The Short Report: July 24, 2024

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) released the federal government’s Canada Green Buildings Strategy (CGBS), which sets out the government’s vision and next steps for greener, more energy efficient and affordable homes and buildings. The $900-million-plus strategy, funded under Budget 2024 and which includes multiple programs and initiatives, outlines how the government is taking action to drive down monthly energy bills, helping Canadians reduce their carbon emissions, and ensuring that the homes and workplaces of Canadians are protected against the increasingly harmful effects of climate change. The strategy’s goal is to retrofit and upgrade 16 million homes and 500,000 other buildings standing in Canada today. The CGBS aims to:

• Accelerate retrofits of existing buildings.
• Ensure Canada is building energy-efficient, climate-resilient and affordable buildings from the start.
• Seize the economic opportunities associated with more efficient and lower carbon building materials and technologies. 

There are many initiatives already underway to support the CGBS goals, including some of the following federally funded projects announced at the same time as the strategy’s release:

Codes Acceleration Fund:

• $2.98 million for the City of Vancouver to encourage the adoption and implementation of Canada’s first embodied carbon and existing building greenhouse gas emission regulations. 
• Over $1 million for the Small Housing BC Society to build capacity in the Gentle Density Housing industry.  
• Over $2.5 million for the Alliance of Canadian Building Officials’ Associations to develop an online technology platform that provides access to tools, training materials, and expertise on current and future versions of high-performance energy and building codes. 
• Over $2.5 million for the Canadian Home Builders Association to support market preparedness for the implementation of and compliance with the highest feasible tiers of the National Building Code.
• Nearly $1.64 million for PASSIVE HOUSE CANADA to build capacity in Canada’s manufacturing sector and enable them to deliver high-performance windows, building systems and ventilation. 

Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative:

• $13.6 million for the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre in Vancouver to help building owners improve replicability and increase the speed and scale of deep retrofit projects in British Columbia. 

Toward Net-Zero Homes and Communities Program:

• $550,000 in funding for Eta Energy Solutions to design and construct a factory-built home as part of a proof-of concept to evaluate affordability and other impacts.  
• $586,040 for the First Nations Energy & Mining Society to train “energy champions” to support First Nations communities as they establish community energy plans.  
• $585,527 for Sustainable Buildings Canada to facilitate the Canada-wide adoption of the National Building Code 2020 and the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2020, at the highest tiers practical, through the delivery of a series of integrated design process charrettes using a virtual platform.  
• $431,080 in funding for EcoTrust Canada to facilitate a transition to Net-Zero in under-served rural communities on the British Columbia coast. NRCan

The Government of Canada introduced the $800-million Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program (CGHAP), part of the Canada Green Buildings Strategy. CGHAP is to help low-to-medium-income Canadians, including tenants, upgrade their homes to save money on their energy bills and cut pollution. This new program will replace the Canada Greener Homes Grant with more comprehensive support for the installation of retrofits. Using a “direct install” model, where the retrofits are managed and delivered by third parties, CGHAP could provide participating households with support up to four times more valuable than the former grant program, the government said. CGHAP builds on the progress made to date through CGHG, which has already helped 240,000 homeowners install heat pumps, windows and doors, and insulation through an average grant of $4,400 per household. Each year, a CGHG household will save an average of nearly $400 on their energy bills and reduce their emissions by 1.18 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In addition to CGHAP, the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program and the Canada Greener Homes Loan will continue to help Canadians reduce their home energy costs and make the switch to electric heat pumps. The federal government has also committed to introducing a regulatory framework to phase out the installation of expensive and polluting oil heating systems in new construction, as early as 2028. This phase-out would include necessary exclusions for regions with insufficient access to the electricity grid and where standby back-up heating fuel is required. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Transport Canada announced a federal investment of $12.6 million in the Société de financement et d’accompagnement en performance énergétique Canada. This funding will help them accelerate their expansion into energy efficiency for commercial buildings and multi-unit residential buildings, helping building owners and tenants save on their energy bills and reduce emissions. Through the Green Buildings Strategy, the federal government will invest $177 million for Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative projects like this, which support upgrades to multiple building systems and equipment in commercial, institutional, or mid- or high-rise multi-unit residential buildings across Canada. These projects will replace roofs, upgrade windows, insulation or building cladding, to save money and cut pollution. Transport Canada

The Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta have signed a renewed 10-year agreement for the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF). Under this agreement, Alberta will receive more than $1.3 billion over the first five years to provide predictable, long-term, and stable funding to communities across the province. The renewal of this agreement means that the critical infrastructure that supports housing will continue to be built, maintained and expanded. CCBF has supported major infrastructure projects in Alberta, including road upgrading and reconstruction, bridge replacement and a multi-use recreational facility. Since 2015, CCBF has supported more than 1,400 road and highway infrastructure projects across the province, totalling over $749 million. The renewed agreement, developed in collaboration with the Alberta government, will tie infrastructure investments – such as public transit, recreation centers, water and wastewater systems – to housing needs where appropriate. Ottawa said that over the next 10 years, communities across Canada will receive $26.7 billion in funding through the renewal of the CCBF agreements to support new infrastructure and priorities for housing development and affordability. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced $89.1 million for 10 greenhouse gas emissions-reductions projects funded through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. The projects receiving the highest amount of funding include:

• $37 million for BC Parks Foundation, to protect approximately 4,000 hectares of private land and implement natural climate solutions, avoiding the conversion of carbon-rich ecosystems across British Columbia. The activities will take place in priority habitats, including grasslands, forests, riparian areas, and wetlands in multiple locations, including Vancouver Island, the Southern Interior, and Northern B.C.
• $9 million for Community Forests International, to implement natural climate solutions by focusing on protecting land in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on the traditional territory of the Wabanaki Nations. Activities include avoiding conversion of carbon-rich ecosystems through land acquisition and protecting carbon stores through conservation and care. 
• $8 million for Nature Trust of British Columbia, to secure 552 hectares of carbon-rich ecosystems and provide benefits for multiple species at risk, including the Western Toad, the Grizzly Bear, and the Southern Mountain Caribou, among others. This project will result in the creation of 11 new protected areas, including forest, wetland, and grassland habitats on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the East Kootenays, and in the Cariboo Region. 
• $7 million for Kawartha Land Trust, to help to advance conservation efforts underway and wrap up elements related to land acquisition and greenhouse gas reporting. This includes securing an additional 566 hectares of intact temperate forest and freshwater coastal habitat at an immediate high risk of development and subsequent loss of in-situ carbon.
• $6.1 million for the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy, to secure approximately 1,200 hectares of privately held carbon- and biodiversity-rich land. The activities will take place in priority habitats, including grasslands, forests, riparian areas and wetlands. ECCC

Finance Canada announced an additional investment of $24.9 million in Markham District Energy, the city’s public utility. This investment will significantly reduce the energy network’s natural gas consumption with a new 18.5-megawatt wastewater heat recovery system and a new 500-kilowatt biomass pellet boiler, which will reduce emissions by over 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) over the projects’ lifetimes. The investment builds on federal support already delivered to Markham District Energy, including:

• The Canada Growth Fund’s novel carbon contract for difference with Markham District Energy Inc., announced in June. This will help Markham’s public energy utility generate more clean energy by using Noventa Energy Partners Inc.’s Wastewater Energy Transfer technology to extract thermal energy from wastewater. Over the 10-year carbon contract for difference, the project has the potential to reduce more than 177,000 tonnes of CO₂e emissions with an initial price of $100 per tonne of CO₂.
• The Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $135 million low-cost loan, announced in November 2022, which was matched by CIBC. This combined $270 million in financing will help expedite the large-scale expansion of Markham District Energy to more buildings and ensure its long-term reliability and cost-efficiency, reducing emissions by 33,700 tonnes of CO₂.

