GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

Ontario government announces new $4-billion fund to attract investment from pension funds and other private capital

The Government of Ontario said in its 2026 budget that it plans to establish the Protect Ontario Investment Fund, in which the province will invest up to $4 billion to attract investment from pension funds and other private capital to advance Ontario’s long-term economic and strategic priorities.

The government is seeking a private sector manager to run the fund, which will invest in sectors such as artificial intelligence, defence, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, biotech and critical minerals. Ontario also will need private sector investment to achieve its ambitious nuclear power expansion.

“The government recognizes that nuclear projects are complex and capital-intensive and is exploring the potential for innovative equity partnership opportunities and ownership models that can unlock private sources of capital for the successful development of nuclear generation projects,” the budget said.

“By attracting investment from pension funds and other institutional investors, the government’s goal is to keep more Canadian energy dollars working here at home.”

The government is seeding the new $4-billion fund with money from the $5-billion Protecting Ontario Account, announced in last year’s budget. The fund is meant to support Ontario’s long-term economic and strategic priorities, including reducing dependence on U.S. trade, according to the budget.

Other highlights of Ontario’s budget include:

• Proposing to cut the small business corporate income tax rate (CIT) from 3.2 percent to 2.2 percent effective July 1, 2026. By cutting the rate by more than 30 percent, over 375,000 Ontario small businesses would benefit from an additional $1.1 billion in CIT relief over the next three years, the government said.
• Intending to lower the cost of capital investments by allowing businesses to accelerate the income tax deduction for the cost of depreciable assets, in parallel with changes announced by the federal government. These changes would lower the cost for investment in a broad range of assets and would take effect following the passage of federal legislation.
• Investing an additional $117.1 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, through the Ontario Research Fund-Research Infrastructure, which will help continue to build, renovate and equip cutting-edge research facilities for critical projects across priority sectors, including agri-food, critical minerals, information technology, life sciences and manufacturing. 
• Investing $26 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, to maintain existing and planned levels of support for Ontario’s research institutes.
• $6.4 billion in additional funding for postsecondary education, as was previously announced. 
• Improving student achievement and preparing students for the future by investing $66 million per school year to create the Classroom Supplies Fund for elementary school homeroom teachers to receive a Classroom Supplies Card that provides access to $750 annually to reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
• An additional $324 million to expand Ontario’s four-year investment in the Primary Care Action Plan to $3.4 billion from 2025 to 2029, furthering the province’s plan to connect everyone in Ontario to a family doctor or primary care provider.
• Investing an additional $24 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, to renew the Life Sciences Scale-Up Fund.
• Boosting funding for the Ontario Autism Program to close to $1 billion annually, bringing it up to $965 million from $779 million last year. 
• Investing in the most ambitious provincial capital plan in Canadian history, with planned investments over 10 years totalling more than $210 billion, including $37 billion in 2026–27. This includes building highways, hospitals, transit and community infrastructure to keep workers on the job, strengthen Ontario’s economy and ensure communities thrive for generations to come.

Ontario’s projected deficit in the coming year has nearly doubled, with the Ford government suggesting that it will be $13.8 billion in 2026-27 amid “ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty.” Govt. of Ontario

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The Government of Canada announced it has achieved the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s two percent of gross domestic product defence spending target in the 2025-26 fiscal year, “marking a significant milestone in Canada’s approach to national defence and collective security.” Canada is investing more than $63 billion in defence across the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and other government partners. This represents a significant increase in defence spending over the past year, driven by targeted investments in military personnel, readiness, equipment and infrastructure, as well as in the defence industrial base and in eligible defence expenditures across government, consistent with NATO reporting practices. In 2025-26, over $14 billion in spending from other government departments contributed to Canada’s defence expenditures, including investments in cyber security, space, procurement and support to veterans. A new NATO report shows that in constant dollars, Canadian defence spending has risen from just under $32 billion in 2021 to an estimated figure of nearly $55 billion in 2025, with most of that increase in the past year. National Defence

Global Affairs Canada announced a renewed investment of $200 million to support innovation that improves global health. This funding, delivered through Toronto-based Grand Challenges Canada, will help innovators develop, test and scale cutting-edge technology to improve people’s health at low costs in communities with high poverty levels, while ensuring Canadians benefit from homegrown innovation that fuels growth and global leadership. “Investing in innovation is one of the most powerful ways to accelerate development,” said Randeep Sarai, secretary of state (international development). It allows us to generate better outcomes from every dollar we invest, and to build a healthier, safer world. Our continued support to Grand Challenges Canada strengthens this commitment and ensures that ideas can grow into solutions that change lives.” Global Affairs Canada

The Government of Canada announced several initiatives, through Democratic Institutions, to ensure Canada’s democracy continues to be amongst the strongest in the world, and that it is protected from emerging threats at all times. The initiatives include:

• Investing $31.5 million over five years to enhance the capacity of Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism and strengthen its ability to detect and respond to foreign information threats that aim to harm Canadian interests at all times.
• Amendments to Bill-C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, that include banning sophisticated deepfakes of electoral actors that intend to mislead Canadians into thinking they are real; closing potential channels for foreign funding in electoral processes; and adding new privacy policy requirements for federal political parties, and new disclosure requirements in the event of a data breach.
• Replacing the current Cabinet Directive on the Critical Election Protocol, which was established in 2019, with the Cabinet Directive on the Coordinated Response to Threats to Elections, to strengthen and clarify a whole-of-government response to attempts at election interference, and to inform Canadians in the event of incidents that threaten Canada’s ability to have a free and fair election. Democratic Institutions

Canada and the rest of the democratic world are facing a “tsunami” of transnational and digital repression with the rise of authoritarianism in the U.S., the arrival of artificial intelligence and a softening of attitudes on human rights, according to a Canadian cyber-research group. Ronald Deibert, professor of political science and founder and director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy issued the warning in a presentation to a House of Commons committee studying transnational repression. He predicted that transnational repression (TNR) and digital transnational repression (DTR) “will expand dramatically in the coming months and years.” TNR is defined as coming from hostile states targeting political exiles, regime critics and diaspora communities abroad while DTR is the use of cybertechnologies by these countries for harassment, influence operations and geolocation tracking. Deibert cites what he refers to as the sudden descent into authoritarianism in the U.S., the rapid use of AI, and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s adoption of a “realist-inspired” foreign policy as three reasons for Canadians to be concerned. He said Carney appears to be soft-pedalling human rights as he focuses on boosting economic and trade ties to countries such as China and India. Deibert also criticized Federal AI and Innovation Minister Evan Solomon for expressing enthusiasm for artificial intelligence while failing to “properly acknowledge and deal with AI-associated harms.” The Globe and Mail

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced the Government of Canada’s intention to provide up to $52 million to support the operations of Luqia Technologies, an industrial innovation laboratory that will meet the needs identified by the industry in these strategic fields, as well as facilitate the marketing of cutting-edge technologies among Quebec and Canadian businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises. By combining their expertise and infrastructure to create Luqia Technologies, the National Optics Institute and the Computer Research Institute of Montréal will benefit from a larger, more diverse network and will be able to provide enhanced services to SMEs. Creating Luqia Technologies will make it possible to consolidate a centre of excellence serving businesses and foster the establishment of industrial partnerships. As such, businesses will accelerate the development and marketing of high-value-added technological solutions for national and international markets in different industrial sectors in Canada. The federal government’s support is conditional on the project being assessed based on CED’s program criteria and parameters, as well as on the signing of a contribution agreement between CED and Luqia Technologies. CED

 Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced investments totalling $28.9 million for 12 projects across Canada that will accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. Funded through NRCan’s Energy Innovation Program, these projects will:

• Advance carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies to reduce emissions from key sectors and support the development of strong, low-carbon industries.
• Provide renewable energy solutions that can be deployed at scale to deliver clean, reliable power to Canadian homes and businesses.
• Unlock new business models and investment in smart grid innovation to ensure that Canada’s grids are resilient, flexible and ready to meet growing demand.

Project funding includes:

• $16.9 million for five CCUS research, development and demonstration projects.
• $9.2 million for three renewable energy projects.
• $2.8 million for four smart grid regulatory innovation and capacity-building projects. NRCan

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced a federal investment of $15.6 million over three years through the new Canada-Saskatchewan Workforce Tariff Response to support workers and employers in the steel and softwood lumber sectors, as well as other directly and indirectly tariff-affected sectors. ESDC anticipates this new funding will support up to 1,800 workers in Saskatchewan build new skills and seize emerging opportunities. Supports will be delivered through the existing province-wide network of SaskJobs offices and training partners, which will ensure timely support for workers who may benefit from retraining or employment assistance as they transition into new opportunities. ESDC

Prairies Economic Development Canada announced a federal investment of over $6.1 million through the Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII). These investments will help three Edmonton-based organizations expand Canadian production of critical defence equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies, all while strengthening domestic supply chains, reducing reliance on foreign suppliers, and delivering measurable economic benefits through job creation and increased revenue. The investments include:

• Wyvern will receive just under $3 million in repayable funding to enhance its satellite-based technologies and products to improve ship identification and maritime monitoring technologies. This will strengthen Wyvern’s space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities – making it easier to identify ships and enabling faster delivery of critical data in critical defence applications.

