GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

Reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed “what appears to be yet another anti-oil and gas Environment Minister, Julie Dabrusin (MP for Toronto-Danforth),” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in responding to Carney’s new cabinet.

“Not only is she a self-proclaimed architect of the designation of plastics as toxic, but she is a staunch advocate against oil sands expansion, proponent of phasing out oil and gas, and for the last four years she has served as the right hand [as parliamentary secretary] to former Environment Minister and militant environmentalist, Steven Guilbeault,” Smith said in a statement.

“For more than a decade, Alberta has suffered under the anti-development and anti-resource policies of successive Liberal governments that have threatened our livelihoods, landlocked our resources, and targeted our industries. Now, we are being forced to contend with yet another ‘keep it in the ground’ environment minister. This is a step in the wrong direction.” Smith said. “Albertans will not stand for the status quo from Ottawa,” she said. “If the Prime Minister is serious about resetting the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta then we need meaningful action now, not more of the same.”

Tim Hodgson, a longtime ally of Carney, former CEO of Goldman Sachs Canada and board member for MEG Energy, was appointed minister of energy and natural resources.

Heather Exner-Pirot, who lives in Calgary and is a senior fellow and director of natural resources, energy and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based, conservative-leaning public policy think tank, praised Hodgon’s appointment.

“A great pick. A sigh of relief from energy sector and Alberta” Exner-Pirot said in a post on X.

Evidence for Democracy (E4D) said the new federal cabinet “represents a setback for science and evidence-informed decision-making in Canada.”

Prime Minister Carney’s government has rebranded the role of Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry as the Minister of Industry – effectively removing the dedicated science portfolio and eliminating the most senior champion for science in Parliament, E4D said.

“This decision suggests that science is not a priority for this government,” Sarah Laframboise, executive director of E4D, said in a statement. “Stripping science from the Cabinet sidelines the vital role that fundamental research plays in advancing health, protecting the environment, and building a safer, more prosperous Canada.”

While mission-driven and industry-focused research is valuable, Canada cannot afford to abandon support for fundamental research, Laframboise said.

Fundamental research is the backbone of innovation, laying the groundwork for transformative discoveries that drive long-term economic prosperity and keep Canada globally competitive, she said.

These research environments also train Canada’s next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators, equipping them with advanced skills needed to fuel Canada’s innovation economy and tackle the complex challenges of today and tomorrow, she added.

“At a time of unprecedented attacks on science and research in the United States, Canada has an opportunity to lead by example,” Laframboise said. “That leadership must start with clear, visible representation of science in government.”

As for the innovation portfolio being represented in Carney’s cabinet, former broadcast journalist Evan Soloman (MP for Toronto Centre) was named the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, suggesting a more narrow focus on these two areas rather a senior minister of innovation with a broader mandate that encompasses Canada’s entire research and innovation ecosystem.

The Business Council of Canada said in a statement responding to Carney’s new cabinet, that “The government must demonstrate ambition and action in its campaign commitments to accelerate approvals for trade-enabling infrastructure projects, eliminate interprovincial trade barriers, ignite engines of growth and innovation, and, most importantly, adopt a responsible fiscal framework.”

The Council of Canadian Innovators said in a statement: "During the campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team communicated that long-term economic resilience and sovereignty were the top priorities for the federal government. Economic sovereignty must be rooted in homegrown Canadian companies, and the government’s agenda must prioritize domestic capacity-building to achieve this. Canada’s technology companies are eager to work with the government to make this happen.”

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Canada’s big banks could survive an economic catastrophe such as a trade war worse than both the Great Recession and the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report by the Bank of Canada done in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The banks suffered losses on credit cards and on a significant amount of business loans including commercial real estate, but they survived without having to deplete their stores of reserve capital below regulatory minimums, said the Bank of Canada’s annual Financial Stability Report, which coincided with the IMF’s forthcoming periodic review of Canada’s financial system. The banks have good access to funding through deposits and wholesale markets, and credit performance has been strong. They have increased their funds set aside for anticipated loan losses and they maintain elevated levels of capital to absorb unexpected losses. Key takeaways of the report included:

• Over the past 12 months, Canadian households have been carrying, on average, less debt relative to their income, and insolvency filings by businesses have dropped significantly. But there are pockets of financial stress. The economic impacts of the pandemic, as well as elevated housing prices due to persistent imbalances in the housing market, have led to higher levels of debt for some households and businesses.
• Because Canadian households and businesses have remained resilient overall, financial institutions have not come under stress. Canadian banks have generally maintained elevated capital buffers and have increased provisions for credit losses. Liquidity levels have remained high and access to funding has continued to be strong.
• The trade war currently threatens the Canadian economy and poses risks to financial stability. Near-term unpredictability of U.S. trade and economic policy could cause further market volatility and a sharp repricing in assets, leading to strains on liquidity. In extreme circumstances, market volatility could turn into market dysfunction.
• In the medium to long term, a prolonged global trade war would have severe economic consequences. It would reduce economic growth and increase unemployment. Some households and businesses would be unable to continue making debt payments.

“Canadian banks remain well positioned to support the financial system and the broader economy even through a period of financial stress,” the report said. Bank of Canada

Canada must negotiate a new auto sector agreement with the U.S. if it wants a future for Canadian auto manufacturing, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. “To maintain our manufacturing base, Canada must either exponentially expand its share of the domestic market or achieve healthy sales across the larger North American market,” says the report by Stephen Beatty, recently retired corporate secretary of Toyota Canada. “That leads to the inevitable conclusion that Canada must cut a new deal with Washington.” Since April 3, the Trump administration has imposed 25-percent tariffs on imported autos and auto parts, but with carveouts for parts covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Currently, just nine percent of new cars purchased by Canadians are assembled in a Canadian factory. Canadian auto manufacturing is “inextricably linked to suppliers and consumers south of the 49^th  parallel,” Beatty says. He proposes that any U.S. tariffs on Canadian cars should be countered with an equivalent Canadian surtax on imports of U.S. vehicles, except that manufacturers would be given exemptions from the tax “proportionate to their Canadian production.” So, if a manufacturer builds 100 cars in Canada, they’re allowed a duty-free import of 100 cars (or enough parts equivalent to make 100 cars). Then, Canada would push to negotiate a new auto pact wherein both the U.S. and Canada enshroud their respective auto sectors with tariffs of up to 25 percent, but give exemptions to one another based on the formula of one duty-free import car for every car manufactured domestically. Calling his plan the “New Auto Pact,” Beatty’s idea is that both the U.S. and Canada would keep their existing auto sectors in a “self-balancing” formula while also meeting the U.S. goal of shutting out China. U.S. auto manufacturers would continue to be able to rely on suppliers across the region, including a growing critical mineral and battery supply chain base in Canada. “Canada needs to seize the initiative and bring forward a win-win plan so the Trump administration can demonstrate results to U.S. voters,” Beatty says. On May 13, Honda Canada said it was postponing by approximately two years a $15-billion project to build an electric vehicle battery plant and upgraded vehicle assembly facility in Ontario, citing a recent slowdown in the EV market. C.D. Howe Institute, National Post

The U.S.-U.K. preliminary trade agreement suggests U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to lower some tariffs for countries, including Canada, but not to drop them completely. Trump said the U.S.-U.K. deal will boost American ethanol and beef exports to the U.K. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the baseline 10-percent tariffs on most U.K. imports to the U.S. will stay in place. U.K officials said in a separate news conference that duties on steel and aluminum will be lifted, while tariffs on automobiles will drop to 10 percent for a quota of 100,000 vehicles. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters at the White House that the U.K.’s digital services tax is “still in negotiations.” The Trump administration has taken aim at Canada’s own digital services tax, which it says amounts to “extraterritorial” taxation of American firms. Pete Hoekstra, U.S. ambassador to Canada, told the National Post that the U.S.-U.K. trade agreement could be a template for future trade deals, including with Canada which he said is a priority for Trump. Trump launched his trade war on the world in April with “reciprocal” tariffs, only to walk back the most devastating duties a few hours later. Trump said the 90-day pause would give countries time to negotiate a deal while he kept in place a 10-percent universal tariff. Trump also imposed a 145-percent tariff on imports from China, as well as 25-percent duties on steel, aluminum and automobiles. On May 12, the U.S. and China announced they’ve agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the tariffs imposed since early April, to give trade negotiations room to move forward. Both counties will reduce their reciprocal tariffs by 115 percentage points for three months. Canadian Press

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) surpassed $1 billion in funding for Indigenous projects and equity interests and is now planning for more as the country contemplates the concept of energy corridors to bolster sovereignty, Ehren Cory, CEO of the CIB, told The Globe and Mail. Ottawa’s $35-billion financing arm, established in 2017 to lead the charge in catching up on years of underfunding in infrastructure, is concentrating on developing projects in Indigenous communities and providing loans to allow First Nations, Métis and Inuit to participate in major developments. Of the 95 projects the CIB has funded to date, one-quarter have Indigenous participation, Cory said. Equity ownership is now seen as a necessity to get major infrastructure such as power transmission lines, clean energy projects, ports and roads built, he said. This month, one of the projects in the CIB’s portfolio – the $700-million Oneida Energy Storage Project in Ontario – began commercial operations. The development is Canada’s largest such project, comprising 278 lithium-ion batteries. The project is majority owned by Northland Power. Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corp., NRStor Inc., Aecon Concessions and Mississaugas of the Credit Business Corp., are partners. The Globe and Mail