Combined, federal investments in Markham District Energy will reduce emissions by 910,700 tonnes of CO₂e by enabling the affordable, low-carbon energy network to expand to more residents and businesses in Markham’s downtown core. Finance Canada

The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are investing up to $23.55 million, through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, in horticultural research, innovation and commercialization activities, and research infrastructure. This multi-year investment will support the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (VRIC) in research activities to increase the competitiveness and profitability of horticulture in Ontario and Canada. VRIC has established research capacity in five theme areas: automation; biological crop protection; plant responses and the environment; plant variety development; and consumer, sensory and market insights. The funding will also support the centre’s work with Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario in ensuring there is up-to-date equipment and infrastructure in place to conduct industry-focused research and innovation activities. Govt. of Ontario

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) announced $19.3 million in funding from the federal government and partners to support nine research teams to study ongoing, new and emerging threats to lung health. The teams will study a range of lung health concerns, including the impact of poor air quality and wildfire smoke, treatments for lung cancer, and the effects of vaping. For example, a team led by Dr. Christopher Carlsten at the University of British Columbia will focus on the long-term health effects of wildfire smoke and how exposure to wildfire smoke affects people differently based on age, sex, genetics, exercise habits and socioeconomic status. Their findings will guide public health advice during wildfire emergencies to help keep people safe. Dr. David G. Hammond at the University of Waterloo will lead a team following 1,000 young people living in Canada over two years to learn more about their vaping behaviours and the health impacts of vaping. Another team led by Dr. Pamela Ohashi at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is working to optimize immunotherapies to treat lung cancer. Funding partners are: the Canadian Cancer Society; the Canadian Lung Association; the Cancer Research Society; GSK biopharma company, Heart & Stroke Foundation, and Mitacs, and in collaboration with the Canadian Thoracic Society, Children’s Healthcare Canada, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, and Health Canada. CIHR

Health Canada announced up to $17.7 million in funding to support work that advances climate action in the health sector and that helps to protect the health of people in Canada from extreme heat. The first stream of the program will provide up to $4.5 million to support efforts towards building climate resilient and low-carbon health systems. This stream will build on the success of Health Canada's HealthADAPT program, launched in 2018. The second stream of the program will provide up to $13.2 million to protect the health of people in Canada from extreme heat, through the new HeatADAPT program. Projects will focus on addressing the health risks of indoor heat, protecting vulnerable populations, and supporting efforts to prepare and adapt to extreme heat. Health Canada is also working with Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to support work on extreme heat and adaptation for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. This funding is made available through the National Adaptation Strategy and the federal Adaptation Action Plan. Health Canada

The Government of Ontario is investing $7.2 million in 44 Ontario-led research and innovation projects aimed at helping farmers and agribusinesses become more competitive, leading to a more robust agriculture and food sector. This investment is being made through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the province, the University of Guelph and Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario. Project examples include:

• Creating a carbon capture system to store and reuse carbon dioxide in greenhouses, enhancing sustainability and reducing emissions.
• Optimizing fertilizer management for winter wheat and vegetable crops in Ontario to reduce reliance on fertilizers.
• Creating low-cost bio-graphene out of agricultural residues that can be used for electric batteries.
• Developing plastic alternatives to provide environmental solutions that reduce reliance on single-use plastic products.
• Developing a harvesting robot for tomato greenhouses. of Ontario

The Government of Ontario is investing $5.5 million to help 11 companies in the life sciences sector develop and launch made-in-Ontario health care technologies and innovations. Each company will receive $500,000 to help commercialize their technologies. This investment is part of the province’s $15-million Life Sciences Innovation Fund, managed by the Ontario Centre for Innovation, and created in 2022 to help entrepreneurs and innovators bring their ideas and prototypes from the lab to the marketplace. Technologies include: engineered cells for advanced drug delivery; adhesive bone tape used by orthopedic surgeons; products to treat patients with bleeding disorders and related diseases; non-steroidal therapies to transform the treatment of immune diseases; bio-engineering technology that helps skin healing and regeneration; high-definition positron emission tomography imagers; and more. Govt. of Ontario

Transport Canada announced $1.7 million for 14 projects under the Green Shipping Corridor Program’s Clean Vessel Demonstration stream. This funding will:

• help spur the launch of the next generation of clean ships.
• invest in shore power technology.
• prioritize low-emission and low-noise vessels at ports.

Decarbonizing the marine sector is a key part of the federal government’s climate action plan. It requires sector-wide collaboration and innovation to reduce the impact of shipping emissions on surrounding communities and ecosystems, while supporting economic growth. Transport Canada

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) announced $448,950 for Halifax-based Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc., for the integration of generative AI into its training programs to enhance the learning experience through improved course instruction, content creation and tests. This repayable investment will help the company leverage AI to quickly adapt its simulations to individual needs based on real-time feedback, making the trainee and instructor experience more personalized and effective. These improvements will help Bluedrop enhance mission training while remaining competitive and efficient, reaching new markets and maintaining data security. ACOA

Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) announced $150,000 for the City of Prince George to support the development of a regional hydrogen hub for Central and Northern B.C. Prince George is strategically positioned to take advantage of the expanding hydrogen economy due to its regional transportation advantages, including proximity to major highways, rail transport and an international airport. This hub will extend along the Highway 16 West Corridor to Prince Rupert, presenting an opportunity to create jobs and increase business revenues through new investments in the region. This funding will help the City of Prince George identify local hydrogen assets, attract investment for low-carbon initiatives, and support regional research and community engagement. The new hub will help achieve the goal of Canada’s Hydrogen Strategy to have 30 percent of Canada’s end-use energy be from clean hydrogen by 2050. PacifiCan

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced a new funding opportunity for Health & Life Sciences Data and Sample Mining or Research Models, aimed at supporting crewed space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. The intent of the opportunity is to provide financial support to researchers at Canadian universities and post-secondary institutions to conduct science investigations that will lead to a better understanding of human spaceflight risks while contributing to improve remote medicine and health benefits here on Earth. The Health & Life Sciences Data and Sample Mining stream provides up to $75,000 for a maximum one year. The Research Model stream provides up to $180,000 for a maximum one year. Detailed application information is available here.  CSA

RESEARCH, TECH NEWS & COLLABORATIONS

The Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program is providing  $2.2 million in 2024-25 to support 30 new or ongoing environmental monitoring and research projects. Of the 30 projects funded, seven are focused on Traditional Knowledge, 21 are science-focused and two combine Traditional Knowledge and science. All projects address key cumulative impact monitoring priorities for caribou, water and fish, and project results will provide valuable knowledge for resource managers, governments and communities to inform decision-making. Funding recipients include Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, universities, and territorial and federal government departments. Successful recipients receive between $70,000 and $100,000 per year for three years. Govt. of N.W.T.

Innovation Saskatchewan is investing more than $580,000, through its Innovation and Science Fund (ISF), in three research projects at the University of Regina (U of R) in nuclear energy, subatomic physics and high-performance computing in nuclear science. ISF matches federal innovation funding dollars for projects from Saskatchewan universities, colleges and research institutes to promote research excellence and competitiveness in the province. The program funding supports three projects advancing science in priority research areas for the U of R:

Nuclear Energy and Science:

• $200,000 – Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) Fuel Corrosion Laboratory led by Dr. Arthur Situm. This project will study ways of preventing rust and damage in materials used to protect fuel in SMRs and provide advanced training opportunities in SMR technology.
• $83,109 – Multi-scale studies of the Nuclear Medium led by Dr. Gojko Vuljanic. This funding will be used to upgrade simulation lab equipment for studying nuclear matter under extreme conditions. This advanced research will help develop new, beneficial, technologies, such as computational accelerators, which are needed to significantly expedite calculations related to AI and supercomputing.