• University of Alberta will receive $3 million to establish a secure defence commercialization and integration centre called the Dual-use Ecosystem for Future Engineering, National Defence and Sovereignty (DEFENDS). DEFENDS will establish capacity for Prairies based businesses to design, test and qualify technologies for defence and dual-use markets.
• Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers will receive $149,850 to develop and deliver the Indigenous Defence Supply Chain Program pilot to empower Indigenous communities, businesses and support organizations with skills and training needed to participate in Canada's national defence and security supply chain. PrairiesCan

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced a non‑repayable contribution of $3.6 million for the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO). This funding is part of the Regional Defence Investment Initiative for Quebec aimed at strengthening Quebec’s defence industrial capacity and increasing business integration into national and international supply chains. The funding will enable the university to increase its capacity to innovate and transfer cybersecurity technology, thereby helping to strengthen resilience against cyberattacks among businesses in defence supply chains. More specifically, UQO will establish a laboratory that meets defence standards. In this secure computer environment, it will be possible to simulate different cyberattacks businesses may face, such as industrial espionage, ransomware and attacks aimed at disrupting their operations. To do this, the university will acquire specialized computer equipment, cybersecurity software and immersive technologies. CED

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is investing $3 million to accelerate practical, evidence-based improvements in primary care in partnership with Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC). This funding will support:

• The Canadian Primary Care Research Consortium (CPCRC), a national network of researchers, clinicians, decision makers and patients working to strengthen primary care.
• Primary care delivery teams across Canada participating in Care Forward – a pan-Canadian movement supported by HEC and partner organizations that brings changemakers together to share knowledge and apply proven approaches to improve care.

By supporting both the CPCRC and Care Forward, this investment will help ensure that primary care innovations are implemented with the best available evidence on what works and translate quickly into better care for Canadians. Specifically, the investment:

• Strengthens the implementation of primary care innovations that improve access to care and ease pressure on emergency departments.
• Generates real-time evidence on the impact of new approaches to care.
• Supports the adoption of successful care models across Canada.

In 2024, 17 percent of Canadian adults and 11 percent of children and youth did not have access to a regular health care provider. CIHR

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) announced that nine Indigenous-led projects will receive over $2 million in funding as part of the second phase of Nutrition North Canada's Food Security Research Grant to conduct research on food security and food access inequality in isolated northern communities. These research projects will look at ways to make healthy food affordable and accessible in northern communities. They will examine how food is shipped, owned and sold, how these systems affect food quality, availability and cost, and consider how hunting, fishing and local sharing systems can help improve access to both traditional foods and store‑bought foods. These grants are in addition to the $30 million in top-up funding announced last month for Nutrition North Canada, to make nutritious food and essential items more affordable in 124 isolated northern communities by subsidizing the cost of shipping. CIRNAC

Transport Canada announced federal government funding of $1.6 million for three Canadian projects developing innovative vehicle anti-theft technologies. Funded through the Vehicle Theft Prevention challenge under the Innovative Solutions Canada program, these projects will advance prototype technologies designed to detect, deter and disrupt auto theft, supporting law enforcement efforts and helping protect Canadians and their property. Delivered by Transport Canada, in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, this initiative brings together government and industry to accelerate practical, real-world solutions for a significant public safety issue. The selected projects will now move into prototype development and testing, bringing forward technologies with the potential to strengthen vehicle security and reduce theft across Canada. The three projects selected for funding are:  

• A miniaturized device that can disable vehicle components upon theft detection (Carmodity Ltd., Toronto, Ont.).
• An AI-powered steering wheel locking device that monitors for tampering, towing and alarms (Steel Mirror Inc., Toronto, Ont.)
• A smart automotive switch that prevents unauthorized starts by communicating with a driver’s phone (Audesse Automotive Inc., Kitchener, Ont.)  

These projects will receive funding to build functional prototypes of their concepts. Once prototypes are developed, it will be up to the project proponents to commercialize and bring their technologies to the market independently. Transport Canada

Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) preliminary estimate for the new human resources and pay system for federal employees  – called Dayforce – will cost more than $4.2 billion, according to an audit report by the Auditor General of Canada. This estimate did not include important costs needed for all departments and agencies to transition. PSPC is still determining how it will measure the cost savings the new human resources and pay system is supposed to achieve, said the audit report by Auditor General Karen Hogan. Dayforce is supposed to replace the problem-plagued Phoenix pay system, which the government implemented in 2016. With Phoenix, employees experienced significant pay issues, including delays in pay as well as being underpaid, overpaid, or not paid at all.  Dayforce is a project led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and PSPC. PSPC had made limited progress in eliminating the substantial backlog of pay transactions, the audit report said. As at September 30, 2025, the total backlog for departments and agencies serviced by the Public Service Pay Centre stood at over 233,000 pay transactions, impacting over 133,000 employees. “This is very important because if the backlog is not cleared before the transition to Dayforce, there is a risk that existing errors will carry over and undermine the effectiveness of the new system,” Hogan’s audit noted. Joël Lightbound, federal minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, said in a statement that the number of pay transactions older than one year has been reduced by more than 50 percent over the last two years, a decrease of over 106,000 cases from the peak. “The backlog now stands at approximately 98,000 cases and continues to decline,” he said. “At the same time, close to 200 critical HR (human resources processes that directly impact pay accuracy have been standardized in preparation for the new system.” Office of the Auditor General of Canada

The Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta reached an agreement-in-principle that would allow the province to continue regulating methane under its existing system while achieving a 75-percent reduction of the greenhouse gas from 2014 levels by 2035. Methane emissions in Alberta have dropped more than 50 percent from 2014 levels, driven by strong provincial rules, world-leading measurement and monitoring and made-in-Alberta technology, the Alberta government said. Implementation would occur through an outcome-based equivalency agreement under the federal Environmental Protection Act. Without an equivalency agreement, both federal and provincial rules would apply, increasing costs, creating duplication and undermining Alberta’s competitiveness, the Alberta government said. Modelling and emissions reduction assessments will be completed by an independent third party, agreed upon by both federal and provincial parties. To support the agreement-in-principle a roadmap has been developed that outlines how the province plans to achieve the 75-percent reduction target through existing and planned regulations, as well as complementary measures. The roadmap sets clear data standards based on industry reports instead of estimates, commits to targeted regulatory updates where they will deliver the most emissions reductions, and builds on proven methane measures already working in Alberta. A draft equivalency agreement is expected to be released for a 60-day public comment period later this year, with finalization targeted by the end of 2026. Govt. of Alberta

The Government of Canada and the Government of Nova Scotia signed a cooperation agreement, also known as the “one-project, one review” model, to streamline the process when both federal and provincial environmental approvals are needed for major infrastructure and resource projects. The new model is now in effect. The types of projects that can need approvals from both levels of government include energy transmission lines that cross interprovincial boundaries, airports, marine terminals and ports, pipelines and some mining projects. Nova Scotia's Wind West project, for example, will need an onshore transmission line to flow energy to market across Canada and beyond. Under the one project, one review model, a project that would have previously been subject to both a federal impact assessment and a provincial environmental assessment will now be able to follow a streamlined and coordinated regulatory process that removes duplication, shortens review times and increases regulatory clarity. This gives project proponents and investors confidence and certainty. Govt. of Nova Scotia

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced it has extended temporary increases to the Canada Student Financial Assistance grants and loans for the 2026-27 academic year. Maintaining the 40-percent increase to grants for full-time students, part-time students, students with disabilities and students with dependents, and the Canada Student Loan limit increase from $210 to $300 per week of study, will continue to help make postsecondary education affordable for students, ESDC said. During the 2026-2027 academic year, approximately 571,000 Canadian students are expected to benefit from the 40-percent increase to non-repayable grants. Additionally, 422,000 students could benefit from the weekly loan limit increase, which provides students interest-free loans from the Government of Canada. Through these measures, the government said it is investing close to $1.2 billion in financial aid to keep postsecondary education accessible and help students make high-quality investments in their development and success. ESDC

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced that the Government of Canada is committed to advancing the National Agricultural Soil Health Strategy, with AAFC partnering with the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) on its development. This work builds on the leadership undertaken by the Senate, including significant contributions from Ontario Senator Robert Black, and is supported by Bill S230, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for soil health protection, conservation and enhancement. The national strategy recognizes the critical role of soil health in supporting Canada’s agricultural productivity, sustainability, and resilience. AAFC will collaborate with SCCC to establish a committee structure and advisory working groups to guide the strategy’s development. Development of the strategy will be informed through regular engagement with provinces and territories, Indigenous agricultural groups, producer organizations, academia and industry. AAFC

The Donald Trump administration is working with Canada on permits required for a proposed revival of part of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a White House official said. The pipeline, proposed by Canadian pipeline company South Bow and its U.S. partner Bridger Pipeline, could increase Canada’s crude oil exports to the U.S. by more than 12 percent if it goes ahead. The Keystone XL project, which was canceled by the administration of former U.S. president Joe Biden, is fully permitted on the Canadian side, but a presidential permit would be needed for the pipeline to cross the Canada-U.S. border. State regulatory permits would also be required. Canada is framing the prospect of a new cross-border oil pipeline as a way it can help the U.S. achieve energy security even as the war in Iran disrupts supplies and raises prices for consumers, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in an interview at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference. CP24

Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and Sigrun Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education, reaffirmed the two countries’ shared commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation in research and innovation, particularly in Arctic research, climate studies, marine science, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. Both countries expressed strong interest in exploring opportunities to expand partnerships between their research communities, and dialogue to identify new avenues for cooperation in areas of mutual interest, for example, building on Canada’s partnership in Norway’s Panorama Strategy, the well-established Nordic–Canadian research funding cooperation, as well as both countries’ association with Horizon Europe. The following were identified as ways in which research and policy cooperation between the two countries could accelerate:

