Canada AI, Economy, Society May 2026-

The Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Canada is a global AI leader
(CIFAR) … Launched in 2017 as the first national AI strategy in the world, it supports the recruitment and retention of top researchers and the training of emerging leaders to ensure long-term excellence and innovation in AI.
Our three National AI Institutes — Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal, and the Vector Institute in Toronto — are the vibrant hubs that foster cutting-edge research and cultivate talent. Together, we forge national and international collaborations in the rapidly advancing field of AI.
These efforts are translating into real-world impacts for Canada such as the creation of new startups and jobs, catalyzing the commercialization of innovative products and services and supporting a vibrant Canadian economy.
21 January 2026
A Year of Impact for AI Safety in Canada
In 2025, the CAISI Research Program at CIFAR awarded $2.4M in funding to advance innovative research in AI safety
In just one year of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (CAISI) Research Program at CIFAR, $2.4M was deployed to catalyze 12 groundbreaking research projects designed to identify and mitigate the risks of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
2025 Year In Review Report: Building Safe AI for Canadians

5-6 June
CBC Radio Front Burner: Minister [Evan Solomon] defends Canada’s new AI strategy – Transcript

Is Carney’s strategy truly ‘AI For All’?
CBC Radio The House with Catherine Cullen
After a long wait, Canada’s AI strategy has arrived — a document that encourages people to learn and adopt the technology in the hopes of creating 250,000 new jobs. Host Catherine Cullen speaks with AI experts and skeptics Jake Hirsch-Allen, Kristen Thomasen and Hamish van der Ven about what it means for employment, children’s safety and the environment. Then, Minister of AI Evan Solomon joins the program to explain why Canadians need to understand this technology despite their low trust in it.

AI Scribes in the Clinic: What Patients Should Know
Sophie Tseng Pellar, Student Contributor
AI scribes promise to ease clinician workload, but questions about accuracy, privacy, and patient consent reveal a more complicated reality.
(McGill OSS) Ambient AI scribes are designed to address a growing problem in modern healthcare: the burden of clinical documentation. These tools use machine learning to listen to clinician–patient conversations and generate structured notes in real time. Unlike traditional dictation software or human scribes, they operate passively in the background, allowing physicians to focus more on their patients rather than their screens. In theory, this shifts documentation from a time-consuming, after-hours task into an integrated part of the clinical encounter.
Accuracy is where the technology faces its most serious challenges. While AI-generated notes are often more structured and comprehensive in format, they do not consistently match the quality of physician-written documentation. One study found errors in the majority of AI-generated notes, with omissions being the most common issue. These errors are particularly difficult to detect and can carry real clinical risk. As a result, all current evidence agrees on one point: clinician review is essential. AI scribes are not “set-it-and-forget-it” tools; they require active oversight.
Beyond clinical performance, ethical, legal, and social concerns add another layer of complexity. Patient acceptance of AI scribes is far from universal. Studies show that many patients are hesitant, especially when given detailed information about how their data is used.

1-4 June
Prime Minister Carney launches AI for All: Canada’s new national artificial intelligence strategy
The world is changing rapidly, with intensifying economic competition, accelerating technological change, and a global race to secure the talent, infrastructure, and innovation that will define the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the centre of that transformation, changing how people live and work, how businesses compete, and how countries protect their sovereignty.
While Canada has world-class talent and one of the fastest-growing digital sectors in the G7, we are among the slowest countries to adopt AI at scale. This gap risks undermining public trust, driving Canadian talent and startups abroad, and leaving critical parts of our AI ecosystem under foreign control. With the global AI market projected to reach U.S.$4.8 trillion by 2033, Canada has a limited but real opportunity to ensure AI works for all Canadians – to harness this technology to create jobs, protect Canadians, and strengthen our prosperity.
Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, launched AI for All, Canada’s new national AI strategy. Over the next five years, this strategy will introduce new legislation, investments, and programs that ensure AI is adopted responsibly, in a way that truly serves all Canadians – building trust, expanding opportunities, and reinforcing control of our sovereignty.
Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All

