Information & Ethics Committee on Feb. 5th, 2026

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you.

Minister, some companies have explicitly stated that artificial general intelligence could surpass human intelligence. A consensus emerged before this committee, where experts distinguished between, on the one hand, artificial intelligence known as “AI tool or specialized AI,” which is promising in certain areas such as medicine and economic growth, and, on the other hand, artificial general intelligence, which may be problematic at present because it is neither controlled nor understood by those who create it.

Minister, these are Nobel Prize winners, leading AI scientists, and CEOs of major AI companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind, who are warning us that artificial superintelligence poses risks to humanity.

What measures will you take to manage artificial superintelligence?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

That's a very important question.

We have three national institutes.

Vector is in Toronto. Geoffrey Hinton is one of the godfathers of AI. Many Canadians will say, “Oh yes, Dr. Hinton has warned about that.” He has won the Nobel Prize. He's concerned about that.

Yoshua Bengio won the Turing Award. He's in our Mila institute, and he's part of our AI safety ecosystem and our safety institute. I've spoken to them a lot.

I would say that Rich Sutton, who runs AMII, the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, has a slightly different view.

There's not necessarily a lot of consensus, but there are real questions and concerns. I've read about what artificial general intelligence would be, and people ask me a lot about it.

I think our job is not to be cheerleaders or doomsayers but to find a pragmatic way to use this safely. By the way, that is why we have an AI safety institute, and that is why we will have legislation on privacy and data to keep Canadians—

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Some are suggesting that Canada should be a global leader in working to avoid these problems.

You say there is no consensus. I think there may not be consensus on how much time we have before we are surpassed, but there is consensus around there being a risk. Over 350 people signed that letter, including Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and others. So don't tell me there is no consensus. Where we disagree is whether we are playing Russian roulette with one, two, or three bullets in the chamber. On that point, we don't know where this is headed.

This fall, you also saw a large-scale cyber-attack successfully carried out by AI without substantial human intervention. All of the Canadian government's strategies against cyber-attacks were developed before that incident.

What is the government actually doing to prepare Canada for this kind of large-scale, autonomous cyber-attack carried out by AI, as described to our committee?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Your concerns are shared by all of us. We all have real concerns about any potential abusive uses. This is why protection is so important.

On cybersecurity, our Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, has introduced Bill C-8 to fortify our cybersecurity system and responses. That's really important. I would urge members who are deeply concerned about cybersecurity, as we all should be, to support that piece of legislation, because it's really important.

On protecting our digital infrastructure, I will say one that concerns around cyber-attacks that could breach current systems are important. This is why we've invested in quantum technology, because, as you know, quantum computing poses a genuine potential threat.

In December, we launched our Canadian quantum champions program to keep our four phenomenal Canadian companies here in Canada, including Nord Quantique in Quebec, Photonic and Xanadu. We need to make sure Canadians own the potential to protect ourselves from cyber-attacks and have quantum-level security. That's why we launched the Canadian quantum champions program; it was for that reason.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Do you think there should be a consensus—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Mr. Thériault, please wrap up quickly.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Like experts such as Hinton, Bengio, etc., do you recommend pausing the development of generative and artificial general intelligence? Will you work with other countries to create a structure that would prevent us from being overtaken in the race for artificial superintelligence?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

I almost need a one-word answer.

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

We have invested $50 million in the AI safety institute working with Yoshua Bengio, who won the Turing Award. He's very aware of that. Safety is top of mind in our national strategy. I very much appreciate the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

That was 38 words. Thank you.

Mr. Hardy, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you for being with us, Minister.

I am completely changing the subject.

You said earlier that Canada's plan is AI for all. No matter where you live or how much you earn, you can all have safe access to AI.

We know that Canada's population is growing every year. If I understand correctly, in order for everyone to have access to AI, more data centres will be required. Data centres are part of your plan, which calls for building more and more of them.

Am I wrong?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Yes, the member is right. Part of our “build” pillar will include supporting some sovereign data centres, absolutely.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

You intend to build more and more data centres.

That being said, according to the latest data we have, energy demand is increasing by about 30% per year, mainly because of data centres. We are told that by 2030, energy demand will double.

Yesterday, I met with representatives from Énergir, a wonderful Quebec company. They told me that, currently, during peak periods such as the cold spell we experienced over the past few weeks, Énergir was already struggling to provide the energy needed to meet the population's heating needs alone.

Have you assessed the energy requirements for building so many data centres in the coming years? How will this work out? Finally, who will supply the energy so we're able to run these data centres?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

The member is asking an absolutely crucial question. I really appreciate it because energy is uniquely tied to this technology.

The electrification of the world is happening. This is why as government, through our Major Projects Office, we are investing in building out new grids.

I also just want to point out that it is the provinces and the regulators in the provinces that are in charge of how they allocate energy on the grid.

I've spoken, in meetings with the provinces and territories, a lot about the energy use and how each province is allocating energy. I'll give you an example. In Ontario, we are now building small modular reactors. We're just starting that in Ontario because they need more electricity generation. It's not all for AI, of course. AI might be 2%. Some experts say it's 2% of our energy needs.

