GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

Federal and B.C. governments working with OpenAI to strengthen safety and accountability for ChatGPT

Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon, after meeting with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, asked the company to take several actions to strength safeguards and accountability in Canada for ChatGPT.

Altman has agreed to the actions, Solomon said in a statement. They include establishing a direct point of contact with the Royal Canadian Mounted Polic and implementing safety protocols that direct individuals experience distress to local support services.

Solomon also asked OpenAI to apply its new safety standards retroactively and review previously flagged cases.

OpenAI also committed to assess how it would include Canadian privacy, mental health and law enforcement experts into the process to identify and review high-risk case involving Canadian users of ChatGPT.

OpenAI also will provide a full report outlining the new systems it’s developing to identify high-risk offenders and repeat policy violators.

Solomon said he’ll ask the Canadian AI Safety Institute to examine OpenAI’s model and provide expert technical advice to his office.

Solomon’s request comes after news reports that OpenAI failed to tell police about troubling messages 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar sent to ChatGPT until months later, after she shot and killed eight people, as well as herself, in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

In a letter to Solomon last week, Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s vice-president of global policy, said if the company’s current policies were in place at the time, the messages would have been escalated to police.

B.C. Premier David Eby said OpenAI CEO Altman has agreed to apologize to the people of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., after it emerged the AI giant didn't report a mass shooter's account to authorities.

The premier met virtually with Altman, along with Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka.

Eby said that Altman also agreed to work with the B.C. government and present recommendations to the federal government around AI regulation – specifically when it comes to when chatbot companies should notify police.

Eby said it shouldn't be up to AI companies' internal safety committees to determine when potentially violent posts should be flagged to authorities, and there should be a national threshold and "duty to report" that is enforced.

Meanwhile, polling released by a coalition that includes children’s health care groups suggests an overwhelming majority of Canadians say they would support instituting a minimum age to use social media as well as the establishment of regulator to provide oversight of tech platforms.

The Leger poll, commissioned by the Safer Online Spaces Coalition, which includes the Amanda Todd Legacy Society, surveyed 1,502 Canadians online from January 26 to January 29.

It asked a series of question about social media and regulation, including levels of support for the creation of an online regulator, even in the context of dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump who has shown hostility towards existing regulatory regimes in Europe.

When it comes to the question of banning social media for certain ages, the survey showed about 90 percent of respondents believed there should be some minimum age required for accessing certain platforms, with 27 percent saying it should be 14 to 15 years of age and another 27 percent believing it ought to be 16 to 17.

The survey suggests an overwhelming concern by Canadian adults about children becoming addicted to social media (73 percent) and strong worry about false information such as fraudulent ads targeting minors (76 percent) as well as online sexual exploitation and abuse (74 percent).

The survey also found that 90 percent of respondents think tech companies and social media giants ought to be accountable for the content they make available to children, with 79 percent of respondents saying they would support seeing a regulator established.

Another 77 percent of those who answered voiced support for a tougher enforcement approach to regulation, including when it comes to AI tools. Statement from federal AI Minister Evan Solomon, CBC News, National Post

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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is experimenting with an AI tool to advise newcomers where they would be best suited to settle in Canada, one of many ways the department is increasingly using artificial intelligence. Stanford University’s Geomatch algorithm is designed to predict the probability of success of new immigrants, including refugees, in locations within a destination country. It uses machine learning, including information on past immigrants and their experiences, along with the work history, education and personal characteristics of new arrivals. Use of the algorithm by IRCC, in partnership with Stanford University’s Immigration Policy Lab, was disclosed in the federal department’s newly published first AI strategy. Immigrants are not obliged to follow the recommendation, which is “offered as handy information for them to consider,” the strategy says. IRCC is experimenting with a number of AI tools, many of which focus on fraud prevention. The strategy document says artificial intelligence is helping the department detect false narratives. These could form the basis of an asylum claim or deflect attention from security concerns, for example. Machine learning tools are also being used to detect anomalies in applications and irregular travel patterns, which could signal that a refugee or immigrant came from a country other than the one claimed. Last year, IRCC investigated an average of roughly 8,000 cases of suspected immigration fraud a month, and refused an average of 7,900 fraudulent applications a month, said department spokesperson Isabelle Dubois. The Globe and Mail

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced $70.4 million over three years will be invested through the new Canada-British Columbia Workforce Tariff Response to support workers within the softwood lumber, steel and other directly and indirectly tariff-affected industries. This new funding will help more than 8,000 workers in British Columbia build new skills. Supports will be delivered through WorkBC’s provincewide network to ensure timely, local, and personalized support for workers who may benefit from retraining or employment assistance as they transition into new opportunities, including:

• unemployed workers seeking to gain new skills for in-demand jobs.
• workers whose employers are participating in work-sharing agreements, so that they may upskill or retrain as these industries adapt.
• employed workers seeking new skills to improve their resiliency within companies directly affected by tariffs and global market shifts or their supply chains, or within communities that rely heavily on those companies, such as single-industry communities. Implementation of the partnership agreement will leverage both existing and new or enhanced mechanisms and will benefit from the input of labour and business representatives. ESDC

The Government of Alberta is investing $46 million through the industry-supported Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund to develop the innovative technologies needed to safely and effectively reduce oilsands tailings ponds and clean the water. Led by three major oil companies, a postsecondary institution and two businesses, this funding will help reclaim the water in tailing ponds and eventually return the land for use by future generations. Delivered through Emissions Reduction Alberta, the funding will support nine innovative, real-world projects. This includes technologies to remove bitumen and chemicals from mine water, dry and settle tailings faster, and use wetlands to naturally and safely clean water. For example, Canadian Natural Resources will use $18 million in provincial funding to reduce liquid waste and expensive, energy-intensive equipment in Wood Buffalo, while Imperial will use $12.8 million to test a new way to treat tailings that reuses more water and speeds up land reclamation north of Fort McMurray. Suncor will use $7.5 million for two pilot projects, including demonstrating established technologies to treat oilsands mine water, helping manage growing volumes of stored water and advancing the reclamation and closure of tailings facilities. The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology will create standards to help measure treatment performance and adopt new technologies across the oilsands. Govt. of Alberta

 The Government of Canada has conditionally approved up to $36.5 million in non-repayable funding, through the Global Partnerships Initiative, for Calgary-based E3 Lithium Ltd., to accelerate development of the company’s Clearwater Project to produce battery-grade lithium chloride. The funding supports 75 percent of the forecasted $48-million project to complete E3's demonstration facility Phase 3, located east of Olds, Alta., and its Clearwater Project feasibility study. Phase 3 of the demonstration facility will include a single, full-sized commercial column, expected to produce the carbonate equivalent of 100 tonnes per year in lithium chloride. The funding will also support the company’s front end engineering design that will form part of the Clearwater Project's feasibility study. E3 Lithium

 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced up to $30 million for 235 approved projects across Canada under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF). This program helps to improve community food security by funding infrastructure that increases access to local, nutritious and culturally appropriate food. Under the LFIF Large Scale Projects component, up to 58 projects are approved for a total amount of $17.5 million. This component provides funding between $150,000 and $500,000 to support projects with multiple infrastructure/equipment needs and partnerships to address community food security in a more comprehensive manner. Under the LFIF Small Scale Projects component, up to 177 projects are approved for a total amount of $12.5 million. This component provides grant funding between $25,000 and $100,000 to support infrastructure projects, such as a community garden with an irrigation system, a greenhouse with solar panels, or a food forest. Details on program parameters and intake dates will be made available soon. AAFC

Canada’s Competition Tribunal rejected an argument from Google that recent legal changes allowing financial penalties for breaking the Competition Act entitle the company to protections like those it would get in a criminal proceeding. The Competition Bureau alleges that Google unfairly dominates the online advertising market. If the bureau succeeds, Google says it could face penalties as high as $91 billion. Google argued that the risk of such a hefty punishment  means that the bureau’s investigators should have had to meet tougher standards to get access to Google’s internal files, as police would. “The Tribunal’s decision reinforces its clear authority to order administrative monetary penalties to promote compliance and deter anti-competitive behaviour,” Jeanne Pratt, acting commissioner of competition, said in a statement. “Our case against Google continues. We continue to stand by our investigative findings that, through its anti-competitive conduct, Google has been able to entrench its dominance, prevent rivals from competing, inhibit innovation, inflate advertising costs and reduce publishers’ revenues. The final decision in this matter, including any penalties, rests with the Competition Tribunal.” Competition Bureau Canada

The Government of Canada issued calls for proposals for the $5-billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund and the $1-billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund. The national program will strengthen supply chain capacity, relieve congestion, and address infrastructure gaps that limit Canada’s ability to reach global markets beyond the United States, the government said. The government will make strategic investments from submitted proposals that align with the following objectives:

• Increase corridors’ systems-based trade and transportation infrastructure capacity to support the diversification of Canada’s international trade, including as it assists in diversifying trade to global markets, beyond the United States.
• Address costly congestion that is hindering Canada’s economic growth.
• Address trade-enabling transportation infrastructure gaps where there are deficits impeding national or regional growth.

The Trade Diversification Corridors Fund includes three funding streams, all of which are now open for proposals:

• Stream 1:  Strengthening Canada’s Core Trade Corridors through a Systems-Based Approach (Invitation‑Based). Targets high-impact projects that diversify trade through Canada’s core trade corridors.
• Stream 2:  Unlocking Opportunities and Connectivity Through Collaborative Trade Corridor Solutions (Targeted Call). Targets collaborative, multi-stakeholder solutions to resolve specific issues that are inhibiting Canada’s ability to grow and diversify trade through key trade corridors.
• Stream 3: Supporting Regional Growth (Open Call). Targets projects that address trade-enabling transportation infrastructure gaps that are impeding regional growth.

