{"id":714883,"date":"2026-06-04T16:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/714883\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T16:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:44:12","slug":"canada-unveils-ai-strategy-with-plans-for-large-scale-data-centres-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/714883\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada unveils AI strategy with plans for \u2018large-scale\u2019 data centres – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Artificial Intelligence<\/a> Minister Evan Solomon<\/a> on Thursday unveiled Canada\u2019s new AI strategy<\/a>, which includes proposals for the building of \u201clarge-scale\u201d data centres, restrictions on controversial surveillance pricing, and a plan to ramp up use across industry, government and individuals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cArtificial intelligence, the defining technology of our era, is here,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

Five key sectors of the economy were identified as targets for expanding AI adoption. These are health and life sciences, energy and natural resources, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing and robotics.<\/p>\n

The strategy proposes treating Canadian data held across a range of these and other sectors as a \u201cstrategic national asset\u2019 for use by AI innovators as part of a push to increase development and innovation, as well.<\/p>\n

The new AI strategy outlines six \u201cpillars\u201d or areas of focus, with the first pillar of the strategy aimed at \u201cprotecting Canadians and safeguarding democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada will introduce online safety laws to protect Canadians in the digital age, ensuring citizens, children, and customers are safeguarded,\u201d the AI strategy says.<\/p>\n

The federal government said it will modernize privacy and online safety laws to catch up to AI-powered harms such as deepfakes and synthetic media, the document says, adding that it will also put in place measures to protect Canadians against AI-generated disinformation that can affect elections, public discourse and trust in institutions.<\/p>\n

Canada will table consumer privacy legislation that \u201censures AI systems safeguard children\u2019s information from exploitation and harm,\u201d Carney said, adding that Ottawa will make \u201cthe development of child safety standards a priority\u201d at this month\u2019s G7 summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder our strategy, the government will introduce new legislation, regulations and standards to protect your data, your privacy, your children,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s privacy laws will be updated to \u201censure that Canadians\u2019 personal information is not used inappropriately, including for surveillance pricing,\u201d the document says.<\/p>\n

Ottawa will also spend $50 million to \u201cexpand the capabilities of the Canadian AI Safety Institute\u201d to study the emerging risks and dangers of AI as well as work to strengthen Canadian cybersecurity to protect critical systems from cyber-attacks from advanced AI systems.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n

The AI document identified a lack of trust in AI among Canadians as a key barrier to adoption. To address that, the federal government will create a \u201cCanada Trusted AI Certification\u201d program, that will identify \u201ctrustworthy AI products in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

During a technical briefing held by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), officials were repeatedly asked whether the federal government had an estimate for how many jobs would be lost in the process of AI adoption, and they did not answer.<\/p>\n

The AI strategy projects there will be 250,000 new jobs through the adoption of AI by 2031, noting the government commits to 90,000 \u201cAI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians to start their careers and support SMEs and nonprofits\u201d by that time.<\/p>\n

In February, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned that AI adoption may already be reducing the number of entry-level jobs<\/a> available to young people in Canada.<\/p>\n

The AI strategy does not provide an estimate for how many jobs would be lost because of AI adoption or the scale of the layoffs, but it lays out a \u201cNational AI Literacy Initiative\u201d to offer entry-level AI training for all Canadians.<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s AI literacy content will also be delivered to post-secondary students, with \u201cmore than 3,000 educators with AI learning kits in their classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government will also offer training and upskilling programs for mid-career workers and \u201cassess the societal, labour market, and economic impacts of AI,\u201d the document says.<\/p>\n

Canada has a \u201cmajor adoption\u00a0 gap\u201d when it comes to AI, with only 12 per cent of Canadian businesses using AI between mid-2024 and mid-2025, the document said.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The AI strategy aims to bring this up to 60 per cent by 2034, with a focus on helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) adopt AI.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

This includes a $500 million spending package from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to \u201chelp Canadian SMEs access financing to incorporate AI tools in their operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This will be done through the BDC\u2019s Lead with Innovation and Focus on Technology, or LIFT, program. The AI strategy also lays out the development of a \u201cAI Literacy and Adoption Assessment tool\u201d that will help small business assess their AI-readiness and needs.<\/p>\n

According to a recent report from the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, three U.S. tech firms \u2013 Amazon, Microsoft and Google \u2013 own 85 per cent of public cloud market share in Canada.<\/p>\n

The federal government is looking build a \u201csovereign AI foundation\u201d in Canada. This includes the building of a \u201cworld-leading public supercomputer\u201d in Canada and the construction of large\u2011scale AI data centres \u201cthat can scale to at least 100 megawatts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AI strategy says these \u201cpartnerships are being finalized\u201d with an aim to providing 850 MW of computing capacity by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cSovereign AI starts with sovereign infrastructure. Canada needs domestic data centre capacity and cloud services,\u201d the document says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI is only as powerful as the data it can access,\u201d the document says, adding that \u201cenormous volumes of valuable data across health, energy, transportation, agriculture, natural resources, and other critical sectors\u201d is \u201cprecisely the kinds of assets that AI capabilities increasingly depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

However, it said the data is \u201csiloed\u201d and the federal government will spend $100 million on standardizing disparate health information data sets.<\/p>\n

The federal government will add $500 million to the Canadian Tech Growth Fund to help AI startups access capital needed to scale up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will help them attract private capital, compete globally, retain talent and intellectual property, and remain anchored in Canada,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

While the document does not clarify whether this \u201cprivate capital\u201d will be Canadian or foreign investment, it adds that Canada will \u201cleverage\u201d its new Sovereign Wealth Fund \u201cwhere appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that the federal government will help domestic AI start ups \u201cexport their solutions globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government aims to \u201cattract FDI\u201d or foreign direct investment in Canada\u2019s AI sector, the document says.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada will expand the newly formed Sovereign Technology Alliance to enable secure and interoperable AI capabilities and open procurement opportunities for domestic champions,\u201d it adds<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon on Thursday unveiled Canada\u2019s new AI strategy, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[91371,276,45,49,48,83282,714,64],"class_list":["post-714883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ai-strategy","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-evan-solomon","tag-politics","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}