💰 $210B boost

Good morning!  🧡 This weekend Canada observed the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation day to honour the victims of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. How can the construction sector do its part to advance reconciliation? Understanding and implementing Section 92 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is a good start.

In this newsletter:

💻 Canada’s AI opportunity

🪶 The country’s first urban Indigenous ceremony grounds

🏠 B.C. cracks the whip at municipalities

MARKETS

*Stock data as of last market close; currency, oil and crypto data as of 11:30PM ET October 2nd, 2023.

Economy:  Minimum wage increased in 6 provinces over the weekend. In other news, Canada’s economy showed little signs of life last month, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Gross domestic product flatlined in July and appeared to rise only slightly in August.

THE BIG STORY

Thinking big: Can Canada be an AI leader?

Big things are brewing for AI in construction as the technology expands and matures.

Testing new construction tools: AI tools developed by Microsoft are being tested by major construction companies like PCL to essentially create an internal chatbot that is company specific. Procore also announced its own collaboration with Microsoft’s Copilot technology to create a conversational and predictive tool to automate time-intensive, manual processes.

A coming boom: It’s part of something much bigger. A recent report by Google anticipates artificial intelligence could add $210 billion to the Canadian economy or 8% of its gross value. It will also save the average Canadian worker 100 hours each year.

Why Canada: Sam Sebastian, vice president and Canada country manager of Google Cloud said Canada is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity, but has to go after it. Toronto has the largest concentration of AI startups in the world, while Montreal has the largest concentration of AI researchers in the world.

Momentum: And the capabilities of AI are growing. Last week OpenAI announced new tools that allow ChatGPT to “see” and “hear”. The first tool allows AI to analyze and respond to images. The second allows users to speak to ChatGPT and get responses delivered in a synthetic A.I. voice.

Summing it up: At our recent 25 Innovators in Construction event with more than 100 industry professionals, nearly every single hand was raised when we asked if their company currently uses or plans to use AI. The age of AI isn’t coming. It’s already here and sophisticated companies are already several steps ahead.

EVENTS

‘25 Innovators’ hit the town

More than 100 construction leaders descended upon Vancouver last week to celebrate our 25 Innovators in Construction competition winners. The crowd listened to panellists from some of the largest construction companies in the country and innovative startups carving out their own niche discuss workforce development, standardization, remote work and more. Get our full recap here if you missed it.

NEED TO KNOW

The week's headlines

🚅 Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she is disappointed that Metrolinx is unable to provide a new target date for the opening of the troubled Eglinton Crosstown light rail line after a decade of work. Project officials stated that it is one of the most complex transit projects in North America and has been delayed by COVID and a range of other factors.

🚧 A B.C. First Nation wants more details about the decision to allow a route change for the Trans Mountain Pipeline. The Nation says the new route threatens to disturb land that has spiritual and cultural significance. Trans Mountain asked for the change to avoid a nine-month delay and $86 million in extra costs.

👷‍♀️ Alberta is contributing $12.4 million in 2023 to boost apprenticeship seats due to surging demand. Advanced Education Minister Rajan Sawhney says the money will create almost 2,000 new apprenticeship positions.

🏠 Officials in B.C. are cracking the whip at municipalities that are lagging when it comes to housing. The province had ordered 10 major municipalities to build more than 60,000 units in the next five years or face penalties. The municipalities are Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Abbotsford, Delta, Saanich, North Vancouver District, Port Moody, Oak Bay and West Vancouver.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Urban Indigenous ceremony grounds

The kihcihkaw askî-Sacred Land project in Edmonton is now open. The facility provides a natural setting for Indigenous peoples, groups, and communities to host ceremonies, sweatlodges and facilitate intergenerational learning. It is the first Urban Indigenous ceremony grounds project in the country.

PROJECT UPDATES

Public hearing set for massive Port Moody project

Green loan secured for Carttera’s Portland Commons project

RFQ prepared for phase 2 of Burnaby Hospital upgrades

Province of Nova Scotia announces first public housing project in 30 years

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

PEOPLE MOVES: 💼 We got all the biggest career news from last month

READ: 🧠 PCL leader says mental health is a ‘silent crisis’

VIDEO: ❌ History’s biggest construction mistakes

READ: 🏠Developer greenlights 5k housing units after GST cut

PHOTOS: 📸 The best construction shots from September

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Here’s to a great rest of the week! P