How Sovereign Digital Infrastructure Is Economic Infrastructure

By Kiersten Enemark
CCI's Director of B.C. Affairs

British Columbia is standing at the edge of a historic economic opportunity — and a historic economic vulnerability.

The province has declared its ambition to build new infrastructure, and other major projects. The province has committed to lead in quantum computing and artificial intelligence. That is the right instinct. AI isn’t just a technology wave; it’s the new foundation of industrial competitiveness, productivity, and national power. The jurisdictions that control data, compute, and intellectual property will define the next century. Those that don’t will become branch-plant economies in the most important technology transition since electrification.

Data centres and telecommunication networks are infrastructure builds that will facilitate sovereign AI and quantum computing. B.C. has a choice to make: do we become tenants in the digital economy, or do we build and own the infrastructure that will define our future?

In a world where intelligence is a production input, data, compute, and machine knowledge are the new “means of production.” If we don’t own and operate them, we don’t control our future. Period.

British Columbia should be a global leader in sovereign digital infrastructure. We have clean power, a northern climate ideal for cooling compute, world-class researchers, strong fibre networks, and a thriving innovation economy.

But our intent to lead in the knowledge economy is not aligned with our intent to build digital sovereign infrastructure. One the one hand, B.C. has prioritized new technologies and improving digital services. For example, Connected Services BC program has prioritized improving security and privacy in accessing information. Yet government has not designated Canadian data centres as provincially significant projects worthy of being fast-tracked, and further, BC is seeking to limit energy resources.  

Today, much of Canada’s private-sector data sits on cloud systems owned and operated by foreign multinationals. Even when the servers sit in Canada, the control — and the legal jurisdiction — sits outside our borders. In a world of rising geopolitical tension and cyber risk, that is not simply an economic concern. It is a sovereignty risk.

Meanwhile, innovators trying to build Canadian-owned digital infrastructure in B.C. are often stuck in limbo — delayed by administrative bottlenecks, permitting uncertainty, and a lack of prioritization. Alberta is aggressively courting data-centre investment with new tax tools and fast-tracking approvals. B.C. risks signalling to innovators that they should build the future somewhere else.

The result is predictable: capital flows out, Canadian companies scale elsewhere, and we become renters in the digital economy rather than owners.

We can — and must — change course.

The provincial government deserves credit for recognizing the need to accelerate infrastructure delivery through Bill 15, Infrastructure Projects Act. But if the goal is to build a resilient and future-ready economy, the definition of “provincially significant infrastructure” must reflect the world we now live in by including “sovereign digital infrastructure”.

The construction of sovereign digital infrastructure — Canadian-owned data centres, trusted cloud, telecommunication networks and advanced compute — must be eligible for fast-track designation under Bill 15.

This single change would send a powerful signal: B.C. intends not only to use AI, but to build and own the platforms that power it.

Data centres and advanced networking require power and connectivity. If B.C. is serious about leading in AI, BC Hydro must be directed to prioritize Canadian-owned digital infrastructure projects that support the province’s innovation economy.

At the same time, Bill 31, Energy Statues Amendment Act, should be amended so domestic data-centre projects are not constrained by restrictions on electrical access. We should not be blocking future tax-base assets while other provinces are rolling out the welcome mat.

The Federal Budget included funds to scale home-grown AI solutions and strengthen Canada’s global leadership in trusted, sovereign AI. This is an opportunity for the provincial government to capture federal spending dollars to invest in B.C. digital infrastructure.

Finally, for public infrastructure projects, B.C. must treat procurement as a strategic lever — not an afterthought.

When government buys Canadian technology, it doesn’t just solve a public-sector problem; it helps build exportable IP, create skilled jobs, and strengthen domestic supply chains. We saw this when the City of Vancouver awarded a contract to local firm Industrio AI — exactly the kind of smart procurement that strengthens B.C. firms rather than subsidizing foreign scale.

We already have B.C. innovators exporting cutting-edge technology globally — like Burnaby-based Novarc, whose AI-powered welding systems are used on critical infrastructure projects around the world. Yet these innovations remain under-used in B.C.’s own public builds.

Accelerating infrastructure projects is also a lever to accelerate innovation. Every new infrastructure project — whether housing, transit, or energy — is also a chance to scale domestic technology by including homegrown innovations in the supply chain. We should treat it that way.

For more than a century, resource wealth funded prosperity in British Columbia. That legacy remains a strength. But the next century will belong to jurisdictions that build sovereign digital capacity — the ones that own the economic engines of intelligence, not just extract the commodities that feed them.

B.C. has the talent, the power, the climate, and the ambition. What we need now is the resolve to treat data, compute, and cloud with the same seriousness we treat mining, pipelines and ports.

The decisions B.C. makes this year will determine whether we lead the AI economy — or whether we watch others lead it while we rent space from them.

Sovereignty is not a slogan. It is a build-or-be-built-for choice.

And now is the moment to choose.

‍

If you’re interested in connecting with Kiersten about innovation and policy in British Columbia, you can reach her at kenemark@canadianinnovators.org

‍

À propos du Conseil des innovateurs canadiens

Le Conseil des innovateurs canadiens est une organisation nationale basée sur ses membres qui remodèle la façon dont les gouvernements à travers le Canada pensent à la politique d'innovation, et qui soutient les entreprises d'envergure nationale pour stimuler la prospérité. Fondé en 2015, le CCI représente et travaille avec plus de 150 entreprises technologiques canadiennes à la croissance la plus rapide. Nos membres sont les chefs de la direction, les fondateurs et les cadres supérieurs qui sont à l'origine de certaines des entreprises à grande échelle les plus prospères du Canada. Tous nos membres sont des créateurs d'emplois et de richesses, des investisseurs, des philanthropes et des experts dans leurs domaines de la technologie de la santé, des technologies propres, de la fintech, de la cybersécurité, de l'IA et de la transformation numérique. Les entreprises de notre portefeuille sont leaders sur leur marché vertical, commercialisent leurs technologies dans plus de 190 pays et génèrent entre 10 et 750 millions de dollars de revenus annuels récurrents. Nous plaidons en leur nom pour des stratégies gouvernementales qui augmentent leur accès aux talents qualifiés, au capital stratégique et aux nouveaux clients, ainsi qu'à une liberté d'exploitation élargie pour leurs poursuites d'échelle à l'échelle mondiale.