Transforming Canada’s energy abundance into economic leadership in the AI age

The companies are ready, the technology is emerging, and the opportunity is now. We need only the policy courage to seize it.

Canada can continue exporting raw electricity to help meet the skyrocketing demand for energy, or we can use AI data centres as 'electricity refineries' to capture high-value economic activity domestically, writes Peter Massie and Christopher Collins.Photograph courtesy of Christina Morillo, Pexels.com

Opinion

BY PETER MASSIE, CHRISTOPHER COLLINS

February 2, 2026

In 1930, economist Harold Innis called Canadians “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” emphasizing the country’s dependence on natural resource extraction. Nearly a ...

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