Tausi Insider

Construction crew work on the development of Concession Road 5 before the start of the construction of a housing complex in Pickering, Ont., on Nov. 14. Eduardo Lima/Tausi Insider Determined to build 1.5 million new homes in a decade to alleviate severe housing shortages, Ontario’s government has introduced numerous changes to multiple legislations, aimed at making land development faster and cheaper. Among the biggest losers: Ontario’s conservation authorities. Bill 23 (also known as the More Homes Built Faster Act) clarifies and limits the powers and responsibilities of these organizations, transferring some of their powers to municipalities or the provincial government. Of note, the bill would restrict the ability of conservation authorities to comment on development and planning applications. It would constrain their ability to appeal development approvals, and compel them to adopt a single, universal regulation. The province also proposes to expedite conservation authorities’ pr...

Norway’s oil and gas firms have raised their investment forecasts for 2022 and 2023 as more development plans are being made, a national statistics office (SSB) survey showed on Thursday. The country’s biggest business sector now expects to invest 175.3 billion Norwegian crowns ($17.50-billion) in 2022, up from a forecast of 172.8 billion made in August, the SSB said. Next year’s investments are seen at 149.7 billion crowns, up from a previous view of 135.3 billion, but the figure is expected to increase as companies plan to approve more projects by the end of this year, it added. Spending on new offshore fields is only included in the survey when companies submit plans for development and operation (PDO) to the authorities. Oil companies are expected to approve more than a dozen new projects by the end of this year, when Norway’s temporary tax incentives, which were approved in 2020 to support offshore investments, expire. As a result, the estimate for 2023 will likely increase sign...

The remote Ring of Fire region, located 550 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, has been touted by the Ontario government as a key part of its plan to produce battery metals domestically. A top Canadian federal government official has raised doubts about whether Ontario’s Ring of Fire region will ever be developed, pouring cold water on a critical minerals project that the provincial government has championed and the United States administration has expressed interest in funding. Jeff Labonté, assistant deputy minister for lands and minerals at Natural Resources Canada, told senior leadership at the Neskantaga First Nation in a meeting on Nov. 17 that it’s possible no mines will be built in the region, and that there is no guarantee Ottawa will ever come forward with the roughly $1-billion in funding needed for development to proceed. Mr. Labonté joined Natural Resources Canada in 1993 and is the government’s foremost expert on critical minerals. His skepticism comes as a key environmen...

Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Group Corp SONY-N said on Tuesday it has the technology to make humanoid robots quickly once it has identified how they could be effectively used. “In terms of technology, several companies in the world including this one have enough technology accumulated to make them swiftly once it becomes clear which usage is promising,” Sony Chief Technology Officer Hiroaki Kitano told Reuters in an interview. “The key is the development of application,” Kitano said. Sony launched a robot dog called Aibo more than two decades ago. It sold about 150,000 units of Aibo from 1999 until 2006 and launched an advanced version in 2018, selling about 20,000 units in the first six months. Humanoid robots have been in development for decades by Honda Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co and in September, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk showed off a prototype of its humanoid robot Optimus. Musk’s company is floating plans to deploy thousands of the robots in...

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault takes part in a news conference in Ottawa, on Sept. 15. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press The federal government is blocking development of Glencore’s Sukunka open-pit metallurgical coal mine project located near Tumbler Ridge, B.C. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the scientific evidence gathered in assessing the proposal showed that its negative impacts were significant and could not be mitigated. The project assessment by British Columbia raised concerns about southern mountain caribou and its critical habitat, grizzly bear mortality and the discharge of mercury and selenium. Glencore had proposed the construction and operation of an open-pit mine that would have produced three million tonnes of hard coking coal per year for export to overseas markets. The mine life of the project was expected to be more than 20 years. The government says the decision does not prevent Glencore, or others, from submitting new project proposals and does...

Italy’s Chiesi Farmaceutici said on Sunday it will acquire Ireland-based drugmaker Amryt Pharma Plc, which has products and drugs in development for treating rare diseases, in a deal valued at $1.48 billion. The total value of the all-cash deal represents a 107 per cent premium over Dublin, Ireland-based Amryt’s ADS closing price of $7.00 on Jan. 6, the companies said in a joint announcement. Amryt shareholders will receive $14.50 per ADS cash upfront, plus Contingent Value Rights (CVR) of up to an additional $2.50 per ADS based on achievement of certain milestones by Filsuvez, a drug approved in Europe for an inherited skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa. “This addition of the Amryt portfolio, as well as their expertise, will help us on our journey to bring medicines to patients, no matter how rare their condition may be,” Chiesi Group Chief Executive Marco Vecchia said in a statement. For first nine months of 2022, Amryt reported $188.8 million in revenue, and reaffirmed its ...

A view of part of the development laboratory of Toronto-based tech company Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. on May 30, 2022. Galit Rodan/Tausi Insider Ottawa has unveiled its plan for spending $360-million on a national strategy to prepare for and profit from a coming revolution in quantum technology. While the early reviews are positive, leaders in the field say there is no time to lose as new developments in the field inch ever closer to upending key aspects of the computer industry, with game-changing implications for the entire economy. The federal government first allocated the money in 2021 to be spent over seven years. “Top to bottom there’s been a lot of movement,” said Stephanie Simmons, a researcher at Simon Fraser University and founder of the B.C.-based quantum technology company Photonic Inc. “The hardware is making progress, the software is making progress, the user cases are being developed.” Dr. Simmons was among those standing alongside federal Innovation, Science an...

The OPEC Fund for International Development, a development institution established by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ member governments nearly 50 years ago, has raised $1-billion by selling its first ever bond. With the money earmarked for food security, health care, infrastructure, education, employment and renewable energy projects, the three-year bond which will pay investors an interest rate of 4.5 per cent, will also be classed as a ‘sustainable development’ bond. It is a label that has a growing appeal for investors increasingly looking to use their resources in more environmentally and socially-beneficial ways. The OPEC Fund’s Head of Funding, Martine Mills Jansen, said that central banks from the Middle East, Europe and Asia and other types of “official” institutions, including from the United States, accounted for 62 per cent of the bond’s buyers. Commercial banks made up another 19 per cent, asset managers and insurance and pension funds accounted fo...