Prime Minister Mark Carney has created a 13-member National Council on Artificial Intelligence to advise the Canadian government on how to implement and evolve its national AI strategy, bringing researchers, investors, business leaders and public-sector figures into decisions on adoption, safety and sovereign infrastructure.
The new body is influential but not executive. In the official launch announcement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the council will provide independent, practical and timely advice on Canada’s AI transformation. It also made clear that responsible ministers and departments will remain accountable for policy decisions and implementation.
That distinction matters because the council’s remit is broad. It will advise on the evolution of the government’s AI for All strategy, including how to accelerate adoption, support Canadian AI companies, build sovereign AI infrastructure and manage issues around safety and democratic protection. The government also wants the group to connect public and private stakeholders and help generate new missions, partnerships and initiatives.
The membership reflects that range. The council includes AI researchers Yoshua Bengio and Sanja Fidler, CPP Investments chief executive John Graham, legal scholar Gillian Hadfield, Radical Ventures co-founder Jordan Jacobs, Mila chief executive Valérie Pisano and Cloudflare co-founder Michelle Zatlyn, among others. Patrick Pichette, chief executive of Digital Transformation Canada, serves ex officio.
Canada is not starting from a blank sheet. The council is meant to sit above an AI policy agenda Carney’s government launched in June under the AI for All strategy. That plan is built around three themes: building trust in AI, expanding economic and social opportunity, and strengthening Canadian sovereignty over critical capabilities such as compute, cloud infrastructure, data and talent.
The new council gives the Prime Minister a compact group to advise on how those ambitions translate into policy. Its mandate reaches beyond technical safety. The government says the body will consider economic competitiveness, AI adoption, government transformation, talent, research and sovereign infrastructure, while also addressing AI safety, governance and oversight.
The strategy’s headline targets are ambitious. Ottawa says AI for All aims to generate an additional C$200 billion in economic growth, create 250,000 new AI-related jobs over five years and lift AI adoption from just over 12% to 60% by 2034. It also says the strategy will provide up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and work-placement opportunities for young Canadians.
Those numbers should be read as government targets, not as guaranteed results. An advisory council can shape priorities and surface risks, but it cannot by itself create adoption, productivity or employment. The outcome will depend on legislation, procurement, infrastructure spending, private investment, workforce training and whether Canadian businesses and public agencies actually deploy the technology at scale.
The Logic has also noted that Ottawa already has several AI advisory structures created or refreshed in recent years, including earlier task forces and safety groups. That makes the new council’s proximity to the Prime Minister potentially important, but it also raises a practical test: whether the new body produces clearer decisions and coordinated action rather than simply adding another layer of advice.
The council’s design suggests Carney wants AI policy treated as an economic and sovereignty issue as much as a technology-policy problem. The official mandate links model safety and democratic protection with national champions, public services, infrastructure and competitiveness. That reflects a broader shift among governments that increasingly see access to compute, domestic firms and technical talent as strategic assets.
For now, however, the council’s power is advisory. Its members can influence priorities and provide expertise, but ministers and departments still own the decisions. The real measure of the new body will be whether its advice changes how Canada deploys public money, regulates AI, builds sovereign infrastructure and turns its unusually ambitious adoption targets into measurable results.
