Investing in Future Infrastructure... Today

Photo Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS

Ideas like Wind West in Nova Scotia, new nuclear in New Brunswick, further development at Churchill Falls in Labrador, and hydrogen projects all point to a shared ambition in Atlantic Canada: to punch above our weight in the delivery of energy.

But if we are honest, most of these projects live on 10+ year timelines and are extraordinarily expensive.

So the real question is: what can we do in the meantime?

In addition to streamlining permitting and approvals and preparing a skilled workforce (neither of which is easy), there are smaller, tactical steps we can take right now:

• Enhance existing transmission infrastructure

• Invest in smart grid technologies

• Scale up distributed energy solutions

• Improve energy efficiency

But probably most importantly, provincial and federal governments need to work with Indigenous communities as true partners. At the federal level, the signals are there, and it will be interesting to see how a Carney government might follow through.

Whatever the political winds, we need an approach to infrastructure that endures beyond four-year election cycles. Because the timeline for meaningful infrastructure builds is long.