It's now technically possible to send electric energy great distances by underwater cable. Australia and Singapore had an agreement to send solar generated power about 10 years ago, which was subsequently cancelled, and I believe recently revived.....
Labrador to Europe is probably a possibility, Game Changing? All of a sudden our limited US export potential has interesting options....
Bernie, you may have just found the next rabbit hole. 😁
I checked this because Labrador-to-Europe sounded a little too much like science fiction.
Turns out it isn't.
The Australia-Singapore project is alive again, and Singapore has conditionally approved importing 1.75 GW of Australian renewable electricity beginning around 2035.
More interestingly, researchers have actually studied a 4,000 MW submarine electricity connection between eastern North America and Europe and concluded it could be technically and economically feasible under the assumptions they examined.
And we already have some of the building blocks here.
Labrador power crosses underwater to Newfoundland, and Newfoundland is connected by submarine cable to Nova Scotia.
So no, we're not running an extension cord from Labrador to Ireland next Tuesday. 😂
The distances, cost, financing and engineering would be enormous.
But your bigger point is fascinating.
If long-distance HVDC keeps improving, Canada's electricity export choices in the future may not necessarily stop at the U.S. border.
And THAT fits exactly with what we've been talking about...
more customers means more options, and more options mean more Canadian leverage.
What is missing is a focus on HVDC connections. DC intertie connections do not have the line losses of AC transmission lines, and do not have to be synchronized the way AC connections do. When Premier Ford threatened to flip the switch to the USA I think someone told him it would put the lights out in Ontario as well if not synchronized. Manitoba and Quebec have HVDC lines. They go South. Ask Google about HVDC connectors in China. They move electricity from the North to the population centers in the South. They have done this as a strategic investment to reduce reliance on oil and natural gas. We should too if the federal government can find a way to get the provincial electrical fiefdoms to cooperate.
Lee, I think you've put your finger on something I should have emphasized more... **HVDC.**
I went digging after reading your comment.
Manitoba has actually been using HVDC since the 1970s to move enormous amounts of northern hydro hundreds of kilometres south.
Its Bipole III line alone adds about 2,000 MW of transmission capacity.
And there's another advantage that's particularly interesting for Canada...
HVDC can connect AC electricity systems that aren't synchronized with each other.
Ontario and Quebec are a perfect example.
The IESO has specifically studied a larger Ontario-Quebec connection and concluded it would have to use DC because the two provincial systems can't simply be connected synchronously.
That starts making the “Canadian extension cord” idea a lot more interesting.
One thing I couldn't verify was that shutting off Ontario exports would have put Ontario's lights out.
Ford definitely threatened to stop exports, but I couldn't find reliable evidence supporting that particular consequence, so I'll stay away from that part.
But your larger point stands.
We don't necessarily need to force all these provincial electrical fiefdoms into one giant synchronized AC grid.
**HVDC may be one of the technologies that lets us connect them while allowing them to remain their own systems.**
And THAT makes this considerably more practical than simply saying “build a national grid.”
Good catch. You just added another rabbit hole to the pile. 😂🇨🇦
Good article. This highlights part of Carney’s energy plan where one portion was part of his MoU with Alberta for the new pipeline last November. This was part of that MoU…” It will also drive initiatives that will enable Alberta to build and operate competitive nuclear power generation, reinforce Alberta’s electricity grid to power sovereign AI data centres, and build large transmission interties with British Columbia and Saskatchewan to better supply low-carbon, low-cost power across the three provinces.”
What it further highlights is the absolute necessity for this country to start thinking as one unit rather than 14 separate ones. Yes, there are many things not common across all provinces, but there is more that unites us than divides us. The USA is proving that.
Carney has met with all the provincial leaders on at least 14 occassions. Past PMs have done so maybe once a year. Obviously during Carney’s meetings each leader gets to listen to and speak about each provinces issues. This leads to better understanding and better cooperation. We are seeing evidence of that with new interprovincial agreements such as Churchill Falls and the Alberta pipeline.
