OTTAWA, ON (March 16, 2026):
Canada’s once-abundant and affordable electricity, long the backbone of its economic growth, is now under threat as demand surges and domestic supply declines.
In a new MLI report, Blackout: Canada’s impending electricity crisis and how to fix it, Energy Program Director Heather Exner-Pirot calls for action to address Canada’s electricity vulnerabilities. Exner-Pirot offers an overview of the system, the pressures it faces, and the solutions needed to ensure Canadians can hold policymakers accountable.
“Electricity costs and access have been key to the competitiveness of many of Canada’s energy-intensive industries such as steel, aluminum, pulp and paper, chemicals, and fertilizer,” explains Exner-Pirot.
“Electricity isn’t just correlated with growth – in Canada it has been causal.”
Exner-Pirot notes that Canada’s principal goal guiding electricity policy for the past two decades has been to reduce emissions instead of prioritizing reliability and affordability, with federal policy overreaching into the sector to stymie investment and growth.
In response, Exner-Pirot calls for policy changes that:
- Ensure policy certainty to foster an environment in which projects can attract investment and be built in a timely and efficient manner.
- Incentivize industry to employ efficiencies and technology adoption without burdening customers or destroying competitiveness.
- Encourage a competitive investment climate with clear and predictable tax rules and incentives to promote private-sector investment.
“Canada’s impending electricity shortage is not just an affordability crisis; it is an economic and security one as well,” writes Exner-Pirot.
“The sector now demands our attention, and for the sake of all Canadians, we had better respond intelligently.”
To learn more, read the full paper here:
Heather Exner-Pirot is a senior fellow and director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
For further information, media are invited to contact:
Skander Belouizdad
Communications Officer
(613) 482-8327 x111
Skander.belouizdad@macdonaldlaurier.ca
