Canada’s AI Strategy and Missed Commercial Opportunities -Part 6

Digital Sovereignty and Cloud Infrastructure

Defining Digital Sovereignty: We define it as full-stack control over the digital economy: from critical minerals and semiconductors to telecommunications, software, and compute/cloud systems.

The Cloud Ownership Vulnerability: Multinational corporate claims (e.g., Microsoft advertising that "Microsoft Canada is loyal to Canada”) are hollow because foreign subsidiaries remain beholden to parent companies and foreign jurisdictions. Under US legislation (such as the CLOUD Act), the US government can compel American-owned cloud providers to disclose data even if the servers are physically located on Canadian soil.

Domestic Alternatives: Essential sectors (national security, healthcare, and financial services) require Canadian-owned digital infrastructure. We advocate for private initiatives (e.g., Bell Canada) alongside potential Crown corporations (e.g., utilizing Canada Post or a dedicated public entity) to operate and safeguard domestic network and compute structures.

* Footnotes & Citations & Sources provided only upon request to aiTO.