The Short Report: November 20, 2024

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat announced a federal government investment of more than $638 million in science and research funding. More than $452 million, including over $369 million distributed among 153 institutions, is provided through the Research Support Fund (RSF) to ensure researchers and institutions are equipped to address new demands in the current research environment and compete on a global scale. The remaining RSF funding of $58 million will go to 33 institutions through the fund’s Incremental Project Grants, including nearly $25 million to 51 institutions for research security. Funded projects will:

• create eco-responsible platforms to reduce the environmental impacts of research activities.
• establish digital tools to support research and cybersecurity.
• support inclusive and Indigenous research.

More than $182 million will support 224 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs. This funding will allow researchers to advance essential knowledge in areas such as Black and racialized people’s health, emergency responses to the opioid overdose epidemic, wearable brain injury sensing technologies, changes in the Great Lakes ecosystems, and more. As a Canada Research Chairs Program partner, the Canada Foundation for Innovation is also committing more than $3.3 million to support 17 research infrastructure projects at 12 institutions through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund. Finally, $300,000 will be distributed among the three recipients of the 2023 Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity. The recipients will each receive $100,000 to help them advance their bold and game-changing initiatives that spark change and address systemic barriers within and beyond their postsecondary institutions. As part of Budget 2024, the government unveiled a package of measures worth over $4.6 billion to strengthen Canadian research and innovation. Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat

Transport Canada announced a Government of Canada investment of $163.8 million for a project at the Bécancour Port and Industrial Park, in partnership with the Government of Québec, for a total investment of up to $327.6 million. The project includes the refurbishment and expansion of port infrastructure, the addition of storage capacity and other measures to improve port access and fluidity in the Bécancour Waterfront Industrial Park. These improvements will reduce congestion, optimize storage space and diversify activities in the industrial park, which is a key logistics hub for the province’s electric vehicle battery industry. The investments also will enable the site to meet the needs of new and emerging markets, notably the battery industry, a strategic sector for the economic future of Quebec and Canada. Through this investment, the port will be better equipped to support the rapid growth of industries linked to batteries and other green technologies. Transport Canada

The Government of Ontario signed an agreement with Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to provide high-speed satellite internet access to 15,000 eligible unserved and underserved homes and businesses, including in rural, remote and northern communities, beginning in June 2025. The deal is reported to be worth nearly $100 million. This is the largest single investment in high-speed internet in any province by any government in Canadian history, the Ontario government said. Ontario chose the U.S.-based provider over New Brunswick’s Xplore, the other finalist in the bidding. The new Ontario Satellite Internet program is part of the government’s nearly $4-billion investment to help bring access to reliable high-speed internet to every community across the province by the end of 2025. As of November 2024, Ontario has finalized agreements worth approximately $2.5 billion for over 270 projects that will enable high-speed internet access and improved cellular connectivity across the province. Govt. of Ontario

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced over $38 million in federal funding to bring high-speed internet access to 14 communities in Manitoba, many of them First Nations. Here is an overview of Manitoba's connectivity status:

• As of November 2024, 85.4 percent of Manitoba households are connected to high-speed internet (at least 50 megabits per second {Mbps} download /10 Mbps upload).
• In 2017, 69.8 percent of Manitoba households were connected to high-speed internet
• In 2026, 95.1 percent of Manitoba households are projected to be connected to high-speed internet. ISED

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced a $27-million investment in Stoney Creek, Ont.-headquartered Bartek Ingredients Inc., a market-leading producer of food-grade acids. This investment, through the Strategic Innovation Fund, supports Bartek’s $192.5-million project to construct a new, world-class food ingredient manufacturing facility. Bartek is a major employer in the Hamilton area and will maintain 160 workers thanks to this investment. This new manufacturing facility, the first of its kind globally, will feature cutting-edge process equipment and innovation, new product development capacities, and sophisticated energy management systems. Domestic production of acidulants is not only advantageous for the economy but also essential for Canada’s food processing industry, as these products help ensure the quality and safety of food Canadians eat every day. The project will enable the company to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from existing levels while also reducing its water consumption levels annually. ISED

Transport Canada announced up to $25.2 million for four projects, funded under the Green Shipping Corridor Program, to support both shore power and alternative fuel solutions in the marine sector. This funding will:

• update current infrastructure.
• upgrade and construct fueling infrastructure to support greener fuel use.
• conduct a study to explore the feasibility of establishing a new public port within the network of the Great Lakes region.

The funding includes up to more than $13.8 million for the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority to construct a 12-acre, 8-million-litre biofuel terminal in Port Colborne, Ont., on land managed by the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority that will be operated in partnership with Canada Clean Fuels and Canada Steamship Line, offering refueling infrastructure within the Great Lakes region. Champlain, Que.-based port terminal and logistics company QSL will receive up to more than $6 million for its Shore Power Project, to install shore power charging facilities to enable vessels to recharge their onboard batteries while docked, reducing reliance on auxiliary engines and minimizing emissions. The shore power charging facilities will support vessels travelling along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region, supporting the creation of a green shipping corridor in this area. Windsor, Ont.-based Sterling Fuels Limited will receive up to nearly $5 million for its Greener Fuels for our Greener Future Initiative. This project will modify existing infrastructure, procure, install and construct additional fuelling infrastructure in Windsor and Hamilton to contribute to establishing a green shipping corridor within the Great Lakes region. Decarbonizing the marine sector is a crucial part of the federal government's climate action plan. Transport Canada

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced $16 million in non‍-‍repayable contributions for the next four years for 13 organizations selected following a call for proposals. CED said its funding will help ensure the success of start‍‍ups in Quebec’s different regions. Funding recipients are: 2 Degrés; Accélérateur de création d’entreprises technologiques; Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal; Centech; Quebec Biotechnology Innovation Centre; Catalyseur technologie santé; Cycle Momentum; Espace‍-‍Inc.; Esplanade Québec; LE CAMP; MT Lab; Québec Tech; and Zú. The funded organizations have also committed to working with other regional players to meet local needs. CED

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced up to $25 million in infrastructure funding, pending final due diligence, to the Government of Northwest Territories for its Taltson Hydro Expansion Project. This funding would be provided through the federal government’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy. The project is in partnership with Indigenous governments, including the Akaitcho Dene First Nations, the Northwest Territory Métis Nation, and the Salt River First Nation. The N.W.T. government plans to complete pre-construction milestones for the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project to build a new 60-megawatt generation facility near the existing Taltson Hydro Facility south of Great Slave Lake, as well as a 230-kilovolt transmission line connecting the Taltson grid with the Snare hydro system grid north of Great Slave Lake. Expansion of the Taltson system and connection to the North Slave region would enhance the N.W.T.’s green energy capacity and reliability, significantly reducing the region’s future greenhouse gas emissions and providing grid connection opportunities for multiple critical minerals projects and communities in both the North and South Slave regions. NRCan

The Government of Canada and Government of Newfoundland and Labrador signed the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Disease agreement to invest a total amount of over $22 million over three years to improve access to new drugs for rare diseases for its residents and to support enhanced access to existing drugs, early diagnosis and screening for rare diseases. In March 2023, the federal government announced an investment of up to $1.5 billion over three years to support the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Disease, including up to $1.4 billion for bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to help patients with rare diseases have access to treatments as early as possible for better quality of life. These three-year agreements are part of the first phase of the strategy, which is focused on building, testing and learning in collaboration with governments and health system partners. Lessons learned from the initial three-year bilateral funding agreements with provinces and territories, as well as the strategy-funded projects by pan-Canadian partners (such as drug pipeline work) will be incorporated into recommendations for the design of future phases of the strategy. Health Canada

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced an investment of $18.6 million to multiple organizations to install more than 1,600 L2 and L3 electric vehicle chargers in Toronto and across Canada. The installation of these chargers will help EV drivers get to where they need to go with confidence and ease, NRCan said. Before hitting the roads, Canadians can easily map out their route by consulting NRCan’s Electric Charging and Alternative Fuelling Stations Locator. Federal funding for this project was provided through NRCan’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program. To date, NRCan investments are helping to deploy over 41,000 EV chargers across the country where they are most needed. The federal government has allocated over $1 billion in funding to support the deployment of EV charging stations across the country. NRCan

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) announced an investment of $11 million in three organizations that help entrepreneurs establish their businesses, scale up and grow in Ontario. Toronto Global is receiving $5 million to continue to offer value-added services to attract international investment to the Greater Toronto Area. The project also aims to strengthen regional clusters and value chains by connecting local suppliers with international businesses, leading to enhanced business productivity and global competitiveness. Downsview Aerospace Innovation & Research (DAIR) is receiving $4 million to deliver a combination of new and enhanced programming, such as DAIR Tecnomatix and the enhanced DAIR Green Fund and DAIR Supplier Development Initiative, to grow Ontario’s aerospace sector and enhance access to global aerospace supply chains. The Toronto Business Development Centre is receiving $2 million to enhance access to their programming and services to better support newcomer businesses, creative entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises. FedDev Ontario

Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced over $7.6 million in Government of Canada and Government of Prince Edward Island funding for 39 projects to help support innovation and infrastructure improvements in the province’s fish and seafood sector. Recipients are adopting new technologies and improving product quality, labour productivity and processing techniques. The funding is provided through the $400-million Atlantic Fisheries Fund, which focuses on increasing opportunities and market value for sustainably sourced, high-quality fish and seafood products from Atlantic Canada. Eligible projects must focus on:

