Insider Brief
- Prime Minister Mark Carney has directed Canada’s new Major Projects Office to develop a sovereign cloud as part of the country’s nation-building agenda, alongside pipelines, nuclear projects, and ports.
- The sovereign cloud is intended to strengthen Canada’s digital sovereignty, supporting quantum technology and AI while reducing reliance on U.S.-owned data infrastructure.
- Ottawa has already earmarked $2 billion for sovereign AI compute and private firms like Bell, Telus and OVHcloud are investing in Canadian-based data centers.
- Image: Prime Minister Mark Carney (X).
Prime Minister Mark Carney is steering his new Major Projects Office (MPO) toward building a Canadian “sovereign cloud,” a move framed not only as a data-security measure but as a foundation for quantum technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Speaking in Edmonton on Thursday, Carney added digital sovereignty to the same priority list as pipelines, nuclear reactors, and ports, signaling that cloud and compute infrastructure are now considered nation-building assets, BetaKit reported.
This would build compute capacity and data centres that we need to underpin Canada’s competitiveness, to protect our security, and to boost our independence and sovereignty,” Carney said, as reported by BetaKit, one of Canada’s premier tech and startup news outlets. “This will give Canada independent control over advanced computing power while reinforcing our leadership in AI and quantum.”
New Office, Expanding Mandate
The MPO, launched in late August and headquartered in Calgary, was created to accelerate approvals and financing for large-scale infrastructure. Its initial focus is on traditional projects, such as natural gas export terminals, nuclear development and port expansion. But Carney indicated the office will also push forward early-stage strategies in critical minerals, high-speed rail, carbon capture, and sovereign digital infrastructure.
“Taken together, these projects can deliver transformational benefits to Canadians, driving growth and jobs and income for decades,” Carney said, according to BetaKit.
Although the sovereign cloud does not yet appear on the MPO’s official project list, Carney described it as essential for enabling Canada’s future competitiveness in quantum and AI. BetaKit reports the Prime Minister’s Office, the MPO, and the Ministry for the One Canadian Economy have been asked for further details.
Data Control as Policy Priority
Calls for domestic control over data storage have grown louder as relations with the United States shift and as questions mount about the security of Canadian data hosted on American-owned servers. The issue gained prominence earlier this year when Microsoft executives, speaking before the French Senate, declined to guarantee that French citizens’ data would not be shared with U.S. authorities without explicit permission, according to Betakit.
That uncertainty has made data sovereignty a policy touchpoint in Canada and Europe alike. Carney’s mention of sovereign cloud initiatives ties directly to recommendations from the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI). In its 2025 federal pre-budget submission, CCI urged Ottawa to prioritize sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure as a prerequisite for scaling technologies such as quantum computing.
CCI president Ben Bergen told BetaKit that his group will measure success by whether procurement policies create growth opportunities for Canadian firms.
“It’s encouraging that Prime Minister Carney sees sovereign cloud as a national imperative on a par with pipelines and ports,” Bergen told BetaKit. “We need to be building sovereign digital rails to ensure that we are in firm control of our data and our digital commerce.”
Previous Moves on Sovereign AI
Ottawa has already put money toward the problem, according to the article. In 2024, the federal government launched the Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, allocating $2 billion CAD for AI computing power and expanding Canadian-based commercial data centers. The effort was framed as ensuring Canadian researchers and businesses had access to critical compute resources within national borders, resources increasingly linked to quantum R&D.
Private sector firms have responded in parallel. Bell and Telus have both announced investments in sovereign data centres. French cloud provider OVHcloud is also positioning itself in the Canadian market. In a statement to BetaKit following Carney’s announcement, Estelle Azemard, OVHcloud’s vice-president for the Americas, said the company is “actively engaging with the federal government on the ongoing discussions around digital sovereignty.”
