GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

Prime Minister Mark Carney issues one mandate letter focused on seven government priorities, echoed in Throne Speech

Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a single mandate letter for his ministers rather than separate mandate letters for each minister as Justin Trudeau had done. Canada faces a series of crises, Carney said.

“In a more dangerous and divided world, geopolitical risks are rising, threatening our sovereignty. The global trading system – which has helped power Canada’s prosperity for decades – is undergoing the biggest transformation since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” he said.

“At home, our longstanding weak productivity is straining government finances, making life less affordable for Canadian families, and threatening to undermine the sustainability of vital social programs on which Canadians rely.”

Canada must build an enormous amount of new infrastructure at speeds not seen in generations, Carney said.

This includes the infrastructure to diversify Canada’s trading relationships; to become an energy superpower in both clean and conventional energies; to restore affordability to housing; and to secure the country’s borders and communities.

The combination of the scale of this infrastructure build and the transformative nature of artificial intelligence will create opportunities for millions of Canadians to find new rewarding careers – provided they have timely access to the education and training they need to develop the necessary skills, Carney said.

“Government itself must become much more productive by deploying AI at scale, by focusing on results over spending, and by using scarce tax dollars to catalyze multiples of private investment.”

This direction comes after Carney appointed Evan Solomon, a former broadcaster, as Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation. Carney’s government is continuing with the $2-billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy that was announced by Trudeau’s government in 2024.

Carney said his government will focus on seven priorities:

1. Establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States and strengthening Canada’s collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world.
2. Building one Canadian economy by removing barriers to interprovincial trade and identifying and expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform the country.
3. Bringing down costs for Canadians and helping them to get ahead.
4. Making housing more affordable by unleashing the power of public-private cooperation, catalyzing a modern housing industry and creating new careers in the skilled trades.
5. Protecting Canadian sovereignty and keeping Canadians safe by strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, securing Canada’s borders and reinforcing law enforcement.
6. Attracting the best talent in the world to help build Canada’s economy, while returning overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.
7. Spending less on government operations so that Canadians can invest more in the people and businesses that will build the strongest economy in the G7.

These priorities were echoed in the Throne Speech, ready by King Charles. The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) pointed to some key elements relevant for Canada’s innovation economy:

• The government intends to reduce the federal operating budget growth from nine percent to two per cent and balance the budget in three years by capping public service growth and boosting productivity with technology.
• The government will cap the number of temporary foreign workers and international students at five per cent of the population by 2027 and prioritize top global talent. The government will also encourage Canadians living abroad to return home. 
• The government will create a Major Federal Project Office to cut approval timelines to two years for large infrastructure projects, while still respecting environmental and indigenous obligations.
• Canada will join ReArm Europe and invest in the North to strengthen security.

The Throne Speech also pledged to make the country "the world's leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy."

The Throne Speech “set the tone for what we hope will be a serious period of economic policymaking focused on productivity, innovation and sovereignty,” CCI president Benjamin Bergen said in a statement.

“For Canada’s high-growth companies, words must now turn into action, he said. “Canadians are looking for bold leadership from this government, specifically strategies that match ambition with execution, and that treat innovation as a national priority. This is the only way to build a Canadian economy that sells high-value goods globally, generating wealth and prosperity for Canadians.”

Journalist Paul Wells pointed out that the Throne Speech, in the section about removing internal trade barriers, said the new single Canadian economy will “build Canada into the world’s leading hub for science and innovation.”

But Canada is not the world’s leading hub for science and innovation, Wells wrote in his substack post, pointing to the report by the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research System (the “Bouchard report”), which found Canada falling further behind other jurisdictions on research investments.

“My hunch is that, for all of these reasons, when Carney makes the King say Canada will become the world’s leading hub for science and innovation,’ it’s just a rhetorical flourish,” Wells wrote. “Or a bit of magical thinking: letting the oil sands rip and the provinces sell one another’s wine will unleash titanic forces we barely comprehend.” Prime Minister’s Office

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Reforming the federal public service is critical to the Carney government’s success

By Kathryn May

This article (slightly edited for length) was first published here by Policy Options. Kathryn May is a reporter and the Accenture fellow on the Future of the Public Service, providing coverage and analysis of the issues facing Canada’s federal public service for Policy Options. 

Reforming the federal public service is critical to the success of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s economic agenda, says Jocelyne Bourgon, a key player in Canada’s historic 1990s fiscal turnaround.

Bourgon, the former clerk of the Privy Council Office during the Jean Chrétien government’s massive downsizing, said Carney’s ambitious economic plans must “converge” with a fundamental rethinking of how government works. That means not just new policy, but a public service equipped to deliver it.

“The government agenda and the public service reform agenda must converge and reinforce each other,” she said at this year’s Manion Lecture hosted by the Canada School of Public Service. “A technologically and digitally advanced public sector is necessary to support a modern technologically and digitally advanced economy and society.”

Bourgon has written extensively on program review and advised governments around the world on modernization – in areas where Canada’s public service now faces major challenges.

In the 1990s, Canada faced a full-blown fiscal crisis – the country was dubbed “an honorary member of the Third World” by The Wall Street Journal – and the Chrétien government launched a sweeping program review that balanced the books by slashing programs and cutting 50,000 public service jobs.

Bourgon was at the heart of that overhaul, helping the country regain what she calls its “fiscal sovereignty.”

Now, she said the country needs a similarly ambitious overhaul to regain its economic sovereignty. But what worked in the 1990s – or even the 1980s, when the public service endured 22 rounds of across-the-board cuts – won’t work today.

This time, government must grow and shrink simultaneously. Some departments – such as defence, border management, Arctic security and trade – will expand, potentially “easing the transition” for workers in areas facing reductions or closure, Bourgon said.

“The solution you are looking for is not a death by 1,000 cuts like in the 1980s, or a drastic contraction on the scale of what was done in the mid-1990s,” she said. [Government’s] challenge is to do more in some areas, less in others, reallocate resources and reinvest to modernize government and society.”

Reallocating means learning how to adapt to change and will help “break from the boom-and-bust approach that has characterized budgeting in Canada,” she said.

Today, technology – including AI and digital tools – has the potential to modernize government in ways and at a speed not possible decades ago, Bourgon said.

But budget cuts don’t improve service, productivity or modernize government and often push government into making wrong decisions like cutting training, travel and conferences, she noted.

Bourgon argues that the 1990s program review – a rethinking of the role of government – worked because programs were either privatized, transferred to provinces or scrapped.

But the fact that such a sweeping review was needed at all reveals the consequences of failing to regularly reallocate people and resources with shifting priorities, she said.

Bourgon’s biggest concern is the decline in service delivery. She has called for a “Service to Canadians Review” – not to decide what to cut, but what must be preserved. As she put it, “knowing what to protect brings clarity to what may be stopped.”

“Modernizing government, improving services, and reducing its footprint doesn’t start with cuts. It starts by asking what needs to be protected,” she said. “That means preserving the knowledge and public assets needed to make decisions in the public interest.”

That includes research and institutional knowledge, like meteorology, oceanography, technology and early-warning systems – foundational tools for tackling climate change, instability and whatever crisis comes next.

The public service has expanded rapidly in the last decade, with executive ranks more than doubling. Yet wait-times grow, backlogs persist, systems fail and corruption cases emerge.

Since 2015, Canada has dropped from a top-10 ranking in e-government to 47^th, just behind Mongolia. Canada is also the only G7 country without a single login system for government services – which would make services easier to use and cheaper to deliver.

Of the $500-billion federal budget, most goes to transfers and benefits for people and provinces. What’s left – about $225 billion – covers everything else. The $123-billion operating budget is where cuts could come. The rest funds the programs departments run, the slice Bourgon would put under the microscope to assess whether resources still match government priorities.

Before turning to departments and programs, Bourgon urged public servants to first explore a “better way” – smart, strategic options that could “make room,” generate savings, reduce complexity and rebuild a financial cushion.

She pointed to several areas to start with:

• Previous promises:Governments should take a hard look at pre-election and election commitments. If they no longer fit the fiscal or policy needs, restructure, postpone or drop them. Finding cheaper ways to deliver them should also be on the table, too.
• Review temporary funding: Governments have long relied on “temporary funding” for short-term initiatives, which can be up to 30 percent of some departments’ budgets. This distorts the true deficit picture, encourages governments to focus on “announceables,” and leaves others to manage expiring funds. Review temporary funding to ensure these initiatives align with government priorities, such as reducing dependency on the U.S., or to phase them out altogether.
• Tax Expenditures: Canada’s tax system hasn’t been reassessed since the 1960s and most tax credits and exemptions haven’t been reviewed since the 1980s. Bourgon says revisiting them could yield more savings than any program review could.
• Simplify, simplify, simplify: A key step is to simplify – everything. From regulations, legislation, to forms to internal processes, simplification is its own type of reform and one that could make government more effective and less costly.
• Agencies and Structures: When Bourgon was clerk, there were 109 departments, agencies and Crown corporations. Today, there may be 250 – or more. That growth has brought over 2,000 senior executives, each with internal supports. She suggests full portfolio-level reviews to cut, consolidate or integrate agencies.
• Central agencies: Since 2000, the budgets of the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board, and Finance have soared – up 250 percent, 540 percent and 220 percent, respectively. Bourgon said it’s time to review them. When central agencies get too operational, she warned, they lose the big picture and stop thinking strategically.
• Start at the top: Look at the political staff. Their ranks have swelled to 765, up 60 percent since 2011 and six times more than the U.K., a country with nearly double Canada’s population. Shrink the number and refocus their roles on building political alliances, maintaining party unity and managing Parliament. Policy Options

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Canada will remain a global supplier of oil and natural gas “for decades to come,” federal Natural Resources minister says in Alberta

Canada’s “new economy” will no longer be defined by delay and the federal government will fast-track projects of national interest, Tim Hodgson, federal Minister of Natural Resources, said in his first speech to an Alberta audience.

