A growing critique from Canadian AI founders highlights a disconnect between large-scale government investment in artificial intelligence and the practical conditions needed to build competitive companies domestically. While Canada has committed billions through initiatives such as the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, many entrepreneurs argue that support is concentrated at the research and infrastructure levels while neglecting the critical “middle layer” where startups turn prototypes into scalable products. Founders point to persistent challenges including limited domestic venture capital, talent migration to the United States, and regulatory and infrastructure constraints that encourage incorporation abroad. Despite strong academic institutions and globally recognized AI research hubs such as Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, companies like Cohere and Ada have largely emerged from research ecosystems that operate with constrained funding compared to U.S. and Chinese counterparts. A central concern is Canada’s lack of a fully sovereign, enterprise-ready AI deployment environment. Many startups rely on U.S.-based cloud infrastructure, raising jurisdictional and data sovereignty issues under frameworks such as the U.S. CLOUD Act. This dependence, critics argue, weakens Canada’s ability to retain control over sensitive data and discourages scaling within the country. The discussion is increasingly tied to Canada’s broader push for sovereign AI infrastructure, including new compute programs and national supercomputing initiatives. However, founders emphasize that compute capacity alone is insufficient without stronger procurement pathways, domestic customers, and commercialization support—particularly from government itself.
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https://www.cigionline.org/articles/bridging-the-ai-policy-gap-perspectives-from-canadas-builders
