Carney launches Canada's National Council on Artificial Intelligence
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday stood up a new National Council on Artificial Intelligence to give independent advice on Canada's AI transformation, including how to accelerate adoption, foster national champions, and build sovereign AI infrastructure.
Canada is putting named frontier researchers and builders — Bengio, Fidler, Cloudflare's Zatlyn — on a Prime Minister–level advisory board while it races to hit ambitious AI-adoption and job targets. That is a governance move, not a model launch.
On Friday, 2 October 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the Prime Minister’s National Council on Artificial Intelligence. The Prime Minister of Canada’s news release dates the item October 2, 2026. That page does not print an hour. CNW carries the same release and stamps Oct. 2, 2026, 14:00 ET, which is 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The CNW dateline is Ottawa. The source line is the Prime Minister’s Office. Those times are what the pages print.
What the council is asked to do. The release says it will give independent, practical advice on Canada’s AI transformation. It will bring public and private people to the same table and advise on how the government’s AI for All strategy changes. The list in that sentence is accelerating adoption, fostering national champions, and building sovereign AI infrastructure. Adoption, here, means companies and public services actually using the technology, not only studying it. A national champion, in the release’s phrase, is a Canadian company meant to compete at the top of the field. Sovereign infrastructure means the computers and systems Canada treats as its own to control. Members will also advise on making AI safer, protecting democracy, and making sure Canadians prosper from it. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office.
Who it is meant to gather. The release says the council will bring together Canada’s leading thinkers, builders, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, public servants, and international experts. They will advise on problems already here, and help come up with ideas, partnerships, and AI-focused missions. The page says that group includes world-leading experts on AI safety, governance, and oversight. Governance, here, means the rules for how the technology is used. Oversight means someone is assigned to watch that those rules hold. The council will also advise on cross-cutting issues in the strategy. Cross-cutting means a question that runs through more than one ministry, so no single department owns all of it. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office.
The names the release prints. Ajay Agrawal, Yoshua Bengio, Sanja Fidler, John Graham, Gillian Hadfield, Jordan Jacobs, Eric Lamarre, Valérie Pisano, Senator Thomas Pitfield, Jody Thomas, Louis Vachon, Michelle Zatlyn, and Patrick Pichette. That is thirteen people. Pichette is marked ex officio. Ex officio means the seat comes with another office the person already holds. The release does not name that other office. Beside Thomas Pitfield, the word Senator is the title the page prints. The page does not print a job title next to the other names. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office.
What the strategy says it is for. Canada’s AI strategy, the release says, has three aims: building trust in AI, expanding opportunity for Canadians, and strengthening Canada’s control over critical AI capabilities. With the council’s advice, the government says it will focus on turning Canadian innovation into stronger companies, better public services, good jobs, and greater economic security. A separate line says the benefits of AI must be shared widely, so workers, businesses, and Canadians in general can use the change and gain from it. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office.
What Carney said. The release quotes him: “Prosperity and sovereignty in the age of AI belong to nations that can build, adopt, and govern AI on their own terms.” He calls that Canada’s mission, and says it will take expertise and leadership from across the field. The council, he says, will inform and advise the government on how to deploy AI in Canada: how to manage the risks, seize the opportunities, and use AI to improve the lives of all Canadians. That quotation is his, in the Prime Minister’s Office release.
Who supports the council, and who still decides. A small team inside the Privy Council Office will support it. That office is the central public service that works for the prime minister and cabinet. Responsible ministers and departments stay accountable for policy decisions and for carrying them out. Accountable, here, means the ministers still own the decisions. The council advises. It does not replace them. The release says the team is small. It does not print a head count, and it does not print a dollar figure for the council. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office.
The targets the release attaches to AI for All. Canada launched that strategy in June, the page says. It does not print the June day. The targets sentence says an additional $200 billion of economic growth, 250,000 new AI-related jobs over the next five years, and an increase in AI adoption from just over 12% to 60% by 2034. The words “over the next five years” sit on the jobs. The year 2034 sits on the adoption figure. From 2026 to 2034 is eight years, longer than the five-year jobs line. The page also says the strategy will provide up to 90,000 AI-related jobs and work-placement opportunities for young Canadians. Up to 90,000 is a ceiling in that sentence, not a count of jobs already filled. A work placement can be a short stint, not only a permanent hire. Sixty divided by 12 is five. The page says “just over 12%,” so the multiple is a little under five. That multiple is arithmetic on the two figures. The page does not print it. The page does not say whether 12% is a share of businesses, of workers, or of something else. Those figures are the strategy’s targets, as the Prime Minister’s Office states them. They are not a result the council has already delivered.
What the same release says happened last month, kept separate from this council. The prime minister launched Digital Transformation Canada, a new federal organization to modernize how the government delivers services, and to use the government’s buying power so Canadian digital and AI companies can grow and sell new technology. From a release dated 2 October 2026, last month is September. The page does not print the day. Those lines are the Prime Minister’s Office. They describe a different body. They are not a budget or a meeting of this council.
Where the release says AI is already in use. The page says it is already being used in Canada to improve health-care diagnosis and patient care, to help farmers raise crop yields and cut costs through precision agriculture, and to strengthen transportation through smarter traffic management, logistics, and upkeep of infrastructure. Precision agriculture means using data to decide where seed, water, and fertilizer go. Logistics is the work of moving goods. Those examples are the Prime Minister’s Office’s. The page does not tie them to a decision of this council.
The picture is a cream card with a red bar across the top and down the left edge. On the left is a photograph of Prime Minister Mark Carney, head and shoulders, in a navy suit, white shirt, and dark tie, with a small maple-leaf pin on the lapel. Stone is behind him on one side and a dark doorway on the other. The red line reads Canada, then Politics. The headline reads National Council on Artificial Intelligence. Under it, a line says he names Bengio, Zatlyn, Fidler, and 10 others to advise AI for All. A smaller line names Yoshua Bengio, Michelle Zatlyn, Sanja Fidler, Ajay Agrawal, and Gillian Hadfield. A red label reads Office of the Prime Minister. The frame does not print a calendar date. It is his portrait with an announcement card. It is not a photograph of the council in a room.
In plain terms, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday, from Ottawa, that Mark Carney has launched a National Council on Artificial Intelligence to advise the government on AI for All. The advice covers faster use of the technology, Canadian companies that can compete, and infrastructure Canada controls, plus safety, democracy, and whether the gains are shared. Thirteen people are named, including Yoshua Bengio, Sanja Fidler, and Michelle Zatlyn. Patrick Pichette is listed ex officio, and the release does not say which office that seat comes with. A small team in the Privy Council Office will support the council. Ministers still make the policy. The $200 billion, the 250,000 jobs over five years, the rise from just over 12% adoption to 60% by 2034, and the up to 90,000 placements for young people are targets of the June AI for All strategy, as this release states them. The release does not set a first meeting, a council budget, or a vote.