Subatomic Physics:

• $300,000 – Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID) Heavy Gas Cherenkov (HGC) Detector led by Dr. Garth Huber. The funding will be used to help construct and test components of the HGC, a critical piece of SoLID, one of the world’s most powerful microscopes. The SoLID project is a collaboration of 300 members from 70+ institutions in 13 countries, and the HGC detector is a significant part of Canada’s contribution to advancing physics globally. U of R

Xatoms and Juno Technologies won big at the 2024 Startup Fest in Montreal. Xatoms won the $100,000 Best of the Fest Investment Prize, as well as the $100,000 Women in Tech Investment Prizem and the $50,000 FRV Student Entrepreneur Investment Prize. Juno captured the $100,000 Black Entrepreneur Investment Prize and the Audience Choice Award (Best Pitch). Toronto-based Xatoms uses AI and quantum chemistry to discover new water-purifying molecules to help clean water around the world. (See The Short Report, May 15, 2024, second-last item under “The Grapevine”). Montreal-based Juno Technologies has developed a compact, discreet and wearable device that eliminates menstrual pain quickly. Other winners included:

• 2SLGBTQIA+ Investment Prize – Bindr (York, Pennsylvania): the first label-free dating application designed for a mainstream market focusing on bisexual, lesbian, trans and LGBTQ+ people.
• $25,000 Fonds FTQ Impact Grant – Panorama (Montreal): offers digital governance solutions for boards.
• Top AI Startup by NextAI – LegiSimple (Montreal): offers software to speed up analysis, research and efficiencies for lawyers, notaries and paralegals. Startupfest

Squamish, B.C.-based Carbon Engineering (CE) has purchased 4.5 acres in the Business Park area of Squamish with plans to build direct air capture (DAC) research and technology development facilities to complement the company’s existing Innovation Centre in the Oceanfront Squamish area. With 170+ employees and counting, CE is developing additional space to support its growing technology development initiatives. The plans call for an enclosed warehouse for next-generation pilot technologies, an expanded lab, workshop and offices. Once complete, this new site, which is approximately 4.5 kilometers from CE’s Innovation Centre, is expected to more than double current technology development space. According to CleanEnergy.ca, CE plans to reach 200 full-time employees by the end of 2024. When Texas-based Occidental Petroleum bought CE for US$1.1 billion last August, the U.S. oil giant committed to invest in CE’s team and technology here in Canada. Techcouver

Montreal-headquartered NorthStar Earth & Space announced it secured shareholder financing led by Telesystem Space which is a joint venture between Telesystem and the Rogers Private Companies. This financing will enable NorthStar to accelerate its product development activities related to its patented space-based Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Concept of Operations. The U.S. Government and its NATO allies require commercial space-based monitoring systems to detect potentially hostile activity against critical defense and intelligence assets in space. NorthStar is the only company in the world to be issued a U.S. patent for its Concept of Operations with respect to locating, identifying and tracking potential threats from space. NorthStar also announced Beth Michelson as chief financial officer. Michelson is a partner with Cartesian Capital Group, a New York City-based global private equity firm that has been an investor in NorthStar since December 2022. She has been with Cartesian since its inception in 2006 and has more than 20 years of experience building businesses globally. NorthStar Earth & Space

Montreal-based MEDTEQ⁺ has funded six Canadian companies through its Orbit Health program, which aims to support Canadian companies in developing technologies to meet telemedicine and autonomous health care needs on Earth and in space. MEDTEQ+ is a pan-Canadian consortium for research and innovation in medical technologies, with more than 200 participating organizations. The consortium was founded in 2012 with support from the Quebec government. The Canadian Space Agency partnered with MEDTEQ⁺ to distribute $1.8 million in funds through the consortium’s Orbit Health program. The amount of funding per project wasn’t disclosed. The funded companies are:

• Deep Breathe Inc. (London, Ont.) – Frontier Lung: A real-time, portable, AI-enabled lung ultrasound to diagnose interstitial syndrome.
• Applications MD (Montreal) – EZResus Space: A resuscitation assistant to save lives, from space to remote communities.
• Momentum Health (Montreal) – Momentum Spine: AI-based imaging platform to remotely monitor and diagnose astronauts’ spine health longitudinally.
• NURA Medical (Montreal) – The development of a body mass monitoring and decision-support system to reduce medication errors in remote areas.
• ECOGENE-21 (Chicoutimi, Que.) – A biocapsule designed for transport and storage of fragile therapeutic and/or biological products.
• Myomar Molecular (Halifax) – The development of a Point of Care for Comprehensive Assessment of Muscle Health and Remote Monitoring.

MEDTEQ⁺ said 56 Canadian companies showed interested in the program, and 33 projects were selected for review by 407 experts. Each project was then assessed by a committee made up of 49 evaluators. MEDTEQ⁺

Canadian innovation leaders say federal capital gains tax changes will significantly harm tech sector

An overwhelming majority of leaders in the Canadian innovation economy say the federal government’s policy on capital gains tax will significantly harm the tech sector, according to a survey by the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI).

In total, 90 percent of the innovators responding to CCI’s Canadian Tech Sector Pulse Check for June 2024 say these changes will be negative for the tech sector. Of these respondents, 60 percent said they believe the tax hike will have a “very negative” impact on investment.

“Since the day the budget was tabled, it has been obvious that these tax changes will stifle investment, and make it more difficult for Canadian innovators to create high-paying jobs in the knowledge economy,” Benjamin Bergen, CCI’s president, said in a statement.

Since April, CCI has been tracking the impact of the changes to the capital gains tax hike, and thousands of innovators have signed CCI’s open letter at prosperityforeverygeneration.ca  calling on the government to reverse these changes.

The inclusion rate – the portion on which tax is paid – has risen to two-thirds from one-half on capital gains realized by companies. The increase also applies to individuals on capital gains above $250,000.

The tax change was first announced in Budget 2024 which was delivered in April, but policy didn’t come into effect until June.

The CCI said that by giving a two-month runway before the changes came into effect, the federal government anticipated that many Canadians would rush to sell their assets to lock in gains at a lower tax rate. According to the budget documents, the government expected this rush to generate approximately $7 billion in additional tax revenue.

“This was all done to help reduce the budget's deficit in 2024 at the expense of future tax revenue in 2025 and beyond,” the CCI said.

Thus far, the actual enacting legislation has not been tabled in the House of Commons, and the CCI said it doesn’t expect it to be officially enacted into law until sometime this fall.

By far, the biggest issue voiced by survey respondents right now is around access to capital, with 67 percent of respondents saying this is their top challenge in business at the moment, the CCI said.

Moreover, just over 50 percent of respondents said the Canadian tech sector is currently in an unhealthy state. Only 15 percent of respondents said they believe things are healthy right now.

“We are already looking ahead to the 2025 pre-budget consultation process, and delivering a message to government on behalf of Canadian innovators,” said Nicholas Schiavo, CCI’s director of federal affairs, said.

“We will continue to tell the government that these capital gains tax changes are a step in the wrong direction, but more broadly, the government needs to understand that the Canadian innovation economy is not in a healthy state,” he said.

“Now more than ever, we need a government focused on policies that drive growth and prosperity in the 21st century innovation economy.”

Along with the concerns about investment, 86 percent of respondents said they believe capital gains tax changes will have a negative impact on attracting and retaining tech talent.