• Innovation – to support research and development of new innovations that contribute to sustainability of the fish and seafood sector and  create partnerships and networks that aim to promote and encourage innovations in the sector.
• Infrastructure – to adopt or adapt new technologies, processes or equipment to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the fish and seafood sector.
• Science partnerships – fisheries and aquaculture industry-based partnerships with academia and institutions to enhance knowledge and understanding of the impacts of changing oceanographic conditions and sustainable harvesting technology. Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) announced over $7 million in funding for 12 projects in British Columbia or with a national reach under NRCan’s Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP) and the Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities Program (CRCC). These projects will help regions and sectors in B.C. and across Canada adapt to a changing climate by developing, improving and delivering strategies, tools and resources that address climate change risks and adaptation gaps, and support the implementation of climate change adaptation and resilience actions. The funding comes from a total investment of $39.5 million for 53 projects through the CCAP and the CRCC programs to reduce climate change risks and build more resilient communities across the country in support of the National Adaptation Strategy. NRCan

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) announced a $5.2-million investment, in collaboration with other federal and provincial partners, for 35 research projects that will help Canada prevent, prepare for, recover from and respond to outbreaks of avian influenza, or A(H5N1). These projects will enable research on the most time-sensitive evidence gaps and immediate research needs related to the current outbreaks of avian influenza in animals and the risk of further transmission to human populations. Through the 35 funded projects research teams will, among other areas of study, seek to:

• understand how the avian influenza A(H5N1) virus can spread between humans, domestic animals and wild birds.
• assess the safety and effectiveness of medical interventions, such as the use of existing or novel influenza vaccines and therapeutics.
• explore the effectiveness of physical and environmental interventions, such as technological health and safety improvements to agricultural and livestock facilities.
• develop and test novel strategies for disease detection and monitoring, such as wastewater surveillance.
• engage with communities with higher risks of exposure to avian influenza, including in Indigenous communities and rural and agricultural settings, to ensure that Canada’s public health strategy to prevent, contain and mitigate the impacts of avian influenza is inclusive, comprehensive and sustainable. CIHR

Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) announced over $3.7 million for three Burnaby-based companies. pH7 Technologies Inc., a critical metal processing company, is receiving $1.5 million. This funding will enable pH7 Technologies to purchase and install new equipment for its specialized metal extraction process. The company’s innovative process offers an economical and sustainable way to extract critical metals from recycled materials, which are vital for the global transition toward clean energy. Compared with traditional methods like smelting, pH7 Technologies’ critical metal extraction system uses significantly less water and energy and produces no greenhouse gas emissions. PosiTrace, a supplier of fleet management and GPS tracking solutions, is receiving over $1.2 million in funding. PosiTrace’s innovative reporting software provides businesses with real-time visibility into vehicle location and route analytics, which improves productivity and reduces costs and fuel consumption. Rigid Robotics Inc. is receiving $975,000 to further develop its AI-powered cloud platform and application technology for the mining industry. Rigid Robotics’ technology provides real-time data insights and analysis, which helps mining companies boost operational efficiency and human safety while reducing emissions. PacifiCan

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced a $2-million federal investment in a project to support women entrepreneurs across Canada in growing their skills. The project is being delivered by Markham, Ont.-based Coralus, a non-profit organization that supports business ventures led by women and non-binary people. As part of the project, training is being provided to more than 375 women-owned businesses on topics such as fundraising, bootstrapping, accessing capital and setting up e-commerce. Coralus is also establishing new relationships with organizations serving Indigenous entrepreneurs, equity-deserving entrepreneurs, newcomers to Canada, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals and rural communities to increase the diversity of participants. This project complements work being done through the federal Women Entrepreneurship Strategy to close service gaps for women in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. ISED

The Government of Manitoba released its Critical Mineral Future plan and announced an additional intake of up to $2 million in funding through the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund (MMDF). Administered through the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, the MMDF strategically funds economic development and mining projects of up to $300,000 per project that create Indigenous partnerships, increase local employment and stimulate investment in northern Manitoba. Since 2020, $14.7 million has been provided to 90 projects. This has leveraged over $128 million in private sector capital, generated over 660 jobs and 128 community and Indigenous partnerships. The government’s new Critical Mineral Future plan outlines how the province intends to strengthen its minerals sector. The actions highlighted in the plan include creating a new, “single-desk” critical minerals office to speed up project timelines and permitting, connecting postsecondary and industry partners to support the creation of work-integrated learning opportunities, expanding apprenticeship training opportunities, and enhancing access and training opportunities for the University College of the North’s Northern Manitoba Mining Academy NORCAT training program. The Manitoba government has also partnered with the Mining Association of Manitoba Inc. to revise and modernize the guidelines for early mineral exploration. Manitoba, which is ranked sixth on the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies’ Investment Global Attractiveness Index, has 30 of the 34 critical minerals identified by the federal government as being essential to developing clean technologies, energy storage systems, electric vehicles and other technologies that advance net-zero targets. Govt. of Manitoba

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) announced over $1.8 million in federal funding for Cogeco Connexion Inc. to bring high-speed internet access to 949 households in four rural communities in the Township of Champlain in Ontario, namely Cassburn, Henrys Corner, McAlpine and L’Orignal. This funding is provided through the more than $3.2-billion Universal Broadband Fund, a program designed to ensure that Canadians in rural, remote and Indigenous communities have access to reliable high-speed internet. The federal government has committed to ensuring 98 percent of Canadian households have access to high-speed internet by 2026 and 100 percent by 2030. Canada is on track to meet its connectivity targets, Ottawa said. ISED

RESEARCH, TECH NEWS & COLLABORATION

A multi-university project led by Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) professor Michelle Garneau has received more than $12 million in grants from the Government of Québec and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to measure the amount of carbon captured by natural and disturbed wetlands. Wetlands are particularly important carbon sinks. Although they cover only five percent to eight percent of the planet's surface, they contain up to 30 percent of the Earth's carbon. Canada is home to 14 percent of all global wetlands. In Quebec, these environments, mostly made up of peatlands, cover about 12.5 percent of the province and they capture and store 8 to 10 billion tonnes of carbon. “The project will improve knowledge on the carbon sequestration potential of different types of environments subject to natural and anthropogenic pressures, with a view to supporting the conservation, rehabilitation and management of wetlands, and thus limiting greenhouse gas emissions,” Garneau said. The research team includes experts from UQAM, McGill University, Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. UQAM

Canada’s National Cybersecurity Consortium has awarded Dr. Jonathan Anderson, a cyber security expert in Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and a team from Memorial’s Marine Institute $1.8 million to co-lead two marine cybersecurity projects. Canada relies on more than 100,000 vessels, crewed by 1.9 million seafarers, for food, fishing, national security and more. In partnership with Thales Canada, the Marine Cybersecurity Training program will train seafarers to protect the systems they rely on and to respond appropriately to cyberattacks. Anderson says that vessels are becoming increasingly automated – up to and including fully autonomous ships. Seafarers and vessel operators are becoming responsible for increasingly sophisticated systems with less user control and visibility, and not every vessel will carry a cybersecurity expert. Memorial University's Marine Institute and Thales Canada will develop a dynamic and innovative cybersecurity training curriculum for mariners across a spectrum of competencies and responsibilities. A second project, in partnership with Dalhousie University and titled Securing Critical Marine Systems, will investigate how to improve critical control systems used in the marine environment and develop the next generation of secure-by-construction control systems. Dr. Steven Mallam, Capt. Christopher Hearn, director of the Marine Institute’s simulation facility, the Centre for Marine Simulation, and Maria Halfyard, manager of business development, research and strategic partnerships at the Marine Institute, will all be involved in the two projects. Memorial University

McGill University received $1 million from the Weston Family Foundation to support early intervention for REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and Parkinson’s disease. RBD is an often debilitating condition that causes people to act out in their sleep, sometimes violently. People with the disorder often go on to develop Parkinson’s disease. Led by McGill’s The Neuro clinician-researcher Dr. Ron Postuma, director of the Division of Neurology at the McGill University Health Centre, this project seeks to create a rapid, accurate diagnostic tool for RBD using actigraphy and state-of-the-art data analysis. The aim of the work is to develop an accessible and affordable method for identifying RBD patients and assessing their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in the future. McGill University

The University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) has received a $1-million donation from Ellen Remai through the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation. This gift to the Friends of VIDO fund will contribute to necessary facility enhancements, new equipment, scientific training, and research chairs and fellowship opportunities. “Mrs. Remai’s gift speaks volumes about the potential benefits and impact of VIDO’s research, not only here in Saskatoon but around the globe,” said Peter Stoicheff, president of the University of Saskatchewan. USask

Université de Sherbrooke, CIUSSS de l’Estrie – Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, and in vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux announced a three-year agreement to create a Canadian centre of excellence dedicated to the fight against antimicrobial resistance. This is the first partnership of its kind in Canada and bioMérieux's 15^th partnership worldwide. Researchers from the three organizations will work together to provide better care for the Quebec and Canadian populations through antimicrobial resistance management, thereby improving patient care. USherbrooke professor Simon Lévesque said the designation will foster international collaboration and networking opportunities, encourage academic exchanges, and strengthen USherbrooke’s microbiology lab’s diagnostic capabilities. USherbrooke

