Electrifying Canada is a path to national prosperity

Canada is entering a defining moment in its economic history. Rising geopolitical instability, climate-related disruptions, changing trade patterns, and growing threats to national sovereignty are forcing us to re-imagine the foundations of economic security. Artificial intelligence, data centres, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, electrified transportation, and industrial decarbonization are the primary sources of a structural shift in demand for clean, dependable, and affordable electricity.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s national electricity strategy could not have come at a better time. Beyond its positive impact on climate policy, it is a nation-building economic strategy. Electricity, beyond a mere utility service, is a strategic national asset—the backbone of competitiveness, productivity, industrial growth, and sovereignty in the 21st century.

We had oil-powered industrialization over the past 100 years, but electricity will power wealth creation for the next 100 years. Abundant, dependable, affordable, and intelligent electricity systems will be at the core of national competitive advantage to attract investment, create higher-value jobs, and strengthen the resilience against external shocks.

Canada’s advantage includes a diverse clean energy endowment: hydroelectricity, nuclear, wind, solar, and geothermal coupled to a large resource base of critical minerals required for batteries, electrification, and clean technology supply chains. Yet these strengths remain fragmented across provincial systems, and are not a solid foundation for a deeply electrified national economy.

A national electricity infrastructure project—a TransCanada Power Corridor—is necessary as the central pillar of an economic strategy. Much as the railway physically united the nation in an earlier era, an integrated national electricity system can help unite Canada economically in the decades ahead. An east-west transmission system powered by this country’s massive clean energy resources combines the electricity production strengths of each province, improves energy reliability, expands electricity trade, and moves clean power to where it creates the greatest economic value. Smart use of ‘natural gas’ as strategy embedded within Canada’s electricity supply mix is a pragmatic approach to enhance reliability and overall cost-effectiveness of operating a national grid—particularly for peaking capacity, backup generation, and system balancing as variable renewables scale.