Export Development Canada (EDC) is poised to play an even bigger role in funding Canada’s mining sector, against a backdrop of enormous uncertainty caused by the global trade war and the need for the industry to further diversify internationally. The Crown corporation, founded in 1944, has been in the mine-financing business for decades. EDC provides loans, credit insurance, performance bonds and occasionally participates in equity deals. “In 2024, EDC facilitated $8.9 billion in business in the mining industry and supported more than 250 Canadian companies. This sector is vital for Canada and EDC is committed to supporting the growth of our mining and mineral processing capacity,” said Al Pritchard, EDC director of sectors, mining, who heads EDC’s critical-minerals strategy. Investing in critical minerals has already been a priority for EDC over the past few years after Canada released its strategy for critical minerals in 2022. “We are actively speaking to many of the developers that are in the later stages of mine development to see if there’s a way for EDC to participate,” Pritchard said. EDC, The Globe and Mail

The Government of Ontario, in response to U.S. tariffs, is providing an additional $1.3 billion over three years under its Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to help lower costs for businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment used for manufacturing or processing in Ontario. The proposed changes, part of the upcoming 2025 Ontario budget, would take Ontario’s Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit rate for Canadian-controlled private corporations from 10 percent to 15 percent and expand eligibility to non-Canadian-controlled private corporations as a non-refundable tax credit, to support their investments in Ontario. With these changes a qualifying corporation could receive a tax credit of up to $3 million per year. Ontario’s manufacturing sector currently employs 830,000 people. Govt. of Ontario

The Government of Ontario, in response to U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty, is expanding its Skills Development Fund by $955 million over the next three years starting in 2025-26, for a total of $2.5 billion. This funding will help train and reskill Ontario workers, including those directly impacted by layoffs resulting from tariffs, and ensure they have the necessary support to find good-paying jobs and help strengthen Ontario’s economy, the government said. The funding includes $150 million over three years to help more organizations build, expand and retrofit their training facilities. Govt. of Ontario

The Government of Ontario and the private sector are together investing more than $56 million to support 30 homegrown small and medium-sized companies working on innovative electrification of vehicles, EV charging infrastructure and smart mobility solutions. The government’s latest investment includes over $17 million through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), bringing the governments total investment in OVIN to $56.4 million. Industry partners are contributing more than $39 million to support the 30 companies. The OVIN R&D Partnership Fund provides co-investment for SMEs and supports strategic partnerships to develop, test, validate, demonstrate and commercialize automotive and smart mobility technologies and solutions. OVIN

The Government of British Columbia is providing more than $40 million for 61 projects aimed at better protecting people and communities throughout B.C. from the increasing threat of natural and climate-related emergencies. The government is supporting First Nations and local governments with projects that address natural and climate-driven hazards, such as floods, drought, extreme temperatures, earthquakes and landslides. Approximately $21 million is being provided from the new Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding program in addition to almost $20 million from the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund. Since 2017, provincial government funding programs have provided more than $540 million for approximately 2,660 disaster-preparedness and mitigation projects. Govt. of B.C.

The Government of British Columbia launched a second call for power to acquire a target of up to 5,000 gigawatt-hours per year of energy from large, clean and renewable projects in partnership with First Nations and independent power producers – enough to power 500,000 new homes. This builds on the success of the 2024 call for power, which resulted in 10 new renewable energy projects, with First Nations asset ownership between 49 percent and 51 percent, capable of powering about 500,000 new homes. The call provides an opportunity to explore B.C.’s power potential through a request for expressions of interest exploring capacity and firm, baseload electricity projects to deliver for peak demand periods and to provide backup intermittent energy resources. The government is investing more than $12 million from the B.C. Innovative Clean Energy fund in a targeted three-year call for new, made-in-B.C. clean-energy technologies that will combat climate change and create sustainable jobs. The government also is streamlining connections to B.C.’s grid to enable new homes and businesses to access clean electricity faster and less expensively. Govt. of B.C.

The Government of Ontario approved Ontario Power Generation’s plan to start constructing the first of four small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Darlington nuclear site. The official price tag of the initial reactor is $7.7 billion, while the price of all four SMRs has risen to $20.9 billion (in 2024 dollars). The Ontario government announced that OPG can spend $6.1 billion to build the first GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy BWRX-300 reactor adjacent to OPG’s existing Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. It can spend another $1.6 billion on infrastructure such as administrative buildings and cooling water tunnels the new reactor will share with three additional BWRX-300s to be built later. Those remaining three units have not yet received final approval. The four SMRs will together generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity. For comparison, a recently completed 377-megawatt natural gas-fired power station in Saskatchewan cost $825-million. The $7.7-billion cost of the initial SMR “is an eye-popping figure, but not unexpected given what we know about the poor economics of small nuclear reactors,” said Ed Lyman, director of nuclear-power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s certainly a boutique unit that’s going to produce electricity for a very expensive price.” Koroush Shirvan, a professor of energy studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s nuclear engineering program, said Ontario’s estimates validate previous studies, including his own, which determined that SMRs “will never be able to approach a large reactor” in cost-per-kilowatt of capacity. OPG has pushed back the expected completion date of the first SMR by one year, to 2029. The Globe and Mail

The Government of Saskatchewan says the province’s uranium industry is responding to growing global demand by setting new records for annual sales and production. Last year, uranium sales reached a new high of $2.6 billion, exceeding Saskatchewan's Growth Plan target of increasing the annual value of uranium sales to $2 billion dollars by 2030. Uranium production also reached a new record high of 16.7 thousand tonnes in 2024, up 28 percent from 2023. Colleen Young, minister of Energy and Resources, said the government expects uranium production will continue to rise. In 2024, uranium exploration spending is estimated to have reached $200 million and is expected to remain strong in 2025. Saskatchewan is the world's second-largest producer of uranium and has the largest high-grade uranium deposits in the world in the Athabasca Basin. With more than 30 countries committed to tripling nuclear power generation capacity by 2050, more uranium projects and processing capacity must be developed to meet demand beyond that time frame, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency said in their biennial report on the global uranium industry. Govt. of Saskatchewan

The Government of Nova Scotia is investing $1.6 million over three years to support rural entrepreneurs, startups and youth to access the research, programs, technology and mentorship they need to innovate and grow their business. The investment is in Ignite Atlantic, a rural startup incubator and accelerator. This funding will help Ignite maintain and build on programs ranging from hands-on innovation challenges and mentorship for young entrepreneurs to accelerator programs and pilot projects that connect companies with industry and government partners. Govt. of Nova Scotia

The Government of Alberta announced it’s freezing the industrial carbon price at the current rate of $95 per tonne of emissions, in response to disrupted supply chains and uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs. This freeze provides certainty and economic relief to oil and gas, electricity, petrochemical, manufacturing, cement, pulp and paper, mining, forestry and other sectors employing tens of thousands of workers across the province, the government said. “Alberta has had a reasonable, industry-led carbon-pricing system in place since 2007. This is provincial jurisdiction, and we will not needlessly burden our businesses with further increases dictated by Ottawa that would be detrimental to our economy,” Premier Danielle Smith said. Under the federal government’s schedule, the industrial carbon price is scheduled to rise to $110 per tonne in 2026 and continue increasing by $15 per year to $170 per tonne by 2030. Govt. of Alberta

The Government of Alberta will appoint a special negotiating team to represent the province in negotiations with the federal government. The Alberta government is requesting these reforms:

• Guaranteed corridor and port access to tidewater off the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coasts for the international export of Alberta oil, gas, critical minerals and other resources in amounts supported by the free market, “rather than by the dictates and whims of Ottawa.”
• The end of all federal interference in the development of provincial resources by repealing the “no new pipelines law” Bill C-69 (the federal Impact Assessment Act), the oil tanker ban, the net-zero electricity regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the net-zero vehicle mandate, and any federal law or regulation that purports to regulate industrial carbon emissions, plastics or the commercial free speech of energy companies.
• The federal government must refrain from imposing export taxes or restrictions on the export of Alberta resources without the consent of the Government of Alberta.
• The federal government must provide to Alberta the same per-capita federal transfers and equalization as is received by the other three largest provinces – Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

While these negotiations with Ottawa are ongoing, the Alberta government said it will appoint the Alberta Next panel, which Premier Danielle Smith will chair. The government said this panel will be comprised of some of the province’s best and brightest judicial, academic and economic minds, to hold a series of in-person and online town halls to discuss Alberta’s future in Canada, and what next steps Alberta can take as a province to better protect itself from any current or future hostile policies of the federal government. After the work of the panel is finished, the government said it is likely it will place some of the more popular ideas discussed with the panel to a provincial referendum so all Albertans can vote on them sometime in 2026. Govt. of Alberta, Government of Alberta (Alberta Next)