“These are the projects that matter – to our economy, our environment and our sovereignty. No more five-year reviews – decisions will come in two years for all projects,” he said in a talk to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

The federal government will establish a Major Federal Projects Office that will be a single window for permits, bringing together what used to be scattered across departments, Hodgson said. “It’s about making ‘One Project, One Review’ real. Less red tape, more certainty, better outcomes.”

The government will work fast with the provinces and territories, industry and Indigenous partners to diversify Canada’s trade and open and expand new markets for energy and natural resources, he said.

“Every barrel of responsibly produced Canadian oil and every kilowatt of clean Canadian power can displace less clean, riskier energy elsewhere in the world. Our exports can help our allies break dependence on authoritarian regimes and help the world reduce our emissions.”

By working with the energy sector to make investments that fight climate change, the government can get more barrels to market while cutting carbon emissions, Hodgson said.

Canada will remain a reliable global supplier of oil and gas not just today, but for decades to come, he said. “We need infrastructure that gets our energy to tidewater and to trusted allies – diversifying beyond the U.S.”

The federal government will invest in carbon capture, methane reduction and other technologies to ensure Canadian oil and gas is not only produced responsibly, but is the most competitive in the world, Hodgson said.

Governments and industry also need to get the Pathways Alliance oilsands group’s proposed $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage network – on which a final investment decision has yet to be made – done, he said. “This government will not be a government of talk, but a government of action. We need the same from the province of Alberta and the Pathways Alliance.”

Eastern Canada also needs better energy supply security, Hodson said. “We need to reduce our exposure to foreign energy, in a world where we may not be able to rely on trade agreements with our southern neighbours.”

Canada must also invest in promising, scalable energy sources like hydrogen, geothermal, advanced biofuels, renewables and nuclear, he said.

When it comes to electricity, the federal government will work quickly with provinces and territories on East-West transmission lines and better integrate Canada’s electricity grids, Hodgson said.

In terms of critical minerals development, the government’s First and Last Mile initiative will connect remote projects to infrastructure, ensuring Canada’s critical minerals get to market with the associated value-added processing, he said.

Hodgson said he is committed to a “clean slate” in Ottawa’s relationship with Alberta, which recently has been fractured and strained. “I want you to understand that I will be a voice for Alberta and Western Canada at the Cabinet table.” Natural Resources Canada

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Carney government proposes flow-through shares and other incentives for Canada’s innovation ecosystem

The new Liberal government led by Mark Carney proposes tax changes that will introduce new flow-through shares into the innovation ecosystem.

Flow-through shares – long used by Canada’s mining industry –  are an effective way for pre-revenue or early-stage companies to get equity from investors, while the investors get the tax benefits of the company.

Flow-through shares allow investors to invest capital in shares in the company, which then allows investors to deduct eligible expenses directly from their taxable income.

The goal is to help startups in the AI, quantum computing, biotech and advanced manufacturing industries raise capital by financially motivating investors to fund these companies.

Very few details are available to clarify the nuances of how this will work at this time.

If the federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit program is stackable with these flow-through shares, “there would be a significant impact on the innovation landscape, which is much needed in the current investment landscape in Canada,” said Toronto-based GrowWise Partners, a tax credit consulting firm.

“This could become a huge financial driver for investing in early-stage startups, and with Canada’s risk-aversion lately, that could be exactly what the entrepreneurial community needs.”

Other innovation-focused proposals by Carney’s government include:

• In the SR&ED program, increasing the expenditure cap for Canadian-controlled private corporations for the refundable 35-percent tax credit, from $3million to $6 million. Doubling the claimable amount under SR&ED will have a significant impact on medium- and large-sized organizations in Canada, GrowWise Partners said.
• establishing a patent box regime, a special tax policy that gives preferential treatment to businesses commercializing intellectual property in Canada. Revenue generated from IP assets is taxed at a lower rate than the standard corporate tax rate. 
• a 20-percent tax credit that could cover expenses for small and medium-sized enterprises related to adopting, training and commercializing AI as long as the company is doing so by increasing their headcount. 
• a promise to make the Black Entrepreneurship Programpermanent, to continue to support the growth of black entrepreneurs in Canada via funding, knowledge hubs and resources. GrowWise Partners

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The Government of Canada is talking to the U.S. about President Donald Trump’s proposed multi-purpose missile defence shield known as the Golden Dome. Prime Minister Mark Carney said participation has been discussed at a high level with U.S. officials and will be evaluated. "We are conscious that we have an ability, if we so choose, to complete the Golden Dome with investments and partnership, and it's something that we are looking at,” Carney said. Trump's plan is modelled after the Iron Dome that protects Israel – a land mass smaller than Vancouver Island – and aims to be more robust and hundreds of times bigger. Trump and other top U.S. officials say the Golden Dome would block missiles fired from other countries and from space, weaving together existing technologies with future tech that still needs to be developed. Canada would need to play a pivotal role in providing radars and airspace required to track incoming missiles over the Arctic. Experts said Trump’s three-year timeline for construction and $175-billion price tag are unrealistic, with one expert suggesting a 20-year time frame and costs potentially running as high as $1 trillion might be more feasible. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said  China was "seriously concerned" about the Golden Dome proposal and urged Washington to abandon it, adding that it carried "strong offensive implications" and heightened the risks of the militarization of outer space and an arms race. CBC News

CPP Investments quietly withdrew its net-zero target that the pension fund set three years ago. CPP, which manages $714 billion in retirement savings for more than 22 million Canadians, said “achieving net zero by 2050 remains a widely adopted goal and critical ambition for many companies, countries and international organizations.” In the Q&A section of its website, CPP explicitly states that it no longer maintains a net zero by 2050 commitment. It cites “recent legal developments in Canada,” including increased pressure to adopt standardized emissions metrics and interim targets, and claims these do not reflect the complexity of a global investment portfolio. The Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is introducing more stringent reporting requirements for federally regulated financial institutions, including CPP Investments. A spokesperson for CPP Investments said the fund continues to expect due diligence processes to identify material sustainability factors, including those related to climate change, and will integrate the findings into investment and ongoing asset management. Net Zero Investor

Alberta Innovates is confronting a 30-percent provincial government funding cut next year and will need to end some support programs. The Crown corporation is facing a $53-million operating funding cut starting in 2026, about one-fifth of its roughly $250-million annual budget. CEO Mike Mahon said that Alberta Innovates, which offers funding, services and expertise to boost research and innovation, will have to consolidate and eliminate some of its work. The Alberta Innovates board announced that Mahon, former president of the University of Lethbridge, will become Alberta Innovates’ permanent CEO as of June 1. Mahon held the role on an interim basis since June 2024, when board members appointed by Alberta Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish fired the former CEO, Laura Kilcrease. Glubish has said he replaced the previous board because it failed to do a line-by-line review of every Alberta Innovates program, as he requested. Opposition NDP innovation and technology critic Nathan Ip said now is the worst possible time for the government to reduce funding available to the province's inventors and entrepreneurs. "There's a sense of uncertainty here," Ip said. "That's ultimately the wrong message to send to the innovation sector at this time." News of the budget cuts concerned some entrepreneurs who attended the Alberta Innovates Inventures conference in Calgary last week. CBC News

The Government of Manitoba established an Innovation and Productivity Task Force, co-chaired by New Technology Minister Mike Moroz, to provide strategic advice regarding the safe and secure implementation of new and emerging technologies to support the economy and promote data-driven decision-making. Co-chaired by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Balsillie, co-founder and chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, founder of the Centre for International Governance and Innovation, and former co-chief executive officer of BlackBerry, the IP Task Force will engage with government agencies, industry experts, researchers and Indigenous communities to ensure best practices are followed. The mandate of the IP Task Force includes the creation of a strategic plan that will guide Manitoba’s innovation and productivity initiatives as the global marketplace continues to evolve. The task force is expected to deliver the plan to the minister later this year. Balsillie is also an advisor to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Govt. of Manitoba

The Government of Alberta is providing the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) with a total of $9.5 million over three years to continue operating a full-service veterinary diagnostic laboratory. UCVM supports local veterinary diagnostics, allowing veterinarians to make accurate diagnoses at competitive prices, which aids in treatment decisions that improve animal health and welfare outcomes. The stable, predictable funding enables the UCVM’s Diagnostic Services Unit to plan for the long term, retain highly skilled staff and continue to expand its services. Govt. of Alberta

The Government of British Columbia is providing more than $8 million through the CleanBC Plastics Action Fund to local businesses, foundations and First Nations to develop creative and effective ways to repair, reuse and recycle plastics into new products to reduce waste. Launched in 2020, the CleanBC Action Fund has invested more than $35 million into projects that find creative solutions to help reduce plastic waste in communities. In 2025, B.C. is funding 34 new projects; 63 projects received funding in previous years. Of the projects funded in this round, 14 of the 34 are Indigenous-led, with recipients from the Indigenous Projects category receiving more than $1.5 million. The first two phases of the Plastics Action Fund created more than 240 direct long-term, full-time jobs, the government said. Govt. of B.C.

The Government of Alberta is providing almost $7 million to fund six local fire departments through the Wildlife Urban Interface Program to boost wildfire preparedness and response capabilities. This initiative quadruples the number of existing Wildland Urban Interface teams, ensuring a stronger, more coordinated effort to protect communities from potential wildfire emergencies, the government said. The Wildland Urban Interface Program targets zones where developments such as homes, farms or industrial sites border or mix with natural vegetation at risk from wildfire. This program is a partnership between the provincial government and local authority fire services and includes funding from Natural Resources Canada. Wildland Urban Interface teams consist of firefighters who have the specialized training and equipment needed to respond to wildfires that enter a community or where developed areas meet wildland areas. Govt. of Alberta

Pacific Development Canada (PacifiCan) announced an investment of over $1.8 million to integrate artificial intelligence into two testbeds in British Columbia:

• At Vancouver International Airport, the investment will support the next phase of a project testing self-driving robotic pods designed to help travellers with mobility challenges move around the airport more easily.
• At the Provincial Health Services Authority, the funding will advance a project that uses AI to analyze digital images of tissue, facilitating the detection and identification of diseases through the digitization of pathology and other cancer diagnosis processes.

