Science and Research Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2025

[Mark Schaan]

—but what we care about is that Cohere remains Canadian.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I understand. You're following the four corners of the contribution agreement, but are you confident that this data centre operator, CoreWeave, which is operating a centre in Ontario for Cohere, is not subject to U.S. government jurisdiction and specifically to the U.S. CLOUD Act?

[Mark Schaan]

There are a few things. Cohere is in possession of the data, and Cohere is subject to our laws in relation to the protection and continued holding of—

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

CoreWeave is subject to U.S. laws, and CoreWeave would have access—

[Mark Schaan]

The operator of the LLM in question is Cohere.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Okay, but we have CoreWeave as a data centre operator, and CoreWeave is a U.S.-based company and is subject to the U.S. CLOUD Act.

Do you think this agreement creates long-term dependence on U.S. suppliers?

[Mark Schaan]

I'll try to be brief, but to zoom out to the overall intent of our $2-billion sovereign compute envelope, it includes the creation of continued supports for sovereign alternatives and the build-out of sovereign infrastructure in this country. It has a number of component parts. One is for the research sector, one is for small and medium-sized enterprises—

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

How can you say it's sovereign when a key piece of that supply chain is owned and operated by a U.S. company?

[Mark Schaan]

A Canadian company is being supported in its R and D efforts to build out its own company here in Canada, with Canadian jobs and Canadian IP, and it continues to serve markets around the world.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I understand the jobs and IP part, but I'm talking about the data centre that's subject to U.S. law. Does that create a cause for concern for Canadians? It will have access to data—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up, MP Ho. You can come back to that in the second round.

Now we will proceed to MP Deschênes-Thériault for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Through our budgets, we're making significant investments in applied and basic research on artificial intelligence. What is our government doing to ensure equitable research funding across the country and across our various institutions?

[Mark Schaan]

Thank you.

The budget provides for multi-billion-dollar investments to attract talent in all regions of Canada, and those funds are distributed by the research funds and agencies, which are mandated to ensure that all institutions have equitable access to those funds. That's one of the foundations of our overall approach to research. We use the funds to increase research capacity and funding across the country and in all institutions, including French-language institutions.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Our strategy positions Canada as a global artificial intelligence leader, and we need the right infrastructure in place to ensure high-speed connectivity, ensure secure data sharing and foster co‑operation.

Can you tell us about the state of our infrastructure in Canada? How will the investments we're making in budget 2025 strengthen our infrastructure and make Canada a world leader in this area?

[Mark Schaan]

I thank the member for his question.

As I said, it's important to note that a large part of the overall budget to build sovereign infrastructure in Canada is earmarked for universities, researchers and institutes. That's the third part of our strategy, and the relevant funding has increased in budget 2025.

Budget 2025 gives the government the opportunity to continue the process of establishing a supercomputer in Canada to meet all the needs of researchers in Canada and to ensure that researchers have access to artificial intelligence. That isn't just about access, but about deeper access, because it also includes access to services for [Inaudible—Editor] data and their capacity to use artificial intelligence. It's also about ensuring that projects are prioritized in the data centres that we're going to build.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Considering the fact that Canada is a global leader in AI, I would like to know how Canada is advancing responsible AI innovation and governance on the international scene. What steps are being taken to align Canada's AI research with global standards?

[Mark Schaan]

Canada has been at the heart of the continuation of ethical, responsible and trustworthy AI for longer than we've had an AI strategy. When the pan-Canadian AI strategy was introduced in 2020, so was the Montreal declaration on responsible AI. It was why, in Canada's last G7 presidency—not this one—Canada was the first to put artificial intelligence on the international table and helped create the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence—first in our G7 year and then finalized in the G7 year of France, the year after.

Canada was also one of the earliest contributors to the AI safety network and is a fundamental partner globally, not only in the G7 on the Hiroshima AI Process, which is establishing global norms around codes of conduct and responsible use, but also on the AI safety side, where we're looking at evaluation techniques and mechanisms to ensure that frontier models are being tested and assured for Canadian safety and security, alongside those of our global peers.

I think those are all efforts by which Canada is positioning itself to ensure that responsible, trustworthy AI is a hallmark of our contribution and that we stay interoperable with our global peers and push the overall international agenda towards a more safe, secure and trustworthy iteration of artificial intelligence.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

You're talking about the world-renowned ethical standards that we have in Canada. We have a voluntary code of conduct that targets responsible development and management of advanced generative AI systems.

I would like to know how this voluntary code of conduct makes sure that we have a responsible AI research ecosystem in Canada. I would like to hear your views on it and whether you have any data regarding this code of conduct, like its impact and why we adopted it.

[Mark Schaan]

Thank you.

The code of conduct for businesses and organizations that use generative artificial intelligence is a voluntary initiative designed to assure Canadians that they're doing so responsibly and ethically. Over 50 organizations and businesses have signed on to the code of conduct to date. That includes not only large businesses, but also small or medium-sized businesses, as well as the industry organizations that helped develop the code.

The purpose of the code is for companies to develop simpler and more responsible artificial intelligence systems to preserve Canadians' trust. I think there's an opportunity to increase the number of organizations and businesses that sign on. This initiative makes a significant contribution to the development of standards for companies that use artificial intelligence and helps reassure Canadians about how they're doing so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

The time is up. Thank you.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will proceed to MP Blanchette-Joncas for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Vats, according to the report entitled “The State of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Canada 2025”, commissioned by your department, Quebec conducts approximately 25% of all Canadian research and development.

Can you confirm that Quebec receives an equivalent share of federal funding, yes or no?

[Nipun Vats, Assistant Deputy Minister, Science and Research Sector, Department of Industry]

I don't have those numbers on hand.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Can you send us the data for the past 25 years, broken down by province, particularly in terms of federal support?