GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

The Government of British Columbia launched Look West, a new industrial strategy to deliver major projects faster, expand skills training and grow key sectors to strengthen B.C.’s economy.

Look West rises to the challenges brought on by U.S. tariffs, the government said. The strategy sets a 10-year vision to strengthen B.C.’s economy, including continuing work to speed up permitting and diversify key sectors, so B.C.’s economy is less reliant on the U.S.

Look West positions B.C. to work collaboratively with the Government of Canada as it invests billions of dollars to secure Canada’s sovereignty.

Look West is focused on three core priorities.

• Building on B.C.’s strengths: Training up and growing B.C.’s skilled workforce to deliver major projects and create new jobs and opportunities for people.
• Generating growth through major projects: Speeding up permitting and delivering big projects that generate good jobs and economic growth quicker.
• Moving B.C. forward: Delivering sector action plans to diversify and balance B.C.’s economy, from critical minerals and tech and life sciences to defence-related industries, marine and aerospace.

The strategy targets sectors that include marine, aerospace, construction, innovation, life sciences, AI and quantum computing, agriculture and food processing, trade and logistics infrastructure, and critical minerals and energy.

Look West focuses on strengthening B.C.’s workforce by investing in skills training, including doubling trades training funding by 2028-29. This investment helps ensure B.C. has the skilled workers needed to deliver major projects quicker and is necessary to achieve the target of securing $200 billion in private sector investment over the next decade, the government said.

As initial actions in the strategy, the government will:

• invest more than $10 million through the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund to increase production and offer new product lines at Mangrove Lithium, COTA Aviation, Galcon Precast, Grosso Precast and CCI Circuits, with more direct business support to be announced in the weeks and months ahead
• contribute $33 million to Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub at the University of British Columbia to help innovative businesses develop vaccines and improve readiness for future pandemics, supporting a domestic supply chain in B.C.
• set up a K-12 advisory committee to explore the integration of AI platforms and skills acquisitions into the school systems to encourage early exposure and skills development.
• enhance the collaboration between the Quantum Algorithms Institute and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation to advance post-quantum readiness and further support quantum preparedness throughout B.C. and Canada’s business ecosystems.

The Look West strategy was welcomed by numerous industry, academic, labour, workforce training and innovation organizations and companies.

“We support British Columbia’s Look West strategy and its investments in skills development and priority provincial sectors, including life sciences. As Canada’s fastest-growing life sciences sector, we remain committed to working with government to create high-quality employment, strengthen British Columbia’s economic competitiveness and advance innovative health technologies for patients and communities,” said Wendy Hurlburt, president and CEO of Life Sciences British Columbia.

“I’m very pleased to see agriculture and food processing included in the Look West Industrial and Economic Strategy. Our industry is not only a major economic driver for British Columbia, but it also provides the essential benefit of feeding people across our province and around the world,” said James Donaldson, CEO of BC Food & Beverage.

“The Quantum Algorithms Institute strongly supports the selection of Quantum and AI as a strategic sector in B.C.’s industrial strategy. We are proud to collaborate across B.C.’s quantum ecosystem on practical, real-world initiatives, including our work with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation on post-quantum readiness,” said Louise Turner, CEO of the Quantum Algorithms Institute.

“Look West provides a clearer direction for how British Columbia plans to advance major projects. Improvements to permitting, workforce capacity and sector planning will help create the predictability these developments rely on,” said Mark Podlasly, CEO of the First Nations Coalition.
“That stability matters for the growing number of major projects that include First Nations ownership or financial participation because it strengthens long-term planning and investment decisions,” Podlasly said. Govt. of B.C.

******************************************************************************************************************************

The Government of Manitoba will contribute $51 million to the Arctic Gateway Group to upgrade the Hudson’s Bay rail line connecting the Port of Churchill to southern Canadian producers and to build a storage facility for critical minerals, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Wab Kinew announced. The Government of Canada will pay for feasibility study by the Arctic Research Foundation on deploying specialized icebreakers, ice tugs and research vessels at the port, in addition to a previously announced pledge of $175 million for the railway. Govt. of Manitoba

See also: “Port of Churchill is attracting more investment as an option to diversify trade routes amid U.S. tariffs”

Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced at the Spacebound 2025 Conference in Ottawa that Canada will increase its investment in European Space Agency (ESA) programs by $528.5 million. This investment represents a tenfold increase compared with previous contributions and is set to advance research and development of Canadian-made space technologies for both civilian and defence purposes. It will help build an industrial base that is ready and capable of supporting Canada's commercial, defence and security needs. Every dollar awarded to Canadian businesses through ESA contracts generates over three dollars in follow-on sales, benefitting Canadian organizations and injecting value into the Canadian economy, the federal government said. Separately, Joly announced over $2.2 million in funding to support 16 cutting-edge research projects led by 12 Canadian institutions on the effects of spaceflight on human health. After a few months in space, astronauts may experience anemia, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, cataracts, and loss of muscle mass or bone density. Funded projects will either analyze data collected during previous space-related experiments to explore new hypotheses or will conduct ground-based studies that mimic spaceflight conditions, like microgravity, isolation and confinement. Insights from these studies have the potential to transform how we understand chronic conditions that impact the everyday lives of thousands of Canadians. Canadian Space Agency

The Government of Canada is investing an additional $189 million over five years (announced in Budget 2025) in the Black Entrepreneurship Program, empowering entrepreneurs to access capital, scale up and unlock new opportunities for growth. This includes funding for eligible Atlantic Canadian organizations through the Black Entrepreneurship Program Ecosystem Fund. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is delivering $6.8 million in Atlantic Canada to strengthen Black-led non-profit organizations and help more Black entrepreneurs access the tools and support they need to start, grow and succeed in business. ACOA

National Defence announced the establishment of Canada’s first Maritime Defence Innovation Secure Hub (DISH) at marine technology facility COVE in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The hub is the first project announced under the Government of Canada’s new BOREALIS (Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science) initiative. The government will invest $29.4 million to establish the Maritime DISH. This pilot initiative marks the beginning of a national network of secure, purpose-built spaces, where Canadian researchers and scientists and their trusted partners can co-develop, test and validate emerging technologies requiring classified handling. These hubs will focus on critical areas of defence research and development essential to a resilient Canadian innovation industry. These areas include quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, autonomous systems, Arctic research, space, and – in Atlantic Canada—the Maritime DISH will focus on ocean technology. The Maritime DISH will unite various defence and security partners, including industry, academia, naval and joint operators, and federal departments and agencies, to collaboratively develop, test, and transition new maritime technologies. Key areas of focus will include:

• undersea domain awareness.
• uncrewed and autonomous systems.
• advanced sensing and surveillance technologies.
• AI-enabled maritime analytics. National Defence

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) said one of the year’s most significant achievements was the introduction of the Next Generation Patents System, according to CIPO’s 2024-2025 Annual Report. “This system has transformed patent digital services, delivering a more intuitive, transparent and efficient experience for clients, and paving the way for long-term operational excellence,” Konstantinos Georgaras, CEO of CIPO, said in the report. CIPO also made significant progress in reducing the trademark backlog and accelerating registration timelines, he said. As of March 2025, CIPO’s inventory of trademark applications awaiting examination had decreased by 42 percent year-over-year, while turnaround times for first actions had improved by 18 percent. Similar advancements were achieved in copyright and industrial design processes, where automation and system upgrades have upgrades have streamlined workflows, Georgaras said. Patent data for the 2024-2025 fiscal year was unavailable, “due to the recent digital transformation of CIPO’s patent information system,” and will be highlighted in the 2025-2026 annual report, CIPO said. CIPO

The Government of Canada, through the Budget 2025 Implementation Act, introduced the country’s highly anticipated stablecoin legislation. Key features of the draft legislation are:

1. Regulatory Scope and Applicability

The Act applies to fiat-referenced stablecoins issued by non-prudentially regulated entities. It expressly excludes central bank digital currencies, regulated financial institutions, and closed-loop payment instruments (e.g., merchant-specific tokens). A public registry of approved issuers will be maintained by the Bank of Canada and only listed issuers may legally offer stablecoins in Canada.

