Canada is a cold, huge country with energy-hungry industries, so Canadians use more energy per person than people in most other countries. It is also an energy giant. In 2023, the Canada Energy Regulator ranked Canada fourth in the world for oil production and fifth for natural gas, and by the CER's count Canada holds the world's third-largest proven oil reserves (some sources rank it fourth), mostly in the oil sands. At the same time, most of Canada's electricity comes from sources that release little or no greenhouse gas. Both facts matter for jobs, for trade and for climate change. This lesson asks: what are the choices, and what does each one cost?
Canada's energy sources
Keep two ideas apart. Electricity is only part of the energy we use, and in Canada it is mostly clean: in 2021 about 60 percent came from hydroelectricity, and nuclear, wind and solar add much of the rest (Canada Energy Regulator). But most of the energy that moves our cars, trucks and planes and heats many of our homes still comes from oil and natural gas. That is why cutting emissions means both keeping electricity clean and switching more uses (vehicles, heating) over to electricity.
| Province or territory | Main electricity sources | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador | Mostly hydroelectricity | Large rivers dropping off the Shield or through mountains, with room for big reservoirs |
| Ontario | Nuclear and hydro, plus natural gas, wind and solar | Few undeveloped large rivers near cities; nuclear plants built since the 1970s; coal phased out by 2014 |
| Alberta | Mostly natural gas, with fast-growing wind and solar | Plentiful local gas; Alberta stopped burning coal for electricity in 2024; sunny, windy southern Prairies |
| Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia | Natural gas and coal, with some wind and hydro | Local coal and gas supplies; how quickly to replace coal is debated |
| Remote northern communities | Often diesel generators | Not connected to a provincial grid; fuel is brought in by barge, winter road or air |
Clean electricity in Ontario
The largest share of Ontario's electricity comes from three nuclear stations: Bruce on Lake Huron (one of the largest operating nuclear plants in the world), Darlington and Pickering east of Toronto. All three use CANDU reactors (CANada Deuterium Uranium), a Canadian design that uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water to slow neutrons so that fission keeps going. The uranium can come from home: Canada is one of the world's largest uranium producers, from rich mines in northern Saskatchewan. Nuclear power runs steadily day and night and releases almost no greenhouse gas, but plants are very expensive and slow to build, and used fuel stays radioactive for thousands of years. In 2024 the Nuclear Waste Management Organization chose an area near Ignace in northwestern Ontario, with the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, for a deep underground repository for Canada's used fuel. Ontario is also building small modular reactors at Darlington, starting in 2025. Natural gas plants fill in when demand peaks or reactors are being refurbished, so the gas share rises in some years. In 2025, for example, roughly 46 percent of Ontario's electricity came from nuclear, about 22 percent from hydro, about 19 percent from natural gas and about 9 percent from wind, because demand grew and several reactors were offline for refurbishment.
| Source | Advantages | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|
| Hydroelectric | Renewable; very low emissions; reservoirs store water, so output can be controlled; plants last a century | Large dams flood land, homes and hunting grounds; block fish; can raise mercury levels in fish; need suitable rivers |
| Nuclear | Steady, large output; very low emissions; small land area | High cost and long construction; long-lived radioactive waste; rare but serious accident risk |
| Wind | Flow resource; no fuel cost or emissions while running; farmers can earn rent | Variable output; noise and landscape concerns; bird and bat deaths; needs backup or storage |
| Solar | Flow resource; panels on rooftops produce power where it is used; costs have dropped sharply | Nothing at night and less in winter at Canada's latitudes; large solar farms use land |
| Natural gas | Can be turned up or down quickly; cheaper and cleaner-burning than coal | Non-renewable; releases carbon dioxide; methane can leak from wells and pipes |
Oil and natural gas
Alberta produces most of Canada's oil, and most of that oil is exported, the great majority to the United States by pipeline. New export routes have opened recently: the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the BC coast began operating in 2024, and LNG Canada at Kitimat, BC, began shipping liquefied natural gas to Asia in 2025. Oil and gas bring jobs, company profits and billions of dollars in royalties and taxes that pay for schools and hospitals. They are also Canada's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and spills, tailings and pipelines through traditional territories raise environmental and rights concerns. People weigh these trade-offs very differently depending on where they live and what they value.