Lobbying Information
Subject Matters
- Economic Development
- Energy
- Environment
- Intellectual Property
- Research and Development
- Small Business
- Transportation
Subject Matter Details
Grant, Contribution or Other Financial Benefit
- Ontario’s recently cancelled Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account Fund has eliminated provincial sources of funding for the world-leading Pan-Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus Demonstration & Integration Trial.
- Secure federal government funding for low-carbon smart mobility projects.
- Secure funding for the ACES Big Data Trust and ZEB Simulation Rollout projects through FedDev Ontario and the Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, respectively.
Grant, Contribution or Other Financial Benefit, Policies or Program
- Support CUTRIC’s application to Fedev Ontario to ensure the federal government invests $10M in start-up seed financing for the development of a cutting edge (and publicly-controlled) ACES Big Data Trust (“Autonomous, Connected, Electric & Shared” Big Data Trust), which would ensure standardized data collection, aggregation, sharing and use for optimized decision-making for fleet procurements of electric, hydrogen electric, and autonomous, i.e. “smart”, transportation fleets across Canada.
The ACES Big Data Trust will help to reduce taxpayer losses due to inefficient and unempirical procurement decision-making across Canada’s public fleets, by ensuring public fleet procurement bodies and agencies have access to the real-time, accurate, precise and immediately accessible performance data they need to hold manufacturers to account and assess performance of vehicles procured once in fleet.
The ACES Big Data Trust will optimize the use of tax dollars invested in public fleets across the heavy-duty sector of vehicles, including buses, rail, coaches and municipal heavy-duty service vehicles.
- Support CUTRIC’s framework development for a public-private partnership model (CUTRIC’s “Innovation P3” model©) that improves transit by moving people more efficiently across Canada using the most cutting edge zero-emissions technology projects available worldwide.
CUTRIC’s Innovation P3 model recognizes there is a limit to government grants for emission reducing technology innovation and systems integration. Innovation P3s will support the launch of innovative transit electric transit, hydrogen fuel cell transit, and autonomous “smart” shuttle projects through CUTRIC across Canada. This initiative should benefit from the philosophical and financial support of the Infrastructure Bank of Canada. An Innovation P3 approach also helps to align local municipal goals for zero-emissions fleets with global capital that can support the financing as well as the operations and maintenance of higher-than-normal risk technologies integration efforts and deployments.
• Innovation P3 Site #1: The York Region-Brampton-Burlington-Oshawa-Guelph Battery Electric Bus Integration Project is led by a “Coalition of the Willing” of city fleets in the jurisdictions noted above, none of which have sufficient local funds to initiate these capital intensive and technologically complex projects, but each of which has a local carbon-reduction plan in place.
• Innovation P3 Site #2: The Pan-Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus Integration Project, is led by the City of Mississauga’s MiWay transit fleet, along with a potential “Coalition of the Willing” including York Region, Brampton and Toronto, none of which have sufficient local funds to initiate this capital intensive and technologically complex project or supply chain development process, but each of which has a local carbon-reduction plan in place.
Policies or Program
- Recognize that the transition to zero-emissions transportation, including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric transit, coach and rail systems, will require an energy “systems overhaul of entire fleets and infrastructural systems, meaning that incentives and funding programs designed and launched by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Infrastructure Canada (IC), and/or Transport Canada will need to support
coordinated energy systems integration efforts (i.e. both vehicle and fuelling ends of the equation) with consortia of partners to be effective, immediate and long-term from an economic sustainability standpoint.
1) Recognize that fleet adoption – specifically heavy duty vehicle fleet adoption in the public sector, including bus, coach and rail systems – offers more immediate and substantial emissions reductions opportunities for taxpayers compared to individual passenger car incentives over the next four year period.
- The Government of Canada must launch the development of a robust Canadian Transportation Innovation & Industrial Development Strategy. The Strategy would require a “hub” marriage between Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Infrastructure Canada, Innovation, Science and Industry and Environment Canada, and Transport Canada on the transportation innovation file. The Strategy should be launched with a federal Task Force with the support of Members of Parliament, mobility manufacturers, integrators, fleets/transit systems, and alternative fuel providers to generate programming aimed at future low-carbon smart mobility infrastructure integration, innovation and technological advancement in transportation.
Policies or Program, Regulation
- Within Canadian Transportation Innovation & Industrial Development Strategy, Canada needs to identify a clear mandate for Alternative Propulsion & Smart Mobility Innovation focusing on mechanisms that create IP and new jobs in the low-carbon transportation innovation industry, building globally relevant large scale integration trials and industry-academic collaborations through innovation consortia for alternative propulsion and smart vehicle technologies in shared mobility systems applications (e.g. public transit and shared private fleets).
This Strategy must include battery electric propulsion and charging systems (heavy-duty and light-duty; vehicular and rail-based), hydrogen fuel cell electric propulsion systems and fuelling systems (heavy-duty and light-duty; vehicular and rail-based), renewable natural gas propulsion and fuelling systems (heavy-duty and light-duty; vehicular and rail-based), and automated and connected vehicle systems for public fleet systems applied to heavy- and light-duty vehicles, including bus, coach, and rail.
Communication Techniques
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Written communication
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Oral communication
Government Institutions
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Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
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Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev)
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Finance Canada (FIN)
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Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
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House of Commons
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Infrastructure Canada (INFC)
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Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
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Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
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Transport Canada (TC)
In-house Organization Details
Description of the organization's activities
The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting industry-academic collaborations in the development of the next generation of technologies for Canadian transit and transportation systems.
CUTRIC is dedicated to matching industry needs to academic capacities and capabilities including laboratories, highly qualified personnel, and cutting edge knowledge.
CUTRIC's work will help make buses, trains, trolleys and other road vehicles used by transit systems more efficient and less fossil fuel intensive, thereby significantly reducing emissions from transit systems and supporting the country’s shift to a low-carbon economy.
CUTRIC's vision is to make Canada a global leader in transportation-related research.
CUTRIC’s mission is to support research, development and innovation through industry-academic collaborations that bring advanced thinking, design, and manufacturing to Canada’s transit and transportation networks.
Responsible officer name and position during the period of this registration
Josipa Petrunic,
Executive Director & CEO
Organization's membership or classes of membership
Single class of paid members according to CUTRIC Bylaw No. 1.
Government funding
End date of the last completed financial year:
2019-12-31
List of Government Funding
Government Institution
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Funding Received in Last Financial Year
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Funding Expected in Current Financial Year
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The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Growth (Currently: Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade)
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$382,483.00
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Yes
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In-house Organization Contact Information
Address:
1 Yonge St.
Suite 1801
Toronto, ON M5E 1W7
Canada
Telephone number:
647-981-4020
Lobbyists Details
Employees who lobby for the organization
- Kristina Mlakar,
National Operations Manager and Project Lead |
No public offices held
- Josipa Petrunic,
Executive Director & CEO |
No public offices held
- Parvathy Pillai,
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Program Lead & Ontario Projects Development Officer |
No public offices held
- Abhishek Raj,
LEAD- ELECTRIC BUS PROGRAM & RESEARCH AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER |
No public offices held
- Grace Reilly,
Operations Coordinator to the CEO |
No public offices held
- Lana Sanderson,
Managing Coordinator |
No public offices held
- Adriana Shu-Yin,
Membership Success Officer & Contracts Administrator |
No public offices held