2. Prudential Oversight and Registration

Prospective issuers must apply for registration with the Bank of Canada by submitting detailed public disclosures on reserve composition, redemption rights, custodial arrangements, governance, cybersecurity, risk management, and recovery and resolution planning. Ongoing compliance obligations apply post-registration.

The Bank of Canada will oversee administration and rulemaking, while the Minister of Finance retains authority to review applications for national security purposes and issue policy guidance and regulations.

The Minister is empowered to impose conditions, restrict or prohibit issuance where risks to national security, monetary policy, or financial stability are identified. The Bank of Canada may not register an issuer without the Minister’s clearance during the review period.

3. Reserve and Redemption Requirements and Yield Ban

Stablecoins must be fully backed by unencumbered, high-quality liquid assets denominated in the reference fiat currency. Reserves must be held with qualified custodians and kept bankruptcy remote. Issuers must also adopt and publish clear, enforceable redemption policies, including mechanics, timing, fees, and third-party roles.

Offering interest, yield, or any similar return is prohibited – distinguishing stablecoins from investment products.

• Legal Opinions and Bankruptcy Protection

Issuers are required to provide and maintain legal opinions confirming that reserve assets are unencumbered and held in in a bankruptcy-remote structure – ensuring that customer redemptions are insulated from insolvency risks.

4. Interaction with Securities Laws

While the Act carves out a limited exemption under federal financial institution statutes to avoid stablecoin issuance being treated as securities dealing, it does not override provincial securities laws.

5. Amendments to the RPAA

The Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) is amended to expressly cover payment functions involving stablecoins. This will subject wallets, custodians, and other payment service providers facilitating stablecoin transactions to operational oversight by the Bank of Canada, complementing the prudential regulation of stablecoin activities.

With the Stablecoin Act, Canada joins other leading jurisdictions – most notably the U.S. (via the GENIUS Act) and the European Union (under MiCA) – in developing tailored regulatory frameworks for fiat-backed stablecoins.

“As ever, the evolution of the federal-provincial interface, and in particular how provincial securities regulators will adapt to the Stablecoin Act, remains a critical area to monitor.”

John Ruffolo, founder and managing partner at Maverix Private Equity, in a LinkedIn post praised the federal government for moving quickly on the proposed stablecoin legislation.

The passing of the U.S. GENIUS Act represented a threat is to the sovereignty of the Canadian bank deposit system and hence potentially to the sovereignty of our monetary system, he said.

Canada cannot control its monetary system if stablecoins used by Canadians run on foreign blockchains, Ruffolo said. McMillan

The Government of Canada and all provinces and territories signed an agreement to allow businesses to sell their products across Canada. The Government of British Columbia proposed and chaired the national initiative for the Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement. The agreement will take effect next month and applies to most products, although it excludes food, beverages, tobacco, plants and animals. Economic analysis suggests mutual recognition could increase Canada’s GDP by up to 7.9 percent, unlocking as much as $200 billion annually and improving productivity by reducing regulatory delays and freeing resources for innovation and growth. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) applauded the signing of the agreement, and said: “The next phase should include expanding the mutual recognition agreement to services, food products and alcohol, which still face significant internal trade barriers.” Govt. of B.C.

Federal Crown corporation Business Development Bank of Canada’s investment arm, BDC Capital, is preparing to roll out more new direct investment vehicles as it continues to reshape its leadership team. A BDC spokesperson confirmed to BetaKit that BDC Capital is hiring a managing partner to lead a new Life Sciences Fund, to be launched in 2026, six years after spinning out its previous health care venture capital fund Amplitude Ventures. A LinkedIn post from BDC’s senior advisor of talent acquisition, Nathalie Paillé, said the new Life Sciences Fund will make early-stage investments in biotherapeutics, medical tech and related innovations. BDC recently launched a $50-million search fund for women entrepreneurs, unveiled a $200-million second Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, and committed $100 million worth of loans to rural entrepreneurs. BDC is also working to spin up its $100-million Black Entrepreneurs Fund (led by Jason Baibokas) as well as a $100-million Indigenous Entrepreneurship Fund. BDC also closed its Intellectual Property-Backed Financing program, merging it with Growth and Transition Capital, and laid off staff from its Deep Tech Venture Fund earlier this year. BetaKit

The Government of Ontario will provide Norway-based Vianode with a loan of up to $670 million to help build its $3.2-billion graphite factory in St. Thomas, Ont. The investment marks Vianode’s entrance into the North American market. Synthetic graphite is essential to electric vehicle batteries, nuclear reactors, semiconductors, aerospace and defence systems, steelmaking and other strategic industries. The St. Thomas facility is being constructed in a multi-phased approach that will ultimately reach up to 150,000 tons of annual capacity – enough synthetic graphite to supply roughly two million EVs each year. As the first large-scale low-emission synthetic graphite facility in North America, this investment will also play a key role in displacing global reliance on China, which currently controls more than 80 percent of the global production of this critical component. Govt. of Ontario

The Government of British Columbia announced it will invest $241 million to over the next three years to double trades training funding and permanently strengthen B.C.’s trades-training system. The investment will:

• increase per-seat funding for apprentice programs.
• address waiting lists for critical industrial trades, ensuring faster access to training.
• advance skilled-trades certification, beginning with crane operators.
• as opportunities evolve, ensure workers can move easily between industries.

British Columbia has a record number of people registering as apprentices with nearly 50,000 registered apprenticeships and more than 11,000 high school participants. SkilledTradesBC oversees nearly 90 trades programs and funds nearly 28,000 apprenticeship and foundation-training seats at public, union and private institutions. Govt. of B.C.

RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

 The Government of Canada Tri-Council agencies and the French National Research Agency announced the distribution of $3.29 million in funding for research related to artificial intelligence. The funding will be distributed through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (in collaboration with IVADO) to 10 collaborative research projects that will be conducted by Canadian and French university researchers. These projects will focus on generative AI and the safety and security of embedded AI. Canadian institutions receiving funding include Dalhousie University, McGill University, Université de Montréal, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Regina, University of Toronto, and Western University. NSERC

The 2025 ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) ranks the University of Saskatchewan 34^th in the world in the subject of Water Resources, which also positions USask as the top institute in Canada in that subject area. USask moved up in seven subjects in the newest GRAS: Dentistry & Oral Sciences (101-150 tier), Computer Science & Engineering (201-300 tier), Statistics (201-300 tier), Medical Technology (201-300 tier), Biological Sciences (301-400 tier), Human Biological Sciences (401-500 tier) and Physics (401-500). The GRAS evaluates approximately 2,000 universities in around 100 different countries in its methodology. Institutions are evaluated based on nine indicators grouped into five categories regarding faculty, international presence, and research output and impact. University of Saskatchewan

Women’s health continues to be negatively affected by the fact that most medical research is conducted on men, experts said at a University of Manitoba symposium. The field of neuroscience has a particularly male-centric track record, two speakers said in their presentations to about 85 attendees at the 2025 Equity Symposium organized by Women in Science: Development, Outreach and Mentorship. “Over the past 50 years, neuroscience has exploded with discovery,” said Dr. Jennifer Rabin, a clinical neuropsychologist and scientist at the University of Toronto. “Most of this research has been carried out on the male brain, including male cells, male animals and male human participants.” Only a tiny number of imaging studies have examined the brain in relation to women’s experiences, such as pregnancy, menopause and hormone therapy, Rabin said. Neuroscientist Dr. Tamara Franklin from Dalhousie University described how women’s diseases receive scant research support in comparison to how prevalent they are. “Female-dominant diseases are underfunded, which means they’re also understudied.” Emphasizing the need for sex and gender-based analysis in health research, Franklin said male rodents have been overwhelmingly favoured for lab studies, based on invalid assumptions that hormonal variability only affects females. University of Manitoba

