Canada Forum 2026
BUILD/UP: Housing Affordability Through Vertical Growth
Join us at Toronto Metropolitan University on 20 November for a one-day forum inviting the housing, design, policy, and finance communities to measure the affordability problem, share what works, and build the relationships that move the industry forward.
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Program
The program is split into two tracks: Design to Delivery and Finance & Policy.
Attendees will enjoy two morning plenaries with keynote speakers and multidisciplinary panels on both topics. In the afternoon, interactive workshop sessions will break out into deeper explorations of both tracks.
The day will conclude with a networking reception at the Aperture Room, the premier event space of John Lyle’s Thornton-Smith building.
Friday, 20 November 2026
08:00
EST
09:00
EST
Canada needs to build up to 4.8 million new homes over the next decade, roughly double the current pace, and the gap is widest in the GTA. This plenary poses a practical question: where does the pipeline stall between an ideal building and a finished project, and why do good planning and quality development pull apart along the way? This keynote offers a national view of how new federal delivery tools are landing one year in. The panel then brings the conversation to the Toronto context, with representatives of the full delivery pipeline comparing notes on what is moving, what is stuck, and what it would take to get great urbanism and strong project viability from the same building.
Supported by
10:30
EST
Coffee Break
Supported by
11:00
EST
Well-designed density only gets built when the numbers work out. This plenary starts by CMHC’s keynote speaker sharing the evidence: what the housing supply gap looks like, how affordability has moved, and what the market is signalling for the years ahead. The panel then works through the questions that follow. Who is financing new housing in the GTHA today, what does a viable project require, and why, with so many policies and programs designed to support delivery, does bringing a project to market remain so difficult? How do public policy and public land change the answer, where does the non-market sector fit, and how do we make sure what gets built serves the full diversity of the people who need it?
Supported by
12:30
EST
Networking Luncheon
13:30
EST
Most of a project’s cost and schedule risk is set in the months or years between pre-application and site plan approval, and affordable and below-market projects carry an added, elevated risk of neighbourhood opposition. This workshop puts the people on each side of that process at the same table.
+1 more
Supported by
Every housing project is a stack of capital with different appetites for risk, return, and time, and affordability lives or dies in how that stack is assembled. This workshop opens the deal book.
Supported by
15:00
EST
Coffee Break
Supported by
15:30
EST
Approvals decide whether a project can proceed; construction decides what it costs and how long it takes. This workshop turns to the builders, cost consultants, and innovators who convert drawings into homes, and to the developers who carry the risk in between.
Supported by
Municipal planning policy sets out an aspiration for the city; development economics decides what gets built. This closing workshop works in the gap between the two.
Supported by
17:30
EST
Hosted by
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Registration
Rebuilding Canada's Housing Pipeline
Canada needs to build up to 4.8 million new homes over the next decade, roughly double the current pace, and the gap is widest in the GTA. This plenary poses a practical question: where does the pipeline stall between an ideal building and a finished project, and why do good planning and quality development pull apart along the way?
This keynote offers a national view of how new federal delivery tools are landing one year in. The panel then brings the conversation to the Toronto context, with representatives of the full delivery pipeline comparing notes on what is moving, what is stuck, and what it would take to get great urbanism and strong project viability from the same building.
Speakers
Supported by
Concord Adex
Coffee Break
Supported by
Windtech Consultants
Making Affordable Density Pencil Out
Well-designed density only gets built when the numbers work out. This plenary starts by CMHC’s keynote speaker sharing the evidence: what the housing supply gap looks like, how affordability has moved, and what the market is signalling for the years ahead. The panel then works through the questions that follow. Who is financing new housing in the GTHA today, what does a viable project require, and why, with so many policies and programs designed to support delivery, does bringing a project to market remain so difficult? How do public policy and public land change the answer, where does the non-market sector fit, and how do we make sure what gets built serves the full diversity of the people who need it?
Speakers
Supported by
DIALOG
Networking Luncheon
Getting to Yes: Zoning, Approvals, and Public Support for Density
Most of a project’s cost and schedule risk is set in the months or years between pre-application and site plan approval, and affordable and below-market projects carry an added, elevated risk of neighbourhood opposition. This workshop puts the people on each side of that process at the same table.
Speakers
Supported by
- Concord Adex
The Capital Stack: Financing Rentals and Attainable Ownership
Every housing project is a stack of capital with different appetites for risk, return, and time, and affordability lives or dies in how that stack is assembled. This workshop opens the deal book.