Canada unveils AI strategy with plans for widespread adoption, data centres
(Global News) Prime Minister Mark Carney and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon on Thursday unveiled Canada’s new AI strategy, which includes proposals for the building of “large-scale” data centres, restrictions on controversial surveillance pricing, and a plan to ramp up use across industry, government and individuals.
“Artificial intelligence, the defining technology of our era, is here,” Carney said at an event in Toronto.
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.
What is in Canada’s AI strategy?
The new AI strategy outlines six “pillars” or areas of focus, with the first pillar of the strategy aimed at “protecting Canadians and safeguarding democracy.”
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.
Canada will table consumer privacy legislation that “ensures AI systems safeguard children’s information from exploitation and harm,” Carney said, adding that Ottawa will make “the development of child safety standards a priority” at this month’s G7 summit. …
Ottawa will also spend $50 million to “expand the capabilities of the Canadian AI Safety Institute” 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.
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 “Canada Trusted AI Certification” program, that will identify “trustworthy AI products in the marketplace.” …
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 “AI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians to start their careers and support SMEs and nonprofits” by that time.
In February, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned that AI adoption may already be reducing the number of entry-level jobs available to young people in Canada.
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 “National AI Literacy Initiative” to offer entry-level AI training for all Canadians.
5 things missing from Canada’s AI strategy, from timelines to job impacts
Canada’s new artificial intelligence strategy unveiled Thursday contains a number of promises and plans for AI-based job growth, adoption and growing Canada’s digital and industrial sovereignty — but it’s also missing some key details.
Those include things like estimates for potential layoffs caused by AI and how the government might respond, insight into the specifics of promised privacy and online harms legislation, any detailed mention of regulation or a plan to mitigate environmental concerns around data centres, and any clear timelines for when most of the government’s promises will be achieved.

Draft federal AI strategy aims to scale up adoption, offer literacy training by 2031
National strategy, which could be revised, is light on details for AI safety
(CBC) A draft version of Canada’s national AI strategy outlines a drive to scale up business adoption and provide all Canadians access to free AI literacy training, but is short on specifics regarding how the federal government will protect Canadians from the technology’s potentially harmful effects.
The document, obtained by CBC News and titled “AI for All,” says the decisions Canada makes today “about how we build, govern and adopt AI — will fundamentally shape our collective future.”
The PM considers the pope a leader in the field of AI. When they spoke Friday, they talked about how the technology “must serve humanity, beginning with the protection of the individual,” according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The conversation provides a preview of Carney’s pitch for Canada’s AI strategy. During the call, Carney said he wants Canada “to lead internationally on responsible AI and tools to benefit the global economy.”
In AI we trust?
(Politico) CARNEY’S AI TEST — After Canada’s long-awaited AI strategy is unveiled this week, Prime Minister MARK CARNEY’s next job will be to convince Canadians to trust it.
Poll after poll shows Canadians are worried about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, misinformation and daily life. At the same time, the PM has made economic growth his central mission, and economists, including at the Bank of Canada, argue that Canada is not going to get there without AI.
— AI or bust: Even Google’s chief economist FABIEN CURTO MILLET recently told Playbook that without AI, Carney won’t be able to fulfill his dream of making Canada the fastest-growing economy in the G7.

3-4 June
Supersized data centres are coming to Canada. One province is at the epicentre
So far, Canada has 5 hyperscale data centres. Another 96 are in development.
(CBC) A new national AI strategy by the federal government this week comes at a time when the country is confronting a wave of new high-powered data centres, while public sentiment could be souring on the impacts of the new technology.
Data centres have long been under-the-radar for many Canadians, but that’s about to change.
New research from York University points to a dramatic shift in data centres in the country: The ones being built now have 10 times the capacity of what’s come before, which is driving up concerns about the land, water, and energy they consume.
New polling from Angus Reid shows 68 per cent of respondents would oppose a large AI data centre being built within a few blocks of their home, with rural Canadians slightly more resistant (73 per cent) compared to those living in cities. (67 per cent).
This week, the state of Florida launched a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that ChatGPT is unsafe, while the White House is tightening regulations on the sector after previously loosening rules. Even the Pope recently spoke out about the dangers of AI.
A hyperscale AI data centre boom is coming (video)
A boom in hyperscale AI data centres in Canada is coming, promising economic opportunity and tech sovereignty, but as CBC’s Nora Young explains, there’s a growing resistance to the impact the massive, power-hungry facilities have on local communities.

