Canada is recalibrating its electric vehicle strategy on multiple fronts, reshaping both trade policy and domestic regulations. The January trade agreement with China is rippling through the country’s auto sector, placing electric vehicles at the centre of a broader effort to strengthen and diversify trade agreements with new and existing partners.

At a pivotal moment in the dialogue about Canada’s role as an energy superpower, Canada Powered by Women’s CEO, Tracey Bodnarchuk, sat down with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on January 20 for a fireside chat at the sold-out Energy Now Insights Event attended by over 300 business leaders.

As we move into 2026, Canada Powered by Women is reflecting on a year that reshaped how Canadians think about energy, trade, and economic security.

With Bill 40 now law and a priority transmission line advancing through a new First Nations agreement, Ontario is linking energy security with economic development more directly than before. 

Mark Carney’s words have put a familiar idea back at the centre of Canada’s energy conversation: becoming an energy superpower. The term signals ambition, and it’s something we pay close attention to because we know how important it is to engaged women. But it also makes us pause to ask, what exactly is an energy superpower? 

Canada has entered a new period of energy cooperation, marking one of the biggest shifts in federal–provincial alignment on energy priorities in years.  

B.C.’s decision to support a 40 per cent capacity increase to the Trans Mountain pipeline system marks a notable shift in Canada’s energy landscape. After years of opposition to the original expansion, the province is now backing an optimization plan that could move more Alberta crude to the West Coast as early as 2026.

A growing theme across global climate forums, national policy announcements and international research is that climate action and economic prosperity are increasingly part of the same conversation.  

For years, Canada’s mining potential has been limited by slow permitting, lack of infrastructure and uncertainty around how projects align with environmental and Indigenous priorities. Momentum is now building.