This is the first investment announced through PacifiCan’s Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative. This announcement comes as B.C. gets ready to host Web Summit Vancouver – the leading global technology conference that is putting a spotlight on Canada’s vibrant innovation scene. PacifiCan is investing $6.6 million for Destination Vancouver to host its Web Summit in Vancouver for the next three years. PacifiCan

The Government of Nova Scotia updated its critical minerals strategy, expanding its focus on critical minerals. The provincial Natural Resources department added four more minerals to its critical minerals list and created a new list of four strategic minerals – bringing the total critical minerals in the list to 20. The four new strategic minerals are:

• aggregate used for construction of roads, buildings, concrete and landscaping.
• gold used for electronics, dentistry and finance (as currency or investment).
• gypsum used for drywall, plaster, cement and agriculture (as a soil conditioner).
• potash used in fertilizer and industrial applications. Govt. of Nova Scotia

RESEARCH, INNOVATION & COLLABORATION

Google Canada announced a $5-million grant to the Edmonton-based Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), a national artificial intelligence research institute, to equip Canadian post-secondary students with essential AI skills to prepare them for the future of work. This initiative aims to address the growing AI skills gap in Canada and bolster the country's AI-driven economy, Google Canada said. With the funding, Amii will establish a national consortium comprised of 25 post-secondary institutions across Canada. This consortium will develop easy-to-use AI curriculum materials, allowing faculty to seamlessly integrate AI concepts into existing courses and reach 125,000 students across the country. Public First's recent Economic Impact Report on Google Canada estimates that generative AI could boost Canada's economy by $230 billion and save the average worker over 175 hours a year. But despite its research leadership, Canada lags in AI adoption, a key component in achieving these transformative results. The report also found that 63 percent of Canadian workers are interested in acquiring AI skills, with interest rising to 72 percent among young Canadians. Google Canada

Humans should look at artificial intelligence with “courage, pride and a sense of adventure” and push back against centralized control of AI, said Turing Award winner Richard Sutton, chief scientific advisor at Amii. He made the remarks in his closing keynote speech at Amii’s Upper Bound conference in Edmonton. Sutton drew a parallel between regulating AI and the “centralized control” of people, examples of which include calls to control speech, tariffs and economic sanctions. “There are many calls to centralized control of AI,” Sutton said. “Letters to pause AI, or to align them to people’s goals, limit the computer power of AI, and of course ‘safety’ is such a big issue.” He said the arguments for centralized control of AI and humans are “eerily similar” and driven by fear. Instead of this approach, Sutton advocated for “decentralized cooperation,” where people – or machines – are pursuing different goals but to a mutual benefit. Sutton said that part of humans’ role in the universe is to create intelligent machines that will design new things in turn, and that the development of a human-like intelligence is “inevitable.” In March, Sutton won the Turing Award – known as the “Nobel Prize in Computing” – for his pioneering work in reinforcement learning, a key technique used to train large-language models such as ChatGPT. BetaKit

The University of Alberta’s (U of A) College of Health Sciences launched an AI + Health Hub to harness the power of data and computing science to solve a wide range of health care challenges, from quicker diagnoses to streamlining hospital queues and discovering new drugs. The new hub brings together more than 120 researchers from 10 faculties to collaborate, educate and innovate, with the goal of turning AI-driven health-care research into solutions that are accessible to all Albertans. $4 million has already been secured for the AI + Health Hub from Prairies Economic Development Canada, the University Hospital Foundation, the Government of Alberta’s Major Innovation Fund and the Henry Gusse Foundation to finance research seed grants, graduate student scholarships, a new interdisciplinary graduate certificate program and support for future commercialization of proven innovations. Working groups in the hub will tackle rural access, data privacy, clinical trials, diagnostic imaging, telehealth, end-user experience and other key facets of AI in health. The U of A is already a  leader in artificial intelligence, attracting $100 million for AI research since 2017, with 24 Canada CIFAR AI Chairs based at the university and a strong relationship with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. AI and health innovations already underway at the university include analyzing ultrasound images taken in remote locations to diagnose hip dysplasia in newborns, using an AI scribe tool to take notes in doctors’ offices so they can spend more of their time with patients, and sifting through large data sets of genetic information to predict stroke risk in individual patients. U of A

Toronto-based AI developer Cohere asked a U.S. court to throw out complaints from media outlets that have accused the company of infringing on their copyright. In a dismissal motion filed in a New York court, Cohere accused publishers including the Toronto Star, Condé Nast, McClatchy, Forbes Media and Guardian News of deliberately using its AI software to “manufacture a case.” The company said the outlets must have “stylized” prompts they entered into Cohere’s software to elicit portions of their own work, which sometimes included inaccuracies. Cohere argued that nothing in the complaint filed by the outlets suggests that any real customer has ever used the company’s software to infringe on the publisher’s copyright. “Let it be clear: The complaint offers a deafening nothing about real-world users, real-world prompts, or real-world outputs,” the motion said. “Not a single allegation addresses what actual Cohere enterprise users have done or would do in real life.” The group of publishers, which also includes the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico and The Atlantic, sued Cohere in February, saying the company’s technology repurposed articles and even produced so-called hallucinated information – AI-generated material that is false or misleading – under the publishers’ names. The Canadian Press

Canada needs a national strategy to recruit top academic talent from the U.S., according to an article in University Affairs. The article, by Dominik Stecula, an assistant professor of communication at The Ohio State University who earned his PhD at the University of British Columbia and his master’s degree at McGill University says the strategy should:

• establish a clearing house for transfer procedures and immigration guidance.
• offer emergency fellowships to students and postdocs whose funding has evaporated.
• negotiate tuition waivers and credit-transfer agreements with American universities to keep academic progress on track.
• provide assistance with relocation logistics.
• build partnerships to connect displaced scholars with Canadian researchers, preserving research collaborations that might otherwise collapse.

Reuters reported a 27-percent increase in U.S. graduate student applicants to the University of British Columbia (UBC), Stecula notes. Other Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo, have reported spikes in web traffic from the U.S. The Financial Times reported that several prominent academics, including Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, have relocated or are relocating to Canada. UBC has temporarily reopened graduate admissions and introduced a fast-track process for American students facing disruptions. Carleton University’s Scholars at Risk program issued a new call for at-risk academics seeking one- to two-year paid appointments. In establishing a national strategy, organizations like Universities Canada, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and the Tri-Council of federal research funding agencies could take the lead, Stecula says.  University Affairs

The University of Saskatchewan received a $1.5-million investment from Calgary-based Cenovus Energy to fund the creation and programming of the Cenovus Energy Makerspace. The space will be located within the soon-to-be constructed Engineering Design Hub at USask’s College of Engineering. The makerspace will include a fabrication area with advanced tools such as polymer 3D printers and laser cutters, and a space for testing prototypes and design projects. Students will have hands-on opportunities to collaborate, exchange ideas and develop problem-solving skills. Plans for the new Engineering Design Hub also include the development of a capstone design space, shops for metals, wood, plastic, composite and electronics, as well as a student design garage bay. USask

Université Laval received $1 million from the Government of Québec’s Ministère de la Sécurité publique to support research on the ecological effects of beach nourishment on coastal seabed communities. The funding will advance the second phase of a project examining the impact of shoreline protections on benthic invertebrates – small animals that live on or in the seabed, such as worms, clams, and crustaceans – in regions such as Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Bas-Saint-Laurent, and Côte-Nord. Researchers from ULaval’s aquatic ecology and biodiversity lab will study five sites along the St Lawrence coast to assess the spatial and temporal extent of these ecological changes and contribute to long-term climate resilience planning. ULaval

Distriq, the Sherbrooke Quantum Innovation Zone, and PINQ² (Quebec’s Digital and Quantum Innovation Platform) partnered to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of quantum technologies in Quebec and across Canada. Through this agreement, PINQ² and Distriq will combine their expertise, infrastructures and networks to meet the needs of SMEs, large enterprises and startups in Quebec and Canada aiming to explore or adopt quantum in their industrial processes. PINQ², a central actor in applied digital and quantum innovation, and Distriq, a hub for quantum research and commercialization in Sherbrooke, share a mission: to position Quebec as a global leader in applied quantum economy by fostering deep collaboration among industrial, academic and technological stakeholders. As quantum technologies move from labs to real-world applications, this partnership aims to catalyze the development of practical solutions – from logistics optimization to materials simulation, cybersecurity and advanced data processing – while ensuring a smooth, risk-mitigated transition from classical technologies like high-performance computing and AI. PINQ² Quantum Insider

Canadians Hooman Reza Nezhad from Waterloo and Sigil Wen from Toronto are in the 15-member 2025 class of Thiel Fellows, awarded US$200,000 to pursue entrepreneurial ideas and stay out of higher education, which Peter Thiel, founder and chairman of the Thiel Foundation and a Stanford University graduate, calls “the worst institution we have.” Established in 2011, the two-year Thiel Fellowship awards grants to extraordinary young individuals to allow them to pursue groundbreaking endeavours of their own design. Each fellow in this year’s class will receive US$200,000 over the next two years. Through association with the Thiel Foundation, fellows gain access to a valuable network of tech founders, investors, scientists and former fellows. In return, fellows must commit to focusing full-time on their projects, companies or ideas, unencumbered by traditional academic constraints. BusinessWire

Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District along with Invest Northern Ireland kicked off the 2025 cohort of the MaRS Global Incubator Program, providing nine high-potential, technology-driven businesses from Northern Ireland with the tools, connections and expertise to establish a foothold in Canada’s thriving innovation ecosystem. The six-month initiative combines virtual programming with an immersive market visit to Toronto, equipping startups with tailored market-entry strategies, mentorship from industry leaders, and direct access to investors and commercialization opportunities. Designed for companies with proven product-market fit and at least £100k in revenue, the program offers a structured pathway to North American expansion. The 2025 Cohort of Northern Ireland companies is:

• Born Maverick – Sustainable bioengineering solutions for food manufacturers to adopt ethical alternatives without infrastructure overhauls.
• CATAGEN – A green emissions testing facility focused on reducing harmful tailpipe emissions and optimizing catalyst development.
• Dia Beta Labs – Next-generation therapeutics for metabolic diseases leveraging over 30 years of research to tackle diabetes and obesity.
• Fortesium – Regulatory software solutions that enhance efficiency, transparency, and user experience in health care and other sectors.
• Rubik Technologies – Cloud-based solutions for mid-sized and enterprise manufacturing businesses to improve decision-making and profitability.
• Seedling Learning – An educational game authoring tool enabling teachers to create and deploy personalized learning experiences.
• Senergy Innovations – Sustainable energy products and systems designed to support global clean energy access.
• Srotas Health – AI-driven clinical trial solutions improving patient recruitment, retention, and trial efficiency.
• Validaid – Automated donor ad and fundraising platform.