• Quantum: Exploring mechanisms to explore shared interests and advance collaboration in quantum technologies through complementary strengths such as addressing opportunities on dual-use research, talent and early‑stage innovation, including leveraging on-going initiatives such as: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Alliance International Quantum Calls, NSERC Catalyst grants, Norway’s quantum initiative and forthcoming quantum strategy, and NATO Trans Atlantic Quantum Community events, trade missions, and other joint activities. 
• Research Security: Engaging in a sustained dialogue on research security, with a particular focus on the Arctic.
• Arctic and Circumpolar Research: Exploring ways to expand science and research cooperation on joint interests in the Arctic, including continuing to promote cooperation in the Arctic region as Arctic nations and founding members of the Arctic Council.
• International Collaboration and Mobility: Continuing to foster open, collaborative science that benefits both countries and the global community.
• Cooperation in Horizon Europe and Eureka: Continuing to collaborate under Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe, including by hosting strategic matchmaking events.
• Marine Research: Continuing the strong bilateral and multilateral cooperation in all aspects of marine research, including oceanography, aquatic species, water science and hydrography. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

The Government of Alberta is setting a firm, 120-day approval timeline for major projects, including those aimed at doubling the province’s oil and gas production by 2035 and increasing market access. “This accelerated process would improve coordination between government and regulatory bodies, as well as provide industry with the certainty needed to make major investments,” according to the government. Indigenous consultation and environmental protections will remain a priority and integral to the process when the new timeline is implemented, the government said. The new timeline builds on the Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding on energy by prioritizing the development of critical infrastructure needed to increase production while reducing emissions, as well as the recent agreement-in-principle to advance environmental and impact assessments more efficiently, the Alberta government said. The government also is launching a Premier’s Investment Council (PIC) that brings together leadership from key government ministries responsible for investment attraction, economic development and resource sector growth, along with representatives from seven provincial agencies. The PIC will provide a forum for strategic advice and support a coordinated, system-wide approach to attracting large-scale investment into the province. Govt. of Alberta

The Government of Alberta introduced legislation, Bill 21, the Interprovincial Trade Mutual Recognition Act, that would cut unnecessary red tape and create the legal framework to implement the Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement on the Sale of Goods – treating most goods that meet the regulatory requirements in other Canadian jurisdictions as also cleared in Alberta. Bill 21 would also ensure Alberta can easily implement future mutual recognition agreements for goods and services, the government said. “By reducing interprovincial trade barriers, Alberta can keep goods moving across the country, reduce reliance on unpredictable cross-border markets and strengthen supply chains closer to home.” Govt. of Alberta

Government of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she and her ministers frequently make use of artificial intelligence to help understand issues and analyze data, while noting that her government is also working on legislation to protect Albertans from some of the technology’s more dangerous outputs like “deepfakes.” Smith told listeners of her Saturday radio show that her government is looking at what safeguards should be in place against harmful AI use, and working with school boards to see what the guidelines should be in schools. One concern is use of electricity because AI companies are known for requiring vast power resources, and Alberta is actively courting the AI industry. “We tell everybody, ‘Yeah, we’d love to have you here, but you’ve got to build your own power. You can’t be taking from our grid and causing our electricity prices to spike,’” Smith said. “We are also very concerned about water usage, and there are some new AI data centres that use a solvent rather than water, and so that’s, I think, one of the ways that we’ll see it also develop.” Edmonton Journal

Environmental law firm Ecojustice criticized the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for the way it handled an ethics complaint filed in late January with the AER by Two Hills landowner Dwight Popowich. Popowich alleged that AER board member David Yager was in violation of the AER’s conflict of interest policy. As a condition of proceeding with his complaint, AER board chair Duncan Au demanded Popowich agree to a closed door off-the-record discussion without any electronic devices present, with only a lawyer of Au’s choice permitted to attend. Susanne Calabrese, a lawyer from Ecojustice who’s representing Popowich, told The Orchard that she’s “never seen” anyone “forced into some secret meeting with all these conditions before [they] can even be heard on their substantive complaint.” In a letter to the entire AER board, Calabrese argues that Au’s “extraordinary response” represents an additional violation of the regulator’s Conflict of Interest Policy and Procedures. Yager, an oilfield consultant, was appointed to the AER board in April 2024 by Premier Danielle Smith, to whom he’s described himself as a “special advisor.” Yager has received $422,000 in sole-source contracts from the provincial government, the bulk of which consists of work on the so-called “Mature Asset Strategy,” which would see the province establish Crown corporations to purchase inactive oil and gas wells from their owners and extract what’s left in them royalty-free to fund their eventual recovery. The AER’s Conflict of Interest Policies and Procedures, part 1, section 8, prohibits AER members from participating in activities that “cause an actual or perceived conflict of interest (e.g., involvement in companies that the AER directly or indirectly regulates).” “You can’t represent the partisan interests of government, the private interest of industry, the arm’s length responsibility of a regulator, and the interests of the public all at the same time,” Calabrese said. AER board chair Au is the president and CEO of JAFETICA Capital Inc., a private equity and corporate finance consulting practice that specializes in energy service opportunities. The Orchard

RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

 Queen’s University and Simon Fraser University team up to design and build a national sovereign high-performance supercomputing system

Queen's University and Simon Fraser University (SFU) are partnering to design and build a national sovereign, secure and sustainable high-performance supercomputing system to grow Canada's research and development capabilities.

The two universities have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together, sharing expertise to deliver scalable, high-performance computing to academia, government and industry from coast to coast.

SFU and Queen's bring deep, complementary experience to this work. Both universities currently operate trusted public high-performance computing platforms that support some of Canada's most advanced AI projects, including those focused on critical infrastructure, life sciences and next-generation technologies.

With this agreement in place, Canada would become home to its first global top-10 supercomputer, hosted by Queen's in Kingston, Ont., and a global top-25 supercomputer in B.C, hosted by SFU.

Together, this distributed model will operate as a coordinated, "made in Canada" system, working with Canadian vendors and suppliers, and driving innovation in sustainable computing. SFU currently operates Canada's largest public supercomputing system, the Cedar Supercomputing Centre powered by clean energy, supporting more than 24,000 researchers and industry partners nationwide.

Queen's is the only university in Canada home to researchers who have helped design and deploy some of the world's most powerful supercomputers, including systems ranked among the global top-10 in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Queen's also runs the Centre for Advanced Computing, a research data centre and analytics hub, as well as CAESAR Lab, the country's largest group of experts on the design and build of exascale systems in Canada and leaders in research advancing energy-efficient supercomputing.

Together, this partnership aims to accelerate Canada's leadership in AI, attract global talent, work with leading supercomputing sites worldwide, strengthen national digital sovereignty, and ensure Canadian researchers and businesses have the tools they need to compete globally.

SFU and Queen's plan to jointly apply to the federal government’s AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, which is expected to launch in 2026. Queen’s University

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The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación (Secihti) announced they’ve entered into a formal partnership. Their memorandum of understanding reflects a shared commitment to address global challenges and promotes joint interdisciplinary projects in areas including energy transition, artificial intelligence, health technologies, Indigenous research leadership, and social, cultural and economic development. This new partnership will help advance the objectives of the Canada–Mexico Action Plan 2025–2028, which the leaders of the two countries announced in 2025 as part of ongoing efforts to implement the Canada-Mexico Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Through this MOU, NSERC, SSHRC and Secihti have established a framework for collaboration in science, the social sciences and humanities, technology, and innovation that is inclusive, equitable, transparent, sustainable and grounded in the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems. This framework will enable the participants to explore new opportunities to strengthen their scientific communities and develop joint research, training and innovation initiatives, aligned with the national priorities of Mexico and Canada. NSERC

 University of Guelph evolutionary biologist Dr. Paul Hebert, professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science and founder of DNA barcoding, received just over $9.2 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Innovation Fund to expand infrastructure and capacity at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) – a research hub using advanced genetic tools to identify species and support conservation efforts worldwide. The CBG supports biodiversity science by creating and applying DNA-based systems for species identification. It specializes in targeted sequence analysis, using short, standardized gene segments called “DNA barcodes” to tell species apart. “By reading just a millionth of the genome, we can pinpoint the species that DNA came from which allows us to map where species occur, estimate their numbers and explore how they interact with each other,” Hebert said.  CFI’s funding will refresh infrastructure required for the CBG to meet its mission, including modernizing equipment, reconfiguring space and expanding its building. University of Guelph

The University of Alberta’s Alberta Centre for Labour Market Research (ACLMR) will play a major role in a $6-million federal project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study Canada’s productivity crisis. Economist Trevor Tombe of the University of Calgary is leading the project and national partnership, and the ACLMR team will be responsible for the human capital and labour market research. The researchers will investigate how labour market policies and employment can drive productivity growth. According to the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, Canadian labour productivity grew at just 0.3 percent a year on average between 2014 and 2024 – less than a third of the American rate – with GDP per hour worked falling to 60 percent of the U.S. level from 67 percent. Some of ACLMR’s planned research includes exploring how technological change, such as the growth of artificial intelligence , is shaping the demand for skills. ACLMR will also look at the use of capital investments and tax credits to stimulate regional employment and earnings, employment pathways and entrepreneurship for immigrant populations, and designing retirement financing to increase labour force participation among older workers. University of Alberta