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, will make hundreds of scientists redundant while “sharpening” its research structure, as the agency reckons with a budget cliff and decades of declining funding. Up to 350 CSIRO researcher “redundancies” were confirmed on November 18 following an all-staff and union meeting, but exactly which roles will go remain unclear. It is the largest loss of permanent researchers resulting from the CSIRO’s one-off pandemic funding ending, which has already resulted in cuts to more than 800 temporary and support service roles. The cuts have left morale and faith in CSIRO leadership close to rock bottom, one source told InnovationAus.com. The changes will see CSIRO research conducted under six “key focus areas” of clean energy and critical minerals; climate change; advanced technologies like AI and quantum; agricultural technology; biosecurity; and “disruptive science and engineering” to solve unanswered questions. Joseph Brookes in InnovationAus.com

A new global survey of more than 3,000 researchers from 113 countries suggests that pressures to publish are increasing even as time and resources for research shrink. The Elsevier 2025 Researcher of the Future report found that 68 percent of respondents feel greater pressure to publish today than they did two years ago, while only 45 percent say they have enough time for research. Overall, one-third expect funding in their field to grow, but this figure drops to 11 percent in the North American context, reflecting unprecedented cuts to U.S. research funding this year. Nearly 30 percent of respondents said they are considering relocating for their careers, citing better work–life balance, stronger funding, and political factors as key motivators. About 40 percent of researchers in the U.S.  are likely to consider relocating (up 16 percentage points from a similar survey by Elsevier in 2022. The survey also found that 58 percent of researchers are now using AI tools in their work, though fewer than one-third report having adequate training or institutional guidance. Nature

The University of Calgary (UCalgary) and Calgary-based Providence Therapeutics have partnered to accelerate academic research into new molecular targets for life-saving vaccines and therapeutics. The “UCalgary And Providence Therapeutics United for translational Research Excellence” (CAPTURE) program will focus on new treatments in oncology, infectious diseases, and veterinary medicine. UCalgary researchers will identify candidate diseases for treatment using Providence’s robust, scalable, validated and cost-effect mRNA platform. “Building on our successful collaboration in serious late-stage cancers, we hope that, by formalizing this partnership at an institutional level, Providence and UCalgary will continue to drive early access to cutting-edge breakthroughs in a range of disease settings,” said Brad Sorenson, CEO of Providence Therapeutics. UCalgary

Richmond, B.C.-based Ideon Technologies, a global leader in subsurface intelligence, announced a five-year enterprise partnership with global mining company Rio Tinto. Ideon will apply its proprietary REVEAL™ subsurface intelligence platform to support Rio Tinto’s strategic efforts to unlock value across a range of different use cases and commodities (including copper and iron ore), while advancing its vision for the mine of the future. The Ideon REVEAL™ Platform combines the power of cosmic-ray muons — subatomic particles created by supernova explosions in space — with advanced geophysical sensing technologies, multi-physics data integration, and AI-powered services. The technology generates high-resolution, high-velocity, 3D models of the Earth’s subsurface, enabling mining companies to identify, map, characterize, monitor and extract ore bodies faster, more efficiently, with greater confidence. This results in faster targeting, shorter development timelines, reduced operational risk, and a smaller environmental footprint. This partnership represents the first global-scale adoption of the Ideon technology by a Tier 1 mining company. DIGITAL

NextStar Energy has started mass production in its 4.23-million-square-foot facility in Windsor, Ont., of lithium ion phosphate battery cells – but for energy storage systems rather than electric vehicles. The company – a joint venture between Chrysler parent company Stellantis and LG Energy Solution – is holding off making batteries for EVs amid dampened demand for the vehicles. The federal government touted the Windsor plant as the first large-scale domestic EV battery manufacturing facility when it announced the $5-billion investment by NextStar Energy in 2022. NextStar Energy

Budget 2025 included $186.2 million for sovereign space launch capability, but Canadian companies are calling for a fresh space strategy to address changing market conditions. At the Space Canada SpaceBound conference in Ottawa, representatives from Honeywell, MDA Space, Telesat and Terrestar Solutions all weighed in on a panel asking what economic space opportunities Canada can find today. Their suggestions were:

• Spend big, but spend strategically. The panellists encouraged Canadian government to provide substantial amounts of money to the Canadian space and defence-related portfolios, so that Canadian companies could in turn benefit from support as the Americans do.
• Look to the population’s needs.
• Perform “economic diplomacy.” Dan Goldberg, CEO of Telesat, suggested that Canada look to its American neighbours to learn more about how they perform “economic diplomacy” by going to international trading partners and presenting opportunities from their large firms, such as SpaceX. 
• Reactivate the National Space Council. The government promised in 2024 to do this. Canada’s last space strategy was released in 2019.
• Continue to do what Canada does well. Telecommunications, space medicine, robotics and dual-use satellite technologies are just some examples where Canadian space-related government agencies and departments have been spending what dollars they could for many decades, providing the space industry with a measure of support. The industry is now looking for more European-style or American-style direct government support to grow more efficiently and make it easier to pitch these products internationally. Elizabeth Howell in SpaceQ

Nova Scotia-based Maritime Launch Services completed its second suborbital launch demonstration from Spaceport Nova Scotia in Canso, conducted in partnership with T-Minus Engineering. The Barracuda hypersonic test platform is a single-stage, solid-fuel suborbital vehicle standing approximately four metres tall. It features a booster with a 200-millimetre diameter and a payload compartment measuring 1,000 millimetres and is capable of carrying payloads of up to 40 kilograms to altitudes of approximately 120 kilometres. This suborbital flight included a STORIES of Space payload. Through this unique non-profit organization, storytellers, students and educators from across Canada and around the world submitted original written stories that were launched to the edge of space. Maritime Launch Services

Canada moved up to seventh position from thirteenth last year in the second edition of the Global Agri-Food Most Influential Nations Ranking report, from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and professional services firm MNP. Canada’s position improved due to advancements in trade, infrastructure and innovation. However, food insecurity (one in four Canadians experience some form of food insecurity), commercialization, and sustainability (specifically lack of performance data) are ongoing concerns. The report, compiled using secondary data from governments and non-governmental organizations within a two-year period, ranks G20 nations in the global food and beverage sector in three tiers (high, moderate and low performance), based on six pillars. Canada remains in tier two behind the European Union (which wasn’t part of last year’s report), the U.S., and the U.K., but above Japan, China, and India. More than 300 Canadian agri-food tech startups have raised over US$3 billion to date, according to the report. However, commercialization is a persistent bottleneck for Canadian companies. The report found that “a 37-percent drop in R&D investment since 2023, a lack of scale-up support, and limited access to innovation hubs have stalled the trajectory for early stage ventures and rural innovators alike. Technology adoption is strong overall but largely limited to large-scale operations. In Canada, four companies control 72 percent of national retail sales, one of the highest levels of concentration in the G20. This level of consolidation limits competition, adds undue pressure on producers and slows innovation. Food in Canada

The Top 10 startups showcased during Calgary Innovation Week were:

• Dayy Photonics, which develops advanced light source solutions that power innovation across defense, semiconductor, and medical markets. Their photonic devices enable critical applications in laser systems, optical sensing, and imaging.
• Haztrack, with advanced sensor technology that empowers oilfield production chemical companies with real-time data on tanks and pumps, streamlining operations and enabling swift responses to equipment issues.
• PataBid, which develops AI-powered estimating software that helps contractors bid electrical and mechanical work faster, smarter and more accurately.
• Possibility Neurotechnologies, whose flagship product, Think2Switch™, is a mobile app that transforms off-the-shelf electroencephalogram headsets into simple, affordable brain-computer interfaces, enabling users with physical disabilities to control smart devices and express themselves using only their thoughts.
• Symbiotic AI, a Canadian digital health company that develops scientifically backed artificial intelligence-enabled clinical decision support solutions that improve health care decisions and enhance heart health outcomes.
• Tarkka Manufacturing Solutions, which designs and manufactures advanced wheelchair seating systems that cut evaluation-to-delivery time from months to a single bedside session. Serving full-time wheelchair users with complex needs, the company’s system enables clinicians to deliver seating that improves posture, prevents injuries, and reduces costs on the spot.
• Taste the City, which simplifies discovering new culinary experiences through digitally guided tasting routes.
• Tutred, which instantly connects students with the right tutor, saving hours of wait time, while using AI to automate up to 95 percent of teaching overhead spent on lesson planning, homework and quiz creation, grading and student profiling.
• VRCore Education, a virtual reality free-roam field trip company. The company brings the “Magic School Bus into schools.” Up to 40 students can explore the International Space Station, Atoms and Molecules, Career Exploration, and Space together in the school gymnasium.
• VL Energy, which delivers AI-powered emissions monitoring software that helps industrial companies reduce costs, meet regulatory requirements and advance toward net-zero goals. Calgary Innovation Week

