|
“When the world fundamentally changes, we must respond with new
approaches,” he said.
The new strategy includes regulations that will allow natural
gas to play a larger role in building the grid. Construction is
expected to cost more than $1 trillion Canadian ($730 billon).
“The path to affordability is electrification,” Carney told a
news conference in Ottawa. “The path to competitiveness is
electrification. The path to net zero is electricity.”
Carney said the plan includes new partnerships with Indigenous
people and a willingness to use a wide range of energy,
including hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, some gas, carbon capture
and geothermal.
“The scale is huge, the timeline is short and the task of
getting the right mix of power is complex,” he said. “We can’t
simply rely on restrictions and prohibitions. We must do things
differently.”
The government forecasts 130,000 new workers will be needed to
double the size of grid.
The strategy signals a shift from the existing clean electricity
regulations presented by the former Liberal government under
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That plan to decarbonize Canada’s
grid by 2050 set limits on carbon dioxide pollution from almost
all electricity generation units that use fossil fuels.
Electricity accounts for about 7% of Canada’s total greenhouse
emissions, an amount that has fallen substantially in the last
15 years as most provinces reduced or phased out the use of coal
power.
The strategy doesn’t say how much money the government is
willing to spend to achieve the goal, although it mentions
offering tax credits and bringing back energy-saving retrofits
for up to a million households.
The Canadian Climate Institute, a climate change policy research
organization, said the strategy is "pointing in the right
direction” but several important issues remain ambiguous or
missing.
“Ultimately, the success of the strategy will depend on details
of how — and how swiftly — the government follows through on
expanding clean power generation, transmission and widespread
electrification,” Dale Beugin, the institute's executive vice
president, said in a statement.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
