The Toronto Region Board of Trade welcomes the Government of Canada’s release of AI for All, Canada’s national artificial intelligence strategy, as an important step toward turning the country’s AI advantage into stronger productivity, higher-value jobs, globally competitive companies, and broader prosperity.
“Canada’s productivity challenge is, in large part, a technology adoption challenge, and AI will be a key pillar in the decades ahead. Too many businesses know AI matters but still do not have a clear path from experimentation to implementation, while critical investments are often too slow to arrive. A strategy to accelerate AI adoption and unlock capital is sorely needed.”
Giles Gherson – President & CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade
The strategy gets the big pieces right: accelerating business adoption, building AI infrastructure, helping Canadian firms scale, strengthening AI skills, using procurement and international partnerships to open markets for Canadian innovators, and addressing public trust and safety concerns that could otherwise slow adoption.
It is particularly encouraging to see a focus on developing job opportunities for young people in AI. Against the backdrop of concern about what AI means for the future of workers. Building towards a future that empowers people to do more with greater tools is critical to building the successes that will drive public trust and adoption.
Through World Trade Centre Toronto’s AI Business Catalyst program, the Board is already helping SMEs by providing readiness assessment, practical training and expert advisory support. Businesses need trusted, step-by-step support to learn, test and implement.
But the success of this strategy will depend on the speed and efficiency with which it’s implemented. This must be simple, fast and designed to empower businesses. That means:
- a single-window pathway for businesses to access AI adoption support, training, and compliance guidance;
- effective deployment of previously-announced tax credits and other financing incentives;
- clear, risk-based rules and regulation to protect Canadians without creating unneeded barriers to business adoption;
- federal-provincial alignment on data governance, privacy, cybersecurity and sector regulation;
- faster procurement pathways that create real customers for Canadian AI firms;
- public reporting on adoption, commercialization, access to public compute, private capital mobilized and export growth.
“Our region is Canada’s economic engine, and AI will be one of the defining productivity tools of the next decade. The Board is ready to help put this into practice so that Canadian innovation is not only invented here, but adopted, scaled and exported from here.”
Giles Gherson – President & CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade
Trust, safety and sovereignty matter, but this is a global race, and the winners will be the countries that best-enable adoption. Canada has the talent, the firms, the institutions and the market strengths to lead. Now we need the execution.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade is one of the largest and most influential business chambers in North America and is a catalyst for the region’s economic agenda. We pursue policy change to drive the growth and competitiveness of the Toronto region and facilitate market opportunities with programs, partnerships and connections to help our members succeed – domestically and internationally.
Media Contact
Jason Chapman, Communications and Media Relations Manager