For the Arctic Infrastructure Fund, eligible partners, including Arctic and northern communities, territorial and Indigenous governments and organizations, and industry, are invited to submit proposals for infrastructure initiatives that will:

• strengthen defence readiness and Canada’s ability to operate in the Arctic.
• improve transportation links that enable economic development and access to domestic and global markets.
• enhance community connectivity, and access to essential goods, services, and emergency response.
• advance Indigenous reconciliation, including recognizing that First Nations, Inuit and Métis are best placed to identify their community needs.

The Arctic Infrastructure Fund features includes two funding streams, both of which are now open:

• Stream 1: Dual‑Use Transportation Infrastructure that Supports Defence and Community/Civilian Requirements in the Arctic (Invitation‑Based). Supports large-scale, defence‑ and civilian‑serving projects that support two or more of the Arctic Infrastructure Fund objectives and that advance key transportation corridors to close longstanding northern transportation gaps, which will improve regional connectivity, promote economic development, and bolster defence operational readiness in the Arctic and Canada’s North.
• Stream 2: Investing in Industry and Community‑Led Transportation Infrastructure with Dual-Use Benefits (Open Call). Supports community or industry‑driven projects that advance the Indigenous reconciliation objective, align with two or more of the other program objectives and that seek to improve regional connectivity, strengthen supply chains, enhance safety, and support defence needs. Projects can serve as enabling links to larger corridor developments. Eligible projects must be located in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik, or Nunatsiavut.

Both programs will use a mix of non‑repayable, conditionally repayable and unconditionally repayable contributions to stretch federal dollars further and leverage financing opportunities, including collaboration with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Full program criteria, application guidance, and timelines are available on Transport Canada’s website. Transport Canada

The Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta reached an agreement-in-principle on a Cooperation Agreement on Environmental and Impact Assessment that will see major projects built faster. This new agreement-in-principle represents the next milestone reached following last year’s landmark energy agreement and builds on the removal of the federal oil and gas production cap, and the net-zero power regulations in Alberta, the Alberta government said. Through this cooperation agreement-in-principle, both governments have committed to taking steps to approve projects more efficiently, including:

• For projects primarily under provincial jurisdiction, Canada will recognize Alberta as best positioned to lead environmental assessments and will rely on Alberta’s environmental and regulatory review processes to evaluate project impacts.
• For projects involving federal works, undertakings, or federal lands, Canada will work with Alberta to ensure the province’s environmental assessment and regulatory requirements are integrated into the federal review process where appropriate and at Alberta’s request.
• When both federal and provincial assessments apply to a project, Canada and Alberta will coordinate their reviews to reduce duplication and regulatory burden, aligning project requirements, timelines, and reporting wherever possible. Where similar conditions are proposed by both governments, federal requirements will defer to Alberta’s conditions and regulatory authority when provincial legislation, regulations, or processes are in place.

“This agreement is a meaningful next step toward faster, more efficient project reviews, and removes the need for federal approvals of projects that are squarely within the province’s jurisdiction. This will see Alberta projects approved faster, and shovels in the ground sooner,” Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement. Govt. of Alberta

A group of economists, researchers and union leaders wrote an open letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, minister responsible for Statistics Canada, protesting Statistics Canada’s plan to cut more than 50 jobs, a 12-percent reduction in staffing, over the next three years. “A cut to Canada’s foremost data department is a cut to evidence-based decision-making. It cuts to the heart of an informed democracy. We urge you to reconsider these cuts and protect Canada’s vital data source,” the letter’s signatories said. The Statistics Canada cuts will result in reduced data collection, diminished data quality, loss of vital expertise, silenced marginalized voices, less government accountability to the public, costly mistakes, less information in a time of turmoil and mis/disinformation, they said. Signatories include Peggy Nash, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Rob Kristofferson, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, Mark Hancock, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Clint Johnston, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and numerous academics. Open letter

A Government of Ontario-initiated agreement will bring together Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories to advance new electricity projects and strategy interties across Canada. Following Ontario’s Connecting Canada – Building an Energy Superpower Summit in September 2025, provincial and territorial energy ministers agreed that expanding electricity transmission between jurisdictions is essential to meeting rising demand, strengthening energy security and unlocking the full value of Canada’s clean and diverse energy resources. The agreement, with an initial eight-year term with an option to renew, marks a major nation-building milestone, breaking down longstanding barriers between provincial grids and enabling a more connected, resilient and self-reliant energy system.

Under this Canada-first agreement, provinces and territories will collaborate to:

• Identify and advance new interprovincial and territorial transmission infrastructure, including key intertie projects with elevated speed.
• Expand electricity trade within Canada, helping regions meet growing demand and maximize the use of clean, reliable power before exporting abroad.
• Advocate for federal support, including investment to accelerate transmission corridors and an electricity strategy that connects Canada east-west and north-south.
• Partner with Indigenous communities in energy development, ensuring meaningful participation and shared economic benefits. Govt. of Ontario

The Government of Canada is committing more than $100 million to three electricity transmission projects in Western Canada, in a bid to boost access to potential resource projects. The funds, announced by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson at a global mining conference in Toronto, are to be drawn from the government’s First and Last Mile Fund, which is for infrastructure to support critical minerals supply chains. Two of the projects are in British Columbia, one in the province’s north and another in its interior, while the third is in eastern Saskatchewan. Hodgson told The Globe and Mail that more details on how Ottawa sees its growing role in facilitating power projects will be provided in a new national electricity strategy that Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to deliver soon. Hodgson said the strategy will include responding to “two tectonic shifts” – electrification of energy use on the path to a net-zero emissions economy, and growing electricity demand caused by the ramp up of artificial intelligence. Upgrading B.C.’s Northwest Transmission Line, toward which Hodgson pledged $44.2 million, is meant to bolster electricity supplies to the mineral-rich Golden Triangle in B.C.’s northwest. The other B.C. project to receive First and Last Mile funding is an upgrade to the provincial grid primarily to support Teck Resources Ltd.’s Highland Valley copper mine near Kamloops. The Saskatchewan investment will see $18 million in federal funds for planning and design work for a pair of new transmission lines that would connect existing northern and southern power grids. The Globe and Mail

The Government of Canada said provincial health plans should start covering the services of nurse practitioners who provide primary care as of April 1, but will delay enforcement for non-compliance for a year. Some of the estimated six million Canadians not connected to family doctors have turned to alternative health care providers, often staffed with nurse practitioners, that may charge fees for services that would otherwise be covered by public insurance if provided by a physician. This kind of out-of-pocket billing is prohibited for physicians but was until now a legal grey area for other professionals. The decision will add to costs for provincial health plans. The new Canada Health Act policy still takes effect on April 1, 2026, but will essentially not be enforced until April 1, 2027, as long as the province or territory starts covering these services by the end of 2028, Ottawa said. Alberta said Ottawa’s policies were “violating” the province’s jurisdiction over health care and urged the federal government to repeal federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s “interpretation letter” and pause implementation of the new policy. Provinces receive billions of dollars from Ottawa to pay for health services, and some of that money is clawed back if a province is found to be allowing health care providers to inappropriately bill patients. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Ottawa transferred $52.1-billion to provinces and territories for health care and levied $62.2-million in penalties for inappropriate patient charges. The Globe and Mail

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) announced a federal investment of more than $8.5 million for 40 projects that will help businesses and organizations adopt AI across Atlantic Canada, helping:

• small businesses reach more customers using AI-powered sales tools.

• rural industries improve productivity through smart automation;

• companies scale up AI systems for export and certification; and

• workers gain digital skills through training and support.

These investments are creating new opportunities, increasing productivity, and helping Atlantic Canadian communities grow, ACOA said. ACOA

Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) announced an investment of over $3.6 million for two Kootenay-based organizations to advance sustainable technologies and strengthen manufacturing in the region. The Selkirk Technology Access Centre is receiving an investment of over $1.6 million to expand its advanced manufacturing services and build new capacity in particle accelerator and ion source research – the same technology used in hospitals to detect cancer and other serious illnesses. These upgrades will give local businesses access to cutting-edge tools, expert mentorship, and industry networks to help them grow and compete. PacifiCan is also investing over $1.9 million in KC Recycling to expand the capacity of its battery processing facility by 40 percent. KC Recycling will upgrade its facility with more efficient equipment for battery processing, material separation and plastics recycling equipment. By recovering greater volumes of lead, plastic, and acid for reuse in battery manufacturing and lead smelting, KC Recycling is turning industrial waste into economic opportunity. PacifiCan

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced more than $2.6 million in repayable contributions for six Laurentides businesses. The CED funding will enable them to support their growth. The recipients are Eagle Hydraulic, Pubco Products International, UberSpec Expertises, Garde‑Malade, Grillage Bolar (Canada) and EcoFab3D. The funding includes projects for digital equipment acquisition, new product development and marketing strategies. CED

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced a federal investment of over $4.4 million for 10 projects that will strengthen the forest sector in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. These projects will advance manufacturing and processing, diversify Canada’s forest products and their export markets and support First Nation and Métis groups and forestry businesses. Among the projects funded, Western Archrib Enterprises Ltd. is receiving $2.3 million through the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program to commission a 160,000-square-foot mass timber plant in Sturgeon County, Alberta. The facility represents a total capital investment of over $80 million and will transform Western Archrib’s operations from manual processing to a fully automated manufacturing line, increasing production capacity from 12 million to 30 million to 35 million board feet annually. This investment will strengthen Alberta’s supply chain for advanced wood-based building material, such as mass timber panels, which directly support the construction industry and housing supply. NRCan is now accepting applications under national calls for proposals for its renewed forest sector transformation programs, including IFIT, the Green Construction through Wood program, the Indigenous Forestry Initiative and the Global Forest Leadership Program. NRCan

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) announced $1.5 million for the Tłı̨chǫ Government to advance mineral exploration over three years. This funding will help identify new mining opportunities through aerial surveys, ground-based prospecting, and data analysis in the Tłı̨chǫ Region. The project is expected to help attract investment in resource exploration and development within the Northwest Territories by providing recent and accurate geophysical and geochemical data relating to mineral deposits – especially on Tłı̨chǫ lands. It will also offer valuable training opportunities for Tłı̨chǫ citizens, enhancing Tłı̨chǫ minerals knowledge and capacity. CanNor

An effective open banking system will increase competition and support the creation and expansion of new and innovative firms, said Jeanne Pratt, acting commission of competition for Competition Bureau Canada “It will reduce the barriers consumers face when switching providers, making it easier for people to choose the services that best meet their needs. This, in turn motivates businesses to offer better products, lower prices, and improved customer service to attract and keep customers,” she said in a talk to the Open Banking Expo 2025 event in Toronto. However, she noted that Competition Bureau Canada sees a few major obstacles facing adoption of open banking:

• Concern that switching will be complicated or time-consuming.
• Loyalty to familiar brands.
• Lack of awareness of the real advantages of switching.

