The Trudeau government will invest $2.4 billion in new measures in artificial intelligence in anticipation of the federal budget expected on April 16.
First, Ottawa will commit $2 billion to develop an IT infrastructure that will be made available to researchers and businesses in the artificial intelligence sector.
The government will inject $200 million for the adoption of artificial intelligence in sectors such as agriculture, clean technology, healthcare and manufacturing. Ottawa will also add $100 million to help small and medium-sized businesses integrate artificial intelligence into their operations.
An envelope of 50 million will also be used to support workers who could be affected by the advent of artificial intelligence, particularly those in the creative industries. This amount will make it possible to provide them with training to acquire new skills.
The Prime Minister also announced the creation of a new Canadian Artificial Intelligence Security Institute, with a budget of $50 million, to promote the secure development of artificial intelligence. Finally, he wishes to strengthen the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act with an investment of $5.1 million.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister on Sunday, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre asked Justin Trudeau to “repair the budget”, before expressing three demands: cut the tax on farmers and food, build housing and limit expenses by saving a dollar for every new dollar of expenses.
Trudeau focuses on housing
In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has unveiled numerous measures that will be contained in the April 16 federal budget. A series of initiatives concerns access to housing. In particular, the government plans to create a new Canadian Housing Infrastructure Fund, with a budget of $6 billion.
Mr. Trudeau and his ministers notably announced a $15 billion supplement to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, the new Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, a new Canadian Rent Protection Fund, worth $1.5 billion, as well as an additional $400 million to the Fund to Accelerate Housing Construction.
On Friday, Mr. Trudeau announced that the next budget will launch another fund, the Residential Construction Innovation and Technology Fund, with an envelope of $50 million. The goal of this new fund is to increase, market and promote the adoption of construction technologies and materials that would enable the rapid construction of modular and prefabricated homes.
NOTnew places in daycare
At the end of March, the Trudeau government announced the creation of a new loan program totaling $1 billion to create new spaces in public, non-profit daycares. The government will also grant 60 million in subsidies.
It also adds 10 million over two years for the training of early childhood educators and attempts to encourage them to work in rural and remote regions by offering to forgive their student loans if they choose to settle there. A measure which will cost 48 million over four years.
The Trudeau government announced on 1er April the creation of a national school feeding program. The program will be launched with the aim of providing meals to 400,000 more children each year through a billion investment over five years.
About one in four children (24.3%, or approximately 1,765,000 children) lived in households affected by food insecurity in 2022 in Canada, according to a report based on data collected by Statistics Canada produced by a research group from the University of Toronto.
With Joël-Denis Bellavance, Mélanie Marquis and Mylène Crête, The Press