OTTAWA, CANADA / Content Syndication Services / — Canada unveiled a national electricity strategy on Thursday aimed at doubling the capacity of its power grid by 2050, a buildout the government said would require more than C$1 trillion in investment as rising demand from industry, data centres, electric vehicles and wider electrification strains existing systems. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the plan in Ottawa and said federal consultations with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, utilities and unions would begin immediately on how to finance and deliver the expansion.
The government said the strategy could generate up to C$15 billion in total energy savings by 2050 and lower overall energy costs for seven in 10 households. It said reaching those savings would require a broad energy mix that includes hydroelectricity, nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, carbon capture and some natural gas. Ottawa also said it plans to adjust clean electricity regulations to allow credible offsets and give existing natural gas plants greater flexibility to maintain reliability as new capacity comes online.
The strategy places heavy emphasis on new and expanded east-west-north transmission lines to link provincial and territorial systems that now operate as fragmented grids. Federal officials said that fragmentation adds costs through outages, duplicated infrastructure and wasted power. Canada already generates about 80% of its electricity from non-emitting sources, but demand is expected to double by 2050, while drought has reduced hydroelectric output in some regions and coal plant retirements have also tightened supply.
Grid expansion and workforce needs
Federal officials said doubling the grid will require more than 130,000 high-skilled workers by 2050, prompting a new round of talks with industry, labour and training partners on recruitment and retention. The strategy also calls for expanding domestic manufacturing of equipment and components used in power generation and delivery. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the buildout would require large investments across generation, transmission, distribution, storage and grid modernization, with financing designed to spread costs over time.
Alongside the grid plan, Ottawa said it will expand support for energy-saving retrofits for up to one million households through financing, grants and related measures, including transitions from oil, propane and electric baseboard heating to heat pumps. A companion strategy published by Natural Resources Canada sets out the wider electrified economy agenda behind the plan. The government also pointed to clean economy investment tax credits and a C$20 billion clean energy target at the Canada Infrastructure Bank as part of the policy and financing base.
Regulatory shift and project pipeline
The strategy marks a change in how Ottawa plans to apply clean electricity rules. Rather than relying only on tighter limits for fossil fuel generation, the new framework leaves more room for existing gas-fired units while the grid expands, while still targeting lower emissions through greater use of non-emitting power. Federal materials say consultations in the coming months will focus on interprovincial transmission barriers, workforce shortages, project execution and expanding Canadian production of grid technologies and components.
The announcement places electricity infrastructure at the center of Canada’s economic and energy planning as governments and utilities prepare for stronger power demand from factories, mines, buildings, vehicles and data centres. The federal plan ties that demand to a larger overhaul of generation and transmission capacity rather than a single project or funding measure. Ottawa said the goal is a more connected and more reliable system that can support households and industry through mid-century.