In recognition of Canada Day, we’re pausing today  to reflect on how lucky we are to live in Canada.

Every day on social media, I read friends complaining that Stephen Harper has ripped the heart out of the country. I hear conservatives complain of the overbearing government and high taxes.

But I really don’t think there’s a better place in the world to live. As proof, here’s some data

Transit 360, a mobile app that gives information on public transportation, has experienced a five- to six-fold increase in downloads since its 5.0 version launched and it expanded into more cities this month.

MindSea Development Inc. of Halifax first launched the iPhone app, then called Transit To Go, in 2010 so commuters in its home city could see when buses were coming. Since then, it has

More than a decade after encountering skeptics at a conference, Mark Dobbin feels vindicated for his faith in Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs.

The Founder and President of St. John’s-based Killick Capital Inc. was reminiscing lately about how he felt when attending an event for venture capital investors in Halifax in 2004 – about the time he launched his investment firm.

“They were

In its first investment outside of Atlantic Canada, Build Ventures of Halifax has invested in InteraXon, a Toronto company developing a consumer product that operates off brainwaves.

The Atlantic Canadian regional venture fund has announced it’s joined an investment syndicate led by OMERS Ventures that invested $10 million in the Toronto company. Build accounted for $2 million of the Series B

Venture for Canada,  a not-for-profit organization that places graduates with startups, has issued the following press release:

Venture for Canada Announces Partnership with RBC

TORONTO, June 25, 2015 /CNW/ - Most recent university and college graduates seek employment with well-established companies, but those interested in entrepreneurship should take a closer look at opportunities with top Canadian startups. 

Venture for Canada, a not-for-profit organization that recruits top graduates to work at leading Canadian startups, announced today a three-year partnership with RBC's Social

Two Nova Scotian startups, Unified Software Technologies and NeoThermal Energy Storage, are the co-winners of the $100,000 Smart Energy Demo Challenge, which will help them move their product closer to a market launch.

Innovacorp, which organized the competition for startups that promote energy efficiency, said Thursday night its panel of judges had chosen co-winners and each will get about $50,000 in non-dilutive funding to work on a demonstration project with their product.

The contest was aimed at companies that have a working product but have not yet launched it in the marketplace.

Innovacorp President and CEO Stephen Duff knows what the entrepreneurs he supports go through. When Duff was first involved with Precision BioLogic, the biotech startup got so behind on the rent the sheriff turned up to change the locks on the door.

Duff held business development and product innovation roles at Precision BioLogic for over 25 years. The Dartmouth-based company develops,

BioNova, the association of life sciences companies in Nova Scotia, has signed a partnership agreement with a national medical technology association that it hopes will accelerate the growth of Atlantic Canadian medtech companies.

The Halifax-based group said Thursday it signed a memorandum of understanding with MEDEC, the national association representing Canada’s Medical Technology companies.

“This is a big opportunity to support local growth as this gives us access to a very well qualified and experienced group of contacts and resources, as well as programs,” Scott Moffitt, Managing

I’d like to thank the Halifax Partnership for including my work in the Halifax Index, its annual examination of social and economic progress in the city.

I contributed a column on the startup hub in Halifax, which examined the growth and impact of startups in the city in the past few years. You can find its on page 44 of the report, and we’ve reprinted it below here.

I was lucky to appear on a panel at the Index launch yesterday to discuss the economic outlook for the city, province and region. We had a great discussion with my co-panelists, the Partnership’s Chief Economist Fred Morley

Startups of all stripes want to build capital, but the weeks-old venture of Sydney-based serial entrepreneur Mathew Georghiou is focused on capital of an entirely different kind.

Social capital is at the heart of lokol.me, the latest enterprise from the founder and CEO of software development company MediaSpark and e-learning gaming company GoVenture World. Lokol.me has already seen success, taking home $50,000 as a winner of last fall’s Spark Cape Breton competition.

Lokol.me is a platform for hyper-local publications like goCapeBreton – portals that allow community members to post a