The University of Guelph (UoGuelph) Ontario Veterinary College received $4 million from Sheryl and David Kerr toward the Medical and Surgical Learning Centre, to support the infrastructure changes made necessary by the expansion of the veterinary class. The new architecturally unique centre will provide dedicated areas for students to practice their pre-surgical and surgical skills, including in specialized areas such as dentistry and post-operative recovery. The main-floor operating suite will be named in honour of the Kerrs’ gift. In another donation, UoGuelph’s G. Magnotta Research Lab received $2 million in renewed support over the next two years from the G. Magnotta Foundation. Under lab director Dr. Melanie Wills of the College of Biological Science, the lab works at the intersection of microbiology and human disease, tackling significant challenges in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of Lyme disease. UoGuelph#1, UoGuelph#2

Sudbury, Ont.-based Cambrian College’s new Vale Electric Vehicle Lab in the college’s Glencore Centre for Innovation received $500,000 from the RBC Foundation. The Vale Electric Vehicle Lab was created with the support of 10 key collaborators and is the first of its kind in Northern Ontario. The RBC Foundation funding will support the lab’s efforts to develop battery electric vehicles for use in the mining sector and enhance workforce training opportunities. The lab aims to accelerate the sector’s shift from diesel-powered to electric-powered mining equipment. “This donation supports us to move forward quickly, in our effort to drive innovation, sustainability and the growth of green technology in mining,” said Janneke Nicholls, Cambrian’s vice-president of Finance, Administration, and Applied Research. Cambrian College

University of Guelph (UoGuelph) researchers Dr. Sarah Alderman and Dr. Todd Gillis, professors in the College of Biological Science, received $1.45 million over 30 months from the Government of Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan to study the impact of diluted oilsands bitumen, or dilbit, exposure on Pacific salmon returning to freshwater systems to spawn. Alderman and Gillis will build on their previous work supported by Fisheries and Oceans Canada that shows very small concentrations of dilbit can affect heart function, swimming performance and mortality in young salmon during early life stages in freshwater. This new project will be the first to examine the effects of dilbit exposure on adult salmon returning to their spawning beds to reproduce. The project will also look at whether oil exposure in adult salmon can affect the fitness and survival of their offspring. Findings of this research will help inform the actions of the Canadian Coast Guard in the event of an oil spill in B.C.’s Fraser River, a key salmon production area along the route of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Alderman and Gillis will collaborate with UoGuelph integrative biologist Dr. Robert Hanner, researchers at Simon Fraser University, and local Indigenous communities who have a connection to and knowledge of Pacific salmon and the watershed. University of Guelph

Velocity has a new home at the University of Waterloo’s (UWaterloo) Innovation Arena in downtown Kitchener. The university-linked incubator will take half of the 90,000-square-foot Innovation Arena, which includes 20,000 square feet of purpose-built lab space for hardware and health tech equipment. The Innovation Arena was announced in November 2020 as part of a collaboration between the City of Kitchener and UWaterloo to expand the university’s Health Sciences Campus. The City of Kitchener contributed $8.5 million towards the building’s renovations, with additional funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, the Government of Ontario, and philanthropic partners including local entrepreneur and angel investor Mike Stork. McMaster University’s Waterloo Regional Campus and ​​MACcelerate lab, UWaterloo’s School of Pharmacy, and the Communitech MedTech Accelerator are on the same block as the Innovation Arena, and the Medical Innovation Xchange is a short drive from the space. According to UWaterloo, over 100 health tech companies are operating in the region. Velocity began as an on-campus startup incubator and expanded into the Velocity Garage inside the Lang Tannery Building in 2012. BetaKit

Montreal-based carbon removal company Deep Sky announced it has sold carbon removal credits to founding buyers Royal Bank of Canada and Microsoft. In return, Deep Sky intends to facilitate the removal of 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a 10-year period via Deep Sky Labs, the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization centre. The founding buyers are helping to support Deep Sky Labs’ mission to accelerate the path to low-cost, low-energy intensity and scalable carbon dioxide removal. The agreement calls for Deep Sky to deliver an initial 10,000 tonnes of removals with options to purchase an additional 1 million tonnes from Deep Sky's pipeline of commercial projects. Deep Sky is led by Fred Lalonde, co-founder of travel-booking app Hopper. Deep Sky Labs, to be built in Innisfail, Alberta, is the first commercial direct air capture (DAC) project in Canada. To start, eight DAC technologies will be deployed side-by-side at Deep Sky Labs, with full access to renewable power and permanent carbon storage to enable the life cycle analysis required to support the production of verified carbon removal credits validated by third-party carbon registries. The DAC technology providers include Airhive, Avnos, Phlair (formerly Carbon Atlantis), Greenlyte, Mission Zero, NEG8 Carbon, Skyrenu, and Skytree. Deep Sky

Montreal-based AtkinsRéalis and its subsidiary company Candu Energy, in a joint venture with Fluor Corporation, Ansaldo Nucleare and Sargent & Lundy, was awarded a contract from EnergoNuclear S.A. to build two new CANDU^® reactors at the Cernavoda Nuclear Generating Station in Romania. These units will allow Romania to almost double the production of clean, reliable and affordable electricity, AtkinsRéalis said. As the original equipment manufacturer of the Canadian-owned CANDU technology, AtkinsRéalis will provide design, engineering, procurement services and support to EnergoNuclear to meet European Union directives around the project, and interface with Romania's nuclear power regulator, the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control. These two new units for Romania are the first CANDU new builds in the world since Romania's Unit 2 nuclear reactor came online in 2007. Canada’s federal government previously announced $3 billion in export financing to help support the project. EnergoNuclear is the Romanian entity responsible for construction, commissioning and operation of Units 3 & 4 – using CANDU technology – at Cernavoda. The initial first phase of the contract is worth $224 million. After completion of the initial phase, EnergoNuclear has the option to issue a full notice to proceed with the services necessary to complete Units 3 and 4, subject to the agreement of commercial terms. Romania has avoided the release of over 215 million tons of carbon dioxide since the two existing CANDU units – which provide about 20 percent of the country’s power – came online in 1996 and 2007, respectively. AtkinsRéalis also announced a 10-year joint contract worth US$2.3 billion to operate and maintain nuclear assets for the U.S. Department of Energy. AtkinsRéalis

The U.S. unveiled a plan to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. Under a new road map, the U.S. would deploy an additional 200 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear energy capacity by mid-century through the construction of new reactors, plant restarts and upgrades to existing facilities. In the short term, the U.S. aims to have 35 GW of new capacity operating in just over a decade. The strategy could win continued support under president-elect Donald Trump, who called for new nuclear reactors on the campaign trail as a way to help supply electricity to energy-hungry data centres and factories. The nuclear industry also enjoys bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, culminating in the July enactment of a law giving the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission new tools to regulate advanced reactors, license new fuels and evaluate breakthroughs in manufacturing that promise faster and cheaper buildouts. Nuclear accounted for about 100 GW of installed electricity generation in the U.S. in 2023, compared with more than 576 GW for natural gas, 196 GW of coal, 153 GW of onshore wind, and 119 GW of solar photovoltaic. Bloomberg

Global solar power capacity has reached a record 2 terawatts (TW), with more capacity added in the last two years than the previous 68 years combined, data from the sector's global industry group shared with Reuters showed. The updated figures have not previously been published, and the Global Solar Council said they give the fullest picture yet because they include small, rooftop installations often left out of official government data. After the 2 TW milestone was reached this quarter, global solar capacity has become enough to power around 92 million U.S. households, the Council said. The challenge now is to achieve 8 TW of installed solar power in total by 2030, which the data suggests is possible and would amount to more than half of the 11 TW of renewable capacity needed to achieve a U.N. goal set at climate talks in Dubai last year. Reuters

Like Canada, Europe is realizing it is “top in science, flop in innovation,” Science | Business reported. Europe’s inability to make economic use of its cutting-edge research was voiced unanimously at this year’s Falling Walls science summit in Berlin. “Europe is facing the existential challenge of closing the gap between research and innovation,” Maria Leptin, president of the European Research Council (ERC), said in a panel discussion. A recent open access study shows that U.S. companies in particular benefit from the results of ERC-funded research projects. It concludes that the ERC is currently unable to overcome the “European paradox” – the continent’s technology transfer and commercialization deficit. Patrick Hetzel, the new French research minister, supports the idea of creating a European Fund for Research and Competitiveness which, in addition to promoting scientific excellence, provides for the transfer of results from conception to market maturity. Speakers at the Falling Walls summit cited several reasons for the research-to-innovation conundrum:

• Too many different sets of rules and objectives, with 27 innovation policies among European countries.
• A lack of integration, including among Germany’s 149 innovation clusters.
• A lack of capital, given it costs around one billion euros to bring a product from research to market, according to Rafael Laguna de la Vera, director of Sprind, Germany’s federal agency for breakthrough innovation.
• The walls between the academic and industrial worlds.
• Lack of a willingness to take risks on novel ideas and technologies.

