The federal government’s AI Strategy Taskforce released the results of its 30-day public consultation that will guide Canada’s AI strategy in the coming years.

Based on over-11,000 submissions collected over 30-days in October 2025, the AI Strategy Taskforce highlighted the need for Canada to work toward developing and holding onto key talent for AI research and development, and called for “competitive compensation, scholarships, fellowships and immigration reforms to strengthen talent pipelines.”

Failing to do so will likely see an exodus of critical talent to better-funded U.S.-based companies or global firms with deep enough pockets to spend on hiring and retaining needed AI researchers and developers.

While emphasis was placed on developing Canada's AI infrastructure and talent pool, concerns were raised by some around issues of data privacy and data sovereignty.

Canadians wish to see stronger controls and protections to protect works created by Canadians and to prevent unauthorized use of creative works without proper compensation. There is also desire for rules to be instituted for data sovereignty and supply chain security, and for strict guidelines or restrictions to be put in place for how Canadian data can be used in AI training by foreign entities. 

Sovereign AI infrastructure for Canada

When the taskforce was announced, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said the government was “moving quickly toward our vision for AI and digital sovereignty. The AI Strategy Task Force and the ideas gathered through our national sprint will generate bold, pragmatic, and actionable recommendations to guide Canada's next AI strategy.”

“The Government of Canada is committed to strategically accelerating the development of nation-building data and AI infrastructure in Canada and is working to scale up Canadian AI champions, accelerate adoption of AI across the economy to fuel productivity and economic growth, while protecting the privacy and data of Canadians,” said Pierre Cuguen, media relations with the Privy Council Office in response to questions from TechNX.

To assist in helping Canadian firms become globally competitive, increased investments in building a “secure infrastructure — such as domestic compute capacity and shared data resources” will be the key going forward. This is especially true for small- and mid-sized enterprises that may lack the resources to afford foreign cloud costs.

This is very much in line with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks in 2025 when announcing the government’s Major Projects Office: “We will task the Major Projects Office with assisting in the development of a Canadian Sovereign Cloud. This would build the compute capacity and data centres needed to underpin our competitiveness, protect our security, and boost our sovereignty.

"This will give Canada independent control over advanced computing power, while reinforcing our leadership in AI and quantum.”

“Budget 2025 and 2024 committed to make strategic investments in public and commercial infrastructure to ensure that Canadian innovators, researchers, and businesses have access to compute capacity they need to secure Canada’s AI advantage,” Cuguen continued. “Government actions to reach these commitments include engaging with industry to identify promising AI infrastructure projects and enter into memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the proponents of those projects, and investing up to $2 billion combined through the AI Compute Challenge, AI Compute Access Fund, and AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program.”

“Budget 2025 and 2024 committed to make strategic investments in public and commercial infrastructure to ensure that Canadian innovators, researchers, and businesses have access to compute capacity they need to secure Canada’s AI advantage,” Cuguen continued. “Government actions to reach these commitments include engaging with industry to identify promising AI infrastructure projects and enter into memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the proponents of those projects, and investing up to $2 billion combined through the AI Compute Challenge, AI Compute Access Fund, and AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program.”