Canada’s $456B Megaprojects List: Building The Past Or Electrifying The Future? - CleanTechnica

Canada is preparing to invest approximately CAD 456 billion in 32 major infrastructure projects spanning sectors such as ports, high-speed rail, hydroelectricity, nuclear energy, mining, oil and gas, carbon capture, offshore wind, and transmission. While this ambitious program appears to be a bold nation-building effort, it reflects Canada’s existing contradictions: a disproportionate focus on legacy industries like oil, gas, and bulk commodity exports, and insufficient investment in infrastructure critical to electrification and a low-carbon future. The federal government aims to streamline project approvals through a new Major Projects Office and a single federal approval track to reduce review times and regulatory complexity, though many projects will be led and financed by private, provincial, and Indigenous partners. Applying reference class forecasting (RCF)—a method that adjusts official cost estimates based on historical overruns—reveals that Canada’s public cost projections are systematically underestimated by about one-third on average, with hydro and nuclear projects potentially exceeding estimates by over 50%. Transportation projects,