RESEARCH, INNOVATION & COLLABORATION

The Global Research-Intensive Universities Network (GRUIN), comprised of associations such as U15 Canada and which represents 158 leading universities across Canada, Europe, the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Germany and Australia, issued the Ottawa Declaration calling for intensified global research collaboration amid rising geopolitical uncertainty. “In this context, it is urgent that leading research universities leverage their international relationships to increase collaboration for collective societal benefit,” the declaration said. The declaration reaffirmed shared academic values and outlined four key priorities for the network: acting for the public good; upholding academic freedom and institutional autonomy; ensuring integrity, supporting security and conducting research responsibly; and promoting transparency in international research collaborations. GRUIN

Imperial Oil Limited donated a $37-million research lab facility to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary. The donation of the 40,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, named the Imperial Energy Innovation Centre in honour of the donor, will support the expansion of SAIT’s energy innovation applied research. Under the agreement, SAIT will take over management of the Quarry Park facility in mid-2025, creating new opportunities for collaborative industry research and training opportunities with students. The donation integrates Imperial’s extensive research presence in the oilsands recovery technology space with SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services. The facility will bring together leading researchers in petroleum engineering with the next generation of thinkers and innovators. Imperial, which remains committed to its industry-leading upstream research program, will continue to use the SAIT-operated facility to support its ongoing research efforts focused on increasing efficiencies and reducing the environmental impacts of its operations. Globe Newswire

COAST, Pacific Canada’s hub for the sustainable blue economy, and the University of Victoria launched the BC Marine and Decarbonization Hub to commercialize cutting-edge marine renewable energy and decarbonization technologies in British Columbia. The new hub is the culmination of three decades of community-centred clean energy research and innovation conducted at the University of Victoria by the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery, and Accelerating Community Energy Transformation, which have joined forces in the new hub. To facilitate engagement with the most apt technologies, the hub will issue Innovation Challenges in partnership with key regional stakeholders, with the first of these challenges to be issued in late 2025. Funding for the new hub comes from Pacific Economic Development Canada, the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions, and the RBC Foundation, and will support the hub's establishment and operation for four years (2025-2028). COAST

Vancouver-based General Fusion Inc. laid off more than one-quarter of its workforce and scaled back experiments in its fusion test reactor. Greg Twinney, CEO of General Fusion, said in an open letter that a cooling investment climate and aggressive nationally funded fusion programs were making funding more challenging as investors and governments “navigate a rapidly shifting and uncertain political and market climate.” Twinney wrote that “this rapidly shifting environment has directly and immediately impacted our funding.” Twinney told Business In Vancouver that General Fusion needs to fill a US$125-million gap in funding. The uncertainty driven by U.S. tariffs has roiled global capital markets and caused many investors to avoid taking the same risks they used to, he said. “That creates enormous headwinds for us [and] “everyone out there.” General Fusion, Business in Vancouver

See also: Fusion energy attracting more investment, achieving technical milestones on path to commercialization

Electric transit buses may not be ready for prime time in Canada’s harsh climate, according to a report by the National Research Council, which showed that many vehicles need diesel heaters just to maintain performance during winter. According to Blacklock's Reporter, the study – released four years after then-Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna announced a $2.8- billion plan to spend on zero-emission transit – questions whether electric buses can reliably replace diesel-fuelled buses in daily Canadian operations. Trials across several cities, including Edmonton, Toronto, Winnipeg and multiple Quebec municipalities, found persistent challenges, particularly in cold weather. “Winnipeg’s trial showed a diesel heater helps to limit electric buses’ performance losses to 20 percent or less,” the report said. In extreme cold, electric bus batteries lost as much as 25 percent of their capacity and showed increased energy usage by an additional 15 percent. In Edmonton and Toronto, operators expressed concern over whether electric buses could meet daily route demands of 14 to 16 hours. While diesel buses typically travel 600 kilometres between refuels, electrics maxed out around 400 kilometres per charge. The NRC’s report cautioned transit agencies to consider these limitations carefully before committing to large-scale fleet conversions. Western Standard

Canada’s Competition Bureau obtained court orders to gather information to advance its investigation into Virgina-headquartered BWX Technologies’ proposed US$525 million acquisition of Toronto-based Kinectrics. BWX Technologies and Kinectrics, directly or through a joint venture or partnership, provide products and services at various stages of the medical isotope value chain. The Competition Bureau is investigating whether the acquisition is likely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in Canada’s nuclear medicine sector. The acquisition includes Kinectrics’ interest in Isogen, a company that enables the production of medical isotopes and is jointly owned with Framatome Canada. The court orders, granted by the Federal Court of Canada, require three market participants in the nuclear medicine sector to provide information and produce records and data related to but not limited to transaction agreements, capacity, sales and competitive dynamics. The entities receiving court orders are Bruce Power, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Framatome Canada. Bruce Power and OPG operate nuclear reactors used to irradiate elements into medically useful radioactive substances. BWX Technologies announced its plan to acquire Kinectrics on January 7, 2025. Competition Bureau

Some private health-data companies are selling access to patients’ records without patients’ knowledge, according to a study by researchers at Women’s College in Toronto. "This is really an area where we need transparency," said the study's lead author, Dr. Sheryl Spithoff. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined how the medical record industry works in Canada and how patient data flows between different private entities. Through a series of 19 interviews, the researchers concluded "chains of for-profit primary care clinics, physicians, commercial data brokers and pharmaceutical companies . . . work together to convert patient medical records into commercial assets." Those assets, the study said, are then used to "further the interests of the pharmaceutical companies. “The vertically integrated model offers pharmaceutical companies a powerful additional mechanism to increase use of their drug products while also allowing them to increase market control and ward off competition.”  Pharmaceutical industry influence is likely to lead to an increased focus on health conditions for which pharmaceutical companies market treatments and skew resources toward heavily promoted prescription drug treatments, the study says. These promoted treatments are more likely to be branded, on-patent and newer, with less established safety profiles and higher costs compared with cost-effective generic counterparts. Spithoff and her colleagues identified two different models. In one, a private clinic sells data to an outside company, with personal information like names and birth dates removed. The company then offers to sell or analyze that de-identified information for its clients in the pharmaceutical industry. In the other model, the clinic is a subsidiary of the company collecting the data, giving that company even more direct access to patient information. The study said patients were not included in decisions about how their data was used. JAMA Open Network, CBC News

The Metals Company, based in Vancouver, applied for two deep-seabed exploration licenses and one commercial recovery permit in a Pacific zone rich in critical minerals. The company’s application came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at encouraging resource extraction on the sea floor. The commercial recovery permit covers a total combined area of 25,160 square kilometres, while the two exploration licenses cover a total combined area of 199,895 sq km. The Metals Company said it believes the exploration areas contain polymetallic nodules that would yield approximately 15.5 million tonnes of nickel, 12.8 million tonnes of copper, 2.0 million tonnes of cobalt, and 345 million tonnes of manganese. The Metals Company

Montreal-based cryptocurrency company Shakepay’s securities dealer, Shakepay Inc., has become the first crypto firm to join as a member of  Payments Canada. As a Payments Canada member, Shakepay gains the ability to apply for direct access to the country's core payment infrastructure, enhancing the speed, security and efficiency of transactions for its customers. By obtaining membership via its Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization investment dealer status, Shakepay said the company strengthens its position as a trusted, regulated player in Canada's financial ecosystem and is poised to redefine how Canadians transact by blending traditional payment systems with the power of digital assets. Payments Canada oversees the country's essential payment systems, which process nearly $107 trillion in transactions annually. By joining this network, Shakepay is positioned to apply for direct access to the upcoming Real-Time Rail system and other systems. Shakepay

The University of Calgary’s (UCalgary) Downtown campus is installing a new carbon capture device developed by Calgary-based CarbinX Technologies. The device is the size of two refrigerators and captures carbon dioxide (CO₂) from natural gas heating appliances, lowering the amount of gas the six-storey building uses. The CarbinX unit will reduce the Downtown campus’s overall consumption of natural gas while significantly reducing energy costs. The CarbinX device helps reduce carbon emissions from heating systems that run on natural gas. When these systems are used, they release CO₂ and waste heat into the air. CarbinX captures some of that gas and runs it through a chamber with potassium hydroxide. This process creates extra heat that can be reused by the building, which saves energy. At the same time, the CO₂ is turned into potassium carbonate, a useful material found in things like soaps and fertilizer. As part of CarbinX’s agreement with UCalgary, cleaning supplies manufactured from the recycled carbon will be sent back to the university. CarbinX Technologies as a startup was supported by the Creative Destruction Lab-Rockies program out of UCalgary’s Haskayne School of Business. UCalgary