“The right framework can help overcome these barriers by making it easier and safer to move data,” Pratt said. The United Kingdom and the European Union have led the way in open banking, establishing robust data portability systems about a decade ago, she said. In the U.K., usership is rising, with more than 12 million active users, more than 300 regulated firms, and an estimated contribution of £4 billion to the U.K. economy. The federal government had targeted this year to launch open banking in Canada. However, Rob Morrow, head of payments at the Bank of Canada, said the institution is still in the information-gathering stage, which he expects to take months. Competition Bureau

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer said it will not be publishing new reports or undertaking any new requests from parliamentarians until a new parliamentary budget officer is appointed. The last permanent parliamentary budget officer, Yves Giroux, left on September 2 last year. The six-month term of his interim successor, Jason Jacques, expired with no successor in place. The Office said it will continue to progress on existing files and will resume full operations once an appointment is made. The Office’s main job is forecasting the spending and revenue consequences of legislation and government policy changes. The government names the parliamentary budget officer, but the House of Commons and Senate must approve the choice. A review published last week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) rated the Office superbly, recommending that its access to government information be strengthened. But the OECD noted the “continuity risk” that an officer’s term can expire with nobody to take his or her place. Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

The Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology recommended that a flagship federal government bill that would tighten Canada’s immigration and asylum rules should be gutted, including with key sections removed to address concerns regarding human rights and privacy. The Senate committee has been studying Bill C-12 and hearing from experts. In a new report, the Committee expressed fears that parts of the proposed legislation would lead to an “overreach of executive powers” and have a disproportionate impact on women and members of the LGBTQ community. The Committee called for the deletion of parts 5 to 8 of the bill and, failing that, for substantial amendments including to sections tightening up Canada’s asylum system. Of particular concern to the Committee was part 8, which would prevent asylum seekers who have been in Canada for more than a year from having claims for refugee protection heard by the independent Immigration and Refugee Board. The purpose of the rule, according to Immigration Department officials who addressed senators, is to prevent potential misuse of the system, such as by international students who claim asylum because they want to remain in Canada. But the Senate committee report warned that the change could mean that someone who visited Canada as a baby for a day and later returned at age 10 could be deemed ineligible to be heard at the independent tribunal. The Committee’s report also expressed concern that the bill would boost information-sharing powers between federal departments, provinces, territories and foreign entities, and could jeopardize confidentiality and even affect people’s safety. The Globe and Mail, Senate of Canada

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Canada and Japan announce an ambitious new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae released a joint statement announcing an ambitious new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Canada and Japan across defence, energy, critical minerals, trade and technology.

To bolster the two countries’ defence and security relationship and build up defence industrial cooperation, the leaders announced:

• Three bilateral memoranda of cooperation that will strengthen collaboration on international emergency response, joint Coast Guard exercises, and action against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the North Pacific.
• Additional strategic planning, bilateral exercises, and joint operations and training exercises, including joint sails between the Royal Canadian Navy and the Japanese Navy as well as the potential for Japan’s participation in Canada’s Operation NANOOK.
• Strengthened cybersecurity and cyber defence cooperation through a new Canada-Japan Cyber Policy Dialogue, including information exchange, resilience building, and collaboration on cyber threats.
• Greater defence industrial collaboration between Canadian and Japanese companies on frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and space security, to build out our defence supply chains, increase capital flows into defence sectors, and create high-paying careers.

To build on and expand their strong trade ties, Canada and Japan will:

• Instruct their officials to identify immediate investment opportunities, including through pension funds.
• Increase efforts to support Japanese automotive manufacturers in advancing their decarbonization efforts in Canada through multiple pathways.
• Leverage existing memoranda of cooperation including those on battery supply chains and industrial science and technology, to deepen bilateral cooperation and catalyze economic gains for both countries.
• Modernize the Canada-Japan Joint Economic Committee, building on 50 years of close economic cooperation, to capitalize on emerging opportunities such as semiconductors, batteries, AI, clean energy, critical minerals and resilient supply chains.
• Deploy trade delegations, including a Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan in 2026 and an upcoming visit to Canada by the Japan Business Federation to unlock new commercial partnerships for Canadian businesses and investment opportunities in Canada.

To bolster energy security and leverage Canada and Japan’s complementarity in supply, the two leaders committed to:

• Expanding bilateral trade and cooperation on energy projects, including liquified natural gas and liquified petroleum gas, recognizing their important roles in energy security and the energy transition.
• Increasing cooperation on clean energy technologies, including nuclear technologies, hydrogen, energy-efficient industrial processes, as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage.
• Harnessing innovation in clean storage, grid modernization, and clean‑energy integration.

Canada and Japan are both leaders in advanced technology and trusted partners in the responsible development of AI, manufacturing, and R&D. To reinforce this relationship, the two countries will:

• Deepen cooperation on critical minerals, including joint work to secure reliable supplies, enable value‑added processing, and support diversified manufacturing ecosystems. This includes collaboration through the G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance.
• Increase partnership opportunities on semiconductors, AI, cybersecurity, batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, clean technologies, quantum technology, fusion energy and other strategic sectors central to economic competitiveness.
• Advance joint R&D and innovation cooperation in new and emerging technologies, building on this year’s 40^th anniversary of the Canada-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology.
• Intensified collaboration between the two countries’ innovation, venture, investor and startup ecosystems, including by accelerating greater two‑way investment, strengthening links between accelerators and corporate innovation networks, and supporting joint commercialization in emerging technology sectors.

In addition to these efforts, Canada and Japan will increase Arctic scientific and technological cooperation as well as joint efforts on climate change and environmental observation. The countries signed a bilateral memorandum of cooperation to conduct joint scientific activities in fisheries and marine research, including stock assessment, climate and ecosystem science, advanced marine technologies, and researcher exchanges to support sustainable resource management. Prime Minister of Canada

RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

The University of Toronto’s (U of T) Department of Computer Science announced a major research and development lab with AMD, a global leader in high-performance computing. The AMD – U of T Research Lab will focus on developing cutting-edge technologies and strengthening Canada as a global hub for innovation excellence. U of T joins AMD's global network of applied R&D partnerships with leading AI and computing research institutions including MIT, University of California Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, ETH Zurich and National University of Singapore. Over the next three years, AMD plans to launch 100 R&D projects at the newly created AMD – U of T Research Lab, focusing on innovations critical to next-generation AI and high-performance computing such as developing energy-efficient AI systems, designing decentralized methods for training massive AI models across distributed clusters, and advancing enterprise-scale data intelligence. To date, AMD and U of T have completed more than 30 applied-research projects with most participating students subsequently hired by AMD. This venture demonstrates a new paradigm for Canadian innovation: bridging academic excellence with commercial ambition, accelerating the pace at which research breakthroughs move from lab to market and positioning Canada at the nexus for world-class technology development. AMD also is fueling the next generation of AI discovery at the U of T by donating two state-of-the-art AI servers to the Department of Computer Science. U of T

CIFAR is partnering with Mitacs to support up to 10 Mitacs-CIFAR Global Excellence Award recipients. The new stream, under the Mitacs Accelerate Global Excellence Award program, is designed to attract outstanding international postdoctoral fellows and PhD graduates to Canada. Through this joint initiative, scholars training under CIFAR fellows will have the opportunity to apply for the Global Excellence Award while also engaging in CIFAR’s Next Generation programming. The partnership brings together Mitacs’ expertise in industry-focused research training and CIFAR’s global research networks to support the next generation of research leaders. The Mitacs Accelerate Global Excellence Award is a competitive, two-year award valued at $170,000 that supports the relocation and integration of postdoctoral fellows and PhD graduates into Canada’s research and innovation ecosystem. Awardees receive funding for stipend, research and relocation expenses, while working in collaboration with Canadian industry partners. Applications are now open until May 1, 2026. CIFAR

The Calgary Health Foundation announced that oilsands producer Suncor provided a $5-million gift to establish the new Suncor Women’s Health Centre at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. This marks the largest corporate donation in the foundation’s history. The investment will support an expanded, modernized and integrated women’s health facility that brings essential programs under one roof to improve access, reduce wait times and enhance care for women in Calgary and across southern Alberta. Located in the former Tom Baker Cancer Centre, the Suncor Women’s Health Centre will consolidate critical services including the Pelvic Floor Clinic, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Program, Colposcopy Clinic, High-Risk Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic and the Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic, in one place. This contribution will:

