AI for All puts adoption ahead of infrastructure — the auto strategy shows why that sequencing may be backwards.
Key Takeaways
AI for All’s largest instruments — the $500M Tech Growth Fund and equity from the $25B Canada Strong Fund — target the application layer, where Canada is already strongest. The critical sovereignty vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure and compute hardware remain underfunded.
If AI were sequenced like the auto strategy, the centre of gravity would shift to sovereign cloud (where Canadian-made solutions exist and procurement can drive scale) and managed dependency for compute hardware — building capacity first, then accelerating adoption.
CUSMA Article 19.12 constrains Canada’s ability to mandate domestic computing facilities with no public-policy exception; the national security exception and government procurement carve-out must be treated as non-negotiable in any renegotiation.
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