editor’s
letter
Dear readers,
The road toward a more sustainable future for generations to come is exciting and full of promise in all sectors of
Canadian industry right now, but it often a long and winding road.
When it comes to the bottom line of effecting change in industry standards and practices that support sustain-
ability, industry leaders tell us that there is still plenty of work to be done. However, the rate of acceleration that
Canadian industry is traveling is steadily and increasing toward this aim.
Many of the business leaders featured in this month’s issue, with a concentration on industry leaders in Ontario
and Quebec, will tell you that it is a challenging process to incorporate change that supports sustainability— from
trying to effect new policy that upholds and shapes the practice, to ongoing and multi-lateral negotiations with
shareholders and partners at all levels of the private and public sectors.
Other industry leaders in construction in particular are also effecting change by coming up with new sustainable
innovations that are revolutionizing industry practices in their field of expertise, and thereby changing industry
standards in the process out of a need to stay competative.
Throughout the pages of this issue, industry leaders echo a common theme of merging objectives of economic
growth with a commitment to sustainability in business development and innovation.
Take
Waterfront Toronto
, for one example: one of the world’s largest urban waterfront revitalization projects.
Waterfront is on track and poised to substantiate Toronto as a leading global city of the 21st century. The project
consists of 40,000 new residential units, one million square metres of employment space, and 300 hectares of
parks and public spaces created along the city’s long-neglected waterfront.
Ville de Montréal
, likewise, is planning for a more sustainable city along with local administrations. Together with
private and public sector partners and citizenry, Ville de Montréal is pioneering a new, green, sustainable vision
with actionable initiatives that will ensure the historic city remains a place to live and grow for families of genera-
tions to come.
Sustainability seems to be the new anthem of industry borne of necessity, but behind it also lays important values
of community, family, a shared sense of place, and purpose to sustain competitive growth for a brighter future.
This month we profile industry leaders that exemplify and are at the helm of this initiative in both theory and
practice. They are pioneering the way forward, all the while changing the way we look at the relationship between
long-term sustainability and viable economic growth.
Leah Kellar
AUGUST 2014
H
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