Evan Solomon

The Global AI Economy: Capital, Sovereignty, & Canada's Future | Global Dialogues Toronto 2026

Susan Li, Aidan Gomez, Dave McKay, The Honorable Evan Solomon, Evan Solomon

Canadian officials and industry leaders convened to outline a national strategy that balances aggressive AI development with robust regulatory oversight, including the establishment of a new safety regulator and a $50 million investment in the AI Safety Institute. Key figures such as Cohere CEO Aiden Gomez and Minister of AI Evan Solomon rejected calls for antitrust relief and existential risk scenarios, instead advocating for independent testing and sovereign control over frontier models to ensure democratic alternatives to U.S. and Chinese dominance. Supported by a $1.4 billion RBC growth fund and a $1.7 billion talent attraction initiative, the plan aims to retain domestic scale-ups while deploying free AI tools to students and creating 90,000 job placements to facilitate workforce adaptation.