A Postcard from Canada: 2030
Canada in 2030 is a nation profoundly transformed and yet instantly recognizable. A familiarity lingers on the streets of Canadian cities and towns, but they are certainly not the same as they were more than a decade before.
Some changes are highly visible. Solar panels adorn thousands of roofs, sidewalks on busy city thoroughfares make room for electric vehicle charging outlets. The streets are still bustling, but pedestrians, bicycles, and light-rail trains share the roadway in harmony with a mix of next-generation cars — some ultra-fuel efficient, others powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel — with a growing number of them autonomous multi-occupant vehicles that were hailed by smartphone.
Sturdy, old single-family homes still line many side streets, but inside they boast state-of-the-art appliances and insulation that save energy and add convenience. And there are more residential options on display among them — rows of townhouses and mid- rise apartment blocks, live/work and aging-in-place facilities, all built to the hyper-efficient building codes of the 2020s. Public parks abound, with kids playing while parents tend community gardens or return a shared weed whacker to the local tool library. Perhaps the biggest change, all but invisible, is the way parked electric cars and energy-hungry appliances communicate with the grid and each other throughout the neighbourhood, checking prices minute by minute, brokering deals between power stored overnight in car batteries and washers full of clothes waiting for an inexpensive moment to start their cycles.
Rural and Indigenous communities also benefit from this wave of innovation, allowing them to keep pace with the transformations underway while maintaining rural lifestyles and Indigenous values, traditions and rights.
Across the country, people still go to work at manufacturing plants, mining operations, construction firms, retail stores, and family farms — most of which are now among the leaders in finding ways to minimize environmental impacts through human ingenuity and the latest technologies and practices. And more and more people are employed in the booming clean-tech economy, working in high-demand areas like water technology, advanced vehicle components, and smart-grid design.
They live and work in cities, towns, and communities across the country that rank among the world’s elite in sustainability and livability. Over the course of the 2020s, Canada became a leading player in the global shift to smart prosperity — a set of policies and principles that have come to form the core of the stronger, cleaner economies that thrive in the new global marketplace. But this new foundation rests on the same sound values, vibrant communities, and economic pragmatism that made Canada a thriving industrial economy in the first place.
Looking back from Canada in 2030, it can be difficult to recall where the divisions once lay. From Parliament Hill to Main Street and from Bay Street to the Oil Patch, no one talks anymore about a healthy environment and a prosperous economy as divergent goals to be traded against each other. In meeting the fundamental challenge of the 21st century — forging a new economic path that yields greater dividends while reducing environmental costs — Canadians have built on our strengths to find a better way of meeting our needs.
The transformation began with policy innovations more than a decade earlier, measures like British Columbia’s pioneering carbon tax, Ontario’s coal phase-out and catalytic green bond program, Nova Scotia’s waste management regime, carbon pricing in Quebec and Alberta, and the clean-tech incubator Sustainable Development Technology Canada. These and other initiatives like them inspired a wave of policies and innovations, producing a robust, fast-growing clean-technology sector nationwide. Canadian companies such as the waste-to-energy pioneer Enerkem, the photovoltaic innovator Morgan Solar, and the smart home pacesetter Ecobee, established early benchmarks in their sectors. Canada was soon punching above its weight in a growing global clean-tech market now worth more than $5 trillion annually.
It’s no longer a surprise to see major energy, manufacturing, and resource companies routinely working side by side with Indigenous Peoples, government and environmental groups. Model initiatives like the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement and the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance demonstrated how such alliances can create opportunities to expand market share and export cleaner products worldwide. Canadian cities are global beacons for innovations ranging from green urban design (Vancouver) to advanced waste management (Edmonton) to urban green space (Ottawa). And Canadians in communities coast to coast now find they no longer need to compromise between the right choice and the affordable one in their everyday lives.
The smart prosperity transformation began in that pivotal year: 2016. The world’s most advanced economic players had already begun forging cleaner, more innovative economies. The historic Paris Climate Agreement, mounting environmental pressures, and the economic downturn wrought by volatile resource prices made it clear that the status quo was no longer sustainable, and Canada was at risk of falling behind. Canadians from every business sector, every level of government, and all walks of life came together to meet this challenge, spurred by five key actions:
• empowering ecopreneurship through public and private initiatives that accelerate clean innovation and technology across all sectors
• creating a high-performance, low-impact economy through a big boost in energy and resource efficiency
• creating market rewards for making the right choices by pricing pollution and waste
• building the backbone of the new clean economy by making smart long-term investments in advanced infrastructure and skills
• safeguarding our abundant natural capital for future generations by renewing our commitment to conserve and value nature
It once seemed to some that Canada’s starting position was a handicap in this race — its small population scattered across a vast landmass with a cold climate and a resource-intensive economy. But this turned out to provide a powerfully innovative laboratory for solutions. Not only did Canadian companies and communities find their own way to smart prosperity, they helped invent practical approaches for jurisdictions far beyond their borders. Canadian businesses uncovered new global opportunities; Canadian workers found rewarding jobs that harnessed their skills to solve environmental problems, while Indigenous Peoples combined traditional knowledge with new technologies and approaches to address their unique needs and help to build a stronger, sustainable economy.
In Calgary, a long-standing municipal commitment to renewable energy combined with ambitious provincial climate policy to create a vibrant hub for clean-tech companies engaged in everything from geothermal power to carbon capture. Sault Ste. Marie emerged from Ontario’s coal phase-out as a global laboratory for cutting-edge smart-grid technology. The visionary oil and gas developer Imaginea Energy, meanwhile, was one of the first companies anywhere to eliminate the carbon footprint from conventional oil production and became a model for the global industry. And long-established companies like grocery giant Loblaw found that being an early adopter in reducing waste and promoting sustainable products was a boost to their bottom line and drove new business growth.
Across the board, Canadian governments, businesses, and communities have used smart policies and incentives, built on our traditional economic strengths, to establish “Made in Canada” as a globally trusted brand for clean innovation and performance.
This is what smart prosperity’s destination looks like. It’s not a utopia, it is a nation firmly and irreversibly committed to decoupling environmental harm from economic growth and thriving in a hyper-efficient, low-pollution age. This is the Canada we all need, and this report lays out a practical roadmap for the journey that leads there. Using smarter policies, processes, advanced infrastructure, and technology; wasting less; and boosting our resource and energy efficiency, we can get there.
This transformation is already underway. There are many examples of Canadian innovations already in use, building smart prosperity’s foundations. We are making real progress, but it needs to be scaled up and accelerated. It’s only possible to secure our place in this new economy if we begin now.
Canada can do this. Let’s get started.
Smart Prosperity is a brand new Canadian initiative aimed to build a stronger and cleaner economy. The initiative is backed by a broad group of Canadians from all parts of society (business, resources, cleantech, youth, Indigenous people, researchers, environmental groups, labour organizations).
To learn more, please visit www.smartprosperity.ca