Nearly nine in 10 Canadians (88 percent) say they are concerned about AI-generated deception in the news, with over half (52 percent) “very concerned,”  according to a recent nationwide survey from the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and conducted by The Harris Poll Canada. This concern spans age groups, but is most pressing among younger Canadians, who report the most frequent exposure to misleading and fabricated content. Encounters with misinformation cut across age groups and regions, with nearly half (47 percent) of Canadians reporting that they encounter misleading or false information daily or several times weekly. Only seven per cent of Canadians say that they “never” encounter misleading or false information online. Three-quarters (75 per cent) of respondents stated that they have some trust in news from traditional Canadian news outlets, with 31 percent expressing complete trust. By contrast, only 27 percent expressed trust in social media platforms, indicating that Canadians understand the difference between journalism and platforms. “Fake news” (56 percent) and clickbait (51 percent) top the list of types of digital deception commonly encountered by Canadians, followed by deepfakes/altered images (44 percent) AI-manipulated content (43 percent), and political disinformation (40 percent). According to the survey, Canadians are demanding a shared response to this risk, with responsibility for addressing manipulated content online to be shared by the federal government (60 percent), individual Canadians (55 percent) and other levels of government, and with social platforms and Internet providers also playing a role in mitigating harm. CJF

Global tech giant Meta did not break the law when it bought nascent rivals Instagram and WhatsApp, a federal judge ruled, handing a major win to the $1.51-trillion company and dealing a blow to the U.S. government’s efforts to rein in the power of tech giants. Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia said in an 89-page ruling that the company did not create a monopoly in social networking through the acquisitions. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had sued Meta, accusing it of breaking antitrust law by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in a “buy or bury” strategy to cement its social networking dominance. The FTC had pre-emptively asked the judge to force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. The win helps clear the way for Meta to continue its business ambitions, including its expansion into artificial intelligence. The New York Times

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

 Vancouver-based crypto firm Republic Technologies closed a US$100-million secured convertible note facility – with no running interest – with a leading institutional investor to expand the company’s Ethereum infrastructure and ether cryptocurrency treasury. The company, which trades on the Canadian Stock Exchange, plans to use more than 90 percent of the money to buy the native token (ether) of the Ethereum blockchain. It will spend the remainder on technology, infrastructure and corporate development to expand globally. Finopotamus

Guelph, Ont.-based vertical farming company GoodLeaf Farms raised $52 million in a funding round with investments from new and existing shareholders, including Farm Credit Canada, Power Sustainable Lios and McCain Foods. The funding will be used to expand the production capacity of GoodLeaf's farms in Alberta and Quebec and establish a new research and development centre in Ontario, the company said. GoodLeaf said the past year has seen accelerated growth and a sharp increase in demand for its Canadian-grown baby greens, microgreens, and blends across Canada. The company also launched its Agricultural Centre of Excellence in Guelph, Ontario as a new hub for R&D.  GoodLeaf Farms

Toronto-based Staircase Ventures launched its second startup fund, raising $32 million after closing its $34-million initial fund. RBC and Northleaf Capital Partners have returned as anchor investors. Other backers include PointClickCare co-founder Mike Wessinger, former Shopify chief product officer Craig Miller and Tim McGuire, the former head of McKinsey’s global retail practice. Janet Bannister, founding and managing partner of Staircase Ventures, aims to incentivize founders by offering them a cut of the profits the fund makes. Bannister Founders also get personal health coaching, financial advice and a stipend for child care and family support, with the goal to set founders up for success in all aspects of their lives. Over the past three years, Staircase Ventures has invested in 12 portfolio companies and supported the founders and their companies. Staircase Ventures

After pitching its concept to investors on the television show Dragon’s Den, Vancouver-based Huha Wear secured a $20-million investment led by Arlene Dickinson’s District Ventures Capital, with further backing from investors including Export Development Canada. Huha makes what it calls more breathable undergarments after the founder experienced recurring urinary tract infections. Huha said it plans to use the funds to keep innovating products and expand into new markets. District Ventures Capital

Coquitlam, B.C.-based Moment Energy raised $5 million in in growth financing from TD Innovation Partners, the innovation banking division of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. Moment Energy’s technology repurposes discarded lithium-ion batteries for energy storage systems. The company said it will use the funds to boost production and accelerate the repurposing of lithium-ion batteries into safe, high-performance, and compliant energy storage systems for commercial, industrial, and utility applications. Moment Energy

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) and the Quantum Algorithms Institute (QAI), a non-profit organization supporting adoption of quantum technologies in British Columbia, announced a joint initiative to advance post-quantum readiness. Together, BCI and QAI will work to identify quantum investment applications for portfolio optimization, risk assessment and financial modeling, while implementing post-quantum security standards to support BCI’s long-term operational resilience. QAI will use the insights gained through this hands-on experience to support quantum preparedness across B.C.’s and Canada’s business ecosystems. BCI’s quantum experience extends beyond operations to its global portfolio. This includes investments like Photonic Inc., a B.C.-based quantum computing company backed since 2021. The joint initiative with QAI builds on this strong foundation and BCI’s broader commitment to accelerating innovation. BCI, which manages investments for 32 public sector clients such as pension funds, has $295 billion in gross assets under management. BCI

La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec increased its stake in chipmaker Nvidia over the summer, building its position to 14.8 million shares worth US$2.8 billion by the beginning of October, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The number of shares of the semiconductor supplier held by La Caisse increased by five percent during the summer months with the purchase of nearly 750,000 shares. Despite recent volatility, Nvidia's stock remains up 40 percent this year. In addition to Nvidia, La Caisse significantly increased its holdings in Microsoft, Apple, Meta and Amazon during the summer quarter ending at the end of September, and continues to hold stock in Tesla. La Presse

REPORTS & POLICIES

Canada could learn from the U.S. and Israel on how to do deep tech commercialization: Kyle Briggs

Canada could learn from the U.S. and Israel’s approaches to deep tech commercialization, especially the importance of risk-tolerant public funding to help small businesses bridge the “valley of death” for deep tech, according to a paper by Kyle Briggs.

“Canada has all the raw ingredients it needs to be a globally relevant force for deep tech commercialization,” Briggs said in his paper. Briggs is a biophysicist and an entrepreneur, entrepreneur-in-residence in the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa and the author of the CanInnovate innovation policy blog and website.

While most of the scientific literature agrees that Canada makes strong contributions to research, commercialization and long-term value extraction from the resulting intellectual property remains a challenge, he noted.

The literature reviewed consistently points to retention of control of IP portfolios, companies and innovators as a key driver of this issue.

“Evidence suggests that addressing this challenge requires risk-tolerant public funding focused on startups and removal of systemic barriers to SMEs’ ability to use it,” Briggs said.

Briggs’s paper was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The paper is one of eight commissioned to help inform the Council of the Canadian Academies’ expert panel report on the State of Science, Technology and Innovation in Canada.

[Editor’s note: See story in this week’s Innovation This Week: “Canada risks “severe economic and social consequences” if it doesn’t improve innovation performance: CCA report”].

Briggs adopted a definition of deep tech from others’ research (Romasanta, Ahmadova, Wareham, & Priego, 2021) as: “Early-stage technologies based on scientific or engineering advances, requiring long development times, systemic integration, and sophisticated knowledge to create downstream offerings with the potential to address grand societal challenges.”

Deep tech, which requires long development times, systemic integration, and sophisticated knowledge, is poorly suited for traditional means of investment, Briggs said.

On the other hand, deep tech has potential for high returns through the “potential to address grand societal challenges,” he added.

Briggs pointed out that in the U.S., the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act gives the option to publicly funded research institutions to take ownership of IP generated through taxpayer funding, subject to several conditions.

In the case of postsecondary research, these conditions include but are not limited to pursuit of patent protection, requiring that exclusive licensing ensure that the resulting products are manufactured substantially domestically, and favoring small businesses as licensees.

