Promise Tracker
A conservative public register for the six pillars, official outcome targets, and explicit key actions in Canada's National AI Strategy. Strategy promises are commitments, not proof of delivery.
Promise Tracker
Four lanes translate the official strategy register into a public-accountability view. Each lane opens the same promise register with the existing filter contract.
Official commitment or policy work exists, but delivery proof is not yet public.
Open laneActive15promise rowsFunding or program machinery is visible; outcome evidence still needs watching.
Open laneDelivered2promise rowsA launch or current public baseline is visible. This is evidence, not a final outcome claim.
Open laneNeeds Evidence34promise rowsThe strategy promise exists, but the tracker needs a separate progress source.
Open laneWatch next
Commitments where the next public document or report would most directly improve the tracker.
Support applied AI research, testing, and deployment for fraud prevention, cyber defence, threat detection, and data protection.
Work on transparency measures such as watermarking so Canadians can identify AI interactions and content.
Create a certification program to help Canadians identify trustworthy AI products in the marketplace.
Coordinate with frontier AI companies and international partners to protect Canadians and critical systems.
Numeric targets are shown with baselines only when a public metric exists.
70promises trackedOutcome targets plus every explicit key-action commitment from the full strategy.
36source-backed status rowsRows with an official target, policy stage, funding, launch, or baseline source attached.
34progress evidence gapsRows where the strategy promise exists but delivery evidence is not wired yet.
Evidence atlas
Select any non-zero cell to filter the promise register. The matrix shows evidence status, not delivery proof.
| Pillar | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protecting Canadians | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |||
| Empowering Canadians | 0 | 0 | 19 | ||||
| Adoption | 0 | 12 | |||||
| Sovereign AI | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||||
| Canadian champions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |||
| Partnerships | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Current public measurements
These are baseline or adjacent public measurements. They help ground the strategy, but only a current value that matches a stated target is treated as progress evidence.
Statistics Canada's narrow current-use measure covers businesses using AI to produce goods or deliver services in the previous 12 months, up from 12.2% in Q2 2025.
Planning to use AI over the next 12 months is a demand signal. It is not adoption already achieved and is not added to the current-use rate.
This is an experimental exposure estimate for job transformation risk and complementarity. It does not predict actual job losses or gains.
This static count comes from the public Open Government CSV. It shows disclosure activity, not a complete inventory or quality rating.
A federal public-service lighthouse project gives a measurable adoption example, but it is adjacent context rather than proof that the new national strategy has delivered.
1 of 5 public measurements currently line up with an official strategy target. The rest are context signals, not scorecard points.
Targets and measurable signals
A bar appears only when a public latest value can be compared with a stated target. Pending rails mean the tracker needs delivery evidence before it can show progress.
Share of Canadian businesses using AI to produce goods or deliver services
32% of stated target value using the latest public value.
The tracker shows latest divided by target, not a claim that the strategy is 32% delivered. Statistics Canada's Q2 2026 release is the latest official current-use measure.
New jobs through AI adoption
Measurement pending
This is an official outcome target. No public measurement series is wired yet for jobs attributable to AI adoption.
Youth work opportunities, student reach, and educator training
Delivery evidence pending
The strategy gives public reach targets, but this tracker needs delivery counts before showing progress.
Sovereign compute capacity and access
Delivery evidence pending
Funding and target language are public. Delivery needs procurement, capacity, access, pricing, and usage evidence.
GDP gains from labour productivity and AI commercialization/application
Attribution method pending
This is an economic-impact ambition, not a directly observed public metric. It should be tracked through productivity and adoption evidence over time.
Trusted partnerships and alliance milestones
Milestone evidence pending
The tracker treats alliances as milestones until public joint work, procurement, standards, or investment outputs can be verified.
Evidence gaps
Ranked by unresolved rows, not editorial severity.
Evidence that would close rows:
Evidence that would close rows:
Evidence that would close rows:
Promise register
Filter the register by pillar, evidence model, status, or target year. The table keeps official promises separate from public progress evidence.
Accountability pipeline
These lanes translate the detailed status matrix into a reader-facing accountability flow. They show what kind of evidence is visible, not whether the strategy has succeeded.
These cards update with the same filter state as the matrix and register.
Use the $500M LIFT initiative to help SMEs finance AI tools in operations.
Invest $500M through regional development agencies to accelerate AI adoption and commercialization.
Provide flexible growth capital and possible federal equity stakes for promising Canadian AI firms.
