1. The home will be the new economic hearth

A national policy on electrification

As we increasingly turn to electricity to power our vehicles and heat our spaces, electricity demand is expected to double. Producing more power cleanly, for an expanding economy, will require some tough choices, even with a rising carbon price to coax us towards lower-carbon ways of generating electricity. Gas-fired power plants built today may stay economically competitive for decades without very high carbon charges, and their alternatives, like batteries, may not develop enough without support. Cross-province transmission lines will face political and regulatory roadblocks, even when economical. What will help: tighter regulations around air emissions from power plants, coalition-building across political boundaries, and subsidies to develop alternative energy technologies.

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