Failure to comply gives the government “march-in rights” to take control over the IP in question.

While the Bayh-Dole Act does not mandate institutional ownership of research IP, today almost every major research institution in the U.S. elects to take ownership, licensing the IP through a technology transfer office.

In contrast, Canadian public research funding agencies impose no restrictions on governance beyond requiring “benefit to Canada,” leaving management to the universities.

As a result, Canadian institutional IP policy varies widely, without clear consensus in the literature as to the impact with respect to commercialization activity.

Canadian tech transfer is underfunded relative to its potential value, with few funding-related incentives or external performance metrics to guide institutional investment in better practice, Briggs said.

Also in the U.S., the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides resources for deep tech commercialization.

This program provides grants to small and medium-sized enterprises through mandated spending by government departments on domestic procurement of novel technologies to address their challenges using a phased approach, augmented in many cases by state-level initiatives.

This funding is risk-tolerant, with only 40 percent of Phase I projects getting to Phase II and Phase II to Phase III success rates as low as eight percent in some departments.

This acceptance of a majority failure rate is a necessity in deep tech funding, to ensure that opportunities aren’t missed, Briggs said.

Canada enacted a program structurally like the SBIR through Innovation Solutions Canada in 2017 that performed poorly both relative to the SBIR and to its own spending targets, consistently underspending by approximately two thirds, he said.

Israel provides a model of how to do deep tech commercialization

Israel provides an example of an approach to deep tech commercialization support that balances domestic research value extraction against foreign direct investment-induced churn, Briggs said.

Where deep tech is concerned, public funding in Israel is used to follow private investment with non-dilutive government grants that incentivize greater risk tolerance in private capital, attaching strings to the government contribution that ensures long-term value for taxpayers

There has been a recent emergence in Canada of dilutive investment funds operated by or affiliated with Canadian postsecondary institutions that work closely with university students, faculty, alumni and tech transfer offices to provide the first source of dilutive capital to affiliated startups (the McGill Innovation Fund, the University of Calgary’s UCeed Fund, and Velocity Fund in Waterloo, for example), that often work with granting agencies to amplify the impact of their funding.

The approach being taken by these funds, as well as the Ontario Centres of Innovation Life Sciences Innovation fund, are early Canadian examples of an approach to risk sharing similar to that used in Israel, Briggs said.

However, Canada has historically not systematically favored startups as receptors of research IP, he noted. The 2020 licensing report by the Association of University Technology Managers shows that more than half of licensees are not SMEs, and that licensing to small companies as a fraction of total licensing deals has been trending downward for more than a decade.

Combined with the emphasis that Canadian Tri-council grants place on academic-industry partnerships and a need for technology transfer office cost recovery through licensing, Canadian institutions that take ownership of research IP historically have had a structural and financial incentive to favor established companies that can provide the necessary resources over startups that are more effective vehicles of deep tech innovation.

Canada’s systematic favoring of large firms extends to the private sector. Data from the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program shows that 50 percent of SR&ED credits paid out in 2017 went to just 20 firms.

Most grants applicable to deep tech commercialization are gated by matching funding, revenue and/or employee count minima, or require upfront payments that are reimbursed later, sometimes without a guarantee. “All these barriers favor large firms over deep tech startups.”

When it comes to Canadian culture regarding innovation, between 1997 and 2019, 41 of the 531 U.S.-based private companies valued at over US$1 billion (called “unicorns”) had founders educated at Canadian universities, Briggs said.

In contrast, only 21 such companies existed in Canada, “meaning that there are nearly double the number of unicorns founded by Canadian university-educated founders in the U.S. as there are in Canada,” pointing to a retention issue among Canadian risk-takers.

In addition, a lack of training of academics as mediators of entrepreneurship and failure to track long-term commercial outcomes with respect to success of spinout companies – the reasons for their failure, if applicable, and control over associated IP portfolios – represent key areas for improvement with respect to data collection at the level of Canadian research institutions.

The recently established Invention to Innovation National Network, the Lab2Market program, and the emergence of university-affiliated pre-seed investment funds in Canada, all represent positive steps toward rectifying this, Briggs said.

Canada is underperforming on demand-side levers for deep tech

There is consensus among the deep tech sectors considered that demand-side levers are a key driver of deep tech commercialization on which Canada is currently underperforming.

The example of cleantech demonstrates that the role of the public sector in driving domestic demand is especially important in sectors that are heavily regulated or that have high barriers to entry that small firms are poorly equipped to navigate.

However, it is clear from the failure of Innovation Solutions Canada that demand-side policies that work elsewhere must be carefully adapted to the Canadian context,  Briggs said.

Differences in scale make verbatim adoption of American policies a challenge, fragmentation of missions that exist within the Canadian government make verbatim adoption of Israeli policies a challenge.

There’s also a deep-rooted risk tolerance mismatch in Canada between existing public funding programs and the realities of deep tech commercialization, Briggs said. “Any attempt to use public funding to support deep tech commercialization must be tolerant to a high rate of failure.”

Numerous deficiencies were identified in the existing literature, primarily revolving around failure to collect effective metrics of performance that correlate policy with long-term outcomes. “Deep tech timelines are measured in years or decades, and program performance assessments must take this into account,” Briggs said.

He suggested that metrics that are time-delayed from the point of intervention, such as 10-year firm survival rates and the details of how firms ended their operations; 10^th- or closing-year revenues; and detailed tracking of control over or access to Canadian deep tech IP assets over a 10-year timespan, are important.

Tracking of control of IP assets granted through licensing could be made an explicit condition of research funding through the Tri-council agencies as part of the mandate of the proposed federal capstone agency, Briggs suggested.

University-affiliated pre-seed investment funds are a key recent addition to the Canadian ecosystem and are ideally positioned at the interface of publicly funded research and private investment in early-stage commercialization, he said.

These funds are well placed both to act as coordinators of multiple levels of public and private support for deep tech commercialization and to collect the key data required to correlate specific policy interventions with long-term outcomes.

Briggs said these university-affiliated pre-seed investment funds should be prioritized as a key focal point for policy development with respect to deep tech commercialization.

Opportunities in quantum, cleantech and AI technologies

Briggs’s paper concludes with reviews of three sectors with overlap in deep tech: quantum technologies, cleantech, and artificial intelligence.

He said the lessons he presents from his review of related literature strongly support the ideas that:

• Canada’s quantum advantage provides a blueprint for deep tech dominance that can be replicated.

Canada is a global leader in quantum technologies, boasting the highest per capita concentration of quantum companies in the world and the second most in absolute terms.

Briggs said the quantum sector represents Canada’s best opportunity for deep tech leadership, capturing 14 percent of global private investment in quantum technologies in 2022, the highest per capita share of any country.

“The history of quantum technology development in Canada is a roadmap for deep tech dominance based on early investment and acceptance of high technical risk,” he said.

Evidence of successful deep tech commercialization from the U.S. SBIR program and the Israeli Innovation Authority strongly suggest that demand-side strategies to drive adoption are key to extracting value from the foundation that Canada has already built in quantum technologies, he added.

• Greater coordination is needed between the various moving parts of the innovation ecosystem in areas like cleantech in which regulatory complexity is high.

Clean and climate technologies are well advanced in commercialization, contributing more than $20 billion in export revenues to Canada’s economy in 2022.

However, Canada’s cleantech sector faces challenges in commercialization, including the lack of government procurement levers to drive adoption, demand-pull policies to improve the demand for lower-emission technologies, and greater coordination between the public and private sectors and between different levels in the private sector.

One study (Connell, 2019; Haley, 2016; Jordaan et al., 2017) noted that “unless we develop new policy approaches, clean-technology sectors could fall into Canada’s general pattern of innovation underperformance.”

• Canada’s approach to AI is a cautionary tale of what happens when we fail to act sufficiently quickly to secure a deep tech advantage, “but that all hope is not lost.”

Evidence suggests that Canada underperforms with respect to AI value extraction where deep tech is concerned, with most academic AI intellectual property quickly leaving the country.

