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.
“I think Canadians are expecting real answers on safety, on security, on privacy and on the future of AI in this country,” Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman told reporters in Ottawa after the announcement of the strategy, which she called “very ambitious” but also “very short on details.”
Here’s a closer look at what still needs explaining after the 50-page strategy’s release:
The strategy itself is presented as a five-year plan, which also includes a goal of scaling up AI adoption from just 12 per cent of Canadian businesses to 60 per cent by 2034.
Besides that, however, there are no clear timetables or key performance indicators that lay out when the strategy’s core outcomes should be achieved.
“I think that’s one of the biggest blind spots of this strategy,” said Florian Martin-Bariteau, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, who noted Canada is “already late” in delivering the strategy itself after months of missed deadlines.
“Canadians, citizens, immigrants, industry, and also public servants, they need to trust the government that they will actually deliver on this and when.”
Martin-Bariteau said it’s also unclear from the strategy who in government is in charge of ensuring the goals outlined in the strategy are actually achieved.
“Is it the prime minister directly, is it (Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon), is it a group of ministers, or do they have an expert group to support them,” he asked. “We don’t know.”
The strategy’s one other clear date is a proposal, through public-private partnerships, to provide 850MW of sovereign compute capacity to Canada’s electricity grid by 2030.
“While AI for All contains a number of promising ideas, it spreads its priorities broadly and does not yet provide a sufficiently clear roadmap for helping Canadian AI companies grow into globally competitive firms that create and retain economic value in Canada,” Laurent Carbonneau, vice-president of policy and advocacy for the Council of Canadian Innovators, said in a statement.
The strategy mentions upcoming, long-promised legislation to address online harms and modernize Canada’s consumer privacy law, but does not mention when those bills will be tabled.
The privacy legislation will enshrine “a fundamental right to privacy” into law, the strategy says, while safeguarding children’s information from exploitation and harm and strengthening Canadians’ control over their personal data.
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The online harms bill will aim to safeguard Canadians, particularly children, from digital risks including those posed by AI, according to the strategy.
Sara Austin, founder and CEO of Children First Canada, says the government has “put the cart before the horse” by prioritizing adoption and industry without getting proper safeguards in place immediately.
“We don’t know what the scope of that (legislation) will be, and it will take months for that to work its way through through Parliament and be passed — let alone for an independent regulator to be established,” she said in an interview.
“I’m very worried that parents and children are being asked to take a leap of faith, and that the protection of children is taking a back seat to innovation. These things need to be hand-in-hand.”
The strategy makes no concrete commitments to regulating the AI industry beyond those two bills, along with a vague promise to protect elections and democratic institutions from AI-enabled misinformation and foreign interference.
Instead, it says Canada “will proactively work with frontier AI companies and international partners” to ensure Canadians and critical systems are protected from cybersecurity and national security threats from advanced AI systems, without explaining how that will be achieved.
It also vows to work on capabilities like watermarking AI-generated content to promote transparency and awareness — something Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday assured would not upset the United States, where the largest AI companies operate and regulation has been limited.
“This is fundamental,” he told reporters at the strategy’s unveiling in Toronto.
NDP Leader Avi Lewis called for “strong regulations to safeguard workers, youth, privacy, and our water and energy supply.”
“Before rushing ahead, with no brakes, we need a robust regulatory framework. Every other industry in this country, from forestry to banking, is regulated,” Lewis said.
The strategy seeks to create 250,000 jobs through AI adoption by 2031, including up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians.
But the strategy makes no mention of the potential layoffs that could arise from the technology. Nor is there a clear plan on how the government would support those laid-off workers, other than through AI literacy and skills training for new, AI-based jobs.
That’s despite Solomon, in his introductory message in the strategy, acknowledging that AI “raises hard questions about job security” and other issues.
“Responding to these concerns and building responsible Canadian AI will not be easy, but it must be done,” the minister writes. “We will face these challenges head on.”
Lewis said the strategy’s proposals for widespread AI adoption appear to come with “no concern for the consequences this will have for workers, especially young workers who are already watching careers vanish before their eyes.”
Lantsman noted that Canada has already lost a net 112,000 jobs so far this year, according to Statistics Canada, which says the unemployment rate rose to 6.9 per cent in April while long-term unemployment — the share of Canadians continuously seeking work for at least 27 weeks — is 22.5 per cent.
The strategy acknowledges the broad environmental concerns surrounding AI data centres by noting Canada’s “cold climate,” and reliance on renewable electricity sources like hydro and wind, will help keep required cooling systems sustainable.
“As demand for AI compute grows, Canada’s approach will be to link new data centre development with clean energy expansion, robust environmental standards, and tangible benefits for local communities, ensuring that Canada remains at the forefront of sustainable high-performance computing infrastructure,” it says.
Nowhere in the strategy is there a clear plan on what environmental standards will be relied upon, or if they will be amended to account for the AI impact.
New research from York University also notes that Alberta accounts for more than 90 per cent of future AI data centre projects, “despite relying on a comparatively high‑emissions electricity grid.”
Provinces with more clean electricity sources like Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have begun to regulate grid access for large new data centres, the researchers added.