Canada’s push to lead in artificial intelligence may be accelerating—but the infrastructure required to support it is not keeping pace.
That’s the core message from James Beer, CEO of Qu Data Centres, who recently appeared before the House of Commons Industry Committee to make the case that data centres must be treated as essential national infrastructure. In a conversation with DataCentre.ca, Beer outlines why digital infrastructure has moved from a back-office concern to a strategic priority, and what’s at stake if Canada fails to build sufficient domestic capacity.
At a time when governments are investing heavily in AI talent and innovation, Beer argues that the country risks undermining those efforts without the power, connectivity, and sovereign compute environments needed to support them. The result, he warns, could be a growing reliance on foreign-controlled infrastructure—leaving critical sectors exposed to external legal regimes, geopolitical pressures, and supply constraints.
From sovereignty and resilience to power access and permitting bottlenecks, Beer paints a picture of both urgency and opportunity. Canada, he says, has the ingredients to lead—but without faster, more coordinated action, it risks falling behind in the global race to build the infrastructure underpinning the AI economy.
You recently appeared before the House of Commons Industry Committee. What was the most important message you wanted policymakers to take away about Canada’s digital infrastructure?
JB: The most important message was that digital infrastructure can no longer be treated as a back-office function or a purely technical issue. Data centres are now part of the foundation that supports Canada’s economy, public services, AI ambitions, and national resilience.
For years, governments have rightly focused on roads, rail, airports, telecom and power as essential infrastructure. Today, secure domestic data centre capacity belongs in that same conversation. If Canada wants to compete in AI and protect critical data, we need infrastructure that is located here, operated here, and governed under Canadian law.
During your appearance, you spoke about sovereignty and domestic capacity. Where do you think Canada is falling short today?
JB: Canada has many of the ingredients needed to lead, including stable institutions, strong talent, abundant energy and growing demand for compute infrastructure. Where we’re falling short is in the pace and scale of domestic infrastructure development.
Demand is moving quickly, particularly as AI and high-density workloads accelerate. If Canada doesn’t build enough capacity at home, more organizations will be pushed toward foreign-controlled environments simply because domestic options are limited. That creates a gap between Canada’s AI ambitions and the infrastructure required to support them.
Canada is investing heavily in AI. Do you think the country is moving with the same urgency when it comes to the infrastructure behind it? Why or why not?
JB: Not with the same urgency, and that’s the issue. Canada has made important investments in AI research, talent and commercialization, but those investments only go so far without the physical infrastructure needed to support them.
AI depends on power, cooling, connectivity and secure compute environments. If infrastructure doesn’t scale alongside innovation, Canada risks becoming a place where ideas are developed but the economic value is captured elsewhere. The countries that lead in AI will be the ones that can both create the technology and run it securely at scale.
You’ve described digital infrastructure as a national priority. What’s changed to elevate it from a technical issue to a strategic one?
JB: The change is that almost every critical sector now depends on digital infrastructure. Healthcare, banking, energy, logistics, government services and defence all rely on secure and uninterrupted compute capacity.
That makes data centre infrastructure a strategic issue, not just a technical one. When the systems that support daily life and economic growth depend on where data is housed, how it is protected and whether capacity is available, the conversation has to move beyond IT departments and into national planning.
There’s a growing discussion around “sovereign AI.” In practical terms, what does that actually require from an infrastructure perspective?
JB: Sovereign AI has to start with sovereign infrastructure. For Qu, that means infrastructure located on Canadian soil, operated by Canadian hands, and governed under Canadian law. Our corporate structure is anchored in Canadian jurisdiction, and we’re proud to have one of the only fully Canadian management teams in the industry.
If the data, models, compute environments, and operational controls behind AI are housed or governed outside Canada, then we don’t have true AI sovereignty. We may have access to AI tools, but access isn’t the same as control. Real sovereignty means Canada retains authority over where sensitive data resides, how critical systems are operated, which laws apply, and who is accountable when issues arise.
From an infrastructure perspective, that requires Canadian-based data centres, trusted domestic operators, secure in-country connectivity, dependable power, and enough high-density compute capacity to support advanced AI workloads at scale. It also requires redundancy, resilience, and the ability to expand quickly as demand grows.
This is about far more than technology. AI will increasingly shape healthcare outcomes, financial systems, energy networks, public services, defence capabilities, and economic competitiveness. No serious country would allow the infrastructure underpinning those sectors to sit entirely beyond its control.
Canada has the talent and ambition to lead in AI. But if the infrastructure layer is outsourced, so is a meaningful degree of sovereignty. The countries that succeed in the AI era will not just build smarter models. They will ensure those models run on infrastructure aligned with their own national interests.
.What risks does Canada face if it continues to rely on infrastructure outside its borders for AI in strategic sectors and data workloads?
JB: The biggest risk is dependency at the moment that resilience matters most. When critical workloads are hosted outside Canada, organizations can become exposed to foreign legal regimes, changing commercial priorities, geopolitical tensions, and supply constraints that are beyond our control.
For example, imagine a Canadian healthcare network, financial institution, or public agency relying on infrastructure in another jurisdiction during a cyber incident, trade dispute, or sudden regulatory shift. Access, response times, legal protections, or expansion capacity could all be influenced by decisions made outside Canada. That’s not where strategic sectors want to be in a moment of pressure.
Canada should absolutely remain connected to global markets and global technology providers. But strategic sectors also need strong domestic options so that critical workloads, sensitive data, and essential services are never wholly dependent on infrastructure governed elsewhere.
What are the biggest barriers to scaling domestic data centre capacity in Canada today?
JB: The biggest barriers are power access, approval timelines and the lack of coordination between digital policy and energy planning. Private capital is ready to invest, and customer demand is already here, but projects cannot move at the speed required if permitting, power availability and infrastructure strategy are handled in separate silos.
Building digital infrastructure at scale requires patient, long-term capital. Canada benefits when experienced investors like InfraRed Capital Partners, a Sun Life company, are prepared to support domestic infrastructure growth.
Canada needs to recognize data centres as essential infrastructure and create clearer pathways for responsible development. The risk isn’t a lack of opportunity. The risk is delay.
What does success look like for Canada if it gets digital infrastructure right over the next five years?
JB: Success means Canada has the domestic capacity to support its own AI growth, enterprise demand and critical public services. It means Canadian organizations have trusted in-country options, investors see Canada as a serious digital infrastructure market, and communities benefit from skilled jobs and long-term infrastructure investment.
Most importantly, it means Canada isn’t just participating in the global AI economy. It’s helping shape it from a position of strength, with infrastructure that reflects Canadian priorities, Canadian security requirements and Canadian economic interests.