“Institute directors should propagate the idea of transfer and facilitate entrepreneur training,” said Dietmar Harhoff, director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich. Science | Business

 A new study in the journal Scientific Reports found that non-expert readers can’t reliably distinguish between poems penned by William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot or Sylvia Plath and ChatGPT-3.5 doing its best impression of each of them. More surprising, readers preferred the AI-generated poems – and were more likely to guess those were written by humans than real works by famous poets. “It is quite a weird phenomenon,” said Edouard Machery, a philosopher at the University of Pittsburgh who carried out the study with Brian Porter, a former postdoctoral researcher. For the study, researchers asked ChatGPT to create five poems in the style of 10 different English-language poets, all White. Then they asked more than 1,600 people to read five real poems by one of the poets, alongside the five AI-generated poems. People were bad at predicting which poems were authored by AI and which were human, performing a touch worse than if they’d just flipped a coin to make the decision. When the researchers asked nearly 700 readers to rate qualities of the poems, such as atmosphere, profoundness and rhythm, they would prefer AI-authored poems. Non-experts found AI-generated poems to be “more human” than poems written by humans, the researchers said. Of the top five poems most often judged to be written by a human, four were authored by AI. The other one was “Father Death Blues” by Allen Ginsberg. The Washington Post

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

San Francisco-based Writer, which offers a generative AI platform for businesses, raised US$200 million in Series C venture funding led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures and Premji Invest, along with existing investor ICONIQ Growth. Adobe Ventures, B Capital, Citi Ventures, IBM Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Workday Ventures. Existing investors Accenture, Balderton, Insight Partners, and Vanguard participated. Sandesh Patnam, managing partner at Premji Invest, and Rob Toews, partner at Radical Ventures, will join Writer’s board of directors. Writer said it will use the new capital to accelerate its development of AI solutions that can plan and execute complex enterprise workflows across systems and teams. The funding will also support a rapid expansion of quick-start AI applications and agents for the most time-intensive workflows in health care, retail and financial services. Writer

Vancouver-based Pender Ventures closed its second venture fund, Technology Inflection Fund II LP, at more than $100 million with significant support from Alberta Enterprise Corporation. Two-thirds of Alberta's startups focus on health and life sciences or B2B information technology which is the focus of Pender Ventures. Also participating in the fund were early and returning investors as well as new ones, including Export Development Bank, InBC, Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, Bank of Montreal, BDC Capital, Co-Operators, Kinsted Wealth, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, VanCity and a number of private investors. Pender Ventures said its second venture fund is well positioned to invest in and support high-potential business-to-business technology and health tech startups at the inflection point between commercialization and scale up. Pender Ventures

Richmond, B.C.-based logistics company UniUni raised US$30 million in a Series C2 financing round with participation by LFX Venture Partners, Lanchi Ventures, Joy Capital, and Celtic House Venture Partners. UniUni said the new funding will fuel the company’s rapid U.S. expansion, including the addition of warehouses, robotic sorting centers that reduce costs and increase efficiency and accuracy, and continued investments in software improvements, such as AI integration for both customer service and driver delivery routing optimization. After expanding to the U.S. 24 months ago, the company – which uses a crowdsourced business model to make last-mile deliveries – now has high-capacity sorting centres serving 30 cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, New York, and San Francisco. UniUni

Toronto-based Zucara Therapeutics, a diabetes life sciences company, raised US$20 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Sanofi (as part of the agreement, the company will receive an exclusive right of first negotiation) and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund. Zucara Therapeutics is developing ZT-01, a once-daily therapeutic to prevent hypoglycemia in people with Type 1 diabetes and insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes. The company intends to use the funds to conduct the ongoing Phase 2a trial of the effect of ZT-01 on nocturnal hypoglycemia events in Type 1 diabetes. FinSMEs

Toronto-based Trolley, a provider of a global payouts platform, raised $23 million in Series B funding in a round led by Wavecrest Growth Partners, with participation from Pace Capital. Trolley intends to use the funds to accelerate product development, broaden its market presence and enhance its platform to better serve businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Trolley provides an end-to-end payouts platform built for the internet economy, helping businesses manage payouts, tax compliance and ID verification for contractors around the globe. FinSMEs

Canadian-led, California-based Medeloop raised US$15.5 million (Cdn$21 million) in Series A financing to support its platform aimed at speeding up clinical research with artificial intelligence. The all-equity round was led by Canadian venture firm Inovia Capital, with participation from Icon Ventures, General Catalyst, Maven Ventures, Healthier Capital, Up2 Opportunity Fund, and CFO Advisors. Founded in 2021 by CEO Rene Cassie, a former surgeon who’s originally from New Brunswick, Medeloop has developed a platform aimed at accelerating clinical research by deploying autonomous AI agents that the company said can handle tasks such as ingesting data, running analytics, producing manuscripts, and finding and writing grants. Medeloop plans to use the new capital to increase the speed and accuracy of its platform. BetaKit

Quebec City-based GPHY raised $5 million in a seed round to expand its workplace management application and bring its innovative solutions to businesses outside of its home province. The funding round was led by Vincent Thibault, co-founder of Quebec City-based QScale, with participation (as individuals) from Martin Bouchard, a fellow QScale founder; Alex Wojcik and Ismael Meskin from Kimoby; Ugo Cloutier from CFO+CO; Jason Dacosta from MSP Corp.; and Pierre-Olivier DeSerres and Guillaume Falardeau from Leviat Legal. In addition to these investors, Quebec-based firms Artopex, ACET Capital, and Quebecor’s venture capital arm asterX Capital also participated. GPHY, founded in 2018, offers a combination of hardware and software that enables companies to track and optimize their office space utilization. Scholars International Institute of Technology

Toronto-based InVintory, which provides a wine-management platform, raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Investors weren’t disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to launch its 3D technology to businesses, including restaurants, hotels, golf and country clubs, wine storage facilities and wine clubs. InVintory provides an AI-powered solution for managing wine collections. FinSMEs

Waterloo, Ont.-based runQL raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Mistral Venture Partners, with participation from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Inovia Capital, UW Velocity Fund, Philip Rathle, and other Waterloo-based founders. The company said it intends to use the funds to accelerate further sales, marketing and product development to help data analysts and developers. runQL provides a smart query platform purpose-built to help data professionals write queries faster, have a single source of truth, and eliminate the chaos around saving, documenting and versioning queries. FinSMES

The Government of Quebec's Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy interrupted three programs supporting early-stage startup companies. The programs are Impulsion PME, the Economic Development Program to Help Revitalize Territories (DÉPART) and Biomed Propulsion, all supported by Investissement Québec, Les Affaires reported. The news took many stakeholders in the startup environment by surprise. “All fundraising entrepreneurs relied on PME and DÉPART to be able to fill or double their financing round – especially Impulsion PME. And now, it’s just disappeared under their feet,” said Phil Rivard, an advisor to many startups and their accelerators. According to the Quebec ministry, “These suspensions were necessary, in particular due to the enthusiasm shown by companies for certain programs, as well as to ensure the availability of funds in order to meet current and future commitments.” In recent weeks and months, the ministry also has put an end to the Immigrant Investor Program for Business Assistance, the Marketing and Export Support Program, as well as Component 1 of Essor, which was dedicated to accelerating investment projects for businesses. Les Affaires

Venture capital funding in Quebec declined significantly in the third quarter of this year,  continuing a multi-year trend and ranking the quarter in the bottom five of the past 10 years, according to a new report by Réseau Capital. Twenty-five VC deals in Quebec closed this past quarter with a total of $239 million invested, a steep 63-percent drop in funding volume compared with the third quarter in 2023. In terms of deal size, the third quarter ranks 42 of 47 since 2013. However, Q3 2024’s deal volume spelled an improvement on Q3 2023, which itself marked a low point for venture deals. In 2024 so far, Quebec recorded 85 VC deals totalling $1.47 billion. That’s a 24-percent decline in deal count but a 14-percent increase in total funding compared with the same period in 2023. Elsewhere in Canada, the lack of pre-seed and seed funding – only about 40 percent of what it was in 2023 – is “worrisome,” according to Kim Furlong CEO of the Canadian Venture Capital Association. The third quarter of 2024 was marked by a strong showing in the cleantech sector and a large later-stage boost from Vancouver-based legaltech firm Clio’s $1.24-billion Series F round. Réseau Capital

The University of Winnipeg Foundation launched the Venture Fund Group, a “Dragon’s Den”-style opportunity that enables graduate students and faculty members to pitch their innovative research projects and ideas to a group of five investors. Each investor may pledge up to $5,000, which the foundation will match dollar for dollar. Some investors have also tapped into their networks and raised an even higher amount in support of University of Winnipeg’s researchers. “[The initiative] was designed to connect a younger generation of donors with researchers working to solve key scientific and social challenges,” said Javier Schwersensky, president of the University of Winnipeg Foundation. “The strength of this group comes from both the generosity of its members and the freedom they have as investors to choose where they believe their funding will have the greatest positive impact.” University of Winnipeg

Nine wealthy Canadian families and foundations are making the country’s largest-ever philanthropic commitment to climate action, pledging $405 million of grant money over the next decade to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy. The total commitment includes $150 million from the Trottier Family Foundation, $100 million from the Peter Gilgan Foundation, $18 million from the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, $15 million from the Chisholm Thomson Family Foundation, $10 million from David Keith and Kirsten Anderson, $6 million from the Sitka Foundation, $5 million from the Vohra Miller Foundation and $1 million from Allan Shiff. The initiative also includes a previously announced $100 million from the Ivey Foundation. The group will concentrate on five priorities: clean energy and electrification; industry and economy, including agriculture, oil and gas; emission reduction in cities; impact on people and democracy; and policy and finance. Corporate Knights

REPORTS & POLICIES

Federal government should immediately end all government research collaborations with China in sensitive technology research areas: House of Commons committee report

The federal government should immediately end government research collaborations with entities and individuals in China in Canada’s sensitive technology research areas, a House of Commons special committee recommends.