• Increase annual patient capacity by 25 percent.
• Reduce the Pelvic Floor Clinic waitlist by 30 percent.
• Modernize equipment for improved access and patient comfort. Calgary Health Foundation

The federally funded, Montreal-based Scale AI global innovation cluster’s ALL IN artificial intelligence conference is expanding to the rest of Canada with two satellite events as it gears up for its fourth annual edition. Scale AI announced it will host two “ALL IN Talks” this year: one in Vancouver on April 15 and another in Toronto on May 28. The flagship conference, which brings together tech industry leaders, academics, corporations and policymakers to discuss the future of AI technology and promote its adoption, will return to Montreal this September 16 and 17. Isabelle Turcotte, CEO of ALL IN, said the new conference talks series aims to “engage innovators in key markets and unlock new opportunities for collaboration and real-world AI adoption across Canada.” Telecommunications firm TELUS, which announced its sovereign AI factory at last year’s ALL IN conference, will co-host the Vancouver edition. At ALL IN Talks Toronto, AI research hub the Vector Institute will co-present and showcase how AI can be applied across industries like health care and manufacturing, with a focus on growing Ontario’s economy. BetaKit

Montreal-based La Caisse, a global investment group, and Denver-based Cologix, a network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data centre company, announced they concluded an agreement for a $240-million senior financing for Cologix’s Montreal MTL8 colocation data centre. Construction of the structure and building envelope are completed, and the AI-ready data centre is in service. La Caisse provided the entirety of the debt financing to support Cologix’s continued investment in the site. Located in Technoparc Montréal, a major aerospace and technological hub situated near the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, the MTL8 facility will deliver 21 megawatts of capacity and is powered by hydroelectricity. It integrates with Cologix’s dense interconnection network across its 11 other Montreal facilities. In 2025, the MTL8 data centre achieved LEED® Gold certification, confirming its sustainability features meet the highest green building standards, and making it one of the first facilities of its kind to earn this distinction. La Caisse

Britain’s Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team announced a new multi-year partnership with Toronto-based AI developer Cohere. The partnership establishes Cohere as the Official Generative AI Partner of Aston Martin Aramco. Cohere will support the team's performance, engineering and operational functions through secure, scalable AI solutions. All team members will gain access to “North,” Cohere's flagship agentic AI platform, enabling proprietary and secure generative and search AI capabilities across the organization. Cohere branding will appear on the side of the chassis and on the arm of the front wing mirrors of the AMR26, starting at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. By integrating Cohere's enterprise-grade large language models and AI systems across key workflows, Aston Martin Aramco said it aims to enhance decision-making, streamline data analysis and unlock new efficiencies both at the campus and trackside. Aramco Formula One Team

German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), one of two finalists for a federal government contract to build up to 12 state-of-the-art submarines, concluded a strategic agreement with CAE to develop training simulators for submariners. The company, headquartered in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, specializes primarily in the manufacture of flight simulators and the training of civilian and military pilots, although it also offers operational readiness training for naval teams. During a visit to Ottawa, TKMS CEO Oliver Burkhard indicated in an interview with La Presse that CAE would become a key partner for his company in underwater navigation simulation, not only in Canada but also in Europe. This agreement is contingent upon TKMS winning the contract to build the submarines. The German manufacturer also has a partnership agreement with the Seaspan shipyards to ensure the long-term support and maintenance of future submarines. Seaspan currently maintains Canada's fleet of four Victoria-class submarines, which are scheduled to be replaced by 2035. La Presse

Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, the other finalist for the federal government submarine contract, added the University of Toronto, University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie University to its effort, along with tech companies J-Squared, GeoSpectrum, AKA Energy Systems and Safran Trusted 4D Canada. Bids on the multibillion-dollar contract from Hanwha and its German rival TKMS were due last week. The two bidders have each lined up partnerships with numerous Canadian suppliers (sometimes the same ones), but TKMS had been ahead of Hanwha in announcing research and development deals with universities – in TKMS’s case, with Western University, University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University. The Logic  

Edmonton-based sustainable design and engineering firm Stantec will deliver the first phase of the Government of Canada’s Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) project. Defence Construction Canada selected Stantec and its consortium partners to execute the project under a collaborative integrated project delivery model, where Aecon and Pomerleau will provide construction services as a joint venture, and Stantec will undertake multidisciplinary project management and design services. The A-OTHR system is part of a federal investment by the Department of National Defence to modernize North American Aerospace Defense Command infrastructure – a network of sensors, command centers and operational units that detect, validate and warn of aerospace and maritime threats. The program will establish a long-range surveillance radar network to monitor Arctic routes to major North American population centres, renewing Canada’s North Warning System. As part of the consortium, Stantec’s scope will include project management, civil engineering, environmental services, architecture, buildings engineering, power engineering, geotechnical engineering and landscape architecture. A validation phase will commence in the first quarter of 2026. Upon validation and the completion of a design development phase, construction is expected to commence. Stantec

Ottawa-based defence firm Dominion Dynamics will invest $50 million to kick start its development of a sovereign Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP), an uncrewed aircraft designed to fly alongside crewed fighters. ACPs are designed to be sent into high-risk areas, operating as collaborative teammates within a broader command and control architecture, executing maneuvers that aren't possible for manned aircraft. They preserve aircrew and aircraft while expanding the reach and sensing capability of allied forces by enabling persistent surveillance, electronic warfare and strike support. Allied militaries, including Australia and the United States, are already moving on ACPs. Canada currently has no equivalent, but the country has an opportunity to lead the market, Dominion Dynamics said. With this initial investment, Dominion will fund engineering, prototyping and simulation work. Dominion will also establish an Autonomous Systems Advisory Council of senior defence, aerospace, and AI leaders to guide the program and align it with NATO and Five Eyes requirements. Dominion Dynamics

The operator of the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba has signed an agreement with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges International in Belgium, one of the largest cargo-shipping hubs in the world. The agreement establishes a strategic framework for collaboration in port development, intermodal transportation, and the identification and expansion of cargo flows between Western Canada and Europe. Key priority sectors include critical minerals, energy products, fertilizer inputs, containerized goods and agricultural commodities. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges moves nearly 300 million tonnes of cargo every year. Chris Avery, president and CEO of Arctic Gateway Group, which runs and operates the Port of Churchill, said  partnering with a port of that scale connects Churchill directly with one of the most powerful logistics and industrial networks in Europe. Through this agreement, both parties will:

• Build deeper collaboration, long-term partnership, and potential future investment in the Port of Churchill.
• Exchange information on port infrastructure, connectivity and logistics.
• Engage in strategic dialogue on the long-term development vision for the Port of Churchill.
• Explore current and future trade flows between Churchill, Antwerp-Bruges, and the broader European market. CTV News

Montreal-headquartered engineering services and nuclear company AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. announced that its subsidiary Candu Energy Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with the Türkiye Nuclear Energy Company (TÜNAŞ) to explore opportunities for deploying CANDU® nuclear technology in support of the country’s plans to expand its nuclear program by adding three additional nuclear reactors to its existing fleet. The agreement provides a framework for the exchange and sharing of relevant technical data, information, experience, know‑how and expertise between Türkiye and AtkinsRéalis. Specifically, the parties will collaborate on the assessment of various CANDU reactor technologies and evaluate their suitability for sites identified by TÜNAŞ. An evaluation of the regulatory and licensing requirements applicable to CANDU technologies in Türkiye will also be undertaken. In addition, the parties will examine potential business models, including financing and structuring options, ownership arrangements, project delivery approaches, an assessment of localization opportunities, as well as workforce development and human capital requirements. SIGHTLINE/U3O8

Leaders in Canada’s nascent carbon-removal industry have joined with several corporate and financial backers as well as the federal government in a bid to attract $100 million in project investments by 2030. The effort, called the Advance Carbon Removal Coalition and led by non-profit Carbon Removal Canada, seeks to position the country as a top global player in such technologies as direct air capture, biomass carbon removal and direct ocean capture – all designed to extract carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere for storage deep underground. The new coalition’s founding director is Ed Whittingham, an Alberta-based veteran of Canadian environmental and economic initiatives. The organizers aim to help establish networks to draw capital from a range of domestic and international investors for projects across the country, and increase demand for credible carbon credits. Financial and corporate partners include Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, ClimeFi, NorthX, Shopify Inc. and Vancity, which, along with the federal government, have collectively contributed $75 million in financing to the industry to date. Today, 78 CDR companies operate in Canada and 48 projects are under way or planned, according to Carbon Removal Canada. Most are small in scale, with current removal capacity of 107,000 tonnes a year. Planned projects would account for 10.9 million tonnes annually, equal to the emissions from 2.4 million gasoline-powered cars. The Globe and Mail

Canada's first large-scale battery plant has already produced more than one million cells and created 1,300 jobs in its first months of operation – backed by nearly $16 billion in government subsidies. At an official plant opening this month, held months after production began, federal and Ontario government officials joined company executives to celebrate the NextStar Energy facility as a cornerstone of Canada's electric vehicle ambitions – even as the broader electric vehicle industry grapples with slowing demand and shifting government policies. The facility is a 4.2-million-square-foot factory in Windsor, Ont., built by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, and represents roughly a $5-billion investment, the company said. The plant produces batteries for electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems. Under a deal reached in 2022, the federal and Ontario governments pledged nearly  $16 billion in subsidies and production incentives over roughly a decade. Canada’s National Observer