The MaRS Global Incubator Program is funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office. MaRS Discovery District

The underground Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Laboratory, commonly called SNOLAB, is testing what effect cosmic radiation has on quantum computing, in a facility called the cryogenic underground test facility, or CUTE. Because SNOLAB is under two kilometres of northern Ontario rock it has natural protection from cosmic radiation that constantly bombards everything on the Earth's surface. Vijay Iyer, a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Toronto stationed at SNOLAB, said quantum computing is so complex that eliminating something like cosmic radiation could have an impact on the qubits (quantum bits) that quantum computing uses. Iyer said qubits are "extremely fragile" since a computer with qubits would be controlled one atom at a time. "So being able to control something at that level is very difficult, which means any small amount of noise that exists in the environment can break down the entire system.” Iyer is part of a team examining the link between cosmic rays and quantum bits. The University of Waterloo and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are the primary institutions behind the research, which received a grant from the U.S. Army Research Office. CBC News

Canada’s Competition Bureau should consider Royal Bank of Canada’s decision to rescind its sustainable finance targets as part of the bureau’s long-running probe into allegations that the lender made misleading statements about its climate change action, complainants say. Six individuals backed by environmental groups allege in a letter to the Competition Bureau that RBC’s recent withdrawal of sustainability targets supports the complainants’ initial claim that the bank contravened the Competition Act by misrepresenting its commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. RBC said it strongly disagrees with the allegations, calling them unfounded and saying it still intends to achieve net zero in its lending by 2050. In April, RBC announced it had revoked its sustainable finance goals, which had included making financing available for emissions reduction and other energy transition initiatives. The bank blamed legal uncertainty stemming from the federal government’s recently enacted anti-greenwashing provisions in Bill C-59, as well as changing measurement practices. The Competition Bureau began its inquiry in October 2022, in response to allegations that RBC was working against its stated climate goals by providing billions of dollars in financing to the oil and gas industry. The Globe and Mail

Calgary-based Tetra Trust, Canada’s first regulated digital asset custodian, was selected by Toronto-based fintech firm  WealthSimple, the country’s first regulated crypto trading platform, to provide digital asset custody services. Tetra Trust will act as one of WealthSimple’s custodians for digital assets, marking the first time WealthSimple has added a Canadian custodian to its roster. WealthSimple will utilize Tetra Unity, Tetra Trust’s institutional-grade orchestration platform, to streamline digital asset custody, execution, settlement, compliance and risk management. Tetra Trust gives platforms like WealthSimple the ability to securely store digital assets on home soil – strengthening the foundation of a trusted, made-in-Canada crypto ecosystem. Tetra Trust

SaskPower selected two partnerships formed by Potentia Renewables Inc. and its Indigenous partners – the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) and the Mistawasis Nehiyawak First Nation – to develop, own and operate a new wind and a new solar facility in south-central Saskatchewan. The 200-megawatt Rose Valley wind project will operate under a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SaskPower, while the 100-megawatt Southern Springs solar project will operate under a 25-year PPA. The Rose Valley wind project is located about 30 kilometres southeast of Assiniboia and occupies about 2,000 acres of private land. The project will involve 28 Goldwind turbines with a 110-metre hub height, underground collector lines, padmount transformers, a new substation and main transformer, and related infrastructure. The Southern Springs solar project sits on 510 acres of privately owned, cultivated land about eight kilometres southeast of the Town of Coronach. The solar project will consist of 207,000 ground-mounted bifacial solar PV modules on single-axis trackers, 27 inverter stations/transformer stations, internal access roads, underground collector lines, and a step-up transformer station. M2 Renewables – a partnership between MLTC and Mistawasis – will own 51 percent of each project, the largest Indigenous ownership to-date for projects of this size in the province. When both facilities come online in late 2027, SaskPower will have a total of 1,217 MW of wind and 318 MW of solar generation capacity. SaskPower

France-based TotalEnergies signed an agreement with Ksi Lisims LNG to buy liquified natural gas for 20 years from the planned Ksi Lisims LNG plant on the north coast of British Columbia. TotalEnergies agreed to purchase two million tonnes per year of LNG, or one-sixth of the planned production. As part of the deal, TotalEnergies acquires a five-percent stake in Western LNG, the developer, shareholder and future operator of the Ksi Lisims LNG project. This acquisition grants TotalEnergies the option to increase its stake in Western LNG and/or take a direct stake in the plant up to approximately 10 percent when the final investment decision is made. Ksi Lisims is being developed by the Nisga'a Nation, Rockies LNG Partners, and Western LNG. However, the project must first await the fate of the associated Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT), a proposed 750-kilometre pipeline whose estimated costs have soared from $5 billion in 2014  to up to $12 billion. PRGT would feed the $10-billion Ksi Lisims facility, which is undergoing a provincial environmental review for exporting the LNG from Nisga’a territory. Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs and several Gitxsan Nation leaders have opposed the contentious pipeline route, which would cross their traditional territories. Groups opposed to PRGT include the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Wilderness Committee, David Suzuki Foundation, Dogwood, Stand.earth, Sierra Club and Northwest Institute. TotalEnergies, The Globe and Mail

Toronto-based Berg Chilling Systems delivered a key cooling system for NASA’s Artemis IV mission – just as the Trump administration proposed a budget grounding the 2028 mission that was expected to land astronauts on the Moon. Berg’s refrigeration system is designed to sit on top of the Mobile Launcher 2 system at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and cool the Orion crew capsule. The technology will have to withstand the extreme conditions of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, including the 1,200-°C temperature and 8.9 million pounds of launch thrust. The machinery is also expected to last well beyond the timeline of the Artemis missions, regardless of their fate. NASA wants it to remain functional for 25 years. Artemis IV is currently scheduled to launch in September 2028, but its fate is now uncertain since Trump’s budget proposes to phase out the SLS and Orion capsule after three flights, replacing them with “more cost-effective” commercial systems that would support subsequent lunar missions. Artemis IV would carry four astronauts and a habitation module to the Lunar Gateway, humanity’s first space station beyond low Earth orbit, where the International Space Station is. From there, two of the crew members would land on the Moon using a SpaceX-made Starship rocket to conduct exploratory missions and scientific experiments. BetaKit

Quebec City-based LeddarTech Holdings Inc., which makes AI software for autonomous vehicles, announced it will lay off 138 workers – or about 95 percent of the company’s total workforce – across all its offices. The company hopes to buy time to either restructure its debt, sell itself or seek creditor protection. However, LeddarTech said it has not reached an agreement providing for additional financing for the company or relief from the minimum cash, equity financing and process plan covenants in LeddarTech’s financing deal with Desjardins. LeddarTech

Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Pinsonnault approved the sale of vehicle-maker Lion Electric to a group of Quebec investors, allowing Lion to preserve its manufacturing plant in St-Jérôme, Que. The consortium of investors is led by Pierre Wilkie, a director of Lion Electric, and Montreal real estate entrepreneur Vincent Chiara. The amount they offered for Lion wasn’t disclosed. The consortium came back with a reduced offer on May 9, after receiving assurances that the Quebec government would renew a subsidy program for electric school buses to the tune of nearly $500 million. Lion Electric will relaunch with reduced operations and focus on building electric school buses at its St-Jérôme plant. Hundreds of employees will be permanently laid off and the equipment at a battery pack assembly plant in Mirabel, Que., will be sold off. The company has already shut down production at a plant in Joliet, Ill. The Canadian Press

The world’s sources of critical minerals are increasingly concentrated in just a few countries, most notably China, leaving the global economy vulnerable to supply cutoffs that could disrupt industry and hit consumers with higher prices, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report found that for copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements, the average market share of the three top producing countries rose to 86 percent in 2024 from 82 percent in 2020. China is the leading refiner for 19 out of 20 strategic minerals studied in the report and has an average share of around 75 percent. The current trend toward export restrictions and trade disputes increases concerns, the IEA said. China is a massive global source of critical minerals required for a wide range of goods that include computer chips, robots, electric autos, batteries, drones and military equipment. China also dominates the refining and processing of many of these critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and more. China has placed export limits on many of these key products and tightened controls on others as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations escalate, stifling U.S. industry and the nation’s ability to find quick alternatives. The Associated Press

The U.K. plans to establish a quantum technology cluster in London, uniting leading universities with businesses, communities, government and investors. Imperial College London is working with partner universities University College London and King’s College London on the initiative. The cluster is being seeded with a £500,000 investment from London’s mayor through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund as part of the city’s long-term economic growth strategy. It aims to create a thriving ecosystem that will accelerate the commercialization of quantum research, support startups and deliver tangible benefits for Londoners. The initial phase will lay the foundations for a dedicated incubator that will support the translation of quantum research and new widely accessible infrastructure to seed, grow and scale quantum companies. Quantum was one of the high-growth sectors identified in the recently published London Growth Plan. Science|Business

In her first government statement, Dorothee Bär, Germany’s new minister for research, technology and space, described the mission of her new “Ministry for the Future” as something between a cordless screwdriver, quantum technology and a pinch of stardust. Bär is a member of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian conservative party that forms part of the new German government. The name of her newly created ministry, BMFTR, which has shed education but gained a remit for technology and space, is to be pronounced “BMFuTuR,” according to the ministry's social media campaign. In other words, Germany needs a “future” ministry that unleashes innovative power and at the same time ensures scientific freedom. Bär’s priorities include:

• Space travel as a top priority. Bär called space travel a central lever for social progress, not just as a symbol, but as a practical driver of innovation.
• Research for women’s health. Bär emphasized her ambitions in the field of health research, in particular for diseases that have so far been little researched such as chronic fatigue syndrome, and in women's health.
• High-tech agenda, bureaucracy reduction and a new games department. With her planned high-tech agenda, Bär wants to specifically promote key technologies such as AI, quantum research and climate-neutral mobility.

