Thursday September 11, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Clean Energy Canada (CEC) has weighed in on today’s federal government’s announcement of the first five major projects for economic transition.
Clean Energy Canada says that “Canada needs to build the nation pointed to the future, not the past”, but commended the focus on copper mining as a component of EV battery production.
Indicative of the broader challenge:
In CEC seeing what looks like ‘going backward’ and ‘moving to the future’ is indicative of the challenge that the Liberal government has on its plate to shift Canada to a more self-reliant economic future.
Prime Minister Carney is working with what Canada presently has in the way of robust economic infrastructure as well as the directions that the country hopes to go in terms of climate responsiveness and securing resources for supporting a clean energy economy as well as the needs of the defence sector.
CEC is clearly invested in all things green, of which the EV sector is a big part.
Electrification vs LNG:
CEC says the direction of the new ‘big projects’ is going backwards, claiming that most of the world is heading to electrification. However, Canada already has a strong electricity-generating sector that other countries don’t have, so in effect Canada’s diversification is into the areas that help other countries shift to electrification (using LNG, for example).
Meanwhile, CEC says that the long-term value of expanding LNG production is “less certain”, saying that key export markets like Japan are already showing waning demand. But other markets in the Pacific area are likely opening up.
Commends urgency & copper security:
CEC welcomes the government’s ambition to move with urgency… “but we must remain cautious about relying too heavily on industries anchored in the past,” said Clean Energy Canada Executive Director Rachel Doran in the organization’s statement to media.
Meanwhile, CEC commends the government’s focus on copper mining, saying that copper mining has a “clear value proposition for our domestic battery and EV supply chain”.
Transition jitters:
It’s easy to see how the clean energy sector may feel jilted, especially with recent relaxing of electric vehicle sales targets for Canada. But that is one small part of the picture. What Canada is doing now is helping to support areas of the world to make the transition to clean energy.
CEC warns that the small nuclear reactor project is an “advancement” that hopes it won’t displace what it calls the “lower-cost renewables, energy storage and demand-side solutions” that they say will “keep energy bills ow and represent economic opportunities”.
They see a need for electrification infrastructure at the Port of Montreal upgrade.
===== RELATED:
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- Ports as key nation-building projects: Montreal, Churchill, east coast (August 26, 2025)
- First LNG Canada shipments to Asia highlighted by Premier Eby’s visit to Kitimat (July 31, 2025)
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