The federal government will spend $2.4-billion to bolster access to critical artificial intelligence infrastructure, build domestic computing capacity and create safeguards against the potential downsides of AI technology, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Sunday.
The reveal was the latest in a series of near-daily pre-budget announcements, in which the government has been unveiling its spending plans ahead of the release of the full federal budget on April 16.
Canada is home to world-leading AI researchers, but in recent years the country has fallen behind in providing the infrastructure needed for the growing field, particularly the advanced computer chips crucial for building and running AI models. The shift has led many to call for more government intervention.
Although Mr. Trudeau offered few details at his announcement, which he made during a news conference in Montreal, many in the industry celebrated the promised investment. Others said past experience with government spending announcements had left them skeptical of Ottawa’s ability to execute on the new promises.
Money to build and make accessible more computing power will make up the most significant portion of the new spending.
In a news release, the government said $2-billion will be shared between two new initiatives. One of them, an AI Compute Access Fund, is intended to give “near-term support” to the industry and researchers. The government provided no further details, but one way of providing this support could be by facilitatingaccess to computing power from foreign tech giants.The other initiative, a Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy, is intended to speed up the development of Canadian-owned and located AI infrastructure.
“Access to computational power and capital are two of the largest barriers to developing new AI models or applications,” Mr. Trudeau said.
The government did not specify how much of the $2-billion would go to access and how much would go to building domestic computing power.
A Finance Department official told The Globe and Mail the money would be spent over five years, and that more details would be released in the budget next week. The Globe is not identifying the official because they were not permitted to discuss detailed spending plans.
Mr. Trudeau’s announcement on AI spending follows more than a week of other funding announcements in areas including child care and housing, totalling tens of billions of dollars in new federal loans and spending. Until the budget is released next week, it will remain unclear how the new spending will affect the federal government’s bottom line.
Without accounting for the new spending announced so far, last year’s budget projected that the federal deficit for 2024-25 would be $35-billion. At his news conference, Mr. Trudeau was asked about his government’s spending and about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s call for the government to find a dollar of cuts for every new dollar spent.
“We’re investing responsibly,” Mr. Trudeau said, adding in French that “a confident country invests in itself, invests in its citizens, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today.”
The government’s news release said it will also spend $200-million to help accelerate AI adoption in critical sectors and help startups bring new AI technologies to market. Another $100-million will help small and medium-sized businesses scale up and increase productivity through AI, the government said, while an additional $50-million will provide new skills training for workers displaced by AI.
A further $50-million will create a new Canadian AI Safety Institute, and $5.1-million will be set aside for the enforcement of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, legislation aimed at regulating AI that was tabled in 2022 and has not yet passed the House of Commons.
The announcement was broadly endorsed by one of the leaders of AI research, Yoshua Bengio, whose role in developing the technology has earned him (along with two others) the nickname “godfather of AI.” He is a professor at the Université de Montréal, and founder and scientific director of Quebec’s AI institute, which is called Mila. He was among the speakers at Mr. Trudeau’s announcement.
“The government of Canada is acting responsibly and is positioning itself on the right side of history with this announcement,” Prof. Bengio said.
Speaking in French, he said such investments are critical for economic development and an essential tool for addressing national security and geopolitical challenges. Countries that don’t have AI computing infrastructure risk being left behind, he said.
He also said the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, where he co-directs the Learning in Machines and Brains program, has been mandated to create the safety institute. The scientific questions the institute will address are existential and absolutely need to be figured out, he said.
“How do we build future AI systems that may be even surpassing human intelligence, that are also safe? That will not turn against humans? We don’t know how to do that,” Prof. Bengio said. “It’s urgent to invest in this.”
AI systems require immense computing power, and that need is expected to increase as the technology becomes more prevalent and as new applications for it are developed.
Canada is ranked fifth in the world for its AI capacity, according to the Tortoise Global AI Index, which measures countries based on a variety of factors. But when ranked on AI infrastructure alone, Canada falls to 23rd.
Some experts said they aren’tconvinced Ottawa’s announcement will lead to a material improvement.
Jim Balsillie, a former co-chief executive of BlackBerry Ltd, described the plans as a good idea. But he said the government “has not demonstrated the ability to competently design or implement such investments.”
Others, including Own Innovation founder Jim Hinton, said they were concerned that the federal announcement didn’t address intellectual property issues related to AI.
Mr. Hinton, whose firm supports technology companies on intellectual property strategy, said he is skeptical of the future of the new initiative, considering the fact that past government innovation initiatives have been cancelled or postponed.
“I am afraid that this is just another announcement without execution or substance,” he said. “Call me when there are results and globally competitive Canadian AI companies at scale, or more likely, call me when the program is wildly unsuccessful.”
The Conservative Party said in a statement that it does not believe the government is competent enough to execute the announced plan.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