The University of Waterloo is working with Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles to develop PitcherNet, an AI system that uses video footage to assess pitchers’ biomechanics and how they throw a ball. The tool uses 3D modeling and machine learning to replicate the complex motion analysis systems that are only available in select stadiums. These systems include high-resolution camera systems from a company called Hawk-Eye Innovations, which allow the home teams to capture and analyze the movements of their players. PitcherNet will enable scouts and coaches to analyze key metrics from cellphone or broadcast video, making it easier to assess talent at the collegiate and minor league levels. To train the AI algorithm, the UWaterloo researchers create 3D avatars of pitchers to track their movements and view them from different vantage points. The system goes over pitch type – whether it was a fastball, slider, curveball or other type of pitch – the release point, velocity, release extension and handedness, which means they can isolate the pitcher's throwing hand to analyze how the ball is held. CBC News

Academics at McGill University are providing the U.S. scientific community with a platform to protect climate research under attack. Six months ago, researchers at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management launched the Sustainability Academic Network – SUSANHub.com – a database that centralizes climate research and data. "We initially created this platform to connect researchers and professionals in sustainable development and climate change," said Juan Serpa, a professor at the Desautels Faculty of Management. But at a time when the Trump administration is firing climate researchers, banning certain words from scientific articles, cutting funding for environmental research, threatening to withdraw financial support from universities, and deleting scientific reports from government websites, the McGill platform has taken on a different significance. "The goal is to protect scientific data against threats from the U.S. government," Serpa said. Scientific data that is on the chopping block south of the border is downloaded and uploaded to the platform. Scientific data on wildfires, protecting forests from insects and diseases, the impact of climate change on agriculture, flood risks, ocean plastic pollution, and the industries that emit the most greenhouse gases are just a few examples of data that can be accessed on SUSANHub.com and that would otherwise be at risk of being lost. The thousands of data sets the McGill team has saved are freely accessible and categorized according to 65 themes related to sustainable development. The platform also provides access to a directory of 60,000 researchers and 25,000 research institutes. The Canadian Press

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has pulled funding from a University of British Columbia (UBC) research project on women and HIV care, with the government agency blaming the project’s “amorphous equity objectives” and commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The NIH has updated its grants policy statement to state that recipients cannot have DEI programs or engage in “discriminatory boycotts” of Israeli companies. The NIH is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, with most of its nearly US$48-billion annual budget going toward research grants. A March 20 letter sent to UBC research manager Phoebe Lu, obtained by The Globe and Mail, said the premise of the HIV research project is now incompatible with agency priorities and that funding would end. The UBC project explores how gender-based violence affects HIV care for women. The project follows nearly 400 women accessing HIV care in Metro Vancouver – roughly 90 percent who identified as cisgender and 10 percent transgender, nonbinary, two-spirit or gender-diverse. The longitudinal study was in its final year of a five-year grant. The NIH had awarded the project approximately US$470,000 each year since 2021 and in December had approved about US$400,000 for this year. The Globe and Mail

Research England is investing £30 million into four regional projects through its university commercialization ecosystems initiative. These projects will bring together universities, industry and other partners to deliver a step-change in knowledge exchange activity. This includes:

• building new and strengthening existing collaborations.
• expanding the pipeline of high-quality investible new spinouts.
• supporting scale-up capability.
• attracting new U.K. and international investment.
• creating high-value jobs.
• embedding longstanding knowledge exchange work streams.

The funding builds on the Connecting Capability Fund and the Research England Development fund, which aim to drive innovation by supporting collaboration and strengthening commercialization capacity. The four new projects are:

• North East: Strategic Commercialisation Ecosystem North East (SCENE)

Led by Durham University, SCENE will build on the success of the Northern Accelerator which has already helped launch over 50 spinouts since 2018.

• Midlands: Forging ahead/Forging beyond

Led by Loughborough University, this wide-reaching collaboration of 15 universities will tackle the fragmentation of skills and talent in the Midlands innovation landscape.

• Liverpool City region: Biologics Regional Innovation and Technology Ecosystem (BRITE)

Led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, BRITE will plug critical gaps in the local biologics innovation pipeline. It will help develop and manufacture next-generation therapies for infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.

• Greater Lincolnshire and East Anglia: Agri-tech Commercialisation Ecosystems (ACE)

Led by the University of Lincoln, in partnership with the University of Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, ACE will establish a globally recognized agri-tech innovation cluster.

The project will create a new venture fund, develop a national tech transfer office, and support U.K.-wide agri-tech spinouts aimed at building a more sustainable, food-secure future. UK Research and Innovation

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

San Francisco-based Anysphere, creator of the AI programming tool Cursor, raised US$900 million in a funding round led by Thrive Capital. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Accel also participated in the round, which valued Anysphere at approximately US$9 billion. Min.news

Montreal-based Power Sustainable secured more than US$330 million in commitments for its furth investment group, Power Sustainable Decarbonization Private Equity. Partners include Canada Life, Export Development Canada, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Power Corporation of Canada and others. Power Sustainable Decarb PE is led by Karine Khatcherian and Martin Aares, each with over 20 years of climate investing experience and deep sector knowledge. Power Sustainable manages a diversified platform of four complementary strategies: energy infrastructure equity, sustainable agri-food private equity, decarbonization private equity, and sustainable infrastructure credit. Power Sustainable

Vancouver-based Active Impact Investments closed its third fund at $110 million. The fund was co-anchored by Northleaf Capital Partners through its Canadian venture capital strategy and Fondaction, and further supported by Boann, Co-operators Corporate Venture Capital Fund, Deloitte Ventures and InBC. At nearly twice the size of its previous fund, Active Impact is doubling down on the Canadian market and reaffirming its thesis of backing early-stage climate tech ventures that abate emissions and advance the adoption of scalable clean solutions. Fund III has already invested in Canadian-based Jetson, Skyward, RIPTK, ThinkLabs AI and U.S.-based C.Scale, Lumo and Zeno. Active Impact Investments

Bezos Expeditions, the private investment firm of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, led a US$72 million funding round for Amsterdam-headquartered AI data solutions provider Toloka, joined by Shopify chief technology officer Mikhail Parakhin. Toloka specializes in training and evaluating AI models with the assistance of a network of human experts and testers. The company said the investment would accelerate the company’s growth and aid in developing new products that integrate human expertise with AI technology. Investing.com

Montreal-based Amilia raised $35 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Vertu Capital, with additional participation from Amilia’s current investors Export Development Canada, the Canadian Business Growth Fund, and Investissement Québec. Amilia is a provider of management software and payment solutions for the community and recreation industries.  Its platform helps organizations automate registrations, manage memberships and streamline payments. Amilia said the new funds will be leveraged to accelerate product innovation and fuel Amilia’s growth through continued investment in its team and technology. Amilia

Vancouver-based AI startup Unblocked raised $27.5 million in a Series A funding round, with participation from Radical Ventures and Artisanal Ventures. Previous investors include Amplify, First Round and XYZ. Unblocked said it will use the funding to expand its AI products and grow its team. Unblocked connects to company workspaces – like Slack, Jira or Google Drive – to provide developers with answers about a company’s codebase, including context about the code, not just the code itself. Unblocked

Montreal-based Exterra Carbon Solutions raised $20 million in a Series A funding round, co-led by Clean Energy Ventures and BDC Capital, with participation by the Government of Quebec, Investissement Quebec, MOL Switch, and Kinetics. Exterra's commercialization strategy centres on its upcoming Hub I project, scheduled to begin construction in 2027, in Quebec. Hub I will become the world's largest asbestos mitigation plant, with an annual capacity to process over 300,000 tonnes of asbestos mine tailings annually and enable the rehabilitation of mining sites. Exterra aims to be the first company globally to commercialize carbon-neutral mineral production from mine tailings. Exterra Carbon Solutions

The Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF), in partnership with the Government of Alberta, is investing up to $3.5 million into local companies to drive innovation, job creation and economic resilience. The funding will be delivered through a new funding stream, OCIF Express, designed to meet the urgent needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. OCIF Express, supported by $1.2 million from the Alberta government, is funding 23 companies that are expected to create over 150 jobs and train almost 90 Calgarians. OCIF Express simplifies access to capital by providing faster access to funding for high-impact projects with a lifecycle under 24 months. The program focuses on job creation and in-house training, giving businesses the tools to hire skilled talent and develop future-ready workforces that enable local companies to grow and create new opportunities for Calgarians. The projects focus on supporting roles across sectors, including in data science, artificial intelligence, clean energy, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. Calgary Economic Development

Halifax-based food tech company Infusd Nutrition raised more than $2 million in a funding round led by NextGen Nutrition Investment Partners, with participation from Nourish Ventures (Griffith Foods) and Agthia Ventures. Infusd’s proprietary technology can transform the functional beverage and nutrition categories by allowing hundreds of popular fat-soluble and insoluble ingredients such as Omega-3, botanical extracts, fat soluble vitamins and insoluble branded ingredients to become valuable, water-soluble ingredients at high concentrations with proven stability. The technology enables the creation of both liquid and powdered products for ready-to-drink, ready-to-mix, and food-fortification applications. Infusd said the funding will enable the company to scale up its customer-focused resources to serve the demand for its products. Infusd Nutrition

Angel network Anges Québec launched Elevia Fund, a new co-investment fund meant to allow members and external investors to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage Quebec companies while leaving the due diligence to other angels. Founded in 2007, Anges Québec consists of more than 200 Quebec-based angel investors, many of them former entrepreneurs. The network is partnered with venture fund AQC Capital, which often invests alongside Anges Québec members. Elevia Fund, which will renew annually, is looking to raise $1 million to $3 million from a maximum of 60 investors, though it is expecting the first iteration to reach between $1.5 million to $2 million. BetaKit

REPORTS & POLICIES

 Council of Canadian Innovators offers “A Mandate to Innovate” policy guide for the Mark Carney government

Canada needs a new, independent innovation agency that moves at the speed of business to help companies build, scale and own valuable intangible assets, according to a new policy report by the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI).

