Prime Minister Mark Carney has staked his government on a sovereignty argument.

The 2025 federal budget committed $115 billion to nationbuilding infrastructure such as ports, pipelines and railways – some of which are dual-use civilian and military. This is part of what Carney calls Canada’s biggest economic transformation since the Second World War.

At Davos in January, he argued that sovereignty must be “anchored in the ability to withstand pressure.” The budget was an attempt to build an anchor in guns and steel – and that argument is compelling as far as it goes.

But it is calibrated on only one part of the global competition now taking shape. The next era of strategic rivalry will be decided less by who controls territory, resources and supply chains than by who controls the foundational technologies that will govern every sector of the economy and every dimension of national security. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most visible current example.

The CUSMA review is Canada’s last chance to govern AI Canada needs to develop its own AI computing power Canada’s digital sovereignty debate overlooks software risks

The CUSMA review is Canada’s last chance to govern AI

Canada needs to develop its own AI computing power

Canada’s digital sovereignty debate overlooks software risks

Countries that lead in those technologies write the rules. They decide who can buy the most advanced chips, whose AI systems meet international safety standards and whose communication networks are trusted. Countries that lack those capacities are left to take what they are given, regardless of how many ports they build or submarines they commission.

That is the difference between a rule-maker and a rule-taker. It is also the distinction that the budget does not fully confront.

The Carney government needs to widen its sovereignty goals and take action now. Canada has world-class knowledge in specific domains – such as Arctic environmental science and AI safety........

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