contentious present and what the continued domination of firms like Brookfield could mean for everyday people.</p><p>In this first episode, we shine a light on it’s first incarnation — Brazilian Traction, Light and Power — and how it managed to dominate the people of South America’s biggest nation for most of the 20th century.</p><p>Featured in this episode: Tyler Shipley</p><p>To learn more</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/canada-in-the-world"><em>Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination</em></a> by Tyler Shipley</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://archive.org/details/brassringpowerin0000best/mode/1up?utm_source=pocket_shared&#38;view=theater"><em>The Brass Ring: Power, Influence and the Brascan Empire</em></a> by Patricia Best & Ann Shortell</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://books.google.ca/books?dq=The%20new%20government%20of%20Brazil%20is%20...%20made%20up%20of%20men%20of%20proven%20competence%20and%20integrity.%20The%20President%2C%20Humberto%20Castello%20Branco%2C%20commands%20the%20respect%20of%20the%20entire%20nation&#38;hl=en&#38;id=a8_e62SdvmsC&#38;lpg=PA27&#38;ots=bABA0E0zPS&#38;pg=PA27&#38;sa=X&#38;sig=aqDO5yM-nQDlewNFsDsxItfaZyg&#38;source=bl&#38;utm_source=pocket_saves&#38;ved=0ahUKEwjD_YCH1oXbAhXm5YMKHYScC7wQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&#38;q=The%20new%20government%20of%20Brazil%20is%20...%20made%20up%20of%20men%20of%20proven%20competence%20and%20integrity.%20The%20President%2C%20Humberto%20Castello%20Branco%2C%20commands%20the%20respect%20of%20the%20entire%20nation&#38;f=false"><em>Let Us Prey: The Practices and Profits of Canadian Corporations and Businessmen</em></a><em> </em>edited by Robert Chodos & Ray Murphy</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://archive.org/details/lightbraziliantr0000mcdo/page/n37/mode/2up?utm_source=pocket_shared"><em>The Light: Brazilian Traction, Light, and Power Company Limited, 1899-1945</em></a> by Duncan McDowall</p><p>Support us at <a target="_blank" href="http://hatchetmedia.substack.com/">hatchetmedia.substack.com</a></p><p><em>The Hatchet</em> is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.</p><p>Music: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6P7Eg1rF3M">I dunno</a> by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque</p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_2">hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe</a>