On Aug. 14, 2003, a single software glitch in Ohio triggered a cascading failure that left more than 50 million people across the northeastern United States and Ontario without electricity. For several days, subways stopped, water plants failed, communications were disrupted, and food spoiled

I remember it vividly. Ten million Canadians lost electricity. In Toronto, people were stuck in elevators. Others had to walk dozens of blocks to get home because the transit system was frozen. Yet, remarkably, people adapted. Neighbours held impromptu cookouts to share food from their freezers with their neighbours. It became a fondly remembered story of community resilience.

But let’s be clear, we got lucky. The blackout happened in the summer, not in the dead of winter. It was caused by a technic

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