These areas include: advanced digital infrastructure technology; advanced energy technology; advanced materials and manufacturing; advanced sensing and surveillance; advanced weapons, aerospace, space and satellite technology; artificial intelligence and big data technology; human-machine integration; life science technology; quantum science and technology; and robotics and autonomous systems.

In a report, the Special Committee on the Canada-People’s Republic of China Relationship also recommends that the federal government add the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Thousand Talents Program in China and similar programs to the list of Named Research Organizations developed by Public Safety Canada. The list is of organizations that could pose a risk to Canada’s national security.

The Thousand Talents Program uses incentives such as salaries, research funding and laboratory space to encourage Chinese researchers abroad to transmit knowledge to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The committee’s report focused on the case of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

On July 5, 2019, Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, both of whom were acclaimed scientists and Canadian citizens originally from the PRC, were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory – a biosafety level 4 laboratory – by the RCMP.

It was alleged that Qiu’s clandestine relationships with entities in the PRC, and Cheng’s awareness of her actions as well as his own activities with the PRC, affected their ability to safeguard proprietary government information relating to their work at the Winnipeg lab.

Following administrative and security screening investigations into their alleged actions, their security clearances were revoked and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) terminated their employment in January 2021.

The committee details the timeline of events that eventually led to Qiu and Cheng being escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory. These events included:

• Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) investigations revealed that Qiu and a top virologist at the Academy of Military Medical Services in China collaborated on multiple research projects going back to 2012. In nominating Qiu for an “international cooperation award,” the military academy stated that Qiu “used Canada’s Level 4 Biosecurity Laboratory as a base to assist China to improve its capability to fight highly pathogenic pathogens . . . and achieved brilliant results.”
• In May 2018, Qiu was awarded the 2018 Governor General’s Innovation Award, with Gary Kobinger, a Canadian immunologist and virologist who’s currently director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas, for discovering an Ebola virus treatment that was developed into a drug called ZMapp. Kobinger previously was chief of the Special Pathogens Unit at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
• On September 27, 2018, PHAC's National Security Management Division was advised that Qiu had been listed as the inventor on a Chinese patent that may have contained scientific information produced at the Winnipeg National Microbiology Laboratory.
• On March 31, 2019, the Winnipeg facility shipped live samples of Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan National Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. The special committee heard Qiu instigated the shipment, which had been authorized by PHAC and the Winnipeg facility as part of international cooperation and benefits sharing.
• On June 30, 2020, CSIS submitted its updated CSIS Act Security Assessment of Qiu to PHAC, finding that Qiu “has acted, may act and may be induced to act in a way that constitutes a threat to Canada’s national security” and has disclosed, may, may be induced or may cause to be disclosed in an unauthorized way, sensitive information. CSIS found that she had given “access to the National Microbiology Laboratory to at least two employees of a People’s Republic of China institution whose work is not aligned with Canadian interests.” CSIS also assessed that “despite her enormous scientific knowledge and contributions, her behavior is incompatible with holding a Government of Canada security clearance.”

The committee’s other recommendations include that the federal government:

• establish a List of Trusted Countries for the sharing of research and intellectual property, building on the Global Health Security Action Group Laboratory Network (G7+1).
• ensure that the transfer of highly dangerous viruses and pathogens, like Ebola and Henipah viruses, is limited to laboratories located in countries on the List of Trusted Countries.
• explore constitutionally compliant ways to prevent those under investigation for national security breaches from leaving the country.
• consider the security-related requirements, obligations and implications of biosafety level 4 laboratories to be an integral part of the governmental national security machinery, and study how allied countries are categorizing their level 4 laboratories in terms of national security.
• ensure that security assessments and clearances are completed in an expeditious manner.
• update Canada’s national security policy, which has not been updated since 2004, to better reflect the threats we face from hostile state actors like the People’s Republic of China.
• review security policies in departments that are outside national security organizations and are sensitive to foreign interference activities.
• assign responsibility to a person within the Privy Council Office to work with a Public Health Agency of Canada’s departmental security officer to report annually to a parliamentary committee on the application of new security measures within PHAC.
• study the possibility of creating a liaison position between the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Public Health Agency of Canada responsible for ensuring that scientists understand the classified information shared by CSIS.
• in cooperation with the provinces and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, make the scientific community aware of the risks of interference related to international cooperation.

The Globe and Mail reported in March this year that Qiu and Cheng were in China working and publishing under new names and conducting research at prestigious institutions, including China’s University of Science and Technology and Guangzhou Medical University. Special Committee on the Canada-People's Republic of China Relationship

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R&D spending in the higher education sector increased in 2022/2023, Statistics Canada reports

Research and development spending in the higher education sector reached $18.1 billion in 2022/2023, up $1.4 billion from the previous year, with notable increases seen in both fields of research, according to a report by Statistics Canada (StatsCan).

The natural sciences and engineering field saw the largest gain as spending increased by $1.1 billion to $13.6 billion. R&D spending in the social sciences, humanities and the arts rose by $376 million to $4.5 billion.

R&D in the higher education sector is funded through multiple channels. These include business enterprises, the foreign sector, private non-profit organizations, provincial governments, the federal government and higher education institutions themselves.

The increase in R&D expenditures in 2022/2023 spanned all six funding sectors, marking the first occurrence of widespread growth since 2019/2020.

In 2022/2023, the largest increase in funding occurred in the higher education sector itself (+$565 million to $8.9 billion), followed by funding from the private non-profit sector (+$349 million to $2.1 billion).

Funding from the federal government (+$221 million to $4.3 billion) was also notable as it rebounded following a decrease in the previous year.

R&D spending plays a pivotal role in shaping regional innovation ecosystems often with significant impacts on local economies, StatsCan noted.

Regionally, the largest increase in R&D spending in 2022/2023 was seen in Ontario (+$683 million to $7.3 billion), followed by Quebec (+$291 million to $4.7 billion), and Alberta (+$147 million to $1.9 billion).

Together, Ontario (40.4 percent) and Quebec (26.2 percent) accounted for most of the R&D expenditures in 2022/2023.

Globally, Canada's higher education R&D intensity continued to rank above the average of the G7 countries in 2022/2023.

However, measured as the ratio of R&D expenditures relative to the nominal gross domestic product, higher education R&D intensity for Canada declined slightly from 0.66 in 2021/2022 to 0.64 in 2022/2023. Statistics Canada

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Canadian manufacturing sales fell in September, while Donald Trump’s reelection has a range of implications for Canada’s manufacturing sector: Conference Board of Canada

Canadian manufacturing sales fell by 0.5 percent month-to-month in September – the fourth consecutive quarterly decline – while real manufacturing sales volumes declined by 0.8 percent, according to a report by The Conference Board of Canada (CBoC).

This was a slightly more modest decline than anticipated in Statistics Canada’s “flash estimate” which called for a 0.8 per cent drop. After accounting for price effects, real manufacturing sales volumes fell by 0.4 per cent month-to-month, CBoC’s report said.

Nominal sales grew in 11 of the 21 manufacturing subsectors. Sales of primary metal products (+$118 million) rose the most. Meanwhile, sales of petroleum and coal products (-$580 million) saw the sharpest decline.

Manufacturing sales grew in four of the 10 provinces. In relative terms, sales fell the most in Prince Edward Island (-9.7 percent) and grew the most in Newfoundland and Labrador (+30 percent).

New orders increased by 3.9 percent, while unfilled orders rose by 1.6 per cent.

The decline in manufacturing sales for a second consecutive month weighed on sales in the third quarter of 2024 overall, according to the report.

Lower sales of petroleum and coal were the largest driver of the drop in September. Lower energy prices were partly to blame, though weak global demand for energy also played a role. Excluding these products, manufacturing sales grew by 0.4 per cent.

Looking ahead, the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI rose to a 20-month high in October and remained above 50, signalling an expansion of manufacturing activity.

“Sales will pick up in the months ahead as the Bank of Canada loosens monetary policy and demand for manufactured goods increases,” the report said.

The re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S. has a range of implications for Canadian manufacturing, the report noted.

How aggressively Trump’s administration will act on some of the policy proposals raised during his campaign is uncertain. Yet some general directions are clear. “Protectionism has a full-throated mandate, and president-elect Trump will pressure Canadian exporters with tariffs – or at least the threat of tariffs.”

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2018, will expire in 2026.

Renegotiating a new agreement could result in less favourable terms for Canadian manufacturing, reflecting a shift to a more transactional approach to international relations in the U.S., the report said.

The new deal could even exclude Mexico, which could interfere with manufacturers operating in all three countries. “Canada’s large bets on electric vehicle manufacturing also face the risk of a cooler attitude toward the transition to EVs in the United States.” The Conference Board of Canada

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Federal business innovation and growth programs helping Canadian exporters: Statistics Canada report

The federal government, through business innovation and growth support (BIGS) programs, provided support for more than 12 percent of all Canadian exporting enterprises in 2021 and the total value of exports from these beneficiaries was over $363 billion, according to a report by Statistics Canada author Megan Carta.

The number of Canadian goods exporters reached a high of 47,701 enterprises in 2021, with 5,830 exporting enterprises receiving BIGS support, according to the report.

The total value of goods exported from Canada in 2021 was $575.2 billion, with 63.2 percent ($363.2 billion) of these exports coming from BIGS beneficiaries.

In 2021, Canadian exporters that were funded through BIGS programs received $274,000 of support, on average. In comparison, BIGS beneficiaries that did not export goods received $105,000 of support, on average.

In 2021, the BIGS database covered support that was provided to ultimate recipients by 134 federal programs from 17 government departments.

