Canada is unveiling an ambitious national AI strategy designed to transform how the country builds, governs, and adopts artificial intelligence over the next five years. The draft plan, titled "AI for All," obtained by CBC News, outlines six major pillars focused on protecting Canadians, scaling business adoption, establishing sovereign AI infrastructure, and creating a skilled workforce. The strategy seeks to move Canada from lagging behind global peers to becoming a leader in responsible AI development and deployment.

What Does Canada's AI Strategy Actually Aim to Accomplish?

The strategy sets specific, measurable targets for 2031. Canada wants to boost business adoption of AI from its current 12% to more than 50% by 2030, create up to 90,000 AI-related jobs for young Canadians, and support the creation of 250,000 new jobs across the economy through AI adoption. The plan also commits to providing all Canadians access to free AI literacy training, including reaching one million entry-level post-secondary students. Additionally, Canada aims to train more than 3,000 educators with AI learning kits for classroom use.

The strategy acknowledges a significant gap in Canada's AI readiness. According to a KPMG and University of Melbourne global trust study, Canada ranked very low among 47 countries on AI training, literacy, and trust in AI systems. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly lag behind their counterparts in Nordic countries, Germany, and France. To address this, the federal government proposes a national AI literacy initiative that will empower libraries and community organizations to bring AI education into every community.

How Will Canada Build a Sovereign AI Foundation?

• Compute Access Fund Expansion: Ottawa plans to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the AI Compute Access Fund, which currently has a $300 million budget. The fund covers two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services, addressing the fact that Canadian SMEs currently have no affordable domestic option and must train models on foreign platforms, sending money and sensitive data abroad.
• Multilateral Alliance Building: Canada aims to move from reliance to resilience by establishing a multilateral alliance that ensures sovereign autonomy in key AI capabilities, reducing dependence on foreign AI infrastructure and technology.
• Canadian Tech Growth Fund: The strategy proposes establishing a new fund to support Canadian AI champions and help scale homegrown AI companies, though specific details remain limited in the draft document.

The sovereignty pillar directly addresses a critical vulnerability. Canadian SMEs currently train and deploy AI models on foreign cloud platforms, which places sensitive intellectual property and data outside the country. By expanding the Compute Access Fund and creating domestic alternatives, Canada hopes to keep AI development and deployment within national borders while maintaining competitive capability.

What Safety and Protection Measures Are Included?

The strategy commits to modernizing online safety laws to protect Canadians, particularly children, from AI-related harms. However, the draft document does not specify what these modernizations will look like. The federal government has previously indicated it is "very seriously" considering age restrictions for social media and AI chatbots, though no official decision has been made. The strategy also commits to introducing new consumer privacy legislation that will enshrine a fundamental right to privacy and safeguard children's information from exploitation.

Additional protective measures include advancing work on AI transparency, such as watermarking AI-generated content so Canadians know when they interact with the technology. Canada will also invest tens of millions to expand the Canadian AI Safety Institute and create a Canada Trusted AI Certification program to help citizens identify trustworthy AI products. The strategy further commits to protecting elections from AI-enabled misinformation and foreign interference.

When Will This Strategy Actually Take Effect?

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the strategy would be released this week, following several months of delays. The document was presented to federal cabinet last week but remains a draft that could still be revised before final release. The Prime Minister's Office and the AI minister's office declined to provide comment to CBC News, but an official with knowledge of the strategy stated that its focus is increasing adoption, trust, and sovereign control of AI.

The strategy also proposes supporting SMEs through an AI Literacy and Adoption Assessment tool and other online resources to help businesses assess their AI readiness and understand potential business impacts. Ottawa plans to work with AI providers to help Canadian post-secondary students access AI agents from trusted providers, and will create job opportunities through the Student Work Placement Program, Canada Summer Jobs, and other initiatives like the Skills for Success Program and Mitacs ADOPT.

For mid-career workers, the draft strategy indicates that Ottawa will assess training and upskill offerings, including in skilled trades, to scale up employer-led training across the country with a priority on AI-related skills. The government will also track and assess the societal, labour market, and economic impacts of AI to guide policy, leveraging Statistics Canada's Artificial Intelligence and Technology Measurement Program, which was allocated $25 million over six years in the last federal budget.