What this is, is more east-west integration regionally. Look expansively at something like Vancouver-to-Winnipeg; this tremendous opportunity to integrate that region and really optimize the system and make electricity more affordable and cleaner.
That’s true in the west. True in central Canada as well. Between Ontario and Quebec, there’s some trading now, some exchange, but there can be an awful lot more. Quebec, especially going forward, could benefit if Ontario is really going to build out its nuclear base load infrastructure. Same thing in Atlantic Canada, and I’ll say Atlantic/Quebec, because there’s a really important linkage there.
You’re looking, broadly speaking, at three big regions that could be doing an awful lot more trading … and that would allow us to clean the grid faster and cheaper.
It’s just not there because we just naturally go to where demand is easiest and most apparent — and that’s south.
How would this regional-based system make energy more affordable for Canadians? Give me an example.
It’s like Trade 101. We had an election about free trade [in 1988]. And what was that election all about? It was about the belief that when you have free-flowing trade, you can actually lower costs for everyone, and that’s because you’re optimizing systems. That is definitely true for electricity.
Look at B.C. and Alberta. Alberta has the best wind resources and the best solar resources in all of Canada. British Columbia wants wind power, so they’re going out and putting out RFPs [requests for proposal] to have a whole pile of new wind development in B.C.
The winds in Alberta are twice as good as B.C.’s, meaning wind power in Alberta costs half as much as it would in British Columbia. If B.C. could tap into Alberta’s wind, and Alberta gets all the economic development benefits, B.C. gets the cheaper power.
Right now, it’s the opposite.
What needs to be done to link those two provinces?
The real issue is largely political will. Right now, Canada has — just like with our broader discussion about trade — we have 10 silos, plus the territories. Each one is planning and building its system as if it’s an island, with the odd connection here and there. We have to open up a bit.
Mark Carney is talking about the need to connect internal trade. It’s a big deal because of what’s going on with the U.S. When you look at the urgency with which this is being talked about now, how does that make you feel?
It makes me feel hopeful. We finally have an opportunity. We have a window in front of us to actually see this happen. Everyone who’s ever looked at this knows that it should happen, knows that it needs to happen, knows that it’s beneficial for Canadians across the board. And the politics have not been there. The politics may be there now.
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