Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, delivered a pivotal one-two punch this week, outlining the strategic foundation for Canada’s digital future in Montreal before detailing the urgent, execution-focused plan in Toronto.
The takeaways are clear: Canada sees the ongoing technological change as a strategic tipping point, and an offensive national policy is needed to create digital sovereignty. Arguably, AI and quantum technologies will help to ensure the long-term economic prosperity of Canada and its jurisdictional independence.
Montreal Speech – Strategic Rationale and Geopolitical Context (September 24, 2025)
The Montreal speech on Wednesday served as the foundational argument for the subsequent execution plan, stating the strategic necessity behind the policy urgency.
Digital Sovereignty is a National Priority
Solomon defined digital sovereignty as the establishment of a digital economy that operates without force, that is governed by Canadian law, and which cannot be switched off by anyone or any company.
He specifically compared the formulation of this digital backbone with the past history of nation-building initiatives. The main argument is that information is the new critical asset, and the governance of the information is the key to achieving national values and economic independence.
The Risk of the U.S. CLOUD Act
The Montreal speech gave the particular geopolitical risk that led to the sovereign compute policy. Solomon cited the U.S. CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) that grants American authorities to compel American-based cloud providers to force them to produce data regardless of its physical location.
This legal vulnerability is the basis of the sovereign compute mandate, which states that the hosting and control of sensitive Canadian data (health, financial, and personal) is required to protect it against the jurisdiction of foreign laws.
The minister outlined a regulatory philosophy focused on balancing innovation with responsible oversight. In a later interview, he stated that regulation would be “light, tight, and right”, reflecting an approach to foster innovation without creating unnecessary market barriers.
Toronto Speech – Execution Blueprint (September 26, 2025)
In his address at the Empire Club on Friday, Minister Solomon defined the working strategy of the government, which he called Chapter Two of the mandate of the Ministry. The underlying principle is that while the rate of innovation is high, the rate of national adoption depends on the public trust.
Solomon recognized the inherent market anxiety due to the rapid technological change, whether it be in the form of deepfakes or work disruption. The mitigation approach to this risk incorporates two main lines: developing strong safety and regulatory guardrails and showing the benefits of AI applications developed in Canada.
Pillar 1: The 3 Cs – Capital, Customers, and Compute
The first pillar and most economically applicable refers directly to the structural issue of scaling the Canadian intellectual property (IP) nationally, in response to what Solomon termed the risk of being a branch plant nation.
- Capital:
- The government recognizes a funding shortfall in the area of “patient capital”, the long-term venture capital that Canadian companies need to shift from startup to global leader.
- This strategy will include the introduction of new financial instruments that will be specifically aimed at attracting and retaining this “patient capital”, thus establishing headquarters, high-skilled jobs, and vital IP in the local economy.
- Customers:
- One of the most important processes of the strategy is the government procurement that creates a guaranteed demand and market validation of Canadian AI companies.
- Solomon used the recent success of Canadian Large Language Model (LLM) developer Cohere as a strong example of the “Buy Canadian” directive.
- According to the Minister, a major commercial advancement was made, with Cohere being adopted by RBC (TSX: RY) and an upcoming agreement with telecom giant Bell (BCE: TSX).
- The Minister mentioned the Bell-Cohere partnership and referenced a deal size of “around a quarter of a billion dollars, pretty close.” While this figure highlights the significance of the collaboration, it should be noted that there has not been a confirmed public transaction amount.
- However, this deal highlights the government’s capabilities in fostering anchor contracts among its national champions.
- Compute:
- The basic policy prerequisite is sovereign compute and sovereign cloud. This directive introduces a commitment that sensitive Canadian data needs to be secured in Canadian-controlled data centres and is undoubtedly required to be under Canadian law.
- This policy will put in place the technical infrastructure required to execute the jurisdictional autonomy required by the digital sovereignty mandate.
Far from starting at a standstill, the Canadian government took action in 2024, responding to the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and shifts in the global technological landscape.
Recognizing the need to empower Canadian innovators, researchers, and businesses, the government launched the $2 billion Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. This initiative invests in expanding the nation’s computing infrastructure, ensuring that Canadian organizations have the resources and capacity required to remain competitive and lead in the new AI-driven era.
Pillar 2: Trust and Security
The Minister confirmed that the government is moving towards updating the privacy and data laws of Canada, which are 25 years old. The purpose is twofold: to offer regulatory clarity to the innovation sector and greater protection to citizens and consumers, at the same time.
Solomon already pointed out current Canadian AI applications that demonstrate current public utility, such as:
- Martha White ( https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~whitem/ ) is a machine learning professor at the University of Alberta who used the research in AI to start her own company aimed at very efficient water treatment.
- Reveal Surgical ( https://revealsurgical.com ) is a medical technology company based in Montreal, whose “Century” tool uses AI in real-time during brain surgery to make sure that all of the tumor is removed, aiming at a 30-40% decrease in post-surgery operations.
