Powering Canada Strong: A National Strategy for an Electrified Canadian Economy

Environmental Defence welcomes the Government of Canada's recognition that electrification is central to Canada's climate and economic future. Canada’s wind energy, solar energy, and energy storage sector will provide the power an electrifying and growing economy needs. However, we are deeply concerned that the government's proposed strategy "Powering Canada Strong: A National Strategy for an Electrified Canadian Economy" risks entrenching Canada's dependence on fossil fuels rather than accelerating our transition away from them. The path forward must prioritize wind, solar, energy storage, demand management, and grid modernization, not a prolonged reliance on natural gas justified by short-term cost or reliability concerns that can be addressed through clean alternatives. The proposed amendments to the Clean Electricity Regulations represent a dangerous and unacceptable rollback of Canada's most important regulatory tool for grid decarbonization. If the government moves forwards with these changes, it will undermine the regulatory certainty needed for clean energy investment, delay the transition, create stranded-asset risk, and damage Canada's international climate credibility.