Just came back from a terrific and extremely humid evening at Toronto’s wonderful Evergreen Brick Works, a former brickyard made up of deteriorating heritage buildings that have been transformed into a showcase for urban sustainability. This includes several restored buildings (with graffiti left untouched) immersed in nature that together function as a community environmental centre — as well as the home of a local farmer’s market. It’s a wonderful achievement for the city, and a fitting venue for Corporate Knights’ “Summer Gala 2011.” Canada’s corporate sustainability magazine, or what it likes to call ”clean capitalism,” celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada ranking, and bestowed an Award of Distinction to the scrappy Danny Williams, former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and the driving force behind the $6.2 billion Lower Churchill hydroelectric deal. Comedian and fellow Newfoundlander Rick Mercer introduced Williams with an entertaining tribute, and Williams himself gave a passionate and insightful speech about the challenges he faced trying to make the Lower Churchill project a reality. He also spoke of the need to push forward on the vision of establishing an east-west power grid that will deliver clean electricity across Canada, whether it be hydroelectricity from Labrador or wind from Ontario and Manitoba or geothermal power from B.C. and Alberta. It was a great speech that got me thinking about a book that needs to be written on this subject… some day.

It was also announced that Nick Parker, co-founder and (ex?)chairman of the Cleantech Group, has become chairman of Corporate Knights and together with founder and editor Toby Heaps will help create a new Council for Clean Capitalism. This new initiative will bring together influential voices from different corners of the corporate world as a single voice aimed at influencing policy outcomes that will drive social and environmental leadership in corporate Canada. It’s a recognition that if anything is going to tackle climate and environmental issues in this country — at least in any meaningful way — it will be progressive corporations. Our federal government is simply not filling this role.

Kudos to Toby for pulling it all together…

I say “must-see”, of course, because I’ll be moderating the panel

But seriously, this year’s Green Living Show in Toronto between April 24 and 26 will be more geared this year to the cleantech crowd, specifically on Day 1 . Beginning with some opening comments from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto mayor David Miller (and a provincial announcement of some sort), the panel will kick off at around 10 a.m. and will explore what businesses can do to benefit from cleantech and green energy. About 30 or so CEOs from Canada’s cleantech sector will be in the audience as well.

Panelists will include:

1) Nick Parker, co-founder and executive chairman and overall excellent guy of the Cleantech Group.

2) Dr. Hermann Scheer, author, German legislator and president of EUROSOLAR.

3) David O’Brien, president and CEO of Toronto Hydro Corp.

4) Someone from PriceWaterhouseCoopers will also be on the panel to talk about the tax benefits/implications for businesses that purchase/deploy green technologies.

The morning session will be followed by a keynote speech from Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, co-founder of Clean Edge Inc., author of blog Two Steps Forward, and author of the new business book Strategies for the Green Economy.

It should be an interesting and informative morning… and show.