Opposition MPs grill Minister on federal AI strategy

As the world’s first country to launch a national strategy on artificial intelligence in 2017, Canada will get an update to the plan next year, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research on Wednesday. 

However, Conservative MP Kelly DeRidder, who represents the technology-rich Ontario riding of Kitchener Centre, said that expert witnesses have told the committee in its study on AI that “nothing has been implemented” from the original strategy, and she complained that the refresh will only come nine years later. 

“What’s your strategy to commercialize and monetize Canadian innovation in Canada so it stays in Canada and is a positive net-return to the Canadian taxpayer?” she asked Mr. Solomon. 

In reply, he referred to a recent report by Deloitte Canada, commissioned by the Vector Institute, which said that AI-related jobs contributed between $82 and $100 billion to Canada’s economy between 2019 and 2024. 

Mr. Solomon pointed to some of the initiatives that flowed from the $2 billion allocated toward AI development in the 2024 federal budget, including up to $705 million in a new AI supercomputing system through the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program to support researchers and industry. 

Late last month, the minister, who is also responsible for digital innovation, announced $42.5 million in federal funding to the University of Toronto’s AI infrastructure that builds on last year’s $52-million upgrade to the university’s SciNet supercomputer. 

Mr. Solomon told the committee  that through the Canada CIFAR AI Chairs program, over 125 researchers have been appointed, and they train about 250 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows every year. 

“They go onto found companies that are transformative,” he said and noted the program’s international impact. 

According to CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), which established Canada’s AI strategy in 2017, the AI Chairs are among the highest impact AI research groups globally, behind only Google and Stanford University for the number of highly-cited publications in the top 10 per cent. 

“The Digital Research Alliance of Canada has invested close to $300 million in trying to increase Canada’s research compute capacity by 50 per cent,” said Mr. Solomon. 

“In the new year, Canada will be building an AI supercomputer for our researchers, which will put us in the top of the G7.” 

Concerns raised over privacy, transparency 

Meanwhile, Bloc Québécois MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, the committee’s vice-chair, was unsuccessful in getting the minister to agree to reveal the identities behind the approximately 11,300 comments received through a recent public consultation. 

“How can Canadians trust your AI strategy and have confidence in it if anonymous stakeholders, including potential foreign actors, can influence political decision-making?” wondered Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. 

Mr. Solomon said that “summaries of feedback received” would be made public. 

The MP, who represents the riding of Rimouski-La Matapédia, also asked the minister whether any federal AI-related legislation would include copyright protection.  

Mr. Solomon said that his ministry is responsible for privacy legislation, while his cabinet colleague, newly installed Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller’s department will handle the AI-related copyright file. 

In terms of federal investments in AI, New Brunswick Liberal MP Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault wondered how they would “support the development of the research sector” and help researchers “overcome obstacles [they] currently face.” 

The minister referred to a provision in this year’s federal budget, which earmarked $925.6 million over five years, starting in 2025-26, toward, as the budget document stated, “a large-scale sovereign public AI infrastructure that will boost AI compute availability and support access to sovereign AI compute capacity for public and private research.” 

He said that would serve as a “magnet” to attract talent because “researchers will go to places that have access to that compute.”