Canadian Consulting Engineer: ACEC National Leadership Conference looks to future changes
by Peter Saunders
Keynote speaker Steven Poloz of Osler, kicked things off with a discussion on the challenges of abandoning fossil fuels to the need for firms to offer daycare services to help attract new employees with work-life balance.
After cancelling last year’s edition due to the global pandemic, Ottawa-based ACEC-Canada brought back its annual National Leadership Conference on Oct. 20, as a virtual event. The theme was ‘reimagining our world.’
With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us, the conference set its sights on the future. Keynote speaker Steven Poloz, special advisor at Osler, kicked things off with a discussion of a wide range of trends, from the challenges of abandoning fossil fuels to the need for firms to offer daycare services to help attract new employees with work-life balance.
“Due to demographics, it’s only going to be harder to recruit talent as we go forward,” he said.
He was followed by the first panel discussion, ‘A green and sustainable future: Reimagining the relationship between the economy and the environment,’ moderated by Angel Ransom, director of operations and impact assessment lead for the First Nations Major Projects Coalition.
Mathieu Bélanger, director of urban planning and sustainable development for the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Que., described how tools that can better calculate engineering projects’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be a game-changer for the industry.
This article originally appeared in Canadian Consulting Engineer. Read the full article here
