🍹Craft beverage & lifestyle brand expands, Alumni news and Banff getting ready for growing tourism

🔔 Your campaign updates feed

🍹GoodLife Brands is expanding to Alberta!

GoodLife Brands has officially secured its Calgary location. Through the acquisition of Highline Brewing Co., a 10-year neighbourhood staple in Inglewood's vibrant cultural district just outside Downtown, they’re building on a strong foundation to grow their presence across Alberta. 

Invest in GoodLife Brands | $585k Raised | 39% of target

🔔 Alumni updates

👟 Hettas (women’s athletic footwear) Lindsy Housman has been nominated for the Entrepreneur of Impact Award. If Hettas win the $25,000 prize going directly toward new product development and ongoing research with Simon Fraser University.

🔵 joni (a sustainable period care products) is turning 6! To celebrate, they're bringing back the Periodcation, a $2,000+ giveaway with women-led Canadian businesses. Enter by sharing your period travel story and help normalize the conversations that drive menstrual equity forward.

📱 Gander Social (Canadian social media platform) is at AtmosphereConf in Vancouver for the next few days, with stickers and plenty of conversation for fellow decentralized social enthusiasts.

🤔 What’s on our minds

🏔️ Banff is bracing for its biggest summer yet

Banff National Park just wrapped its most-visited year on record. Parks Canada data show the park welcomed about 4.5 million visitors in the 2025–26 fiscal year, surpassing the previous record set just two years prior. And the summer ahead could be even busier. The town of Banff saw almost seven million vehicles pass through its townsite in 2025, up four per cent from 2024. Now, with another Canada Strong Pass summer ahead, the crowds are only expected to grow.

🤔 Why so many people?

Two forces are converging to push Banff toward another record season:

• The Canada Strong Pass gives Canadians free access to national parks and historic sites, and drove a 13 per cent jump in Parks Canada site visits during last year's pass window, totalling an estimated 14.5 million visitors. 

• The Trump administration's decision to charge non-residents an extra $100 to visit many American national parks is likely to push even more travellers to look north of the border. 

📊 The pressure points piling up

The boom isn't without consequences. Vehicle counts in Banff have reached about 8.3 million annually, and traffic on Lake Louise Drive alone has climbed roughly 70 per cent over the last decade. This resulted in increased pressure on wildlife corridors and fragile valley ecosystems. Federal planning documents now frame Banff as an ecologically stressed landscape where conservation targets are at risk.

Mayor Corrie DiManno points to the expansion of Roam Transit as a real win: 40 per cent of bridge crossings over the Bow River now happen via sustainable transportation of bus, foot, or bike. But there are still unanswered questions regarding infrastructure to support the tourism. A year-long study of overtourism is now in the works, consulting residents and businesses across all sectors of the community.

🌲 Banff is bigger than Lake Louise 

Banff National Park is massive, and most visitors barely scratch the surface of it. While Lake Louise and Moraine Lake absorb the bulk of the crowds, there are dozens of equally stunning alternatives that see a fraction of the traffic. Spreading visitors across the park is one of the most practical ways to ease the pressure. Some lesser-known gems worth putting on your itinerary:

• Peyto Lake: Roughly 35 minutes from Lake Louise along the scenic Icefields Parkway, a short 700-metre walk leads to a viewpoint of its vibrant blue waters. It's especially stunning at sunrise or sunset. 

• Lake Minnewanka: At 21 km long and 142 metres deep, it's one of Banff's best spots for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, and even scuba diving in summer.

• Johnson Lake: A local favourite for its warm, swimmable waters and a peaceful three-kilometre lakeshore trail, reachable by Roam Transit Route 6 from the town of Banff.

🔭 What's coming in 2027

Parks Canada's Lake Louise Area Visitor Use Management Plan positions the region as a testbed for a transit-first model starting in 2027. Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Moraine Lake: no private vehicles. Access is by shuttle, Roam Transit, or licensed commercial operator only.

• Lake Louise: reservation-only parking for personal vehicles is under consideration, with transit given priority.

• Sulphur Mountain: a new paid parking pilot runs May 15 to Oct. 12, costing about $17.50 per vehicle per day. Revenue goes back into the park's public transit system.

Banff is one of Canada's most visited natural spaces and everyone agrees it's worth protecting. The debate isn't really about whether to welcome visitors; it's about how to do it without overwhelming the place. With smarter transit, better crowd distribution, and stricter access rules on the horizon, the park has a real shot at managing the pressure.

🎙️ Hear from our founder feature

Edison Motors: Diesel-electric trucks redefined with Eric Little

Q: What were those early days like, trying to prove the idea could work?

A: We always said we wanted to make “a train for the road.” That meant using electric motors for propulsion but keeping a diesel generator onboard. At first, we hacked together a system using Tesla parts and a refurbished 1983 CAT engine as a generator. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. Within a year, we had our first truck on the road and drove it to a local truck show to prove the concept. That weekend, we raised another $1.5M and suddenly we weren’t just converting trucks, we were designing our own from scratch.

Q: The trucking market is massive. Where do you see Edison fitting in?

A:  Most people think of semis hauling goods on highways, and that’s about 80% of the market. But the part I’m most excited about is the other 20%: vocational trucks. Vehicles that have special functionality, such as log haulers. These fleets need more torque, more customization, and more durability. They also spend way more on fuel, so our efficiency is a big win for them.

Q: Looking back, has there been a defining moment for Edison so far?

A:  Without a doubt, it was when we rolled out our first prototype, “Carl”, back in 2022 at Hope Brigade Days. Everyone told us it couldn’t be done, that there was no way to make a diesel-electric hybrid work truck more efficient than the status quo. But with just $400,000 in capital, we built it, drove it, and proved the concept. That moment validated everything we’d been fighting for. Fast forward a few years, and now we’re standing up a factory to build trucks for actual customers.

🎧 Want to listen to the full episode?

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