OTTAWA, ON, June 4, 2026 /CNW/ – On May 8, 2026, the Government of Canada launched an engagement period on proposed reforms that would simplify and accelerate Canada’s regulatory processes and ensure federal reviews and decision-making timelines take no longer than one year, once all information from the project proponent has been received. The proposed reforms will enable Canada to build major projects at speed and at scale and improve the efficiency of our supply chains, while maintaining robust environmental protections and upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Since the launch of the engagement process, the government has received valuable feedback from thousands of stakeholders, Indigenous groups, and members of the public across the country, underscoring the importance of these issues to Canadians. At the same time, stakeholders also expressed a desire to have additional opportunities to provide input.

Building on the strong participation received to date, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy, and the Honourable Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, announced today the extension of the public engagement period until July 22, 2026. The extension provides additional flexibility for stakeholders who have requested more time to contribute, helping to ensure all perspectives are heard and meaningfully considered.

Following the conclusion of the public engagement period, the Government of Canada intends to introduce legislation in the following sitting of Parliament.

Canadians, Indigenous Peoples, provinces and territories, industry, labour organizations, environmental organizations, and other interested stakeholders are invited to provide their views on the discussion papers:

Getting Major Projects Built in CanadaStrengthening One Canadian Economy through Trade and Transportation

Canada’s new government remains committed to meaningful engagement with Indigenous Peoples, and working collaboratively with provinces, territories, industry, stakeholders, and Canadians as we advance our plan to build a stronger, more competitive, and more resilient economy.

Quotes

“Canadians have demonstrated a strong interest in these proposed reforms and have already provided thoughtful and constructive feedback. Because these changes have the potential to shape how we build major projects and strengthen our economy for years to come, we want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate. Extending the engagement period will allow us to hear from even more Canadians and help us develop reforms that reflect the views and priorities of people across the country.”

– The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy

“Building a stronger, more connected Canadian economy requires that we listen to the people and communities it serves. By extending this engagement period, we are creating more opportunities for people across the country to help shape the future of our transportation system. Together, we can build stronger and more resilient supply chains that connect Canadian businesses to global markets.”

– The Honourable Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

“Canadians care deeply about the lands and waters in Canada and have been providing important feedback on the proposed amendments outlined in the discussion papers. Extending the deadline provides additional opportunities for meaningful participation so we can build a more competitive economy while continuing to protect our natural environment.”

– The Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature

Quick facts

On May 8, 2026, the Government of Canada launched an engagement process on proposed reforms to improve regulatory efficiency and strengthen Canada’s trade and transportation systems and supply chains. Feedback received through the engagement process will help inform the government’s consideration of potential reforms.Early engagement with Indigenous Peoples is key to the successful implementation of improvements in a way that respects their rights, and ensures their perspectives are heard and reflected in decision-making. Indigenous groups interested in sharing their feedback can contact  engagement@pco-bcp.gc.ca for more information.Industry, stakeholders and other Canadians are invited to submit their ideas and perspectives online. Visit the engagement website to learn more about engagement for regulatory changes for major projects, or about engagement for strengthening the efficiency of supply chains in Canada.The proposed measures build on Government of Canada efforts such as:A “one project, one review” approach, through the development of co-operation agreements with provinces to accelerate major infrastructure, mining, and energy projects by eliminating duplication and streamlining assessment processes. To date, agreements have been finalized with seven provinces, with another one in development.Budget 2025 provided important funding to support federal investments in trade-enabling transportation infrastructure through the new $5 billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund and the $1 billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund.The Government of Canada established the Major Projects Office (MPO) to bring business development and project execution experience to accelerate nation-building projects and advance transformative strategies to build a stronger, more independent and resilient economy for Canada. The MPO is advancing 22 nation-building infrastructure projects and transformative strategies that position Canada for growth across sectors. Together, these represent over $126 billion in investments.Over five years, the government’s capital investments and incentives in support of third parties, totalling about $280 billion, are expected to enable more than $1 trillion in total investment from public, private, and institutional partners.

Associated products

Canada’s new government to simplify and accelerate Canada’s regulatory processEngagement – Getting Major Projects Built in CanadaEngagement – Strengthening One Canadian Economy through trade and transportation

Relevant Links

Major Projects Office Projects and Transformative StrategiesOne-project one-review: Agreements related to impact assessmentsRed Tape Reduction

SOURCE President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy

EAST MEADOW, N.Y., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LuminoCity Festival (LuminoCity Inc.) announced today that the submission period for its sixth annual Lumi’s Utopia Children’s Drawing Contest has officially concluded, with nearly 350 entries received from young artists inspired by this year’s theme, “Dino Friends.”

Now entering the artwork review and selection phase, the program’s judging panel will evaluate submissions before selecting 12 winning artworks, which will be transformed into lantern sculptures and showcased during LuminoCity’s 2026 Holiday Lights Festival at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York.

Presented in partnership with Long Island Children’s Museum (LICM) and We Art Education, LuminoCity’s Lumi’s Utopia encourages children to explore creativity while providing a unique opportunity to see their original drawings brought to life through the art of traditional lantern making.

Master Lantern Artisans Jiang Lei and Huang Xingxiu, serving on the judging panel, will lead the artistic transformation of the winning artworks into illuminated 3D lantern sculptures using traditional Zigong lantern artistry, a centuries-old art form originating in Zigong, China.

