Ottawa Preaches Sovereign AI While Buying Palantir Quietly
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- Canada's federal "AI for All" strategy was released three weeks ago, positioning Ottawa as the "strategic anchor customer" for Canadian AI and targeting 60% business adoption by 2034, up from 12% of businesses and 8% of small firms currently.
- The Department of National Defence signed a March 2020 contract with Palantir's Canadian arm starting at $14.4 million that grew to about $44.4 million through more than a dozen amendments, with roughly $46.8 million actually spent — the contract was never publicly disclosed.
- A separate $3.7 million Defence Palantir contract surfaced only after a Conservative MP pressed the government on its AI spending.
- Ontario Provincial Police have run Palantir's Gotham data-fusion platform since 2015 — precisely the type of decision-support system the new strategy says Canada must own.
- The strategy's funded measures include $500 million for equity stakes in firms, $700 million for compute power, a Trusted AI Certification program, and a health-focused missions program — none of which are direct purchase orders to Canadian vendors.
- Al Vigier, founder and CEO of Vancouver-based Caseway, argues Ottawa should buy Canadian AI openly rather than through grants and equity; he disclosed his own conflict of interest as a competing AI vendor.
Why it matters: The strategy promises a sovereign AI base while Defence alone has already spent $46.8 million on undisclosed Palantir contracts, meaning Ottawa's 'anchor customer' role amounts to $1.2 billion-plus in grants, equity stakes, and certifications rather than open procurement from Canadian firms — leaving the quiet foreign-vendor pattern intact despite the new rhetoric.
