🚀 Talent Thursdays: Lunar base

Good morning! 👋Look up and wave to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen as he orbits the earth right now as part of the Artemis II mission. It’s the first small step in NASA’s $30B plan to build a permanent base on the moon. This includes pausing work on a nearly complete orbital outpost and using those components for the lunar base.

📈 BY THE NUMBERS

The B.C. government has paused construction on seven long-term care home projects after per-bed costs escalated to approximately $1.8 million. It’s a figure Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma described as unsustainable and incompatible with the province's need to deliver beds at scale for an aging population.

EVENTS

SiteSummit is back — and it's already moving fast

In case you haven’t done your homework: SiteNews and EllisDon are proud to present SiteSummit 2026, returning June 23–24 to George Brown's waterfront campus. 

This year's theme is Summer School: headline courses, intimate seminars, and a lineup of sweet extracurriculars — including a field trip to one of the Toronto Islands, kicking off the experience — all coming together to create something the industry has never quite seen.

Super early bird pricing is live now, but only until Monday. (We'll give you the long weekend — but that's it.) Don't be tardy.

👷‍♀️ PEOPLE MOVES

Ghyslain Deschamps has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer at EBC, effective April 15, 2026, succeeding Marie‑Claude Houle who has served in the role since 1999.

Matthew Forezli has been appointed Vice President, Real Estate Development and Construction at Sienna Senior Living.

Colleen Fiske has stepped into the role of Director, Communications & Engagement, at the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator.

Brian Calcagno has started a new position as Manager, Industry Partnerships at Procore Technologies.

Marco Cusano has started a new position as Technical Service Group Chair – Municipal Engineering at McElhanney.

Jenna Andrews has joined SitePartners as Communications and Engagement Manager.

Chris Gillard has been appointed Vice President at SiteTalent, bringing extensive experience in the industrial sector and a proven track record of leadership and building high-performing teams.

Lynda Bala-Palmieri has stepped into a new role as Manager, Marketing Communications at AtkinsRéalis.

🗞 HEADLINES

✈️ Goose upgrade: The federal government has committed a record $8 billion to upgrade 5 Wing Goose Bay in central Labrador — the largest defence infrastructure investment in Newfoundland and Labrador's history — as part of a broader $32-billion NORAD modernization program spanning four northern sites including Inuvik, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit.

🍃 Strong winds: Construction has officially launched on the $3-billion Des Neiges wind farm in the Charlevoix region northeast of Quebec City, with the first two phases comprising 114 turbines across a 1,600-square-kilometre site on Séminaire de Québec lands. It will generate 800 megawatts of capacity — enough to power 140,000 homes.

🚂 Train stop: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called on the federal government to cancel the Alto high-speed rail project linking Toronto and Quebec City, characterizing the $60-to-$90-billion initiative as fiscally irresponsible and vowing that a future Conservative

🏠 Housing agreement: The Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build is a landmark $8.8-billion intergovernmental agreement aimed at stimulating housing and infrastructure through significant cost reductions and targeted investment. Here are 5 key takeaways builders should know.

EVENTS

Are you tuned in?

Industry Icebreaker: Cask & Keys is happening May 7th in Edmonton.

Hosted by John McNicoll, ICBA Alberta, and SiteNews at the Blatchford Field Air Hangar — a World War II landmark and Canada's first licensed airfield (!) — this is an evening designed for the kind of networking that simply doesn't (read: can’t) happen at a conference.

Curated spirits. Live piano. A golf simulator challenge. And a room carefully curated for the industry’s top executives. 

Tickets are on sale now. Spots are limited.

🧠 INSIGHTS AND LEADERSHIP

Resources for professional development

• Accessibility requirements are evolving for builders

• Here’s this month’s biggest construction business deals

• 4 dumb building practices that need to stop

• What Canada can learn from Copenhagen’s transit system

• How your org structure impacts project management

• Nail hacks your grandpa never showed you

💬 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It’s really about building complete and connected communities. Housing is critical, but it has to be considered alongside transit, health care and civic infrastructure so communities can function and grow over time. One challenge today is that projects are often delivered in silos rather than being planned as part of an integrated community.” - Kieran Hawe, President and CEO, EllisDon, on Canada’s housing challenges.

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Here’s to a great rest of the week!

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