MPs to proceed with AI bill without hearing from Canadian businesses

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is very worried because Canadian businesses were not able to speak about the proposed federal artificial intelligence laws.

The House of Commons industry committee listened to Big Tech companies, but Canadian businesses didn’t get to talk to the MPs about the new AI part of Bill C-27.

In November, the innovation minister talked about many changes the government wants to make to the AI part of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act.

“We are worried that the AIDA bill may pass without enough people speaking up about the changes the Minister wants to make. This means there won’t be fair discussions or enough feedback before it becomes a law,” the group wrote in a short statement posted on the committee website on Wednesday.

The group said that is why we think the Committee should have a strong public discussion. It really needs it and businesses all over Canada deserve it.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne suggested changes to a bill. The committee only met five times to talk about the bill, but Canadian companies didn’t get the chance to speak.

The chamber said that the proposed changes have made the bill a very different law.

It’s worried that not enough Canadian companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, have had the chance to speak up.

The group is done studying the bill and will start changing it in April. No more people will come to talk about it.

Bill C-27 will change Canada’s rules about privacy and make new laws for artificial intelligence. It will make new rules for important AI systems.

Ulrike Bahr-Gedalia, who works at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that AI is now a part of how businesses operate.

“In my opinion, most companies are using AI in some way,” she said during an interview.

Bahr-Gedalia said that it will be really hard for small businesses to follow the law without being able to say what problems they think might happen because of it.

Recently, a spokesperson for Champagne, Audrey Champoux, said that the government talked to a lot of different people like teachers, specialists, community groups, and business people, including the Chamber of Commerce.

She said in an email that the committee has been looking at the bill since the fall of 2023. They have talked to more than 100 people and got over 70 written things about it. We are excited to keep working on getting this law to pass.