Supported by
- DIALOG
Coffee Break
Supported by
- Windtech Consultants
Building It: Construction Cost, Industrialized Delivery, and Schedule Certainty”
Approvals decide whether a project can proceed; construction decides what it costs and how long it takes. This workshop turns to the builders, cost consultants, and innovators who convert drawings into homes, and to the developers who carry the risk in between.
Speakers
Supported by
- Concord Adex
Rules of the Game: Planning Aspirations, Development Economics, and Transit-Oriented Communities
Municipal planning policy sets out an aspiration for the city; development economics decides what gets built. This closing workshop works in the gap between the two.
Speakers
Supported by
- DIALOG
Networking Reception
Hosted by
The Thornton-Smith Corporation
Daniel Baumann
Principal and Design Director
Henning Larsen Architects
Daniel Baumann is Principal and Design Director at Henning Larsen, where he co-leads the international firm’s New York studio. Known for his iterative, research-driven approach, he leads large multidisciplinary teams to create architecture that responds to site, program, and human experience.
Over 15 years with Henning Larsen, Daniel has shaped projects across Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East. Recent work includes the Visa Building at Mission Rock in San Francisco, Raleigh City Hall, the Enterprise Research Campus near Harvard Business School, and Toronto’s 500+ acre Downsview Framework Plan. His international projects include Denmark’s Eastern High Court, Stuttgart Parliament Visitors’ Center, and Nigeria’s Calabar International Convention Center.
Daniel joined Henning Larsen in Copenhagen in 2011 and has worked from Riyadh, Munich, and New York. His global perspective extends Scandinavian principles of light, atmosphere, and sustainability into contemporary approaches for livability. Named among Berlingske Newspaper’s top 100 talents in Denmark, he has lectured at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen and plays an active role in Henning Larsen’s Global Design Leadership.
He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy and a Master of Architecture from University College London.
Session
Frank Clayton
Senior Research Fellow
Toronto Metropolitan University
Frank Clayton, a Ph.D. graduate in economics from Queen’s University, has devoted his career to analyzing urban and real estate market issues and policies, first at CMHC and later as head of his own economic consulting firm. Dr. Clayton is a co-founder and Senior Research Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development. The Centre’s mandate is to advance economic analysis and real estate market understanding to support more effective, cost-efficient urban policies, with a focus on the Greater Golden Horseshoe. His most recent paper is “Room to Grow: Building More of the Housing Homebuyers Want,” published by the C.D. Howe Institute.
Session
Mark Garland
President
GCL Builds
Mark Garland has been a construction professional, practicing as a general contractor since 1978. He has worked in leadership roles in three companies during this period. Construction projects that Mark has supervised have spanned the globe from Alaska to the US Pacific Northwest, Canada, Asia and New Zealand. He has a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington. Early in his career, Mark oversaw the construction of numerous high-rise office buildings as project manager in downtown Seattle, including the 56-story 1201 Third Avenue Building designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. In Auckland, New Zealand, Mark was executive in charge of the ASB Bank Centre, a 38-story project of which the six level basement was constructed from the top down. Mark has also consulted on projects in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. In 1992 Mark joined Lease Crutcher Lewis in Seattle, Washington, and played an influential role in growing the company’s diversity and revenues. Since 2003,
Session
Derek Goring
CEO
Northcrest
Derek is the Chief Executive Officer of Northcrest Developments, a real estate development firm based in Toronto, which is a subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension. Northcrest was created to lead the redevelopment of the 370-acre Downsview Airport lands in Toronto. Prior to joining Northcrest, Derek was a Senior Vice President, Development at First Gulf. Derek also spent 10 years working in public sector real estate development, including senior leadership roles at Infrastructure Ontario and Waterfront Toronto. Derek has been actively involved in the Toronto District Council of ULI for over 15 years, where he is currently the Co-Chair of the Affordable Housing Leadership Council and a member of the Governance Committee and Advisory Board. Derek is also a ULI Global Governing Trustee, a member of the Technology and Real Estate Council, and a jury member for the 2024 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence. At the Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBOT), Derek is proud to serve as Chair of the Business Council of Toronto’s (BCT) new Climate & Energy Transition Council.
Session
Mark Guslits
Faculty Member
University of Toronto
After practicing as an architect and affordable housing consultant in Canada and the UK, Mark now works primarily as an urban revitalization/affordable housing development consultant and member of the faculty at the University of Toronto’s School of Architecture. He has been a partner with a large Toronto residential development company focusing on affordable housing; Special Advisor on Housing to the City of Toronto; Chief Development Officer for Toronto Community Housing, and senior project lead with HOK Architects.
