Some may eventually land on the federal Major Projects Office list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re clearing the landscape for what\u2019s possible\u201d said Blake Shaffer, a University of Calgary professor and former energy trader who\u2019s directing the initiative. \u201cWe\u2019re calling it pre-pre-development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coalition behind the $4.2-million effort includes an unusual mix of economists, engineers, Indigenous leaders, and industry experts. Funded by the federal government and working alongside provincial governments and utilities, the group hopes to spend the next three years turning promising interties into shovel-ready projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s well and good to have ambition,\u201d said Shaffer. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is lay the foundations for projects to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three interties that matter<\/p>\n
At its simplest, an intertie is a high-voltage transmission line connecting two electricity grids. Think of it as a highway for electricity. Most provinces have plenty of \u201croads\u201d within their own borders.<\/p>\n
Between borders\u2014not so much.<\/p>\n
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Snapshot of Canada\u2019s current transmission network. Credit: Indigenous Power Coalition.<\/p>\n
That gap means one province can be sitting on surplus power while its neighbour is spending billions to build new generation. Construct stronger interties, the argument goes, and provinces could treat electricity more like a shared resource\u2014buying and selling wherever it\u2019s cheapest, instead of leaning so heavily on U.S. markets.<\/p>\n
Right now, Alberta connects to B.C., Saskatchewan, and Montana. B.C. also trades with Washington state. Manitoba links to Saskatchewan, Ontario, and several U.S. states.<\/p>\n
In fact, more than 80 percent of Canada\u2019s electricity trade still moves north-south. It\u2019s simply been cheaper and easier to hook up with a nearby American grid than to bolster the lines across the provinces.<\/p>\n
Thus the three principal interties linking Western Canada remain relatively weak. The B.C.-Alberta, Alberta-Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan-Manitoba connections were largely designed decades ago to provide emergency backup rather than serious day-to-day trading.<\/p>\n
The biggest gains would come where neighbouring provinces have complementary systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n B.C.\u2019s hydro reservoirs provide flexible, dispatchable power that can quickly ramp generation up or down, while Alberta\u2019s grid is powered by natural gas alongside an expanding fleet of wind and solar projects. A stronger tie would let Alberta lean on B.C. hydro when it needs firm, reliable power, while B.C. saves water behind its dams whenever Alberta\u2019s wind and solar are running strong.<\/p>\n Saskatchewan and Manitoba offer a different, but equally compelling, case.<\/p>\n Both have smaller grids, which makes them more exposed when a single power plant goes down. A bigger intertie would give them a safety net. It would also support Saskatchewan\u2019s plans to add nuclear power<\/a>, allowing the province to export surplus electricity when demand is low and import hydro power when reactors are offline.<\/p>\n \u201cThey absolutely need to have outlets for it,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n i<\/p>\n Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, second left, speaks a closing news conference of a meeting of western premiers as B.C. Premier David Eby, left, and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, centre, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith listen in Kananaskis, Alta., Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew turned down<\/a> a proposed hyperscale AI data centre southeast of Winnipeg, in part questioning whether it was worth the electricity it would consume. Alberta took the opposite approach<\/a>, welcoming AI investment on the condition that developers bring their own power generation, while bracing for a big jump in demand.<\/p>\n Stronger interties won\u2019t change all that.<\/p>\n But supporters say they\u2019d give provinces more options\u2014and more room to lean on each other\u2014instead of each one having to solve its energy problems alone.<\/p>\n How to actually get started<\/p>\n In March, Ontario initiated a National Energy Corridor Agreement<\/a> with nine other provinces and territories\u2014including all four Western provinces\u2014to advance new transmission projects and strategic interties across Canada. Ottawa has since followed up with its National Strategy for an Electrified Canadian Economy<\/a>, which names stronger regional electricity ties as key to both energy security and economic growth.<\/p>\n The hard part is figuring out how to get there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really positioning ourselves as \u2018the how,\u2019\u201dShaffer said. \u201cHow this will get done.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than pushing one specific line, Western Transmission Catalysts is trying to clear away the obstacles that have killed these projects before construction ever starts\u2014commissioning independent economic studies, working out financing, bringing utilities and provincial governments to the table, and helping First Nations organize early.