The new agency should be staffed with experts and entrepreneurs and be equipped with the capacity and mission to find and support the best innovators and ideas in Canada, the CCI says.

“Canada should focus on promoting innovation, generating and controlling intangible assets, acting as a bridge to government buyers, and helping firms tackle the barriers to scale.”

Canada also needs a national push to compete head-to-head with the U.S. for the world’s top talent and investment and a government that becomes the world’s best customer for homegrown innovators, the CCI says.

The country also needs a bold strategy to “supercharge” Canada’s cornerstone industries – natural resources, agriculture and energy – by embedding innovation and value creation at every stage.

“The Canada of the future can’t just hew wood and draw water. To be a secure and prosperous country, we need to be global leaders in advanced mineral exploration, novel agricultural techniques, and clean energy sources.”

The CCI calls its report, A Mandate to Innovate, a strategic, department-by-department guide for federal policymakers to build a strong, more innovative and sovereign Canadian economy.

“Canada is facing down the biggest economic and security crisis in our country’s postwar history,” the report says. “Canada’s innovators are the key to solving our crisis and becoming
a more secure and prosperous country.”

Canada needs to be a country where homegrown firms grow to global scale – especially firms that generate, retain and commercialize intellectual property and data, the report says. “The new economics of innovation dictate this as a critical issue for our prosperity and our security.”

A recent study of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development economies found that the general slowdown in productivity growth actually reflected a titanic divergence between leading-edge firms, which achieved 2.6-percent labour productivity growth, and laggards, which achieved only 0.6 percent, the report notes. “It has never been more important as an economy to be a country where industry-leading firms grow and stay.”
Yet despite a 2017 commitment by the federal government to double the number of high-growth firms, the number remains virtually unchanged – at 14,000 – which is where it was when this goal was announced, the report points out.

“Today’s innovators need a federal government focused on their four key needs: access to talent, capital, customers, and crafting regulations and marketplace frameworks that help them scale instead of throwing up arbitrary barriers to growth.”
The leading countries of the future will be home to companies that respond quickly to disruption by commercializing valuable new intellectual property and exporting their innovations widely across the world, according to the report.

“Canada’s roles in global value chains will determine who our partners are and what economic role we can expect to play – we need to own high-value niches that generate wealth and
prosperity.”

The report includes “mandate letter action items” for Prime Minister Mark Carney and department ministers.

Carney’s action items include delivering smarter government and more effective programs by centralizing responsibility for in-house innovation programs in a dedicated Privy Council Office
branch.

The CCI also urges Carney to bring new ideas and expert analysis to Ottawa by creating a new Prosperity and Innovation Council to advise cabinet on economic policy with original research and analysis, and break down barriers for private sector, academic and labour expertise to contribute to public service.

The action items for the minister of Innovation, Science and Industry include shutting down underperforming innovation programs and cutting subsidies that don’t build prosperity in Canada.

The CCI also urges the minister to keep Canadians and their data safe by building sovereign compute and cloud capacity for critical applications and fostering a world-class Canadian supply chain.

The Innovation, Science and Industry minister also should strengthen the connections between publicly funded research and economic success by conditioning federal research funding on strong university and college intellectual property management (e.g. express licenses) and research commercialization practices that promote Canadian prosperity, the CCI said.

The minister of Finance’s action items include unlocking innovation and supporting entrepreneurs by reforming Canada’s tax system and launching an open banking framework that fuels innovation.

The Finance minister also should reform and streamline the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada, especially with a view to increasing their appetite for making higher-risk investments and ensuring that their investment vehicles are well-suited for their targets and goals.

The minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s action items include strengthening Canada’s economy with new products and new markets by taking a new strategic approach to trade and expanding and strengthening the Trade Commissioner Service.

The president of the Treasury Board’s action items include unlocking more flexible, innovative governance by enshrining standards as statutory instruments in legislation, narrowing the scope of regulations, and expanding the use of regulatory sandboxes across government for emerging technologies.

The minister of Health’s action items include bringing health data into the digital age by moving
forward on legislation to require secure, interoperable and standards-driven use of health data, and powering innovation in health and medical technology by modernizing Health Canada’s regulatory and service culture to better serve Canadians and innovators.

For the minister of Public Services and Procurement, the action item is to unlock the power of the federal government and empower public servants and innovators by reforming how government buys from innovators.

As for the ministers of National Defence and Public Safety, their action items include restoring Canada’s armed forces and the respect of Canada’s allies by reinvesting in the country’s defence industrial base, military, and advanced dual-use capabilities like cybersecurity and drones that offer Canada significant opportunities to serve as an arsenal to our allies.

The Department of National Defence and public safety agencies should be empowered with the agility to procure what they need by radically simplifying procurement, emphasizing accountability and results over process, and building capacity to procure and co-develop early-stage technologies.

Action items for the ministers of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, and Agriculture and Agri-Food include:

• Diversify and drive innovation, investment and trade in critical minerals by investing in innovation leadership, building on existing partnerships with our key allies, including the European-Canadian Raw Materials Partnership, and creating regulatory certainty for investors by increasing domestic alignment with global best practices.
• Drive growth and innovation in Canadian cleantech by strengthening carbon markets, making better use of procurement and technological challenge prizes, and leveraging  existing international rules and agreements to protect nascent industries from unfair competitive practices.
• Secure Canada’s energy resilience by driving the modernization of Canada’s electrical grid and continuing to fund important government energy initiatives, including Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program.
• Capitalize on Canada’s unique potential as a food superpower by reducing Health Canada approval times for agri-food products, making it easier and less risky for farmers to buy and try out new technology, and removing regulatory hurdles for the use of new farming techniques.

The minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship’s action item is to make Canada the world’s top destination for the best and brightest by maintaining and expanding programs that work like the Global Talent Stream and market Canada as a stable alternative to the U.S., work to bring home Canadian entrepreneurs, and welcome elite scientific and engineering talent to
Canada’s universities.
“With smart policies and strategic vision, Canada can become a country that is home to companies with cutting-edge technology sought out all over the world,” the CCI says.

“We can build a Canada that is an indispensable country of the future. We can be a country that plays a critical role in global security and defending democracy.” CCI

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Canada needs to harness its AI advantage, not hobble it by prioritizing overly cautious regulation over deployment

Canada faces a pivotal choice on artificial intelligence, according to a joint commentary from the  Information Technology & Innovation Foundation and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

The country can build on its world-class research and top-tier talent to stay at the forefront of the global AI economy, or it can risk squandering its early advantage by focusing on excessive regulation instead of deployment, say co-authors Lawrence Zhang, head of policy at the ITIF-affiliated Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness, and Daniel Castro, ITIF vice-president and director of ITIF’s Center for Data Innovation.

“In an era when AI will enhance everything from crop yields to cancer detection, the central priority should be to accelerate AI adoption to boost Canada’s economic prosperity and quality of life for its citizens, not impose roadblocks to innovation with overly precautionary regulation of this emerging technology,” they say.

Countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. increasingly view AI as a strategic tool for economic growth, not a laboratory-bound novelty that requires cautious oversight. They are prioritizing the tangible benefits of innovation over speculative safety concerns.

“The global consensus now increasingly favours proactive development and deployment of AI technologies,” Zhang and Castro say.

Yet, as global momentum shifts toward proactive AI development and deployment, Canada remains overly cautious, they note.

If this hesitation continues, Canada risks falling behind – not just in AI itself, but across the many sectors where AI will drive transformative change, they maintain.

Some people warn that government should “handle with care” when it comes to AI, arguing that it is “better to be safe than sorry.”

However, excessive caution can lead to regret, too. The precautionary principle assumes that avoiding hypothetical risks is the safest course – but overregulation and stagnation carry real risks of their own, Zhang and Castro say.

Countries that constrain innovation in the name of safety risk losing ground in economic competitiveness, technological leadership and even societal well-being.

Scaling AI adoption means overcoming more complex challenges than typical digital upgrades. Unlike launching a website or shifting from fax to email, AI adoption often faces regulatory, legal or operational uncertainty that can stall progress.

“Without a strategic focus on broad industry adoption, Canada will have borne the full cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in research while allowing most of the economic and productivity benefits to flow to individuals and companies in other parts of the world.”