Session
Kyle Knoeck
Director, Zoning
City of Toronto Planning Department
Kyle Knoeck is City of Toronto’s Director of Zoning and Secretary-Treasurer of Committee of Adjustment. He provides leadership to Toronto’s zoning regime and to service delivery in the Committee of Adjustment. Kyle has overseen Toronto’s on-going shift to reduce exclusionary zoning and to permit more development as-of-right, including the development of the policy framework to permit multi-tenant houses across Toronto, updated zoning for Employment Lands, and the review of zoning to permit “missing middle” housing types in Toronto’s neighbourhoods. Kyle holds a Master of Science in Planning from the University of Toronto and is a Registered Professional Planner and Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Session
Gabriel Leung
Vice President, Development
Concord Adex
Gabriel has been with Concord Adex since 2001 and has worked on all of the Concord CityPlace and Concord Park Place projects as lead development manager on each building. He obtained his degrees in architecture in University of Cambridge. As a registered architect in both the UK and Ontario, Gabriel has a clear understanding of the aesthetic aspects of building design, and as a developer, the need to balance the aesthetics against budget, schedule, and efficiency objectives. Apart from leading the projects through the approval processes, Gabriel is also responsible for the public art program of Concord CityPlace and Concord Park Place, with the objective being the successful integration of the different layers of opportunities into a coherent whole.
Session
Eleanor Mohammed
Partner, Urban Governance and Planning
DIALOG
Eleanor is an award-winning executive leader, visionary urban planner, and governance expert with over 20 years of transformative impact across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in Canada and internationally. In her current roles of Chair of the UN-HABITAT Professionals Forum, Co-Chair of UN-HABITAT Planners for Climate Action, and a Director at Canada’s National Capital Commission, Eleanor drives local and global initiatives for sustainable city-building and climate resilience.
Known for her warmth and ability to build strong relationships, Eleanor is passionate about leadership, policy, and good governance, as well as advocating for resilient communities and driving meaningful change. Her engaging demeanour complements her strategic mindset and pragmatic approach to projects.
As a former President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, Canadian Institute of Planners, and Alberta Professional Planners Institute, she has led diverse projects, from sustainable development advocacy to multilateral international engagement. With public sector experience across Canada, she has a proven track record of leading and implementing statutory and strategic land use and governance documents, policy and guideline creation, along with various sustainability and economic development initiatives. She has previously worked with the City of Charlottetown, the Government of Prince Edward Island, the City of Beaumont, the Government of Alberta, Stantec, and Leduc County.
Eleanor inspires those around her to tackle today’s most pressing global sustainable development and climate change challenges. She is deeply motivated by the desire to do good in the world and create sustainable communities that prioritize wellbeing for all.
Session
Jordan Nanowski
Lead Economist and Spokesperson, Greater Toronto Area
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Jordan Nanowski is the lead economist and spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Area housing market at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. He previously worked in international development and has published academic research in the field. He holds a BA in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MA in Economics from Queen’s University.
Session
James Parakh
Urban Design Program Manager
City of Toronto Planning Department
James Parakh is a Fellow of CVU and an award-winning architect serving as Urban Design Manager for the Toronto & East York District of the City of Toronto’s Planning Division.
A globally respected leader in tall building urban design, James has chaired the CVU Urban Habitat/Urban Design Assembly since 2014. In that role he has authored research papers on tall building urbanism and was a principal author of two CVU books, The Space Between and The Space Within Tall Buildings. He has spoken at CVU conferences since 2014, including opening keynote panels in Dubai (2018), Chicago (2021) and London (2024), and took part in the 2024 City Advocacy Forums in London and Miami. He also organizes the Assembly’s annual global walking tours, each exploring a specific urban theme (#CTBUHwalks).
No city in North America has seen more tall building construction than Toronto over the past two decades. James leads the urban design studio guiding development review across Downtown and Midtown Toronto and surrounding areas, a portfolio of well over 300 tall buildings ranging from 15 to more than 105 storeys.
He is Vice-Chair of Ottawa’s Urban Design Review Panel and serves on National Capital Commission design panels, and is frequently invited to chair international tall building design juries for CVU and the WAN Awards.
