Doubling the country's electricity supply and deploying clean power across the economy could generate trillions in new activity and over a million jobs, new modelling finds
New economic modelling by New Economy Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce makes a compelling case for Canada's clean electricity transition as one of the most significant investment opportunities of this generation.
The report, Powering Canada's Growth: the economic case for an electrified economy, finds that doubling Canada's electricity supply and putting that clean power to work across the broader economy could add a cumulative $3 trillion to Canada's gross domestic product by 2050, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.
Macroeconomic modelling was conducted by the Open Insights initiative - a consortium led by University of Victoria researchers, in partnership with the Energy Modelling Hub, the Energy & Materials Research Group at Simon Fraser University, and Macrocosm Group.
The return-on-investment figure is $5 in economic benefits for every $1 invested in the power sector, according to the modelling. The analysis also projects 1.6 million additional jobs in 2050 under an electrified-economy scenario. Those are not energy-sector jobs alone as the report makes clear that electricity investment would drive growth across the wider Canadian economy, but only if Canada simultaneously expands its economic capacity to absorb that investment.
The wealth management angle
The report arrives as institutional capital flows into Canadian infrastructure at scale. As covered previously by Wealth Professional, TD Economics projects more than $1 trillion in Canadian non-residential investment queued for the next decade with clean energy and utilities among the leading sectors. That pipeline creates meaningful exposure opportunities in listed utilities, infrastructure funds and clean technology across Canadian equity portfolios.
"Accelerating electricity infrastructure is both a nation-building and economic imperative," said Bryan Detchou of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "Five dollars in economic benefits for every dollar invested in power. Achieving this target will require, above all, political will, policy consistency, and collaboration across jurisdictions - alongside sustained investment, skilled workers, and resilient supply chains."
The modelling validates the direction of the proposed federal electricity strategy, Powering Canada Strong, which aims to double Canada's electricity supply and accelerate electrification. The strategy has gained traction following the September 2026 Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, where nearly $500 billion in new investment commitments were announced, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney in partnership with CPP Investments and PSP Investments.
Four priorities for unlocking the opportunity
The report identifies four conditions that must be met for Canada to realise the projected gains.
The first is sustained political commitment - keeping electricity and electrification on the First Ministers' economic agenda while establishing a durable framework for long-term public investment. The second is mobilising capital at scale: aligning investment tax credits, public finance institutions and broader business-investment policies to attract private capital while keeping electricity rates affordable.
Third, the report calls for building the workforce alongside the grid - expanding training programmes, improving labour mobility and raising productivity so Canada can supply the tradespeople, engineers and project managers the transition will require.
This mirrors findings highlighted in Wealth Professional's coverage of Canada's infrastructure investment boom which flagged labour supply as the practical constraint most likely to slow the conversion of investment intentions into completed projects.
The fourth priority is supply chain security - modernising existing supply chains, developing Canadian capacity in critical electricity and clean technologies, and strengthening trade partnerships for goods Canada cannot produce competitively at home.
Pace matters
Ian Bruce, president of New Economy Canada, framed the findings in terms of the choice Canada now faces.
"Amid discussions of what an electrified economy will cost, we now have a clearer picture of what it could return - trillions in additional economic activity and over a million jobs,” he said. “It's now up to all levels of government to come together and build on Canada's electricity advantage to attract new investment and jobs."
Dr. Madeleine McPherson, principal investigator at Open Insights and associate professor at the University of Victoria, offered a measured note on what the modelling can and cannot do.
"Energy-economy modelling can't tell decisionmakers what to do, but it can reveal the conditions that are necessary for an opportunity to be realised," she said.
New Economy Canada is a non-partisan initiative representing more than 70 companies, labour unions and Indigenous organisations, collectively employing or representing over 720,000 workers. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce represents more than 400 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, 115 sectoral associations, and over 200,000 businesses across Canada.
For advisors building positions in Canadian clean energy infrastructure or assessing long-duration asset allocations, the report provides fresh modelling that quantifies both the opportunity and the conditions required to capture it.
