Labour is “enabling infrastructure”, and Canada cannot build the electricity system of the future without the people needed to make it happen. This is a key finding of a new discussion paper from Electricity Canada and Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa.
The new report, Building Canada's Electricity Workforce: Aligning Policy, Investment, and Talent for Growth examines one of the sector's most pressing challenges: ensuring there are enough skilled workers to build, operate and maintain the electricity system Canadians depend on.
Electricity demand in Canada could increase by approximately 50 per cent by 2050. At the same time, it is anticipated that nearly 28,000 new employees will be needed across the sector by 2028, driven by both industry growth and a wave of expected retirements.
Building Canada's Electricity Workforce: Aligning Policy, Investment, and Talent for Growth explores workforce opportunities and challenges facing Canada's electricity sector and identifies actions needed to ensure the industry can meet growing demand while supporting a reliable, affordable and increasingly clean electricity system.
Among the issues raised by the discussion paper:
- Finding enough skilled workers is one of the biggest challenges facing the electricity sector.
- Approximately 15,700 retirements are expected across Canada's electricity workforce between 2023 and 2028, with 57 per cent of hiring needs driven by replacing retiring employees.
- Identifying workforce gaps early can help reduce project delays, manage costs, and support the timely delivery of critical infrastructure.
- Workforce needs must be considered alongside infrastructure planning, regulatory decisions, and investments to help keep projects on track and ensure they are delivered successfully.
- While 60 per cent of electricity-sector employees currently use artificial intelligence tools, only 24 per cent have received formal AI training.
By bringing together perspectives from across industry, government, academia, labour, and Indigenous communities, Building Canada's Electricity Workforce: Aligning Policy, Investment, and Talent for Growth aims to inform discussion and support practical actions that will help ensure Canada has the workforce needed to power future growth.
The discussion paper can be found on Electricity Canada's website.
QUOTES
"People are the foundation of Canada's electricity future. We can secure financing, obtain approvals even procure equipment, but without the skilled workforce to deliver projects, everything will eventually stall. If Canada wants to build the electricity system needed to power economic growth and electrification, workforce planning must be treated with the same urgency as every other form of critical infrastructure."
- Josée Guibord, President and CEO, Electricity Canada
“The workforce needed to build and operate the electricity system of the future cannot be developed by any one sector acting alone. Success will depend on governments, industry, labour, Indigenous partners and educational institutions working together to align talent development with infrastructure needs and ensure Canada has the capacity to deliver on its electricity ambitions.”
- Monica Gattinger, Founding Chair, Positive Energy