At the same time, a Freedom of Innovation Act is intended to reduce bureaucratic hurdles. Referring to a phrase invented by Rafael Laguna de la Vera, founding director of the innovation agency Sprind, Bär wants science and innovation to be more like a “chocolate factory,” full of excitement and wonder, and less like a “galley” bogged down by form-filling and red tape. Bär also announced a separate department for computer games. As she sees it, games are a highly innovative cultural and economic sector with potential for research and technology transfer. Science|Business

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

Denver-based Crusoe secured US$11.6 billion in financing to build OpenAI’s biggest data centre, a 1.2-gigawatt facility in Abilene, Texas. The funding, a mixture of debt and equity, will expand the data centre to eight buildings from two and increase the total amount secured for the project to $15 billion, Crusoe said. Both Crusoe and investment firm Blue Owl Capital are contributing cash to the data center project as part of the latest financing. The data centre, scheduled for completion next year, is expected to be the largest used by OpenAI. Each of the buildings will run up to 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips, which are commonly used for training large language models. Longer term, OpenAI aims to build and operate its own network of data centres. MSN

Toronto-based fintech Keep emerged from stealth operating mode, raising $108 million. The funding includes $33 million in equity financing led by Tribe Capital, a  $71-million credit facility from Coventure (Treville), and a $4-million venture debt line from Silicon Valley Bank. The funding round attracted strong participation from both existing and new investors, including Rebel Fund, Liquid2 Ventures, Cambrian, and Assurant Ventures. Notable individual investors include founders and executives from fintech leaders such as Robinhood, Venmo, Stripe, Plaid, Chime, Coinbase, Ramp, and Alloy. Keep offers Canada’s first all-in-one financial platform built exclusively for small businesses, enabling them to control spend, automate bookkeeping and send, receive and store funds. Keep

Vancouver-based Telus Global Ventures invested in a US$15-million Series A funding round for Israel-based AI startup Rhino Federated Computing, in a round led by AlleyCorp. In addition to Telus Global Ventures, all existing institutional investors participated, including LionBird, Fusion Fund, Arkin Digital Health, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Telus Global Ventures and Keren Maccabi, as well as new investors Wilson’s Bird Capital, Frank Sica, and Gaingels. Rhino’s solution enables enterprises to work together on AI and data science initiatives without centralizing data – protecting data ownership. Rhino said it will use this new capital to scale these capabilities across more customers and regulated sectors. Rhino Federated Computing

Toronto-based Thompson Reuters Ventures is among the investors that raised US$15 million in a Series A round for Greenlite AI, a San Francisco-based firm making AI “agentic tools” to detect fraud in financial institutions. The round was led by Greylock with participation from Canvas Prime, Y Combinator and notable angel investors, including the former CEO of Fannie Mae. Greenlite’s agentic tools – autonomous AI agents – automate the manual tasks compliance professionals do to enable financial institutions to meet regulatory requirements. Greenlite said the new funding will allow for engineering team growth, go-to-market scaling and deepening partnerships with top financial institutions. Greenlite AI

New York-based fintech Seeds raised US$10 million in a Series A funding round led by Toronto-based Portage, with continued participation from investors Social Leverage and Blank Ventures. Seeds said this funding allows the firm to accelerate product advancements, support strategic growth with high-impact hires, and solidify its market position as a leading investment experience platform for registered investment advisors. Seeds provides advisors with an end-to-end investment management system that enables them to assess and more deeply understand investors’ goals and preferences, generate and implement tailored proposals, and engage clients in meaningful communications. Financial IT

Toronto-based Stablecorp raised $2.5 million to enhance its QCAD stablecoin, which is pegged to the Canadian dollar. The funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures, along with Side Door Ventures and other existing investors. The capital will be used to enhance QCAD’s infrastructure, including developing on-chain foreign exchange markets and integrating payment rails, which are crucial for its use in cross-border payments and global trade finance. Stablecorp plans a structural evolution of QCAD to sustain its growth, including setting up the QCAD Digital Currency Trust to manage reserves with daily reporting and audited statements. Startup Ecosystem Canada

Canada lost the fourth-place position it has held for the past five years in StartupBlink’s 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Index of global startup ecosystem rankings, although Toronto continues to move up and now ranks 21^st globally. The index ranks the strength of startup ecosystems in 118 countries and 1,473 cities with an algorithm that assesses three key measures: the quantity of startups and supporting organizations, the quality of startups and support organizations, and the business environment of each ecosystem. Canada has been consistently ranked right behind the top three – the U.S., U.K. and Israel – which all show no signs of slowing down. This year, however, Canada has been bumped down by Singapore, which is surging on the back of a nearly 45-percent ecosystem growth rate. Canada also holds the second-lowest ecosystem growth rate in the top five, at nearly 19 percent. Meanwhile, the 13 countries directly below Canada all grew faster, meaning countries such as Sweden, Germany and France are primed to push Canada further down the rankings in the coming years. The number of Canadian cities in the global top 1,000 also fell to 39, a return to form after 46 cities made it in the 2024 rankings. Still, Canada remains alongside the U.S., China, and India as the only countries with three or more cities in the global top 50. Calgary rose 15 places globally to 92^nd place, with a growth rate of 29.6 percent which nearly rivals Toronto. Vancouver climbed up to 39^th place globally; Montreal dropped to 46^th and Ottawa fell 19 spots, ending up in 86^th place. BetaKit

Spooked by the Trump administration’s tariffs, a record $35 billion in foreign money was withdrawn from the Canadian stock market in the first quarter of 2025, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Nevertheless, the S&P/TSX Composite Index eked out a small gain on the quarter, as Canadian investors stepped into the breach. But the bigger factor was likely the selloff in U.S. stocks, which saw the S&P 500 index lose 19 percent in less than two months. Big Tech was pounded over this time, as the “Magnificent Seven” stocks dropped by around 30 percent as a group. Canada still has the top triple-A rating that credit ratings agency Moody’s stripped from the U.S. Non-residents acquired nearly $50-billion of Canadian bonds in the first quarter, continuing a buying streak that has seen American investors load up on Government of Canada bonds. The Globe and Mail

REPORTS & POLICIES

U.S. tariffs are bad but uncertainty is becoming more damaging to long-term economic prospects: C.D. Howe Institute

Canada shouldn’t rush to make specific trade concessions ahead of a review of the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) free trade agreement, scheduled for July 1, 2026, according to a policy note from the C.D. Howe Institute.

However, Canada needs to soon propose an overarching framework for a new partnership between Canada and the U.S., says the note from the institute’s Trade Crisis Working Group.

This framework should interlock trade (anchored in a future updated CUSMA), security (including border and economic security), and defence, the group says.

“The U.S. narrative presents all three [elements] as being interrelated, which means it is very unlikely Canada will achieve trade peace without offering a compelling vision about the other two pieces.”

A serious proposal on defence and security needs to be met by a positive response by the U.S. on the removal of the 25-percent tariff imposed on Canadian products on the grounds of emergencies at the border or national security, before Canada can consider trade concessions in response to U.S. complaints, the working group says. “Otherwise, Canada would give up something in exchange for nothing.”

Canada certainly has to look hard at trade and investment irritants identified by or complaints made by the U.S., the group notes.

However, Canada could do worse than to classify these complaints as serious, such as concerns about access to the market for supply-managed products or about the digital services tax, and not serious, such as calling the GST a discriminatory barrier to trade, the group says. “Canada should only be ready to seriously discuss irritants for which the United States has an objective case.”

The C.D. Howe’s Trade Crisis Working Group expressed support for exercising caution or suspension of retaliatory action against U.S. tariffs and for maintaining a constructive tone ahead of substantive talks on the broader Canada-U.S. relationship and CUSMA negotiations.

The group also emphasized the importance of continued high-level engagement with Mexico and reaffirmed that preserving the trilateral structure of CUSMA is necessary “to maintain the current and future competitiveness of the North American industry.”

There’s a need for Canada to continue emphasizing to U.S. stakeholders – especially ahead of the November 2026 mid-term elections – the multiple ways open trade and investment between Canada and the U.S. benefit U.S. industry, contrary to the White House narrative, the working group says.

The group suggests that one way to push the U.S. in the right direction of accepting freer trade flows within North America and away from a narrower “Fortress USA” concept would be to seek a revival of standards harmonization or mutual recognition efforts, begun a decade or so ago but since abandoned.

The group felt this approach could greatly facilitate trade within North America to the benefit of the U.S .and other North American businesses, especially in the auto manufacturing and agricultural sectors, while helping square the circle with respect to China (high standards but potentially lower tariffs).

However, the group cautioned that it is unclear that Canada and Mexico can maintain a unique tariff-free status under a revamped CUSMA, let alone what will emerge from likely tighter rules of origin required for products to benefit from such status, which could end up making North American production less competitive in any event.

“Business leaders are now emphasizing that uncertainty is becoming more damaging to long-term economic prospects than tariffs themselves, as lack of clarity stalls investment and planning in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., risking an even worse economic outcome than that generated by new tariffs alone.”

The group says Canada needs to propose a strong framework for an agreement that can discourage the U.S. from “weaponizing this uncertainty against its partners – and ultimately against itself.” C.D. Howe Institute

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Developing “green” hydrogen is a fiasco and the money would be better spent on research looking for new hydrogen technologies

Development of “green” hydrogen for mobility and transportation is an economic “fiasco” and the planned rollout of hydrogen hubs in the U.S. should be abandoned, according to an article by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

“Mobility has been touted as the lead market for hydrogen. It is now in ruins,” says the article by Robin Gaster, research director at the Washington, D.C.-based ITIF’s Center for Clean Energy Innovation.

