Place, People and Prosperity: Supporting Communities Through Change
Canada has big ambitions for its economic future. The country is looking to diversify its trade, build major projects fast, secure critical supply chains, capture opportunities in artificial intelligence, and expand its defence industrial capacity. Yet the opportunities—and risks—that come with these ambitions affect communities across the country differently.
Researchers for the IRPP’s Community Transformations Project spent the past several years examining how major economic transformations and policy shifts can affect communities across the country and how governments can support them. As new research from the project argues, place-neutral policy is not necessarily neutral in effect: investment and support can disproportionately flow toward regions that already have stronger industrial ecosystems, research institutions and access to capital.
On October 29, join us for a breakfast panel on what a place-based approach to Canada’s industrial policy could look like and what governments can learn from the people and communities navigating economic transformation firsthand.
The discussion will explore what we have learned about the barriers communities face, the assets they have and how place-based approaches can help them capture new economic opportunities. It will consider what effective public policy could look like on the ground as communities navigate major shifts in Canada’s trade relationships and investment landscape.
The event will also mark the release of the fourth policy brief from the IRPP’s Community Transformations Project on the role of place-based industrial policy in the context of Canada’s bold economic ambitions.
The panel features Gordon More, executive director of the Southeast Techhub in Saskatchewan; Candice Wilson, independent consultant and environmental leader from the Haisla Nation; and Tyler Mattheis, director of economic development at the Cape Breton Partnership. The event will be moderated by Jennifer Ditchburn, president and CEO of the IRPP.
Director of Economic Development at the Cape Breton Partnership
Tyler Mattheis is the Director of Economic Development at the Cape Breton Partnership, Unama’ki-Cape Breton’s private sector-led economic development organization. In this role, he leads regional efforts to attract investment, support businesses, strengthen innovation, and advance economic opportunities across Cape Breton in collaboration with private-sector and government partners.
Tyler has extensive experience in community and regional economic development across Nova Scotia and British Columbia. He previously served as President and CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership and has held economic development leadership roles with the Municipality of East Hants and AdvantageHOPE. His work has focused on supporting sustainable economic growth, building partnerships and helping communities respond to changing economic opportunities.
Gordon More is the Executive Director of the Southeast Techhub (SETH) in Estevan, Saskatchewan, a rural technology incubator focused on energy innovation, startup incubation and economic development. Gordon has also co-founded IDS Internet Dispatch Services Ltd., helping grow the logistics software company into an international business with operations in Canada, the United States and Australia.
Since moving to Estevan, Gordon has focused on building a rural innovation ecosystem around clean energy, critical minerals and advanced technology. He helped spearhead the Innovation Centre for Energy Development in partnership with Southeast College and the University of Regina, supporting applied research, commercialization and investment in areas including hydrogen, small modular reactors, coal-to-graphite and battery supply chains.
Candice Wilson is an experienced biologist and environmental leader from the Haisla Nation in Kitamaat Village, British Columbia. Her work has focused on environmental protection, compliance, sustainability, water quality and mitigation, as well as ensuring that major industrial developments in Haisla territory reflect the Nation’s environmental priorities and values.
Candice has been closely involved in the development of Cedar LNG, the Haisla Nation’s majority-owned liquefied natural gas project and has brought an Indigenous and community perspective to discussions about how major economic development can create lasting benefits while protecting the land, water and resources that communities depend on.
Jennifer Ditchburn is the President and CEO of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. She is a not-for-profit sector executive and seasoned communicator working to make complex public policy issues and politics better understood by Canadians. From 2016 to 2021, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the IRPP’s influential digital magazine, Policy Options.
Prior to joining the IRPP, Jennifer spent two decades covering national and parliamentary affairs for The Canadian Press and for CBC Television. She is the winner of three National Newspaper Awards, the recipient of the prestigious Charles Lynch Award for outstanding coverage of national issues, and three Canadian Online Publishing silver awards for her columns. In 2015, she was named one of the 10 mostinfluential Hispanic–Canadians. Jennifer sits on the board of the Banff Forum, an influential Canadian leadership network. She is also a fellow at Carleton University’s Political Management program, and an inductee in the Hall of Distinction at CEGEP John Abbott College.
Date and time
October 29, 2026
10:00 a.m. EDT - 11:30 a.m. EDT
Location
The Edwards Room
Metcalfe Hotel
123 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, ON, K1P 5L9
About the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation
The Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation is a permanent research body within the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Its mission is to build a deeper understanding of Canada as a federal community.
research initiative
