In this edition:
- Pelham wins Ontario Public Works Project of the Year award
- Welland approves updated parks, recreation and culture master plan
- Ottawa orders CRTC review of streamer spending rules
- Businesses in ‘search of certainty’ for trade deal
- Ottawa invests $248,000 in National Women in Agriculture initiative
- Amazon to raise $14 billion in record Canadian bond sale
- Focus on Sustainability: The push to standardize ESG scores
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Picture credit: Town of Pelham
Pelham wins Ontario Public Works Project of the Year award
The Town of Pelham is excited to share that it has been awarded an Ontario Public Works Association Small Communities Project of the Year Award for the 2025 stormwater management pond rehabilitation program.
The Town’s 2025 Stormwater Management Pond Rehabilitation Program showcased a high standard of environmental protection, sustainable construction practices, and municipal stewardship. During the program three stormwater ponds situated within established urban residential neighbourhoods were rehabilitated ensuring improved performance while protecting surrounding natural features.
Picture credit: City of Welland
Welland approves updated parks, recreation and culture master plan
Welland City Council approved the updated Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan, establishing a roadmap to guide future investments in parks, recreation facilities, trails, programs, and cultural spaces as the city continues to grow.
With Welland’s population increasing faster than originally projected, demand for parks, trails, recreation facilities, and community programs continues to rise. The update serves as the five-year review of the City’s 10-year Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan, ensuring Welland remains prepared to meet evolving community needs while maintaining the high-quality spaces and experiences residents rely on every day.
Picture credit: primestockphoto / Adobe Stock
Ottawa orders CRTC review of streamer spending rules
Ottawa is directing the CRTC to back down on its recent decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content, and will instead provide $600 million to the sector.
The decision comes after the Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, called on cabinet to reconsider the current approach and the U.S. ambassador to Canada called for the policy to be rescinded.
The CRTC said in May it would require large streaming services like Netflix to contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content.
Picture credit: SNEHIT PHOTO / Adobe Stock
Businesses in ‘search of certainty’ for trade deal
Canada’s business community says a deal that lets most goods flow to the United States tariff-free is the top goal as negotiators gear up for trade talks. But corporate leaders disagree on how best to reach that outcome, diverging on whether a quick-and-dirty deal or a wait-and-see approach offers the best path.
The former brings stability for companies sooner but possibly at the cost of more concessions, while the latter sees Trump’s sagging poll numbers ahead of the U.S. midterm elections as leverage for Canadian negotiators, but prolongs the pain at home, the arguments go.
Picture credit: eric / Adobe Stock
Ottawa invests $248,000 in National Women in Agriculture initiative
The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) has announced that the Government of Canada is investing up to $248,336 over two years in the second phase of the National Women in Agriculture initiative.
A national effort to advance the participation and leadership of women across Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector, the funding is provided through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriDiversity Program, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
Picture credit: JHVEPhoto / Adobe Stock
Amazon to raise $14 billion in record Canadian bond sale
Amazon.com Inc. is set to raise $14 billion from investment-grade bonds in Canadian dollars, the largest such offering on record, as US hyperscalers look beyond their home market to fund artificial intelligence spending.
The cloud-computing giants at the center of the AI boom are scouring global debt markets for funding as they plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers, chips and other infrastructure.
Focus on Sustainability
The push to standardize ESG scores could make corporate greenwashing easier, not harder
Pierre Chaigneau, The Conversation
Three-quarters of S&P 500 companies now tie a portion of their CEO’s pay to environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics. They typically include carbon emissions, workforce diversity and worker safety, among others.
The justification is straightforward: if shareholders want corporations to take climate change and social responsibility seriously, firms should pay their leaders for achievements on these dimensions.
In 2024, the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board released its sustainability disclosure standards. Around 40 jurisdictions have now adopted those standards or taken formal steps toward doing so.
One persistent problem concerns how ESG performance should be measured in the first place. Today, major rating providers — including MSCI, Sustainalytics, S&P Global and Bloomberg — rate the same firms very differently, even when assessing the same dimension of performance.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
