{"id":669823,"date":"2026-05-14T22:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/669823\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:10:12","slug":"ottawas-plan-to-double-electricity-grid-one-step-forward-and-two-steps-back-say-environment-experts-the-hill-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/669823\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa’s plan to double electricity grid ‘one step forward and two steps back,’ say environment experts – The Hill Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government\u2019s plan to double the capacity of Canada\u2019s electricity grid by 2050, in part by potentially rolling back Trudeau-era regulations for clean electricity in a move that environment experts call \u201ca huge betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sovereignty, our sustainability, our prosperity will depend on our ability to supply and control our energy,\u201d Carney (Nepean, Ont.) said on Parliament Hill on May 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to unlock Canada\u2019s full potential as an energy superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy, dubbed Powering Canada Strong, is part of an effort that will cost more than $1-trillion, and aims to lower energy costs for 70 per cent of Canadian households.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not immediately clear how much of that will be government funded, but Carney said \u201cdoubling generation in the next few decades will require massive investment.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Carney added a key part of the strategy involves \u201clinking together as many grids as possible,\u201d across the country. Consultations on the strategy are expected to take place this summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin said Canada is \u2018laying the path\u2019 to net-zero emissions via this new electricity strategy. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n

Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin (Toronto\u2014Danforth, Ont.) said Canada\u2019s \u201cpath to net zero, to fighting climate change, and to building a strong and resilient economy runs through electrification, and today we\u2019re laying that path.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy says the existing Clean Electricity Regulations\u2014which came into effect in late 2024 under Carney\u2019s predecessor\u2014were put in place to guide the electricity sector towards net zero by 2050, and \u201cthe federal government remains committed to achieving this.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the government says the global context has changed, \u201cand Canada faces new and urgent pressures and threats. An evolved approach is required,\u201d the strategy reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natural gas focus takes \u2018Canada backwards\u2019: Environmental Defence<\/p>\n

The government intends to \u201cadjust\u201d the Clean Electricity Regulations in part to provide \u201cgreater flexibility to offset residual emissions elsewhere,\u201d the document says. It adds these changes will maintain the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n

\"\"Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, said \u2018our sovereignty, our sustainability, our prosperity will depend on our ability to supply and control our energy.\u2019 The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n

But climate experts say the rollback of regulations will take Canada\u2019s efforts to reach net-zero emissions backwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s talking about opening up the clean-electricity regulations and adding more gas to the grid, and that will add emissions to the electricity sector,\u201d Keith Brooks, program director of Environmental Defence, told The Hill Times.<\/p>\n

Brooks said a key tenet of the regulations was that it limited the amount of natural gas that could be used by the electricity grid. This was meant to deliver on former prime minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s promise to deliver a net-zero electricity sector by 2035, though doubts lingered if the regulations were strong enough to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now the government\u2019s talking about opening up these regulations, allowing more offsets,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cSo we could have a [natural gas] plant, but we\u2019re going to plant some trees, or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natural gas is marketed as a cleaner fuel, but it\u2019s not, Brooks said. \u201cIt\u2019s a fossil fuel, and it\u2019s just as bad as coal when it\u2019s used to generate electricity. So this is taking Canada backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy describes Canada\u2019s comparative advantage in its \u201cdiverse electricity mix and domestic energy resources,\u201d and said natural gas\u2014along with hydro, solar, wind, and biomass\u2014\u201ccan play a useful role as a part of this diverse portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks said renewable energy already met 100 per cent of the demand for global growth in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Canada is going to be going for more [natural gas,] we\u2019re headed in the opposite direction of where the rest of the world is going,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to pick up the pace, not slacken it. But this discussion paper talks about more gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carney noncommittal on 2030 climate targets<\/p>\n

When asked if the Liberals will meet emissions reductions targets by 2030, as previously pledged by Trudeau, Carney said the government is putting in place initiatives that \u201cwill make material emission reductions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on May 14 a plan to double the capacity of Canada\u2019s electricity grid by 2050. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n

Carney said climate plans and emissions reductions targets will be updated \u201cin due course,\u201d but electrification will remove 250 to 300 megatonnes of emissions.<\/p>\n

When asked to elaborate on updating emissions reductions targets \u201cin due course,\u201d Carney said his government is \u201cfocused on practical steps that are going to get results.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cwhat you\u2019re seeing today is the next iteration of a strategy that\u2019s all connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his remarks, Carney said details will be forthcoming about a pipeline that will transport \u201cat least one million barrels of low-emission Alberta oil per day to new markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Thomas, clean energy manager at the David Suzuki Foundation, described the electricity strategy as taking \u201cone step forward and two steps back.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he praised the emphasis on Ottawa\u2019s role in building new energy transmission links between provinces, as well as union-led training and energy efficiency, \u201cthe strategy itself has a major backtrack on climate, and that is the weakening of clean electricity regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas described the clean-electricity regulation as among the last of the Trudeau-era climate policies that the Carney government \u201chasn\u2019t already gutted or abandoned, and the strategy signals that they\u2019re going to be weakened to the point where they have no effect at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s goal to allow more fossil fuels on the grid is a mistake, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge betrayal, and it\u2019s a huge disappointment to see the clean electricity regulations abandoned in this policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas said Carney\u2019s announcement \u201ccould have been a good news story\u201d in this country\u2019s efforts to build an affordable and reliable electricity grid, \u201cbut instead amounts to \u201ca deeply cynical move\u201d as it comes while \u201cplanning to gut more climate policies and advance new pipelines tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she\u2019s pleased to see some elements of Green Party policy proposals included in the Liberals\u2019 new electricity strategy. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n

\u2018Extremely irresponsible,\u2019 says Green Leader May<\/p>\n

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich\u2014Gulf Islands, B.C.) described the potential rollback of the clean electricity regulations as troubling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as if Trudeau put in place robust climate action,\u201d she told The Hill Times. \u201cSo further retreat from climate action is extremely irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But May added she was \u201cvery pleased\u201d that the strategy included some elements of longstanding Green Party proposals.<\/p>\n

May said every Green election platform since 2019 has included building a power grid that extends east to west and also north, to allow provinces to sell excess power to each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always struck me as bizarre that the European Union, with separate sovereign nation states, has done a much better job integrating their electricity grid,\u201d she said, while Canada\u2019s 10 provinces and three territories each have their own \u201cfractured\u201d electricity grid. Creating an interconnected power grid, she said, should also come with looking at the \u201cmonopolistic\u201d structure of provincial utilities that both generate and distribute electricity to rate-payers.<\/p>\n

May said the strategy amounts to a discussion document, and was eager to get started with consultations.<\/p>\n

mglass@hilltimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hill Times<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Marlo Glass is a news reporter covering the federal public service<\/a> and all things newsworthy on Parliament Hill. She is deputy digital editor for The Hill Times. With a background in breaking news, she previously worked for newspapers in Ottawa, Saint John and Halifax. Send tips to mglass@hilltimes.com. See all stories BY MARLO GLASS<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government\u2019s plan to double the capacity of Canada\u2019s electricity grid by 2050,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-669823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}