What Canada’s ambitious AI strategy means for business

Key Takeaways

• The Government of Canada’s national AI strategy focuses on adoption, competitiveness, and domestic capacity-building.
• Key initiatives aim for $200 billion growth, 250,000 AI-related jobs, and increasing AI adoption from 12% to 60% by 2034.
• The government’s AI regulatory approach is targeted rather than comprehensive. New legislation like Bill C-34 and Bill C-36 will regulate certain aspects of AI, enhance transparency, and protect privacy with a goal of fostering a trust-based environment.

The details and implications of the Government of Canada’s long-awaited national AI strategy are now coming into view. The June 4 release of AI for All, together with the introduction before Parliament of Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, Bill C-34, the Digital Safety Act, and Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, signals how the government intends to approach AI governance.

Taken together, these initiatives suggest a notable shift in Canada’s AI policy direction. Rather than pursuing a comprehensive AI-specific regulatory regime, the federal government appears to be prioritizing AI adoption, competitiveness and domestic capacity-building, while relying on targeted legislation, standards and existing regulatory frameworks to address identified risks and harms. The result is an approach that is ambitious in its economic objectives, but cautious in its approach to AI policy.

The ambition is visible in three key priority areas.

First, the strategy places AI at the center of Canada’s economic growth. It sets ambitious targets, including an additional $200 billion in growth, 250,000 new AI-related jobs over five years, and an increase in AI adoption from 12% to 60% by 2034. Promised policy actions to achieve these goals include helping SMEs adopt AI in priority sectors such as health, energy, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing; launching a national AI literacy initiative; providing trusted AI access to every post-secondary student; facilitating up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and placements for younger Canadians; and offering training and upskilling opportunities for mid-career professionals and frontline workers. Collectively, the breadth of these measures suggests accelerating AI adoption as a foundational element of the strategy.

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