Canada’s AI strategy bets on growth while sidestepping hard questions on jobs and climate

The Canadian government’s newly unveiled artificial intelligence strategy, branded “AI for All,” marks an ambitious attempt to position the country as a global AI leader, but it arrives with stark warnings from Prime Minister Mark Carney about the risks of dependence on foreign platforms. Unveiling the blueprint in Ottawa, Carney cautioned that AI systems from abroad could be weaponized against Canadian citizens, echoing his earlier concerns at Davos about hegemonic powers using economic integration to pressure smaller nations. The plan commits billions of dollars to boost AI adoption, with a target of raising the share of Canadian firms using AI from 12 percent today to 60 percent by 2034, while also taking equity stakes in promising domestic AI companies to nurture “national champions.”

Central to the strategy is a push for large-scale AI data centres, which Carney’s government sees as a natural fit for a country rich in both carbon-based and renewable energy. Yet this aspect has already drawn fire from local communities on both sides of the Canada–U.S. border worried about spiralling electricity costs and environmental damage. Computer science professor Arvind Gupta of the University of Toronto notes that public acceptance will hinge on sustainability: “Data centres require huge, huge amounts of energy… If we want public acceptance, we’re going to have to think about sustainability.” The government has yet to outline concrete measures to mitigate these impacts, a gap that looms large as it races to build the infrastructure.

The strategy’s broad strokes have been criticised for lacking essential detail. Parliamentary opponents and analysts point to the absence of timelines for key pledges, any assessment of potential job losses from automation, or specifics on promised online safety and privacy legislation. There is also no mention of a regulatory framework to oversee the sector’s growth, nor a plan to address the environmental footprint of data centres beyond aspirational language. “Canadians are expecting real answers on safety, on security, on privacy and on the future of AI,” said Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, underscoring a sentiment that the blueprint is more vision than roadmap.

Viewed from international forums, the Canadian push contrasts with calls for a more worker-centred approach. At the 114th Session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Nigeria’s labour minister, Muhammad Dingyadi, urged governments to develop inclusive AI policies that protect workers from displacement and ensure the technology supports decent work rather than undermining it. While Carney’s strategy focuses on productivity and sovereignty, the Nigerian intervention highlights a global anxiety that unchecked AI adoption could widen inequality and erode labour rights—a concern noticeably absent from Ottawa’s current plan.

The government is betting that financial incentives—including a new tax credit and half a billion dollars in regional investment—will spur small and medium enterprises to embrace AI and close what one official called a “major adoption gap.” Whether this industrial push can succeed without clearer safeguards will depend on the government’s willingness to flesh out the missing architecture: robust regulation, job transition programmes, and enforceable environmental standards. For now, Canada’s strategy reads as a bet on growth, leaving the hard questions of governance for another day.