Siemens Canada kicked off its 100-year anniversary with a celebratory event at their new 110,000 square foot, LEED certified headquarters in Oakville, to be completed in late 2012. The event, attended by Siemens senior executives, including Siemens AG CEO Peter Löscher, dignitaries and honoured guests, celebrated past accomplishments and launched the company's second century of innovation and excellence in Canada.
Mr. Löscher met with leading Canadian energy industry CEOs for a round table discussion centering around the nation's electricity challenges and opportunities. Anniversary activities, including several employee-focused events, concluded with a gala at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Siemens Canada's parent company, Siemens AG was founded in Germany 165 years ago, and conducted its first work on the shores of Canada shortly after Confederation, laying one of the first transatlantic telegraph cables between Europe and North America, from Ireland to Halifax, in 1874. The company was chartered federally as the Siemens Company of Canada Limited in Montreal in 1912 and immediately sought to address the engineering and infrastructure needs of the young nation, helping to power the growth of Canada throughout the twentieth century.
Siemens Canada was involved in several important Canadian firsts, including the first national telex network, providing early text-based message network communication (1957), one of the first modern light rail systems in North America - (Edmonton, 1975), the design and installation of the world's first retractable roof at Toronto's Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) in 1989 and the first filmless hospital in Montreal (allowing for simultaneous digital image and data viewing) in 1998. Siemens also played a role in some of Canada's most iconic projects, including lighting areas of Expo'67 (Montreal), illuminating both the CN Tower (1994) and Niagara Falls (2007), modernizing the Canadian Coast Guard's flagship icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent (1988-1993) and outfitting two BC "Super Ferries" with electrical and automation systems (completed in 1993 and 1994).
As Siemens Canada embarks on its second century, it continues to evolve but its goal remains the same; the company aims to deliver solutions to mitigate the issues that will define Canada in the twenty-first century and beyond, namely the challenges that are being defined by climate change, urbanization, demographic change and globalization. These challenges range from the conservation of scarce resources and efficient transportation of goods, to providing sustainable energy and caring for a growing and ageing population.