The completion of the first step is vital, and that is the total removal of all interprovincial barriers, be they on trade, on workers qualifications, on health standards, etc. That is just the first step. Interties on electricity and other energy forms is also vital as the post suggests.
If for nothing else, we need to thank Trump for forcing us into one Canada, but we also need to thank Carney for preceding what so many experts are now saying…..diversify our trade, unify our provinces, expand and develop our natural resources, simplify and accelerate our approval processes. Thats just for starters!
David, I think you've identified what may ultimately be the bigger story here.
The pipeline gets a headline.
The electrical interties get another headline.
Nuclear gets another.
Internal trade gets another.
Critical minerals, AI data centres, ports, railways and new trade relationships all get treated as separate stories.
But increasingly I'm wondering whether we're looking at **pieces of one much larger Canadian project.**
For too long we've behaved economically like 14 jurisdictions that happen to share a flag.
And you're right about those First Ministers' meetings.
Carney said in July that they'd met 14 times since March 2025, five times in person.
Whatever anyone thinks of the individual policies, getting premiers repeatedly into the same room talking about each other's problems matters.
I would only tweak one point... we haven't eliminated *all* interprovincial barriers yet.
Ottawa has removed its federal CFTA exceptions and the federal labour-mobility/internal-trade legislation is now operating, but there's still provincial work to do.
That's why I think your larger point matters even more.
Trump may have accidentally reminded us that Canadian independence isn't simply about defending a border.
It's about building a country that actually works **east-west as well as north-south.**
Move our electricity across Canada.
Move our goods across Canada.
Let Canadians work across Canada.
Build the ports, railways, pipelines, transmission lines and infrastructure that give Canadian resources more than one customer.
And then trade with the Americans because we **choose to**, not because they're our only practical option.
If that's where all these pieces are heading, we're talking about something considerably bigger than an energy policy.
We're talking about finishing some unfinished Canadian business. 🇨🇦
Right on, Fred. I did say that the completion of the removal of provincial barriers is vital, I do realize we are still a ways off, but we need to force the premiers to get that job done!
PM Carney needs to read your columns. Either that or someone needs to get this very smart ‘national project’ to the Major Projects Department. There are five electrical projects on the list, but nothing like your “extension cord.”
Apparently somebody in Ottawa has already found my extension cord. 😂
I went back and checked the Major Projects Office after reading your comment, and alongside the individual electricity projects there's now something much closer to what we're talking about.
It's called the **Transmission InterConnect Investment Strategy**, and it was referred to the Major Projects Office in May.
Its job is essentially to identify the highest-priority transmission connections across Canada... including interprovincial interties...
Even better, federal, provincial and territorial energy ministers have already identified five priority interties.
So we're not at the “build the national extension cord” stage yet.
We're at the **“figure out which pieces of the extension cord we should build first and how the hell we're going to pay for them”** stage. 😂
That's actually further along than I realized when I wrote the article.
And I like the approach.
Don't draw one gigantic line across a map and call it a national grid.
Find the connections that make economic sense, build those, connect more regions, then keep filling in the gaps.
Piece by piece, we could end up with something Canada has never really had...
We have spent generations building provincial systems and then wondering why Canada sometimes has trouble functioning as one national economy.
Electricity is just one example.
Goods, workers, professional qualifications, infrastructure... the more unnecessary barriers we remove between Canadians, the stronger the whole country becomes.
And we're finally seeing movement.
Ottawa's new internal-trade and labour-mobility law is now in force, and several provinces have taken their own steps toward mutual recognition.
There's still plenty of unfinished business, especially at the provincial level.
Maybe that's one useful thing to come out of everything happening around us...
**Canada is being reminded that our greatest domestic market is Canada.**
Now we need to start building and behaving like it. 🇨🇦
It's now technically possible to send electric energy great distances by underwater cable. Australia and Singapore had an agreement to send solar generated power about 10 years ago, which was subsequently cancelled, and I believe recently revived.....