Most of the respondents to CCI’s survey are leading companies with fewer than 50 employees. CCI

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

Vancouver-headquartered legal technology software company Clio has set a new record for the most venture capital a Canadian firm has raised in a single investment round. Clio raised US$900 million, based on a US$3 billion valuation, in a Series F investment round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The round also includes new partners Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Sixth Street Growth, CapitalG, and Tidemark, who join current investors TCV, JMI Equity, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., respectively, and OMERS. Tony Florence, co-CEO at NEA, has joined Clio’s board of directors as part of the deal. Clio said it will continue to expand its multi-product platform, including further investments in its AI portfolio and integrated legal payments. It will also accelerate its rapid market expansion upmarket and internationally, deepening its organic growth to more than 130 countries across the globe. Clio

Toronto-based AI company Cohere raised US$500 million in a Series D funding round that values the company at US$5.5 billion. The round was led by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which manages pensions for the Canadian federal public service, and includes new investors Cisco Systems Inc., AMD Ventures, Fujitsu, U.S. investment manager Magnetar Capital and Export Development Canada. Cohere is one of the few companies in the world that builds the large language models that underlie chatbots and other generative AI applications. The company is focuses on building models that can be tailored for business use, such as answering questions, summarizing information and automating processes, rather than making general purpose chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or text-to-image generators. Cohere will use the funding to pay for computing resources and to bring on more employees, among other initiatives. The Globe and Mail

Montreal-based Planned, which runs an online booking platform for business events and travel, announced it raised $35 million in Series B funding. The investment was led by Drive Capital, with participation from Outsiders Fund and other unnamed investors. Planned said it will use the funding to improve its platform’s AI capabilities, launch an online booking tool, keep growing its global network of venue and vendor partners, and grow its team in Montreal, Amsterdam and Singapore. The company also added Frederic Lalonde, CEO and co-founder of digital travel company Hopper, to its board of directors. Planned

Edmonton-based AI gaming startup Artificial Agency emerged from operating in stealth mode and announced US$16 million in funding from Radical Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Flying Fish, Kaya, BDC Deep Tech, TIRTA Ventures and others. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of Artificial Agency’s flagship product – an AI-powered behaviour engine that enables game developers to integrate generative AI into various game mechanics, driving engaging behaviour in both moment-to-moment interactions and the overarching game narrative. The company’s founders previously worked at the now-closed Edmonton office of Google parent company Alphabet’s AI lab, DeepMind. Artificial Agency

Vancouver-based Acel Power raised $13.6 million in Series A funding to scale up production of its lithium-ion battery-powered outboard boat engines. The funding was led by Tau Capital, an Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based venture capital firm focused on sustainable science and technology. Brad Allen, managing director at Tau Capital, is joining Acel’s board as a director as part of the deal. Acel said the funding will allow the company to expand its mass production capabilities, and support R&D, operations and sales efforts. BetaKit

Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC) invested US$7.5 million into Montreal-headquartered Amplitude Ventures’ US$192-million Fund II to give early-stage Alberta health and life science startups the continuing opportunity to access Amplitude’s specialized precision medicine expertise and investment. Amplitude is also establishing a full-time presence in Alberta with a new hire, full-time investor Nadia Lachman, a University of Calgary alumnus based in Calgary. Amplitude Ventures is a full-stack venture capital firm focused on investing in precision medicine at the intersection of biology and AI. Since 2019, the firm has invested in entrepreneurs creating and building precision health companies including St-Laurent, Que.-based Repare Therapeutics, Vancouver-based Abdera, Montreal-based Valence (acquired by Utah-headquartered Recursion) and Edmonton-based DrugBank which has developed the world’s most comprehensive drug knowledge platform. AEC

Montreal- and Ottawa-based ReliON raised $3 million in seed financing led by Diagram Ventures, with participation from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, AQC Capital, Anges Québec and Cycle Momentum. ReliON, the first company created out of Diagram Ventures’ new ClimateTech Fund, offers an integrated, end-to-end operation and maintenance (O&M) solution, optimizing uptime and performance for electric vehicle charging infrastructure from problem detection to resolution. The company intends to use this new funding to further develop its O&M platform and scale its operations to meet growing demand for reliable EV charging solutions. Business Wire

Kitchener, Ont.-based ag-tech startup Ceragen secured $2.7 million in seed funding to grow its portfolio of “probiotics for plants” products and operations. The round was co-led by existing investors 1517 Fund and Divergent Capital, with participation from Ajira Ventures. Ceragen, based out of Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, develops soil microbes to help greenhouse growers boost fruit and vegetable production. The company currently has one product on the market for lettuce and one for tomato plants, with commercial pilots underway in Canada and the United States. Ceragen plans to use this capital to develop offerings for cucumbers and strawberries at a new 5,000-square-foot Kitchener facility and support its expansion into Mexico and the Netherlands. University of Waterloo

Kelowna, B.C.-based RainStick Shower raised $2.6 million in a seed-plus funding round led by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, with co-investment from the BDC’s Thrive Lab, Buildtech VC and other angel investors. RainStick, a water conservation tech company, has developed North America’s first WiFi-enabled circular shower that saves 80 percent water and up to 80 percent energy while providing almost double the flow of a traditional low-flow shower. The new funding will enable RainStick to scale its operations, expand its market presence, and continue refining its product based on user feedback. The company is also set to introduce a new, cost-effective design in early 2025, ensuring more options for eco-conscious consumers. Techcouver

Toronto-based Ethica Channel Enablement secured $2.3 million in seed funding to expand its CloudAccess software to global markets. The all-equity round was led by GreenSky Ventures. Ethica, targeting regions like Africa and India, collaborates with internet service providers to offer enhanced internet services on a private-label basis. The company’s solution aims to provide reliable, enterprise-grade internet access through link aggregation, ensuring continuous connectivity in areas with less stable internet connections. Decoder

Calgary-based Digital Commerce Payments (DCPayments), which offers digital payment solutions to Canadian businesses, announced it acquired Toronto-based Jasper Commerce Inc.’s production information management business and related assets. Jasper’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Jasper Interactive Studios Inc., sold all of its assets to DCPayments for a maximum of $1.5 million; the deal includes a revenue earnout over a three-year period following the close of the transaction. DCPayments said the acquisition of Jasper’s business, which facilitates the organization of inventory data online, is a strategic addition to DCPayments’ core payments business, Business Wire

Toronto-based PathFactory, a content intelligence company, acquired fellow business-to-business marketing platform Toronto-based Uberflip in a stock-for-stock transaction. PathFactory said Uberflip’s strong niche in building and managing centralized resource hubs complements PathFactory’s content analytics and personalization solutions. Dev Ganesan will continue to serve as CEO of the combined company, which will operate under the PathFactory name. Ira Cohen, operating partner and co-founder of Updata Partners, and Jeremy Schultz will join PathFactory’s board of directors, while  other executives from Uberflip will assume key roles within PathFactory. PathFactory

Vancouver-based Unbounce, which provides website landing page creation and optimization software, announced its merger with San Francisco-based Insightly, a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software. Financial details weren’t disclosed. Unbounce said the merger will allow it to leverage first-party CRM data to move marketers forward with more comprehensive metrics like revenue and lifetime value data. The injection of AI expertise from the Unbounce team also will allow the Insightly platform to accelerate the application of AI and machine learning throughout the platform. The combined company will have more than 200 employees across North America and Europe. Unbounce will maintain its Canadian operations and Unbounce CEO Steve Orilola will remain as CEO of the combined company. Unbounce

