The Business Development Bank of Canada’s (BDC) top economist says artificial intelligence (AI) adoption by small and medium-sized businesses will ultimately spur more human hiring. The assurance comes days after Canada’s federal government released a new national artificial intelligence strategy without estimates for potential layoffs.

Titled “AI for All,” the federal government’s new five-year plan calls for AI adoption among Canadian businesses to rise from about 12 per cent today to 60 per cent by 2034, adding an estimated $200 billion in economic growth.

The 50-page document includes targets for “large scale” data centres, spells out strategies for financial support and education, and calls for stronger safeguards against surveillance pricing and harmful chatbots.

It also identifies growth sectors for AI adoption. These include health and life sciences, energy and natural resources, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing and robotics.

For the labour market, the government aims to create up to 90,000 AI-related jobs for young people, with wider adoption of AI creating 250,000 new roles by 2031. However, estimates for how many jobs could be lost because of AI adoption, or the scale of potential layoffs, were not included in the new strategy.

Will AI create make businesses more competitive?

BDC chief economist and vice president of research Pierre Cléroux says he’s confident more AI use by Canadian businesses will create competitive advantages that will translate to more hiring. The federal Crown corporation is a lender and venture capital investor for small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses.

“Businesses who are investing in technology grow. As they grow, they tend to keep their employees at least, or even hire more people,” Cléroux told TechNX in an interview. 

“I think the risk is more for businesses not adopting technology. They’re the ones who are losing ground.”

According to Statistics Canada, the economy added 88,000 jobs in May, erasing the bulk of net jobs lost since the start of 2026. 

When it comes to AI, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem has warned the technology is raising “fears of job destruction,” and could limit entry-level opportunities for youth seeking work.

So far, Cléroux says there has been no clear evidence of widespread job losses due to AI in Canada.

“Not yet. We haven’t seen any signal, and we have been looking for that,” he said. “Are we creating fewer jobs because of AI? That’s not even clear.”

In April, BDC launched a $500-million loan program to transition at least 1,000 Canadian entrepreneurs off the AI sidelines by offering targeted financing. Last week, the bank released a new report estimating Canada could see a 14 per cent GDP boost — worth about $350 billion — if all small- and medium-sized businesses used AI at the same level as their most advanced peers.

Mixed reaction to government plan

However, Canada’s largest labour union says the new federal AI plan “is putting the profits of Big Tech billionaires ahead of workers and the public by soft-pedalling protections against the risks of AI.”

“AI can erase jobs, facilitate intrusive surveillance, and discriminate against workers,” CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick stated in a news release following the announcement. 

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA), however, was among the groups that praised the new strategy.

“AI is already showing promise in reducing doctors' administrative work, improving system efficiency, and supporting clinical decision-making, but it also presents health care risks that must be urgently addressed with strong guard rails,” CMA president Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi stated in a news release.

In January, Signal49 Research (formerly the Conference Board of Canada), estimated that under a “full-adoption scenario” AI could prompt an initial loss of 555,000 jobs by 2030, before gains are realized in the longer-term. 

“The long-term employment gains mean that more people participate in the labour force in the long run than in our base case,” the Ottawa-based not-for-profit wrote in a report. “This is because the productivity gains from AI adoption will lead to higher average incomes that, in turn, will pull more people into the workforce.”

Last week, TD Bank senior economist Rannella Billy-Ochieng predicted that AI adoption alone is unlikely to immediately threaten workers. 

“However, when labour‑saving technologies are deployed under economic stress, re‑hiring patterns can change, raising the likelihood that jobs lost do not return in the same form,” she wrote in a report on Thursday. 

“For displaced workers, this increases the risk of longer periods of joblessness and greater skills erosion.”

On the other hand, Cléroux says AI-linked efficiencies could bolster Canadian business against external threats, like the trade rift with the United States, or potential energy price shocks.

“We don’t have any control on what’s going on outside Canada. We don’t have any control on (U.S.) tariffs. We don’t have any control on the price of oil. What we do control is our level of competitiveness,” he said. 

“Let’s focus on what we can control.”