Susan Phillips, Carleton University professor emerita at the School of Public Policy and Administration, is working to make Ottawa home to Canada’s first school of philanthropy. Canada, which has nearly 86,000 charities, is the only G7 country without a data centre dedicated to philanthropy. The centre would serve as a data hub, housing practitioners and residents who could draw on their experience to inform research and explore more specialized areas of the non-profit sector. Dedicated philanthropy research centres are common in the U.S., Europe and Australia, but Canada is behind. “The U.S. has 200 graduate programs in this area. We have one – at Carleton,” Phillips said. “We’re not producing enough researchers who go into the sector, who go into academia to build out, to scale up, to multiply research in the field.” Imagine Canada is working in partnership to create the proposed data lab component within the broader philanthropy centre. Having proper data analysis would allow non-profits to make decisions about the programs and services they offer, said Jodene Baker, vice-president of research, advocacy and external relations at Imagine Canada. Future of Good

Mila – Quebec AI Institute and San Francisco-based Mozilla announced a strategic partnership to advance open source and sovereign AI capabilities. It is Mozilla's first-ever partnership with a major AI research lab. The partnership is designed to grow over time, with an inaugural project that focuses on the intersection of trust and usability, including private memory architectures for AI agents. Mila brings world-class research depth and a proven track record moving ideas into systems – from fundamental breakthroughs to applied tools and the diffusion of technology. Mozilla brings deep open source experience, a vibrant developer community, and the ecosystem instincts needed to turn research into something that spreads. The partnership is designed to show that open source AI can close the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world impact. Together, Mila and Mozilla will develop the technologies and approaches that reduce dependence on closed systems and create more room for transparency, accountability and shared innovation. Mila

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Canadians are divided on whether building more AI data centres in the country is a good or bad idea: Abacus Data

Canadians are divided on whether building more AI data centres in the country is a good idea, according to a survey by Abacus Data.

Overall, 38 percent of survey respondents said it would be a good thing, including 12 percent who say it would be a very good thing, while 37 percent believe it would be a bad thing, including 21 percent who say it would be very bad.

Another nine percent said it would be neither good nor bad, and 15 percent said they don’t know enough to offer an opinion.

This near-even split highlights how unsettled public opinion remains, Abacus said. “There is no clear consensus in favour of expansion, but neither is there overwhelming opposition. Instead, views are fragmented, with a sizable portion of the population still unsure or disengaged.”

The survey was conducted with 1,931 Canadians from March 4 to 11, 2026.

Awareness of the issue itself remains relatively low. Only 29 percent of Canadians said they have heard friends, family or coworkers talk about AI data centres being built in Canada in recent months, including just nine percent who say they have heard about it frequently. Two-thirds (66 percent) say they have not heard about it at all.

Just 37 percent believe that expanding AI data centres will create jobs (10 percent say many good jobs, 27 percent say some jobs), while 35 percent believe they will lead to job losses overall and 13 percent think they will have little impact. Another 16 percent are unsure.

“The economic case for data centres, which is often centred on job creation and investment, is not yet firmly established in the public mind,” Abacus noted.

Concerns about costs, particularly related to electricity, are far more widespread and more firmly held. Two-thirds (66 percent) of Canadians believe that building more AI data centres will increase electricity prices, including 33 percent who think prices will increase “a lot.”

Only 14 percent believe they will have little impact, and just three percent think they could lower prices.

When asked to consider a data centre proposed in their own community, Canadians lean more clearly toward opposition than support. Just 16 percent say they would support such a project, while 34 percent say they would oppose it.

The largest group, 39 percent, say their view would depend on the specific details, and 11 percent are unsure.

Views on government support further underscore public caution. Only 31 percent of Canadians believe governments should provide financial incentives to attract AI data centres, while 48 percent believe they should not. Another 21 percent are unsure.

Large majorities agree that governments should strictly regulate how AI data centres operate (82 percent) and that technology companies should bear the full cost of the electricity and infrastructure they require (81 percent).

At the same time, 72 percent believe data centres could put pressure on Canada’s electricity grid and increase costs for families, while 71 percent express concern about their environmental impact, including electricity and water use.

Seven in 10 (70 percent) believe these facilities will primarily benefit large technology companies more than everyday Canadians, and 67 percent say they give too much power to a small number of firms.

These views point to a clear underlying narrative: Canadians are wary of concentrated corporate benefit paired with diffuse public cost, Abacus said.

Yet there is also recognition of the strategic importance of AI infrastructure. A majority (57 percent) agree that Canada risks falling behind countries like the United States and China if it does not invest in AI infrastructure, and 56 percent say expanding data centres is essential for global competitiveness.

However, just about half believe data centres can bring meaningful economic investment to smaller communities.

Taken together, the data paints a picture of a public that sees both the necessity and the risks of data centre expansion, Abacus said. “Canadians understand the stakes of the global AI race, but they are not convinced that the benefits will be widely shared or that the costs will be fairly managed.”

Public opinion on data centres in Canada is not yet hardened, but it is already structured around a set of clear tensions, Abacus said. There is openness to the idea of building more AI infrastructure, but that openness is conditional on trust, transparency and tangible local benefits. Without those, opposition is likely to grow, especially as projects become more visible and their impacts more immediate.

There’s also the broader concern about AI disrupting job markets and impacting privacy that hang over views towards data centres.

For governments and industry advocates, the lessons are straightforward but challenging, Abacus said.

First, the economic case needs to be made more convincingly, particularly around jobs and local investment.

Second, concerns about electricity costs and environmental impact must be addressed directly, not dismissed.

Third, there is a strong expectation that large technology companies, not households, should bear the costs of the infrastructure they require.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, social license will be won or lost at the community level. With only 16 percent expressing outright support for a local project and 39 percent saying “it depends,” the path forward will hinge on engagement, transparency, and the ability to demonstrate clear, localized benefits.

As the experience in the United States suggests, once opposition crystallizes, it can become difficult to reverse, Abacus said. “In Canada, there is still time to shape the narrative, but the window may not remain open for long.” Abacus Data

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Vancouver-based startup Juno Industries, co-founded by former defence minister Harjit Sajjan, signed a joint venture agreement with Critical Infrastructure Technologies Ltd. (CiTech) a developer of autonomous, high-capacity mobile communications and security platforms, to co-develop and commercialize an Arctic-ready version of CiTech’s Nexus platform, to be branded “Polar Nexus.” The joint venture will be owned equally by CiTech and Juno and will focus on advancing the Polar Nexus system for testing and deployment in Arctic and extreme-environment conditions. The joint venture will also seek to identify customers and partners for Polar Nexus across North America within defence and commercial industries. As part of the agreement, CiTech will contribute a Nexus platform unit and provide engineering support to adapt the system for Arctic conditions. Juno will contribute $450,000. Juno and CiTech will work collaboratively to develop new intellectual property within the joint venture, including surrounding Arctic readiness, sensor integration and scaled deployment. The Polar Nexus platform is designed to support communications, monitoring and operations in remote environments, including northern defence and industrial applications. NewMediaWire

Calgary-based cloud computing firm Denvr is building a coalition of Canadian defence tech firms to use its digital infrastructure for new AI tools and autonomous equipment. So far, the coalition has landed two Ottawa-based startups, Dominion Dynamics, to develop a simulation environment for unmanned drones, and Sapper Labs, to deliver AI-enabled intelligence and cyber defence for the Canadian Armed Forces. Denvr is spearheading a domestically-focused technology setup called the Canada AI Platform (CAIP), and the new security-focused consortium that will help develop it is the CAIP Defence Coalition. Denvr builds its own data centres filled with advanced chips, then adds cloud services and AI models on top. Clients can buy access to the raw processing power, or plug in their data and technology to develop and run AI agents and other tools. The firm is positioning itself as a Canadian and more cooperative alternative to the hyperscalers – the cloud arms of U.S. tech giants Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The defence coalition is also a model for how Denvr plans to grow its own business. While some data centre developers are trying to land Silicon Valley giants or major AI labs as anchor tenants, Denvr CEO Geoff Gordon said the firm aims to work with Canadian researchers and startups as they’re developing their technology. It can then expand its infrastructure to meet the growing needs of clients if they take off, he said. The Logic

Toronto-based AI developer Cohere and Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab signed a memorandum of understanding on advanced AI collaboration. The MOU establishes a framework for collaboration on AI technologies in support of GlobalEye, Saab’s advanced airborne early warning and control system. Technologies and competencies developed through the partnership are also intended to contribute to Saab’s global product offerings and strengthen international competitiveness. The collaboration will explore areas such as data-driven mission support, maintenance tools and information processing in an on-premises integration into complex secure aerospace environments. Initial pilot projects have been identified to assess potential pathways for cooperation, aligned with the current needs of the program. Saab

Canadian businesses and investors aren’t backing homegrown firms enough, founders said at the CIX Summit. “You’re not buying from each other – you’re buying foreign products because it feels easier or better or because of some trade nonsense,” ThinkOn CEO Craig McLellan said, adding that this is  “hollowing out” Canada’s “sovereign capability.” Sentinel R&D CEO Kath Intson said his firm couldn’t initially find bankers or investors interested in defence technology. “We knew that Canada would come back once we had proven ourselves outside of Canada,” she said. Defence firms need to build “unique things” for Canada and NATO allies, Intson said. “It’s not enough to just onshore some other company’s capability and call it Canadian.” The Logic

