How local data is helping Canada’s main streets fight back
They’re crucial economically – and socially. A new index will help small businesses adjust to better serve their communities.
By Mary W. Rowe
Latest
How did tariffs hit your town? This interactive map zooms in for the answer
The tool provides a closer look at how Canadian industries – and their employees – have fared town to town
By Lisa Hrabluk
A not-so-secret Toronto society is trying to get people off their phones to help transform their city
Hyperlocal, in-person debates are sprouting up in churches and town halls across the city
By Katherine SinghMore stories
View moreView more
Energy
What happens when floating solar panels meet a Canadian winter?
An encouraging new energy source is being kept afloat by ingenious bubble technology
Agriculture
Why Alberta farmers are suddenly demanding tractors they can fix themselves
A company selling analog farming tools is fuelling the rural right-to-repair movement
Trade
The East Coast’s audacious new plan to court Europe
Surprising strategies are on the table to make Atlantic Canada more appealing to its European neighbours
Environment
The Canadian entrepreneur turning garbage into hand soap
Nivatha Balendra's company has defied biotech odds, going straight from laboratory breakthrough to commercial production
Defence
A new plan to save autoworkers’ jobs: get them building military vehicles
Billions of dollars are being pumped into defence. “If we are going to rearm,” says Flavio Volpe, “shouldn’t we do it ourselves?”
Entrepreneurship
Debunking the myth that Canadians don’t take risks
More than 20 per cent of adults plan to take the plunge to open a business over the next three years
Transportation
Why public transit in the suburbs isn’t always completely terrible
Canada’s urban outposts used to be seen as transit vacuums. But expanded bus service is drawing a surprising number of riders
Health
How Canada boosted survival rates for our tiniest babies
Dr. Prakesh Shah has revolutionized neonatal care by instituting surprisingly simple fixes
Transportation
How to run a railway built on melting permafrost
The train to Churchill ‘rocks like a boat’ when it crosses thawing sections. Can it support the weight of a megaproject?
Energy
What happens when floating solar panels meet a Canadian winter?
An encouraging new energy source is being kept afloat by ingenious bubble technology
Trade
The East Coast’s audacious new plan to court Europe
Surprising strategies are on the table to make Atlantic Canada more appealing to its European neighbours
Defence
A new plan to save autoworkers’ jobs: get them building military vehicles
Billions of dollars are being pumped into defence. “If we are going to rearm,” says Flavio Volpe, “shouldn’t we do it ourselves?”
Transportation
Why public transit in the suburbs isn’t always completely terrible
Canada’s urban outposts used to be seen as transit vacuums. But expanded bus service is drawing a surprising number of riders
Transportation
How to run a railway built on melting permafrost
The train to Churchill ‘rocks like a boat’ when it crosses thawing sections. Can it support the weight of a megaproject?
Agriculture
Why Alberta farmers are suddenly demanding tractors they can fix themselves
A company selling analog farming tools is fuelling the rural right-to-repair movement
Environment
The Canadian entrepreneur turning garbage into hand soap
Nivatha Balendra's company has defied biotech odds, going straight from laboratory breakthrough to commercial production
Entrepreneurship
Debunking the myth that Canadians don’t take risks
More than 20 per cent of adults plan to take the plunge to open a business over the next three years
Health
How Canada boosted survival rates for our tiniest babies
Dr. Prakesh Shah has revolutionized neonatal care by instituting surprisingly simple fixes
Energy
What happens when floating solar panels meet a Canadian winter?
An encouraging new energy source is being kept afloat by ingenious bubble technology
Environment
The Canadian entrepreneur turning garbage into hand soap
Nivatha Balendra's company has defied biotech odds, going straight from laboratory breakthrough to commercial production
Transportation
Why public transit in the suburbs isn’t always completely terrible
Canada’s urban outposts used to be seen as transit vacuums. But expanded bus service is drawing a surprising number of riders
Agriculture
Why Alberta farmers are suddenly demanding tractors they can fix themselves
A company selling analog farming tools is fuelling the rural right-to-repair movement
Defence
A new plan to save autoworkers’ jobs: get them building military vehicles
Billions of dollars are being pumped into defence. “If we are going to rearm,” says Flavio Volpe, “shouldn’t we do it ourselves?”
