August Policy Digest: Powering Progress - Nuclear Partnerships and a New Path for Lumber
- Policy and Advocacy Team
- Sep 28
- 3 min read
This month’s policy spotlight is all about energy, innovation, and a resilient Canadian economy.
As governments around the world balance growing energy demands with environmental and economic pressures, North America is taking key steps toward a more sustainable and self-reliant future.
In this month’s Policy Digest, we explore two major policy developments shaping Canada and its relationship with the United States. The first centers on cross-border cooperation in nuclear energy, discussed at the Midwestern Legislative Conference in Saskatoon. With both nations seeking cleaner and more secure energy sources, the conversation signals a potential new era of collaboration built on shared resources and innovation.
The second focuses on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new direction for Canada’s softwood lumber industry - a plan that aims to promote domestic resources, support Canadian workers, and strengthen economic resilience in response to shifting trade relations with the U.S.
Together, these stories highlight how energy policy, trade, and sustainability are deeply interconnected in shaping the future of Canada’s economy and its partnerships abroad. This digest breaks down the key takeaways, long-term implications, and what these changes could mean for youth and future leaders engaged in policy, sustainability, and civic dialogue.
Nuclear Energy: Midwestern Legislative Conference
While power demands increase, nuclear energy poses a possible sustainable and reliable option.
The U.S. is the current global leader in nuclear reactors (Mazankowski, 2025). However, China’s nuclear power development is advancing at a high rate. During the Midwestern Legislative Conference in Saskatoon last month, leaders from the U.S. and Canada discussed the possibility for cross-border nuclear projects between the two countries (Mazankowski, 2025). The collaboration also aims to address energy security and the opportunity to maintain a leading force in nuclear power.
Saskatchewan and other Canadian provinces, have significant uranium reserves. By utilizing North American uranium, there is a decreased dependency on foreign support (Mazankowski, 2025). In the Mazankowski article, Tim Gitzel (CEO of Cameco) states, “We’ve got uranium from here, we’ve got conversion in Ontario… We’re working on enrichment in Wilmington, North Carolina” (2025).
Another resolution presented at the conference was exempting energy products from being affected by tariffs (Anderson, 2025). Energy trade between Canada and the U.S. was $153 billion in 2023 (Anderson, 2025). The demand for energy is expected to increase for both countries. Therefore, using domestic uranium reserves both streamlines energy exchange and decreases financial costs (Anderson, 2025).
A New Direction for Canadian Softwood Lumber
Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is launching a new direction for the softwood lumber industry in line with his Canadian economy plan to “shift from reliance to resilience” (Prime Minister of Canada, 2025). His new direction for the softwood lumber industry has several measures including: investing in market diversification, allocating funds for loan guarantees, providing training programs for lumber workers, building on off-shore markets and prioritizing Canadian resources for construction (Prime Minister of Canada, 2025).
This new initiative is in part to support the Build Canada Homes, a federal initiative focused on investing in affordable housing for Canadians (Government of Canada, 2025). The aim is for Build Canada Homes to financially support homebuilders who use Canadian resources like softwood lumber. In order to do so, Canadian lumber will be promoted as an inexpensive and sustainable option (Prime Minister of Canada, 2025). A part of Carney’s plan is to pair with Indigenous forestry groups (Prime Minister of Canada, 2025), although specifics of what that entails are not mentioned.
This new direction for the softwood lumber industry, can be linked in response to the U.S. raising duties on Canadian softwood lumber and having negative effects for both the U.S. and Canada (Kurjata, 2025). The loss of the U.S. market has hit British Columbians in the forest industry especially hard, including the loss of many jobs. Carney’s plan to invest over $1.2 billion, is expected to largely support B.C. (Kurjata, 2025). The change in the lumber industry is related to many STEM fields including natural resources, engineering, and sustainable planning.
References
Anderson, T, (2025, August 4). Midwest legislators pass resolutions on cross-border energy,
nuclear power. The Council of State Governments Midwestern Office.
Government of Canada. (2025, August 11). Engaging on Build Canada Homes.
Kurjata, Andrew. (2025, August 8). U.S. increases duties on Canadian softwood lumber,
bringing total to more than 35%. CBC.
Mazankowski, M. (2025, July 29). U.S. and Canada strengthen ties in push for nuclear
energy leadership. Global News.
Prime Minister of Canada. (2025, August 5). Prime Minister Carney announces new
measures to transform Canada’s softwood lumber industry.
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