Ottawa's $2.3-billion artificial intelligence plan sets ambitious job targets — but Canadians remain among the world's most skeptical about the technology
Canada's federal government launched AI for All: Canada's new national artificial intelligence strategy on Thursday, pledging more than $2.3 billion and targeting an additional $200 billion in economic growth to reshape how the country works and competes. For human resources leaders, the plan signals a meaningful shift in workforce planning — but its silence on mandatory employer obligations, combined with deep public unease about AI's impact on jobs, means people managers cannot wait for Ottawa to lead.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon announced the strategy in Toronto, anchored in three guiding principles: building trust, creating opportunities, and reinforcing Canadian sovereignty. "AI can shorten our emergency room wait times and make a small business more competitive, if it is governed by Canadian values with a clear goal of improving the lives of all Canadians," Carney said at the launch.
The workforce targets are ambitious. Ottawa aims to create up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and work placement opportunities for young Canadians by 2031, and help generate 250,000 more through broader adoption across the economy. The government stated that business use of AI is targeted to rise from 12 per cent today to 60 per cent by 2034, based on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) modelling.
What the data says about Canadian workers and AI
Those projections arrive at a moment of pronounced public unease — and HR leaders should factor that sentiment directly into workforce strategy and change management planning.
According to the Ipsos AI Monitor 2026 — a 32-country survey of 23,532 adults conducted between March and April 2026 — Canada ranks among the world's most nervous nations about AI. Sixty-seven per cent of Canadians said AI makes them nervous — one of the highest rates globally. Just 37 per cent believe it has more benefits than drawbacks, near the bottom of all 32 countries surveyed. Only 26 per cent think AI will improve the Canadian job market.
The productivity picture is equally sobering. While 62 per cent of workers globally said AI saved them time in the past 12 months, Canada's figure was just 46 per cent — well below average. Only 20 per cent of Canadian workers believe AI will improve their job. And just 18 per cent are comfortable with AI screening job applicants — one of the survey's lowest rates globally, despite 53 per cent admitting they use AI tools anyway.
For HR leaders, these numbers highlight a stark gap: government adoption ambitions are running well ahead of worker confidence, and closing it requires trust-building change management — not just technology deployment.
What HR leaders need to know about the jobs question
The projections carry a significant caveat. Solomon acknowledged to media that while the government used OECD modelling to estimate job gains, it did not produce a comparable projection for potential job displacement — describing such forecasts as too difficult to predict.
The strategy frames itself as "pro-worker" and includes specific upskilling commitments. A National AI Literacy Initiative will reach 1 million entry-level post-secondary students and train more than 3,000 educators with AI learning kits. The strategy also commits to employer-led training on AI-enhancing skills for mid-career professionals and frontline workers, alongside $30 million for CanCode — the federal program funding non-profit digital skills training for youth.
Union demands left out of the strategy
Despite significant advocacy from organized labour, the strategy omits key worker protections. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and other labour groups called on Ottawa to require employers to retrain workers displaced by AI, notify unions before deploying AI systems, and bar publicly funded companies from cutting jobs. None of those recommendations appear in the final plan.
The government's public consultation received more than 11,300 submissions. According to a summary published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), many respondents demanded strict regulation, penalties for non-compliance, and AI frameworks grounded in Canadian values.
The strategy's approach to safety is notable for what it defers rather than decides. While it commits to modernizing legislative frameworks — including strengthening personal information protections and introducing an online safety regime — no firm timeline has been set for the legislation itself.
One concrete step already in place: the Protecting Victims Act, introduced in December 2025, proposes to prohibit the distribution of non-consensual sexual deepfakes and increase penalties for sharing intimate images without consent. For HR executives navigating how to build compliant and ethical AI policies in Canadian organizations, broader regulatory ambiguity still creates both risk and responsibility. In the absence of mandated employer rules, people leaders are left to set their own standards — and stay across AI-driven learning and development trends shaping the Canadian workforce.
Funding, talent, and the sovereignty question
The strategy's spending includes several items directly relevant to employers. A $500-million allocation through regional development agencies targets AI adoption in priority sectors: life sciences, energy, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, and robotics. An additional $700 million tops up the AI Compute Access Fund, which helps small- and medium-sized businesses cover computing costs — a subsidy that could lower barriers for employers building AI-assisted HR platforms or workforce analytics tools.
The government's plan to expand Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) AI Chairs and accelerate entry of international AI specialists through the Global Talent Stream signals intensifying competition for technical talent. Canada's three national AI institutes — the Vector Institute in Toronto, Mila in Montréal, and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute in Edmonton — also receive additional commercialization funding under the strategy. HR leaders in technology and AI-adjacent industries may see tighter labour markets in data science and AI governance.
A recurring theme is AI sovereignty — Canada's ability to control its own data and infrastructure rather than depending on U.S.-dominated platforms. The strategy has already secured 12 international partnerships with aligned democracies including Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the European Union through the newly formed Sovereign Technology Alliance. HR technology decisions made today may need revisiting as Ottawa builds out sovereign data centres with residency requirements for domestic clients.
For Canadian people leaders, Thursday's launch marks the start of a long renegotiation between employers, employees, and technology. The investments are real. But with two in three Canadians nervous about AI and fewer than one in five comfortable letting it screen their staff according to Ipsos, the human side of this transformation demands as much attention as the technology itself.