Prior to joining the City, James was a lead designer at WZMH Architects in Toronto, overseeing projects in Canada, China and the U.A.E., including the ING Bank headquarters in Toronto, Parc Island in Dubai Marina, Etisalat headquarters in Sharjah and Fujairah, the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Tower, and the Infield Master Plan for Toronto Pearson International Airport.
James is a member of the Ontario Association of Architects and holds a B.Tech in Architecture from Toronto Metropolitan University, an M.Arch from the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, and an M.S. in Urban Design from Columbia University.
Session
Amit Price Patel
Partner, Architect, Urban Designer
DIALOG
Amit is an architect and city planner committed to creating inclusive cities of opportunity and human connection. Motivated by a vision of urban places that promote climate resiliency and social equity, he has led the design of diverse, complex city-shaping projects throughout his career. At DIALOG, he works with clients, colleagues and communities on projects including urban design guidelines for adding density in existing neighbourhoods; mixed-use, mixed-income transit-oriented places; social housing for vulnerable communities; a campus for seniors across the spectrum of aging; a student housing master plan; a tactical urbanism laneway concept; and high-density residential projects that expand housing choice in constrained markets.
Viewing city-building as the holistic integration of public realm, buildings, infrastructure, programming and landscape to create loved and valued places, Amit brings expertise in urban design and planning, architecture, community engagement, storytelling, design strategy and process, and team management. He pairs creative problem solving and a visionary yet balanced perspective with strong leadership and communication, facilitating open, constructive conversations that help the best ideas rise to the surface. He believes great cities start from optimism, build meaningful connections between people, and give everyone ways to better their lives through education and work. Design is one tool among many to achieve this, and Amit gladly leads and contributes to that effort.
Amit’s ideas and award-winning projects have been shared through talks, interviews and publications. Having worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, St. Louis and Johannesburg, he believes in design approaches rooted in place. He has been on several winning international design competition teams, has served as a Design Advisor at the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, and was national board president of Architects Designers Planners for Social Responsibility.
Session
Emily Reisman
Partner
Urban Strategies Inc.
Emily is a Registered Professional Planner. Considered an expert in public-sector policy development and master planning, Emily’s award-winning projects include the new Vaughan Official Plan and the City of Toronto’s Growing Up Guidelines. She is the lead planner for the redevelopment of 520 acres at Downsview Airport, and also led the master planning for Inspiration Lakeview on Mississauga’s waterfront. Emily regularly supports complex development applications in the Greater Toronto Area including working with health care and higher education institutions.
Session
Jason Thorne
Chief Planner
City of Toronto Planning Department
Jason Thorne is the Chief Planner and Executive Director of City Planning at the City of Toronto, where he leads a team of more than 350 urban planning, urban design, heritage, and technical professionals. An accomplished city builder with more than 25 years of private and public professional experience, Jason provides expertise and leadership on policies, plans and strategies that support building complete communities and promoting a sustainable, healthy and economically vibrant Toronto. Jason is a registered Professional Planner and a full member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute. His public sector experience includes 10 years as the General Manager of the Planning and Economic Development Department at the City of Hamilton, Director of Policy and Planning at Metrolinx, and Senior Associate and Manager with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal. Jason also has extensive experience working with non-governmental organizatio
Session
Daniele Vezzoli
Sr Development Manager
Toronto Community Housing
Daniele Vezzoli is an Architect and Developer at Choice Properties Since graduating from Polytechnic of Milan with a Master’s degree in Architecture, Daniele has worked on various projects in Europe, Canada, USA and China with a particular focus on high-rise mixed-use commercial and residential developments from entitlement to occupancy Daniele has gained specialist experience in design and coordination on complex multi-use projects with particular focus on materials and technologies for energy efficient building envelopes. Daniele’s curiosity and passion for sustainable community combined with a strong technical background pushes him to think out of the box to deliver innovative projects and is excited to bring his experiences to the CTBUH Canada “”Future Leaders”” Committee while serving as the group’s Vice-Chair. Daniele is also a member of the CTBUH Passivhaus Working Group and LEED accredited professional and strong advocate of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).
Session
Jennifer Yeaman
Director of Development
Concord Adex
Jen is the Director of Development at Concord Adex and oversees the development and planning of all Concord projects in the GTA. Having been with Concord since 1999 in various roles, she has been involved in the development of over 15 million square feet of mixed-use density, 55 buildings, 20,000 residential units, and over 15 acres of parkland. As an MBA graduate who has worked in real estate development for over twenty-five years, Jen has an equal love of numbers and design.
Session
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