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- May 17, 2012 National Public Works Week Seminar & Awards Luncheon
- May 28-30, 2012: Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators: 2012 Annual Conference
- May 31, 2012: Transport Futures: Goods Movement & Mobility Pricing Forum
- June 1-4, 2012: Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference and Municipal Expo
- June 3-7, 2012: 19th World Hydrogen Energy Conference and Exhibition
- June 5, 2012: 10 Energy Gala
- June 5-7, 2012; Ontario Good Roads Association
- June 6-9, 2012: Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Conference
- June 7th, 2012 Partners in Project Green 2012 ANNUAL General Meeting & Reception
- June 11-13, 2012 CaGBC National Conference & Expo 2012
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I've spent most of this week in Montreal at the annual Canadian Network of Asset Managers conference. I heard asset managers and civil engineers talk about successes they've had using software or formulas to decide which infrastructure to prioritize, or to synchronize interventions to avoid ripping into a right-of-way more than is necessary. Most of the 100 or so delegates seemed energized and impressed by the presentations.
When I took a break to meet with McGill professor of engineering Saeed Mirza at his office, the vibe was a little different [...]
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We're planning some content for November/December around mobile applications and whether or not they're useful for professionals in this industry. Help me out by answering a few quick, easy questions and you may win an iTunes gift card. Leave your contact info and you may even get to try out some of the more popular apps for us.
Click here to fill out the four-question survey. [...]
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In February, I attended FCM's Sustainable Communities Conference in Ottawa, where I moderated a session called Speed Dating for Capital. Municipalities (and their consultants) looking for someone to help finance their sustainable projects got the chance to talk to reps from funding programs and financiers focused on sustainability projects. Before the dates began (participants went table to table talking to reps from a variety of agencies) each capital funder gave an overview of his program's scope and criteria.
Here is that info:
FCM's [...]
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The results of Ontario’s review of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program are in—Ontario Energy Minister, Chris Bentley, announced a number of changes this morning, in line with what industry organisations and energy observers had been expecting.
The FIT program was created in conjunction with the Green Energy and Green Economy Act in 2009, with the goal of providing above market payments to companies to start up green energy projects such as wind, solar, biomass, and small hydroelectricity.
The two-year review was part of the program design. Setting [...]
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“Innovation is blood and pain. Nobody does this because they want to; you innovate because something forced you to innovate.” That was Robert Ouellette, editor and founder at MESH cities, speaking on our sustainable cities panel yesterday. Earlier in the day, Paul Clements-Hunt said he wanted to see “blood” during a session he moderated on new ecological economic models.
Why all the violence? Ouellette, Clements-Hunt, and others at GLOBE this year are just saying what we all know but sometimes need to hear: change is painful.
During our [...]
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Don Drummond isn’t the only one who can make recommendations for Ontario. In an address to the Toronto Board of Trade, former politician and current senior executive VP at CIBC, Jim Prentice, laid out the results of the bank’s research into infrastructure’s role in supporting economic growth in Ontario (and Canada).
Prentice listed the numerous energy megaprojects underway in Canada—any one of which, he said, many developing countries would love to have in its pipeline. On top of Top 100 projects such as Newfoundland and Labrador’s Lower [...]
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According to Tree Ontario’s most recent report, the province could benefit substantially by increasing its tree cover. At 22 per cent, southern Ontario’s tree coverage is below the minimum 30 per cent recommended by Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gordon Miller. According to the report, increased tree cover reduces the public’s risk of health problems: trees filter out airborne pollutants that increase the chances of heart disease, respiratory problems such as asthma, diabetes, and cancer. Research also shows that high quality green space promotes [...]
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A study on the economic impact of investing in Canada’s electricity infrastructure released today by the Conference Board of Canada argues that investments in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution will have a widespread positive impact on Canada’s economy and produce hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities across the country.
The report, Shedding Light on the Economic Impact of Investing in Electricity Infrastructure, estimates that investment will peak between 2011 and 2015. It builds on an April 2011 Conference Board report that [...]
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The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) just released a report suggesting there is no business case for nuclear power and that, without subsidies, the industry would not survive in Ontario. The report, Nuclear Power: Where’s the Business Case, argues that nuclear power retains an unfair advantage over renewable power generators because of federal and provincial subsidies. It also points out that, in Ontario, no nuclear project has ever been delivered on time and on budget, including mid-life refurbishment projects.
The report suggests that [...]
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Posted on November 21, 2011
Written by Andy Manahan, Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO)
I thoroughly enjoyed Mira Shenker’s article on the transportation roundtable and ideas to implement the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area regional plan under Metrolinx. To better ensure that there is success in delivering on The Big Move, we will need to stir things up and have a broad-based discussion on appropriate funding tools and strategies over the coming months.
By legislation, Metrolinx must bring forward an investment strategy by June 2013, but the conversation needs to start now. In fact, even Ontario’s former Transportation Minister [...]
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May / June 2012
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