Health
How Canada boosted survival rates for our tiniest babies
Dr. Prakesh Shah has revolutionized neonatal care by instituting surprisingly simple fixes
Trade
The East Coast’s audacious new plan to court Europe
Surprising strategies are on the table to make Atlantic Canada more appealing to its European neighbours
Entrepreneurship
Debunking the myth that Canadians don’t take risks
More than 20 per cent of adults plan to take the plunge to open a business over the next three years
Transportation
How to run a railway built on melting permafrost
The train to Churchill ‘rocks like a boat’ when it crosses thawing sections. Can it support the weight of a megaproject?
Featured
The tiny transmitter tracking monarch butterflies’ migration from Canada to Mexico
Conservationists are gluing solar panels onto insects to help reveal habitat gaps on the 4,000-km journey
Trending
27 Giant Ideas for 2027
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Leap, and we’ll mail you our new book, free. Already a subscriber? Claim yours too.
Series
Habitats
A behind-the-scenes look at the spaces and places where Canada’s big ideas come to life.
More stories
More stories
Economy
The polar bear capital of the world has multibillion-dollar megaproject ambitions
Churchill, Manitoba, has seen its share of boom and bust. Now it wants to be an energy and transport powerhouse
Economy
Why Saskatchewan potash is taking a 4,300-km detour on its way to market
Trade tensions, geopolitics and the need to diversify markets have made New Brunswick a new gateway for western resources
Environment
How to protect a little industry when a big one comes to town
Bears and belugas bring 25,000 ecotourists to Churchill every year. A planned megaproject could put it all in peril
Innovation
This new Canadian-built wheelchair is small enough to fit in a backpack
Old-school travel wheelchairs are terrible on planes, but this buzzy 10-pound model is turning heads at airlines
Economy
The polar bear capital of the world has multibillion-dollar megaproject ambitions
Churchill, Manitoba, has seen its share of boom and bust. Now it wants to be an energy and transport powerhouse
Economy
Why Saskatchewan potash is taking a 4,300-km detour on its way to market
Trade tensions, geopolitics and the need to diversify markets have made New Brunswick a new gateway for western resources
Environment
How to protect a little industry when a big one comes to town
Bears and belugas bring 25,000 ecotourists to Churchill every year. A planned megaproject could put it all in peril
Innovation
This new Canadian-built wheelchair is small enough to fit in a backpack
Old-school travel wheelchairs are terrible on planes, but this buzzy 10-pound model is turning heads at airlines
How data centres became a sleeper issue in the U.S. midterms – and what Canada can learn from it all
Breakneck development in the U.S. has sparked a backlash. Canada has a chance to do better
Continue reading
Health
The solution to antibiotic resistance could be ... killer viruses
Karen Maxwell, winner of one of Canada’s most prestigious health-science prizes, on bacteria predators
Artifacts from the Future
The floating power hubs helping to electrify the oceans
B.C.-based Mostar Labs is developing modular battery and sensor units that can charge boats and provide power to industry
Artificial Intelligence
Is this the end of math as we know it?
OpenAI’s models solved hundreds of major math problems last week. One professor tells us what it means for the future of the field
Sovereignty
How Canada can navigate a more complicated, dangerous Arctic
Arctic Circle Assembly chair Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson on opportunities and tension in the region and Canada’s new ambitions to lead
Health
The solution to antibiotic resistance could be ... killer viruses
Karen Maxwell, winner of one of Canada’s most prestigious health-science prizes, on bacteria predators
Artificial Intelligence
Is this the end of math as we know it?
OpenAI’s models solved hundreds of major math problems last week. One professor tells us what it means for the future of the field
Artifacts from the Future
The floating power hubs helping to electrify the oceans
B.C.-based Mostar Labs is developing modular battery and sensor units that can charge boats and provide power to industry
Sovereignty
How Canada can navigate a more complicated, dangerous Arctic
Arctic Circle Assembly chair Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson on opportunities and tension in the region and Canada’s new ambitions to lead
Health
The solution to antibiotic resistance could be ... killer viruses
Karen Maxwell, winner of one of Canada’s most prestigious health-science prizes, on bacteria predators
Artifacts from the Future
The floating power hubs helping to electrify the oceans
B.C.-based Mostar Labs is developing modular battery and sensor units that can charge boats and provide power to industry
Artificial Intelligence
Is this the end of math as we know it?
OpenAI’s models solved hundreds of major math problems last week. One professor tells us what it means for the future of the field
Sovereignty
How Canada can navigate a more complicated, dangerous Arctic
Arctic Circle Assembly chair Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson on opportunities and tension in the region and Canada’s new ambitions to lead