“We’re evaluating both artistic creativity and how each design can be thoughtfully interpreted as a three-dimensional lantern sculpture,” said Jiang. “There’s nothing quite like seeing a child’s drawing come to life as a glowing lantern sculpture through traditional Zigong lantern artistry,” said Huang.

Winners will be announced in October 2026. Their completed lantern sculptures will debut at LuminoCity’s 2026 Holiday Lights Festival, where visitors can view the finished artworks, watch live demonstrations by Master Lantern Artisans Jiang Lei and Huang Xingxiu, and discover the rich tradition of Zigong lantern artistry firsthand.

As preparations continue for this year’s festival season, families can visit www.luminocityfestival.com for upcoming announcements, ticket information, and event updates.

About LuminoCity

LuminoCity Festival creates immersive illuminated art experiences that celebrate creativity, culture, and community through large-scale light installations and family-friendly events across the United States.

Contact: press@luminocityus.com

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SOURCE LuminoCity Festival

ZURICH, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Driven by climate change, extreme rainfall events have spiked since the early 2000s, delaying planting seasons and ruining crop yields. In the EU alone, extreme weather costs farmers about €28 billion every year, around 6% of total agricultural production. Zurich-based precision agtech company OneSoil has partnered with Polish climate tech startup Rainbow Weather to address this issue.

Farmers could already track wind speed and temperature via the ‘Virtual Weather Station’ OneSoil’s existing app. What the collaboration brings is a ‘Hyperlocal Precipitation Forecast’ feature to the platform. This new layer shows clouds motion and, therefore, predicts rainfall probability and intensity down to a specific four-hour window for exact coordinates, whether it’s a particular section of a sunflower field in France or a cornfield in South Africa.

This precision and speed are possible thanks to machine learning models trained to analyze large volumes of radar, satellite, and atmospheric data to detect patterns in how precipitation develops and moves, Alexander Matveenko, co-founder and CEO at Rainbow Weather, explains.

For modern farmers, this ultra-short-term data is financially crucial, CEO at OneSoil Stepan Zulynskyi notes, “Knowing what will happen in the next few hours is more valuable than a general daily forecast.” He further explains that operations like fertilizing and chemical spraying are highly sensitive to rain. If an unexpected downpour hits immediately after a tractor completes a pass, thousands of dollars in inputs can wash away, forcing farmers to re-apply chemicals, waste labor, and damage soil health. According to the team, the new feature has already been used by more than 15 000 farmers monthly.

Alexander Matveenko adds that more accurate forecasts can bring new value to farmers given that, over the last few years, weather has become one of the biggest sources of risk in agriculture: “In these conditions, farmers are looking for tools that could help them access granular data on upcoming precipitation, as well as historical data on how much rainfall has already occurred, so they can better plan fieldwork. Rainbow Weather is exactly what they need.”

About Rainbow Weather

Rainbow Weather is a next-gen climate tech startup for ultra-accurate short-term forecasts founded in 2021 by Yuriy Melnichek, who previously built AIMatter (acquired by Google), a neural network-based AI platform, as well as the video creation and editing app Vochi (acquired by Pinterest), and fashion marketplace Wanna (acquired by Farfetch), and Alexander Matveenko, a founder of artificial intelligence mapping startup MapData that he sold to Mapbox in 2017. The company has raised a €4.87M ($5.5M) seed funding round, with main investors including Yuri Gurski, founder and president of Flo Health, the first purely digital consumer women’s health app to achieve unicorn status. Today, Rainbow Weather’s forecasting is available globally, with more than 1 million installs and over 120,000 active users. The company also works with 400 B2B clients sharing its forecasting via API.

In addition, the team runs weatherindex.ai, an open-source tool that evaluates the accuracy of short-term precipitation predictions from providers like AccuWeather, Vaisala, and The Weather Company in real time. It pulls live data from public APIs and compares forecasts with verified airport weather reports using standard metrics such as accuracy and F-score (a measure of predictive performance).

About OneSoil

OneSoil is a Zurich-based agtech company developing AI-driven solutions for precision agriculture. Its flagship product is OneSoil Pro, a digital farming platform that offers farmers tools for field monitoring, productivity analysis, variable-rate application maps, soil sampling, and field trials. Over the years, OneSoil’s products have been adopted by more than 1.16M users across Europe, Latin America, the US, Africa, and Australia. Annually active users account for virtually 140,000 farmers worldwide. Beyond individual growers, OneSoil’s solutions are used by major agricultural holdings and global enterprise clients specializing in seeds, crop inputs, machinery, and food production. Those include Corteva, BASF among others. The company is backed by Almaz Capital, PortfoLion, Bulba Ventures, and Yuriy Melnichek (founder of AIMatter (acquired by Google), Vochi (acquired by Pinterest), and Wanna (acquired by Farfetch)).

Media contact:

Country:
Switzerland, Zurich
Company name: OneSoil
Kareena Starkova
Email: ks@ze-comms.com
Website: https://onesoil.ai/

Image – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2995205/OneSoil.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/onesoil-and-rainbow-weather-partner-to-bring-hyperlocal-ai-powered-rainfall-forecasting-to-farmers-worldwide-302791909.html