Toronto-based Wealthsimple announced it has become a member of the SWIFT global financial messaging network. Wealthsimple is the first Canadian fintech, and the second non-bank fintech in the world, to achieve membership. SWIFT is used by 11,000 financial institutions globally to facilitate trillions of dollars in payments around the world. In addition to making, sending and receiving international money transfers more seamless and efficient for its clients, SWIFT also unlocks end-to-end tracking visibility, allowing Wealthsimple’s clients to see the full journey of a wire transfer with real-time status updates. Wealthsimple is now officially registered as a SWIFT member and is completing final technical integration and security certification ahead of a full client launch, expected in Spring 2026. Wealthsimple was the first securities dealer to be welcomed as a member of Payments Canada, a not-for-profit organization responsible for owning and operating Canada’s critical national payment systems. The company was also the first non-bank to be granted a direct settlement account with the Bank of Canada for the country’s forthcoming Real-Time Rail payment system. Wealthsimple

Anthropic has received a letter officially designating it a supply-chain risk in the U.S., which CEO Dario Amodei said in a post on X that the company will fight in court. Anthropic said the vast majority of its customers are unaffected by a supply chain risk designation. The designation applies only to the use of Anthropic’s Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the U.S. Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts, the company said. “Our most important priority right now is making sure that our warfighters and national security experts are not deprived of important tools in the middle of major combat operations,” Anthropic said. London Mayor Sadiq Khan invited Anthropic to move to the U.K. Khan’s letter praised Anthropic’s “approach to safety and governance” and said London would “provide an even more significant location and platform for the future of Anthropic.” Meanwhile, Caitlin Kalinowski, who had been leading hardware and robotic engineering teams at OpenAI since November 2024, has resigned, citing concerns about the company’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Defence, Reuters reported. In a social media post on X, Kalinowski wrote that OpenAI did not take enough time before agreeing to deploy its AI models ​on the Pentagon's classified cloud networks. "AI has an ​important role in national security," Kalinowski said. "But surveillance of ⁠Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human ​authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got.” OpenAI reiterated that its "red lines" preclude use of its technology in domestic surveillance or autonomous ​weapons. Dario Amodei post on X

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

Toronto-based Spellbook, the AI copilot for contracts used by nearly 4,000 law firms and legal teams globally, announced it secured US$40 million in debt financing from RBCx, the technology and innovation banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada. The debt facility arrives as Spellbook sees increasing opportunities to acquire complementary technologies and expand its market-leading position in legal AI. The company, which launched the first generative AI tool for lawyers in 2022, said it has seen extensive growth with its customer base reaching nearly 4,000 firms and in-house legal teams across 80 countries, including Nestlé, eBay, and Kennedys, among others. This strategic capital from RBCx enables targeted acquisitions that will expand Spellbook's data-driven infrastructure beyond generic outputs to deliver the precision lawyers need to close deals and make contracts flow at the speed of commerce, the company said. The Canadian Bar Association (CBC) signed a two-year partnership with Spellbook, making the company its exclusive provider of  AI-powered contract drafting and review tools. Under the agreement, CBA members will receive a discount on annual Spellbook licenses, providing them access to its full suite of tools. Spellbook

New York-headquartered online therapy platform Grow Therapy raised $150 million in a Series D funding round led by TCV and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, who led the company’s Series B and C respectively. New investors B.C. pension fund BCI and Menlo Ventures join existing investors Sequoia, SignalFire, and Transformation Capital. Grow Therapy said it facilitated seven million visits in 2025, bringing the lifetime total to 10 million therapy and medication management appointments. Grow Therapy

Richmond, B.C.-based UniUni, a last-mile deliver company, announced it secured US$30 million in new investment from equity partners, along with a US$55 million credit facility. The equity investment was led by Rockets Capital, while the credit facility was provided by Royal Bank of Canada. Together, these provide long-term capital and flexible financing to support the company’s continued growth and operations, bringing total funding to US$285 million, inclusive of the credit facility, UniUni said. The company said the new funding will support the continued deployment of advanced sorting machines across UniUni’s growing warehouse network and provide additional working capital to strengthen operational efficiency, increase parcel throughput, and support sustained expansion across the United States and Canada. UniUni

St. John’s, Nfld.-based underwater equipment company Kraken Robotics Inc. announced it entered into an agreement to acquire U.K.-based Covelya Group Limited, an international provider of mission-critical underwater technology solutions operating through its subsidiary companies: Sonardyne International Ltd., EIVA A/S, Forcys Ltd., Wavefront Systems Ltd., Voyis Imaging Inc., and Chelsea Technologies Ltd. Kraken Robotics will acquire Covelya Group for $615 million, excluding transaction costs and subject to adjustment, of which $480 million will be paid in cash and $135 million will be through the issue of common shares of Kraken to the seller. Kraken said the acquisition expands its product offering and market and bolsters the company’s technical capabilities. If the transaction closes as planned in the second quarter of 2026, the Canadian headquarters will oversee operations in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Singapore, the U.K. and the United States. Kraken Robotics

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, agreed to pay US$425 million for a one-third stake in a portfolio of U.S. solar plants and onshore wind power facilities. Other buyers are British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and Brookfield, with each partner holding an equal ownership stake. The portfolio comprises 22 operating assets totalling approximately 2.3 gigawatts of capacity, including 17 utility-scale solar facilities and five onshore wind farms across 11 states and six power markets. NBIM

 REPORTS & POLICIES

Views differ on where $750 million in federal funding should be spent in supporting pipeline of startup-to-scale-up firms

The National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) released the report it did with Startup Genome, on Canada’s funding gaps in early-stage startups.

[See: Canada’s top startup ecosystems are hemorrhaging value and growth due to structural funding gaps].

See also: Canada needs more investment in early-stage startups and to build an investment community “ecosystem].

The NACO-Startup Genome report hadn’t been publicly released when Research Money did its stories, so we’re reporting on the conclusions and recommendations now.

The report makes the case that Canada’s startup ecosystems are in strategic decline – “and one of the root causes is clear: chronic underinvestment in seed-stage funding.” Despite large public investments in Fund-of-Funds, capital has overwhelmingly flowed to later-stage ventures, leaving the seed pipeline under-funded.

The report said its data provides unequivocal evidence that this gap is real and widening with the advent of the AI era – and unless addressed with targeted interventions, the gap will continue to erode Canada's global economic competitiveness as the country loses further grounds in the #1 engine of future-proof job creation and economic growth that startup ecosystems have become.

Conclusions and recommendations from NACO/Startup Genome report:

The report argues that in term in terms of developing a sustainable community of investors, “this has been achieved in Canada with VC firms at series A and B+. However, this goal has not yet been achieved at Seed stage, with under-resourced angel groups and seed VC firms that do not have enough capital to support the best Canadian startups.”

According to the report, this has resulted in a very costly gap for the ecosystem, with 20 percent to 25 percent fewer seed-funded startups, and a 12-percent lower rate of exits. “Filling this gap must be a goal for the Government of Canada, or else the ecosystem will continue to lag behind the U.S.”

Overall, there are substantial gaps at both Seed level and Series A in Canada, on the order of $181 million (perhaps rising to $302 million) at Series A, and at least 64 percent of this amount additionally at Seed, both of which are likely to increase at least nine percent per year. 

The report said the immediate priority should be to increase:

• the size of seed rounds (especially bigger rounds to top startups).
• ​then their number (i.e. more smaller rounds).
• then their speed (i.e. faster fund-raising).

Specifically, the report recommends:

1. Expanding the mandate of public matching funds programs to include seed stage VC funds, venture studios, and angel group side car funds.
2. Using public funding to create more, better-capitalized, seed funds. Startup Genome understands that the federal Venture Capital Action Plan typically had a 2:1 matching structure (i.e. $2 of private funds for every $1 of public). Based on NACO’s experience with other clients, it may be possible to exceed this, with a 3:1 ratio or higher. For example, LaunchVic in Melbourne, Australia, has launched several funds at a 3:1 ratio – and has sometimes achieved 6:1 or higher for specialized funds (e.g. Agtech, or female investors). However, to avoid the common problem of investors being “pulled later,” we recommend that if public funds are allocated to VCs that operate over multiple stages, a specific portion should be ringfenced for the pre-institutional, pre-seed and seed stages.
3. Infrastructure support for angel groups and emerging funds would strengthen early-stage investment infrastructure and marshal new pools of private capital. In many Canadian ecosystems, high-net-worth individuals are interested in diversifying into early-stage companies but lack the network, structure, and confidence to invest. Supporting early-stage investment infrastructure would enable angel networks and emerging funds with the capacity and resources to mobilize these investors. This foundational infrastructure lowers barriers to entry, improves deal evaluation capacity, and accelerates capital deployment into startups. Investments in operational infrastructure can therefore unlock significant private capital and expand the depth and sophistication of the early-stage funding ecosystem.
4. Establishing additional incentives (e.g. enhanced tax reliefs) to further de-risk seed investment and encourage more high net worth individuals to consider angel investing. NACO has already argued for a national expansion of the Investment Tax Credit Program which currently operates in British Columbia, and Startup Genome has seen similar schemes operate very effectively in other ecosystems (e.g. the U.K.’s Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, which also includes loss relief for investors).

Federal Budget 2025 included $1 billion for the federal Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative and committed to another $750 million to build a new growth-stage capital strategy beginning in 2026.

NACO wants the $750 million to go to supporting Canada’s angel infrastructure and investors behind early-stage companies.

However, the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) published an analysis arguing for the $750 million to be focused on scaling companies, rather than early-stage startups.

CVCA recommended that the government funding be used to provide more domestic capital to growth-stage firms at the Series B level and beyond, including later-stage and private equity financings.