Zhang and Castro point out that Canadian information and cultural, professional and technical services, finance and insurance, and the administrative and support industries have been the largest adopters of AI in the past year.

Manufacturing, transportation, mining, oil and gas, accommodation, and food services industries have been the slowest to adopt AI. Industries such as real estate, wholesale trade, arts and entertainment, and healthcare fall somewhere in the middle. 

Notably, several sectors slow to adopt traditional AI tools – such as real estate and arts and entertainment – now see high potential in generative AI, suggesting untapped opportunities.

Understanding why adoption is slow for specific tasks in certain industries is necessary to improve adoption rates, especially when the barriers to adoption are the result of existing policies.

The current hesitation of Canada’s domestic market to adopt AI, fuelled at least in part by uncertainty over future AI regulations, leads to Canadian AI firms being forced to seek customers abroad even more than they usually would, Zhang and Castro say.

Creating clear rules that facilitate AI adoption and do not penalize its use can smooth the pathway for adoption, they say.

Canada should emphasize evidence-based, post-deployment monitoring rather than overly restrictive precautionary measures, they argue.

Instead of trying to pre-emptively address every potential risk with broad regulations, encouraging widespread AI usage paired with rigorous monitoring by the recently created Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute would be an evidence-based means of addressing AI safety. 

The gaps between where AI is being adopted and where generative AI is seen as most valuable point to important opportunities. Early adopters may see limited returns from generative AI (GenAI) due to previous investments in legacy tools.

In contrast, sectors with low adoption but high perceived value – such as real estate or entertainment – could leapfrog directly to transformative use cases. Other sectors may still underestimate Gen AI’s potential.

Bridging these divides with policy reforms, targeted support, real-world pilots and education initiatives can convert curiosity or doubt into genuine adoption, Zhang and Castro say.

A third layer of analysis based on occupation-level data further refines where AI adoption will likely succeed. It shows that GenAI use extends beyond technical roles into creative, educational and administrative jobs, suggesting that workforce skills and job functions, not just sectors, should be considered when evaluating where adoption is most feasible and scalable.

Even industries slow to adopt AI may still benefit if they employ roles that already embrace these tools.

Zhang and Castro suggest a three-part strategy for focusing AI adoption efforts:

1. Industries such as finance, professional services and administrative support are already implementing AI at scale and stand to benefit from deeper integration of GenAI. These industries may have higher rates of adoption due to fewer legislative, regulatory or cultural barriers than other industries. Continued support for adoption in these sectors will accelerate productivity and set examples for others.
2. Industries like real estate, wholesale trade, and arts and entertainment rank AI highly in perceived value but have not yet adopted AI broadly. These industries present ripe opportunities for targeted support that turns said interest into implementation.
3. Industries like manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and natural resources have lagged in both AI adoption and enthusiasm. However, applied AI tools such as diagnostic support, patient triage systems and workflow optimization can deliver real gains. Demonstration projects, investment in building high-quality datasets and sector-specific guidance can help shift perceptions, chip away at regulatory barriers and accelerate adoption.

Zhang and Castro also offer several recommendations:

• Focus adoption-related interventions on industries where AI can deliver the most substantial benefits but where adoption remains sluggish. For example, healthcare regulators could establish expedited approval processes or regulatory sandboxes for demonstrably low-risk AI solutions.
• Build data ecosystems to facilitate AI adoption. The Canadian government can accelerate AI adoption by investing in the creation and maintenance of high-quality datasets, supporting data sharing across government, industry and academia, and funding research on privacy-enhancing technologies to facilitate the use of AI with sensitive data, as well as the development of synthetic data.
• Across all sectors, expanding skills training will be crucial to address the productivity lag. The government can facilitate this through tax credits or training vouchers for AI skills, particularly targeting SMEs that lack in-house training resources.
• Canada should avoid creating layers of pre-emptive rules that discourage innovation or drive AI development offshore. “Strengthening enforcement of existing regulations is more effective than introducing blanket prohibitions on AI or new regulations for every advancement in AI, such as frontier models or agentic AI. Speculative fears should not hinder innovation.”
• To address safety concerns, Canada should instead emphasize evidence-based, post-deployment monitoring rather than overly restrictive precautionary measures.
• Government leadership through public sector AI adoption is critical. By actively using AI, Canadian public institutions can set benchmarks, mitigate public skepticism through transparency, and stimulate domestic AI industries through government contracts.

“Canada’s economic future depends on actually using AI, not just inventing it or supporting AI startups,” Zhang and Castro say. 

“Canada still has an opportunity to capitalize on its early AI lead, but policymakers must shift focus from precaution and theory to practical strategies designed specifically around each industry’s unique hurdles and opportunities.” ITIF

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Policy think tank proposes a way for Ottawa to “clean house” when it comes to federal regulations

The regulatory burden in Canada has negative impacts on both businesses and consumers, according to a commentary by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), an independent public policy think tank.

The greater the burden, the fewer opportunities there are for businesses to grow and succeed, and for consumers to benefit from improved products and services, says author Shal Marriott, research associate at the MEI.

Marriott wrote the commentary in collaboration with Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications at the MEI, and Krystle Wittevrongel, the MEI’s director of research.

According to a recent Statistics Canada study, the number of federal regulatory requirements increased by 37 percent between 2006 and 2021, which has undermined labour productivity, employment, and competition and resulted in fewer businesses entering the marketplace, Marriott says.

“Although the federal government has stated that reducing regulation was a priority (for instance in its 2018 Fall Economic Statement), it has clearly failed to make it a priority, and businesses have suffered as a result,” she says.

“Hence, while the regulatory burden is commonly acknowledged to have a negative impact on economic growth, and there is ostensibly a will to reduce it, it is much less clear how, or when, the government actually intends to address the issue.”

The successful 1995 Program Review done by the Jean Chrétien government because of concerns about high federal government spending could provide a roadmap for such an exercise, Marriott says.

For the Program Review, a series of questions was used to determine the spending level for each federal program, with the aim of making cuts where possible.

This approach helped the government find ways to cut spending across almost all federal departments and programs. Spending declined by nearly $12 billion in the first two years, a 9.7-percent nominal reduction.

This led, in 1997-1998, to the first balanced federal budget since 1969-1970, nearly 30 years before.

While the Program Review was focused on spending, a similar questionnaire could be used to assess existing regulations, Marriott says.

The questionnaire could help determine those regulations that are not needed and can be removed, and thereby reduce the regulatory burden in the same way that public expenditures were reduced in the 1990s, she says.

First, the government must clearly state the purpose of each regulation and define the problem it aims to address. If it cannot provide a rationale explaining the relevance of the intervention – because the problem has faded in importance, for example, or has been resolved – then the regulatory requirement should be eliminated, Marriott says.

Next, the public interest and the benefit which the government expects will result from the regulation must be considered. In particular, regulations favouring only a specific group, at the expense of the general public, should be scrutinized, as they are likely unable to pass this test.

If the regulation does not serve the public interest, this is another reason for it to be eliminated, Marriott says.

Third, the federal government must determine whether its role is to address the issue in the first place. It must consider whether other, lower levels of government (provincial or municipal) are better placed to address the issue, or if there are non-governmental solutions to the problem, including some that may already be underway or planned.

“If the problem is better left to other bodies or to civil society, then the federal regulation should go,” Marriott says.

Next, the economic impact of the regulation must be determined. This includes direct financial costs as well as other economic costs like its effect on the creation of new businesses.

“If the costs are deemed to be too high, again, the regulatory requirement deserves to be eliminated.”

Fifth, the government must consider whether there is any viable federal policy alternative to the regulation that would represent a less costly or less intrusive solution to the problem the government has identified.

The government must take into consideration not only economic costs, but also the impact on economic liberty and individual rights. “If there is a less costly or intrusive solution, it should replace the existing regulation.”

Finally, the government must determine if any net benefit results from the regulation, taking into account not just its expected benefits, but also the costs to businesses, consumers, and the economy.

This means that even if a regulation serves the public interest and falls within the scope of the federal government’s role, it should still be eliminated if there is no net benefit – which is to say, if the total costs, economic and other, outweigh the benefits, Marriott says.

The proposed questionnaire would be a way of holding the federal government accountable, requiring it to prove that every regulation in place serves a justifiable purpose at minimum cost, she says.

“By reviewing existing regulations using these questions, negative or redundant requirements can be identified and removed.”

Future governments should also have to consider these questions before introducing new regulatory requirements, Marriott says.

Given the steady rise of regulations across economic sectors and the observed negative consequences of additional regulatory burden, it is crucial to fully assess how individual regulations impact the economy, she says.

“The more regulations that can be taken off the books, especially those which are shown to have a significant negative impact, the greater the opportunity for Canadian businesses to thrive. Such house cleaning will also create space for new businesses to enter the marketplace, which will in turn foster a more competitive economy, and thus a higher standard of living for Canadian households.” Montreal Economic Institute

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Carbon capture and storage technology is a placebo – but a dangerous one

 ANALYSIS & OPINION

By Jeremy Appel

Jeremy Appel is an independent Edmonton-based journalist and author and writes The Orchard newsletter on Substack. This is a synopsis (slightly edited for length) of his article first published here by the Watershed Sentinel.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology represents the fossil fuel industry’s last stand.

