One year ago, Evan Solomon, former host of both Power Play and Question Period, was appointed the first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation just weeks after being appointed MP for Toronto Centre. He openly declared that Canada is in a “Gutenberg-like moment,” emphasizing his opinion that artificial intelligence is a civilization-altering shift.
From this, he laid out the following core priorities to accelerate Canada’s economy and technological growth.
- Support the technical ingenuity of domestic Artificial Intelligence firms
- Support social ingenuity – protecting consumer privacy and data
From this, notably stating how one cannot exist without the other, and how they must increase in parallel for Canada to effectively move forward with artificial intelligence.
HIS PHILOSOPHY
Throughout the last year, Solomon has stayed true to a single mantra.
“Light, tight, and right.”
This represents how he believes the future of AI regulation should be in Canada, with light meaning that regulation should be minimal, tight referencing that the regulation that does exist should be very specific in what it says, and right. The regulation should be around that with actual risk. If something is not risky, no regulation is needed.
Whether this is the right approach has been debated extensively, with critics arguing that Canada is already falling behind international peers in AI governance.
SO WHAT HAS HE DONE?
- Launched an Artificial Intelligence Advisory group that ran through October 2025, with the idea to give new recommendations on Artificial Intelligence.
In the end, 32 total reports were delivered by members.
In addition, a public consultation was run side by side. Just over 11,000 Canadians responded, a fraction of the country’s population of almost 40 million. - Outlined Ottawa’s 6 pillars of AI strategy that will help them complete their goals related to Artificial Intelligence. However, we still await the full document regarding the national artificial intelligence strategy
- Given $8.5 million to 40 projects across Atlantic Canada.
This, however, is quite modest compared to the $2 billion funding of the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy – Canada’s plan to create its own AI Infrastructure to remove dependence on larger tech giants. - Revamping Bill C-27. Originally killed when Parliament was prorogued, Solomon aims to bring it back, stating that it is “not gone” but needs to be revisited. Over the course of the year, no meaningful public progress has been made on this, whereas major parts of the world have adopted federal laws on artificial intelligence, such as the EU. However, Canada has addressed some AI concerns, such as deepfakes, through Bill C-16.
Over the last year, Evan Solomon has been laying the groundwork for the future of artificial intelligence in Canada, but when it comes down to it, groundwork isn’t true governance. Canadians might have to start asking themselves if his mantra “light, tight, and right” is doing Canada a disservice, given his apparent lack of urgency around true AI regulation.