2024 CVCA data indicated that U.S. investors play an outsized role in supporting scaling Canadian firms. That analysis found 67.5 percent of $50-million-plus rounds were funded by Canadian-U.S. syndicates, compared with only 16.5 percent of sub-$5-million financings, suggesting domestic firms must turn abroad to fill larger rounds.

The data indicate that a greater share of the economic upside from investment in those businesses is also flowing south of the border, and creates a higher risk of those companies relocating to the U.S. or being acquired by American firms, CVCA said.

Fund stage focus among Canadian VC funds raised since 2021 has been concentrated at the earliest stages, according to the CVCA’s analysis.

The majority of funds target pre-seed, seed, or early-stage investing. A smaller share of funds have been raised with an explicit later-stage or growth mandate. “This distribution indicates that new fund formation over the period has been weighted toward early pipeline development, with fewer new vehicles focused on financing companies at scale.”

While early-stage investment activity “has contracted materially in recent years,” the CVCA found that Canada continues to exhibit relatively stronger domestic participation at smaller deal sizes,” whereas “domestic capacity declines sharply as companies move into Series B and growth financings, where reliance on foreign capital remains high.”

The CVCA said this points to a key “structural gap in Canada’s ability to support companies at scale,” amid an already especially tough VC fundraising market.

The CVCA hopes to see the $750 million deployed quickly and targeted towards both new and established funds for scaling companies in sectors like AI, quantum, aerospace, defence, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and cleantech, according to a story by BetaKit.

The CVCA also wants the federal government to review Canada’s corporate and investment tax regimes to support the growth and expansion of venture capital and private equity.

Benjamin Bergen, CEO of the CVCA, said that the federal Venture Growth and Capital Catalyst Initiative (VGCCI) and the $750-million envelope signal that the government realizes there is a need to provide greater support to pre-seed and seed-stage businesses and the emerging managers who typically tend to back them. He expects VGCCI to help tackle this.

“Focusing this $750 million on later-stage companies could help create “a more sophisticated [and] more fulsome flywheel,” Bergen said.

But Claudio Rojas, CEO of NACO, told BetaKit: “If the $750 million is directed only at later stages, we are watering the top of the tree while the roots are dying. The data is unambiguous that the gap is most severe at the earliest stages, and that’s where these funds must be concentrated.” NACO

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Canada’s private impact investing market has matured, grown and diversified: report

Canada’s private impact investing market has matured over the past five year, reaching a 2025 cumulative market size of $17.7 billion in target capital, according to a report by the Institute for Sustainable Finance (ISF) located at Queen’s University and Rally Assets, an impact investment management firm.

“The findings signal a shift from a niche segment to a more established and investable market for Canadian asset owners,” said the report, The State of Private Impact Investing in Canada.

“The growing availability of asset classes and themes marks a key milestone in the evolution of Canada’s impact investing market, enabling the construction of diversified portfolios that align with investors’ varied impact intentions and financial objectives.”

Key findings of the report include:

• Annual product launches reached 55 in 2025 – a nearly seven-fold increase since 2021,  with first-time fund managers responsible for almost half of product launches in 2025.
• Annual target capital reached $4.2 billion in 2025, a nearly nine-fold increase since 2021.
• Market growth has not been uniform over the years. The market would benefit from increased asset owner allocations, more innovative financing models, greater regional representation and more diverse areas of impact.

“For asset owners, asset managers and other community partners, understanding where capital is allocated, how strategies evolve, and where gaps remain are key to scaling the market effectively in the years ahead,” said Yrjö Koskinen, ISF’s director of research.

Impact investing is a strategy that aims to generate measurable, beneficial social or environmental effects alongside a financial return. It directs capital toward solving global challenges like climate change, sustainable agriculture, and health care.

The report challenges misperceptions that traditional investors often have about Canada’s impact investing market. This includes that impact investing is an asset class rather than an investment approach, that there is a scarcity in investing opportunities, and that portfolio construction possibilities are limited.

“In reality, private market impact investing occurs across asset classes, including private equity, venture capital, private real assets, private credit and other private alternatives,” the report noted.

Private market investments are typically illiquid, with holding periods often extending from seven to 10 years or more. Investors commit capital for the long term and there is no active public exchange for these assets, the report said.

The research found that while the market is growing and diversifying, the changes have not been even: venture capital dominates, market activity is focused on Canada’s major population centres, and products are focused on just a few key impact areas.

The market remains dominated by small-to-mid-sized products, most commonly in the $10-million to $100-million range.

Market activity is highly concentrated geographically, with product headquarters primarily located in Ontario (especially the Greater Toronto Area), followed by British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta.

Climate change mitigation remains a core focus area for impact investing, but recent fund formations increasingly pursue multi-impact approaches, combining environmental objectives with social priorities such as racial equity, quality jobs and financial inclusion.

As the Canadian market continues to evolve, well-designed aggregation structures, particularly those leveraging blended-finance approaches, have the potential to become key enablers of scale, helping mobilize significant institutional capital toward impactful and underfunded segments of the market, according to the report.

Other findings of the report are:

• There is a growing cohort of new and emerging fund managers in Canada, creating a significant opportunity to diversify the market.

For all participants, the market has become more active, expanding the possibilities for building impact portfolios that respond to the various intentions and requirements of asset managers and allocators. “We are optimistic that this momentum will continue, bringing high-quality, impact-driven investment opportunities into the Canadian market.”

• The availability of investment capital has not kept up with the supply of new opportunities.
• The availability of impact capital differs across different organizational maturity levels and financing structures.

Established, revenue-generating businesses represent a powerful yet underutilized lever for advancing impact at scale. Compared to early-stage ventures, these companies receive relatively limited attention and investment within current impact opportunities.

In addition to deepening the market for impact products at different stages, we see a need for more innovative financing models such as revenue-based financing, flexible debt instruments and patient equity, to help address product gaps.

• Atlantic Canada and Northern Canada continue to see proportionately low impact investment market activity and capital deployment.
• Notable gaps remain with impact areas, most prominently in climate adaptation and natural capital.

More work, and investment, is needed to grow the market to ensure greater benefit to Canada’s communities and ecosystem, ISF said.

The report identified three areas of future research that merit further investigation:

• A clearer understanding of the scale and scope of asset owner allocations to impact investing is needed, particularly among major Canadian pension funds and endowments.
• Robust evidence on risk-adjusted financial performance, as comparable benchmarks across asset classes and time horizons, will require several years of actual returns data.
• Improved market sizing analysis based on realized fund sizes will support longitudinal comparisons.

“Canada has hit a defining moment for impact investing,” said Yingzhi Tang, senior research associate at ISF. “By connecting institutional capital with high-impact investments, within blended and aggregated strategies, the next phase of growth could be substantial.” Queen’s University

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Bold ideas for Canada: Signal49 Research’s dialogue with Canadians

Signal49 Research’s (previously the Conference Board of Canada) Centre for Canadian Growth and Prosperity brought Canadians together, at two events at George Brown Polytechnic’s Waterfront Campus in Toronto, to turn ideas into action through constructive dialogue.

In a summary report, Signal49 Research organized 20 ideas suggested at the two events into three distinct but connected priorities:

1. Protect and grow Canada’s prosperity focuses on sovereignty, economic strength, and resilience through defence, food security, smart tax policy, trade and procurement that accelerates Canadian innovation.
2. Prepare Canadians for a changing world focuses on readiness through education, AI literacy, financial knowledge, and a Canada Corps dedicated to national service.
3. Improve everyday life for Canadians focuses on reliable transit, equitable healthcare and pharmacare, the elimination of wait times, fair incomes, Indigenous leadership, access to nature and better work structures.

The top ideas under each category were:

Protect and grow Canada’s prosperity:

• Secure the Arctic through smarter defence policy.

Rather than seeing the Arctic solely through a military lens, the discussion emphasized presence, credibility, and long-term commitment. A smarter defence strategy would align security objectives with economic development, reconciliation, and environmental responsibility, ensuring Canada’s presence in the North is trusted, durable, and fit for a changing Arctic.

• Create a national food security strategy.
• Enable business growth and hiring through smart tax policy.

Rather than supporting long-term investment and hiring, the current approach often discourages firms from scaling up domestically. A growth-oriented tax framework that is both clear and predictable was seen as essential to restoring confidence and strengthening Canada’s capacity to create jobs and sustain economic growth.

• Power innovation through public procurement.
• Leverage internal free trade to drive economic growth.
• Design tax policy that rewards innovation.

A clearer stance that visibly recognizes experimentation, reinvestment, and successful scaling-up can influence choices across the system. Participants saw this not as a single instrument change, but as a coherent posture that tells founders, researchers, and investors that building here is valued.

Prepare Canadians for a changing world:

• Deliver pan-Canadian AI literacy education.
• Establish a Canada Corps for postsecondary service.
• Equip students with future-ready skills.
• Make financial literacy universal.
• Require tax education in high school.

Improve everyday life for Canadians:

• Deliver safe, reliable public transit.
• Ensure equitable access to healthcare.

Expanding training capacity, recognizing credentials, and sharing data safely can widen access without compromising quality. Equity is a design principle, not an add‑on. Services should reach communities, rather than asking communities to reach services.

• Implement pharmacare for all Canadians.
• Eliminate wait times across essential services.

Rethinking the pathway into, through, and out of care is the lever for change. Modernizing delivery, improving coherence across services, and making information flow are all supports that enable a system that responds instead of reacts

• Increase Indigenous representation in political leadership.
• Ensure equal access to nature.
• Adopt a four-day work week.
• Guarantee a minimum income for all Canadians.