As of a 2023 study (Silcoff & O’Kane, 2023) only seven percent of AI patents produced at the Vector Institute and Mila – Quebec AI Institute made it into the Canadian private sector, while 75 percent end up owned by foreign private sector actors and the balance remain in academic institutions).

Where domestic adoption of AI is concerned, it has been noted (Brandusescu, 2021) that “Over one third of pre-qualified AI suppliers are international, frustrating the purpose of government (and Canadian taxpayers) investment in AI.”

A recent review (Attard-Frost, Brandusescu, & Lyons, 2024) of Canadian government initiatives with respect to AI found a heavy focus on finding applications of AI, but “little focus on intervening in social and workforce development services, AI education and training, and digital infrastructure.”

Training data is recognized as a bottleneck to model improvement and a safety concern for AI development across multiple fields, including other deep tech sectors like battery and medical technologies, Briggs said.

Training data has also been recognized as a key predictor of AI startup success. “Sovereign control of training data is a key component of AI value extraction regardless of the eventual details of value arising from adoption.”

Concluded Briggs: “Canada must harmonize its approach to innovation generally, and to intellectual property governance in particular, if we hope to become effective at commercializing deep tech. Kyle Briggs’s paper on CCI website

******************************************************************************************************************************

Canada achieving complete digital sovereignty is “impossible” due to the world’s interconnected nature: Treasury Board

The interconnected digital world makes it “impossible” for the federal government to achieve complete digital sovereignty, according to a report by the Treasury Board.

“It is impossible for the government to obtain a state of complete digital sovereignty, known as digital autonomy, due to the absolute interconnected nature of the digital world,” the report said.

Government systems and data often cross borders, which means a single service or dataset may be subject to more than one country’s rules, the report noted.

Most countries, including Canada and the United States, have laws that allow their authorities to request access to information held by organizations within their borders.

In the U.S., legislation such as the Cloud Act can compel American companies to comply with legal warrants for data that may be stored abroad. 

Using a Canadian supplier or storing data in Canada does not guarantee data will be outside the jurisdiction of foreign courts, the report said. “The Government of Canada can fully maintain legal control only when it delivers services itself or works with providers that operate entirely under Canadian jurisdiction.”

As discussions on data sovereignty intensity, San Francisco-based data security company Okta has opened a new “data cell,” expected to go live in the first quarter of 2026, BetaKit reported.

Okta is built upon cell-based architecture, which partitions its service across “isolated, shared-nothing, identical” replicas of its infrastructure within its databases.

The new full-service cell is hosted within Canada to ensure customer identity data stays in the country and aligns with local privacy and compliance requirements, Okta said. 

The Treasury Board report pointed out that the federal government operates in a complex and globally integrated technology environment, where systems and services depend on a combination of government-managed infrastructure, shared enterprise platforms, and commercial technologies.

This environment provides flexibility, scalability, and access to innovation, but also creates interdependencies that must be understood and governed carefully, according to the report.

Those interdependencies were highlighted last week, when a technical issue affected internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare, cause multiple outages including several company websites and a number of high-profile websites including X and ChatGPT.

Cloudflare is a huge provider of internet security across the world, carrying out services such as checking visitor connections to sites are coming from humans rather than bots.

Twenty percent of all websites worldwide use its services in some form, according to Cloudflare.

The Treasury Board report is a framework document on digital sovereignty and improving the government's digital readiness.

The Mark Carney government has committed nearly $1 billion to building a sovereign cloud to give Canada independent control over advanced computing power, along with sovereign compute (computing power) and a sovereign digital economy.

Ottawa defines digital sovereignty as the ability of the federal government to exercise autonomy over its digital infrastructure, data and intellectual property. It is the capacity to operate effectively and make independent decisions about digital assets, regardless of where technologies are developed, hosted or supported.

Digital sovereignty relies on the government’s shared ability to govern, access and secure its digital systems so that programs and services can continue without interruption. It is a collective responsibility across government to keep those systems reliable, resilient and available, the report said.

The interconnected digital world increases both the likelihood and consequences of cyber incidents, making security assurance more complex, according to the report.

Dependencies across global supply chains can introduce vulnerabilities when software, hardware or services originate from different jurisdictions and operate under varied standards and controls.

Security risks are also shaped by the speed of technological change and the integration of automated or artificial intelligence systems, which can introduce new ways for systems to be compromised or misconfigured. 

The government manages significant volumes of personal and institutional information across its programs and operations.

As digital services become more interoperable and data-driven, the potential impact of unauthorized access, misuse, or disclosure could increase, the report said.

Service delivery arrangements involving multiple providers, including cloud platforms or shared environments, can increase the risk to accountability for data stewardship.

Privacy risks may arise when information is shared across systems or jurisdictions without consistent application of privacy requirements, such as those under the Privacy Act. Differences in how data is classified or stored can further contribute to risk.

“There remain ongoing challenges with ensuring that privacy protections stay relevant and respond to evolving technologies while also addressing the increased need for interdepartmental data sharing,” the report said.

A key challenge to maintaining digital sovereignty is the government’s limited internal capacity to design, manage and secure complex digital systems.

The demand for skills in areas such as cloud computing, cyber security and artificial intelligence continues to grow across all sectors, making it difficult for the government to attract and retain the expertise required.

This can increase reliance on external providers, reducing organizational control and eroding institutional knowledge over time, which undermines efforts to build and maintain internal digital capability, the report said.

Most of the digital products and services used by the government are provided by a small number of major global technology companies. “This reliance creates concentration risk and can limit flexibility in choosing or replacing services.”

Even when engaging Canadian suppliers, many rely on components, platforms or infrastructure sourced through global supply chains that are subject to foreign jurisdictions and market dynamics, which can include lawful interruption of the flow of goods and services.

These global conditions, including export controls, sanction regimes and other regulatory measures, can also affect access to software, updates or technical support.

“Managing these dependencies requires sustained attention to assurance, diversification, and long-term business continuity planning across government systems and services,” the report said.

Balancing digital sovereignty objectives with broader government priorities, including operational efficiency, service delivery, domestic procurement, and interoperability across the GC and with trusted international partners, presents an ongoing challenge, according to the report.

“Addressing it requires coordinated planning, sustained investment, and careful alignment of fiscal and operational priorities.”

The federal government has already put in place many of the foundations needed to support increased sovereign digital operations through its legal, procurement, supply, and technical controls, the report said.

Ongoing efforts aim to build a shared understanding of where more sovereignty is most critical, how it can be achieved in proportion to operational needs, and how it can support service continuity and operational resilience.

Future work should include:

• Reviewing and refining contractual clauses related to data control, disclosure and continuity to reflect emerging technologies and delivery models.
• Assessing current disaster recovery and business continuity practices, including an inventory of sovereignty requirements for the government’s systems and services.
• Informing decision-making practices by incorporating digital sovereignty considerations alongside assurance, innovation and operational needs.
• Ensuring transparency about operational control with all vendors, domestic and foreign, so the government can manage and protect its information and digital infrastructure, regardless of supplier location.
• Aligning procurement and digital policy to coordinate supplier diversification, sourcing strategies, and economic initiatives with digital sovereignty goals.
• Exploring funding and governance mechanisms that enable more iterative and adaptive approaches to digital infrastructure, service delivery and transformation. Govt. of Canada

*******************************************************************************************************************************

Canada needs an integrated national electricity grid to cut costs, strengthen reliability and lower emissions

Canada needs a more connected national electricity grid to cut costs, strengthen reliability and lower emissions, according to a report from the C. D. Howe Institute.

Canada’s power grids remain divided by provincial borders, limiting efficiency and reliability, said the report, by Madeleine McPherson, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Victoria and the principal investigator of the Sustainable Energy Systems Integration & Transitions Group. 

Modelling shows that expanding transmission links – for example, between B.C. and Alberta or Manitoba and Saskatchewan – could generate billions of dollars in net benefits, boost resilience for extreme events, and make better use of low-cost renewables, McPherson’s report said.

The report presents a blueprint laying out a bottom-up, phased plan for integration. It begins with provincial plans and priorities and advances through four stages: forming a federal-provincial task force, piloting coordination and trading bodies, making them permanent, and building a lasting governance framework.