Sherbrooke, Que.-based deeptech startup SBQuantum is preparing to launch its quantum sensor into space on March 30, kicking off its quest to monitor Earth’s magnetic field and prepare for a post-GPS world. The company will stow its quantum diamond magnetometer on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare. The launch is part of the MagQuest Challenge, led by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, to identify new technology that can monitor Earth’s magnetic field to ensure the accuracy of the World Magnetic Model (WMM). SBQuantum is competing in the challenge as part of a partnership with space data analytics firm Virginia-based Spire Global. The WMM underpins navigational systems used in smartphones, commercial airline flight routing, and military operations. SBQuantum said the satellites collecting the data for the WMM are approaching the end of their life and only take periodic snapshots of the magnetic field. As Earth’s magnetic North Pole has shifted in position quite fast over the past couple of decades, navigational systems may not work properly if the WMM doesn’t keep up. SBQuantum said its quantum diamond magnetometer delivers continuous, highly detailed monitoring of the magnetic field and its movement. The sensor also makes way for magnetic navigation, which SBQuantum said can provide reliable and accurate readings across all environments, unlike GPS, which uses satellite signals that can be weak or contested. These traits make magnetic navigation a strategic priority for defence and aerospace sectors seeking GPS alternatives in the era of electronic warfare. BetaKit

Toronto-based quantum computing firm Xanadu Quantum Technologies started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 27. In its first few hours trading under the XNDU ticker, Xanadu Quantum Technologies shares were hovering around $14. Xanadu is known for developing a light-based approach to scale quantum computers at room temperature. Xanadu decided to go public to raise funding for the hardware and staffing required to build a large-scale quantum computer in the next few years. Xanadu’s market debut was facilitated by a merger valued at US$3.1 billion with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp. The Canadian Press

The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN), a not-for-profit company, launched its latest funding call, a $9-million open competition designed to foster advances in a sector of critical importance to the safety and sovereignty of Canada’s agri-food value chain. CAAIN’s mandate from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is to fund technological responses to the most significant opportunities and challenges facing the nation’s agri-food producers and primary processors. Details of this program are available at https://caain.ca/funding-calls/2026-caain-open-competition/. In five years of operation, CAAIN has committed roughly $38 million to 48 projects whose combined total value exceeds $122 million. CAAIN

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) and Vancouver-based AI startup Caseway AI settled their copyright dispute. In November 2024, CanLII filed a lawsuit in the British Columbia Supreme Court alleging that Caseway created a business by wrongfully taking CanLII’s work through a bulk and systemic download from its online database, without permission or compensation. Caseway and CanLII announced they have “resolved all matters arising from the proceeding.” CanLII is a non-profit organization founded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada that provides an online database of court decisions, legislation and legal commentary from all Canadian courts. Caseway launched in late 2024 with an AI chatbot touted as a legal research assistant meant to fetch, explain and summarize Canadian legal information and court decisions. Terms of the settlement are confidential, but a CanLII blog post announcing the settlement said that CanLII “continues its work providing broad public access to primary legal information,” while Caseway “continues developing technology solutions for organizations that operate in complex, document-heavy environments.” BetaKit

Calgary-based energy producer and bitcoin miner New West Data is exploring a U.S. initial public offering to help meet the growing need for powerful computing systems. The firm operates oil wells, and uses natural gas to generate the electricity needed for bitcoin mining. A listing would help fund New West’s expansion plans, to buy more wells and power that can in turn power infrastructure for high-performance computing, which is more energy-intensive than bitcoin mining. The move comes as many Bitcoin miners shift to providing computing power for artificial intelligence and data centres, after a sharp decline in crypto prices and lower rewards for mining as a result. By contrast, demand for compute is surging. Four of the biggest U.S. technology companies have forecast combined capital expenditures that will reach about US$650 billion in 2026 – earmarked for new data centres and associated equipment. New West currently operates 24 wells producing about 1,000 barrels a day of oil-equivalent and generates 15 megawatts of power. It generates around half its revenue from oil sales and the other half from Bitcoin mining, but expects to see more revenue coming from compute as it expands to high-performance computing. EnergyNow.ca

Toronto-based Wealthsimple is seeking to offer prediction trading in Canada, a controversial type of betting on real-world events that has surged in popularity in the past year and has been largely banned in this country. The online financial services platform received approval from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) to offer what are known as forecast contracts. Despite a 2017 ruling that largely banned these kinds of short-term, yes-or-no contracts, certain regulated firms that are CIRO members are able to offer certain types of “event contracts,” according to the Canadian Securities Administrators, the umbrella organization of provincial securities regulators. The approval for Wealthsimple permits it only to offer contracts tied to economic indicators, financial markets and climate trends, the company said – not sports or elections, which are among the most popular uses of prediction markets in the United States. Wealthsimple is the second firm to receive approval, after Interactive Brokers Canada last year. In a bulletin published last week, CIRO said it has authorized trading by Investment Dealer Members in a limited set of event contracts that have a term to maturity of 30 days or longer, and are traded and cleared through certain U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulated exchanges and clearing houses. Investment Dealer Members may not trade in event contracts based on the outcome of elections, political events, or other events of a political nature such as contracts predicting political party leaders' nominations or referendum results, or otherwise offer event contracts based on the outcome of unlawful activities under Canadian federal, provincial or territorial law. The Globe and Mail

BMO, in collaboration with CME Group and Google Cloud, announced plans to introduce new 24/7 tokenized cash capabilities that will allow institutional clients to move value more easily and securely using CME Group's permissioned network on Google Cloud Universal Ledger, a private blockchain for the financial sector. BMO is supporting its institutional clients by expanding use cases for accessing tokenized cash through a bank-anchored, institutional framework that enables BMO clients to convert dollars into a tokenized instrument for use with margined products at CME Group. CME Group's tokenized cash solution is designed to support high-value, real-time settlement needs for institutional participants. BMO

Calgary-based energy and infrastructure company ATCO Ltd. will provide approximately $10 million of staged investment for 40-percent ownership in West Kitikmeot Resources Corp. (WKR). Backed by significant Inuit ownership, WKR is the sole proponent developing the Grays Bay Road and Port Project (GBRP), a critical infrastructure project consisting of a greenfield deepwater port with access to the Northwest Passage shipping corridor, a 230-kilometre all-season road leading inland, and a 6,000-foot airstrip. GBRP is a multi-use, strategic asset that has recently been referred to the federal government’s Major Projects Office. GBRP development is planned in multiple phases, with an expected in-service date of 2035 for the full project. Once constructed, the Port of Grays Bay will sit halfway between the ports of Nome, Alaska, and Nuuk, Greenland, on the Northwest Passage. In conjunction with the proposed Arctic Economic and Security Corridor project, GBRP will ultimately connect southern Canada and Arctic deep-water with all-season road access – the first overland connection between Arctic Ocean deepwater and the North American highway system. ATCO

NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct ‌a US$20 billion base on the Moon's surface over the next seven years, said recently appointed NASA chief Jared Isaacman. The Lunar Gateway station, largely already built with contractors Northrop Grumman and Intuitive Machines subsidiary Lanteris Space Systems, was meant to be a space station in a lunar orbit. Repurposing the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple. Lunar ⁠Gateway was designed to serve as both a research platform ⁠and a transfer station that astronauts would use to board ⁠the ⁠moon landers before descending ​to the lunar surface. Brampton, Ont.-based MDA Space said it will continue working on the Canadarm3, for which it has a billion-dollar contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), even though the U.S. has “paused” the space station for which the robot arm is being built. The technology has the flexibility to support multiple use cases and might have other buyers, MDA said. CSA’s recently released plan for the coming year scrapped a Canadian mission to land a rover on the moon, which was announced in 2022 with a $43-million contract award to Caledon, Ont.-based Canadensys. CBC News

The Trump administration has agreed to pay TotalEnergies $1 billion to shelve East Coast wind farm projects, with the France-based energy giant’s investment set to be diverted into U.S. LNG production instead. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced what it said was “a landmark agreement” with TotalEnergies for the company “to redirect capital from expensive, unreliable offshore wind leases toward affordable, reliable natural gas projects that will provide secure energy for hardworking Americans.” TotalEnergies has committed to invest approximately $1 billion – the value of its renounced offshore wind leases in oil and natural gas and LNG production in the U.S., the DOI said in a statement. Following the new investment, the department said the U.S. will reimburse the company dollar-for-dollar, up to the amount they paid in lease purchases for offshore wind. The agreement will see TotalEnergies shelve its offshore wind developments in New York and Carolina. It will invest instead in the development of four trains at the Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas, as well as upstream conventional oil in the U.S. Gulf and shale gas production. CNBC

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Courts in California find Meta and Google harmed children’s health with their social platforms  

Meta and Google’s YouTube must pay millions in damages to a 20-year-old woman after a California jury found the social media giant and video streamer were designed to hook young users without concern for their well-being.

The decision, in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, could influence the outcome of thousands of similar cases accusing social media companies of deliberately harming children.

The plaintiff, identified by her initials K.G.M., testified that she became addicted to social media as a child and that this addiction worsened her mental health struggles.

After more than 40 hours of deliberations, a majority of jurors agreed and awarded her US$3 million in damages.

Jurors later recommended an additional US$3 million in punitive damages after finding the companies acted with malice, oppression or fraud in harming children through their platforms. The judge will have the final say over how much damages are awarded.

Lawyers representing K.G.M. pointed to specific design features they said were designed to "hook" young users, like the "infinite" nature of feeds that allowed for an endless supply of content, autoplay features and even notifications.

This is the second verdict against Meta after a jury in New Mexico ruled that Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms.

Jurors sided with state prosecutors, who argued that Meta – which owns Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp – prioritized profits over safety.

The jury determined Meta violated parts of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act by hiding what it knew about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and the impacts on child mental health, and engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children.