29-30 May
Carney discussed artificial intelligence with Pope Leo
(Winnipeg Free Press) Prime Minister Mark Carney told Pope Leo XIV on Friday that Canada wants to take a leadership role in the responsible development of artificial intelligence.
The conversation happened days after the Pope called for robust regulation of AI.
“They discussed the imperative that AI must serve humanity, beginning with the protection of the individual,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a release
Carney, Pope Leo discuss responsible AI after pontiff warns world to slow development
Pope says AI systems can spread misinformation, prioritize conflict and risk war
(CBC) Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Pope Leo about artificial intelligence and the “imperative that AI must serve humanity” — a conversation that comes days after the Pope urged governments to slow down the development of AI systems.
In a readout distributed to reporters on Friday afternoon, Carney’s office said the prime minister, a devout Catholic, is “welcoming the Pope’s leadership in this field.”
“Prime Minister Carney expressed Canada’s desire to lead internationally on responsible AI and tools to benefit the global community,” the readout said.

25 May
Pope Leo warns that AI challenges must be confronted with regulation, transparency in his 1st encyclical
Takes aim at AI use in warfare, saying it’s ‘not permissible’ to entrust systems with lethal decisions
Pope Leo urged governments to slow down the development of AI systems in the first enyclical of his papacy, warning that they spread misinformation, prioritize conflict and risk leading the world down a path of unending war.
Leo called for ownership of AI data not to be left solely in private hands, for policy-makers to protect the rights of workers and keep children safe from the technology, and urged the cooling of competition between AI companies.
“What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating,” said Leo in the text, entitled Magnifica Humanitas, or, Magnificent ​Humanity.
The Pope called for “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its ​responsibility.”
Invoking the biblical ​story of the Tower of Babel — where a human tribe is ⁠driven by pride to try to create a tower tall enough to reach Heaven, angering God — the Pope said the story shows the risk of any enterprise that “aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing.”
… Speaking in the Vatican at Pope Leo’s presentation, Anthropic’s Canadian co-founder Chris Olah said the development of artificial intelligence cannot ‌be left solely to technology companies, urging greater oversight from religious leaders, governments ​and civil society.
Olah said there ⁠was “a ⁠real possibility” ‌that AI will displace human labour “at very large scale.”
“If that happens, supporting those displaced will be ⁠a moral imperative of historic proportions,” said Olah.

6 March
Will Canada govern AI for the public good?
Beyond the AI race, Canada must take real steps to create a sovereign and democratic AI—and do so in coordination with other middle powers
Rachel Pettigrew
(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) This year, India hosted the Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit in a historically significant shift, becoming the first Global South nation to convene world leaders to debate the future of AI. The summit was the largest yet, drawing 250,000 participants including AI company executives, government leaders, and ministerial delegates. At the core of those debates were two ideas that governments are increasingly invoking but struggling to define: sovereign AI and democratic AI.
Canada’s AI minister was not only in attendance but busy meeting with Indian officials to discuss cooperation and technology partnerships. This follows Canada and Germany’s joint declaration of intent and the launch of the Sovereign Technology Alliance, all of which are taking shape against the backdrop of an intensifying rivalry that has come to define the global AI landscape.
U.S.–China relations are increasingly defined as a great power competition, with AI now at its centre. Leaders in both countries frame AI as the defining technology of the 21st century, one that will determine economic dominance, military superiority, and whose values get embedded in the global technological ecosystem. This zero-sum framing has pushed governance to the margins as both powers flex their geopolitical muscle to ensure rapid AI development continues unabated.
Canada is positioning itself as a potential anchor of a middle power alternative to this AI race. However, what it did not bring to the summit was a functioning AI law, meaningful worker protections, or a credible answer to how it plans to govern the technology it is so eager to develop. This is the central contradiction of the “middle power moment:” the countries best positioned to offer an alternative are the same ones still struggling to demonstrate that democratic AI governance is possible.
If Canada’s AI alliances are to matter, these countries must be prepared to set and defend global regulatory standards and rein in private ownership. Sovereignty is not proclaimed—it is demonstrated in the policy choices governments make when corporations or powerful states push back.