Provincial grids are siloed, governed independently, and often more connected to the U.S. than to each other, McPherson’s report noted. “The lack of meaningful east-west connections is increasingly costly, vulnerable and misaligned with national climate and economic goals.”

Grid modelling shows that Canada’s isolated provincial grids are more vulnerable, costly and emissions-intensive.

“Canada must modernize its grid planning, with a focus on integration, to stay competitive as the world decarbonizes and electrifies,” the report said.

The blueprint is organized around five pillars:

1. Governance structures to fill planning and regulatory gaps.
2. Planning frameworks to integrate provincial plans into a coherent national vision.
3. Trading frameworks to bridge diverse market structures and enable efficient cross-border electricity flows.
4. Financing models that apply fair cost allocation and leverage diverse beneficiaries.
5. Community engagement, with Indigenous ownership at the core of durable social license.

These pillars advance in four phases:

• Phase 1: Build the Foundation – Launch a federal-provincial task force, analyze policy and regulatory gaps, and conduct feasibility modelling to create a shared evidence base.

The national grid plan should be based on existing provincial plans, such as BC Hydro’s Integrated Resource Plan and the Alberta Electric System Operator’s Long-Term Transmission Plan, to ensure a bottom-up approach that reflects provincial priorities. 

• Phase 2: Pilot Institutions – Test three pilots: a Canadian Grid Planning Council for national modelling, a Bilateral Contract Clearinghouse leading to a Canadian Power Exchange, and a Grid Coordination Forum for regulatory alignment.

Existing groups such as the Electricity Working Group and the Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference could serve as a base for coalition building. A new task force within one of these bodies should focus on grid integration, mapping policy and regulatory needs and building trust.

In Phase 2, this task force could evolve into the Grid Coordination Forum, tasked with harmonizing regulations and ensuring transparency.

Phase 2 also would create a Canadian Power Exchange to establish a voluntary interprovincial clearinghouse for bilateral contracts, and a Grid Coordination Forum to harmonize provincial regulations.

By Phase 3, the Grid Coordination Forum would develop a social licence framework and financing models. In Phase 4, the Forum would publish a biennial Grid Action Plan highlighting gaps and innovation opportunities.

• Phase 3: Institutionalization – Transition pilots into permanent institutions with clear mandates, stable funding and growing capabilities.

The Grid Planning Council established in Phase 2 should become the Canadian Grid Planning Agency, with dedicated staff to maintain the national grid model, integrate provincial inputs, and publish the national plan on a regular schedule.

Provincial grid operators would play a direct role by providing the utility data and candidate projects that anchor the modelling work.

The Canadian Power Exchange would streamline interprovincial trading by documenting current arrangements, identifying shortcomings such as bilateral contract limits, scheduling misalignments, tariff structures, and exploring protocols for scheduling and settlement.

The Grid Coordination Forum would harmonize regulations, improve transparency, build social licence models, and support innovation, building on the Canada’s Energy & Utility Regulators network.

• Phase 4: Long-Term Governance – Mature these institutions, embed continuous improvement, and sustain coordination while respecting provincial autonomy and Indigenous sovereignty.

By embedding continuous improvement into their core mandates, the Canadian Grid Planning Agency, the Canadian Power Exchange, and the Grid Coordination Forum can sustain the benefits of integration for decades.

“In doing so, they will ensure Canada’s electricity system remains reliable, affordable, and aligned with climate and energy goals while respecting jurisdiction, advancing Indigenous sovereignty, and fostering public trust.”

Electricity grid integration offers multiple benefits

Integration allows flexible hydro generation in B.C., Manitoba, and Quebec to balance world-class but intermittent wind in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Atlantic provinces. 

With integration, development can focus on the highest-quality resource areas, instead of building local wind with lower capacity factors and higher costs.

Integration also improves reliability by enabling regions to share resources and grid services, especially during extreme weather. Bigger, interconnected grids let operators pool resources, balance variability, and share backup capacity.

By sharing resources, provinces avoid overbuilding redundant capacity and instead optimize investments across a larger system. This lowers system costs for consumers while creating opportunities to develop local renewables, sell surplus power into wider markets, generate revenue, attract private investment and spur job creation. 

“The result is not only cheaper power, but also a stronger, more dynamic energy economy,” the report said.

Techno-economic models show that expanding the B.C.-Alberta interconnection by 2.4 gigawatts – twice its current capacity – would yield $1.7 billion in net benefits over the investment period to 2050.

Similarly, adding 1.5 gigawatts between Manitoba and Saskatchewan – triple current capacity – would yield $2.3 billion in net benefits over the same period.

“These benefit-to-cost ratios of 5.9 and 4.5 represent a massive return on investment,” the report noted.

Another report, using a different methodology, found that a $1.7-billion federal investment in interprovincial transmission could unlock another $6.6 billion in private investment for transmission and another $92.5 billion over 10 years for renewable power plants.

Integration of Canada’s provincial grids is challenging, the report pointed out. Each province has its own utility or system operator. Planning, ownership and operations reside within provinces, each of which has its own market structure.

Many provinces have resisted federal intervention, including planning and regulatory coordination, which are prerequisites for integration.

However, as integrated grid models in Europe and Australia demonstrate, it is possible to preserve provincial autonomy while federal coordination enables integration.

Europe and Australia faced similar tensions, yet developed governance structures that balance cross-border planning and regulatory harmonization without overstepping regional authority. 

“A truly integrated Canadian grid plan is not a federal imposition but a cooperative nation-building project – one that will shape prosperity and resilience for generations,” the report said.

The lack of a national planning process means Canada lacks credible, cohesive insight into the value of integration or how its benefits would be shared, the report noted.

Provinces have very different residential power rates, from as low as 12 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in Vancouver to as high as 24 cents/kWh in Edmonton in 2024.

Some fear that greater integration and price stabilization will forfeit their competitive advantage. “Without analyses that include reliability, resilience, and risk management, it is difficult to see past basic price stabilization,” the report said.

Federal initiatives such as the Canada Electricity Advisory Council included greater integration as one of their recommendations, but provincial reluctance persists and action has stalled.

“Grid integration will require bold, ambitious provincial action. As has been recently witnessed with interprovincial trade barriers, in times of instability, provinces are capable of action on previously challenging issues,” the report said.

The actions proposed in the blueprint rest on the following principles:

1. National planning must be bottom up, not top down: Provincial plans and priorities must remain foundational. The federal government has a role in coordination, but this blueprint is not a federal initiative.
2. Cross-border infrastructure must distribute benefits equitably: Grid modernization places disparate challenges on provinces. Any cross-border infrastructure must be mutually beneficial with fair cost allocation based on the distribution of benefits.
3. Proposed strategies must facilitate broader utility priorities: Utilities and system operators are under pressure to electrify, meet climate targets and plan for new loads, including data centres. Strategies must help utilities meet these challenges and avoid extra burdens.

A lack of meaningful engagement has long delayed and sometimes derailed energy infrastructure in Canada, the report said. “Effective engagement must be early, genuine, and tied to tangible benefits.”

Financing should follow a transparent cost-allocation framework that reflects the distribution of benefits. Because many parties benefit – ratepayers, renewable developers, large industrial consumers, merchant traders, and the federal government – diverse financing can be leveraged. 

Potential financing sources include:

1. Funding from the regulated rate base, whose customers benefit from improved reliability.
2. Bilateral agreements with renewable generators seeking better grid access and with industrial consumers seeking reliable, stable power.
3. Revenues from interprovincial price arbitrage.
4. Federal funding to advance reconciliation, nation building and climate objectives.

By starting with provincial plans and building upward to a national framework, Canada can modernize its grid while respecting jurisdiction, strengthening sovereignty, advancing reconciliation, and delivering lasting economic and environmental benefits.

Success will require sustained political will, steady capacity-building, and a willingness to see past jurisdictional boundaries toward shared national advantage, the report said. 

“By building an integrated national grid, Canada can deliver cleaner power at lower cost, create jobs, support Indigenous development, and build the backbone for economic growth. The benefits will endure for generations.” C. D. Howe Institute

******************************************************************************************************************************

Canada’s top 15 oil and gas producers are underreporting their decommissioning liabilities, putting shareholder equity at risk: report

Canada’s top 15 oil and gas producers could be underreporting their decommissioning liabilities for oilsands mines and spent wells by billions of dollars, with significant implications for shareholder equity, according to a report by Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC).