Jurors found thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of US$375 million.

“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal," a Meta spokesperson said. "We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content."

More than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it's contributing to a mental health crisis among young people by deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook features that are addictive. CBC News

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

 Montreal-based eStruxture Data Centers secured $150 million in additional financing to support the development of AI-ready data centres across Canada. This brings total debt raised under the company’s new ABS and DevCo program to $1.55 billion. “This financing allows eStruxture to expand and further consolidate our position as the leading hyperscale and AI data center provider in Canada.” said Todd Coleman, founder, president and CEO of eStruxture. The ABS notes were issued under the company’s Green Finance Framework. eStruxture

Sherbrooke, Que.-based cloud distributor Sherweb raised $125 million minority equity investment from Investissement Québec, of which $49.9 million was provided by the Government of Québec’s Fonds pour la croissance des entreprises du Québec. IT consulting firms and managed service providers use Sherweb’s system to buy and run cloud services, software licences and other tools on behalf of their clients. Sherweb said the funding will accelerate the company’s international expansion strategy, fueling both organic growth and strategic acquisitions as demand for cloud and managed services continues to surge worldwide. Sherweb

New York City-based fintech Spade, which was co-founded by Canadian Oban MacTavish and makes AI-powered software to improve the quality of transaction data, raised US$40 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Oak HC/FT, with participation by Andreessen Horowitz, Flourish, Gradient, NAventures, National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture arm, and Y Combinator. Spade said it will use the new funding to further deepen platform capabilities, expand the team and meet growing demand from financial institutions and fintechs that rely on Spade’s foundational enhanced transaction data to power AI initiatives. BusinessWire

Toronto-based BKR Capital raised $20 million for its second fund to invest in Black-led tech companies. The raise was supported by Royal Bank of Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, and others, according to Shoppe Black. BDR Capital targets companies with diverse teams that have at least one Black founder and are at the pre-seed to seed stage. BKR Capital invested in 15 tech companies through its first fund, which raised more than $22 million. Yahoo!Finance

Montreal-based SPARK Microsystems, a fabless (outsourced manufacturing) semiconductor company specializing in next-generation short-range wireless communications, raised $17 million in Series B follow-on all-equity financing co-led by Idealist Capital and Real Ventures, with participation from Cycle Capital, ND Capital and EDC. SPARK said the strategic investment will accelerate its expansion and commercialization momentum for LE-UWB™ technology as customer demand surges for wireless solutions capable of meeting the performance and power requirements of increasingly intelligent edge devices. Target applications include AI wearables, alternative reality/virtual reality headsets, gaming peripherals, industrial sensors, autonomous mobile robots, smart buildings, medical devices and next-generation Internet of Things systems. SPARK Microsystems

Vancouver-based agtech company Miraterra Technologies Inc. raised $16 million in a funding round led by At One Ventures, with follow-on financing by Farm Credit Canada and additional financing by S2G Investments, the Sitka Foundation and iSelect. Miraterra is a soil intelligence company whose platform reads the land from above using geospatial tools, measures its chemical and physical properties with the Digitizer instrument, and combines that with the world's largest proprietary soil DNA library to capture a holistic understanding of soil. AI then decodes that complexity into insights farmers, food producers and policymakers can act on to advance food nutrition, farm productivity and the long-term health of the land. Miraterra

Toronto-based fintech Chexy raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Khosla Ventures, with follow-on participation from Air Canada. The company is building a payments platform that allows Canadians to earn rewards on essential expenses such as rent, taxes and bills – categories that have historically not supported credit card payments. By enabling these transactions, Chexy is positioning itself within a new segment of the fintech market focused on unlocking value from non-discretionary spending. Chexy’s platform integrates with partners including Aeroplan and American Express, extending loyalty and rewards programs into everyday financial activity. Chexy said the new funding will support expansion across Canada, growth of its partner ecosystem, and continued product development. Fintech.ca

Brookfield and La Caisse agreed to acquire Kingsey Falls, Que.-based renewable energy company Boralex in a $9-billion deal. The buyers said they will pay $37.25 per share in cash to acquire all of Boralex’s common share, implying an equity value of $3.8 billion and a 32-percent premium to Boralex’s March 20 closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Boralex said the transaction provides the company with the support of long-term investors aligned with its business model and growth ambitions, building on its 35-year experience to further contribute to the economic growth, energy security and decarbonization of its core markets in Canada, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Boralex will maintain its headquarters in Quebec and operate independently following close of the transaction. Boralex

REPORTS & POLICIES

Canada needs to secure domestic computing infrastructure, IP and firm innovation capacity to grow a modern digital economy

Securing Canada’s domestic computing infrastructure, intellectual property and firm innovation capacity will allow the country to grow a modern digital economy, according to an article from Signal49 Research.

Federal investments in sovereign computing, IP retention, and capital cost deductions to build and protect intangible assets signal a strategic shift toward domestic value creation, said the article, by Graham Dobbs, senior research associate, innovation and technology, at Signal49 Research.

“Data alone does not generate prosperity,” he said. “Without protecting, scaling, and investing in the domestic digital economy and its intangible assets, Canada – so rich in natural resources – risks becoming a supplier of raw digital inputs while value is created elsewhere.”

Canada’s reliance on foreign technology, capital and platforms has left the country’s digital economy exposed and dependent on systems and polices outside of our jurisdiction, Dobbs said. To unlock real economic opportunity, Canada can treat data sovereignty as a national imperative, he said. This means building and owning the foundations of the digital economy, such as cloud infrastructure, compute capacity and regulatory frameworks.

“When pursued strategically, data sovereignty supports innovation, improves productivity and strengthens long-term competitiveness.”

Statistics Canada found that data accounted for nearly a third of the intangible capital that fuelled the digital economy in 2025, Dobbs said. Yet software, IP, and organizational knowledge accounted for more growth in labour productivity than data alone.

“Ownership matters for intangible assets, according to that Statistics Canada research. When firms own and leverage intangible assets, they gain a critical edge in innovation, scale and productivity.”

Foreign investment highlights the strength of Canada’s tech ecosystem, but it also carries long-term costs, Dobbs noted.

For example, from 2019 to 2021, over half of venture-backed Canadian tech firms were acquired by foreign firms.

From 2014 to 2024, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association reported that late-stage domestic capital accounted for 13.9 per cent of dollars invested in rounds over $50 million, while two-thirds came from Canadian-U.S. co-investment.

“While acquisitions provide liquidity, they often transfer ownership of proprietary data, algorithms, and platform IP. These assets are central to long-term productivity growth,” Dobbs said.

Canada’s digital dependence has measurable economic consequences, he pointed out.

In 2020, Canada’s digital economy contributed about $123 billion. Yet estimates suggest that foreign platforms mediated 60 percent of all products and services that Canadians ordered digitally.

“This imbalance drains value from the domestic economy and constrains the growth of our own digital roots. When Canadian firms handle data and digital transactions, more wealth is retained in local economies.”

Investment in digital infrastructure and intangibles is necessary but insufficient without trust, and there is growing social concern about data misuse, AI, and large online platforms, Dobbs said. “Data sovereignty is inseparable from data privacy and regulatory enforcement.”

Yet Canada’s Privacy Act and PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) have not evolved to address emerging risks in the digital era for individuals and organizations alike, he said.

Compared with the EU’s more stringent General Data Protection Regulation, they lack enforcement strength and scope. Bill C-27, which was introduced in the previous parliament to modernize Canada’s approach to data governance and better safeguard Canadians’ data, has not been reintroduced since the election.

“As such, there are still gaps in our data regulations at the federal level,” Dobbs said.

In the absence of federal reform, Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec have advanced their own provisions on AI, individual protections, and enforcement. “The result is a patchwork of rules, creating uncertainty for individuals and inconsistency for businesses.”

Stronger privacy enforcement can level the digital playing field. Holding platforms accountable for anti-consumer practices such as opaque data collection or algorithmic pricing can support competition and boost consumer confidence.

Evidence suggests firms with strong data safeguards are more likely to innovate, as consumer trust reduces financial and reputational risk.

Dobbs said while Budget 2025 does not explicitly frame initiatives under “data sovereignty,” several measures indirectly support it:

• The revised Accelerated Investment Incentive and Productivity Super-Deduction provide immediate tax deductions for capital investments in data and networking infrastructure. This could encourage businesses to invest in local or organizational cloud networks, improving the security and ownership of intangible capital and sensitive data.
• Similarly, the renewed promise of close to $1 billion in AI infrastructure expansion could have a similar benefit to digital sovereignty, allowing AI-native firms and innovators to build applications and IP with less reliance on foreign cloud providers.
• The proposed legal framework for open banking, improving data portability among accredited institutions, will improve consumer choice and is likely to reduce switching costs.
• The renewed public sector data residency and cloud security strategy proposes to better enforce compliance to Canadian legislation and mitigate risks for unauthorized use of sensitive information. Signal49 Research

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Canada could still win the AI race

OPINION

By Alejandro Adem and Arvind Gupta

Dr. Alejandro Adem is president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a mathematics professor at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Arvind Gupta is a professor and academic director in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, and was also a member of the federal government’s AI Strategy Taskforce. This op-ed first appeared here in BetaKit.

During the great space race of the 1960s, John F. Kennedy declared: “For the eyes of the world now look into space . . . we set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won.” He was speaking about more than a moonshot. He was describing a technological frontier that would shape economic and geopolitical power for a generation. 

