Merran Smith

Victoria, B.C.

Analysis, Opinion, Clean energy, clean technology

About Merran Smith

Merran Smith is a fellow at the Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and the founder and executive director of Clean Energy Canada — a clean energy and climate program at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue. Merran serves as co-chair of the B.C. government’s Climate Solutions Council, a member of the independent Task Force for a Resilient Recovery, and a Canadian representative of the C3E International Ambassador Corps.

Her 2018 work as co-chair of Natural Resources Canada’s Generation Energy Council helped ideas from a diverse group of stakeholders coalesce into recommendations that will shape Canada's energy future. For most of her career, Merran has worked to unite industry, government, and civil society organizations to solve pressing social and ecological challenges.

Her leadership in the landmark Great Bear Rainforest conservation agreement helped ensure the protection of thousands of kilometres of coastal ecosystem. Merran has received numerous leadership distinctions, including being named to Vancouver Magazine's 2020 Power 50 List, winning the 2019 SFU President’s Social Media Newsmaker Award, Clean Energy BC's 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, the Vancouver Board of Trade's 2016 Wendy McDonald Community Catalyst award, and the Clean 16 award in 2014 for leadership in clean capitalism.

19 Articles

There is only one path to long-term energy security and affordability: clean energy

New analysis from Clean Energy Canada calculated the total ownership costs of equivalent electric and gas cars and found that EV versions always end up cheaper than their gas counterparts, despite their higher sticker price.

Opinion | April 1st 2022

Canada’s election comes at a critical time in the climate fight

The Liberals, NDP and Greens all aim to build on Canada’s climate efforts. They want to increase both ambition and action — and one party, the Conservatives, wants to go backward, write Clean Energy Canada's Merran Smith and Sarah Petrevan.

Election 2021

Opinion, Politics | September 1st 2021

Forget Keystone — Canada needs a cross-border clean energy economy

It was former prime minister Pierre Trudeau who once described sharing a border with America as akin to sleeping with an elephant. “No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast,” he said, “one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

Opinion | November 17th 2020

Memo to O’Toole: The road down the middle is paved with a credible climate plan

Opinion | August 31st 2020

Let’s come out of COVID-19 with a new economy

Canada’s traditionally strong oil and gas sector will never return to its halcyon boom days of the early 2000s. We need to rebuild the economy we want: a cleaner, resilient one.

Coronavirus in Canada

Opinion | April 8th 2020

Photograph by Andrew S. Wright for National Observer, oil sands, 2013

The Frontier decision is symbolic, but not in the way you’ve been led to believe

Opinion | February 21st 2020

This is a solar cell panel array in Manchester, Vermont, USA. Photo by MarkBuckawicki Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

False hope or a fair energy transition? Both are on the ballot

Opinion | October 19th 2019

Pundits' whataboutism threatens Canada's climate progress

A false equivalency has been drawn between the Conservative and Liberal climate plans, which couldn’t be more different.

Opinion | October 3rd 2019

We must make Canada's power grid even cleaner

If we’re to hit our climate targets and decarbonize Canada by 2050, we’ll need more electricity. After all, electrification — that is, getting everything onto our increasingly clean power grid — is the ribbon that ties all of our climate efforts together.

Opinion, Energy | August 23rd 2019

How to misrepresent good climate policy

In an argument put forward to scrap the clean fuel standard, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer claimed it was ‘a secret fuel tax’ that would increase the cost of gas by four cents.

Opinion | July 22nd 2019