Electrification is key to jumpstarting Canada’s slumping economy

Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin, president and CEO of WaterPower Canada

Elisa Obermann, executive director of Marine Renewables Canada

Francis Bradley, president and CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association

John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association

Michelle Branigan, CEO of Electricity Human Resources Canada

Robert Hornung, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association

In the depths of the Great Depression in the last century, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched an effort that revolutionized farm life in the United States. The New Deal’s Rural Electrification Act not only put thousands of jobless people to work, it improved quality of life for struggling rural families and greatly increased productivity in agriculture.

As leaders of the organizations that represent the breadth of Canada’s electricity sector, we believe that this country can seize a similar opportunity as it seeks to recover from the steep economic slump precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Backed by analysis from the International Monetary Fund, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) recently urged governments around the world to ensure that their economic recovery efforts are used to modernize their energy systems. In August, incoming federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled that the restart of Canada’s economy “needs to be green” and that decarbonization “has to be part of it.”

Read more: https://www.corporateknights.com/channels/energy/electrification-is-key-to-jumpstarting-economy-15989558/