Hawking expensive, speculative technology to suck CO₂ out of the air and store it underground – rather than transitioning away from fossil fuels – enables immensely profitable oil companies to continue business as usual while presenting themselves as part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Alberta is home to two major CCUS projects, both of which are heavily subsidized by provincial and federal governments.

Shell’s Quest project, which secured $865 million in government funding, captures carbon from natural gas used in the creation of so-called “blue hydrogen” to store underground.

Enhance Energy and Wolf Midstream’s 240-kilometre Alberta Carbon Trunk Line, which has received $843 million in government and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board subsidies, transports captured carbon from a refinery and fertilizer plant to drill for more oil.

These projects, according to a December 2024 study from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, are both over budget and underperforming.

The Quest project in particular, which is often touted as one of the world’s most successful CCUS projects, emits more CO₂ than it captures, according a report by London, U.K.-based human rights organization Global Witness.

But the mother of all CCUS projects is a $16.5-billion project proposed by the Pathways Alliance, a consortium of the six largest producers in the oilsands: a 400-km pipeline network that will connect 13 oilsands production facilities with a CCUS storage hub near Cold Lake, Alberta.

Pathways Alliance asked the federal government in early 2023 to subsidize the project’s operations to the tune of 50 percent, and for an “assurance” that it wouldn't have to go through an impact assessment. So far, the federal government hasn’t ordered such an assessment.

In October 2024, the Alberta Energy Regulator said the project won’t have to go through the provincial environmental assessment process.

In addition to its effort to steamroll regulatory processes, Pathways hasn’t meaningfully sought the approval of Indigenous communities in the project’s vicinity.

“They’re ramming it down our throats,” Chief Kelsey Jacko of Cold Lake First Nations said at the 2023 Carbon Capture Canada event.

Jacko’s principal concern is the impact of storing carbon underground on his people’s eponymous water source.

In November 2024, the leaders of Cold Lake First Nations, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Frog Lake First Nations, Heart Lake First Nation, Kehewin Cree Nation, Onion Lake First Nation and Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake First Nation co-wrote a letter to then federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault asking that he proceed with a federal impact assessment.

Jacko’s nephew is Nigel Robinson, the community outreach coordinator with Keepers of the Water, an Indigenous environmental organization founded in 2006 to focus specifically on protecting water.

Since October last year, Robinson has been hosting town halls in Indigenous communities that would be impacted by the Pathways Alliance project in order to raise awareness about the inherent risks of CCUS projects.

Pathways’ proposal, he explained, is for its pipeline to be on private land, “skirting the outside of Cold Lake First Nations, but not going through it.” A pipeline rupture would nonetheless impact the groundwater on reserve, as well as Cold Lake itself “in possibly irreparable ways,” he said.

An additional concern is where Pathways wants to inject the CO₂, which it plans to store just one or two kilometres below the ground. The proposed area is so broad that it could include anywhere from the Town of Cold Lake to the southern tip of Elk Point – roughly 100 kilometres away.

The ability of pressurized carbon to spread underground and impact groundwater is “quite high,” Robinson said. “That’s a major issue for not only us at Cold Lake First Nations, but many, many of the different communities along the path of the pipeline.”

Between December 2010 and May 2024, there have been 76 safety incidents related to CO₂ pipelines in the U.S., according to U.S. Department of Transportation data compiled by Canada’s National Observer.

CO₂ is odourless and invisible, but it’s also an asphyxiant, meaning leaks can go undetected until people have difficulty breathing.

“It’s definitely a fear that we have in our community, in particular because our ability to take care of fires is not great, so there’s no ability to be prepared to take care of a carbon capture pipeline rupture,” Robinson said.

Keepers of the Water’s engagement sessions consist of a 30-minute slide presentation, in which Robinson explains the basics of CCUS technology and carbon sequestration, its dangers, and what people can do on the ground to challenge the Pathways project.

“Our plan is to take the comments and concerns of the community, and at the end of our community engagement period, we will host an online panel with a few of the different experts in the field, and hopefully answer some of those questions,” Robinson said, adding that this final panel is tentatively scheduled for May.

“At this time, on the ground, there’s not a ton we can do, but attempting to get our municipal governments to challenge the project is something that we are trying to suggest, or at least bring those issues, those concerns, forward from the community.”

Robinson explains to people attending Keepers of the Water’s engagement sessions the carbon storage process. The carbon is liquefied and mixed with various chemicals before underground storage, meaning the process is far from natural.

“Once we walk through the fact that this particular pipeline is quite different, and that the pressurized carbon is essentially just chewing away at the pipelines, they mostly don’t want to see this project go through the community,” Robinson said.

Robinson and Keepers of the Water are up against some powerful forces. The six companies that make up Pathways made more than $8 billion combined profits in the third quarter of 2024 alone – CNRL ($2.1 billion), ConocoPhillips ($2.1 billion), Suncor ($2 billion), Imperial Oil ($1.2 billion), Cenovus ($820 million) and MEG Energy ($167 million).

In March 2023, Greenpeace took Pathways Alliance to the Competition Bureau, arguing that the oilsands alliance’s “Let’s clear the air” ad campaign, which consisted of TV commercials, large newspaper ads, social media posts, a podcast and at least one billboard, constituted false advertising. In these ads, the consortium claims its members are “making clear strides toward net zero,” which will “help our country achieve a sustainable future.”

Greenpeace argued that in order to claim it’s on the path to net zero, Pathways has to ignore all the emissions that come from fossil fuels when they’re burned post-production, assume the widespread adoption of CCUS technology on a scale that doesn’t yet exist, and obscure the role the consortium’s members have played in opposing any concrete climate action that would impact their ability to continue increasing fossil fuel production.

The following year, the federal government announced it would update the Competition Act to place the onus on companies to proactively provide evidence for their claims to be combating climate change or protecting the environment.

Pathways responded by scrubbing its entire website, which Keith Brooks of Environmental Defence Canada aptly called “an admission of guilt.”

“They can have the best ad campaign they could possibly have, but they can’t escape the fact that it’s bad science and our communities won’t stand for unsafe projects to border our communities and potentially impact our waters and our way of life,” Robinson said. The Watershed Sentinel

THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

The Government of Alberta appointed Nathan Cooper as Alberta’s official representative to the United States, based at the Alberta Washington Office in the U.S. capital. Cooper will draw on his decades of experience in public service, including his most recent experience as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, to lead this work, focusing on attracting investment, expanding trade opportunities and maintaining the relationships needed to connect Alberta with key decision makers in the U.S., the Alberta government said. Govt. of Alberta

Dr. Janet Morrison was appointed Memorial University’s president and vice-chancellor, effective August 11, 2025. Since 2018, Morrison has served as president and vice-chancellor of Ontario’s Sheridan College, where she previously served as vice-president (academic) and provost. Prior to 2016, she held various executive positions at York University, including vice-provost (students). Morrison is a recognized national leader and applied researcher in student experience, well-being, mental health, gender-based violence and community safety. She has extensive governance experience as a board chair and member of executive, governance, accountability and quality committees across the non-profit sector, including developmental services, child welfare, education and healthcare. Memorial University

Simon Fraser University researcher Biruté Mary Galdikas, one of the world’s foremost experts on orangutans, received a prestigious global award recognizing her extraordinary lifetime work studying and protecting the endangered species. Galdikas received The Explorers Medal from The Explorers Club, a renowned U.S.-based society dedicated to the field of research and scientific exploration. Galdikas has dedicated more than half a century to studying the great apes in the rainforests of Borneo, while also campaigning for their protection and the conservation of their rainforest habitat. The Explorers Medal is the club’s highest honour. Galdikas joins a long list of distinguished recipients to have received the award; among the household names on the roll of honour are Jane Goodall, Sir Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong. Simon Fraser University

Shelley Lowe, former IBM vice-president, was named executive-in-residence at the University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) Edwards School of Business. She is the first female to hold this position since its inception in 2013. Lowe’s career at IBM spanned over 30 years. She became the chief marketing officer for IBM Canada and went on to serve as vice-president of enterprise and commercial business for Canada and the Caribbean. She later became vice-president of global markets for Australia and New Zealand, leading teams in the Asia-Pacific region until her retirement. As executive-in-residence, Lowe is focused on bridging the gap between the classroom and the business world. By leveraging her skills and experience, she aims to not only support faculty and students but also enhance the broader business community’s connection to academia. USask

Montreal-based independent wealth manager Fiera Capital Corp. appointed Maxime Ménard as global president and CEO, effective July 1, 2025. Jean-Guy Desjardins, founder of Fiera Capital and executive chair of the board, will continue to provide strategic oversight, shaping the firm's investment philosophy and steering global asset allocation across public markets and multi-asset solutions. Gabriel Castiglio, executive director, global chief legal officer and corporate secretary, was appointed executive director and global chief operating officer, to work closely with Ménard. Lucas Pontillo, executive director and global chief financial officer, will also lead corporate strategy, expanding his current mandate. Fiera Capital