The program stream that provided the highest value of support to exporters was the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) program, funded by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. In 2021, a high proportion of SIF beneficiaries were exporters (60 percent), with $386.8 million of support provided to these exporters.

The program stream with the highest value of exports from beneficiaries was the Collaborative Research and Development Grants program, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The total value of exports from beneficiaries of this program was $165.9 billion.

BIGS beneficiary exporters were more likely to have 20 to 99 employees, be established for over 20 years and be operating in the manufacturing industry.

However, compared with BIGS beneficiary non-exporters, BIGS beneficiary exporters were 5.3 times more likely to be large businesses, with at least 500 employees.

For BIGS beneficiary exporters, the owners of these businesses were predominantly men (85.3 percent of supported exporters), older than 50 years (68.4 percent of supported exporters) and born in Canada (76.8 percent of supported exporters).

BIGS beneficiary exporters comprised 12.2 percent of all women-owned businesses, 5.5 percent of all businesses owned by people aged 30 or younger, and 16.7 percent of all immigrant-owned beneficiary businesses

The majority of BIGS beneficiaries exported from Ontario and Quebec, and the top countries of destination were the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.

The U.S. was an export destination for 87.3 percent of BIGS beneficiary exporters and accounted for 68.9 percent of the total value of exports from BIGS beneficiaries.

Manitoba experienced the largest percentage increase from 2020 to 2021 in the number of BIGS beneficiary exporters (+15.4 percent) and the total value of exports (+89.1 percent), driven by an increase in exports from the province’s manufacturing industry.

Canada’s agri-food sector accounted for 10.3 percent of all BIGS beneficiary exporters, produced 9.9 percent of the total value of exports from beneficiaries, and received 3.9 percent of the support given to exporters.

Clean technology activities accounted for 5.4 percent of all BIGS beneficiary exporters, produced 7.2 percent of the total value of exports from beneficiaries and received 5.1 percent of the support given to exporters.

Compared with BIGS non-exporters, BIGS exporters were 3.1 times more likely to be high-growth enterprises, with 12 percent of beneficiary exporters and 3.8 percent of beneficiary non-exporters being high-growth enterprises.

Supported exporters generated $71.1 million in business profit, on average, while supported non-exporters generated $3.3 million, on average.

Year over year, from 2017 to 2021, around two-thirds of BIGS beneficiary exporters consistently had a higher export-to-revenue ratio than the previous year.

“Overall, BIGS programs play a notable role in providing support to Canadian exporters, with 1/10 of Canadian exporters receiving BIGS and more than half of the total value of Canadian exports coming from BIGS beneficiaries,” Carta’s report notes.

Since studies indicate that a lack of resources is one of the main barriers to exporting, “acquiring support through BIGS programs could be a way to overcome this challenge.” Statistics Canada

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Ontario universities project budget deficits due to federal changes for international students; students applying for asylum hits record-high

Ten Ontario universities are reporting more than $300 million in deficits in 2023-24 and universities’ revenue is projected to fall by nearly $1 billion in the first two years of federal changes to international study permits, says the Council of Ontario Universities (COU).

“The sector is at a critical juncture, and without additional support Ontario risks not having the vital talent and research needed to foster economic growth and prosperity,” the COU said in a statement.

The Ontario government has invested nearly $1.3 billion over four years across 23 universities and 24 colleges.

But this increase in time-limited funding fails to keep pace with inflation and represents less than one-third of what Ontario’s Blue Ribbon Panel’s report recommended in operating revenue increases, the COU noted.

“And with the new funding ending in 2026-27, it creates a financial cliff that will further threaten the financial sustainability of universities,” the Council said.

These financial impacts come at a time when Ontario universities are seeing a growing number of high school students applying for a university education, the COU said.

From 2020 to 2024, the number of these applicants has increased by 12 percent – or 9,647 more domestic students. It is also projected that up to 18 percent more Ontario students will want to enroll in an Ontario university by 2030.

“However, because of the current provincial funding cap on domestic students which has been frozen since 2016, up to 100,000 Ontario high school students are at risk of not getting into the university or program of their choice, despite their qualifications,” the COU said.

Algonquin College projects that international student enrolment will be short by nearly 2,400 incoming students compared with the college’s budget target of 7,447 new international students. This enrolment shortfall, which has a multi-year impact, will contribute to an overall revenue decrease of $32 million, the college said.

Also, a recent internal review indicates that approximately 65 percent of the programs the college currently offers have been deemed ineligible for post-graduate work permits for international students based on Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) criteria.

These programs attract high enrolment from international learners, the college said. “If the IRCC’s work permit decision remains unchanged, our ability to attract international learners will continue to be significantly impeded.”

McGill University said it must scale back the “unsustainable” scholarship program that kept out-of-province students coming, and the university warns that new provincial and federal immigration measures and Quebec francization rules could also affect student intake.

The university received 37,568 applications this year, an eight-per-cent drop compared with the previous year, according to a story by the Montreal Gazette. Fewer out-of-province and international students applied.

However, the total number of students admitted — 7,180 — represented a seven-per-cent increase due to a jump in domestic students.

Carleton University, which had expected a $26-million operating deficit, said the impact of the federally imposed cap on international undergraduate student visas has been dramatic, resulting in a 55-percent reduction in first-year undergraduate international student enrolment. Simultaneously, the university saw a 35-percent reduction of incoming international graduate students.

“Due to these additional external factors, our projected operating deficit is now significantly higher and current financial forecasting suggests that it will continue to increase without serious intervention,” Carleton University said in a statement. The university didn’t specify what its projected operating deficit is now.

Meanwhile, international students filed almost 14,000 asylum claims while in Canada over the first nine months of this year, a record reached even as the number of new study permits issued to students fell significantly, The Globe and Mail reported.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller, citing anecdotal evidence from department officials, said the increase in asylum claims from people in the country on study permits appears to include false claims filed by students who have been counselled to do so by outside consultants.

The schools with the highest numbers of students claiming asylum so far in 2024 are also institutions that have already been identified as having large proportions of international students.

They include: Conestoga College in Kitchener, where 520 claims students applied for asylum from January to September; Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, with 490 claims this year; and Niagara College Canada with 410 claims.

The countries with the most claims filed by students on permits and extensions this year are India, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to data from IRCC.

The IRCC on November 8 announced the end of the Student Direct Stream (SDS) and Nigeria Student Express initiatives, effective immediately.

The SDS had been open to legal residents of Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Senegal, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam. Prospective university students from Nigeria had a similar process with the Nigeria Student Express.

IRCC said the rationale for ending the initiatives is that “Canada's goal is to strengthen program integrity, address student vulnerability, and give all students equal and fair access to the application process, as well as a positive academic experience.” COU, Algonquin College, Carleton University, IRCC

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Canada’s venture capital and private equity industry lagging in climate-related initiatives, making slow progress in diversity, equity and inclusion: BDC Capital

Canadian venture capital and private equity investors and their portfolio companies showed “persistently low” adoption of environmental measures with a year-over-year decline in climate policy commitments, according to an annual report by BDC Capital.

Some firms have retreated from their previously communicated plans, with even fewer general partners having a carbon-neutral objective this year compared with last year.

There is slow integration of climate-related initiatives, with only 13 out of 49 general partners in investment firms who responded to this question having set a carbon-neutral objective or actively working toward one – a decrease compared with last year.

However, general partners are continuously improving on the integration of the social and governance aspects of environment, social and governance (ESG) standards, the report says.

An increasing number of general partners are identifying ESG risks during their due diligence and factoring them into their investment decision-making. Additionally, more general partners are evaluating their portfolio supply chains for ESG-related risks.

When it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, there has been some gradual progress but “stronger industry leadership will remain crucial to continue building a more sustainable, diverse and inclusive Canadian ecosystem, the report says.

Key DEI findings include:

• Diverse representation continues to increase since 2021, with the percentage of general partners where women make up at least half of employees increasing by 16 percent and visible minorities by nine percent.
• Women made up at least half of the staff at 37 percent of venture funds, up from 31 percent a year earlier.
• Racial diversity increased by just one percent, with 18 percent of firms reporting at least half their employees were visible minorities in 2023.
• Gender diversity remains a gap at the general partner ownership and investment committee levels, with 55 percent of general partners being entirely male-owned and 21 percent of investment committees composed exclusively of men.
• Diversity remains higher in more junior ranks of general partners. However, a positive six-percent increase in general partners with at least one woman on the investment committee was observed, as well as a 13-percent increase in senior investment teams with at least one visible minority.
• Fewer investors in 2023 (33 percent) had diversity targets for their portfolio companies than they did a year earlier (38 percent), and there was a five percent drop in firms that enforce diversity investment targets.

“Integrating DEI and ESG best practices in the VC and [private equity] industry is a journey that demands time, commitment and a collective effort to align with each firm’s unique values and long-term goals,” Paula Cruickshank, senior vice-president, fund investments at BDC Capital said in a statement.

“BDC’s data collection exercise is designed to raise awareness and encourage advancements in DEI and ESG, which are essential steps towards building resilience in a rapidly changing world.” BDC Capital

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Alberta joins U.S. state energy coalition to expand energy ties and promote cross-border energy trade 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith joined a U.S. energy group – the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security – to further support advocacy of Alberta’s energy and environmental interests with key U.S. states.

The coalition, established in September 2024 by U.S. State Governors Jeff Landry (Louisiana) and Chris Sununu (New Hampshire), aims to ensure energy security, lower energy costs, and increase reliability, sustainable economic development and sensible management of energy resources and the environment.