Gaster offers several examples to support his argument:

• Heavy-Duty Vehicles: perpetual pilots, no scale.

Heavy trucks were the primary market for most proposed hydrogen hubs [in the United States and elsewhere, including Canada]. But after a decade of pilot projects, commercial deployment is in ruins, Gaster says.

Nikola, the hydrogen truck pioneer once valued at $30 billion, is bankrupt after delivering only a handful of trucks. Other high-visibility startups have also failed – Hyzon Motors, Quantron, and Hyvia. Hyundai's XCIENT fuel cell truck pilot in Switzerland has been cancelled. The Toyota/Kenworth hydrogen truck pilot at the Port of Los Angeles has ended with no further action.

There are many other examples, because battery electric trucks are clearly a more realistic choice for clean trucks, Gaster says. For example, a 2023 analysis found that across Europe, the total cost of ownership in most scenarios for hydrogen-powered trucks is at least 40 percent more per mile than for battery-electric vehicles.

“That gap is growing. Hydrogen has been left at the starting gate in the race to dominate next-generation trucking,” he says.

[R$ editor’s note: In Canada, the Alberta Zero Emissions Truck Electrification Collaboration is a first-of-its-kind, industry-led project that involves the design, manufacture and testing of two long-range, heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell trucks for freight-hauling operations year-round between Calgary and Edmonton. The Alberta Motor Transportation Association is leading the more than $17-million project, which includes an Alberta government contribution of $7.3 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta].

• Light vehicle sales have collapsed.

Despite more than 20 years of development and billions in investment, sales are catastrophically low, Gaster notes.

In the United States, 56 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) had been sold in 2025 (as of the end of February), and a total of 18,674 FCEVs had been sold since 2014. Toyota's flagship Mirai has sold 21,000 units (as of 2022) globally since 2014, despite a more than $10-billion investment.

Unsurprisingly, companies like Daimler-Mercedes, Honda, and Volkswagen have abandoned passenger hydrogen development to focus on battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

• Hydrogen mobility infrastructure has failed as well.

In 2023, more than half of all hydrogen refueling stations in California were not operable, and Shell – a major provider – closed all its stations permanently. Retail hydrogen fuel prices reached more than $30 per kilogram, so operating costs were much higher than for BEVs.

• Aviation: No takeoff.

ZeroAvia has delayed efforts to deploy an entirely new hydrogen-powered design, focusing instead on retrofitting existing planes for hydrogen. Airbus has quietly extended the timeline for its ZEROe hydrogen aircraft from 2035 to "2035 or beyond." Universal Hydrogen's demonstration flights revealed significant performance limitations.

“In reality, hydrogen-powered flight remains a fantasy, requiring complete redesign of aircraft and massive restructuring of airport fuel infrastructure. Even using hydrogen for e-fuels is a dead end,” Gaster says.

• Other sectors show little progress.

German train maker Stadler has concluded that hydrogen consistently loses out to battery electric trains in technology-neutral tenders.

A 2023 report from the European Maritime Safety Agency concluded that direct use of hydrogen would likely be limited to small vessels and short routes, representing a minimal fraction of maritime emissions, while Norway's Norled hydrogen ferry project faced repeated delays and technical issues.

The failure of hydrogen for mobility is also a disaster for the proposed hydrogen hubs in the U.S., Gaster says.

Each of the major hubs has a substantial mobility component: California’s (ARCHES) Hub, for example, will dedicate approximately $700 million to various mobility applications.

The Appalachian Hydrogen Hub includes hydrogen refuelling infrastructure along I-79 and other key corridors, and the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell buses.

The Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub anticipates heavy-duty truck hydrogen refuelling stations along the Texas Triangle (Houston-Dallas-San Antonio), along with other hydrogen-powered mobility applications.

The Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub includes plans to deploy hydrogen fuel cell buses, hydrogen applications for port equipment and airport ground support vehicles and other mobility applications.  

“These are all core functions of the proposed hubs and their failure makes the hubs even less viable,” Gaster says.

[R$ editor’s note: In Alberta, hydrogen hubs have been established in the Edmonton region, followed by a hydrogen hub established in Calgary earlier this year. Both hubs are initially focused on producing “blue” hydrogen fuel using natural gas – something that’s done now but currently to create feedstock, mainly for oil refining and the production of chemicals.

See: Three levels of government provide more than $2 million to launch Canada’s first hydrogen hub in Alberta

See: Creating a hydrogen hub in Calgary region will require government funding and significant private investment.]

The failure of hydrogen despite the hype and despite the funding carries important lessons, Gaster notes, adding “These lessons have yet to be learned.”

The hydrogen hubs should be eliminated as soon as possible, he says. Instead, he argues, some of that money should be spent on basic and applied hydrogen research, looking for new hydrogen technologies that can reset the economics of hydrogen. “Deployment of technologies that are not ready is a huge mistake.”

Gaster says society still hasn’t learned the lessons embedded in Charles Mackay’s famous book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, first published in 1841.

The rush into hydrogen recapitulates in modern form previous periods of hysterical investment, like Holland’s Tulip Mania and the South Sea Bubble in the U.K, he says. “Crowds become irrational, and the rush into hydrogen is a perfect example. We need a much more realistic and measured policy process.”

Industrial policy matters and is important, but it operates within the context of a market economy, Gaster points out. Simply ignoring the market and seeking to push the technology has ended in tears many times before, and that’s how it’s ending for hydrogen, he says.

“There has to be a convincing business case that the technology will eventually reach price and performance parity (P3) with the alternatives. If it can’t, it won’t be adopted. Hydrogen technology isn’t at P3 today, and won’t be over the next 10 years at least.”

Compounding these problems in the U.S. is that there is no entity near the center of power in Washington capable of providing a strategic assessment of hydrogen across its complete development cycle from basic and applied R&D, through development, to commercial demonstration, and finally to scale-up.

Governments seeking to implement policies for clean energy sectors must develop both the capacity and the will to assess proposed interventions against the yardstick of reaching price/performance parity with fossil fuels, Gaster says.

“Technologies that don’t reach parity won’t be adopted globally, especially in low-income countries with rapidly growing emissions.”

New technologies take time to become competitive, so they don’t need to be at P3 today (or even tomorrow), but there must be a realistic pathway to parity in the future, Gaster says.

“Without that, we will have many more hydrogen fiascos, and we will miss increasingly important opportunities to develop the industries and technologies that will power our economy tomorrow.” ITIF

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Adapting lean startup principles designed for software companies to build food tech firms

New Wave Biotech in London, U.K. and Singapore-based Nurasa partnered to publish a report exploring how lean startup principles – originally designed for fast-moving software companies – could be used by food tech innovators.

Titled The Lean Startup Meets Food Tech: Does It Work?, the report reinterprets the five Lean Startup principles originally written by entrepreneur and author Eric Ries, outlining how they could apply to food tech and biomanufacturing. The resulting principles are:

• Be strategic on where you buy, build and partner. Identify your focus and unique advantage, and bring in partners to close the gaps.
• Validate desirability, feasibility and viability together instead of testing them separately, while juggling the interdependencies between them.
• Align technical progress with real customer demand from day one; don’t wait until you’re scaling to find your market. Use techno-economic analysis to align technical and commercial progress.
• Maximize learning where it matters most. Focus your time and money on testing what’s most critical to building a scalable, sustainable business – and use clear metrics to guide every decision.
• Fail cheaply with scaled-down tests, partnerships, and digital tools.

The paper draws on insights from investors, founders, corporations and scientists from across the food tech ecosystem, including Givaudan, Tetra Pak, Nucleus Capital, and CJ CheilJedang. It also consults startups such as Liven, MeliBio, and DeNovo. The resulting guidance illustrates how lean principles could be used to navigate technical uncertainty, manage capital constraints, and align innovation efforts with market realities.

Unlike software, food tech isn’t something that can be built in a garage with a laptop and a couple of developers, the report says.

Every step – from lab to plate – is complex, interconnected and capital-intensive. Scaling isn’t cheap. It takes significant investment in infrastructure, talent and supply chains.

Compliance with evolving regulations is an ongoing, high-stakes process with moving goalposts. What works in a lab can fall apart in a factory. Scaling isn’t linear, and technical bottlenecks can delay progress by months (or years).

Every decision – on microbial strain, process, formulation, media, scale, production location and target market – creates cascading trade-offs across production, cost, sustainability and performance.

Development of biotechnology-driven food tech is incredibly difficult, the report says. Not only does it involve state-of-the art microbial strain engineering, bioprocess engineering and food science that are complex in their own right, but regulations are still in development and consumer acceptance of novel foods is still unknown.

This requires juggling technical feasibility, customer needs and commercial viability, all while managing complex trade-offs.

Scaling too soon without fully understanding process limitations can be an expensive mistake, the report says.

Instead of running large commercial-scale production trials, companies should consider the key conditions and assumptions to validate their technologies, and can simulate real-world conditions in smaller setups to predict scale-up challenges early.

Physical testing is slow and expensive. Digital tools, including AI-driven simulations, computational modelling, and digital twins, help teams predict how formulations, fermentation conditions or processing steps will behave, reducing costly trial-and-error experimentation.

The best companies minimize risk by focusing on core strengths, leveraging partnerships to test go-to-market strategies, using small-scale validation to predict largescale challenges, and integrating digital tools to reduce costly trial-and-error. Rather than avoiding failure, the goal is to design experiments that extract maximum learning with minimal waste.

In food tech, where every experiment is expensive, success comes from failing smart, not fast.

“Speed alone doesn’t win in food tech – rapid, structured learning across commercial and technical areas does,” said Zoe Yu Tung Law, CEO and co-founder of New Wave Biotech. “This paper is about helping teams move faster and smarter by focusing on what really matters at each stage of development.”