Today, that frontier is AI, a technology as transformative as the steam engine or the internet. It will determine which nations lead in productivity, defence, scientific discovery and global information systems.

And while the United States and China currently dominate the field, Canada is far closer to contention than our national modesty might allow us to believe.

Building advanced AI at scale depends on four essential inputs. First and foremost, talent and ideas. Breakthroughs begin in universities and research institutes, where well-funded environments attract leading thinkers and ambitious graduate students. Companies cluster around this talent, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of innovation, commercialization, and growth. 

Computing power, energy and natural resources, and capital complete the picture. AI requires massive processing capacity, reliable low-carbon power, critical minerals, and firms capable of sustained multibillion-dollar investment.

Canada has been exceptionally strong on talent. Federal funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in the 1980s and 1990s supported research into neural networks and machine learning, long before AI entered the mainstream. Those investments enabled breakthroughs by  Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Richard Sutton, whose work underpins much of modern AI.

Where Canada lags is in compute infrastructure and late-stage capital. Compared with other G7 countries, Canada hosts a small share of advanced AI infrastructure, forcing organizations to rely on foreign providers. This can mean higher costs and, in sensitive sectors such as health care, government, and finance, legitimate concerns about data ownership and security.

Just as limited compute constrains innovation, a lack of domestic capital restricts scale, often pushing promising startups to sell or expand abroad.

History shows us that anchor firms matter. When Fairchild Semiconductor established itself in California’s Santa Clara Valley in the late 1950s, it trained engineers who went on to found Intel, AMD, and dozens of other firms nearby. Those spin-offs, known as the Fairchildren, formed what became Silicon Valley.

Talent, capital, and suppliers clustered in one region, reinforcing one another. Canada does not yet have enough domestic anchor firms to generate that effect at the speed required.

This is where strategic international investment, paired with domestic action, can transform the landscape. Microsoft has committed billions to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in Canada, while NVIDIA, AMD, and DeepMind maintain Canadian offices and engineering operations supporting AI research.

When global firms invest in Canada rather than simply recruiting Canadian graduates abroad, the benefits compound. Skilled jobs are created, suppliers scale, and experienced engineers eventually launch Canadian firms.

If we pair international investment with sovereign compute, intensive IP development and deployment, and supportive policy frameworks, Canada can generate its own Fairchildren and end up being the one to watch in this race.

What makes our odds particularly good is that Canada’s structural advantages are finally becoming urgent strategic assets. People want to live here. Our stability, democracy, and quality of life are not soft factors; they are magnets for global talent in a world where geopolitical risk increasingly shapes where top engineers and founders choose to build.

The AI race is still in its early stages, and early stages are when dark horses emerge. 

If we align our research strength with infrastructure investment, strategic global partnerships, and domestic industrial policy that bolsters homegrown intellectual property, Canada can convert global investment into domestic advantage.

We can build ecosystems that retain talent, create world-leading technologies, and generate the next generation of anchor firms – not by trying to outspend superpowers, but by drawing them to our shores and leveraging the strengths only Canada possesses. 

The world assumes this race has only two contenders. It would be a mistake to count Canada out. BetaKit

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Canada’s economic performance is not keeping pace with the U.S.’s, regardless of the measure selected: Statistics Canada

Canada’s economic performance has not kept pace with the United States in recent years, regardless of the measure selected, according to a report by Statistics Canada (StatsCan).

Since 1997, labour productivity growth in Canada has not kept pace with labour productivity growth in the United States.

As a result, Canada’s relative labour productivity has fallen further behind, said the report by Carter McCormack and Ryan Macdonald, with the Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch at StatsCan.

Trends in real GDP per capita provide a different view, but ultimately also show a decline in Canada’s economic performance, fuelled by the deterioration of Canada’s relative per capita output following the oil price shock in the mid-2010s.

From 1997 to 2015, Canadian real GDP per capita grew at the same pace as in the United States, with quarterly annualized growth averaging 1.53 percent for Canada and 1.52 percent for the United States.

Per capita growth in Canada during much of this period relied more on increases in hours worked, which were relatively stronger in Canada up to the 2008 recession. As a result, while Canada’s labour productivity declined relative to the U.S. from the late 1990s to 2015, real GDP per capita kept pace.

However, after 2015, GDP growth in Canada was slower than in the U.S. while population growth in Canada accelerated.

As a result, Canada’s relative per capita output in the third quarter of 2025 was 14 percent below levels observed in early 1997.

The growth in real Goss National Income (GNI) per capita is influenced not just by productivity and production (real GDP), but also by changes in relative prices, principally stemming from changes in the terms of trade, along with the remuneration of income from foreign investment and from working abroad.

From 1997 to 2015, real GNI per capita in Canada grew at a faster pace than real GNI per capita in the U.S. despite lower productivity growth in Canada and about the same growth in real GDP per capita.

The increase in Canada’s relative GNI during this earlier period was driven by higher commodity prices that supported improvements in Canada’s terms of trade. Effectively, Canada was able to buy more imports (e.g., computers, industrial machines) for each export (e.g., barrel of oil) it sold on international markets.

The same commodity price movements held back real GNI per capita growth in the U.S. over that period, since the U.S. was a net importer of many commodities, particularly oil.

After the 2008 recession, when oil prices declined from US$133.88 to US$39.09, relative real GNI per capita declined sharply.

While there was some recovery after the recession during the rise in commodity prices from 2010 to 2014, the general tendency was negative after that. After the oil price shock in 2015, commodity prices no longer provided support for growth in Canada’s real GNI per capita when measured against GNI growth in the U.S.

As a result, Canada’s relative GNI per capita began to trend lower and, by the third quarter of 2025, it was 10 percent below the levels observed in the late 1990s.

A relative dependence on small firms, less investment in information and communications technology, and less intangible investment (have all contributed to Canada’s relative decline in productivity.

“Considering the importance of productivity growth to long-term improvements in living standards, the relative decline in productivity growth is the principal reason why Canada is falling behind, regardless of how economic performance is measured,” the report said.

However, since the commodity boom ended, features of the Canadian economy that had been offsetting the relative decline in productivity (relatively faster growth in hours worked and beneficial terms of trade changes) stopped doing so.

Canada is no longer translating population growth into increases in hours worked at the same pace that it had previously, nor is it benefiting from favourable movements in commodity prices.

“As a result, relative real GDP per capita and relative real GNI per capita are now echoing the relative decline in labour productivity,” the report said. “This implies that economic growth in the United States has been outpacing economic growth in Canada in recent years.”

The U.S. economy performed well following the COVID-19 pandemic, and if this recent trend continues, improvements in Canada’s living standards will be slower than in the United States. Statistics Canada

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Editor’s note: The theme of the 25^th Annual Research Money Conference, June 3 and 4 in Ottawa, is “Acting on Health: Reimagining Canada’s Promise.” Leading up to the conference, Research Money will be highlighting news stories, reports on research, commentaries and analyses focused on health and life sciences.

 Canadian adults’ functional health has declined over the past decade, driven by deteriorating emotional health: Statistics Canada

The functional health of Canadian adults has declined over the past decade, largely due to deteriorating emotional health and the increasing prevalence of pain, according to a report by Statistics Canada (StatsCan).

The percentage of Canadian adults with very good to perfect functional health declined from 68.6 percent in 2015 to 56.4 percent in 2024.

This decrease is notable given that from 1994 to 2015, mean functional health remained constant for Canadian adults under age 65, and improved for those aged 65 and older.

Conversely, from 2015 to 2024, functional health remained approximately the same for Canadians age 75 and older, but decreased for all younger age groups.

In all years, Canadians aged 75 and older had lower functional health than younger age groups, while among all adults aged 18 and older, females had worse functional health than males.

Functional health, measured using the Health Utilities Index Mark 3, is an important measure of health-related quality of life (included in Canada's Quality of Life Framework) that summarizes an individual's level of difficulty in eight attributes: vision, hearing, speech, cognition, dexterity, mobility, emotional health and pain.

The attributes can then be combined into a multi-attribute score summarizing the individual's overall functional health status. A score of 0.89 to 1.00 indicates very good to perfect functional health, while scores below 0.89 indicate moderate to poor functional health.

The data used in StatsCan’s report are from the Canadian Community Health Survey annual cycles in 2015, 2019, and 2024. This analysis includes only respondents aged 18 and older, living in the provinces, who responded to all functional health questions. 

The proportion of adults with very good to perfect functional health decreased from 2015 to 2024 in all provinces, the report said.

Newfoundland and Labrador decreased by 6.2 percentage points, a smaller decrease than any other province.

In 2024, functional health was lowest in Nova Scotia (47.7 percent) and New Brunswick (48.3 percent).

Quebec had the highest functional health from 2015 to 2024, with 65.6 percent of Quebec residents having very good to perfect functional health in 2024.

Examining the proportion of adults with no difficulty in each attribute shows that the decline in overall functional health from 2015 to 2024 was driven mainly by changes in emotional health and pain, according to the report.

Emotional health, measured as the percentage who are happy and interested in life, decreased more than any other attribute, from 78.3 percent in 2015 to 61.2 percent in 2024.

This decline is consistent with the decline in perceived mental health and increasing prevalence of mental disorders over the past decade.

Emotional health was similar across all age groups in 2015, but in 2024, those aged 18 to 34 had worse emotional health than those aged 50 and older.

Among all adults aged 18 and older, males were consistently less likely to be happy and interested in life than females (59.8 percent vs. 62.7 percent in 2024).

