New $2.3B federal AI strategy looks to close ‘adoption gap,’ build public trust

OTTAWA – Ottawa wants to increase Canadians’ use of artificial intelligence — and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety.

Announcing the government’s new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said “globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and trust.”

The long-awaited AI strategy says Canada has “a major adoption gap.” It says closing the gap in training and literacy “is the foundation on which everything else depends.”

A new literacy initiative will offer entry-level AI training to all Canadians and the government will ensure “all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents,” the document says.

“With free and trustworthy AI learning kits, including courses and modules, Canadians will better understand AI, be able to use it safely and confidently, and put it to work in their own lives,” Carney said.

The strategy focuses on trust in AI as a key factor. A government spokesperson said the new and expanded funding in the strategy amount to $2.3 billion.

The government has promised to introduce privacy and online harms bills to tackle some of Canadians’ fears about technology.

The AI strategy promises new legal tools to “ensure interactions with chatbots are safe.” It also says legislation will “ensure that Canadians’ personal information is not used inappropriately, including for surveillance pricing.”

Carney indicated in his remarks the privacy legislation will also include measures targeting deepfakes. Speaking in French, he said the government will introduce legislation on protection of children and use of AI in the coming weeks.

The government says it will invest an additional $50 million in Canada’s AI safety institute, create a certification program for trustworthy AI and “work on AI transparency, including capabilities like watermarking of AI-generated content.”

On Parliament Hill, opposition MPs said the strategy didn’t go far enough to address concerns.

Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said it lacked detail.

“Privacy, first and foremost, and the safety and the security that was promised in this is nowhere to be found in the document,” she said.

Lantsman described Carney’s announcement as “a lot of fanfare, short on details and a lot of hollow words from a podium.”

NDP Parliamentary leader Don Davies called the strategy reckless and inadequate. “It leaves Canadians dangerously exposed,” he said.

“I don’t believe that mass adoption of AI will create jobs. I think it’ll cost jobs. And until there’s measures that are in place that will address that, I don’t think the strategy is complete,” he said.

The strategy promises to create up to 90,000 AI-related jobs for young people. It also says up to 250,000 new jobs will be created through AI adoption by 2031.

The document offers what it calls a “pro-worker” approach.

“This means technology is designed to augment human expertise rather than displace it, helping workers move into higher-value roles while delivering the productivity gains that strengthen Canadian competitiveness,” the strategy says.

The government also intends to put $500 million toward expanding and enhancing the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative “to accelerate adoption and commercialization of AI across the country.”

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in a statement the strategy “reflects the opportunity ahead: growing the economy and helping small businesses, improving services, driving scientific discovery and helping all Canadians use AI safely.”

While the strategy talks a lot about sovereignty, it does not include new funding for compute infrastructure and instead leans on $2 billion in previously announced investments.

It says the federal government will address the risks of depending on foreign platforms and infrastructure by “building its key sovereign capabilities domestically whenever possible, while partnering with trusted allies or buying existing market solutions when appropriate.”

The strategy also promises a new program to “advance targeted, high-impact projects that deliver significant public good and demonstrate meaningful improvements in Canadians’ lives.” The first $200 million investment will be focused on improving health outcomes.

The strategy also looks to build on Canada’s existing clout in AI research, saying the government will “strengthen our network of national AI institutes and increase the Canada CIFAR AI Chairs program from 130 to nearly 200 researchers.”

The government is putting $500 million toward establishing a Canadian Tech Growth Fund. It says the fund “will provide flexible growth capital and investment support, and enable the federal government, at times, to take equity stakes in the most promising Canadian AI firms.”

The strategy also points to Ottawa’s work on building international agreements related to AI. It promises to expand a sovereign technology alliance it launched with Germany in February.

“A coalition of aligned democracies, who pool research, talent, compute, and procurement power, would offer a credible alternative to the dominant market actors that increasingly define the global AI landscape. Canada is uniquely positioned to lead such an alliance — with proven and emerging capabilities that complement and reinforce those of key middle powers,” it said.

Carney was asked Thursday whether the goal of the alliance is to offer an alternative to U.S. big tech. “‘Yes’ is the short answer,” he replied.

The prime minister said that in a “series of areas, that critical mass absolutely can be developed.”

He noted Canada is one of only a few countries with a large language model of its own, a reference to Toronto-based Cohere.

“That’s part of a broader AI ecosystem that we can build alliances around,” Carney said.

— With files from Hannah Alberga in Toronto

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026.