<\/p>\n Right now, most of the group\u2019s energy is going into the B.C.-Alberta corridor, where talks are furthest along. The provinces are already linked by Western Canada\u2019s largest intertie, crossing the southern Rockies near Cranbrook, with a nominal transfer capacity of roughly 1,200 megawatts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Earlier this year, Nathan Neudorf, Alberta\u2019s then-minister of affordability and utilities, told The Hub that the province was studying a second, $2- to $3-billion intertie<\/a> farther north.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would love to have another intertie with northern British Columbia,\u201d Neudorf said in March. \u201cIt would help their economy. It would help our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n That corridor could support growing industrial demand on both sides of the border, including natural gas development, mining, LNG terminals, and other heavy energy users.<\/p>\n Flipping the script on Indigenous involvement<\/p>\n One of the more striking parts of this initiative has almost nothing to do with engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d like to take the next step in the evolution of Indigenous equity participation by focusing on leadership,\u201d said Kwatuuma Cole Sayers, executive director of the Indigenous Power Coalition, which advocates for Indigenous communities to become project proponents.<\/p>\n Usually, First Nations get brought in only after a route is picked and a project is already designed. Western Transmission Catalysts wants to flip that order, so that nations can lead these projects from day one rather than react to them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still very early stage but there\u2019s been a lot of excitement\u2014a lot of interest\u2014in the Nations,\u201d Sayers told The Hub. \u201cWe\u2019ve been engaging for well over a year, so we have put a lot of effort into those relationships with the nations and hopefully over the next year, those Nations will be able to announce themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The concept reflects the next evolution of a model already emerging in northern B.C.<\/p>\n BC Hydro\u2019s proposed North Coast Transmission Line<\/a>\u2014a 445-kilometre, 500-kilovolt transmission corridor capable of carrying up to 2,200 megawatts of electricity between Prince George and Terrace\u2014is already giving participating First Nations<\/a> the option to acquire up to a 50-percent ownership stake.<\/p>\n i<\/p>\n The BC Hydro Skeena Substation is pictured while under construction in Terrace, B.C., on Thursday, November 13, 2025. Ethan Cairns\/The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n Sayers calls that \u201cthe minimum standard\u201d going forward. His view is that Indigenous Nations should be the ones identifying and pushing for new transmission projects in the first place.<\/p>\n Shaffer thinks First Nations may actually be better suited than private companies to own assets like these, simply because of how differently they evaluate time horizons.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I talk with private companies, when they\u2019re looking for returns\u2026 anything beyond 10, certainly 15, certainly 20 years is so heavily discounted that it\u2019s less meaningful,\u201d Shaffer said. \u201cWhereas Nations are looking at this with a longer-term vision. They really do talk about\u2014for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayers also argues that Indigenous leadership could make these projects easier to build. By involving Nations before a route is selected, many land-use, cultural, and community concerns can be resolved before the project hits the formal regulatory process, where delays get expensive.<\/p>\n The North Coast Transmission Line is already before the Major Projects Office<\/a>. Sayers believes future Indigenous-led interties could fit naturally into Ottawa\u2019s broader nation-building push.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean it definitely checks all the boxes,\u201d Sayers said.<\/p>\n Ottawa hasn\u2019t committed to funding future interties, but federal Natural Resources and Energy Minister Tim Hodgson showed up at the launch to share the stage with Sayers and others.<\/p>\n Nation-building agenda<\/p>\n None of this is simple. Transmission projects are expensive and technically complicated, and splitting costs between provinces with different utility markets and structures adds another layer of difficulty.<\/p>\n Even the people behind Western Transmission Catalysts admit most of these projects are still years from breaking ground.<\/p>\n But the conditions that kept interties stalled for decades have genuinely changed.<\/p>\n After roughly 25 years of flat electricity demand, AI growth, industrial electrification, critical mineral development, and energy security concerns have elevated robust interprovincial transmission from a nice-to-have to what increasingly looks like an economic necessity.<\/p>\n Ottawa is once again talking seriously about nation-building\u2014not just roads, ports, and pipelines, but the wires that power Canada\u2019s next industrial buildout.<\/p>\n And in that race, moving electricity may end up mattering just as much as generating it.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CP176357344-1-2048x1320.jpg\")
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