The cuts mostly affect the Google sister firm’s Toronto workforce, which is now down to about 12 staff. All in, about 13 per cent of Sidewalk Labs’ global workforce were affected by the staff reductions. The cuts include the company’s director of policy and strategy John Brodhead, who was a senior aide in the federal Liberal government prior to joining Sidewalk. (Bloomberg, The Logic)

Talking point: The cuts come after Sidewalk Labs abandoned its proposal for a smart-city development on Toronto’s waterfront. In an email to The Logic, a company spokesperson said the firm’s Toronto office will not reopen; the three-year lease on the space is set to expire on March 14, 2021. A spokesperson for Plazacorp—which owns the land—confirmed that the lease has not been terminated. The company’s statement said Sidewalk’s new priorities include “factory-made mass timber buildings … a digital master-planning tool designed to help developers and communities achieve shared objectives [and] a really ambitious approach to affordable all-electric neighborhoods.”