Thank you.
First, I'd like to acknowledge the unceded Algonquin Anishinabe territory on which this conversation is taking place.
Of course, I would like to thank the chair, the vice-chairs and the members of the committee for their time on this important topic today.
My name is Stephen Thomas. I am the clean energy manager for the David Suzuki Foundation. The foundation has been a part of convening, active in research, and working on the issues of electricity and renewables for more than 30 years. We welcome the opportunity to contribute some of our more recent research and views to this committee's work on electricity.
Today we see an exciting opportunity before us in the shared work of upgrading Canada's electricity system to meet this moment in order to prepare for a competitive, secure energy future and to ensure affordable, reliable and clean electricity for Canadian households along the way. This moment requires that Canada be thoughtful and strategic in its approach to the electricity system, which is why we commend the work of this committee in exploring pathways, technologies, frameworks and approaches.
The challenge of meeting growing electricity demand and the changing nature of electricity production and consumption is considerable, and it's why we need a plan. However, the benefits are also considerable when it comes to the affordability of energy for everyone, better health outcomes for ourselves and our kids, economic competitiveness and security, opportunities for indigenous self-determination and energy sovereignty, and jobs and benefits for workers. Clean electricity has a lot to offer. However, along the way, we must ask important questions, such as who benefits and how we can maximize those benefits for families, communities and the indigenous nations on whose land this electricity transformation takes place.
We recognize and lift up that we are having this conversation as multiple crises are affecting Canadians, including the crisis of affordability and the climate crisis itself. The International Energy Agency, as already mentioned, has made it quite clear for years that if the world is to be on a path that avoids the worst impacts of climate change, this sort of work on decarbonizing electricity is what's needed for a developed country like Canada—in particular, the 2035 target for net-zero electricity. This is why Canada's allies—the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and more—have all committed to decarbonizing their electricity systems by 2035 or sooner.
This is also why we were pleased to see the federal government commit to the clean electricity regulations and to its G7 commitments on electricity. This target is feasible here in Canada, and we look forward to the real work of collaborating on pathways to achieve these goals. Canada has done important work like this before. Throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018, it developed and finalized federal regulations for the electricity sector to phase out coal-fired electricity by the year 2030. There were many tough conversations then, as there are now. Ultimately, workers, utilities, system operators, provinces and other stakeholders came together to deliver these pathways for affordable, reliable electricity without burning coal. Alberta is already meeting this target seven years early, and Nova Scotia is accelerating its pathway to phasing out coal, primarily as a cost-saving measure while the cost of fossil fuels spikes. Regulations and policy clarity were important then, as they are now.
I have a number of recommendations that we've provided to the committee in our brief. To summarize them in terms of topic, we feel this policy clarity with something like clean electricity regulations is important, as is the federal government's role and convening power when it comes to pulling together provinces, regulators, utilities and other stakeholders, increasing electricity system planning and collaboration, and finding aligned priorities and strategies for cross-jurisdiction transmission infrastructure. A plan for this convening should be considered in both this study and Natural Resources Canada's upcoming electricity strategy for Canada. In our recommendations, we also lift up the importance of this interprovincial transmission piece. There is a key role for the federal government to convene, help plan and fund.
Many of the remarks I'm making here to you all today have drawn on some of our more recent research and reports. Those, too, have been submitted. I'm happy to speak about those in detail here.
Thanks, again, for your time.
That's all.