Canada launches a 13-member national AI council under Prime Minister Mark Carney
The new advisory body brings Yoshua Bengio, ValƩrie Pisano and Michelle Zatlyn together to steer Canada's 'AI for All' strategy
Canada now has a formal brain trust for artificial intelligence. On October 2, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the Prime Minister’s National Council on Artificial Intelligence.
It is a 13-member group built to give strategic advice on the country’s AI agenda.
Who is on the council and what it is supposed to do
The council draws from academia, industry and public service. Its job is advisory: it guides strategy rather than writing laws or handing out money directly.
Its mandate ties directly to Canada’s ‘AI for All’ strategy. Groundwork for that strategy was laid in mid-2026, so the council arrives as the next step rather than a cold start.
The council’s stated priorities fall into a few buckets:
- Speeding up AI adoption across the country
- Developing national champions, meaning homegrown AI companies that can compete at scale
- Strengthening sovereign AI infrastructure
- Promoting safety, governance and the protection of democracy
- Delivering broad economic and social benefits to Canadians
The names on the roster give the effort some weight. Yoshua Bengio, one of the field’s best-known researchers, sits on the council. He serves as scientific director at both LawZero and Mila.
ValƩrie Pisano, CEO of Mila, joins him. So does Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare.
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The money trail: a CAD 150 million bet on safe AI
The council does not stand alone. It follows a recent federal investment of CAD 150 million in Bengio’s LawZero.
That funding targets what is described as safe-by-design AI. The idea is to build safety into systems from the ground up rather than patching problems after deployment.
Putting that cash behind LawZero, then seating its scientific director on the national council, sends a clear signal. Safety is meant to sit alongside growth in Canada’s playbook, not trail behind it.
Why a council, and why now
The council is designed to bring public and private players into the same conversation, so that policy, funding and industry priorities point in roughly the same direction.
The explicit mention of protecting democracy stands out. Including it in the mandate suggests the government sees AI governance as a civic issue, not purely an economic one.
What this means for Canada’s AI sector
The council is advisory, so its influence depends on whether its recommendations translate into actual policy, procurement and funding decisions.
The key things to watch are concrete. Look for the council’s first recommendations, any new funding tied to sovereign infrastructure, and signs of which companies the government treats as national champions.