Tausi Insider

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours the damage caused by post-tropical storm Fiona in Port aux Basques, N.L. on Sept. 28. Frank Gunn/CP Eric Bosco is executive director and Annie Levasseur is scientific director of the newly launched Circular-Built Infrastructure Institute at École de Technologie Supérieure. The message coming out of the latest UN Climate Change Conference is loud and clear: Climate change is no longer tomorrow’s problem. It’s happening now, with serious impact to our infrastructure, and the situation is only going to get worse before it gets better. We simply can’t afford to continue building infrastructure the same way we always have. You don’t have to look further than Hurricane Fiona to measure the significant economic and social impact increased severe weather events are having on infrastructure. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses throughout Atlantic Canada were without power for more than a week and the federal government’s fall economic forecast has ea...

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Scaling your business might sound like a dream come true. But without the proper infrastructure in place, it can quickly turn into an absolute nightmare. Trying to grow when you haven't put solid building blocks in place is like throwing up a tent on quicksand. It won't be long before you sink — and at that point, getting out might not be an option. Many companies, especially newer ones, overlook the importance of infrastructure in business. Unfortunately, their oversight can often lead them to fail when they try to gain steam. A 2022 CB Insights study of failed startups revealed the top dozen reasons that can lead to an organization's demise. Three of those reasons are related to a lack of proper infrastructure: a flawed business model (19%), a poorly hired team (14%) and stakeholder disharmony (7%). You might want to think of constructing your infrastructure like planning a vacation. ...

An SSE vehicle is parked outside the Pitlochry Dam hydro electric power station in Pitlochry, Scotland. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is paying £1.47-billion ($2.4-billion) for a 25-per-cent stake in SSEN Transmission. RUSSELL CHEYNE/Reuters Two major Canadian investments announced Friday have refocused attention on an often overlooked sector seen as crucial for the low-carbon energy transition: distribution. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said Friday it will pay £1.47-billion ($2.4-billion) for a 25-per-cent stake in SSEN Transmission, a division of Scotland-based SSE PLC, which delivers hydroelectric power from northern Scotland to the rest of Britain. The deal represents the pension plan’s largest-ever power distribution investment. Separately on Friday, the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM-T announced they have committed $135-million each in funding for Markham District Energy, which provides centralized heating and cooling for 230 bui...

One of the country’s largest gas-station operators is doubling its plans to install rapid chargers for electric vehicles at its locations in Western Canada – a possible glimpse of a more convenient future for EV drivers nationwide struggling with inadequate infrastructure. Parkland Corp. PKI-T, which operates stations under brands such as Chevron, Esso and Pioneer, is announcing Friday that it now plans to install between two and four charging ports at 50 of its locations, up from the 25 announced last year. Most of the new chargers will be in British Columbia, along with two stations in Alberta. The Calgary-based company’s expanded rollout is being partly subsidized by a $5-million federal grant and $1.8-million from the B.C. government. The chargers, able to top up vehicle batteries in 20 to 30 minutes, are being supplied by California-based Freewire Technologies, with which Parkland announced a partnership in October. “The idea is to create a network that allows driving from Vanco...

Canada is falling behind in the race to electrification. Haven Daley/The Associated Press Brian Kingston is president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. The electric vehicle (EV) transformation is rapidly picking up speed, with automakers committing an estimated US$1.2-trillion to electrification through 2030 to build tens of millions of electric vehicles, more than double the amount from only one year ago. As more EVs come to market, countries around the world are rapidly building charging infrastructure and supporting citizens in the transition to electric. But while other countries race ahead to an electrified future, Canada is driving on a low battery. According to the EV Readiness Index , developed by global accounting firm Ernst & Young, Canada has fallen from eighth place in 2021 to 13th in 2022 of the world’s top 14 vehicle markets. The main reasons? A lack of ambition on charging infrastructure and consumer incentives. The most recent assessment...

Canadian pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is raising its bet on construction company Pomerleau as the privately held builder pushes out from its home market in a bid to grab a bigger share of the country’s infrastructure spending pie. The Caisse is making a new $150-million equity investment in Saint-Georges, Que.-based Pomerleau to support its pan-Canadian growth plan, the two companies said in a statement Wednesday. Some of the money will be used to fund Pomerleau’s recently announced takeover of Vancouver-based ITC Construction Group, known for building dozens of residential towers making up the skylines in western cities such as Vancouver and Calgary. A portion will also be earmarked for other growth efforts as Pomerleau seeks to expand its work force of 4,000 employees and add to its current $4-billion in annual revenue. The new funds come on top of $50-million the Caisse injected into the company in 2018, bringing its total equity investment to $200-million ...

Plants, insects and other animals are vanishing at an alarming rate. Seventy per cent of global biodiversity has been lost in the past 50 years. HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images Emmanuel Nyirinkindi is vice president of cross-cutting solutions at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. Growing up in Uganda, I was always fond of the sounds of grey-crowned cranes, our national bird. Hearing their sounds grow fainter as their very existence is threatened saddens me. Some wetlands where the cranes go to breed are being contaminated by pesticides or drained for farmland. What I’ve noticed is not unique. Now I call Washington home, and it’s startling to think that almost three billion birds have disappeared in North America in the past half century, from forests, from grasslands, even from backyards. The natural world is growing quieter, as species silently disappear one by one. It is not only birds on the decline. Plants, insects and other animals are vani...

There’s a crisis in cybersecurity right now, with a rise in attacks coupled with a shortage of talent. Handout Yogen Appalraju is a partner and the Canadian cybersecurity leader at EY Canada. If the digitization of businesses has taught us anything, it’s that cybersecurity is much more than simply a technology risk, it’s also a very serious business risk. A recent report from Statistics Canada showed that 18 per cent of Canadian businesses were affected by cybersecurity incidents last year, including 37 per cent of large businesses. By not giving the required attention to cybersecurity, businesses open themselves up to a plethora of risks, including effects on their operations, which will drive losses of revenue and profits. In fact, last year Canadian businesses spent $600-million on recovery efforts after cybersecurity incidents, a figure which doesn’t account for the reputational effect and subsequent loss of customers that a data breach can have on a business. Much of the increas...

There’s a crisis in cybersecurity right now, with a rise in attacks coupled with a shortage of talent. Handout Yogen Appalraju is a partner and the Canadian cybersecurity leader at EY Canada. If the digitization of businesses has taught us anything, it’s that cybersecurity is much more than simply a technology risk, it’s also a very serious business risk. A recent report from Statistics Canada showed that 18 per cent of Canadian businesses were affected by cybersecurity incidents last year, including 37 per cent of large businesses. By not giving the required attention to cybersecurity, businesses open themselves up to a plethora of risks, including effects on their operations, which will drive losses of revenue and profits. In fact, last year Canadian businesses spent $600-million on recovery efforts after cybersecurity incidents, a figure which doesn’t account for the reputational effect and subsequent loss of customers that a data breach can have on a business. Much of the increas...