With 12 U.S. states already signatories to the coalition, Alberta is the first non-U.S. state to join.

By expanding energy ties with the U.S. and promoting cross-border energy trade and participation, Alberta is helping to build upon its North American energy strategy, the provincial government said.

Alberta already accounts for 56 percent of all oil imports to the U.S. – twice as much as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Iraq combined – which is helping to drive job creation and prosperity on both sides of the border, the government said.

In 2023, energy products accounted for approximately C$133.6 billion, or more than 80 percent of Alberta’s exports to the U.S.

Natural gas also plays an important role in North America’s energy mix. Alberta is the largest producer of natural gas in Canada and remains positioned to support the U.S. in filling their domestic supply gaps.

“With 200 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 200 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, significant natural gas liquids and ample pore space for carbon capture, Alberta’s contribution is set to grow even further as we look to work with the Trump Administration and other U.S. partners to increase our pipeline capacity to our greatest friend and ally, the United States,” Smith said in a statement. 

The province has captured about 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide through carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, and has the ability to support the U.S. in developing new infrastructure and supply chains for future energy markets in the areas of hydrogen, renewables, small modular reactors and others, the Alberta government said.

Alberta is also unlocking its untapped geological potential to help meet the increasing demand for minerals – many of which are used worldwide to manufacture batteries, cell phones, energy storage cells and other products.

This effort includes the province’s lithium sector where Alberta’s government is supporting several innovative projects to develop new ways to extract and concentrate lithium faster and with higher recovery rates that are less capital and energy intensive and have a smaller land-use footprint. Govt. of Alberta

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Telework produces considerably lower greenhouse gas emissions than in-person work in the National Capital Region and Quebec: Carleton University study

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with remote work are considerably lower than in-person work in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Quebec, according to a study by Carleton University.

Remote work-related emissions are 25 percent and 64 percent lower than in-person work in the NCR and Quebec, respectively, the study found.

In absolute terms, full-time telework is estimated to decrease emissions by 1.6 tonnes and 1.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per employee versus in-person work for the NCR and Quebec, respectively.

“Telework, when compared to in-office work, results in significantly less transportation emissions,” the study said.

Researchers in Carleton University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering prepared the report for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Canada Revenue Agency. The study included a survey distributed to employees of the three federal agencies.

In September, the federal government implemented a hybrid work policy requiring federal employees in the core public service to work in the office a minimum of three days a week, and executives will need to be onsite a minimum of four days.

The new requirements applied to 282,152 employees in the core public service, with the government recommending that departments and agencies outside the core public service adopt a similar strategy.

However, some federal departments said they do not have enough space to accommodate workers in the office three days a week. They include Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, and Statistics Canada.

The Federal Court has agreed to hear the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s application to quash the three-day-a-week office mandate, but a court date has not yet been set.

Homes in the National Capital Region are a major source of emissions for teleworkers while home emissions in Quebec are minimal due to the low-carbon intensity of dominant heating systems and electricity, according to the Carleton University report.

Office space reduction and fossil fuel divestment plans can further decrease the absolute emissions associated with telework by almost 57 percent in offices based on the current divestment projections, the report said.

The impact of telework on internet use emissions is negligible compared to other domains, the report found.

The report’s findings suggest teleworking can be a more sustainable alternative to in-person work, researchers said. Carleton University

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U.S. regulators reject international plan for banks to disclose their climate risks; Canada’s big banks absent from COP29

U.S. regulators led by the Federal Reserve have refused to endorse a plan that would have seen the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision push lenders to disclose their climate risk, BNN Bloomberg reported.

While it’s not impossible the U.S. could reverse course, the Basel Committee has already watered down the proposal significantly to accommodate the Federal Reserve. The Committee is now bracing for a scenario in which its work on adding climate considerations to global bank reporting regulations may be shelved indefinitely.

The Basel Committee is due to meet on November 19, when the disclosure framework will be debated again. 

As the world awaits Donald Trump’s return to the White House, proponents of climate policies are looking on in dismay as key planks of a global framework intended to help address global warming are expected to be dismantled.

Trump has made it clear he’ll once again withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a prospect that overshadowed talks at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.

The pushback against Basel’s climate framework follows more than two years of Republican-led legal attacks against financial firms that factor environmental, social and governance, or ESG, elements into business and investing decisions. 

The Basel Committee, which represents central bankers and financial regulators from some 30 countries, would have signed off on the proposal in September had it not been for U.S. opposition.

In comparison to U.S. regulators, the European Central Bank has repeatedly told lenders in the region that they face fines unless they meet explicit expectations for handling climate risk.

The Basel Committee can’t force countries to implement its standards. Instead, its power lies in arriving at a baseline for global rules that individual regulators then develop and enforce.

In Canada, the federal government in October said it’s moving forward with mandating climate-related financial disclosures for large, federally incorporated private companies. 

The government’s 2023 Fall Economic Statement committed Ottawa to developing options for making climate disclosures mandatory, as part of expanding mandatory climate disclosures across the Canadian economy.

However, Canada’s big banks and investors are noticeably absent from COP29, according to media reports.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault unveiled at COP29 a US$1.48-billion fund (about Cdn$2 billion) that pools government and private sector money to address climate change.

The partnership, called GAIA, includes international investors Mitsubishi Financial Group, the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environmental Facility, as well as national development financier FinDev Canada.

GAIA will contribute 25 percent of the fund to what it calls “least developed countries” and “small island developing states,” with 70 percent of the fund reserved for climate adaptation projects.

Between FinDev Canada and the federal government, Canada contributed $160 million to the fund, Guilbeault said. BNN Bloomberg, Environment and Climate Change Canada

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Dr. Paul C. Hébert was appointed president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a five-year term effective January 2, 2025. Hébert is currently a clinical scientist at the Bruyère Health Research Institute and a practising palliative care and former critical care physician. He is a professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine and previously at the Université de Montréal. He is internationally recognized for his critical care research in both adults and children and more recently in palliative care, aging in place and long term care. Health Canada

Mike Moroz, MLA for River Heights, was named the minister of innovation and technology in a new cabinet position created by the Government of Manitoba. Moroz’s mandate includes creating a task force to solicit expert advice on how new technology can build Manitoba’s future economy, with a specific focus on how Manitoba can gain a competitive advantage through the development and ownership of intellectual property. Moroz also is responsible for, among other things, working with Manitoba’s health minister to modernize data sharing and wait list management to reduce wait times and improve outcomes for patients. Govt. of Manitoba

Geologist Paul Hoffman, who began his work as a research scientist for the Geological Survey of Canada and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (worth about $900,000) for his groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of Earth’s ancient climate and geological evolution. Hoffman’s contributions to the “Snowball Earth” hypothesis were developed in the 1990s when he was a part of CIFAR’s Earth System Evolution program. Done alongside another former CIFAR Fellow Daniel Schrag, the work revolutionized perspectives on the global climate and continues to influence research on climate and planetary life. Snowball Earth posits that the growth of glaciers at the Earth’s poles catalyzed climate shifts until the planet was entirely covered in ice, which was followed by periods of rapid warming that potentially set the stage for significant evolutionary milestones. This bold hypothesis sparked extensive investigation and debate within the scientific community, making it a cornerstone of modern Earth system science. CIFAR

Dr. Kelly Cobey, a University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine associate professor and director of the university’s Metaresearch and Open Science Program, has won this year’s prestigious John Maddox Prize in the early career researcher category. The prize is presented by the U.K.-based Sense about Science charity and the journal Nature. Cobey has been instrumental in advancing knowledge of “predatory journals” and revealing how these sham outlets boost misinformation and erode public trust in science. She has also been a leader in advocating for open science, a growing movement to transform the dissemination of scientific research by making it widely accessible to the global research community, patients and the general public. University of Ottawa

Mitacs, a leading innovation organization in Canada that connects businesses and researchers to drive competitiveness and productivity in multiple sectors, presented the 2024 Mitacs Innovation Awards in a ceremony at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The winners are:

Mitacs Innovation Award – Outstanding Innovation:

• Timsy Bhando, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, for her cutting-edge work to develop new, natural drugs to improve brain health, including the discovery of a novel fungi compound that is showing therapeutic potential for treating neurodegenerative disease and depression.
• David Black, a University of British Columbia PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, for his groundbreaking work to develop a mixed reality, immersive environment remote ultrasound system that makes it easier and more affordable for Canadians to receive ultrasound procedures without having to travel far distances to a medical centre.
• Susanne Ouellet, a University of Calgary postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment, for her work to increase mine safety by developing an advanced monitoring system, using distributed acoustic sensing, that allows mine operators to “see” how tailings dams are performing before problems occur.
• Nazanin Vafaei, a University of Manitoba postdoctoral researcher at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research, for developing a sustainable method for extracting high-quality oils and producing a solvent-free canola meal that doesn't have any residual oil and is ideal for use in the plant-based protein industry. 

Mitacs Innovation Award – Inclusive Innovator of the Year:

Dr. Paul Onkundi Nyangaresi, an Environmental Engineering and Electronic Science Technologist and postdoctoral researcher in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia, for developing a first-of-its-kind low-cost, simple water disinfection system fueled by collected rainwater that is successfully being used by students and teachers at a school in Kenya.

