Ontario is presently undertaking generational electricity investments, moving an already robust electricity system towards what Premier Ford has branded an energy superpower. Conversations surrounding these investments are increasingly being framed through the lens of cost alone. This view, however well-intentioned, is short-sighted and strategically flawed.
Energy is much more than an input into the economy; it is the system that enables the economy to operate at all. As long-term infrastructure, its returns compound over decades by contributing to competitiveness and resilience. Bold investments in energy assets are essential to Ontario’s economic growth and its position in an increasingly uncertain global market.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the province made deliberate, largescale investments in power generation facilities. Those assets powered an era of industrial expansion, productivity growth, and broad-based prosperity. Manufacturing intensity was high, energy was dependable, and businesses had confidence that the system would meet their needs. More recently, the pace of electricity infrastructure growth has slowed, as has the growth of the economy. Economic outcomes tend to follow the strength of the power system.