**Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon pictured at Canada 2020’s event From Ambition to Action: Getting Big Things Done. / CANADA 2020 TWITTER PHOTO**

Unilateral attempts to regulate artificial intelligence would be a “waste of time” and Canada should instead focus on scaling its AI industry, boosting adoption and protecting its digital sovereignty, Federal Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said Tuesday.

Speaking Tuesday at a Canada 2020 event in Ottawa, Solomon dismissed attempts to constrain AI at the national level as ineffective in the absence of international alignment. “It’s really hard. There’s lots of leakage. The United States and China have no desire to buy into any constraint or regulation.”

Canada must shift away from “over-indexing on regulation” and instead adopt a more proactive, productivity-focused strategy, he said in his first major keynote address as minister. “We’re moving from our back foot of just warning and over-indexing on regulation, to our front foot to make sure that the Canadian economy, and all Canadians, benefit from adopting this technology productively.”

Solomon outlined a four-pillar strategy to grow and safeguard Canada’s AI ecosystem — focusing on scale, adoption, trust, and sovereignty. He said his policy emphasizes the importance of productivity and job creation and reflects a targeted industrial approach that aims to champion Canadian innovation leaders, such as Cohere and ThinkOn.

‘Bucking bronco’

“We have a unique competitive advantage, but we need to protect it, and we need to build on it,” Solomon said.

Solomon said the government will push for wider AI adoption, particularly among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), by leveraging tools such as tax credits and flow-through shares — and moving away from diffuse “sprinkler” funding.

He also stressed that building public trust in AI requires strong privacy protections and responsible data governance. The goal is “not to find a saddle to throw on the bucking bronco called AI innovation,” Solomon said. “It is to make sure that the horse doesn’t kick people in the face.”

During a Q&A with Canada 2020’s Susan Smith, Solomon addressed the intersection of AI and national defence, noting that cybersecurity and quantum cryptography are “part of our national defence” as well as industrial strategy.

Asked what success might look like in the next year, Solomon pointed to company growth, the early development of Canadian data centres, and measurable gains in AI-driven productivity across government. While regulatory progress will continue, he said, it will do so “carefully, but decisively.”

“Canadians need trust in order to try it out, and avoid the fear,” Solomon said.