Labrador to Europe is probably a possibility, Game Changing? All of a sudden our limited US export potential has interesting options....
Build baby Build!
Bernie, you may have just found the next rabbit hole. 😁
I checked this because Labrador-to-Europe sounded a little too much like science fiction.
Turns out it isn't.
The Australia-Singapore project is alive again, and Singapore has conditionally approved importing 1.75 GW of Australian renewable electricity beginning around 2035.
More interestingly, researchers have actually studied a 4,000 MW submarine electricity connection between eastern North America and Europe and concluded it could be technically and economically feasible under the assumptions they examined.
And we already have some of the building blocks here.
Labrador power crosses underwater to Newfoundland, and Newfoundland is connected by submarine cable to Nova Scotia.
So no, we're not running an extension cord from Labrador to Ireland next Tuesday. 😂
The distances, cost, financing and engineering would be enormous.
But your bigger point is fascinating.
If long-distance HVDC keeps improving, Canada's electricity export choices in the future may not necessarily stop at the U.S. border.
And THAT fits exactly with what we've been talking about...
more customers means more options, and more options mean more Canadian leverage.
I'm putting this one in the rabbit-hole pile. 🇨🇦
What is missing is a focus on HVDC connections. DC intertie connections do not have the line losses of AC transmission lines, and do not have to be synchronized the way AC connections do. When Premier Ford threatened to flip the switch to the USA I think someone told him it would put the lights out in Ontario as well if not synchronized. Manitoba and Quebec have HVDC lines. They go South. Ask Google about HVDC connectors in China. They move electricity from the North to the population centers in the South. They have done this as a strategic investment to reduce reliance on oil and natural gas. We should too if the federal government can find a way to get the provincial electrical fiefdoms to cooperate.
Lee, I think you've put your finger on something I should have emphasized more... **HVDC.**
I went digging after reading your comment.
Manitoba has actually been using HVDC since the 1970s to move enormous amounts of northern hydro hundreds of kilometres south.
Its Bipole III line alone adds about 2,000 MW of transmission capacity.
And there's another advantage that's particularly interesting for Canada...
HVDC can connect AC electricity systems that aren't synchronized with each other.
Ontario and Quebec are a perfect example.
The IESO has specifically studied a larger Ontario-Quebec connection and concluded it would have to use DC because the two provincial systems can't simply be connected synchronously.
That starts making the “Canadian extension cord” idea a lot more interesting.
One thing I couldn't verify was that shutting off Ontario exports would have put Ontario's lights out.
Ford definitely threatened to stop exports, but I couldn't find reliable evidence supporting that particular consequence, so I'll stay away from that part.
But your larger point stands.
We don't necessarily need to force all these provincial electrical fiefdoms into one giant synchronized AC grid.
**HVDC may be one of the technologies that lets us connect them while allowing them to remain their own systems.**
And THAT makes this considerably more practical than simply saying “build a national grid.”
Good catch. You just added another rabbit hole to the pile. 😂🇨🇦
Good article. This highlights part of Carney’s energy plan where one portion was part of his MoU with Alberta for the new pipeline last November. This was part of that MoU…” It will also drive initiatives that will enable Alberta to build and operate competitive nuclear power generation, reinforce Alberta’s electricity grid to power sovereign AI data centres, and build large transmission interties with British Columbia and Saskatchewan to better supply low-carbon, low-cost power across the three provinces.”
What it further highlights is the absolute necessity for this country to start thinking as one unit rather than 14 separate ones. Yes, there are many things not common across all provinces, but there is more that unites us than divides us. The USA is proving that.
Carney has met with all the provincial leaders on at least 14 occassions. Past PMs have done so maybe once a year. Obviously during Carney’s meetings each leader gets to listen to and speak about each provinces issues. This leads to better understanding and better cooperation. We are seeing evidence of that with new interprovincial agreements such as Churchill Falls and the Alberta pipeline.
The completion of the first step is vital, and that is the total removal of all interprovincial barriers, be they on trade, on workers qualifications, on health standards, etc. That is just the first step. Interties on electricity and other energy forms is also vital as the post suggests.