 I4PC’s report, Accounting for the Canadian Oil & Gas Liabilities Gap, details how the companies’ accounting practices systematically downplay liabilities, and finds a $113-billion gap between what’s in the 15 sets of financials compared to a leaked Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) estimate of liabilities. 

“Investors need transparency and accuracy from companies on the full scale of their liabilities, particularly as the energy transition calls into question whether these costs may come due sooner than anticipated,” said Jessica Carradine, senior analyst with I4PC.

“Furthermore, investors rely on auditors to provide assurance that key assumptions underlying liabilities costs have been tested, but there is no public evidence that any of them have done so,” she said.

The report adds to a growing body of research warning that energy companies around the world may not be providing full financial transparency on the potential costs they face to shut down and clean up their infrastructure. The report finds:

• A widespread failure to disclose financially material factors, such as timelines for cleanup and sensitivity analyses of key factors such as estimated costs, inflation and discount rates.
• Accounting judgments that minimize liabilities in the financials, such as overly-long timelines for remediation, high discount rates and “rosy assumptions” regarding future commodity prices that ignore the energy transition.
• Companies reporting about $67 billion of liabilities in today’s market prices versus their share of the leaked AER estimate of $180 billion, a $113 billion gap, or 2.7 times what appears in companies’ financials.
• An across-the-board failure of auditors to publicly assess decommissioning liabilities assumptions, despite significant impact on shareholder equity. The AER estimate of $180 billion is more than half the total market capitalization of the 15 companies.

“This lack of accounting transparency and auditor oversight puts billions in company valuations at risk,” said Carradine. “Canadian oil and gas institutional investors need to put tough questions to the board audit committees, and signal to the outside auditors that they will not vote for their reappointment should better assurance not be forthcoming.”

“It’s another report that confirms that there’s something very wrong with the way that we are tracking and managing closure liabilities in the energy sector,” Martin Olszynski, associate professor and chair in Energy, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, told The Globe and Mail.

“It’s not being done rigorously and it’s not being done transparently, and yet we know enough that the risks appear to be unprecedented in terms of the cost,” he said.

Experts from around the world gathered at UCalgary’s Faculty of Law in October for the first International Colloquium on Closure Liabilities in the Energy Sector, organized by Olszynski.

The gathering saw attendees from Canada, the U.S., Australia and the U.K. discuss the rising costs and complexities of decommissioning energy assets. 

“The problem that we’re experiencing in Alberta, the ‘drill and dash’ problem, is ubiquitous in all oil and gas producing regions,” he said. “Every major oil and gas-producing jurisdiction is struggling to find the funds to pay for the cleanup of these wells, and that cleanup then is increasingly being foisted onto the taxpayer.” Investors for Paris Compliance

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Former Liberal deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland will be moving to the U.K., after being appointed by the Rhodes Trust as the next Warden of Rhodes House and CEO of the Rhodes Trust. She’ll start her role on July 1, 2026, taking over from Professor Sir Rick Trainor,  who has served as interim warden and CEO since January 1, 2025. The Rhodes Trust is an educational charity best known for the Rhodes Scholarship, which offers talented people from across the globe an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford. Freeland is an Alberta-born Rhodes Scholar who came to Oxford in 1991.In addition to her political career, she worked as a  journalist and an author. Rhodes Trust

Maxime St-Pierre jointed Montreal-based REF Digital, the digital agency of LG Group, as partner and executive vice-president, strategy and innovation, on November 25. Before joining REF Digital, Maxime served as head of digital at CBC Radio-Canada for nearly 10 years. He oversaw the digital business intelligence unit, ensuring the implementation of user data practices and artificial intelligence technologies. Previously, during his tenure at Nurun, he played a critical role in developing and implementing digital strategies, applications, and e-commerce platforms for leading national and international brands. REF

Toronto-based fintech company DeFi Technologies announced that Olivier Roussy Newton has resigned as CEO and executive chairman of the board. The board of directors has appointed Johan Wattenström, co-founder of Valour, DeFi’s European exchange-traded product platform, and DeFi Technologies, as CEO and executive chairman effective upon Roussy Newton's departure. Roussy Newton, who has been CEO since October 2022, will be appointed strategic advisor of the company beginning in December. DeFi Technologies

Geoff White, former executive director of the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) consumer watchdog group, said he resigned earlier this month because he voluntarily stopped accepting payment to get the organization out of what he thought was a temporary cash crunch. White said the board hasn’t supported his plan to return it to financial health and now owes him tens of thousands of dollars. White became executive director in October 2024. PIAC chair Jonathan Schachter said the board repeatedly asked White not to forgo his pay and said PIAC will continue to operate, despite facing financial challenges common to public-interest groups. The Logic

Ottawa mathematician Adam Logan won the World Scrabble Championship for the second time. in doing so, he beat Nigel Richards of New Zealand, the five-time world champ and a man opponents regard as the greatest Scrabble player of all time. Logan is only the third person to win multiple times. He has played Scrabble since he was nine years old. The other multiple winner is David Eldar of Melbourne Australia. The Globe and Mail

CIFAR launched its first two Solution Networks focused on AI safety under the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI) Research Program. Each of the networks have received $700,000 to spend the next two years developing and implementing open-source AI solutions to make AI safer and more inclusive for Canadians and the Global South. The Mitigating Dialect Bias solution network will be led by co-directors Laleh Seyyed-Kalantari (York University) and Blessing Ogbuokiri (Brock University). The Safeguarding Courts from Synthetic AI Content solution network will be led by co-directors Ebrahim Bagheri (University of Toronto) and Maura R. Grossman (University of Waterloo and York University). CIFAR

Okanagan College and the BPL Legacy Association announced a joint initiative to create a $22-million facility to support aviation-related training. The 42,000 square-foot facility will be located at the Kelowna airport and will include classrooms, workshops and hangar space. Okanagan College will use the space to expand the capacity of its Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) programs. The new centre will be built next to the KF Centre for Excellence, which opened in 2022. Construction is expected to start in spring 2026 and finish in time for students in September 2027. Castanet

Simon Fraser University (SFU) partnered with the City of Surrey on advancing agricultural technology. SFU and the City signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the SFU Frontier Hub for Agritech Research and Methodology (SFU-FARM), a new centre dedicated to agritech research, innovation and commercialization. The hub will serve as a space for testing, demonstrating, and scaling agritech solutions that strengthen food security and support economic diversification. Under the agreement, SFU will lead the design and development of the hub, oversee applied research programs, and secure grant funding and external investment to support its growth. The City of Surrey will provide approximately 10 acres of Agricultural Land Reserve land through a long-term, low-cost lease and assist with zoning, permitting and regulatory processes. Simon Fraser University

A McGill University-led research team has demonstrated the feasibility of a sustainable and cost-effective way to desalinate seawater. The method – thermally driven reverse osmosis (TDRO) – uses a piston-based system powered by low-grade heat from solar thermal, geothermal heat and other sources of renewable energy to produce fresh water. Though previous research showed promise, this study is the first to analyze TDRO’s thermodynamic limits. The results have brought researchers closer to realizing the technology, which could improve access to water and increase the sustainability of infrastructure. Electricity-based desalination, which is often inaccessible in remote areas, requires about one to four kilowatt hours (kWh) to produce one cubic metre of fresh water. According to the McGill researchers' analysis, which optimized several elements of a design proposed by MIT researcher Peter Godart, TDRO would require 20 kWh per cubic metre. By studying and optimizing the ratio of working fluid to seawater fluid, as well as the piston sizes, the researchers demonstrated that TDRO has better performance potential than previously thought. The method also compares well against existing thermal desalination technologies, but the researchers say further study is required. “Thermally driven reverse osmosis: thermodynamics of a novel process that uses heat for desalination and water purification,” by Saber Khanmohammadi, Sanjana Yagnambhatt, Dan DelVescovo and Jonathan Maisonneuve, was published in Desalination. McGill University

R$