Mitacs Innovation Award – Canadian Start-Up Innovator of the Year:

Marine Queffeulou, a Université Laval PhD student at the Infectious Disease Research Centre, for her outstanding effort to launch and rapidly scale startup company Kalego Solutions (of which Queffeulou is CEO), which is focused on delivering next-generation plasma technology to enhance the characteristics of any flat surface or material. This includes an anti-fog treatment to keep the lenses of endoscopes clear during medical procedures – a long-time industry challenge.

Mitacs Innovation Award – Outstanding Research Leadership: 

Dr. Bishnu Acharya, Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who is leading a research effort to turn canola meal left over after oil extraction into a low-cost, nutrient-dense feed for microbes used in fermentation, the fastest-growing segment of the North American biotechnology sector aimed at supporting new foods, beverages medicines and other applications.

Mitacs Innovation Award – Canadian Enterprise Innovator of the Year:  

Thales Canada, global artificial intelligence leader, for its pioneering work to deliver world-class AI solutions that are transparent, understandable and ethical while maintaining humans as the principal decision-makers. Through its CortAIx Labs in Canada, Thales is working to bring augmented technology (AI to assist humans rather than replace them) to advanced systems for defense, security, aerospace, cybersecurity and digital identity. Mitacs

Dr. James Rush, vice-president, academic, and provost at the University of Waterloo, has decided to step down from his role effective June 30, 2025. Rush has championed interdisciplinarity in academic work, creating the Provost’s Interdisciplinary Networks Fund to support cross-faculty networks, programs and initiatives in academic, research and community-building areas. He also has been pivotal in supporting equity and Indigenous reconciliation and has promoted recruitment of Indigenous and Black faculty. University of Waterloo

Dr. Octavia Dobre was appointed dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University. Dobre, who has been interim dean of the Faculty since May 2022, will begin a five-year term effective January 1, 2026, upon completion of a year of administrative leave during which she will be focused on her Canada Research Chair program. Dobre is a professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in ubiquitous connectivity. Her research spans wireless communication, networking technologies and optical and underwater communications. She is the first woman to be appointed dean of Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Memorial University

Dalhousie University graduate student Dina Rogers won top spot in the 2024 Falling Walls Lab pitch competition for her pitch on using biology to dispose of plastic waste. Rogers, an MSc student in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Killam Predoctoral Scholar, took first place in the Science Breakthrough of the Year in the Emerging Talents category. Her research shines a light on a novel approach to the engineering of hydrophobins for enhanced plastic degradation, creating a biological way to recycle plastic. This is the second time in two years a Dalhousie graduate student has taken the top prize in the Falling Walls Lab Pitches competition in Berlin, Germany. Last year, Joseph Bedard’s presentation on constructing plastic out of nitrogen, one of the building blocks of air, along with a little phosphorus took the top prize. Dalhousie University

Marc Parent will step down as CEO of Montreal-based flight simulator maker and civil aviation, defence and security forces training firm CAE after 20 years at the company. Parent will leave the company at next year’s annual general meeting in August 2025, as part of an ongoing succession plan, CAE said. Until then, Parent will continue to lead CAE in his role as CEO and as a member of the board of directors to advance CAE’s strategic objectives and ensure an effective transition. During Parent’s tenure, CAE’s annual revenue nearly doubled to $4.3 billion from $2.2 billion, driven in large part by the transformation he led from being primarily an industrial products company to becoming the world leader in aviation training solutions, with over two-thirds of annual revenue coming from recurring services. CAE

Toronto-based 1Password, a cloud-based identity management company, announced Jeff Shiner and David Faugno as co-CEOs, effective immediately. Together, Shiner and Faugno will share responsibility for the company’s performance, culture and long-term vision, advancing 1Password’s opportunity to establish Extended Access Management (XAM) as a new cybersecurity category that addresses the modern security needs of organizations, the company said. Shiner, who has led 1Password for more than 13 years, will drive product strategy, overseeing engineering and security, areas deeply rooted in his technical background. He will remain board chair. Faugno, as co-CEO, will drive business strategy, overseeing growth initiatives, customer experience and financial strategy to strengthen 1Password’s foundation for scalable growth. 1Password

Toronto-based Canaccord Genuity hired a team of advisers with $1 billion of client assets from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the investment dealer’s second major raid on its banking rival in the past two months. Canaccord hired the Ottawa-based Sutherland Investment Group, led by former CIBC portfolio manager Fraser Sutherland. The move gives Canaccord its first office in the country’s capital. The Sutherland team, all former CIBC employees, will now need to convince their clients to move their accounts over to Canaccord. In September, Canaccord welcomed a Vancouver-based adviser team, BPS Wealth Management, with $1.4-billion of assets from CIBC. Globally, Canaccord oversees $108 billion of client assets. The Globe and Mail

There has been a wave of leadership changes in Canada’s tech sector during the last couple of months:

• Earlier this month, Abtine Monavvari announced on LinkedIn that he was stepping down from his role as chief product officer at Chexy, the Toronto-based fintech startup he helped co-found. Chexy offers a platform that lets tenants make their monthly rental payments through their credit cards.
• In October, Toronto-based revenue management tech startup PureFactshired Pete Hess as president. Hess joined most recently from the role of chief revenue officer for the Americas at InvestCloud.
• In October, Calgary-headquartered Katipult Technologynamed Beth Shaw as its new CEO, taking over from Gord Breese. Shaw entered the role with over 30 years of experience in syndication and equity capital markets.
• In October, Calgary-based energy data company geoLOGICappointed Satvinder Flore as CEO and a board member, taking over from David Hood. Hood has assumed the role of chair of the company’s board and will continue to be involved in the company’s growth and strategic direction as a major shareholder. geoLOGIC provides data, software and analytics to customers in the energy sector.
• In late September, Calgary-based cleantech startup Carbon Upcyclingappointed Juliane Kniebel-Huebner as its new chief operating officer. She joined the role after serving as the director of western Canada development at Capstone Infrastructure Corporation and COO at Genalta Power Inc.
• Also in September, Toronto-based StackAdapthired Cassandra Hudson as its new chief financial officer. She replaced Mehmet Shah, who, according to his LinkedIn, served in the role until July 2024 and now serves as senior vice president of finance. Most recently, Hudson was CFO of since-acquired EngageSmart. BetaKit

The body of cryptocurrency influencer Kevin Mirshahi, who was abducted in June, was found at Île-de-la-Visitation park in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough. A passerby discovered the body at the nature park around 10 a.m. on October 30. Police sources told the Montreal Gazette that the body was decomposing. Mirshahi was last seen on June 21 when he was abducted from a condo building in Old Montreal, along with three others. The three other abductees were located hours later, but Mirshahi remained missing. The 25-year-old cryptocurrency influencer’s disappearance drew public interest because of his ties to Crypto Paradise Island, a private investment group he owned and operated, according to the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). A cryptocurrency influencer is a person who shares their knowledge of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology with their followers on social media. Since 2021, the AMF, Quebec’s investment regulator, has been investigating Mirshahi. On July 4, 2024, a decision was made extending blocking orders related to Mirshahii, a company and two other individuals. It placed a “ban on carrying out any activity as a broker or investment adviser, a ban on securities transactions and orders for the withdrawal of publications on social media and the withdrawal of the name of the AMF.” In late August, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) provincial police arrested a 32-year-old woman in connection with the incident. It followed an arrest warrant that was made public at the Valleyfield courthouse alleging Joanie Lepage, 32, of Les Cèdres, killed Mirshahi on June 21, the day he was abducted. She is also alleged to have kidnapped Mirshahi and to have acted as an accomplice after he was killed. The SQ said the investigation remains ongoing. On November 19, police said Darius Perry, 27, of Châteauguay, Que., and Nackael Hickey, 26, of Montreal were arrested are sheduled to appear in court in Valleyfield, Que., on charges including forcible confinement and accessories to murder after the fact. Mirshahi was found the same week as another Canadian crypto-kidnapping, after suspects forced WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka into a vehicle in downtown Toronto on November 6. He was released after he paid a $1-million ransom, CBC News reported. Jameson Lopp, co-founder of crypto security firm Casa, told CBC Radio that Skurka’s kidnapping was the 171^st instance of physical violence to steal bitcoins in English-speaking countries in the past decade.

Montreal Gazette

Sven Fuhmann, head of investments at German auto maker Volkswagen, has left the board of Sweden's beleaguered Northvolt. Northvolt told Reuters it expects Volkswagen to find a board replacement for Fuhrmann, who has held a board seat since last year. The German group is Northvolt's biggest owner with a stake of 21 percent, according to its annual report. Northvolt is cutting jobs as it seeks to tackle production problems and deal with the loss of a major customer contract and a lack of funding. Reuters

The Université de Montréal and George Brown College have published guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence. UdeMontréal released guidelines for graduate students and supervisors that specifically apply to the use of AI in graduate-level programming. These guidelines indicate that generative AI must always be used transparently, with approval by research departments, and with a thorough understanding of the tool’s limitations and biases. The guidelines note the importance of maintaining data confidentiality and understanding how the use of generative AI affects intellectual property. The unauthorized or non-transparent use of generative AI is strictly prohibited, and any use of generative AI that is not explicitly approved can be considered a violation of the university's disciplinary regulations. George Brown College’s position statement outlines eight guiding principles for the use of AI, which are intended to support the effective, ethical and responsible use of AI at the college. These principles include responsible and ethical AI, transparent AI, data protection, approved institutional usage, and usage carried out at the professional discretion of educators. Université de Montréal, George Brown College

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