Al Vigier: Canada's AI strategy shouldn't include secret Palantir bills
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Canada's AI strategy does not address its secret purchases of foreign Palantir systems.
Canada's new 'AI for All' strategy aims for 60% of businesses to use AI by 2034, with the government as a 'strategic anchor customer.' However, the government is already a major AI buyer, quietly spending over $44 million on Palantir contracts for Defence and policing. The strategy funds equity, compute, and certification but includes no direct purchase orders from Canadian vendors. The author, a Canadian AI CEO, argues Ottawa must buy from domestic firms openly and with auditable rules, as it has secretly bought from Palantir.
The strategy chooses health for its first missions program, the most risk-averse government sector, instead of courts or defence. The author recommends making sourcing accessible to small firms and setting a fixed share of AI budgets for Canadian-controlled products.
What commenters are saying
Commenters broadly agree Canada should move away from Palantir, citing its ties to the Trump administration's annexation threats and its surveillance role. Some argue Palantir's ethics are problematic regardless of nationality, while others see a Canadian alternative as better but not a panacea.
Several commenters express skepticism about Canada's ability to build domestic alternatives, citing low salaries for Canadian engineers and deep reliance on US cloud infrastructure. Others point to Cohere as a viable competitor and argue that change must be gradual, while a minority claim only the US and China can run such systems domestically.