Make Ontario the cheap-power capital of North America. Electricity abundance is how Ontario industrializes and decarbonizes at the same time.
Build a demand-responsive electricity system with clean baseload at its centre.
Modernize the grid to unlock capacity and enable electrification.
Coordinate environmental, climate, and resource development decisions.
Ontario's industrial future and its climate future are the same project, and both run on electricity. Powering the factories, data centres, electric cars, and heat pumps of a growing province is not a job for rationing and telling everyone to use less. It is a job for abundance: so much clean, cheap, reliable power that low electricity prices become a reason companies and families choose to build their lives here.
We have done this before. Ontario built one of the best public power systems on the continent once, and it can be the cheap-power capital of North America again.
This section plans ahead of demand instead of forever chasing it. It builds clean baseload, with nuclear and hydro at the centre, faster and cheaper through steady, standardized construction rather than one-off megaprojects. It modernizes the grid to free up the capacity the province already owns. It also coordinates resource development so Ontario captures the critical minerals supply chain the whole energy transition depends on, while protecting the places that genuinely deserve protecting.
Build clean baseload faster and cheaper than anywhere in North America. Continuous-build nuclear, hydro upgrades, renewables, storage, and the permitting capacity to deliver them at scale. Use Ontario's borrowing strength to bring the cost of clean power down.
Get the grid ready for far higher electricity consumption. Modernize transmission and distribution, sweat existing assets harder, and reward utilities for productivity instead of capital expansion. Make charging an EV, running a heat pump, or connecting a factory simple and cheap.
Coordinate permitting, Indigenous partnerships, and infrastructure so Ontario captures the critical minerals supply chain the energy transition depends on. Protect what should be protected; enable what should be enabled.
| Goal | Lower | Upper |
|---|---|---|
| Total — Clean Energy For A Prosperous Future | +$220M | +$50M |
| Make Ontario An Electric Superpower | +$170M | +$350M |
| Preparing Infrastructure For Energy Abundance | +$250M | $0 |
| Unlock Ontario's Resource Advantage | ($200M) | ($300M) |
Net budgetary impact over the Ontario Budget 2026 baseline. Negative numbers represent net new provincial spending; positive numbers represent net savings or revenue.
Detail on how each cost or savings estimate was derived. All figures represent net budgetary impact over the Ontario Budget 2026 baseline.
| Idea | Lower | Upper | How it was estimated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build a demand-responsive electricity system. | $0 | $0 | A planning approach, not a new program: IESO expands existing work within its current budget. Actual investment shows up in the baseload, transmission, and grid lines below. |
| Create a provincial permitting process for new electricity capacity. | ($30M) | ($50M) | A dedicated clean-energy permitting team costs $30-50M/yr. It pays for itself by shortening timelines, and the construction savings outweigh the cost over time. |
| Run a continuous-build clean power program. | $0 | $0 | Changes how Ontario buys and builds nuclear and clean power, using the capital budget already in place. Long-term construction savings count as reform dividends. |
| Complete environmental review and Indigenous consultation on future sites in advance. | $0 | $0 | Moves review and consultation earlier, handled within existing budgets of the environment ministry, natural resources ministry, and IESO. No new cost; saves time and money on later approvals. |
| Commit to major clean baseload expansion with nuclear and hydro at the centre. | $0 | $0 | Funded through electricity rates, federal money (Canada Infrastructure Bank, Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit), and OPG's balance sheet, not the provincial budget. Continuous building cuts the cost per unit of power. |
| Use renewables and energy storage to meet variable demand. | $0 | $0 | The private sector covers most renewables and storage capital through IESO procurement, so there is no cost to the provincial budget. |
| Move more electricity-system debt onto the provincial balance sheet. | +$200M | +$400M | Moving $5-20B of electricity-system debt onto the province's books refinances it at the lower provincial rate. The 1-4% rate gap yields $50-800M/yr in savings (central range $200-400M/yr) and removes hidden subsidies in electricity rates. |
| Make Ontario an early buyer and builder of fusion power. | $0 | $0 | Ontario offers conditional power-purchase agreements, not subsidies. Preparing sites, grid connections, and permits costs at most $20-50M/yr, and purchases happen only once the technology is proven. |
| Idea | Lower | Upper | How it was estimated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate transmission and grid expansion. | $0 | $0 | Funded through utility rates and repaid as new customers connect, so it does not draw on the provincial budget. Faster approvals unlock private and ratepayer investment. |
| Launch a proactive home electrification readiness program. | $0 | $0 | Local distribution companies carry home service upgrades, repaid as households use more electricity, so there is no provincial cost. Some support may be needed for low-income households. |
| Mandate a 20- to 30-year grid modernization plan. | $0 | ($500M) | An OEB requirement; Hydro One and local distribution companies carry the cost and recover it through rates. The $0-500M range reflects possible provincial co-investment in pilots or fairness measures for low-income customers. |
| Sweat existing electricity assets safely using digital grid technology. | +$250M | +$500M | Digital grid technology avoids or defers $250M-$1B/yr by getting more out of existing wires and transformers through real-time line ratings, sensor monitoring, and better maintenance. With the grid modernization plan above, this is the main source of savings. |
| Accelerate lower-cost grid expansion with non-wires solutions. | $0 | $0 | An OEB rule and incentive change, so it costs nothing directly. It defers capital-intensive grid builds and drives long-term efficiency gains across utility capital programs worth more than $20B. |
| End peak-capacity penalties for public EV charging. | $0 | $0 | An OEB rate-design change, so it costs nothing directly. It unlocks private EV-charging investment outside dense cores, where today's peak-demand charges make stations uneconomical. |
| Build a renewable natural gas strategy. | $0 | $0 | Coordinated within existing budgets of the natural resources ministry and IESO. Facilities are typically privately financed and repaid through the gas system, so there is no direct cost. |
| Work with the federal government on consumer climate incentives. | $0 | $0 | Federal-led; no provincial cost. Programs such as Canada Greener Homes and Oil to Heat Pump Affordability; Ontario coordinates and helps deliver. |
| Idea | Lower | Upper | How it was estimated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adopt a one project, one review, one year approach. | $0 | $0 | Streamlines review using existing capacity at the environment ministry and the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. No direct cost; removing duplicate processes cuts overall costs and saves time on major projects. |
| Work with Indigenous communities as equal partners in energy and resource development. | ($200M) | ($300M) | Consultation capacity, negotiation support, and Indigenous equity participation cost $200-300M/yr, modelled on BC's First Nations Equity Financing Framework. Part comes back through faster timelines and lower legal risk. |
| Support critical minerals development and value-added processing. | $0 | $0 | Funded within existing budgets: the Northern Roads program, Critical Minerals Strategy, and Ring of Fire initiatives. Adds nothing beyond existing commitments. |
| Expand and modernize Greenbelt and Bluebelt protections. | $0 | $0 | Mostly zoning and legislation, with minimal direct cost. Applicants pay the cost of reviewing any boundary change they request. |
| Reverse recent changes to conservation authority governance. | $0 | $0 | Funded within existing budgets, so it costs nothing. Modernizing approvals may yield modest efficiency gains. |
Every dollar goes to work — with up to 75% back in tax credits.
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