Establishing a shared income floor was described as a way to make room for planning, contribution, and care for population groups with different levels of vulnerability. T

• End poverty through living wages. Signal49 Research

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Eighteen ideas on how to kickstart the Canadian economy

Leaders from a range of sectors offered 18 ideas on how to kickstart the Canadian economy, in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine:

• Give Canadian entrepreneurs an unbeatable incentive to stay in Canada: Daniel Debow, chair of Build Canada and former Shopify vice-president.

A recent Leaders Fund study revealed that just 30 per cent of high-potential Canadian-led startups launched in 2024 stayed in Canada. We need a superior capital gains exemption designed to beat the U.S. Qualified Small Business Stock regime. We should immediately raise the exemption to $15 million, or 10 times the investment – surpassing the American cap – and apply it per venture, not per lifetime, to encourage serial builders.

• Create an Economic Council: Jim Balsillie, philanthropist and chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators.

An Economic Council would provide the government with the research, expertise and capacity to produce policy agendas for the array of evolving and cross-cutting competitiveness and security issues Canada faces. 

• Modernize home-building: Geoff Cape, CEO of Assembly Corp., which produces mass timber panels for prefab housing.
• Grow our tourism industry: Zita Cobb, founder and CEO of Shorefast and the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economies, and Fogo Island Inn.
• Set a goal, make it bold, get it done: Linda Hasenfratz, executive chair of Linamar.

We need a three-point plan: Focus on trade, get more efficient, and increase the incentive to invest.

• Sell your small business to a First Nation: Bill Lomax, president and CEO of First Nations Bank of Canada.

Over the next 10 years, 76 percent of Canadian small business owners are looking to exit – a transfer of more than $2 trillion in assets. First Nations can be an excellent option.

• More competition at home, more collaboration abroad: Denise Hearn, director of strategic initiatives at the Long Now Foundation.

Increase competition at home, making domestic markets much more accessible to startups and scale-ups through tailored, open market access regulations, investment in R&D  commercialization, and protection of Canadian intellectual property from foreign appropriation.

• Convene a Royal Commission on Tax Competitiveness and Investment: Benjamin Bergen, CEO of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

Canada’s capital gains treatment and overall tax and investment framework have drifted out of alignment with peer countries just as ownership has become central to economic sovereignty. Canadian founders sell early or scale elsewhere. Strategic assets migrate offshore. We export upside and lose control.

• Electrify Canada’s truck fleets: Monica Curtis, senior director of communities and decarbonization at Pembina Institute.

Medium- and heavy-duty trucks are four per cent of the vehicles on Canada’s roads, but they’re responsible for about 30 per cent of transport emissions. 

• Revive the 60-year-old Swede who shamed a generation into getting fit: Marc Parent, recently departed CEO of CAE Inc.

We have resources and goods the world needs. We have talent and a trusted brand. But we need that urgency to eliminate trade barriers. We need the equivalent of the 30-year-old Canadian–60-year-old Swede moment.

• Build a Canadian sovereign wealth fund: John Ruffolo, founder and managing partner of Maverix Private Equity.

Canada is dangerously reliant on foreign capital to build industries that are essential to our sovereignty: energy, food, data, AI, health care, mobility and defence. That dependence is increasingly risky when every major economy is prioritizing its own interests. The solution is straightforward: Canada should create a national sovereign wealth fund. 

• De-politicize immigration policy: Martin Basiri, CEO of Passages Inc.

Create an independent body that makes immigration policies based on economics and mathematics, not politics. 

• Focus philanthropy on a handful of key sectors: Jennifer Bernard, president and CEO of SickKids Foundation.
• Leverage sustainable financing rules to drive green investment: Barbara Zvan, president and CEO of University Pension Plan Ontario.
• Drive agri-food productivity: Justine Hendricks, president and CEO of Farm Credit Canada.

Restoring farm-level productivity to historic levels of two percent a year could generate up to $30-billion in additional farm income, increase GDP by $31-billion and create nearly 23,000 new jobs over the next decade.

• Put the brakes on AI: Ron Diebert, political scientist and director of Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.

What we see is an experiment being conducted on billions of people in real time, without any form of licensing or regulation. We’re beginning to see the harms, and part of that is a legacy of the fact that anything that’s technologically related, going back to the early days of the internet, has for the most part received a free pass.

Talk to your customers: Ron Bedard, CEO of ArcelorMittal Dofasco. The Globe and Mail

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Canada should not follow European Union’s “over-enforcement” approach to anti-competitive behavior: ITIF

Canada needs to learn from the European Union’s competition policy and not follow the EU’s “over-enforcement” approach that can reduce productivity, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)

In October 2025, Competition Bureau Canada issued draft Anti-competitive Conduct and Agreements Enforcement Guidelines (Draft Guidelines).

The Draft Guidelines follow significant changes to the Competition Act between 2022 and 2024. As the Draft Guidelines explain, the purpose of the Draft Guidelines is “to help firms comply with the Act.”

“Canada faces a structural competitiveness challenge that makes the interpretation of these Draft Guidelines particularly consequential,” Joseph V. Coniglio, senior counsel and director, Schumpeter Project on Competitive Policy at the ITIF, said in a  commentary.

Despite being the world's 9^th largest economy, Canada ranks only 17^th in productivity among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, he noted.

“This productivity gap matters for competition policy because over enforcement can deter the very activities Canada needs to close it,” Coniglio said.

This includes: building firms to efficient scale; vertical integration that drives innovation; aggressive price competition;  strategic acquisitions that allow startups to reach global markets; and foreign direct investment that brings capital and expertise.

While in general the Draft Guidelines’ approach to market power remains largely consistent with previous guidance, alongside traditional factors like market shares, concentration levels and barriers to entry, the Bureau’s framework for assessing market power now includes consideration of statutory factors added by recent amendments, including network effects, data advantages and “learning by doing.”

First, Coniglio said the Draft Guidelines should confirm that “the likelihood of entry and expansion” is not just relevant in an indirect case of proving market power based on market definition and market shares, but can also be used to rebut direct evidence of market power.

A firm that has demonstrated its ability to exercise market power in the past may not be able to do so in the future due to increased market dynamism and entry, a phenomenon that is particularly important when analyzing fast moving and dynamic high-tech markets, he noted.

Second, while it may be technically true that the Competition Bureau “may define markets in a different way than how market participants like businesses or customers think about them,” the Draft Guidelines should make clear that what constitutes a relevant market is to be fundamentally determined by demand substitution and cross-price elasticity, Coniglio said.

“As such, the hypothetical monopolist test should be the presumptive way by which the Bureau defines a relevant market, with a more qualitative product-focused analysis applied as a secondary measure when appropriate.”

Third, rebuttable presumptions of market power based on market shares, including the 30-percent presumption in the Draft Guidelines, can help promote administrable enforcement and provide businesses with certainty, he said.

However, he added, the Draft Guidelines neglect to expressly include any corresponding safe harbour under which firms with market shares less than 30 percent are presumed not to have market power, and “thus not only forgo similar benefits in terms of administrability and increased certainty, but risk chilling pro-competitive behavior that poses little prospect of anticompetitive harm.”

Finally, Coniglio said, while it is true that the “effects of the anti-competitive conduct or agreement themselves can be evidence that the firm has market power,” inferences should only be drawn from past similar anticompetitive conduct and not any determination that the instant behavior under consideration is anticompetitive.

He said the he analyses of whether a firm has market power and whether it has engaged in unlawful conduct should be treated as logically independent inquiries: That a firm has market power and may thus be able to harm competition does not create an inference that it has acted anticompetitively, “and even a finding that behavior appears to be anticompetitive does not mean the firm had the power to harm consumers.”

There are several areas where the Draft Guidelines may lead to unnecessary confusion, Coniglio pointed out.

First, the Draft Guidelines’ treatment of “reducing incentives to compete” “mistakes a general category for a more specific one,” he said.

Collusion and exclusion are the two ways that business conduct can harm competition through behavior that involves a reduction in competitors’ incentives and/or abilities to compete.

In the case of collusion, this can take the form of the replacement of incentives to compete with incentives to cooperate in ways that harm consumers.

In the case of exclusion, the incentives to compete on the merits are overcome by incentives to harm competitors in ways that also harm consumers.

“In short, by sufficiently explaining that incentives to compete may be reduced through either collusion or exclusion, there is no need to acknowledge any third and general ‘reducing incentives to compete’ theory of harm,” Coniglio said.

“Rather, in these cases the Bureau must show that the conduct, taken collectively, creates an overall anticompetitive effect that outweighs any pro-competitive benefits in a way that demonstrates, for purposes of analyzing anticompetitive effects, that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.”

 ITIF commends the Bureau for its statement that it will “take special care to promote dynamic competition, since it is critical to improving the lives of Canadians over time,’” Coniglio said.

However, while the ITIF understands that the substantial lessening or prevention of competition test for abuse of dominance cases constitutes a higher threshold than the adverse effect on competition test used to adjudicate anticompetitive agreements, the Draft Guidelines should make clear that, as a general matter, abuses of dominance must not only have anticompetitive harms that disproportionately outweigh pro-competitive benefits, but also must not, in some way, reflect competition on the merits.

Unlike when evaluating the harms and benefits of an exclusive dealing agreement – which is prima facie not competition on the merits – an extra demonstration is required to show that unilateral practices do not reflect competition on the merits, Coniglio said.

This can be done, for example, by showing that unilateral conduct would exclude an equally efficient rival, that make no sense but for its anticompetitive effect, that it involves some type of profit sacrifice, or that it’s accompanied by a specific anticompetitive intent to exclude.

“Without such a requirement, the Bureau risks turning itself into a de facto regulator by taking license to weigh the harms and benefits of firms’ unilateral business decisions to determine whether they are sufficiently maximizing competition and consumer welfare,” he said.

