AI can help businesses find funding
Northern Ontario Watch
In this week's Tech Talk, Tony Ryma finds out about an AI-generated funding search engine to help businesses access money from multiple sources.
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How new grads should be approaching AI as they seek careers in finance
School's out, grads are looking for jobs, and there aren't many to be had. So, why are young job-seekers optimistic about their prospects in finance? According to the CFA Institute's global graduate outlook survey, 40 per cent of Canadian university students and recent grads ranked finance as the sector in which they have the most confidence, beating the next closest sector – STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) – by 20 percentage points. What gives? Michael Thom, managing director of CFA Societies Canada, says the financial sector may offer better prospects for young professionals with artificial intelligence skills they're ready to use in the workplace. Most students (87 per cent) surveyed expressed confidence in their AI literacy, and 35 per cent believed their AI skills would boost their job prospects more than traditional skills, such as speaking another language, at 23 per cent. Still, almost three-quarters feared AI could hurt their careers and make it harder to get a job. We spoke with Mr. Thom about the survey and what's most important for those entering careers in finance. New grads like the financial industry right now. How come? I wish I had [more] explanatory variables. If you look at some of the questions around secular challenges, there's a pathway in which finance is enabled by AI and able to adapt to the challenge of AI, and it's not entirely disrupted and made obsolete. Unfortunately, it's a dire market for new grads, and AI may be contributing with entry-level jobs being eliminated. How should grads be looking at that in terms of financial jobs in Canada? The younger cohort is definitely affected inordinately by the employment weakness we're seeing in the broader Canadian economy right now, and that's a point of concern. I'd want to look at what the data points are on financial services on a sectoral basis, but it's in the data that new grads are positive, and I think financial services is going to be relatively resilient in this cycle. And that's cause for optimism. What new skills should people entering finance be acquiring or developing? That's been a big topic of conversation. AI literacy is something that probably a certain number of the new grad cohort take for granted, but it's really important to turn whatever implicit literacy you have into applicable skills in the workplace. So, arming yourself with understanding AI, and generative AI in particular, [as well as] broader trends around data usage and data wrangling … and synthesizing that into parts of your job. There's reason to think about AI as an enabler rather than a replacer, at least at this stage. What are some of the ways entry-level jobs in the financial sector are changing as AI is adopted? 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In terms of replacement, is there any risk that if firms aren't needing to hire as many entry-level positions – whether it's analysts or advisor assistants – that you lose out on the talent chain and it's tougher to have that pipeline, especially on the advisor side, as the industry ages? It's a risk, but you really have to look at this on a sector-relative basis. AI allows new hires to get to more value-added work more quickly, and take away some of those low value-added tasks. So, from a progress perspective, there's more progress expected more quickly from staff to provide value around tasks that AI can't do reliably, better and more quickly. Again, that's exciting from a career development perspective. Does it have net negative effects on the number of people you need to hire? Maybe, but I'm not convinced by anything I've seen yet that it's affecting finance more than elsewhere. If anything, it might be the inverse. Is there anything else you want to say on this? There's still this view in some quarters that this is a hype cycle: 'I don't believe this is real yet, and I don't think this justifies changing my skill set and how I do my job.' And that might be ill-founded. AI does deserve everyone's attention. Whether you're late career, mid career, or early career, you're probably going to want to approach it in different ways, but it's worth everyone's attention. - This interview has been edited and condensed. Insurance changes: Danielle Kanengoni, the president of Allan Financial in Vancouver, has had her licence to work as a life insurance advisor in British Columbia for more than a decade. But in Quebec, the mid-career professional still had to be supervised by another advisor for three months this spring to obtain her licence in that province. It's one example of the friction life insurance advisors say exists for those who want to work with clients in multiple provinces. Tax changes: Bill C-4, the Liberal government's legislation to reduce the tax rate for the lowest federal tax bracket, is still making its way through Parliament. While this change will result in tax savings for many Canadians, not everyone will receive the same benefit. In some situations, this change could increase taxes payable, writes Aaron Hector. Advice changes: CIRO is looking at allowing order-execution-only dealers to provide non-tailored advice to clients to address the growth of the do-it-yourself investment landscape. What would this mean for investors? Kelsey Rolfe reports. A big retirement: The formula for success in personal finance is just this: Spend less than you make, keep debt manageable and save and invest regularly, writes Rob Carrick. In his final column as The Globe and Mail's personal finance columnist, Mr. Carrick offers solutions to some of the challenges people face in managing their money. Two big mistakes: The founders of Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. never wanted to sell the business they built over 35 years to a bank. But management made two strategic mistakes that cost the firm its independence, leading to its $625-million sale to BMO, writes Andrew Willis, offering lessons in succession to any entrepreneur-owned businesses. A big scam: Last week, Bank of Montreal chief investment strategist Brian Belski became the latest finance heavyweight to warn his social media followers about imposters posing as him to scam investors. While scams impersonating celebrities and politicians have proliferated for years, fraud targeting investors through fake advice from big names in finance is now multiplying, with the real experts struggling to get the content taken down.
