Innovative Policies: Improvements in government policy to fuel more and better investments in infrastructure
Go Long!
The following column is written by Gord Hume, President of Hume Communications Inc., former Councillor of the City of London, ON, and author of “Cultural Planning for Creative Communities” and “Taking Back Our Cities” When Casey Vander Ploeg and the team at the Canada West Foundation and Communities of Tomorrow approached me about writing a [...]
Are We Organized for Progress?
By: Clare Kirkland, Director of Strategic Development, Regina Regional Opportunities Commission, and former Deputy Minister of Highways and Transportation, Saskatchewan Over three decades spent leading engineering and technical organizations, I am convinced that modern road science offers an enormous innovation dividend in reduced road costs and improved road quality. However, this dividend is not being [...]
Out and About
By: Casey Vander Ploeg, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation Our work-a-day lives tend to follow predictable patterns, and it all starts with municipal infrastructure. The alarm goes off and the lights go on. We hit the switch on the coffee maker, push the handle on the toilet, turn the tap in the shower. Whether [...]
“Biggest” vs. “Best” (Part II)
By: Casey Vander Ploeg, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation Last week I spent some time reviewing ReNew Canada’s special report on the “Top 100” infrastructure projects in the country, and then posted the top three contenders for the most innovative projects across 10 categories (click here to view). This week, it’s time to announce [...]
“Biggest” vs. “Best” (Part I)
By: Casey Vander Ploeg, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation ReNew Canada bills itself as the country’s “Infrastructure Magazine.” That’s not braggadocio. No matter what aspect of infrastructure you’re involved in—finance, research, engineering, policy, construction, whatever—the magazine is a virtual “must-have.” The January-February issue has just hit the newstand, and it features a special supplement [...]
I-4: Investment, Invention, Innovation, and Infrastructure
By: Casey Vander Ploeg, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, many of us have already seen, heard, or read the inevitable news stories about how much consumers are planning to spend this year, the results of the latest consumer confidence survey, and the overall state of the [...]
The “Innovation Imperative”
By: Casey Vander Ploeg, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation In 2005, I was handed my biggest challenge as a Senior Policy Analyst with the Canada West Foundation. That challenge was to travel the globe—via the Internet of course—and answer a relatively simple question. How do world class cities finance, fund, and provide urban infrastructure? [...]