- 16 Bit in Toronto uses AI to improve routine X-rays to identify osteoporosis at an early stage.
These examples support a core policy tenet: “AI is here to serve Canadians for the better,” and it captures the Minister’s optimistic messaging and policy intent, emphasizing AI’s promise to enhance public welfare.
Pillar 3: Talent and the Quantum Strategy
Canada’s primary competitive advantage in the AI domain is its foundational research talent, specifically citing the influence of Geoffrey Hinton, Joshua Bengio, and Rich Sutton. Solomon cautioned that this leadership is not guaranteed, stating, “Leadership ain’t a birthright. It has to be earned again and again.”
As a way of averting the brain drain, the government is now focusing on the retention of talent and intellectual property. The Minister unveiled a large new initiative that will be rolled out next month to “double our quantum strategy.
This project is driven by the disruptive nature of quantum computing on economic development as well as national cybersecurity to assist the well-established Canadian leaders, such as Xanadu AI ( https://www.xanadu.ai/ ) and Photonic ( https://photonic.com/ ).
The National Sprint Starts with the AI Task Force
The most immediate operational timeline is the launch of the AI Task Force, composed of 26 national thought leaders. This team will go on a 30-day “sprint” on eight national priorities.
The stated objective is to accelerate policy development, shifting “from principles to projects and from ideas to impact,” with the goal of tabling a fully refreshed national AI strategy by year-end, significantly ahead of its original schedule.
The Canadian Government’s AI Strategy Task Force includes leaders from across the national AI ecosystem and industry, who will consult their networks to shape discussions around targeted themes.
Adoption Across Industry and Governments
- Olivier Blais: Co-Founder and Vice-President of AI, Moov.AI; Co-Chair, Advisory Council on AI
- Cari Covent: Technology Executive (no current company listed)
- Dan Debow: Chair of the Board, Build Canada
Building Safe AI Systems and Public Trust
- Mary Wells: Dean of Engineering, University of Waterloo
- Joelle Pineau: Chief AI Officer, Cohere
- Taylor Owen: Founding Director, Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, McGill University
Commercialization of AI
- Louis Têtu: Executive Chairman, Coveo
- Michael Serbinis: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, League; Board Chair, Perimeter Institute
- Adam Keating: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CoLab
Education and Skills
- Natiea Vinson: Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Technology Council
- Alex Laplante: Vice-President, Cash Management Technology Canada, Royal Bank of Canada; Board Member, Mitacs
- David Naylor: Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto; President Emeritus, University of Toronto; Founding CEO, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)
Infrastructure
- Garth Gibson: Chief Technology and AI Officer, VDURA
- Ian Rae: President and Chief Executive Officer, Aptum
- Marc Etienne Ouimette: Chair of the Board, Digital Moment; Member, OECD One AI Group of Experts
Research and Talent
- Gail Murphy: Professor of Computer Science and Vice-President, Research & Innovation, University of British Columbia; Vice-Chair, Digital Research Alliance of Canada
- Diane Gutiw: Vice-President, Global AI Research Lead, CGI Canada; Co-Chair, Advisory Council on AI
- Michael Bowling: Professor of Computer Science and Principal Investigator, Reinforcement Learning & AI Lab, University of Alberta; Research Fellow, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute; Canada CIFAR AI Chair
- Arvind Gupta: Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Scaling Champions and Attracting Investment
- Patrick Pichette: General Partner, Inovia Capital
- Ajay Agrawal: Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto; Founder, Next Canada; Founder, Creative Destruction Lab
- Sonia Sennik: Chief Executive Officer, Creative Destruction Lab
- Ben Bergen: President, Council of Canadian Innovators
Security
- Shelly Bruce: Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation; Former Chief, Communications Security Establishment
- James Neufeld: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, samdesk
- Sam Ramadori: Co-President and Executive Director, LawZero
Final Thoughts – Can the Canadian Government Really Sprint and Win the AI Marathon Against Well-Funded Competitors
Minister Solomon’s speeches are an indication that there is a change in the approach to Canadian technology policy, which focuses on economic results.
Montreal formulated the strategic need (Digital Sovereignty) and the threat from US policy and other countries’ advances. Toronto gave the economic drivers (the 3 Cs) and the accelerated year-end targets.
The Bell/Cohere transaction shows the Canadian government’s intention to use the power of national organizations to justify and popularize domestic AI technology. This strategy is a step towards active economic engineering in the digital sector, meant to establish the required market environment to propel Canadian companies to the global level.
The effectiveness of such a plan will also depend on two main factors of implementation:
- The quality and the immediate usefulness of the recommendations provided by the 30-day Task Force sprint, and,
- The capacity of the government to pass and implement legislative restructuring of its privacy and data regulations in the near future.
The objective of the policy is obvious: to place Canada in the global competitive environment in the sphere of AI and protect its digital resources.
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