CTV News
3 hours ago
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Debate rages at city hall over Oilers event-park funding in hearing on future of tax levy
Edmonton city council is divided over a directive from the province to use money from a special tax levy on projects on land owned by the Oilers. It was the Edmonton Oilers arena debate all over again at city hall on Thursday with a slightly different flavour. Most city councillors and business leaders agree a special tax program in the core is vital for the future prosperity of downtown. The sticking point is a directive from the provincial government to spend tens of millions of public dollars to build projects on land owned by the Oilers. City councillor and mayoral candidate Andrew Knack wants to halt a $250-million event park beside Rogers Place, the home of the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), which owns the site, is using it as their outdoor Fan Park. The event park is listed as one of the so-called catalyst projects city money would help fund through the downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL). 'I do support downtown revitalization, but I will not support a bad deal,' Knack, who represents the west-end Ward Nakota Isga, told media on Thursday morning. 'We don't even know if we need an event park yet ... there's just this assumption that something new and shiny will solve everything.' Event park rendering Conceptual rendering of the event park in downtown Edmonton. (Oilers Entertainment Group) The CRL was introduced in 2014 as part of the deal to build Rogers Place, which opened two years later with a final price tag of $613.7 million. The city paid $312 million of it in cash and through the levy, the team paid $165.5 million and the rest came via a ticket surcharge, the federal government and MacEwan University. The home arena of the Oilers opened in 2016, replacing Rexall Place, following years of debate and negotiation after Daryl Katz bought the National Hockey League team in 2008 from the Edmonton Investors Group for a reported $200 million. As the area within its boundary is redeveloped, the CRL is meant to reinvest that extra tax revenue into downtown. City staff have crunched the numbers and say extending the 20-year levy by an extra decade is worthwhile. Event park site The site of the proposed downtown Edmonton event park, right, that's currently being used by the Oilers Entertainment Group as its Fan Park, with Rogers Place in the background on June 26, 2025. (CTV News Edmonton) 'It is a comprehensive approach to developing downtown Edmonton, encompassing underground utilities, beautification of our streets and parks, creation and expansion of event spaces, improvement to transit stations and incentives for attainable housing,' Brett Latchford, the city's director of strategy and emerging economy, said at Thursday's public hearing. Kris Sims, the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, drove to Edmonton from Lethbridge to express her concerns about the deal along with those from several others. 'That's fine, go ahead and revitalize the downtown … but why are you tying it to one element of corporate welfare?' Sims said. 'That is not fair, and it's not right.' The provincial government has final say over the CRL. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams says it won't be approved unless it includes the event park and site servicing for the housing planned north of Rogers Place. The province said it would contribute more than $100 million for those projects. CRL hearing People in attendance for a public hearing at Edmonton city hall about the future of the downtown Community Revitalization Levy on June 26, 2025. (Jeremy Thompson/CTV News Edmonton) Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he understands why Edmontonians are upset but believes the deal would fall apart without the event park, which he says would be a major missed opportunity for downtown. '(The province is) a major funder of this, a major enabler of this plan, so they're definitely going to have a say in this,' Sohi told media between hearing sessions. 'Anyone who believes that we can find $175 million of new revenue or $103 million of grant funding I think is not living in reality.' A representative of the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), which operates Rogers Place and the Ice District plaza as well as the NHL team among other sports and entertainment enterprises, said the corporation is proud of its contributions to the CRL. Edmonton Rogers Place downtown skyline spring/summer overcast An aerial image of Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton on June 17, 2025. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton) 'It has been a powerful tool for revitalizing Edmonton's downtown core and helping to strengthen our education, arts, housing, and business districts,' Tim Shipton, OEG's executive vice-president of external affairs, said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton. 'The CRL has supported critical public infrastructure, attracted billions in private investment and created safer, more vibrant spaces for all Edmontonians. The MOU (memorandum of understanding) signed with the city and province represents a transformational city building opportunity, focused on additional housing when it's needed most, and a one-of-a-kind community event facility with vibrant public realm spaces — developments that will not just benefit downtown, but the city as a whole.' The public hearing is expected to be held all day Thursday and Friday. Edmonton city council Edmonton city council on June 26, 2025. (Jeremy Thompson/CTV News Edmonton) Michael Janz, the city councillor for south-side Ward papastew, told CTV News Edmonton he believes the deal isn't really about downtown, rather how a 'provincial tax grab' is going to be distributed, asking would it 'go back to Edmontonians, or is it going to go to one private business?' 'We don't even know the other options, because this was decided behind closed doors in a private negotiation between one business and our premier with the city of Edmonton along for the ride,' Janz said. 'When you can't walk away, when you're being told you have to accept this deal on terms acceptable to the OEG, that's not a negotiation.'