The paper’s publication comes as many biomanufacturing startups begin moving from lab to real-world production. According to New Wave Biotech and Nurasa, knowing what to test, who to work with and when to scale could make the difference between moving forward and failing to progress.

“Too often, innovators get stuck – not because the science doesn’t work, but because they don’t have the support to scale, navigate regulatory hurdles, or find market fit,” said Sukhi Wei, strategic project manager at Nurasa. “This whitepaper is a practical guide to overcoming that.”

 “While the challenges in food tech are real, so are the opportunities,” the report says. “With the right balance of vision, execution, and adaptability, the next generation of food innovators can build smarter, scale faster, and create real impact.” New Wave Biotech and Nurasa, Vegconomist

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The Donald Trump administration has devastated efforts to improve sustainable food, farming and fairness

Prior to the second Trump administration, after more than a century of agricultural policy dominated by corporate consolidation and environmental degradation, there were signs of transformation, according to an op-ed in Civil Eats.

Advocates, scientists, and farmers were successfully pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support a fairer and more ecologically sound food system, says the op-ed by Kate Anderson, program director, food & environment, at the Union of Concerned Scientists. [Note: The original op-ed has many more hyperlinks than this synopsis].

Modest, imperfect policies had begun to shift momentum, she says. Equity-centred programs started to open long-closed doors for historically marginalized producers. Climate-friendly practices like cover cropping, managed grazing and conservation tillage were gaining ground.

Copious scientific evidence was steering more research funding from extractive, chemical-heavy agriculture toward agroecological systems that nurture soil health and biodiversity.

Initiatives supporting local and regional markets helped schools and food banks buy from nearby farms, keeping dollars in communities, strengthening regional food security, buoying small and midsize farms, and delivering healthy food.

All of this was taking shape within a system still dominated by large agribusinesses and monoculture commodity production, Anderson says.

“Yet these modest reforms offered hope. They represented a real, if fragile, shift away from policies that had long served corporate profits at the expense of rural communities, the environment, and food workers.”

But the Trump administration, informed by Project 2025, is determined to “get the government out of agriculture,” Anderson says.

Yet government has always been in agriculture – from grants of Native Americans’ homelands to white settlers and facilitating slave labour, to ongoing subsidies for polluting commodity crops.

The farm bill, for example, incentivizes farmers to grow corn, wheat, cotton and rice for export and encourages overproduction of livestock that strains natural resources and pollutes water and air, she says.

“These policies favour large, corporate operations, while small and midsize farms are increasingly eaten up by a rapidly consolidating agricultural system.”

“The Trump administration’s so-called return to ‘free markets’ is not just a rollback to the pre-Biden status quo; it’s an aggressive acceleration toward even deeper consolidation, climate vulnerability and racial inequity.”

Truly competitive markets, meanwhile, are pushed farther away, for example, when Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins fast-tracked commodity subsidies and promised USDA bailouts to cushion tariff losses.

The USDA also removed the mechanism for reporting discrimination and froze crucial programs that assist Black, Indigenous, and other people of color beginning to access farmland and other underserved farmers in accessing farmland.

Many USDA grant recipients must strip diversity, equity, and inclusion language from proposals or lose funding, and diversity, equity and inclusion scoring criteria are gone from USDA grant evaluations.

“These moves attack racial justice and undermine the foundational role of equity in building a truly sustainable food and farm system, both environmentally and economically,” Anderson says.

The administration has also gutted climate and conservation support. Nearly all of the $19.5 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding for climate-smart agriculture has been frozen. Of the $2.3 billion already promised to farmers, only a tiny fraction has been released.

Programs to improve soil health, reduce input costs and enhance resilience to floods, droughts, and pests have been halted. Vital projects funded by the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program, a $3-billion investment across all 50 states, have been effectively canceled.

The economic consequences for farmers are immediate and severe. Many had already invested heavily in equipment and practices based on signed agreements. With reimbursements now cancelled or delayed, many farmers are shouldering unsustainable debt and may go under.

Cuts to local food purchasing programs have further harmed farmers and communities. These initiatives provided over $1 billion to help schools and food banks buy from local producers. Now, children and vulnerable populations will lose access to fresh, healthy food – while farmers lose vital markets.

The Trump administration has also undermined the future by freezing and slashing public funding for agricultural research. USDA science programs have been halted and online climate data and information removed, including technical guidance for cutting emissions and improving resilience to extreme weather.

University-based projects focused on climate resilience, pest resistance and pollinator health have also been cancelled. Even national germplasm banks – a vital seed repository safeguarding crop diversity for future adaptation – are at risk.

Dramatic workforce cuts compound these harms, Anderson notes. Roughly 16,000 USDA employees, more than 10 percent of the department’s workforce, have accepted voluntary buyouts, with more cuts on the horizon. USDA field offices – critical hubs for helping farmers navigate complex programs, implement conservation practices, and access disaster relief – are being gutted.

The White House budget plan, if implemented, would shutter many USDA field offices. Even if or when funding is restored, the loss of experienced scientists and other staff means recovery will be slow.

“Just when our food system was beginning to turn toward justice, sustainability and equity, the Trump administration is governing with a wrecking ball,” Anderson says.

But this isn’t the end of the story, she says, adding that the very fact that Biden-era programs began to shift USDA priorities was proof that sustained advocacy works.

“To build a truly resilient, just and climate-ready food system, we must hold policymakers accountable and double down on organizing. We must defend what works, fix what doesn’t, and ensure that those historically shut out of power are at the table,” Anderson says.

“We can’t stop at undoing harm—we have to move boldly toward the food and farm future we know is possible.” Civil Eats

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Leveraging Canada’s natural capital is key in the face of U.S. tariffs but requires a new approach

ANALYSIS and OP-ED

By Peter van Dijk, Joanna Eyquem and James K. Stewart

Peter van Dijk is a corporate tax lawyer and an adjunct professor at the Goodman School of Business at Brock University; Joanna Eyquem is a climate adaptation scientist and vice-president of the Climate Risk Institute; James K. Stewart is an economist and senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute. This op-ed first appeared here in Policy Options.

The Trump 2.0 administration’s assault on the rules of world trade and its disruption of other key global elements of the post-Second World War era have made it essential to reset Canada’s economic strategy.

The U.S. tariffs already imposed and the threats of more to come are unprecedented since the 1930s. They have strained alliances and created huge uncertainty for the re-elected federal Liberal government, the provinces, business and consumers.

Amid this extraordinary volatility, Canada’s natural capital is a largely overlooked competitive advantage, critical to supporting economic independence, resilience and productivity.

This natural capital – forests, wetlands, grasslands and other ecosystems – is more than an environmental treasure. These are powerful economic assets hidden in plain sight.

Canada urgently needs to use its natural capital as a foundation of its long-term economic strategy, investing in restoring and sustaining green infrastructure, and disclosing in government financial statements the value, condition and trends of natural capital.

Natural assets underpin our economic well-being. They provide protection from floods and heatwaves. They supply clean water and air, and contribute billions in services to public health.

Unlike traditional infrastructure, natural assets do not depreciate unless they are degraded directly by pollution or overuse, or indirectly from climate change or the introduction of invasive species. The financial value of preserved assets often increases as more of our population depends on them.

Natural capital offers multiple services simultaneously. For example, a forest sequesters carbon, filters water, cools surrounding areas and provides crucial habitat for biodiversity. No human-made structure can compete with this array of benefits.

Yet, natural capital remains drastically undervalued and largely invisible in our public accounts.

Canada’s wetlands alone are estimated to provide $225 billion in ecosystem services annually (roughly eight percent of GDP). But we do not even have a complete national inventory. This is unintended fiscal negligence in an era of intense budgetary pressures when every dollar of public spending should deliver resilience and long-term value.

What is worse, most governments in Canada – federal, provincial and local – fail to track or disclose the condition and value of their natural assets. This blind spot leads to short-sighted decisions, degradation of existing assets and underinvestment in nature-based solutions that could save us money, foster more economic growth and strengthen our communities.

Encouragingly, the re-elected Liberal government’s campaign platform explicitly pledged to protect more of Canada’s natural heritage, given the threats of “climate change and unsustainable development practices.” Its key promises in this area include prioritizing natural infrastructure, mapping Canada’s carbon and biodiversity-rich landscapes, and mitigating environmental and species-at-risk impacts in areas facing substantial infrastructure development.

Yet, serious risks remain from the absence of federal valuation and accounting for natural assets, beginning with the ever-present difficulties of implementing programs versus making campaign pledges. The challenge of meshing the Liberal housing and natural resource development goals with the party’s biodiversity, conservation and natural infrastructure pledges also bears watching.

At the provincial level, the risks to, and inadequate valuation of, environmental lands and biodiversity have been evident in Ontario and Quebec in recent years.

In their efforts to boost housing supply, a range of provincial (and federal) policies still facilitate building in areas at high risk of major flood and wildfire damage. With rising pressures in 2025 to accelerate resource and other development, protections for species at risk are being scaled back in Ontario and other jurisdictions.

At a minimum, the following elements should be part of a new natural capital strategy:

• Invest in natural infrastructure. Restoring wetlands, protecting urban tree canopies and conserving grasslands are vital for the environment, as well as for reducing fiscal pressures from floods, heatwaves and water treatment costs. They are also much less expensive than man-made infrastructure. The cost of sustaining green infrastructure is often a fraction of repairing or replacing concrete and steel, while delivering broader benefits.
• Close the accounting gap. Government financial statements must begin to disclose the value, condition and trends of natural capital. This is already under way with a small group of forward-looking municipalities. International accounting standards for natural assets are on the way. Canada should lead, not lag, in adopting these frameworks across all levels of government.
• Recognize that natural capital is not a distraction from “real” economic policy. Instead, it must be a core part of economic policy. Natural assets directly shape our productivity, competitiveness and ability to adapt to shocks, whether from extreme weather or an erratic U.S. president.