Shoppers Drug Mart struck a commercial partnership with Truvian Health, a San Diego-based startup that’s seeking regulatory approve for its printer-sized devices to conduct on-the-spot blood tests without the need to go to a laboratory. Loblaw Cos. Ltd. owns Shoppers, Canada’s largest drugstore chain. For Shoppers to consider offering blood testing in its pharmacies or clinics, Truvian’s devices would first need to secure Health Canada approval, and would also have to be integrated into the funding scheme for blood testing in each provincial jurisdiction. Shoppers has been expanding the health services it offers in its pharmacies – including vaccinations for travellers. Truvian also announced a $74-million financing round led by Wittington Ventures (the VC unit of the Weston family’s holding company Wittington Investments; the Westons are Loblaw’s controlling shareholders) and San Francisco-based Great Point Ventures. The Globe and Mail

REPORTS & POLICIES

Reports by the Dais profile Canada’s private and nonprofit tech workforces

There are nearly 1 million tech workers in Canada but there are inequalities in pay and demographic composition in the tech workforce that contribute to overall inequality in Canada, says a report by the Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Key findings of the report include:

• Seven percent of all men working in Canada are engaged in tech jobs, compared with 2.1 percent of women. Within the tech sector, the percentage of women who are tech workers has increased to 22.1 percent from 20 percent in 2016.
• The gender pay gap in Canada’s tech workforce has almost tripled since 2016. According to the latest Census data, men in the Canadian tech sector earned $20,000 on average more than women annually. The gender pay gap has grown since 2016, when men earned $7,200 more than women.
• Visible minorities in Canada are more likely to hold tech jobs, but are underpaid compared to non-visible minorities. Overall, 6.6 percent of workers in Canada with a visible minority identity work in tech, compared with 3.8 percent of non-visible minorities. However, those with visible-minority identities only earn an average of $78,800 a year compared with $93,000 for non-visible minorities.
• Non-permanent-resident tech workers earn only $52,000 a year compared with immigrant and non-immigrant tech workers, who make $88,000 and $89,800 respectively. Canada’s efforts to attract foreign tech workers have worked – tech workers are disproportionately either immigrants or non-permanent-residents, but they are paid less than their counterparts.
• Indigenous Peoples in Canada earn on average $14,000 less than non-Indigenous tech workers annually. Indigenous Peoples are also 70 percent less likely than others in Canada to work in tech. Only 1.4 per cent of employed Indigenous Peoples are currently working in tech occupations, compared with 4.8 percent of non-Indigenous workers.
• On average, Canadian tech workers earn $40,000 more per year than workers employed in other fields. The salary gap with non-tech work has narrowed since 2016. Canada’s tech workers, however, are still underpaid compared to the same occupations in the United States. According to the Dais' previous research, tech workers in Canada earn 46 percent less than tech workers in the U.S.

In another report in the “Canada’s Got Talent” series, the Dais looked at Canada’s tech workers and their compensation. Key findings of this report include:

• The most common tech job category in Canada is currently “information systems specialists,” where workers with this title hold nearly 150,000 jobs.
• Ontario is the most tech-intensive province in the country – 5.8 percent of workers in Ontario are engaged in tech work, and Ontarian tech workers make up almost half of all tech workers in Canada. Comparatively, in most Atlantic Canadian provinces, less than three percent of workers are engaged in tech work.
• The share of Canada’s workforce engaged in tech work has declined since 2016. Now, 4.7 percent of workers in Canada are engaged in tech work, whereas in 2016 the total was 5.1 percent. From 2016 to 2021, the size of the non-tech workforce grew significantly faster than the size of the tech workforce.
• Tech work in Canada remains very well paid compared to other occupations domestically, though the gap with non-tech work has narrowed since 2016. On average, Canadian tech workers earn $40,000 more per year than workers employed in other fields; however, Canada’s tech workers are still underpaid compared to the same occupations in the United States.
• Tech pay varies significantly across metropolitan areas within Canada — in Vancouver, tech workers make $102,479, a premium of 91 percent over the average non-tech worker, compared with Québec City where tech workers only earn 50 percent more than non-tech workers with an average salary of just over $75,000.
• Just 0.2 percent of tech workers (1,960 individuals) declared more than $250,000 in capital gains on their personal taxes in 2021, compared with 0.15 percent of non-tech worker. So tech workers are more likely to be impacted by the federal government’s increase in the capital gains inclusion rate than other workers in Canada.

Another report in the series looked at Canada’s nonprofit tech workforce. Key findings in this report include:

• Nonprofits are light on tech work – they have one-fifth of the tech workers that other industries have. While other industries have on average five percent of their workforce in tech occupations, less than one percent of workers in nonprofits are doing work that is classified as tech work.
• Tech workers in the nonprofit sector earn less. Tech workers in nonprofits earn on average more than $30,000 less annually than tech workers in other industries. This means that tech workers are taking a pay cut of 33 per cent by choosing to work in the nonprofit sector.
• Even job for job, tech workers doing the same work for nonprofits earn a lot less. Hiring for tech skills in nonprofits relies heavily on workers willing to take large salary discounts. For example, information system specialists (the most common tech profession within nonprofits) earn 20 percent less working for nonprofits than they would working elsewhere.
• The nonprofit sector tends to be more diverse than other sectors when it comes to gender and Indigenous identity. Visible minorities are overrepresented in all tech occupations, including tech work within nonprofits.
• However, Indigenous Peoples, women, and visible minorities are all paid less for tech work than other workers. Women working in tech for nonprofits only earn 86 percent of what men working in tech for nonprofits earn and other marginalized groups are similarly underpaid for tech occupations within nonprofit organizations.

A fourth report in the series looked at the demand for digital skills in Canada’s nonprofit sector. Key findings of this report include:

• Compared with adjacent knowledge sector jobs, nonprofit jobs have a lower demand for digital skills. When analyzed against jobs demanding a university or college degree and tech jobs, nonprofit job postings on average demand a lower amount of digital skills, but contain a similar number of unique digital skills. In addition, nonprofits contain less software/product development and data digital skills which are generally higher in digital intensity.
• While Microsoft digital skills are highly demanded across each subset of jobs, the top demanded digital skill in each subset reveals relative digital strengths and needs for workers. The top Microsoft skill demanded in nonprofit jobs was Microsoft Office (which offers a bundle of software including Outlook, Powerpoint, Excel, and Word), compared with more technical skills such as Microsoft Excel for jobs requiring a university or college degree, and Microsoft Azure (a cloud computing platform hosting a range of software and infrastructure services) for tech jobs. While digital needs for nonprofit jobs may not be as strong compared with other knowledge sector jobs, there is evidence that nonprofit jobs are keeping up with digital skills trends to some extent. The share of all nonprofit job postings demanding artificial intelligence skills increased by 32.7 percent in the second half of 2023 compared with the first six months. This indicates a willingness for the sector to adapt to changes in digital skills trends.
• Many nonprofit job postings did not contain any digital skills at all. 63.3 percent of nonprofit job postings did not require any digital skills, which is on par with job postings requiring a university or college degree (63.4 percent) but pales compared with 13.8 percent of tech job postings. This signifies a difference in the digital nature of tasks in each subset of jobs, which leaves room for upskilling and incorporating digital processes into everyday activities. the Dais

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Why humanity’s future depends on safety being the utmost priority in developing AI systems: Yoshua Bengio

Society is racing toward human level artificial intelligence (AGI) and beyond to artificial super-intelligence (ASI) while nobody currently knows how such systems could be made to behave morally, or at least behave as intended by its developers and not turn against humans, says AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio.

We can’t be sure that entities that are smarter than humans and that have their own goals will act towards our well-being, Bengio, professor at Université de Montréal, and founder and scientific director of Mila - Quebec AI Institute, says in a blog on his website, addressing arguments against taking AI safety seriously.

“Some people bring up all kinds of arguments why we should not worry about this, but they cannot provide a technical methodology for demonstrably and satisfyingly controlling even current advanced general-purpose AI systems, much less guarantees or strong and clear scientific assurances that with such a methodology, an ASI would not turn against humanity,” he says. 

