Heat Pumps Explained + Canada Goes “AI for All”

**Amber Mac** (0:00)
Okay, three, two, one.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:02)
Okay, you guys can start.

**Andrew Burke** (0:03)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
Anytime you want.

**Amber Mac** (0:05)
Three, two, one.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
Yeah, just count it in.

**Amber Mac** (0:11)
Three, two, one. Welcome to the...

**Jeff MacArthur** (0:14)
So now, Chris?

**Amber Mac** (0:14)
Oh, my God. I'm going to be killing you guys.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:18)
The Amber Mac Show on Canada Talks, SiriusXM 167

**Amber Mac** (0:23)
Welcome to The Amber Mac Show. Coming up on today's episode, it's a few months late, but Canada finally has an AI strategy called AI for All. Jeff and I are going to unpack what this means for Canadians building skills for the future and where the plan falls short.

**Jeff MacArthur** (0:40)
We're also going to speak to an expert about heat pumps and demystify how they work, especially in a place as cold as Canada.
And we're going to talk with a digital artist who's created a mobile app connecting modern-day Halifax to 1903 Dublin. But before we get to those interviews, here's more on Canada's AI plans and why you should care.

**Amber Mac** (1:01)
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**SPEAKER_2** (1:55)
AI Spotlight.

**Amber Mac** (1:57)
Well, we've been waiting for a long time, and finally, the federal government has come out with our AI plan for the future. It's called AI for All, and this is after consultations with more than 10,000 Canadians, almost 30 AI strategic task force members. Jeff and I were both watching the announcement live. Jeff, let's start with you. What was your first reaction?

**Jeff MacArthur** (2:26)
Well, my first reaction is, why can't they ever start any of those things on time? But other than that, it's, you know, this is six months overdue.
Looking through the actual strategy itself, definitely some promising things. It's nice to see some of these things sort of put down on paper, but also a lot of, you know, things that harken back to times when I would not have the optimism that I would like to have about this AI strategy. And we'll touch on that. But as the introduction from the minister says, Canadians want safe, reliable, and sovereign AI. They want the best tools to build a prosperous future guided by our values. And I think that really hits home, and that is a very commendable place to try to get to. So they go through, they talk about different elements of the ecosystem, like AI applications, models, data centers, cloud stuff, energy power research and development. So, they, there's a lot of information in there, and it really touches, just like AI is starting to do, it touches almost every aspect of life in Canada. So, there's a bit of background about Canada being an AI innovator and things like that as well. And then they break it down into some key priorities and pillars that we'll talk about in this conversation.

**Amber Mac** (3:54)
We are definitely going to dive into those pillars and how all of this affects every day Canadians, including entrepreneurs, small business owners, industry. But one of the things I wanted to stress is there was some repetition around the fact that we have a major adoption gap here in Canada.
Only 12% of Canadian businesses used AI to produce goods or services, that was between mid 2024 and mid 2025
I don't really need to go into these numbers, Jeff, because I think we're hearing the same thing over and over again. I'm speaking about AI at Keynotes every single week, and the message is kind of the same. Canada is actually behind when it comes to AI adoption, especially within business, but also we know that Canadians don't have a lot of training about how to use AI, and then Canadians don't trust AI. So it is kind of a triple whammy in terms of our starting point, despite the fact that we have so much history in terms of the evolution of artificial intelligence in the early days of AI.