National Electricity Strategy: essential component of economic growth plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney announces the National Electricity Strategy on May 14, 2026 in Ottawa. [livestream]

Tuesday May 19, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted 11:22 pm PT]

by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends

Prime Minister Mark Carney is on a roll.

Last Thursday he announced this country’s new National Electricity Strategy and the next day he co-signed the Implementation Agreement for the Canada-Alberta Memorandum of Understanding of November 27, 2025 with Alberta’s Premier.

As a quick backgrounder, here is the framework of the National Electricity Strategy that for Carney appears to be the secret sauce for activating a much more robust level of productivity in Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announces the National Electricity Strategy on May 14, 2026 in Ottawa. [livestream]

Electricity is key to growth:

Electricity is clearly the key need for expansion of industrial growth and the overall economy.

In addition to supporting the needs of a growing population that uses a range of modern devices at home and in the workplace, there will be power demands come through a massive expansion of artificial intelligence using high-tech data centres.

There will be a need for more power supply to enable the increasing number of mines and other natural resource projects that are moving toward approval in various parts of the country.

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National Electricity Strategy:

The plan will double the capacity of Canada’s electricity grid by 2050.

It will supply clean, reliable, affordable power across the country for decades to come.

Consultations have been launched with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, utilities, and unions.

Over the next few months, there will be identification of actions needed to double Canada’s grid most effectively and affordably.

The federal government will support upgrades to electricity systems across Canada and increase generation – including adding major high-voltage intra-provincial transmission to the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit.

“Electricity is central to Canada’s future and our sustainability. It powers everything we do. By doubling our grid and increasing electrification, Canada’s Electricity Strategy will help ensure Canadians have access to affordable, reliable, and clean electricity as demand continues to grow across the economy,” it was stated in the prime minister’s statement on May 15.

Four pillars:

The National Electricity Strategy will be guided by four pillars:

Build the infrastructure needed to double Canada’s electricity generation

This will require generational investments in generation, transmission, distribution, storage, and grid modernisation. These new consultations will explore how to most effectively finance the build-out, to spread the costs over time to match the benefits, keeping energy affordable and our country competitive.

Connect Canada’s fragmented grids East-West-North through new and expanded transmission lines

Canada’s electricity system is currently fragmented across provincial and territorial grids, costing us billions of dollars in outages, duplicative infrastructure, and wasted power. These consultations will tackle common barriers to interprovincial interties so we can unite our grids and deliver more reliable, affordable power to all Canadians.

Train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build the grid of the future

Doubling the grid will require more than 130,000 high-skilled workers by 2050. Through these consultations, the federal government will work with industry, labour, and training partners to develop solutions to train, attract, and retain the talent needed to build and maintain the grid of the future.

Make more of the technologies and components powering our grid here at home

As we build the clean economy of the future, Canada’s new government is ensuring our industries can bridge to seize its opportunities. These consultations will explore how to grow domestic manufacturing capacity so that more of the components powering our grid are made in Canada.

Provinces in the mix:

In recent months, the goal of a Canada-wide electrical grid has been mentioned in various federal project announcements.

Last week, Carney’s electricity grid announcement included the claim that through the Major Projects Office (MPO) the federal government is advancing clean electricity generation projects. The list included hydroelectric projects like:

the Taltson Hydro Expansion in the Northwest Territories

the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Nunavut,

nuclear generation projects such as Darlington New Nuclear in Ontario,

clean electricity transmission lines like the North Coast Transmission Line in British Columbia.

BC Hydro lines in northwest BC. (BC Hydro]

Last week, Canada and Alberta agreed to:

Work towards doubling the grid by 2050, including by expanding nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, and lower-carbon forms of generation – while maintaining the overall stability of Alberta’s grid.

Launch a joint Electricity Working Group to identify the projects, technologies, and investments needed to achieve net-zero emissions in Alberta by 2050. This includes measures to support grid stability, modernisation, and services for baseload and intermittent power sources, including renewables, storage, interties, intra-provincial transmission, nuclear, and geothermal.

Better enable investment for renewables and expand supply of electricity for AI and data centre projects.

Premier David Eby at press conference on Power Smart 2.0 on May 19, 2026 in Victoria. [livestream]

Today, BC Premier David Eby made a declaration of intent about increasing electricity supply in BC in a press conference with BC Hydro.

The visual focus of the May 19 BC power generation announcement was on ways for consumers to conserve electricity but the main message was that BC needs a serious plan to boost electrical generation for major projects and a new spectrum of modern industrial production that relies on data centres. And it comes immediately ahead of Eby’s meeting with Carney in Ottawa tomorrow about major projects and the electrical grid.

Back in March, Carney highlighted electricity inter-ties during a resources announcement in Nova Scotia.

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