Even if the way to control an ASI was known, political institutions to make sure that the power of AGI or ASI would not be abused by humans against humans at a catastrophic scale, to destroy democracy or bring about geopolitical and economic chaos or dystopia, would still be missing, Bengio says.

“We need to make sure that no single human, no single corporation and no single government can abuse the power of AGI at the expense of the common good,” he says.

In what Bengio calls the “coordination problem,” society needs to make sure that corporations do not use AGI to co-opt their governments, and governments using AGI to oppress their people and nations using it to dominate internationally. At the same time, society needs to make sure that we avoid catastrophic accidents of loss of control with AGI systems, anywhere on the planet. 

If both the AI control problem and the coordination problems are solved, Bengio says there’s a good chance that humanity could benefit immensely from the scientific and technological advances that could follow, including in the areas of health, the environment and ensuring better economic prospects for the majority of humans (ideally starting with those who need it most). 

“As of now, however, we are racing towards a world with entities that are smarter than humans and pursue their own goals – without a reliable method for humans to ensure those goals are compatible with human goals.”

Those who object to taking the AGI/ASI risk seriously argue that AIs will never be conscious. But consciousness isn’t necessary for either AGI or ASI, and it won’t necessarily matter for potential existential AGI risk, Bengio says. What will matter most are the capabilities and intentions of ASI systems.

“If they can kill humans (it’s a capability among others that can be learned or deduced from other skills) and have such a goal (and we already have goal-driven AI systems), this could be highly dangerous unless a way to prevent this or countermeasures are found.”

Another common argument is that it’s not necessary to regulate against the risks of AGI since it has not yet been reached and it’s impossible to know what it looks like.

But Bengio says it’s impossible to be sure that AGI will not be achieved by adding some trick on top of current methods, and the capability trend lines continue to point towards AGI.

Second, and most importantly, he says, the moment when AGI will emerge is unknown, while legislation, regulatory bodies and treaties require many years, if not decades, to be put in place.

Bengio says that before ChatGPT, most AI researchers, including himself, didn’t expect its level of capabilities to arise before decades, and the three most cited experts in the field of AI are now worried of what this could mean. 

Society does need to consider plausible future scenarios and trajectories of AI advances in order to prepare against the most dangerous ones, and take stock of current AI performance trends, including many models already surpassing human-level performance, he says.

A single trained AI with performance that matches or surpasses that of humans could provide hundreds of thousands of instances able to work uninterruptedly (just like a single GPT-4 can serve millions of people in parallel), immediately multiplying the AI research workforce by a large multiple (possibly all within a single corporation), Bengio says.

“This would likely accelerate AI capabilities by leaps and bounds, in a direction with lots of unknown unknowns as we move possibly in a matter of months from AGI to ASI. This larger AI research workforce could construct more capable AI and further accelerate the advances.”

Along similar lines, improvements in robotics continue, and they could be accelerated by AGI and ASI, he notes. It is imaginable to conceive of “self-preserving AI systems that would not need humans anymore because they could control robots for achieving physical work [and] would theoretically have a clear incentive to get rid of humanity altogether to rule out the possibility of humans turning them off.”

As for the argument that AGI and ASI will be kind to humans, an AI with a self-preservation goal would resist being turned off and in order to minimize the probability of being turned off, “a plausible strategy would be for it to control us or get rid of us to make sure we would not jeopardize its future,” Bengio says.

What about the argument that engineers in corporations would design future advanced AI systems that are safe? Bengio says the problem comes when safety and profit maximization or company culture (e.g. “move fast and break things”) aren’t aligned.

There is lots of historical evidence (think about fossil fuel companies and the climate, or drug companies before the Food and Drug Administration, with thalidomide, etc.) and research in economics showing that profit maximization can yield corporate behavior that is at odds with the public interest, he says.

Another argument is that slowing down AI capabilities research would be equivalent to forfeiting extraordinary economic and social growth. But any rational decision-making process has to balance the pros and cons of any choice, Bengio says.

“If we achieve medical breakthroughs that double our life expectancy quickly but we take the risk of all dying or losing our freedom and democracy, then the accelerationist bet is not worth much.”

Instead, he says, there is a possible path where society invests sufficiently in AI safety, regulation and treaties in order to control the misuse and loss-of-control risks and reap the benefits of AI. 

But in practice, those who oppose regulation are often those who have a financial or personal interest in blindly accelerating the race towards AGI, Bengio says. The tech lobby has successfully deflected or watered down attempts at legislation in many countries, and all those who ask for regulation with effective teeth should rationally unite, he says.

The possibility that future AI advances could provide first-strike offensive weapons (including in the context of the cyberwar) motivates many in the West to accelerate AI capabilities and reject the option of slowing down in favour of increased safety, out of  fear that it would allow China to leap ahead of the U.S. in AI.

But it would be impossible to avoid the existential risk of losing control to an ASI, if nations ignore AI safety and just focus on AI capabilities, Bengio says. “If humanity loses because of uncontrolled ASI, it won’t matter what kind of political system one prefers. We all lose” because a rogue ASI wouldn’t respect any border.

Sufficient investment in safety is necessary to ensure the safety answers are figured out before reaching AGI, whatever its timeline, “and it is not currently what is happening,” he says.

Bengio acknowledges the argument that “the genie” is possibly already out of the bottle, given that most of the scientific principles required to reach AGI may have already been found.

Even if that were true, it would not necessarily mean that we collectively should let the forces of market competition and geopolitical competition be the only drivers of change, he says. We still have individual and collective agency to move the needle towards a safer and more democratic world.

The argument that regulation would fail is similarly wrong, Bengio says. Even if regulating AI is not going to be easy, it doesn’t mean that efforts should not be made to design institutions that can protect human rights, democracy and the future of humanity, even if it means that institutional innovation is needed.

“And even just reducing the probability of catastrophes would be a win. There is no need to wait for the silver bullet to start moving the needle positively.” Yoshua Bengio website

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Canada should prioritize providing high-speed internet to Indigenous and Northern communities, low-income Canadians

Despite significant public and private investment, Indigenous and northern communities and low-income Canadians still don’t have sufficiently high-speed internet to access essential online services such as health care, education, banking and employment, says a report by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP).

“Canada prides itself on its superior social safety net, but still has not found a solution to address the affordability and adoption challenges of providing access to high-speed broadband internet to low-income households and northern and Indigenous communities,” says the report, by Ian Scott, a Canadian telecom executive who served as the chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) from 2017 to 2023.

“These should be the key priorities of the government’s future efforts to conquer the next frontier of the digital divide," the report says.

“There has been significant progress across the country, but gaps remain,” Scott said in a statement. “Only half of households in First Nations communities and 58 per cent of households in northern Canada meet the basic service target.”

The CRTC declared in 2016 that broadband internet with download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 10 megabits per second was a basic telecom service, the repor notes.

The federal government has set a goal of connecting 98 percent of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2030, “a goal it is on target to meet,” according to the study.

Ottawa has allocated more than $7.2 billion to improving connectivity, plus partnerships with Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island that add an additional nearly $2 billion in provincial co-funding to help meet national connectivity targets faster.

But to close the “glaring gaps,” governments should pursue new approaches that address the needs of underserved communities and improve the affordability of the internet, Scott said.

Improving access for Indigenous and northern communities will require greater government involvement in expanding fibre optic and satellite networks, the report says.

In addition to financing, better federal-provincial-territorial co-ordination is needed to overcome jurisdictional barriers in accessing infrastructure, such as utility poles, needed to expand fibre cables into more remote areas.

When it comes to making high-speed broadband services more affordable, existing government and private-sector efforts have resulted in progress, but there is more to do, Scott said.