If for nothing else, we need to thank Trump for forcing us into one Canada, but we also need to thank Carney for preceding what so many experts are now saying…..diversify our trade, unify our provinces, expand and develop our natural resources, simplify and accelerate our approval processes. Thats just for starters!
David, I think you've identified what may ultimately be the bigger story here.
The pipeline gets a headline.
The electrical interties get another headline.
Nuclear gets another.
Internal trade gets another.
Critical minerals, AI data centres, ports, railways and new trade relationships all get treated as separate stories.
But increasingly I'm wondering whether we're looking at **pieces of one much larger Canadian project.**
For too long we've behaved economically like 14 jurisdictions that happen to share a flag.
And you're right about those First Ministers' meetings.
Carney said in July that they'd met 14 times since March 2025, five times in person.
Whatever anyone thinks of the individual policies, getting premiers repeatedly into the same room talking about each other's problems matters.
I would only tweak one point... we haven't eliminated *all* interprovincial barriers yet.
Ottawa has removed its federal CFTA exceptions and the federal labour-mobility/internal-trade legislation is now operating, but there's still provincial work to do.
That's why I think your larger point matters even more.
Trump may have accidentally reminded us that Canadian independence isn't simply about defending a border.
It's about building a country that actually works **east-west as well as north-south.**
Move our electricity across Canada.
Move our goods across Canada.
Let Canadians work across Canada.
Build the ports, railways, pipelines, transmission lines and infrastructure that give Canadian resources more than one customer.
And then trade with the Americans because we **choose to**, not because they're our only practical option.
If that's where all these pieces are heading, we're talking about something considerably bigger than an energy policy.
We're talking about finishing some unfinished Canadian business. 🇨🇦
Right on, Fred. I did say that the completion of the removal of provincial barriers is vital, I do realize we are still a ways off, but we need to force the premiers to get that job done!
Great, informative article, thank you!
PM Carney needs to read your columns. Either that or someone needs to get this very smart ‘national project’ to the Major Projects Department. There are five electrical projects on the list, but nothing like your “extension cord.”
https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/major-projects-office/projects/national.html
Barb, I've got some good news for you.
Apparently somebody in Ottawa has already found my extension cord. 😂
I went back and checked the Major Projects Office after reading your comment, and alongside the individual electricity projects there's now something much closer to what we're talking about.
It's called the **Transmission InterConnect Investment Strategy**, and it was referred to the Major Projects Office in May.
Its job is essentially to identify the highest-priority transmission connections across Canada... including interprovincial interties...
Even better, federal, provincial and territorial energy ministers have already identified five priority interties.
So we're not at the “build the national extension cord” stage yet.
We're at the **“figure out which pieces of the extension cord we should build first and how the hell we're going to pay for them”** stage. 😂
That's actually further along than I realized when I wrote the article.
And I like the approach.
Don't draw one gigantic line across a map and call it a national grid.
Find the connections that make economic sense, build those, connect more regions, then keep filling in the gaps.
Piece by piece, we could end up with something Canada has never really had...
**a Canadian electrical backbone.** 🇨🇦
Excellent overview! Now, hopefully our provinces see yet another reason to cooperate and remove interprovincial trade and connection barriers!
Exactly, Kathleen.
That's really the heart of it.
We have spent generations building provincial systems and then wondering why Canada sometimes has trouble functioning as one national economy.
Electricity is just one example.
Goods, workers, professional qualifications, infrastructure... the more unnecessary barriers we remove between Canadians, the stronger the whole country becomes.
And we're finally seeing movement.
Ottawa's new internal-trade and labour-mobility law is now in force, and several provinces have taken their own steps toward mutual recognition.
There's still plenty of unfinished business, especially at the provincial level.
Maybe that's one useful thing to come out of everything happening around us...
**Canada is being reminded that our greatest domestic market is Canada.**
Now we need to start building and behaving like it. 🇨🇦
Yes! Exactly!