Nonetheless, we are very mindful, and the provinces and the regulators are mindful, that any use of electricity doesn't get downloaded on ratepayers. They're mindful of water usage and they're mindful of heat capture, yet we don't want to constrain innovation. We don't want to stop it.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

As for your plan to build more data centres, production capacity will inevitably be important, because it's the law of supply and demand. On the one hand, if we can't supply more energy and demand goes up, the price has to go up and someone will have to foot the bill. Right now, if there are more and more data centres, citizens or businesses will have to pay more for their electricity.

What do you think? If it's more expensive for businesses, they won't want to come here. People won't want to pay more either. What's your strategy on this?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Again, it's a great question. The provinces have regulators. The federal government doesn't regulate electricity allocations of megawatts or gigawatts.

Every province has a different landscape here. For example, the regulator in Alberta, AESO, recently released 1.2 gigawatts of power tied to the grid. They have natural gas and they believe that's a really important investment. They don't think that will impact their ratepayers.

Just in the last week, B.C. has also released about 300 megawatts of power tied to the grid. Others will incentivize companies—again, not through the federal government—to build what's called “behind the fence”. They'll build data centres not tied to the grid, so you'll have to bring your own. It's like BYOP: Bring your own power.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

I think there's one thing we agree on: One way or another, the big projects are going to have to move a whole lot faster if we're going to be able to deliver what you're talking about.

It raises other questions as well. When will you be announcing projects? When will shovels hit the ground to get those projects going? If you're saying that a large number of data centres are going to be built, you're going to have to speed things up. I'm sure you've done the calculations.

What are the production years? When are you going to sign the contracts so that we're able to move forward? Will taxpayers be on the hook until you're ready to build, in order to accelerate projects and ensure the availability of that power?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

You're out of time, Mr. Hardy.

Minister, can you give a quick response, please?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

The national strategy will have more details on that. Again, we are mindful that this is not done on the backs of ratepayers, but that is provinces, which we're working closely with to make sure that this industry is built in collaboration with the provinces and to make sure that it's done transparently and efficiently.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Mr. Sari, you may go ahead for five minutes.

[Abdelhaq Sari, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you very much for being here and providing us with answers. They're giving committee members clarity on a number of things.

My questions today are primarily meant to reassure Canadians who are following these proceedings. I think we all have the same concerns when it comes to the risks of AI. I'm going to split my questions into two parts.

First, Canada has always been able to attract talent in several fields, including information technology. Does your strategy have some sort of facet, component or dimension aimed at attracting more experts in the field of AI?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

Chair, my honourable colleague understands this industry extremely well. He's very well versed in it. I appreciate the question on talent. We have to build on our foundation of talent. That's the talent attraction strategy. There will be more elements to make sure that we capture the talent.

There are opportunities out there. Some fantastic programmers who can't get into some other countries right now are looking for a place to build that is safe and that protects their values, and where they can have the security. We're attracting; this is a place to build. We're absolutely doing that. We are investing in our talent. The $1.7 billion is part of it, to recruit 1,000 world-class researchers. That's really part of it.

I should say that we're also creating talent here. I mean, this is one thing we shouldn't sell ourselves short on. Maybe we as Canadians don't celebrate our own successes.

It goes beyond our three institutes, Mila, in Montreal, Vector Institute, in Toronto, and Amii, in Edmonton. Many universities are producing some highly skilled people.

The University of Waterloo is among the very best in the world. Simon Fraser is among the very best in the world, as are Sherbrooke, Université Laval, the Université de Montréal and McGill. We are producing more talent and engineers, but I should say that it's not just people who understand the technology. We need Canadians from all sectors to understand. Some like to talk about STEM, which is science, technology, engineering and math, but there's also STEAM, which is science, technology, engineering, arts and math, because there are remarkable.... We need to make sure that “AI for all” means that all these folks have the literacy to use these tools.

The last thing I'll say is that the good news is that these tools are getting a little easier to use. To use a kind of cool tech term, it's called “vibe coding”. It used to be that you needed a real technology degree to be able to really use these tools to produce some benefits. Now it's so easy to use the interfaces. They call it vibe coding. People who may not have a tech background can use it for their companies.

So it's becoming more inclusive. We have to make sure it's safe.

[Abdelhaq Sari, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Thank you for your answer. It's reassuring to hear how you'll be supporting Canada's AI ecosystem so that it can be competitive.

That brings me to my second question. It pertains to an issue that, as you well know, Minister, is very important to me. It's clear that AI is moving at breakneck speed, becoming a part of our everyday lives. I'd like to give you an opportunity to talk about digital sovereignty. We and the Prime Minister talk a lot about that, because it's something we care about deeply.

How can the government ease people's concerns about our digital sovereignty, as we negotiate with, unfortunately, an increasingly hostile neighbour to the south?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you for your question.

There are two aspects of sovereignty. The first aspect is making sure that Canadians' data and privacy are safe. Let's be clear: The people who are watching this want to make sure their kids' data is safe. They want to make sure they're protected from deepfakes and protected from malign forces, people who are trying to undermine our democracy.

One of the reasons we will be tabling legislation to update our privacy laws, which are still functioning—Canadians' data is safe—is to make sure that we have the tools to protect Canadians' privacy. Earlier, one of the other honourable members here raised a question about deepfakes. It's a good one. We have the legislation that the justice minister—