The Canadian government is relegated to a facilitator role in some of the key elements of its recently unveiled national electricity strategy, given that the provinces and territories have constitutional jurisdiction over generation, transmission/distribution, rate setting and related consumer programs. When it comes to energy efficiency and demand management, for example, direct federal control is largely limited to regulations governing the energy performance of equipment, appliances and products.
However, the government is signalling its ambition to be an influencer through: retrofit incentives and other financing mechanisms; research; coordination of interprovincial and multi-sectoral planning, code and standards development; and support to nurture workforce expertise, domestically based products and technologies and/or trade partnerships with overseas providers and potential customers. Energy efficiency, demand management and grid improvements are prioritized to be contributors to the overarching objective to double the capacity of Canada’s electricity system by 2050 with an emphasis on clean fuels and technologies.
“We will build at scale and speed to double our grid and power Canada strong with clean, affordable, reliable energy for all generations,” Prime Minister Mark Carney asserted earlier in May, as he outlined the broad framework of the strategy. “When we master energy, we master our destiny.”
That’s envisioned to occur through four interconnected courses of action: building generation and transmission capacity; forging and expanding east-west interconnections in what’s currently a fragmented cross-Canada electricity grid; skills and workforce development; and domestic production of technologies and system components for clean electricity, conservation and demand management.
As of the 2026 starting point, roughly 80 per cent of Canada’s electricity supply is categorized as non-emitting. The most recently available data shows that the remainder accounted for about 7 per cent of total national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as of 2023. Even so, carbon intensity varies significantly across provinces and territories. Circa-2021 breakdowns from the Canada Energy Regulator show Quebec and Manitoba with 99 per cent emission-free grids and British Columbia and Ontario at more than 90 per cent emission-free, while 85 per cent of electricity generated in Alberta and Saskatchewan and 73 per cent of Nova Scotia’s supply was fossil-fuel-fired.
The document sketching out the broad strokes of Canada’s electricity strategy (posted on Natural Resources Canada’s website) highlights the predominant north-south orientation of existing interjurisdictional transmission networks. Currently, there are nine international transmission interties between Canada and the United States, located from New Brunswick to British Columbia, which enable the export of about 6 per cent of total generation.
Federal strategists envision a 70 per cent increase in interprovincial transmission capacity by 2050 via six new interties between western provinces and the territories and four in Atlantic Canada. As well, Canadian households, businesses and organizations are generally promised $15 billion in total energy savings to 2050, an injection of 130,000 high-skilled job into the economy and the spinoff benefits of domestic R&D, manufacturing and supply chain certainty.
“This new national electricity strategy complements our government’s efforts to advance major projects in the electricity and energy sectors,” maintains Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Internal Trade, who is also the lead on Canada-U.S. trade. “With this strategy, we are not just building the grid of the future — we are building a stronger, more competitive Canada.”
The government is now inviting input on the eight main themes of the strategy. Each of these encompasses a combination of firm and aspirational measures collectively aimed at financing and building the electricity system; increasing regional integration; streamlining regulation; managing demand and promoting modernization; building capacity in the supply chain; ensuring skills and labour; and addressing issues particular to the North.
Commercial real estate relevance
Thus far, the elements of the strategy that are most pertinent for the commercial real estate and facilities management sectors are somewhat vague. On the residential front, it indicates “financing, grants and complementary measures” will be made available to up to 1 million households to undertake “energy-saving retrofits” but there are no further details. Meanwhile, pending actions are couched less definitively as “commitments to exploring” various programs for the commercial and industrial sectors.
“Going forward, the federal government will continue to support research, development and deployment of demand-side and distributed energy resource solutions, including energy efficiency and grid modernization. The government is also committed to working in close collaboration with provinces and territories to ensure alignment and identify impediments to greater deployment of demand side and ‘smart’ solutions,” the strategy summary states.
Hinted possible programs appear to be a continuation of some that are already in place, such as “incentivizing accelerated retrofits of large buildings”, encouraging industrial operators to implement energy management systems and coordinating intergovernmental collaboration on building code development and adoption. It also reiterates previously announced promises related to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Other elements of the strategy have bearing for the real estate sector as a consumer of goods and services and a generator of investment income. Investment and policy support to drive innovation, domestic manufacturing and skills training theoretically should deliver a wider and/or more competitively priced range of options for organizations developing projects, procuring building systems and components and hiring contractors and staff. On the supply chain front, the strategy looks to stimulate domestic production and to secure healthy trade partnerships for the two-way flow of imports and exports.
“The federal government’s approach will go beyond traditional manufacturing to prioritize higher-value activities across design, engineering, software and system integration. Recognizing that not all components should be produced domestically, Canada will be targeted in its approach, while actively diversifying and strengthening trusted trade relationships to ensure resilient, secure and cost-effective supply chains,” it states.
The $6 billion over five years — recently announced in the 2026 federal spring economic update — for the purpose of recruiting, training and deploying 80,000 to 100,000 new skilled tradespeople is flagged as central to developing and augmenting the workforce needed to make the strategy a reality. Roughly $630 million has also been dispersed to, or allocated for, various other employment-related initiatives. As well, the federal government promises to enhance labour market information and work with provinces/territories to improve the recognition of immigrants’ internationally obtained professional and technical credentials.
Meanwhile, the government continues to appeal to prospective investors. The strategy lays out a three-pronged approach to attract capital, including: investment tax credits for clean electricity and energy technologies and the new productivity super-deduction for capital investment; preferred financing through Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund and the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program; and targeted funds for “smart renewables and electrification” and critical minerals infrastructure projects.
The strategy declares that the government “is committed to continuing to identify impediments to investment and opportunities to address them, including considering opportunities to attract more foreign direct investment when that is in the best interest of Canadians.” Federal officials will promote Canada as “an attractive, trusted and stable investment destination for private capital”, while pending voluntary sustainable investment guidelines, which are currently under development, are heralded as an instrument to provide greater assurance for investors, lenders and related stakeholders.
Formal public consultations on the national electricity strategy are promised “in the coming months” but have not yet been announced as of late May. In the interim, the summary document provides an email address ([email protected]) for submitting comments.
