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History of electricity in Canada
Development of the electric sector accelerated after the First World War with the creation of provincial utilities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, in the 1920s. Publicly owned electric companies put a strong focus on rural electrification and hydroelectric development.The Quebec government was a latecomer as far as its involvement in the electricity sector is concerned. After an anarchic period, the industry consolidated into a duopoly of investor-owned utilities. In Quebec's largest city, Montreal Light, Heat and Power (MLHP) became the dominant player through mergers with competitors.
In the rest of the province, Shawinigan Water; Power Company (SWP) attracted large industrial customers, aluminium smelters, carbide plants and pulp and paper mills, with an hydroelectric complex built on the Saint-Maurice River. In 1930, SWP had grown to become the leading power company in Quebec, and one of the largest hydroelectric companies in the world.
Calls for nationalization of the industry began during the Great Depression, after a political scandal surrounded the construction of the Beauharnois Hydroelectric Power Station, on the Saint Lawrence River, west of Montreal.
Critics attacked the "electricity trust" for their abusive rates and excessive profits. The campaign, masterminded by Philippe Hamel and T. D. Bouchard, led to the nationalization of MLHP and the creation of Hydro-Québec by the liberal government of Adélard Godbout in 1944.
The other electric companies were taken over by Hydro-Québec in 1963, following an snap election on the issue of electricity spearheaded by René Lévesque, the provincial minister in charge of Natural Resources in the Jean Lesage government.