Use federal investments and commitments to stimulate private venture capital and address innovation-capital gaps.
Evidence gap shortcut
0 matching commitments need a separate public progress source in this view.
When do the promises come due? Only 6 of 70 commitments carry a stated target year.
| Evidence note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Use BDC LIFT for SME AI financingUse the $500M LIFT initiative to help SMEs finance AI tools in operations.Program milestone | Adoption | Fundedofficial program | $500M financing initiativeLatest: $500M cited in strategy | Financing availability is not adoption; track loans, uptake, sectors, and outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Expand Regional Artificial Intelligence InitiativeInvest $500M through regional development agencies to accelerate AI adoption and commercialization.Program milestone | Adoption | Fundedofficial program | $500MLatest: $500M strategy commitment | Track regional awards, recipient mix, adoption outputs, and commercialization outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Establish $500M Canadian Tech Growth FundProvide flexible growth capital and possible federal equity stakes for promising Canadian AI firms.Program milestone | Canadian champions | Fundedofficial program | $500MLatest: $500M strategy commitment | Funding commitment needs fund terms, investment decisions, Canadian anchoring conditions, and outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Leverage $1.75B in Budget 2025 investment commitmentsUse federal investments and commitments to stimulate private venture capital and address innovation-capital gaps.Program milestone | Canadian champions | Fundedofficial program | $1.75BLatest: $1.75B cited in strategy | Track actual deployment and private capital mobilized, not the cited envelope alone.ISED full strategy |
Add $700M affordable sovereign compute for SMEsExpand the Compute Access Fund so Canadian SMEs can build products on affordable sovereign compute.Program milestone | Canadian champions | Fundedofficial program | $700MLatest: $700M strategy commitment | Funding needs capacity, award, pricing, and user evidence.ISED full strategy |
Invest $130M in institute commercialization programsFund commercialization programs across National AI Institutes, including Founders-in-Residence.Program milestone | Canadian champions | Fundedofficial program | $130MLatest: $130M strategy commitment | Track program design, founders, companies created, follow-on capital, and Canadian anchoring.ISED full strategyCIFAR AI strategy |
Use Elevate IP and IP Assist for AI commercializationUse $159M from Budget 2025 IP programs to help SMEs protect and commercialize intangible assets globally.Program milestone | Canadian champions | Fundedofficial program | $159MLatest: $159M cited in strategy | Track AI-relevant uptake, IP outcomes, and commercialization results.ISED full strategy |
Modernize Job Bank with AI-powered matchingInvest $50M over five years to modernize Job Bank and connect adults to training including AI skills.Program milestone | Empowering Canadians | Fundedofficial program | $50M over five yearsLatest: $50M Budget 2025 investment cited | Funding and launch language need service metrics and outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Invest $30M in CanCodeFund free digital skills training for K-12 youth and educators, including coding, AI, and emerging technologies.Program milestone | Empowering Canadians | Fundedofficial program | $30MLatest: $30M strategy commitment | Funding needs recipient, participant, and equity-reach reporting.ISED full strategy |
Create $50M Creative Technology ProgramSupport Canadian creators in using AI on their own terms.Program milestone | Empowering Canadians | Fundedofficial program | $50MLatest: $50M strategy commitment | Funding needs program design, recipients, rights protections, and creator outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Invest $50M in the Canadian AI Safety InstituteExpand CAISI capacity for emerging risk tracking, technical research, and transparent AI model evaluations.Program milestone | Protecting Canadians | Fundedofficial program | $50MLatest: $50M strategy commitment | Funding commitment is visible; outputs require published evaluations, research, and risk updates.ISED full strategy |
Renew Standards Council AI Program fundingSupport AI standards, quality assurance, testing, certification, interoperability, and global market access.Program milestone | Protecting Canadians | Fundedofficial program | Renewed SCC AI Program | Funding intent needs program-level standards outputs and adoption evidence.ISED full strategy |
Enhance SME public compute accessImprove SME access to public compute through the Compute Access Fund.Program milestone | Sovereign AI | Fundedofficial program | Enhanced compute access | The strategy names the access channel; actual capacity, awards, and usage are separate evidence.ISED overviewISED full strategy |
Launch Health Sector Data SpaceInvest $100M with CIHI to link secure, private, standardized health datasets for research and measurement.Program milestone | Sovereign AI | Fundedofficial program | $100MLatest: $100M strategy commitment | Funding needs governance, data standards, access rules, and research/use outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Expand VITAL to five additional provincesInvest $100M to expand VITAL and use hospital clinical data for health-data innovation.Program milestone | Sovereign AI | Fundedofficial program | $100M / five additional provincesLatest: $100M strategy commitment | Expansion progress needs provincial participation, datasets, use cases, and health outcomes.ISED full strategy |
Use the $500M LIFT initiative to help SMEs finance AI tools in operations.
