Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Canada, Hockey & Healthcare Enforcement with David Pivnick 5-10-25
10 May 2025
In this episode, David Pivnick, partner at McGuireWoods LLP, joins Scott Becker for a fast-paced discussion covering U.S.-Canada relations, NHL and NBA playoff insights, and the DOJ’s continued focus on healthcare enforcement.
Full Episode
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. I am thrilled today to be joined by David Pivnik. David's a partner and helps to head up litigation at McGuire Woods. He does a ton of white-collar litigation, particularly in the healthcare sector. But we talk about a broad range of subjects.
David's one of the brightest people I've ever had a chance to work with and visit with, so I love getting to get a chance to visit with him. He's also a specialist on all things Canada, as he holds dual citizenship between Canada and the United States. David – Talk to us about the sort of Canada-U.S. relationship currently. I think the Canadian prime minister was just here. What's going on there?
What are you watching? What's top of mind for you currently? I know you're dealing with some very high-ticket litigation matters currently, but what are you thinking about? What's going on with the U.S.-Canadian relationship?
Yeah, I mean, look, the U.S.-Canadian relationship is at an interesting point in time, I think, You know, as a general statement, I would say I think the majority of Canadians have been displeased with the sort of 51st state rhetoric. I suspect, like many things, President Trump is saying that a little bit tongue in cheek to get a rise, including, you know, with the references to Governor Trudeau.
But I think it's an interesting dynamic because, frankly, the tariff discussions and the sort of what I view as probably relatively lighthearted,
jibes by President Trump ended up actually making a difference in the Canadian election, where I think the Liberal Party had been widely disdained for a long time, and everybody in Canada, and I use everybody loosely, but a substantial proportion of Canadians were ready to move on from Justin Trudeau, and the Liberals were in rough shape, and I think the country kind of galvanized and rallied together with Canadian pride
to push back on the notion that it was just a territory of the United States. And I think it actually really helped Mark Cardy coming in and taking over the liberal leadership and then, frankly, winning the election and becoming prime minister. And I think, you know, the repercussions of that remain to be seen. I didn't find the meeting at the White House to be all that noteworthy.
I know people have been getting their snippets on the comments about you know, how important a trade partner is, but I certainly don't think President Trump is undercutting the importance of Canada as a trade partner so much as trying to make sure that no trade partners are taking advantage.
I think there's room to disagree on how that's being handled, but I don't think it's intended to be creating friction with Canada. I think that, like other things, has been an indirect consequence, and I think the main thing is it did have an impact on the Canadian election.
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