Tariffs and Trade Updates and Information, visit www.chambercheck.ca
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming global economies, with the potential to add $187 billion annually to the Canadian economy by 2030. Yet, despite this promise, Ontario businesses and workers’ slow AI adoption risks undermining Canada’s competitiveness.
“Canada does lag in trust in AI and the Western world itself has these concerns around the use of AI and my sense is that some of this is Hollywood driven,” says John Weigelt, National Technology Officer for Microsoft Canada, referring to how AI continues to be portrayed in a negative light in movies and on television. “And when we start to look at how policymakers are framing the conversation, they’re fanning the flames of this concern.”
To address this gap, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), in collaboration with Microsoft Canada, has released Future-Proofing Ontario: Empowering Businesses with AI Skills — a policy primer that explores AI’s economic potential, identifies barriers to adoption, and presents scalable initiatives to build an AI-fluent workforce and business ecosystem.
Although AI holds immense promise for driving productivity and innovation, its adoption remains low: only six per cent of Canadian businesses report using AI tools, and just 31 per cent of Canadians trust generative AI (GenAI).
The policy primer calls for urgent, sustained action to equip Ontario’s workforce with the skills and confidence needed to responsibly harness AI and unleash inclusive economic growth, something John believes can be accomplished by reminding businesses about the publicly available tools that are already in place.
Canada’s AI advantage
“I’ve been spending a lot of time talking with small to medium enterprises across Canada and I ask them about AI, and they say, ‘AI is not going to help my business’,” says John, noting besides ChatGPT, most admit to regularly relying on such wayfinding applications as Google Maps or Waze. “I think those (adoption) numbers are low because they don’t recognize where AI is now just embedded into our day-to-day lives.”
He says Canada’s AI advantage could increase if it starts to be a lead on these embedded or enabled applications.
“How do we make healthcare better through the use of AI? How do we make the legal profession better? How do we make retail better?” says John, adding the need for responsible AI introduction is vital. “I think it’s always important to reinforce that because we want to make sure that Canadians, and Canadian businesses recognize that we’re doing things in a thoughtful and responsible way.”
As outlined in the policy primer, he stresses the need for an ‘all hands-on deck’ approach when it comes to AI adoption.
“By fostering collaboration between government, academia, and industry, we can equip Canadians with the necessary skills to harness AI responsibly and accelerate AI adoption and innovation across the country,” he says. “This is a significant opportunity for Ontario, and Canada as a whole, to lead in AI and drive inclusive economic growth.”
Economic potential
According to Microsoft, AI has created more than 22,000 jobs nationwide with nearly a third of those paying more than $85,000 annually. Also, besides contributing billions to Canada’s economy by 2030, including $100 billion to SMEs, GenAI has the potential to add between USD $2.6-$4.4 trillion in global value by streamlining operations, saving time, and automating repetitive tasks across industries.
“We need to be able to diffuse these technologies across businesses so that we can seize that value,” says John.
Daniel Tisch, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, agrees.
“AI could unlock billions of dollars in economic value for Ontario, but only if we make it accessible to all businesses and equip our workforce with job-ready AI skills,” he said in a release. “This is a pivotal moment. Public and private sector leaders must act together to close the AI adoption gap – and future-proof Ontario’s economy.”
As a first step for small businesses should take when it comes to adopting AI, John recommends looking at what other businesses in their community are doing and take note of some of the tools they may already be using. “I would simply start to use some of the publicly available tools.”
Click here to read the policy primer.
Key recommendations include:
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Brian Rodnick 300 June 7, 2026 |
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Greg Durocher 41 July 28, 2023 |
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Canadian Chamber of Commerce 24 January 29, 2021 |
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Cambridge Chamber 2 March 27, 2020 |
750 Hespeler Road Cambridge, ON N3H 5L8
Phone: 519-622-2221
Fax: 519-622-0177
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