The federal government should commit to providing the necessary funding to expand existing support programs, possibly drawing on the proceeds of broadband spectrum auctions, he said.

 The study makes several recommendations, including:

• Improve co-ordination within and across governments: “To date, there has been little co-ordination between federal departments and agencies to improve broadband internet availability or to develop a common approach to community engagement,” the study says. Improved co-ordination between the federal and provincial and territorial governments could help overcome the CRTC’s lack of direct jurisdiction over some types of infrastructure, including municipal facilities and utility poles, that are necessary to expand broadband infrastructure. There should also be improved co-ordination among federal government departments in developing more effective relationships with Indigenous communities and exploring the potential for more Indigenous-owned fibre assets, and in working together to improve affordability of broadband service for low-income households.
• Prioritize northern and Indigenous communities: Indigenous and northern communities have the lowest level of high-speed internet access. Internet service in the territories is provided by a small number of firms in challenging conditions. Improving access to these areas will require government involvement, either through subsidies or capital investment. New satellite technology could hold promise.
• Expand discounted internet plans: Existing government and private-sector efforts to improve affordability of high-speed broadband services are making progress but there is more to do. The federal government should commit to providing the necessary funding to expand existing support programs, possibly from the proceeds of broadband spectrum auctions. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and Employment and Social Development Canada should jointly develop an easy-to-use program to defray internet costs for low-income households.

Not even one of the 25 communities in Nunavut has access to internet service at the 50/10 megabits per second (download/ upload) target level, with most limited to service at five to 25 megabits per second and with data caps, the study notes.

“This means that people and businesses in Nunavut cannot participate in video calls or stream videos and have difficulty participating in the digital economy.”

The 2023 report by Canada’s Auditor General pointed out that neither the CRTC nor ISED had sufficient indicators to measure progress on the quality and affordability of internet access.

We can no longer measure progress on the digital divide solely through the availability of high-speed internet to all Canadians, the study says.

“We need to consider the magnitude of societal benefits associated with community access, and the ability of low-income households and northern and Indigenous communities to access high-speed internet.”

On July 22, the CRTC announced it is taking action to bring high-speed fibre internet to five Inuit communities in northern Quebec.

The project will build on past CRTC Broadband Fund projects in the Nunavik region and ensure that all Kativik communities are connected to high-speed Internet.

The CRTC is committing $79.4 million to the Kativik Regional Government to build a 933-kilometre fibre link, which will connect the communities of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Aupaluk, Tasiujaq, Quaqtaq, and Kangirsuk to high-speed Internet services.

The project will connect more than 40 essential institutions, such as schools and health care centres, and will offer social, educational, and economic benefits to the communities. It will also support future projects to connect businesses and over 700 households. IRPP

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Cost of expanded electricity grids and public charging infrastructure for EVs could reach nearly $360 billion in 2040: study

The cost of electricity grid upgrades to meet electric vehicle demand ranges from $26 billion to $294 billion over the 2025 to 2040 period, according to a study prepared for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). A middle scenario pegged the cost at $94 billion.

On a per-vehicle basis this works out to $3,000 per light-duty vehicle and $17,000 per medium- and heavy-duty vehicle, says the study by Montreal-based Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors.

“To put this cost into further context, Canadians spent approximately $70 billion on gasoline in 2022,” the study says. “In a future where the vehicle fleet is increasingly electric, we expect to see greater revenues for electric utilities which can use this to finance necessary grid upgrades.”

NRCan pointed out that Canadian utilities have invested $23 billion into the grid per year on average in recent years, indicating the necessary grid upgrades are “doable.”

In addition to the cost of expanded electricity grids, the cumulative capital costs for public charging infrastructure for both light-duty and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to 2040 is expected to be $65 billion, the study says.

The federal government has set rising sales targets for zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) reaching 100 percent by 2035 for new light-duty vehicles (LDVs) and 2040 for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) where feasible.

A key component of these targets will be ensuring sufficient availability of EV charging infrastructure across Canada.

 NRCan commissioned Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors and the International Council on Clean Transportation to develop updated charging forecasts for Canada and its provinces and territories, plus key urban regions, for the period 2025 to 2040. 

Based on the federal EV Availability Standard and provincial ZEV Sales Mandates, the number of zero-emission LDVs on the road is expected to grow from approximately 480,000 today to 5 million by 2030, and eventually reach 21 million in 2040, according to the study.

Under a baseline scenario, this will require about 679,000 public charging ports (a mix of Level 2 and direct current fast charging) across the country in 2040, or one port for every 31 light-duty EVs.

“This will require the installation of, on average, 40,000 public ports each year between 2025 and 2040, on top of the nearly 30,000 public ports currently available or planned in Canada.”

Private and fleet depot charging will require an additional 217,000 ports in 2030 and 1.1 million in 2040, the study says.

It projects that capital costs for charging infrastructure for LDVs remain constant – at about $1 billion annually – over the study period. However, MHDV annual capital costs grow from $340 million in 2025, to more than $1.7 billion by 2030, and $6.4 billion by 2040.

MHDV charging will also require significant electricity grid upgrades that can be costly and involve long lead times. The associated investments need to happen up to 10 years before the chargers are deployed in order to ensure sufficient power is available at the charging sites, the study says.

Given the scale of investments required, “public funds will increasingly need to leverage additional private investments.”

The study found that four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta) dominate overall future charging needs for both LDVs and MHDVs, accounting for 84 percent of public LDV ports and 92 percent of MHDV ports in 2040.

However, all regions will need to rapidly grow their public networks from the current baseline to meet near-term milestones, the study says.

The study also looked at charging needs in three major urban regions – Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In addition to significant public charging needs (for example, the Toronto region alone will be home to 167,000 public charging ports in 2040), more than 1.6 million EV-ready retrofits will be needed to enable residents in apartments and condos to charge at home.

One issue with existing public charging stations – at least in the U.S. – is that 20 percent of users said they visited a charger but didn’t charge their vehicle. The reasons range from the charger being inoperable to long lines to use the charger, according to a 2023 study by consumer data analysis firm J.D. Power.

Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors’ study for NCan says an alternative future pathway, where Canadians drive 25 percent fewer kilometres, could decrease the number of required public LVD charging ports by 58,000 in 2030 and 168,00 in 2040.

However, this would require significant investments in alternative modes of transport – including public transit, cycling and walking – as well as changes to urban planning and design to encourage less car-oriented communities, the study notes.

Another alternative future pathway – in which multifamily buildings have less access to charging, public networks are less reliable, and charging power is lower – could result in a need for 153,000 (+23%) more public ports across Canada than the baseline scenario.

Under this pathway, public charging networks would need to be overbuilt to compensate for lower reliability, and more public charging would be required to compensate for the slower pace of multifamily unit EV-ready retrofits.

