Canada's Clean Electricity Regulations are Slowing Down Provincial Progress

With nearly 85% of Canada’s electricity generated from non-emitting sources such as hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar, we are a global clean energy leader. But that profile is uneven across the provinces and territories.

Canada’s provinces differ enormously in their resources, demand profiles, and industrial structures. Yet the federal government’s Clean Electricity Regulations are imposing a one-size-fits-all framework that doesn’t recognize how differently each province produces and consumes power. Provinces like B.C. and Quebec have clean, hydro-dominant systems. On the flipside, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia face real technical and economic challenges in meeting the same targets on Ottawa’s timeline. For those provinces, the Clean Electricity Regulations are creating investment uncertainty.

At the same time, electricity prices are rising across the country and affordability is becoming top political issue. Adding more regulatory stress at this moment risks undermining public support for climate policy altogether.

Take Nova Scotia. In a recent piece about trade with the UK, I argued that Atlantic wind power could underpin new data-centre investment and other clean-growth industries. But to do that reliably, we’d need additional balancing capacity (very likely natural-gas peakers). The problem is, carbon capture is enormously expensive and requires geological attributes that are not available everywhere. Under the Clean Electricity Regulations framework, that means Nova Scotia has limited practical ability to use the very tools it needs to attract investment in clean energy and maintain reliability.

It’s a clear example of how rigid national rules can block regional innovation and economic growth.

Ottawa’s recent emphasis on aligning climate ambition with economic opportunity is a welcome shift, and a “Climate Competitiveness Strategy” is expected to be released by the end of this month. Instead of focusing narrowly on compliance, the federal government appears to be exploring how Canada can turn its resource strengths into prosperity and competitiveness in a decarbonizing world.

Canada’s advantage lies in clean power, critical minerals, engineering expertise, and responsible resource development. The challenge is to monetize those strengths, not regulate them into stagnation. And this is exactly where the national conversation should be.

Let the provinces lead. Let markets signal where clean growth makes sense. And let Ottawa focus on infrastructure, investment certainty, and trade access, the enablers of real progress.

Canada’s electricity system is already among the cleanest in the world. If the country is serious about economic growth in a low-carbon world, it should focus less on uniform regulation. This means getting rid of the Clean Electricity Regulations and allowing the provinces to unlock their potential.