James Moore: Canada’s incredible AI opportunity in health care

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon explains how the government’s AI strategy looks to protect Canadians in ‘a very fast-moving world.’

James Moore is a former federal cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper, and is a contributing columnist for CTVNews.ca.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has launched Canada’s new comprehensive artificial intelligence strategy. It is broad in both aspiration and scope, and the government says it will take five years to implement.

However, one would be wise to assume it will be longer to implement and that there will be great variance in focus as AI strategy 1.0 ages, as technology, privacy issues, labour anxiety, politics, trade policy alignment all take their toll over time.

But the government’s first crack at framing known risks and opportunities of AI, along with committing real ambition, funding, benchmarks and timelines gives a structure to the policy debates around AI and meaningful focus after a long period of Canada being in a policy wilderness.

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon deserves credit for clearly investing in this file in a significant way, and Prime Minister Carney deserves credit for personally leading the government’s narrative on the file at a time when AI is increasingly viewed by Canadians as a source for skepticism and fear.

Appropriately, both the Conservative Party and the NDP quickly staked out positions on AI that emphasize growing anxieties that exist and need to be addressed. Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman rightly picked up the causes of privacy and security around AI that are worrying Canadians. Expect her and other Conservatives who have written and argued extensively on this to chastise the government on this front effectively.

The NDP was pointed in their critique, focusing on the fear of job destruction and want a transparent debate on ongoing regulations and mitigation efforts in Parliament on this front as opposed to having power reside entirely in the hands of cabinet without public facing scrutiny. Good. To their credit, the government has a stand-alone minister for AI and has made this initiative a signature issue of their first year in government, so the openness to debate and amend and angle towards better policy in a cooperative way is likely going to be their strategic stance.

So, in sum, I think we’re off to a very good start regarding a substantive ongoing debate around artificial intelligence policy and regulation in Canada, and all parties are doing their part.

The health care opportunity

One area where AI policy sophistication is rapidly moving and could have enormously positive outcomes for Canada is in healthcare. Of all things to be enthusiastic about, this is where Canadians should feel the most excited and be most demanding of progress.

It was a clear signal to everyone that this is where we should be and will be focused as a country given that Prime Minister Carney announced Canada’s AI strategy during a visit to Toronto General Hospital and the University Health Network. Making health and life sciences as the priority sector for AI modernization is an absolute winner for Canada.

Harnessing the power of AI in health diagnostics, system efficiencies and patient care analysis will be massively transformative in ways that will save lives, ease suffering and anxiety, save money, gain greater velocity in the value of dollars spent on health.

If you think I’m overstating the benefits, I am not.

Take just one clear example of where AI will benefit, in an area where I have lived experience to draw from: rare disease diagnosis. This is a genuinely exciting areas of health policy development that has seen a burst of activity in the first half of 2026 to build on.

Tackling rare diseases with AI

There are over 7,000 known rare diseases collectively that affect roughly 3 million (1 in 12) Canadians – and two-thirds are children. Globally, it is estimated that 300 million people live with a rare disease and obtaining an accurate diagnosis that would provide some certainty about a health condition that would suggest a course of treatment can be a brutal journey.

Despite advances in genomic medicine, the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders says it takes an average of nearly 4 to 5 years to obtain an accurate diagnosis of a condition. What’s more, rare diseases and disorders are often experienced on a diverse spectrum of lived consequence, and finding appropriate therapies is expensive, time consuming, emotionally draining and can have an extreme cost burden. AI, properly implemented, can be a revolutionary breakthrough for rare disease diagnostics and treatment.

Successful AI policy on this front is an incredible victory for kids, for families, for the fight against the cruel darkness of undiagnosed disorders that millions struggle through. And Canada is home to some of the most brilliant minds who are ready to work towards this humane AI unlock.

The champions are everywhere: The Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders (CORD), the Canadian Rare Disease Network (CRDN), the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR, of which I am a board member), Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Institute of Genetics (CIHR) is the federal research funding engine for rare genetic diseases. SickKids in Toronto is an inspiration, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s Care4Rare program and Research Institute with the University of Ottawa is a leader. The University of British Columbia’s Michael Smith Laboratories and Psychiatry Department are active in rare disease organism research, the McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton has a rare disease clinical program in digestive diseases and oncology. I could go on and on.

Canada is a champion in healthcare and research. The champions, researchers, thought leaders, medical professionals across Canada are remarkable and motivated. If I sound passionate about this subject matter, you’re right. Aligning these great assets behind a functioning AI policy is something we should all be excited about and pressuring our governments to lead on as we move forward on this critical policy opportunity for Canada.

More from James Moore:

• The barrier-free Canada we need
• Why early political prophecies are always a fool’s errand