The Prime Minister of Canada announced the creation of the Prime Minister's National Council on Artificial Intelligence on 2 October 2026 in Ottawa. The Council was established by that announcement, and the news release cites no enabling statute, regulation or order in council. Its members were named on the same date, so the body exists from 2 October 2026 with no commencement, transition or consultation stage left to run.
No instrument confers power on the Council. The news release states that it will provide independent, practical advice on Canada's AI transformation, and that it is supported by a small team within the Privy Council Office. The release also states that responsible ministers and departments remain accountable for policy decisions and implementation. The Council advises, and the authority to make or amend Canadian AI rules stays with Parliament and with the ministers who hold it under their existing statutes.
AI developers, deployers and investors operating in Canada acquire no new obligation on 2 October 2026 and lose none. The Council's remit covers evolving the AI for All strategy, which the release ties to accelerating adoption, fostering national champions and building sovereign AI infrastructure, and to making AI safer, protecting democracy and ensuring Canadians prosper from AI. The named members are Ajay Agrawal, Yoshua Bengio, Sanja Fidler, Gillian Hadfield, Jordan Jacobs, Eric Lamarre, Valérie Pisano, Senator Thomas Pitfield, Jody Thomas, Louis Vachon and Michelle Zatlyn, with Patrick Pichette serving ex officio.
The release sets no reporting date for the Council and names no chair. The targets it attaches to the AI for All strategy run over the next five years: an additional 200 billion dollars in economic growth, 250,000 new AI-related jobs, and AI adoption rising from just over 12 per cent to 60 per cent by 2034. The release does not mention forthcoming AI legislation or regulation.
Licentium advises AI developers, deployers and investors on Canadian and cross-border AI regulation, and on when a policy announcement becomes an enforceable duty. Work we undertake includes jurisdictional mapping of AI obligations, classification of AI systems against statutory risk tiers, governance and documentation builds, and monitoring of legislative and regulatory pipelines in Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.