The percentage of adults with no pain or discomfort also decreased, from 77.9 percent in 2015 to 72 percent in 2024. Females and older adults were more likely to have pain, but the change over time was similar across age groups and sexes.

The decade-long decline in Canadian’s emotional health is interesting, given that Canada fell to 25^th place from 18^th last year in the 2026 World Happiness Report.

The report is published by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and its own Editorial Board,

The top 10 countries on the happiness index are Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg and Switzerland. At number 25, Canada follows Saudi Arabia, the United States and Poland, but sits just ahead of Taiwan, Belize, Lithuania and the U.K. Statistics Canada

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Canada is losing it entrepreneurs – and barely anyone is talking about it

By Charles Lammam

 Charles Lammam is an economic and policy professional with over a decade-and-a-half of combined experience as a think-tank scholar and thought leader, trusted senior advisor to government, executive leader at a financial services member association, and consultant to private and non-profit corporations. This article first appeared here in The Hub.

In an era of increasing international instability, nation-building resource projects now dominate Canadian political discourse. Pipelines fill Question Period. Governments speak of unlocking critical minerals, building LNG terminals, and accelerating major project approvals.

But while Ottawa and the provinces debate resource extraction, entrepreneurship – the heartbeat of innovation, job creation, and economic growth – is in sharp decline. And almost no one in the policy conversation is talking about it.

Yet the evidence has been accumulating for years. Self-employment now accounts for just 12.8 percent of total employment, the lowest share in 45 years. The absolute number of self-employed Canadians sits at roughly 2.7 million, essentially unchanged from 17 years ago despite substantial population growth. When measured against the total population, the share of Canadians working for themselves has steadily contracted.

These figures mask an even sharper reality. Self-employment includes everyone from ambitious founders building scalable firms to professionals working solo gigs. What matters for economic dynamism is the former: businesses with employees, growth ambitions, and the capacity to challenge incumbents.

On this measure, the collapse is striking. The number of self-employed Canadians with paid employees per thousand working-age adults fell 57 percent between 2000 and 2022, dropping from 3.0 to just 1.3.

Business entry rates tell the same story. In 2023, new firm creation sat at 12.3 percent of all active businesses, well below the 15.2 percent recorded 16 years earlier and a fraction of the nearly 25 percent Canada achieved in the early 1980s. Exits have also declined, pointing to an economy where creative destruction isn’t happening at robust rates.

Venture capital investment, often a leading indicator of entrepreneurial ambition, has also cratered. As a share of GDP, it dropped from nearly 0.5 percent in 2022 to 0.2 percent in 2024 – a decline of more than half in just two years. Canadian venture funds are struggling to raise capital, and what little they deploy is pooling into a handful of large bets rather than spreading across a broad base of early-stage companies.

A recent report from the National Angel Capital Organization quantifies the cost. Canada’s three largest startup ecosystems – Toronto-Waterloo, Vancouver, and Montreal – collectively lost $66 billion in ecosystem value between 2019 and 2024, translating to an estimated 133,000 fewer high-quality startup jobs.

While Canadian ecosystems grew at roughly two percent annually during this period, leading global peers posted growth rates between nine percent and 17 percent. The report identifies an annual funding gap of at least $141 million at the seed and pre-seed stages, with seed rounds in Canada’s major tech hubs running 40 percent smaller than comparable U.S. ecosystems.

The exodus to the U.S. compounds the problem. In 2024, for the first time, more Canadian-educated founders who raised significant capital started their companies in the U.S. than in Canada, according to research from Leaders Fund.

Only one-third of startups founded by Canadians that raised more than $1 million last year were actually based in Canada, down from two-thirds between 2015 and 2019. Nearly half now operate from the U.S. – double the share from five years ago.

Late last month, Y Combinator – a prestigious startup accelerator – struck a nerve in tech circles when it briefly removed Canada from its list of acceptable incorporation jurisdictions. The reversal came within days, but the message had already landed: even Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs are being pulled south by stronger ecosystems, lighter regulatory burdens, and deeper pools of growth capital.

The international comparison is sobering. In 2015, Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation data shows Canada created roughly 191,000 new businesses. By 2024, the figure was essentially unchanged at 190,399, despite significant population growth.

Over the same period, the U.S. saw business entries rise 34 percent, the United Kingdom 40 percent, and France 86 percent. On a per-capita basis, Canada now generates fewer new businesses than it did a decade ago and trails most of its peers.

Without new employer-firm formation, innovation stalls, productivity stagnates, and established players entrench their positions.

Canada has many advantages: world-class universities, strong institutions, and access to talent. But advantages don’t automatically translate into outcomes. Estonia, Ireland, Singapore, and Israel all built dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems through deliberate policy choices: regulatory reform, competitive tax structures, and environments where risk-taking is rewarded rather than punished.

Expediting major resource projects matters. But so does generating competitive new firms that challenge incumbents and drive productivity growth. The causes of Canada’s entrepreneurial decline are varied and the solutions complex, but the first step is to recognize we have a problem. The Hub

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

 Physician-scientist Dr. Nada Jabado, pediatric hematologist-oncologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital, received the Outstanding Achievements in Cancer Research 2025 Award from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. Jabado’s groundbreaking discovery of regulatory histone mutations as a fundamental cancer hallmark, and her paradigm-shifting finding that brain tumours arise from stalled development in embryonic neural hierarchies, have transformed understanding of pediatric and young adult brain tumours and opened new avenues for diagnosis and treatment. Jabado is a senior scientist in the Child Health and Human Development Program at the Centre for Translational Biology, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, and professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University. McGill University Health Centre

Dan Weaver, associate professor of physics at the University of Toronto Scarborough, resigned from Evidence for Democracy’s (E4D) board of directors. Weaver said in a LinkedIn post that he continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of E4D and is excited to see it grow its impact. “There is significant room to expand science and science advocacy in Canada. E4D plays a unique role in making that case and helping turn it into action.” Weaver, who has been with E4D for 13 years, said once he passed the 10-year milestone at E4D, he began thinking it was time to step down. Change in leadership, perspective, and energy is important, he said. “ E4D has recruited fantastic new board members and staff ready to carry its mission forward.” Dan Weaver on LinkedIn

Dr. Kristin Baetz, PhD, was renewed for a second term as dean of the University of Calgary’s (UCalgary) Faculty of Science, through to December 31, 2032. Baetz has served as dean since January 2022. Her Get Science Done strategic plan – built around four pillars: Radical Research Collaboration, Activating Science Education, Destination Science District, and A Thriving Culture – has set a clear and ambitious direction for research excellence, innovation and student success, said Sandra Davidson, UCalgary’s provost and vice-president. One of the most significant achievements of Baetz's first term has been the $220-million investment from the Government of Alberta toward the Multidisciplinary Science Hub. Baetz was recently been appointed to the Governing Council of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and to the Science and Industry Advisory Committee of Genome Canada, and she continues to serve on the Board of Research Canada. UCalgary

Queen’s University researcher Dr. Fanwang Meng (Department of Chemistry), a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, received the 2025 John Charles Polanyi Prize in Chemistry, one of Ontario’s top honours for early-career scientists. Meng is designing machine learning systems that aim to detect potential problems of promising new drug candidates much earlier. Computational drug discovery depends on experimental data, but that data is often limited, noisy or incomplete. Researchers may test hundreds or thousands of molecules before identifying one that appears both safe and effective. Even then, molecular property problems can arise at a later stage and halt further development, preventing the candidate molecules from getting into clinical usage. Meng builds algorithms that analyze patterns in chemical structure and experimental data to predict which compounds are more likely to behave safely and effectively in the human body. By identifying similarities in structure and behaviour, the system helps researchers decide which molecules are selected for further testing. Queen’s University

Ravi Parmer, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, appointed Meggin Messenger as chair of the Forest Practices Board, an independent forest auditing and investigating body, for a three-year term, effective April 7, 2026. Messenger is a registered professional forester with an undergraduate degree in forestry and a master’s degree in public administration. Before being appointed to this new role, Messenger worked as an executive director in the B.C. Public Service and has led work on forestry, land use, resource stewardship, community development, climate change and sustainability. The Forest Practices Board is B.C.’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices, reporting its findings and recommendations directly to the public and government. Govt. of B.C.

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University of Calgary microbiologist receives $5.8 million from Canada Foundation for Innovation to build Canadian Centre for Biofilm Research

Dr. Joe Harrison, a University of Calgary microbiologist, received $5.8 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to build the Canadian Centre for Biofilm Research, the only facility of its kind in Canada.

The microscopic world of biofilms consists of communities of bacteria and other micro-organisms that stick to surfaces and surround themselves in a protective, slime-like layer.

The planned 3,500-square-foot lab will house about 40 to 50 researchers, and include advanced tools such as a microbial molecular biology and genome-editing core, along with a suite of high-powered microscopes.

By better understanding how these microbial communities function, Harrison said researchers can tackle “a whole lot of problems,” including drug-resistant infections, mental-health issues and the corrosion of critical infrastructure.

A major focus is on preventing infections linked to medical devices such as implants and catheters.

Beyond infections, researchers are also investigating how bacteria in the human gut communicate with the brain – work that could lead to new treatments for conditions such as depression, Harrison said.

He said his team has identified potential new bacterial species linked to mental health and is exploring the development of probiotics that could be used in treatment.

Biofilms also play a major role in industrial and environmental systems.

In Alberta, one key concern is the corrosion of metal infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector, Harrison said. Understanding how harmful biofilms develop could lead to improved pipe designs or new disinfectants that prevent damage. Calgary Herald

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