Avoiding this scenario would require policy interventions to update regulations and standards (e.g., model building and/or electrical codes) as well as financial and other incentives to support EV-ready retrofits, the study says. NRCan

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Vanessa Lloyd was appointed the interim director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for a term of six months, or until such time as a new director of CSIS is appointed. Over the last decade, Lloyd has led a number of initiatives to increase operational capacity at CSIS and promote a culture of innovation, candour and compliance within the organization’s operational directorate. Lloyd joined CSIS in 1998 as an intelligence officer and has taken on numerous challenges within the organization, including as CSIS’ first chief transformation officer in charge of an ambitious agenda to equip CSIS as a forward-leaning intelligence service better able to respond to current and future threats. Public Safety Canada

Mark Schaan was appointed deputy secretary to the cabinet (artificial intelligence) in the Privy Office, effective July 29, 2024. Schaan is currently senior assistant deputy minister, strategy and innovation policy sector, at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. At ISED, Schaan ran files like Bill C-27, which contains the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, and international engagements like Canada’s involvement with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. Sandra McCardell was appointed associate deputy minister of Foreign Affairs. She previously was assistant deputy minister, international affairs branch, at Environment and Climate Change Canada. John Moffet was appointed associate deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) He previously was assistant deputy minister, environmental protection branch, at ECCC. PMO’s Office

Priti Singh was appointed senior managing director & chief risk officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, replacing Kristen Walters. Singh will be responsible for global risk management functions, including incorporating risk perspectives into all investment and operational processes. Singh most recently served on the executive team as senior managing director & global head of capital markets and factor investing. Heather Tobin was promoted to that role, to be responsible for leading the External Portfolio Management, Systematic Strategies, Investment Engineering & Analytics and Strategy, Risk & Operations groups. She was previously managing director, head of investment portfolio management in the office of the chief investment officer. CPP Investments

Shopify appointed Kevin Scott to the company’s board of directors. Scott, executive vice-president of AI and chief technology officer at Microsoft, has built an engineering culture at Microsoft focused on making AI more accessible, and developing tools that help people tackle previously unsolvable problems. He was previously senior vice-president of engineering and operations at LinkedIn from February 2011 to January 2017. His 20-year career in technology spans both academia and industry as researcher, engineer and leader. In announcing his appointment, Shopify called him “an incredible asset for Shopify and our merchants.” Shopify

Ruth Casselman was appointed CEO of the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.-based Accelerator Centre (AC). Casselman, who has been serving as Interim CEO since March 2024, previously served as the founding chief operating officer of AC alumni startup, Alert Labs, which was acquired by Watsco, Inc. In addition to her long-standing leadership in the Waterloo tech ecosystem as a founder and as a member of the AC board of directors, Casselman currently serves as the board chair of the Golden Triangle Angel Network, and is a member of the Due Diligence Committee for Impact Investing for the Waterloo Region Community Foundation. Founded in 2006, AC has been a key player in the local tech ecosystem, having supported more than 750 startups and attracted $1.8 billion in investments for its companies, according to its 2023 report. Accelerator Centre

The European Parliament approved Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year-term as president of the European Commission. The 720-member European Parliament approved her with 401 votes in favour, 284 against and 15 abstentions. She needed 361 votes for approval. Just prior to the vote, Von der Leyen, in her political guidelines, promised to put research and innovation "at the centre of our economy," including pledges to increase the EU's research spending, and expand the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council. Von der Leyen also wants to launch new public-private research partnerships, propose a European biotech act next year as part of a wider life sciences strategy, and strength the university alliances designed to deepen cross-border links between institutions. Von der Leyen is the first woman in the office of president of the European Commission. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, most recently as federal minister of defence. Reuters, Science|Business

Maria MacNamara stepped down as chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA), just three months after joining SIAA. MacNamara announced her departure less than two weeks out from the nation’s premier space event in South Australia. Lisa Vitaris, who is leading SIAA’s work on the 2025 International Astronautical Congress, will now step into the vacant role in an acting capacity. MacNamara remains CEO and co-founder of Portal Consulting, and a fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. InnovationAus.com

Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C. has received the largest gift in the university’s history from the estate of Susan Bagley Bloom that will be used to bring programming to Salt Spring Island. The gift from the Bloom Canadian Alter Ego Trust 2020 is valued at $9.93 million and includes Bloom’s property, architecturally significant home, gardens and orchard of heritage fruit trees, as well as funds for an endowment. Bloom was an environmental philanthropist and pioneer in land conservation and regenerative sustainability, and a long-time resident of Salt Spring Island. Royal Roads intends to use the gift to offer workshops, seminars, field trips, events and interdisciplinary programming that serves the overarching goal of inspiring changemakers. The land will be stewarded in partnership with the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust and Salt Spring Island Conservancy, and in consultation with the local Indigenous communities. Royal Roads University

The Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation (ACHF) has committed $9.9 million to see the Owerko Centre – a multi-faculty research collaboration in neurodevelopment and child mental health – through its next phase of growth and development. A $10-million gift from Stan and Marge Owerko to the ACHF led to the creation of the Owerko Centre in 2015. Wanting to help children and families affected by neurodevelopmental conditions, the Owerko family envisioned a place that would link researchers from across the University of Calgary campus to facilitate unique collaborations focused on neurodevelopmental research. ACHF is building on that legacy with a renewed commitment to support the Owerko Centre over the next five years. What began with eight researchers in 2015 has grown to more than 50 experts across the university, along with 200 graduate and undergraduate research trainees, and over 100 postdoctoral fellows and research associates. Owerko members represent almost every UCalgary faculty, including the Cumming School of Medicine, Werklund School of Education, Schulich School of Engineering and the faculties of Arts, Kinesiology, Law, Nursing, Public Policy, Science, and Social Work. UCalgary

University of Niagara Falls Canada (UNFC), a private, for-profit university, has partnered with the International American University (IAU) in Los Angeles, California to enhance academic pathways and international opportunities. Together, the partners will establish an educational pathway for UNFC graduates to pursue doctoral degrees at IAU, including a Doctor of Business Administration and a Doctor of Management. UNFC

A research team led by McGill University has developed the first real-time, on-site technology capable of detecting and deciphering nanoplastics from all other particles in water – a capacity akin to being able to find a needle in a haystack within milliseconds. Microplastic pieces are between one micrometre and five millimetres, roughly equivalent to a grain of rice. Nanoplastics are far tinier – a single nanometre is just 0.000001 millimetres. For comparison, a human hair is approximately 80,000–100,000 nanometers wide. Understanding the impact of nanoplastics on ecosystems has been challenging due to the limitations of existing detection methods. "This technology has the potential to revolutionize how we monitor and manage plastic pollution, ultimately contributing to the preservation of our environment," said Parisa Ariya, James McGill Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill, the study’s lead author. The technology, an AI-assisted, nano digital in-line holographic microscopy dubbed “AI-Assisted Nano-DIHM,” has garnered attention from experts since the innovation was unveiled in a recent paper in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Preliminary findings from Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River indicate AI-Assisted Nano-DIHM can identify micro- and nanoplastics within waterborne particles. The pioneering technology was developed in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada. McGill University

A University of Waterloo (UWaterloo) engineer has paired inexpensive wireless communication antennas with artificial intelligence to improve how doctors can detect bone fractures. Determining bone fractures using traditional diagnostic methods such as x-rays, computed tomography scans, and magnetic resonance imaging takes time. Also, such equipment is not readily available in ambulances or primary care facilities and, with health care services in high demand, many people have to wait for an x-ray or scan once they arrive at the hospital. The new system delivers a faster, safer, more portable and cost-effective alternative to what currently exists. “Our method is safer because it doesn’t expose patients to radiation or interfere with any medical devices in their bodies,” said lead researcher Dr. Omar Ramahi, a professor in Waterloo’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Unlike conventional medical imaging methods that produce images requiring expert interpretation, Ramahi’s system detects cracks and breaks clearly, providing straightforward information that is crucial in emergencies. It works by positioning two antennas on opposite sides of the suspected fracture site, with one antenna transmitting low-frequency microwaves through the bone to the other. The received data is then analyzed by a deep neural network – an AI model trained on extensive datasets of human body parts and bone fracture types. Ramahi’s system was developed in collaboration with an international research team, and is the first to use AI with microwaves to detect bone fractures without using imaging techniques. Further work is underway to develop a high-resolution diagnostic tool. The researchers believe they could one day develop a portable device, potentially in the form of a cuff that wraps around the injured area, which could assist paramedics, long-term care staff and sports teams in immediate and preliminary fracture diagnosis. UWaterloo

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