Federal government’s new AI strategy will emphasize trust, minister says
The federal government’s new artificial intelligence strategy will look to build trust in AI, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Tuesday just days before he is expected to finally make the plan public.
"It'll be lots on trust, lots on empowering workers, lots on building Canada. You'll see the details later this week," Solomon told reporters.
The long-awaited AI strategy is set to be released this week. The federal government has said it will include new privacy and online safety laws.
Solomon said trust is "absolutely vital" and upcoming legislation on online harms and privacy will be an important element in building that trust.
He is taking point on a new bill to update Canada's private sector privacy legislation, while Culture Minister Marc Miller is in charge of a new online harms bill. Solomon told reporters he is working with Miller and Justice Minister Sean Fraser.
"We will have... comprehensive legislation that will make sure that we're protecting children first and foremost... Canadians' privacy and Canadians' data," he said.
Solomon said that legislation is "a really important element of building the trust for the AI strategy and for other things."
It's not clear when the government will introduce those bills, though it's expected to be after the AI strategy is published.
Other elements in the strategy include sovereign compute infrastructure, support for Canadian AI companies and international co-ordination. The strategy is also expected to provide AI training and education for Canadians. Solomon has said it also will consider the technology’s impacts on the labour market.
CBC News reported Monday on a draft copy of the strategy, which includes an initiative to provide all Canadians with free AI literacy training and sets out to increase adoption of AI by businesses.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu was asked Tuesday about the AI strategy and how to guard against job losses.
"My job is to make sure that Canadians are prepared for any technological changes, any economic changes, by ensuring that what we offer to.... employees, as well as to affected employees, supports them in these transitions," Hajdu said.
NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies said there are serious issues around AI, including its potential to create mass unemployment.
"I think our government is asleep at the switch, as it were, because I think that technology is moving much more rapidly and we don't have any guardrails," he said.
Davies said AI should be the number one priority for both Parliament and the government.
"We can harness the best parts of AI and use that technology for positive purposes, but at the same time I think it's... completely unregulated, and terribly dangerous if we don't get some guardrails up on it soon," he said.
Also on Tuesday, Solomon said the federal Canadian Centre for Cyber Security now has access to Mythos, Anthropic's new AI model that has identified thousands of previously unknown vulnerabilities in every major operating system and browser.
"I can confirm that the Canadian government is part now of Project Glasswing, which allows companies to have access to Mythos," Solomon said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2026.
By Anja Karadeglija | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.