Making the Hard Calls: Going All In on Canada’s Future
February 25, 2026 | Toronto
RELATED RESOURCES
Hard calls. Bold bets. Real trade-offs.
The BHER Executive Summit 2026 convened senior leaders from business, post-secondary, and government to explore what it will take for Canada to go “all in” on the next economy—and the systems that make delivery possible. Through candid, high-level conversations, we dug into the decisions behind scaling AI, modernizing energy, building mission-ready talent pipelines, translating post-secondary research into security and growth, advancing Canada’s space ambitions, and renewing public confidence in post-secondary sustainability and accountability.
At BHER’s Executive Summit, leaders from business and post-secondary shifted from diagnosis to decision on what it will take to build Canada’s next economy, with focus, speed, and hard choices.
What we heard:
Bring business, post-secondary, and governments into the same execution lane by aligning talent, research, adoption, and capital so priorities turn into outcomes.
Compete in weeks and months, not years, because timelines have compressed and opportunities don’t stay open indefinitely.
Closing the gap between strong ideas and real implementation means moving from pilots to scaled use across the economy.
Workforce capacity can’t be planned after capital is committed; it needs to be built upstream alongside investment decisions.
Procurement that’s outcomes-driven, faster to contract, and easier to scale, so Canadian solutions can move from proof to deployment.
Clear expectations, shared risk, and trusted partners improve follow-through and help collaborations deliver real results, not just good conversations.
Photo Gallery:
Speakers:
Rob Annan
President & CEO, Genome Canada
Angie Bruce
Vice-President, Indigenous, University of Manitoba
Leslie Church
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Jobs and Families (Persons with Disabilities)
Hesham Fahmy
Chief Information Officer, TELUS
Chris Madan
VP, Customer Digital Solutions & Product and Head of TELUS Sovereign AI Factories, TELUS
Tyler Meredith
Partner, Meredith Boessenkool & Phillips, and former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Ewan Reid,
Founder & CEO, Mission Control
John Stackhouse
Senior Vice-President, Office of the CEO, RBC
Ann Marie Vaughan
President and CEO, Humber Polytechnic
Paul Wells
Journalist and Senior Fellow, Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University
Jahanzaib Ansari
Co-Founder & CEO, Knockri
Nicolle Butcher
President & CEO, Ontario Power Generation
Heather Chalmers
President and CEO, GE Vernova Canada
Brian Gallant
CEO of Space Canada & former Premier of New Brunswick
Ed McCauley
President & Vice-Chancellor, University of Calgary
Jack Mintz
President's Fellow, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary
Michael Serbinis
Founder & CEO, League
Robert Thirsk
Retired Canadian Space Agency Astronaut and Physician
Lieutenant-Colonel Jason Virtue
Pilot, Royal Canadian Air Force
Dave Williams
Retired Canadian Space Agency Astronaut, Physician, and CEO, Leap Biosystems
Karim Bardeesy
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry
Mary Butler
President & CEO, New Brunswick Community College
Glenda Crisp
CEO, Vector Institute
Michele Harradence
Executive Vice-President & President, Gas Distribution and Storage, Enbridge
Matthew McKean
Chief R&D Officer, Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER)
Mackenzie Pereira
Junior Fellow, Outer Space Institute, UBC
Sean Speer
Editor-at-large, The Hub, and former Senior Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee
Commander, Royal Canadian Navy
Val Walker
CEO, Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER)
Melanie Woodin
President, University of Toronto
BHER Executive Summit 2025
Explore highlights from our 2025 BHER Executive Summit
The Messy Middle: How Business + Higher Education are Getting Hard Things Done in Canada
An inside look into the key themes and takeaways from BHER Executive Summit 2025, which brought together over 150 leaders from across the country to see what it takes to tackle Canada’s productivity problems.
Check out the 2025 Executive Summit