Canada has already fallen behind in investing in climate adaptation. While spending far more on climate mitigation – but not nearly enough – current Canadian efforts will not shield us from the existing costs of climate change and biodiversity loss. Our response must be to build systems-level resilience, and that means protecting and valuing the very foundation on which our economy rests.

It is time for governments to embed natural capital into budgets, policies and financial reporting. It is time for Canada to create a national inventory of natural assets and time for the federal government, working with the provinces and territories, to lead a natural capital investment strategy that aligns fiscal responsibility with ecological sustainability.

Natural capital is Canada’s quiet and underappreciated strength. It is time we sustained and treated it like the decisive economic advantage it truly is. Policy Options

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Robert Asselin was named as the new CEO of U15 Canada, effective June 9, 2015. Asselin is currently the senior vice-president for policy at the Business Council of Canada. Asselin is a recognized expert on innovation, economic growth and industrial strategy with extensive experience in senior roles within government as well as in academia. He brings to U15 Canada over a decade of experience advising at the highest levels of government, having served as policy and budget director to Canada’s finance minister and as a senior advisor to two prime ministers. Asselin spent nearly a decade in academia, notably as associate director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and as visiting public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Asselin succeeds Dr. Chad Gaffield, who served as CEO of U15 Canada for three years and will be returning to academia as professor of history emeritus at the University of Ottawa and University Research Chair in Digital Scholarship. U15 Canada

Kim Furlong, CEO of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA), announced her departure after serving in the role since 2019. In a post on LinkedIn, Furlong said she will be stepping away from her role following the firm’s annual Invest Conference. Furlong wrote: “I’ll be stepping down as CEO this summer. That means this will be my final time hosting Invest.” In an interview, Furlong explained, “I didn’t see myself doing it for another five years . . . I just felt, for me, but also for the organization, that it was time for someone else to step in.” CVCA board chair Jeanette Wiltse said the board has initiated the process to find a new CEO. Furlong is scheduled to officially depart on July 4 and hasn’t disclosed details about her future plans. CEO North America

Dr. Henry Friesen, best known for his discovery of prolactin and his trailblazing research at McGill University’s Department of Medicine on human growth hormones, died on April 30 at 90. Friesen, working with the pharmaceutical company Sandoz, developed the drug Bromocriptine, which proved to be effective in the treatment of infertility in women. His research on human growth hormones made replacement therapy in hormone-deficient children a reality. Friesen, who during the 1990s chaired the Medical Research Council, was a former member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ board of governors, helped lead the development of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and is a member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, among many other honours. CIHR

Colin Hill and Mac Hunik were named the inaugural startup founders in the Aerospace Accelerator Program (APP), supported by Calgary Economic Development’s Opportunity Investment fund, Prairies Economic Development Canada, and industry partners including WestJet, the Calgary Airport Authority and Chapter AI Ventures. The APP, designed to help early-stage aerospace startups scale, offers up to $200,000 in grant funding, including salary support for a founder, plus individualized mentorship, technical development resources, and access to the Aerospace Innovation Hub. Hill is co-founder and chief technology officer of North Vector Dynamics where he’s developing a novel counter uncrewed aerial system platform. Hunik is the CEO and founder of Threshold UAV, which turns low-cost drones into smart, swarming aerial imaging tools for farmland monitoring. Innovate Calgary

Rio Tinto announced that CEO Jakob Stausholm will step down later this year, at the conclusion of a succession process. Stausholm joined Rio Tinto in 2018 as executive director and chief financial officer and became CEO in January 2021. Jakob will continue to lead Rio Tinto as CEO and a member of the board of directors while a successor is appointed. The Financial Review reported that friction between Stausholm and Rio Tinto chairman Dominic Barton prompted the move. Barton said Stausholm’s successor would need to “double down” on operational performance. Rio Tinto

Vancouver-based Quandri appointed Patrick Mulroy as its new head of strategy and partnerships. Quandri offers an AI automation platform that modernizes personal lines of insurance renewals for insurance agencies. Mulroy brings more than 15 years of experience in the insurance and technology sectors. In his new role, he will be instrumental in driving Quandri’s North American expansion, including the launch of its first U.S. office in Boston and the formation of new strategic partnerships. The announcement follows Quandri’s recent news that it plans to hire over 40 new team members in 2025 and expand into a new 15,000-square-foot office in Vancouver this summer. Techcouver

Shift Canada announced AJ Tibando as its new CEO. Tibando has worked at the intersection of government, tech, education and the nonprofit sector. She co-founded Palette Skills, a national upskilling organization that supported over 10,000 workers entering high-growth industries. Prior to that, Tibando co-founded SoJo, an ed-tech social enterprise and has held numerous roles as a senior political staffer in the Ontario government. Shift Canada is a national charity that provides resources and support to help entrepreneurs boost Canada’s productivity and innovation. Shift Canada

Concordia University received $6.2 million from the Government of Quebec to support its Collaborative Centres on Energy and its Transition (C²ET), a key pillar of the university’s Volt-Age research program, which focuses on advancing electrification and energy transition. The funding will enable the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment for research and training in battery technology and electrification. “By providing our researchers and students with state-of-the-art tools, we accelerate discoveries, enhance training and drive tangible progress in energy transition,” said Tim Evans, Concordia’s vice-president of research, innovation and impact. Concordia University

Colleges & Institutes Canada (CICan) issued a statement outlining how the country’s colleges and institutes can help support the goals outlined by the Government of Canada. The organization points to several opportunities for action at the intersection of Canada’s challenges, the federal government’s priorities, and the opportunities for postsecondary education. These include:

• Strengthening programs with real-time labour market data and industry partnerships.
• Building new models to support micro-credentials, modular learning, and Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition.
• Supporting non-traditional learners through expanded financial aid and flexible pathways.
• Scaling national initiatives like Military-Connected Campuses to grow enrollment and better support Canada’s defence and civilian workforce needs.
• Empowering faculty and staff to champion digital innovation through peer-driven training.
• Balancing digital delivery with hands-on learning to meet diverse learner needs.
• Leveraging sector-wide tools like Digital Campus Canada and the Canadian Coalition of Affordable Learning to drive access, efficiency and innovation.
• Connecting learners more effectively to programs and careers through digital tools and labour market data.
• Advocating for national coordination on credential and competency recognition.
• Piloting innovative models like the Authentic Competency Evaluation system, led by Atlantic Colleges Atlantique, that validates real skills, not just classroom time.
• Forming regional and national coalitions to drive political momentum, share best practices and accelerate change.
• Prioritizing inclusive solutions that work for non-traditional, marginalized and mobile learners. CICan

The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Sauder School of Business launched the Spitz Centre for Indigenous Business Education. The Spitz Centre will focus on three objectives: create a welcoming and entrepreneurial community, empower Indigenous student success, and strengthen economic development in Indigenous communities. The centre’s development was supported by a $5-million donation from alumni Warren and Maureen Spitz, who expressed their hope that the centre will be a place where “Indigenous students feel empowered to succeed and where reconciliation is not just talked about, but practised.” The Spitz Centre for Indigenous Business Education will also house the Ch’nook Management Program, which supports Indigenous entrepreneurs and professionals and the Pathways Program, which guides Indigenous students from high school through university. UBC

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)’s Continuing Education Department is launching a 12-week cybersecurity training program this fall for frontline IT professionals. The FORCE-UQTR program offers low-cost, modular content that will be updated regularly to reflect evolving cybersecurity best practices. The target clientele includes IT technicians and administrators, network technicians, IT support technicians, IT security technicians and IT  professionals who wish to move into cybersecurity. UQTR said the program will prepare participants to identify and respond to the most common cyber threats. The initiative, established in collaboration with the company UV Assurance, arrives amid heightened concerns about digital security and compliance obligations. UQTR

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton announced it is pausing 18 programs as part of a comprehensive program review. The institute said it is looking to strengthen its academic foundations and reinvest in high-demand and emerging areas, while also remaining financially and operationally sustainable. The paused programs are housed within six of NAIT’s schools, with the greatest number coming from the School of Media and Information Technology. Students currently enrolled in paused programs will be able to finish their studies. NAIT

Bow Valley College (BVC) in Calgary is cutting 103 permanent positions as it addresses a projected $15.4-million shortfall in its 2025–26 budget, CTV News reported. Of these positions, 97 are currently filled and six are vacant. BVC attributed its budget shortfall to declining international student enrolment and changes to funding for programs such as Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada and the Foundational Learning Assistance Program. BVC has campuses in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks. CTV News

The deepest ice core ever drilled in the Americas – reaching 613 meters – was pulled from the Müller Ice Cap on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut by an international research team co-led by a University of Alberta (U of A) researcher who is hoping to unlock an untold record of Arctic climate and ocean variability from as far back as 20,000 years ago. “Such a remote site, at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, will offer unprecedented insight into the long-range atmospheric transport of environmental contaminants to the far North – reconstructions of great importance both to science and to local communities,” said Alison Criscitiello, U of A director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab and researcher in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. After nearly two months of drilling, often in temperatures that dipped below -30 °C, the drill team reached bedrock on May 17, also recovering pebbles and sand from beneath the ancient ice. This deep ice core, along with the recovered geological material, will be transported to the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the U of A for analysis. Criscitiello’s team is particularly excited to study elements like sea salts and halogens, which are deposited in snow but originate from the ocean, and can help reconstruct past sea ice conditions. In addition to the deep core, Criscitiello and her team drilled three shallower 70-metre ice cores. These will provide a detailed look at pollution and contaminant transport to the region over the past two centuries. The expedition was made possible by funding from the University of Manitoba’s Dorthe Dahl-Jensen’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in Arctic Ice, Freshwater Marine Coupling and Climate Change. The work also supports studies by University of British Columbia researcher Anais Orsi, who is examining greenhouse gases and mercury levels in the atmosphere's past by pumping air in and out of the ice core’s firn layer – a layer of older snow that is halfway between snow and glaciers. This technique provides valuable insights into past atmospheric composition. The deep ice core was drilled with equipment developed at the University of Copenhagen, and with the support of the Polar Continental Shelf Program, the Eureka Weather Station and Kenn Borek Air. U of A

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