Alex Mashinsky, founder of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec-backed crypto firm Celsius Network LLC, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing commodities fraud and securities fraud at Celsius. Mashinsky repeatedly misrepresented key aspects of Celsius’ business and finances to attract customers and retain their assets, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said. His false claims covered the safety of Celsius’ yield-generating activities, its profitability, the sustainability of high rewards rates, and the risks associated with depositing crypto assets on the platform. Mashinsky and others orchestrated a years-long scheme to mislead customers about Celsius’ proprietary crypto token CEL. They manipulated CEL’s price by spending hundreds of millions purchasing it on the open market to artificially inflate its value. At times, they used customer deposits to fund these market purchases, without disclosing that to customers. When Celsius announced it was halting customer withdrawals, hundreds of thousands of Celsius customers had $4.7 billion in inaccessible assets on the platform. Celsius filed for bankruptcy on July 13, 2022. In addition to the prison term, Mashinsky 59, of New York, New York, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and forfeiture of more than $48 million. U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York

Chinese-Canadian former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said he has applied for a presidential pardon less than a year after he served a four-month sentence for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at the company. U.S. President Donald Trump has already pardoned other prominent figures from the crypto world. Zhao was sentenced in April 2024 after pleading guilty the year before to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance. Alongside his prison term, Zhao paid a $50 million fine. Binance itself paid $4.3 billion in what became one of the largest corporate settlements in U.S. history. Zhao was released in September last year. CoinDesk

Greg Abel will become CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., effective January 1, 2026. He’ll succeed Warren Buffett, 94, who’ll remain as chairman of the board of directors. Buffett recommended Abel as his successor. Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Abel is currently vice-chair of non-insurance operations at the US$1.16-trillion conglomerate. An accountant by trade, he will be the firm’s first new CEO in 60 years. Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha said he won’t sell any Berkshire stock, signalling a vote of confidence in his successor. Berkshire Hathaway

The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) received a $1.5-million donation from the Sandra and Alain Bouchard Foundation to support the Dr. William Barakett Chair in Intellectual Disability and Behavioral Disorders. Co-led by psychology professors Diane Morin and Mélina Rivard, the chair conducts applied research to better understand behavioural disorders among individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities and to provide families and care providers with practical tools to improve quality of life and well-being. The five-year funding will support the development of service pathways, targeted support programs and improved responses from public service sectors including transit, policing and education. Approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of people with intellectual disabilities have a behavioral disorder, and 10 percent to 15 percent of these have severe disorders. UQAM

The Université du Québec (UQuébec) and the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Canadian Francophonie (ACUFC) signed an agreement focused on the promotion of scientific collaboration. Drawing on $150,000 in funding over three years, the partners will implement a new program that will support Francophone scientific collaboration between UQuébec and ACUFC faculty members. Funded by the Ministry of the French Language, this competition will be open to faculty members affiliated with a university or college of the ACUFC or UQuébec. The call for applications will be held in the fall of 2025. UQuébec

George Brown College in Toronto launched two new online certificate programs in the solar photovoltaic industry to help meet the growing demand for skilled workers in this sector. Once enrolled, students have lifetime access to all materials so they can refresh their learning as needed. The programs are supported seven days a week by tutorial and technical staff. One of the main features of the program is its state-of-the-art interactive solar PV simulation software, a feature also found in other online certificate programs at George Brown College, each offering a state-of-the-art simulation technology tailored to their respective fields. The Solar PV programs offer two pathways for students: the Solar Panel Installer program for those seeking an entry point into the industry; and the Solar Energy Technician program that includes five additional modules, covering system design, maintenance and commissioning. George Brown College

York University’s (YorkU) School of Continuing Studies announced four new programs in digital construction management, cybersecurity, clinical trials, and ethical hacking. Developed with industry input, the programs address growing workforce needs in the tech and health sectors. The School of Continuing Studies is also expanding its Integrated Year One initiative – which supports international students with English language development – to include students from the faculties of Science and Environmental & Urban Change. The launch and expansion coincide with the school’s 10-year anniversary. YorkU

Aurora College in Yellowknife launched an Internal Grants and Awards Program to support applied research capacity in the Northwest Territories. The program includes four funding streams: Startup grants for new researchers; strategic grants for collaborative research projects; research assistant grants for engaging students and community members in research; and student research awards for outstanding student participation. In its inaugural year, Aurora College supported four projects. As part of the launch, the college is also investing in its Research Services Office to ensure that the growing research capacity at the college has adequate support. Chris Paci, vice-president of research at Aurora, said growing northern research capacity will directly benefit northern students, Indigenous and northern communities, and the wider Canadian science community. Aurora College

Fanshawe College in London, Ont., plans to reduce its workforce by 35 percent as it attempts to respond to a projected $72-million deficit in the coming two years. CBC reported that the reduction amounts to approximately 400 fulltime employees, approximately 170 of whom will come from removing vacant positions and offering early retirement packages. The college has seen a decline of 30 percent of Canadian students in its full-time programs and a 63 percent reduction in its international student body. In April, Fanshawe College said it would be ending 40 programs effective in the fall of 2025, including police studies, applied aerospace manufacturing, construction project management, fine art and retirement residence management.  Even with these cuts, Peter Devlin, president of Fanshawe College, said “there will still be a funding gap, and so there is a need for provincial action.” CBC News

Cape Breton University’s (CBU) board of governors officially approved the university’s 2025-26 operating budget, which includes a $6.8-million deficit. Gordon MacInnis, CBU’s vice-president of finance and operations, attributed this deficit to the federal government’s reduction of the number of international students in Nova Scotia. In response to this situation, CBU will be cutting costs by moving offsite operations back to its university campus, eliminating at least 56 positions, and raising student tuition and fees, including a three-percent tuition increase for out of province students. Cape Breton Post

Windsor, Ont.-based St. Clair College’s board of governors recently approved the college’s 2025-26 fiscal budget, which includes a $6.5-million deficit. Michael Silvaggi, president of the college, said the 2025-26 fiscal budget and the recent decision to suspend 18 programs enabled the college to cut costs while still ensuring that it can pivot to address labour market needs in the future. Silvaggi told CTV News that St. Clair College has $75 million in reserves and does not anticipate further program reductions at this time. CBC News

Vancouver Island University (VIU) has proposed a series of changes to its structure and programs to address financial pressures and enrollment declines. VIU plans to restructure academic leadership by reducing the number of deans from eight to four by 2026, while retaining associate deans and faculty staff. The proposals would also phase out over a dozen graduate and undergraduate programs beginning in the fall of 2025 or 2026 and suspend intakes for six more programs. VIU said current students will be able to complete their studies. A final decision from the board of governors is expected on June 3. VIU

Fewer than one in 10 senior authors in a prestigious physics journal are women, according to a study by the University of British Columbia (UBC). Of 15 countries, Canada has the worst record. The 33 Canadian-led papers in Nature Physics in the last 10 years had zero senior authors who were women, says the study by Alannah Hallas, associate professor in UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute and the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Hallas looked at 1,804 papers published in Nature Physics from 2015 to 2024 where a senior author could be identified and assigned a gender based on the pronouns they used in their online profiles. She found that only eight percent had a woman senior author, a percentage that hasn’t changed. Senior authorship “is incredibly important for young researchers’ career progression. It’s a key determinant for who gets funding, awards and talk invitations,” Hallas said. “The low number of senior women authors is a clear sign that there’s bias in the way we’re training young scientists.” UBC

Millions of kilometres of rivers around the world are carrying antibiotic pollution at levels high enough to promote drug resistance and harm aquatic life, according to a McGill University-led study. Published in the journal PNAS Nexus, the study is the first to estimate the scale of global river contamination from human antibiotics use. Researchers calculated that about 8,500 tonnes of antibiotics – nearly one-third of what people consume annually – end up in river systems around the world each year even after in many cases passing through wastewater systems. “While the amounts of residues from individual antibiotics translate into only very small concentrations in most rivers, which makes them very difficult to detect, the chronic and cumulative environmental exposure to these substances can still pose a risk to human health and aquatic ecosystems,” said Heloisa Ehalt Macedo, a postdoctoral fellow in geography at McGill and lead author of the study. The research team used a global model validated by field data from nearly 900 river locations. They found that amoxicillin, the world’s most-used antibiotic, is the most likely to be present at risky levels, especially in Southeast Asia, where rising use and limited wastewater treatment amplify the problem. The findings are especially notable because the study did not consider antibiotics from livestock or pharmaceutical factories, both of which are major contributors to environmental contamination. “Our results show that antibiotic pollution in rivers arising from human consumption alone is a critical issue, which would likely be exacerbated by veterinarian or industry sources of related compounds” said Jim Nicell, an environmental engineering professor at McGill and co-author of the study. “Monitoring programs to detect antibiotic or other chemical contamination of waterways are therefore needed, especially in areas that our model predicts to be at risk.” McGill University

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