Warren Buffett on Investing in Canada | Berkshire Hathaway 2024

[Transcript]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hey, everyone. Hi Warren. I’m Liam. I’m 27, from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. As a Canadian similar with Greg, I always wonder about our Canadian economy and what you think about the Canadian economy. We got some beat down bank stocks right now, and I don’t know what your opinions are on these. And I also wonder, in your 90s, if the rumors are true and you’re still able to eat McDonald’s. I like fast food myself, but I always wonder at 93, he’s still able to eat those and enjoy the Coca Cola. Thanks, Warren.

WARREN BUFFETT: Okay, well, we’ve got a Canadian here, so we’ll let him answer the first part. And if you watch me, you’ll see what I like to eat. (Laughter) Go to it, Greg.

GREG ABEL: Okay. Yeah. Well, we are fortunate to have a number of operations up in Canada. It goes across many of our operating entities. And then, as Warren touched on, all the businesses that we have, a piece of that we’re invested in are up in Canada. So the presence is significant, where we’re always looking at making incremental investments there, because it’s an environment we’re very comfortable with.

Warren touched on understanding the US environment, business environment, and I would put Canada equally in that bucket that we understand it and would be comfortable. And I would say the economy moves very closely to the U.S. So the results we’re seeing out of our various businesses that report both the U.S. and Canadian operations aren't drastically different. And there’s a few that we’re on the energy side, for example, we make very substantial investments up there in Alberta. But again, it’s very consistent with how that economy is growing, and I would see it being very consistent with what we see here. Warren, anything to?

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, no, obviously there aren’t as many big companies up there as there are in the United States. But when we get. I got one from Canada just the other day that I sent over to Greg, too. When we see anything that’s suggesting an idea that’s of a size that would interest and meets other requirements, we don’t have any hesitancy about putting big money in Canada.

And there are things we actually can do fairly well, where Canada could, you know, benefit from Berkshire’s participation. We did it some years ago, not that many years ago, but there was a financial institution up there. They had a problem, as I remember, 30 plus various other people that were kicking it around. And meanwhile, the place was getting close to the edge for not a fundamental problem. And Ted Weschler from our office went up there. I heard about it on a Monday or something. Ted Weschler went up there and we offered a solution in a couple of days to something that was getting close to the brink.

So we do not feel uncomfortable in any way, shape or form putting our money into Canada. In fact, we’re actually looking at one thing now. But, you know, they still have to meet our standards in terms of what we get for our money. But they don’t have a, they don’t have a mental, we don’t have any mental blocks about that country. And of course, there’s a lot of countries we don’t understand at all. So Canada, it’s terrific. When you’ve got a major economy, not the size of the U.S., but a major economy that you absolutely give them, you feel confident about operating there.
 

Source: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2024-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/

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