Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 78
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SPONSOR CONTENT
CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS (2025)
At TRCA, employee passion fuels sustainability
W
hen Max Smith
graduated with
a PhD in history
five years ago,
he saw a posting
for a funding and grants position
at Toronto and Region
Conservation Authority (TRCA)
that he thought could make use of
his experience with grant
applications. Smith applied,
conducted a research project as
part of the hiring process, and got
the job.
Our employees are
passionate about the
environment and we’ve
been able to harness
their energy to advance
sustainability measures at
TRCA and beyond.
“TRCA employees are motivated
to make positive environmental
changes,” says CEO John
MacKenzie. “Often we take the
work we’ve developed for our own
offices, fleet or projects and scale
it up to export it, working with our
partners in the GTA and beyond.”
One example of this is TRCA’s
electric vehicle charging (EVC)
infrastructure, installed at TRCA
facilities over 10 years ago. The
conservation authority has since
worked with Toronto Pearson
airport, all levels of government
and private sector employers to
extend its expertise with EVC
through Partners in Project Green,
a community of businesses,
government, institutions and
utilities leaders advancing best
practices for environmental action
and economic prosperity across
the GTA.
Many TRCA employees have
strong technical and scientific
backgrounds and are recognized
as leaders in their field. Employee
innovation and more has been
brought to bear on a new
administrative office building. The
building, which just recently
opened, is LEED Platinum 4.1
certified for new construction.
Sustainable aspects of the
building include an open loop
geo-exchange system that meets
100 per cent of cooling and 89 per
cent of heating needs with
geothermal energy. And half of the
roof surface is a green roof where
plants grow, with the rest made up
of solar thermal panels, a terrace
and a white roof that aids cooling.
TRCA also leads community
projects. The conservation
authority partners with Hydro
One, the City of Toronto and Parks
Canada on The Meadoway
Project, transforming a hydro
corridor in Scarborough into a
16-kilometre stretch of urban
green space and meadowland
connecting downtown Toronto to
Rouge National Urban Park.
When a new project like this
begins, or when a major donor, in
this case the Weston Family
Foundation, commits to a project,
Smith and his team look for
government or other funding
programs to which they might
apply to support the work. The
funding they bring — sometimes
doubling the initial budget — is
used to expand and amplify the
reach of the project.
This fundraising success, as well
as Smith’s willingness to take on
— John MacKenzie
CEO
“Immediately, I was struck by
how vast and impressive the work
of TRCA is and how much of it I
had experienced in my life
already,” says Smith, now
supervisor, strategic business
planning and performance.
TRCA owns and manages over
16,000 hectares of green space in
the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Its mission is to protect, conserve
and restore natural resources, and
develop resilient communities
through education, the application of science, community
engagement, service excellence
and collaboration with its
partners.
Employees at Toronto and Region Conservation Authority install a beaver dam bypass to protect dam safety.