In general, the ITIF believes that the Draft Guidelines could provide more clarity about how the legal standards to obtain a given form of relief should vary with both the nature and purpose of the remedy, Coniglio said.

For example, the Draft Guidelines “misconstrue the purpose of a structural remedy as one to restore competition” “rather than to stop the behavior that was found to be  anticompetitive.”

Whereas relief designed to stop the anticompetitive behavior is backward looking and seeks to put the world back to the way it was had the conduct not occurred, measures that are designed to restore competition seek to create the world that would have existed had the firm instead fully engaged in competition on the merits, he noted.

“To that latter end, structural relief is plainly inappropriate: not only do breakups involve greater risk and uncertainty, but they also stand to unnecessarily undo valuable scale and scope efficiencies, and as such are extremely unlikely to be the least restrictive means of restoring competition.”

Penalties that take the form of three percent of worldwide revenues “create disproportionate penalties based on global scale, rather than harms to the Canadian market, in ways that may not just raise concerns about due process and extraterritorial overreach, but could even harm Canadian consumers,” Coniglio said.

Consider, for example, two Canadian firms committing identical conduct in the Canadian market that harms the same customers and produces the same competitive effects.

Firm A generates $2 billion in annual revenue, all in Canada. Firm B is also Canadian but has expanded globally and now generates $2 billion in Canadian revenue and $100 billion worldwide.

Firm A faces a maximum administrative monetary penalty of $60 million (three percent of $2 billion in total revenue), whereas Firm B faces a maximum administrative monetary penalty of $3 billion (three  percent of $100 billion in worldwide revenue)—50 times higher despite identical Canadian market conduct, identical harm to Canadian consumers, and identical competitive effects, Coniglio argued.

“Such a penalty structure risks being abused to punish firms simply because they have achieved global scale and may chill pro-competitive behavior by these firms that benefits Canadian consumers given the possibility of significant overdeterrence,” he said.

Coniglio pointed to several other parts of the Draft Guidelines that he said need changing, from exclusive dealing to refusals to supply to below cost or predatory pricing, and others.

The ITIF makes three recommendations for the Draft Guidelines:

• Properly distinguish between different anticompetitive behaviors:

In several respects the Draft Guidelines lump together under a common category (e.g., exclusive dealing) practices that are widely different from a legal and economic perspective (e.g., contractual exclusive dealing, bundling, predatory design). Revised Guidelines should distinguish between practices that vary commensurate with the predominant mechanism they use to exclude (e.g., contract, price, design), as well as whether they are concerted or purely unilateral in nature.

• Competition on the merits must be protected:

In assessing abuses of dominance, the Draft Guidelines have an opportunity to more clearly confirm that “a practice of anti-competitive acts” only exists if business conduct departs from competition on the merits, either through excluding an equally efficient rival, profit sacrifice, not making economic sense or a specific intent to exclude, depending on the type of abuse being that is evaluated.  

• Pro-competitive justifications should be considered when assessing effects:

When determining whether an agreement has an adverse effect on competition, or whether a dominant firm’s unilateral practice substantially lessens competition, Draft Guidelines should affirm that firms are able to generally provide procompetitive justifications for their behavior that would be weighed against any anticompetitive harms in determining the net competitive effect of the behavior.

 “While the Draft Guidelines generally and correctly focus on condemning only behavior that results in anticompetitive effects, in several specific respects they could be fine-tuned to provide for greater administrability and better limit false positives so as to ensure that innovation and competition flourish in Canada.” ITIF

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Prime Minister Mark Carney shuffled the top ranks of the Canadian public service, including bringing in BlackRock Investment Institute’s head of macroeconomic research, Glenn Purves, as Deputy Minister of International Trade. Purves had a long previous career in the federal government, including as assistant deputy minister in Finance Canada. Other changes included:

• David Morrison,Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, becomes Senior Diplomatic and International Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister. Morrison will also act as Personal Representative of the Prime Minister (Sherpa) for the G7 and G20 Summits, Privy Council Office.
• Arun Thangaraj, Deputy Minister of Transport, becomes Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
• Michael Vandergrift, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, becomes Deputy Minister of Transport.
• Ted Gallivan, Interim Deputy National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, becomes Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
• Harpreet S. Kochhar, Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, becomes President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
• Paul MacKinnon, President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, becomes Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
• Kaili Levesque,Associate Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, becomes Associate Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and President of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
• Francis Trudel, Associate Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, becomes Associate Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement. Prime Minister of Canada

Derek Dobson stepped down as head of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan effective immediately, and agreed to repay a $1.6-million vacation payout he received in 2025. CAAT also announced a new leadership team to execute on the pension plan’s strategy, restore stakeholder trust and continue to deliver on CAAT’s pension promise to its members and sponsors. The following five leaders will report directly to Kevin Fahey, CAAT CEO and Plan Manager:

• Laura Foster, appointed interim Chief Financial Officer.
• Jillian Kennedy, appointed Chief Operating Officer.
• James Fera, appointed Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel.
• John Baiocco, appointed Senior Vice-President, Funding & Sustainability.
• Stephen Hewitt, appointed Senior Director of Communications.

Dobson was placed on administrative leave last month after The Globe and Mail revealed the board approved the sizable vacation payout, as well as sanctioned a personal relationship between the CEO and another employee. Dobson had led CAAT since 2009. CAAT

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada announced that Matthew Boswell joined the law firm as a partner in its Antitrust and Competition practice, based in Ottawa – a move that underscores the firm’s commitment to changing the game in how competition law is understood, navigated and applied in Canada. Boswell has over 25 years of experience spanning private practice, criminal prosecution, securities regulation, and senior competition enforcement leadership. He most recently served as Canada’s Commissioner of Competition from 2018 to 2025, leading the Competition Bureau through a period of profound legal and institutional change. Norton Rose Fulbright

Toronto-based PwC Management Services announced that its partners elected Domenic Marino as the firm's next Senior Partner and CEO, effective July 1, 2026. Marino will succeed Nicolas Marcoux, PwC Canada's Senior Partner and CEO, for the past eight years. Marino has led PwC’s National Deals practice since 2020 and has successfully guided clients and teams through exceptional challenges, including the shifting global trade landscape and AI transformation imperatives. PwC Management Services

Calgary-based Carbon Upcycling Technologies, whose platform system transforms industrial byproducts and carbon dioxide into high-quality cement materials,  appointed Suzy Taherian to Chief Financial Officer. Her appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the company as it advances its commercial scale-up and capital strategy for global deployment. Taherian brings more than 25 years of executive leadership, board, and capital markets experience across construction, energy, and climate-focused industries to Carbon Upcycling. Previously, she served as chief financial officer at 3Degrees, supporting Fortune 100 companies on energy and decarbonization strategies. Carbon Upcycling

U.S. banking giant JPMorgan appointed David Rozin, most recently at Scotiabank, as head of innovation economy for Canada, based in Toronto. Announcing the move on LinkedIn, JP Morgan said that in his new position, Rozin will “lead the firm’s support of high-growth, venture-backed companies across the region, providing deep sector expertise and tailored solutions to support companies, founders and investors at every stage of growth.” Rozin brings close to 20 years of experience in leadership roles at Canadian institutions to JP Morgan Chase’s regional division. JP Morgan currently has five tech bankers across Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and has already signed multiple Canadian clients, including legaltech company Clio. Fintech Futures

Calgary-based Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) appointed Nicole Koosmann, Vice-President of Safety, Engineering & Audit at the BC Energy Regulator, as PTAC’s newest Board member. Koosman expertise, leadership, and commitment to innovation will be an outstanding addition to PTAC’s Board and further reinforce the new collaborative Methane Emissions Research Collaborative (MERC)-PTAC partnership, PTAC said. PTAC and MERC will align strategic priorities, coordinate research activities, and share findings on methane detection, mitigation technologies, and regulatory guidance. PTAC on LinkedIn

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Problematic gaming in 12-year-olds is more likely to lead to mild paranoia, unusual beliefs or disturbed perceptions – but supportive social environments can help

McGill University researchers and colleagues at Maastricht University found that 12-year-olds who showed signs of problematic gaming were more likely to experience mild paranoia, unusual beliefs or disturbed perceptions at age 13.

“Problematic gaming means having difficulty controlling one’s amount of gaming, leading to distress or problems at school or in relationships,” said study lead author Vincent Paquin, assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and psychiatrist at the Jewish General Hospital.

Notably, young gamers who felt more supported at school and at home were less likely to have problematic gaming habits overall.

“For health professionals, teachers and policymakers, our findings highlight the importance of promoting supportive social environments. It may help prevent gaming from becoming problematic,” Paquin said.

Once gaming became problematic, however, support from family and school alone was not enough to offset the later mental health link, he added, suggesting that other forms of mental health supports may be needed.

The findings of the study, Situating problematic gaming and psychotic-like experiences in the adolescent landscape of affordances: A cohort study, published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, are based on data from more than 6,000 U.S. adolescents.

The broader study began when participants were nine. They were surveyed at ages 12 and 13 about their gaming habits, mental health and daily lives.

Using statistical models, researchers examined whether problematic gaming predicted later mental health symptoms. The association persisted even after accounting for earlier mental health symptoms and family factors, suggesting the link was not simply a product of pre-existing problems.

More broadly, the results add nuance to current conversations about screen time, suggesting the risks may be more about quality than quantity.

“Video games can foster creativity, social connection and a sense of agency. But in a minority of young people, they become sources of distress that crowd out other aspects of life,” Paquin said.

The team is now developing a practical assessment tool to help doctors and educators better understand not just how much young people game, but how gaming fits into their broader lives and wellbeing.

Support for the research Support was provided by Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux, National Institute of Mental Health, European Union’s Horizon Europe Program, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the European Commission. McGill University

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