Committee of the Whole - Bill C-5
Senator Moodie: Mr. Jansa, this question is primarily being sent in your direction.
Canada has immense energy needs not only to power our everyday lives but to power an increasingly technology-dependent economy. I’m especially thinking of and considering artificial intelligence, which is crucial for our long-term economic relevance, and the increased energy demands it requires.
Will the proposed changes in Part 2 of this legislation strengthen our digital economy? As part of your answer, could you share with us any thoughts you may have on the specific standards for energy production, especially as they relate to new technology usage?
Mr. Keith Jansa (CEO of the Digital Governance Council): Thank you for the question.
When it comes to what is in Bill C-5, it speaks to the national interest. I’m not clear upon reading the bill whether, when we talk about infrastructure, we are talking simply about physical infrastructure. We are talking about bridges, ports and those types of things, but we’re not actually talking about the digital infrastructure. To your point, artificial intelligence, when you consider the kinds of data sets that centres require and the amount of electricity to power those centres, you have electric utilities, at the moment, contemplating whether you prioritize the new building of housing, because we have a housing crisis, or the very data centres necessary to ensure our sovereignty as a country and so that our digital infrastructure does not collapse in and of itself — or where you have foreign interests, like the U.S. with the capacity to turn things off here in Canada, because we don’t have sovereign digital infrastructure.
So the way in which this bill is written is not clear on any of those fronts. I would certainly encourage senators, along with the House of Commons members of Parliament, to elaborate on what you mean by infrastructure when we’re talking about the sovereignty and national interest.