The Toronto Brief
Wednesday
Ontario Considers Halting High-Rise Development Near Major Pharmaceutical Company
Another day, another dilemma within the housing market for residents of Ontario. The provincial government of Ontario has decided to halt the high rise development of new residential high rises near ‘Sanofi Pasteur’ pharmaceutical company’s grounds. On the CBC segment it was stated that Sanofi - a company which manufactures vaccines - wants to limit the risk of spying.
Of course The Toronto Brief would like to assume ‘spying’ is not one of the first issues that come to mind when one is asked about the problems that arise out of homes, residential high rises, or complexes; however, it does show a greater potential abuse of power. Residents could care less whether they are called spies, but to know that a private pharmaceutical company could jeprodize the construction or living plans of a person for a particular property/highrise is more debilitating.
On one hand it is indeed 2025, and young kids now have the power to fly drones from their window for fun, which could just go over top of a place like Sanofi and definitely constitute as informal spying. On the other end however, citizens looking for housing aren’t just surprised at prices anymore but the potential for certain locations to be blacklisted to them to maintain the sovereignty of a private company.
If this turns into a trend - more halts of residential properties for the preservation of space and security of private companies - what could it mean for Canadians and the real estate market? And in the long run is it a dynamic worth having even if we see exceptional innovations in health?
Canada Partners with Nokia to Expand National 5G and AI Innovation, Promises 300 New Jobs
Last Thursday we covered a story on how Canada contributed in reaffirming the IceBreaker pact which included Canada, the U.S., and Finland. Now this week Canada has announced their partnership with Nokia - a Finnish telecommunications equipment, network infrastructure, and technology development company - to work towards a project and plan to ‘bring transformative economic and technological benefits to Canadians’ and that by 2040 this project and investment in R&D (research and development) will bring 200 billion to the economy.
This is an interesting story to say the least - if you are into technology… But for the average Canadian citizen when they see 200 billion to the economy by 2040 and only an estimated 300 jobs created, some may feel a bit underwhelmed. Here at The Toronto Brief we partially agree with the plan, but disagree with aspects of the promises on sovereignty and want to present a new perspective to look at this story with.
Canada as a nation is lagging behind countries like the U.S., China, and areas within the U.K. when it comes to technological innovation and data sovereignty. For example, the most popular social apps like Facebook and X are based in the notorious Silicon Valley, San Francisco. Which means while the Canadian government would love to receive all of the data - good or bad - that their citizens see and produce, it always goes to the Tech Giants outside the country first, not to mention the CEO’s having final say. While this 5G AI Innovation plan with the help of Nokia is out of good spirit and encourages national adoption to new technological horizons, it does not directly stem out of a Canadian company or ensure improved data and digital sovereignty for Canadians from what we can currently see. This is most likely because it will enhance Canada’s IT and network efficiency opposed to digital independence - the average citizen will still be using the same apps and websites from google to instagram, only with faster connectivity following this plans completion and process to completion - unless, Canada brings in some more technological projects..
In comparison to China and their recent 5.5G / 5G-Advanced networks which are 5-10x faster it is a worthy investment to pursue as Canadians. On the flip side true digital sovereignty does not come as a consequence of this project, and if jobs are a priority there is a way to truly kill two birds with one stone (digital sovereignty and jobs). One option would be by making Canadian based social apps that are as useful, fun, and as socially connected as the Facebook’s and Instagram’s. China has done exactly that, with their Little Red Book app (Xiaohongshu) and WeChat, they have centralized Chinese digital activity to the home court, all while providing more jobs and in turn creating a culture (not everywhere in china but in the important areas) where technological fluency is improved due to the job creation, which only comes with China made tech apps - which aim to hire their own citizens. Collectively these two Chinese apps for Chinese citizens boast around 7,000 employees collectively - not including parent companies. And instead of 15 years, those apps only took 70 days for Wechat and 7 months for Little Red Book.
With that being said, what do you think? Though its a national project made with good intent, would you rather invest 200 billion to improve IT and network efficiency, or 10 million into 2 apps that will generate a solid 7,000 Canadian jobs and blooming tech culture? Of course, you would still have a mere 199 billion to spare on IT if you choose to add 300 more jobs.