Global (Page 16)

TD Bank is putting the equivalent of more than $108 billion behind Canada’s next generation of pipelines, power projects, mines, transportation networks and artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

The bank announced Monday that it plans to mobilize C$150 billion over five years through new lending, underwriting and financial advisory services.

That distinction matters. TD is not writing Ottawa a C$150 billion check or investing the entire amount from its own balance sheet. It intends to help businesses and major projects borrow money, issue securities and attract outside investors.

The commitment is aimed at five sectors TD believes are entering an investment “supercycle”: energy, critical minerals, defense and aerospace, digital infrastructure and AI, and major trade and transportation corridors.

For Canadian construction companies, engineering firms, energy producers and equipment suppliers, the announcement could translate into more projects receiving financing and moving from government planning tables into construction.

TD Economics estimates that roughly 300 proposed nation-building projects could require between C$1 trillion and C$1.7 trillion in total investment by 2035. Even TD’s enormous commitment would therefore cover only a portion of the capital Canada may need.

The bank also plans to support smaller businesses seeking contracts connected to the projects, expand Indigenous participation and invest in workforce development and AI training.

TD is joining a much broader push by Canada’s financial sector to finance domestic infrastructure as the country tries to reduce its exposure to cross-border trade disruptions.

Bank of Montreal recently committed as much as C$70 billion over 10 years toward projects including power generation, pipelines, transportation and AI computing. Sun Life pledged C$5 billion for direct debt and equity investments, while Power Corporation of Canada announced plans to mobilize another C$10 billion.

Together, those commitments amount to at least C$235 billion in potential financing and investment.

The opportunity is substantial, but the money will not eliminate the biggest obstacles facing Canadian development. Major projects can still be delayed by permitting battles, regulatory uncertainty, Indigenous consultations, political opposition and years of legal challenges.

TD’s commitment signals that financing may be available. Canada must now prove it can approve projects quickly enough for businesses to use it.

JBizNews Desk | Toronto

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

As we enter Rosh Hashanah, I want to share something personal.

Google DeepMind has now mapped predictions for roughly nine billion possible single-letter changes in human DNA. Think about that: nine billion possible changes inside one human genome, each potentially affecting something different in the body.

A scientist can spend a lifetime trying to understand one tiny part of one gene, one atom or one biological process, and we rightly call that brilliance. Entire generations can spend decades and centuries collectively trying to understand just one small piece of what was already there before any of us arrived.

Now look at what already exists.

The human body. The brain. DNA. Trees. Flowers. Oceans. Animals. Gravity. Light. The laws that hold the universe together.

Billions upon billions of systems and wonders, all working with a depth and precision mankind is still struggling to understand.

Recently, scientists at CERN created what they called a “little Big Bang,” using one of the most advanced scientific facilities on earth, decades of research, extraordinary engineering and enormous energy just to reproduce for a fraction of a second one tiny condition they believe existed near the beginning of the universe.

And somehow that is supposed to make God less obvious?

To me, it does exactly the opposite.

If I dropped a brand-new Rolls-Royce in front of your house tomorrow and told you nobody designed it — there was just a huge explosion and somehow the engine, computer, leather, wheels, wiring and every screw landed exactly where they belonged — you would look at me like I had lost my mind.

You would say: Someone made this.

Yet a Rolls-Royce is nothing compared with a human body.

The car cannot heal itself. It cannot grow from a single cell. It cannot reproduce. It cannot think, love, remember, see, hear or repair its own DNA.

Science is not the enemy of faith. Science keeps opening our eyes.

Every discovery reveals another layer of Creation that was already there before we knew how to see it.

And maybe that is really the message.

We do not have to look very far to find God.

We just have to open our eyes.

My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. He lost his family. He went through the camps. Six million Jews were murdered. He saw horrors no human being should ever have to see.

People asked him directly: After everything you went through, how can you still believe in God? Where was God?

His answer was simple.

He said: I look at the grass. I look at the trees. I see God. How could there not be a God?

He had questions. Of course he had questions. He had lived through terror and hell. He had seen suffering beyond anything most of us can imagine. He did not pretend to understand why.

But the questions did not erase what he saw in front of him.

Creation was still there.

God was still there.

For him, the grass and the trees were enough to say: I see the Creator.

And now it is our turn.

We live in a digital world that my grandfather could never have imagined. Google has now opened our eyes to see what earlier generations could not — billions of possibilities hidden inside human DNA, each tied to systems so deep that brilliant scientists can spend lifetimes trying to understand only a fraction of them.

What my grandfather saw in the grass, we can now see inside the genome.

So how can we not open our eyes?

This year especially, with anti-Semitism rising, wars raging and so much uncertainty around us, my message for Rosh Hashanah is simple:

God controls the world.

God controls our lives.

That does not mean we understand everything that happens. We do not. We have questions. We experience fear, pain, loss and uncertainty.

But when we recognize Hashem in our lives, we begin to see how many open miracles surround us every single day.

A child. A heartbeat. A recovery. A door that opened at the right moment. Protection we did not even realize we needed. A problem that somehow worked itself out. A new morning. Another year.

We call some of these things coincidence because we have become used to them.

Maybe Rosh Hashanah is our chance to stop calling them coincidence and start recognizing Who is running the world.

That is what I want to say to this generation.

Google DeepMind used artificial intelligence to map billions of possibilities inside DNA.

Now it is our turn to look at what it uncovered and say:

מָה רַבּוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ ה׳

How great are Your works, Hashem.

Wow.

Look at what Hashem created.

If artificial intelligence has brought us to a point where we can see deeper into Creation and recognize even more clearly how extraordinary it is, then perhaps AI was worth it for that alone.

Not just to make us smarter, but to make us more aware, more humble, more grateful and more connected to the Creator.

We spend Rosh Hashanah asking Hashem to recognize us, to remember us for life, to bless us, protect us and see us as His nation, His people and His children.

But first, we have to recognize Him.

Recognize His glory. Recognize His wisdom. Recognize His leadership. Recognize His presence in our own lives.

And once we recognize Him, we can ask Him to recognize us and bless us in return.

That is my message for Rosh Hashanah 5787.

Open your eyes.

See Hashem.

See the miracles already around you.

Bring that recognition into your home, your business, your family and your everyday life.

Especially now, when the Jewish people and the world are living through such challenging times, let us remember Who is ultimately in control.

May Hashem protect Klal Yisrael, bring peace to the world, bless our families and communities, and grant each of us health, parnassah, nachas, happiness and a year filled with open blessing.

May we be able to look back one year from now and see clearly how Hashem carried us through.

מָה רַבּוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ ה׳ כֻּלָּם בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ

Wishing you and your family a Shana Tova U’Mesuka and a כתיבה וחתימה טובה.

May we all be written and sealed for a happy, healthy, peaceful and blessed new year.

Duvi Honig
Publisher, JBizNews
Founder & CEO, Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce