On June 4, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched "AI for All," Canada's new national artificial intelligence strategy, at an event in Toronto alongside Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon. The strategy is a sweeping five-year plan including aggressive economic ambitions, including $200 billion in GDP gains, 250,000 jobs, and a fivefold increase in business adoption.

The strategy is organized around six pillars:

  1. Protecting Canadians and Safeguarding Democracy.
  2. Empowering Canadians, including a National AI Literacy Initiative reaching 1 million post-secondary students and 90,000 job placements.
  3. Powering Shared Prosperity, with a $500 million LIFT financing program and $200 million for a health AI mission.
  4. Building the Canadian Sovereign AI Foundation, targeting 850 MW of compute capacity by 2030 and $100 million for a Health Sector Data Space.
  5. Scaling Canadian Champions, including $700 million in affordable sovereign compute for SMEs.
  6. Building Trusted Partnerships and Global Alliances, with 20 new economic and defence partnerships signed.

Of particular significance to organizations operating in Canada's digital economy is the strategy's commitment to overhaul the country's digital regulatory framework across several fronts.

Fundamental right to privacy

The strategy proposes to modernize consumer privacy legislation to enshrine a fundamental right to privacy in law. The proposed legislation would safeguard children's information from exploitation and harm, strengthen individuals' control over their personal data, and introduce protections against harmful practices such as deepfakes and surveillance pricing.

The government has also indicated it will continue its review of the Privacy Act to meet the needs of Canadians in the digital age, with a focus on transparency, privacy, and alignment with international standards.

Online Harms Legislation

The strategy proposes new online safety laws to protect Canadians in the digital age. AI Minister Evan Solomon confirmed the strategy will be followed by comprehensive legislation to protect children and Canadians' privacy and data, though specific timelines remain vague.

Deepfakes and synthetic media

The Protecting Victims Act, introduced in December 2025, proposes to prohibit the distribution of non-consensual sexual deepfakes, increase penalties for distribution of intimate images without consent, and prohibit threats to distribute such images.

The strategy further indicates that new legislation would provide Canadians with legal tools to combat deepfakes more broadly and ensure that interactions with chatbots are safe, although precise measures remain unspecified.

Consumer protection and AI safety

The strategy includes commitments to strengthen consumer protections, including against surveillance pricing. A proposed Canada Trusted AI Certification program would help Canadians identify trustworthy AI products in the marketplace. The government also commits $50 million to expand the capabilities of the Canadian AI Safety Institute to track emerging AI risks and conduct transparent evaluations of AI models.

Looking Ahead

The central question is the pace at which the government will deliver on these commitments. Gowling WLG will continue to monitor developments regarding timelines and implementation of the strategy's regulatory reform proposals.

If you have questions about how these changes may affect your organization, please contact a member of our Cyber Security and Data Protection Group.