Invest $500M through regional development agencies to accelerate AI adoption and commercialization.
Provide flexible growth capital and possible federal equity stakes for promising Canadian AI firms.
Use federal investments and commitments to stimulate private venture capital and address innovation-capital gaps.
Expand the Compute Access Fund so Canadian SMEs can build products on affordable sovereign compute.
Fund commercialization programs across National AI Institutes, including Founders-in-Residence.
Use $159M from Budget 2025 IP programs to help SMEs protect and commercialize intangible assets globally.
Invest $50M over five years to modernize Job Bank and connect adults to training including AI skills.
Fund free digital skills training for K-12 youth and educators, including coding, AI, and emerging technologies.
Support Canadian creators in using AI on their own terms.
Expand CAISI capacity for emerging risk tracking, technical research, and transparent AI model evaluations.
Support AI standards, quality assurance, testing, certification, interoperability, and global market access.
Improve SME access to public compute through the Compute Access Fund.
Invest $100M with CIHI to link secure, private, standardized health datasets for research and measurement.
Invest $100M to expand VITAL and use hospital clinical data for health-data innovation.
All matching commitments are visible.
Source notes
Official strategy pages establish what was promised. They do not prove money was spent well, programs reached people, or outcomes changed.
Overview of Canada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada · June 4, 2026
High-level public outcomes, six-pillar framing, and plain-language strategy context.
A strategy overview is not delivery evidence. It states intent and headline targets.
Open sourceCanada's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada · June 5, 2026
The controlling source for outcome targets and explicit key-action commitments.
Official commitments are not independent proof that programs have launched, reached users, or delivered outcomes.
Open sourceBusinesses using AI to produce goods or deliver services
Statistics Canada · June 16, 2025
Narrow, official baseline for businesses using AI in goods or services.
Does not capture informal employee use, pilots, or broader generative-AI experimentation.
Open sourceCanadian Survey on Business Conditions, second quarter 2026
Statistics Canada · May 27, 2026
Current business AI-use measure and comparison against Q2 2025 and Q2 2024.
The Canadian Survey on Business Conditions is scheduled for its final collection cycle in summer 2026, so the tracker may need a successor series.
Open sourceBusinesses planning to use AI
Statistics Canada · August 27, 2025
Businesses planning to adopt AI and reported reasons for non-adoption.
Plans are not delivered adoption and should not be added to the current-use rate.
Open sourceExposure to artificial intelligence in Canadian jobs: Experimental estimates
Statistics Canada · September 25, 2024
Context for workforce adaptation, training, and job-transformation commitments.
Experimental estimates use 2021 census and O*NET-based exposure methods; they do not show actual job losses or gains from AI.
Open sourceAI Strategy for the Federal Public Service 2025-2027
Government of Canada · March 2025
Federal public-sector AI governance, delivery, and responsible-use context.
Does not measure whole-of-government AI adoption or delivery outcomes.
Open sourceAI Strategy for the Federal Public Service 2025-2027: Year in Review
Government of Canada · May 25, 2026
Public-service AI adoption, training, transparency, and lighthouse-project context.
Federal public-service progress is not the same as delivery of Canada's whole-of-economy AI for All strategy.
Open sourceAlgorithmic Impact Assessment and federal AI register
Government of Canada · Ongoing
Public disclosure of some federal automated decision systems and assessment artifacts.
Registry coverage is not a complete inventory of all government AI use.
Open sourceGovernment of Canada AI Register (Minimum Viable Product)
Open Government Portal · April 28, 2026
A public transparency count for registered federal AI systems.
The MVP register is not a complete inventory of every federal AI use and should not be used as a whole-government adoption rate.
Open sourcePan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy
CIFAR · Ongoing
Research-network and AI-chair context that sits behind the strategy's talent commitments.
Useful program context, but not a full delivery tracker for the new strategy.
Open sourceReading rule: an official commitment row means the promise exists in the public strategy. A progress row needs a separate public source such as legislation, funding awards, procurement notices, program reports, Statistics Canada releases, registry entries, or partnership outputs.