Canadian Prime Minister Carney officially unveiled the “AI for All” national strategy at the Vector Institute in Toronto on June 4. The strategy document shows that to prevent domestic AI companies from moving overseas in pursuit of customers and capital, the government will establish a C$500 million (approximately US$360 million) “Technology Growth Fund” to support the “most promising” local AI startups through equity investments; the C$25 billion sovereign wealth fund “Canada Strong Fund” will also coordinate strategic investments in larger “national champion companies.” Regarding potential trade friction with the U.S. that may arise, Carney responded: “This is a strategy any forward-looking country would adopt.”
The strategic background reveals that data shows approximately 70% of Canadian founding teams ultimately establish their headquarters abroad, with proximity to the world’s largest tech market being the main reason. In addition to equity investments, the strategy also includes: expanding the AI computing access fund to C$1 billion, using federal government procurement to provide initial customers and market validation for early-stage domestic AI companies, and building a “world-leading” public AI supercomputer. The overall goal is to generate an additional approximately C$200 billion (about 3% of GDP) in economic output over the next five years, and create 250,000 new AI-related jobs by 2031, while raising the domestic AI adoption rate from the current roughly 12% to 60% by 2034. The strategy identifies healthcare and life sciences, energy and natural resources, transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing and robotics as five priority areas, while also advancing legislation on children’s data protection and deepfake governance.